KILLED IN ACTION
bio info courtesy of D.C. Adams (#47244039), with thanks.
It was billed as the Viet Cuong (“Strength of Vietnam”) Hotel. But structurally the newly constructed four-story building was anything but that. With no reinforced concrete or reinforcing bars, it mostly was made of hollow red bricks held together by mortar and plaster. Nevertheless, the U.S. government leased the billet for a helicopter maintenance unit. The 140th Transportation Detachment (Cargo Helicopter Field Maintenance), nicknamed the “Phantom Regulators,” serviced the aircraft of the 117th Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter). On 02/10/1965, 43 men were in their rooms or in a bar on the ground floor. Coordinated attacks on the city began at 8:05 p.m. Two VC killed the South Vietnamese guards posted outside the building while two other VC planted two satchel charges at the main door. A 100-pound plastic charge destroyed the central staircase supporting the hotel. Four stories were immediately reduced to one as the building crumbled into a pile of rubble more than 30 feet high. Alex Brassert was a U.S. adviser who happened to be in Qui Nhon at the time. “There was a loud explosion, then a second; the lights went out in the whole town,” he said. “I saw red fashes in a back window that I think was near the stairwell. Then the Viet Cuong Hotel sank out of my field of vision.” Rescue operations were delayed until dawn because the VC took out the local power station, causing a blackout. On duty in the fight operations center when the explosion occurred, SP4 Raul D. Serrano participated in the rescue and recovery. “When we arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t believe the devastation,” he says. “We could hear men yelling for help. Digging out was very slow because we did not have proper equipment. We dug for eight straight hours. Men cried out for their mothers, as some of us cried searching for them.” No Viet Cong terrorist attack took a greater toll in American lives during the Vietnam War than the Viet Cuong Hotel tragedy. A total of 23 GI’s died that night: all but one belonged to the 140th Transportation Detachment. The other was a Green Beret.
The 23 soldiers killed in the attack on the Viet Cuong Hotel included SP5 James B. Alexander, SP5 Everett L. Anderson, PFC Paul E. Bays, SP4 Tommy J. Belcher, PFC Robert J. Betz, SP5 David N. Clayton, SP5 Clarence L Coleman, SP4 Horace C. Collins, PFC Delmer L. Ferris, SP5 Glenn H. Kelley, PFC Dallas Lawson, PFC Larry B. McClanahan, SP5 Robert S Mosier, PFC WALTER L. RICKARD, SP5 Harry E. Rowley, SP5 Ernest M. Schultz, SP4 Robert L. Simon, SP4 Harry L. Summers, SSG Francis J. Valkos, SSG Merle O. Van Alstine, PVT Melvin L. Waters, SP4 Lavon S. Wilson, and PFC Floyd Wynn. Another 21 soldiers were wounded.
bio info courtesy of D.C. Adams (#47244039), with thanks.
It was billed as the Viet Cuong (“Strength of Vietnam”) Hotel. But structurally the newly constructed four-story building was anything but that. With no reinforced concrete or reinforcing bars, it mostly was made of hollow red bricks held together by mortar and plaster. Nevertheless, the U.S. government leased the billet for a helicopter maintenance unit. The 140th Transportation Detachment (Cargo Helicopter Field Maintenance), nicknamed the “Phantom Regulators,” serviced the aircraft of the 117th Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter). On 02/10/1965, 43 men were in their rooms or in a bar on the ground floor. Coordinated attacks on the city began at 8:05 p.m. Two VC killed the South Vietnamese guards posted outside the building while two other VC planted two satchel charges at the main door. A 100-pound plastic charge destroyed the central staircase supporting the hotel. Four stories were immediately reduced to one as the building crumbled into a pile of rubble more than 30 feet high. Alex Brassert was a U.S. adviser who happened to be in Qui Nhon at the time. “There was a loud explosion, then a second; the lights went out in the whole town,” he said. “I saw red fashes in a back window that I think was near the stairwell. Then the Viet Cuong Hotel sank out of my field of vision.” Rescue operations were delayed until dawn because the VC took out the local power station, causing a blackout. On duty in the fight operations center when the explosion occurred, SP4 Raul D. Serrano participated in the rescue and recovery. “When we arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t believe the devastation,” he says. “We could hear men yelling for help. Digging out was very slow because we did not have proper equipment. We dug for eight straight hours. Men cried out for their mothers, as some of us cried searching for them.” No Viet Cong terrorist attack took a greater toll in American lives during the Vietnam War than the Viet Cuong Hotel tragedy. A total of 23 GI’s died that night: all but one belonged to the 140th Transportation Detachment. The other was a Green Beret.
The 23 soldiers killed in the attack on the Viet Cuong Hotel included SP5 James B. Alexander, SP5 Everett L. Anderson, PFC Paul E. Bays, SP4 Tommy J. Belcher, PFC Robert J. Betz, SP5 David N. Clayton, SP5 Clarence L Coleman, SP4 Horace C. Collins, PFC Delmer L. Ferris, SP5 Glenn H. Kelley, PFC Dallas Lawson, PFC Larry B. McClanahan, SP5 Robert S Mosier, PFC WALTER L. RICKARD, SP5 Harry E. Rowley, SP5 Ernest M. Schultz, SP4 Robert L. Simon, SP4 Harry L. Summers, SSG Francis J. Valkos, SSG Merle O. Van Alstine, PVT Melvin L. Waters, SP4 Lavon S. Wilson, and PFC Floyd Wynn. Another 21 soldiers were wounded.
KILLED IN ACTION
bio info courtesy of D.C. Adams (#47244039), with thanks.
It was billed as the Viet Cuong (“Strength of Vietnam”) Hotel. But structurally the newly constructed four-story building was anything but that. With no reinforced concrete or reinforcing bars, it mostly was made of hollow red bricks held together by mortar and plaster. Nevertheless, the U.S. government leased the billet for a helicopter maintenance unit. The 140th Transportation Detachment (Cargo Helicopter Field Maintenance), nicknamed the “Phantom Regulators,” serviced the aircraft of the 117th Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter). On 02/10/1965, 43 men were in their rooms or in a bar on the ground floor. Coordinated attacks on the city began at 8:05 p.m. Two VC killed the South Vietnamese guards posted outside the building while two other VC planted two satchel charges at the main door. A 100-pound plastic charge destroyed the central staircase supporting the hotel. Four stories were immediately reduced to one as the building crumbled into a pile of rubble more than 30 feet high. Alex Brassert was a U.S. adviser who happened to be in Qui Nhon at the time. “There was a loud explosion, then a second; the lights went out in the whole town,” he said. “I saw red fashes in a back window that I think was near the stairwell. Then the Viet Cuong Hotel sank out of my field of vision.” Rescue operations were delayed until dawn because the VC took out the local power station, causing a blackout. On duty in the fight operations center when the explosion occurred, SP4 Raul D. Serrano participated in the rescue and recovery. “When we arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t believe the devastation,” he says. “We could hear men yelling for help. Digging out was very slow because we did not have proper equipment. We dug for eight straight hours. Men cried out for their mothers, as some of us cried searching for them.” No Viet Cong terrorist attack took a greater toll in American lives during the Vietnam War than the Viet Cuong Hotel tragedy. A total of 23 GI’s died that night: all but one belonged to the 140th Transportation Detachment. The other was a Green Beret.
The 23 soldiers killed in the attack on the Viet Cuong Hotel included SP5 James B. Alexander, SP5 Everett L. Anderson, PFC Paul E. Bays, SP4 Tommy J. Belcher, PFC Robert J. Betz, SP5 David N. Clayton, SP5 Clarence L Coleman, SP4 Horace C. Collins, PFC Delmer L. Ferris, SP5 Glenn H. Kelley, PFC Dallas Lawson, PFC Larry B. McClanahan, SP5 Robert S Mosier, PFC WALTER L. RICKARD, SP5 Harry E. Rowley, SP5 Ernest M. Schultz, SP4 Robert L. Simon, SP4 Harry L. Summers, SSG Francis J. Valkos, SSG Merle O. Van Alstine, PVT Melvin L. Waters, SP4 Lavon S. Wilson, and PFC Floyd Wynn. Another 21 soldiers were wounded.
bio info courtesy of D.C. Adams (#47244039), with thanks.
It was billed as the Viet Cuong (“Strength of Vietnam”) Hotel. But structurally the newly constructed four-story building was anything but that. With no reinforced concrete or reinforcing bars, it mostly was made of hollow red bricks held together by mortar and plaster. Nevertheless, the U.S. government leased the billet for a helicopter maintenance unit. The 140th Transportation Detachment (Cargo Helicopter Field Maintenance), nicknamed the “Phantom Regulators,” serviced the aircraft of the 117th Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter). On 02/10/1965, 43 men were in their rooms or in a bar on the ground floor. Coordinated attacks on the city began at 8:05 p.m. Two VC killed the South Vietnamese guards posted outside the building while two other VC planted two satchel charges at the main door. A 100-pound plastic charge destroyed the central staircase supporting the hotel. Four stories were immediately reduced to one as the building crumbled into a pile of rubble more than 30 feet high. Alex Brassert was a U.S. adviser who happened to be in Qui Nhon at the time. “There was a loud explosion, then a second; the lights went out in the whole town,” he said. “I saw red fashes in a back window that I think was near the stairwell. Then the Viet Cuong Hotel sank out of my field of vision.” Rescue operations were delayed until dawn because the VC took out the local power station, causing a blackout. On duty in the fight operations center when the explosion occurred, SP4 Raul D. Serrano participated in the rescue and recovery. “When we arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t believe the devastation,” he says. “We could hear men yelling for help. Digging out was very slow because we did not have proper equipment. We dug for eight straight hours. Men cried out for their mothers, as some of us cried searching for them.” No Viet Cong terrorist attack took a greater toll in American lives during the Vietnam War than the Viet Cuong Hotel tragedy. A total of 23 GI’s died that night: all but one belonged to the 140th Transportation Detachment. The other was a Green Beret.
The 23 soldiers killed in the attack on the Viet Cuong Hotel included SP5 James B. Alexander, SP5 Everett L. Anderson, PFC Paul E. Bays, SP4 Tommy J. Belcher, PFC Robert J. Betz, SP5 David N. Clayton, SP5 Clarence L Coleman, SP4 Horace C. Collins, PFC Delmer L. Ferris, SP5 Glenn H. Kelley, PFC Dallas Lawson, PFC Larry B. McClanahan, SP5 Robert S Mosier, PFC WALTER L. RICKARD, SP5 Harry E. Rowley, SP5 Ernest M. Schultz, SP4 Robert L. Simon, SP4 Harry L. Summers, SSG Francis J. Valkos, SSG Merle O. Van Alstine, PVT Melvin L. Waters, SP4 Lavon S. Wilson, and PFC Floyd Wynn. Another 21 soldiers were wounded.
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