Ed's First Tour of Vietnam--the Tet Offensive

Hong Kong & Tet

When Ed and his buddies went to Saigon to fly to Hong Kong on R & R in late January 1968, they stayed the night in a hotel there. That night as they walked around the streets, some kids bumped into them, and they later realized that they had been pickpockets and had stolen their watches and jewelry. Ed enjoyed his R & R in Hong Kong a great deal and found it very exciting. It was the Chinese New Year (or Tet) and there were many parades and holiday events.

Tet Offensive


Tet Holiday 1968 was when the Vietcong made a major surprise attack on 100 major towns and cities in Vietnam during the Tet holiday ceasefire; it was the main offensive of the Vietnam War up to that time. The main strike was January 30 and the Communists had hoped for the South Vietnamese populous to arise and support them but met heavy resistance instead.

However, the country was in a state of war and chaos for a matter of weeks. Ed was able to get back from Hong Kong but he couldn’t get into Saigon which was the center of the action, so he flew to Cam Rhan Bay where he waited three days for an aircraft to finally fly him back to Bien Hoa. I was very grateful that he’d missed the action, because his base was in the middle of things.


5 February 1967

"The big war has started to cool off over here. There for a while it was really going strong. But luckily, I missed out on the majority of it because I was in Hong Kong on R & R."

7 February 1967

"The VC are still causing trouble. They put over 200 mortar rounds on Dong Tam last night, but so far, Bearcat has been left alone. I really can’t figure it out. They have hit every place but here. I just hope they’re not waiting to hit us really big time.

"On my way back from R & R, I came through Bien Hoa, and it was really destroyed.

"Hundreds of places were burned down and it really looked bad. Also, there were bodies lying around all over. It’s really something."

8 February 1967

"There still isn’t a whole lot going on around here. The VC are still really brave, and for a change, they are finally staying and fighting. But that makes it a lot easier for us. But I’ll be happy if they leave us alone here.

"It sounds like there is really a good war brewing in the north. It is really costly. We had a company working with us today, and they had four ships shot down in a L. Z. (landing zone), so it is really active."

February 1967

"The action around here is still going on. They hit Saigon and Bein Hoa last night, and the Ammo Dump at Long Bien, plus bridges all over. When they hit the Ammo dump, I thought we were being hit here as it really made a roar. I had Staff Duty last night and had just gotten to bed (about 9:00), when it happened. I threw my covers ¾ of the way across the room and rolled out of bed to the floor. It can really shake a person up, even if it wasn’t an attack on us."

28 February 1967

"We had a little excitement around here. The VC finally decided to mortar Bearcat. They didn’t hit us hard at all, and no rounds even landed in our battalion area."