“CHARLIE’s AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE”

The Rung Sat is a 400-square mile mangrove swamp between Saigon and the Vietnamese coastline.  Four major rivers course through the otherwise impassable area, including the Long Tau shipping channel leading to Saigon.  The swamp was home to no one before the Vietnam war.  However, refugees took up residence during the 1960s on house boats or stilted huts.  The Viet Cong also frequented the area earning it the reputation as the “forest of assassins.”  Here they set shore-detonated mines and ambushed shipping traffic with recoilless rifles and rocket launchers.  So much activity plagued the area that the US Army launched Operation “Lexington” between 21 May and 9 June 1966.  In conjunction, our Navy launched Operation “Jackstay” to stop enemy riverine activity.

On the sinuous Song Dinh Ba River, LT Alex Balian watched the shore closely this day from PCF-41 as dusk approached.  The “old man” of the crew, BM2 Raleigh Godley, with his forty-ish years of experience, steadied the helm.  Above the pilothouse EN3 Charles Barham scanned the shore with binoculars beside twin .50 caliber machine guns.  It was a hot and muggy evening.

Using a common nickname for the VC, the LT warned, “Charlie’s around here somewhere,” just as a 57mm recoilless rifle round struck the fast patrol craft and the world exploded for RM2 Robert L. Keim.  The Radioman staggered to the pilothouse from the edge of the gunboat to which he had been blown.  The instrument panel and BM2 Godley at the wheel were gone.  Out of control, PCF gathered speed as Godley may have shoved the throttle forward in a dying effort to save PCF-41.  Balian reached the aft steering station as SN Ralph Powers and GMG3 Glenn Greene readied the 81mm mortar.  Then the patrol boat suddenly lurched and ran fast aground beneath the overhanging jungle canopy.  As everyone regained their feet Balian called, “We can hold them off until one of the other boats comes up here.”  But there was no help coming.  The thick jungle and sharp turns of the river shielded the sound of the attack from others.

When the Viet Cong reached PCF-41 the crew was ready.  Bullets and shells whizzed, and after emptying the ammo locker, Balian ordered everyone into the water.  The remaining crew piled into a life raft; the tide and current were in their favor.  Crocodiles, snakes, and voices of enemy guerrillas now kept their attention as they drifted.  To avoid detection the men slid into the water, holding onto the raft and enduring the stinging of jellyfish.  When they heard an engine in the distance Balian lifted his rifle into the air.  The radar shadow was sighted by a nearby PCF and the crew was rescued.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  27 MAY 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Calaunan, Jun.  “A Navy Jury Friday Convicted Capt. Alexander Balian.”  UPI Archives, 24 February 1989.  AT: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/02/24/A-Navy-jury-Friday-convicted-Capt-Alexander-Balian-of/9782604299600/, retrieved 3 May 2025.

Schreadley, Richard L.  From the Rivers to the Sea: The U.S. Navy in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1992, pp. 279.

“22 May 1966 Sinking of PCF-41.” Swiftboats website.  AT: http://swiftboats.net/stories/pcf41.htm.  Retrieved 15 April 2014.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  LT Balian was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in combating the VC and in saving his crew.  He remained in the Navy, eventually rising to the rank of CAPT.  However, his career was dealt a fatal blow when he was convicted of dereliction of duty at a court martial in February 1989.  In command of USS DUBUQUE (LPD-8) in June of the previous year, en route to the Persian Gulf, Balian had failed to rescue Vietnamese refugees adrift in the South China Sea in an unseaworthy boat.  Twenty-eight refugees had already died prior to DUBUQUE’s encounter, and though Balian passed a week’s worth of food and water to the refugees, 30 more succumbed before the boat drifted 300 additional miles to the Philippines.  The 52 refugees who survived did so by resorting to cannibalism.

Godley’s body was ultimately recovered.  He is remembered today on the wall of the Vietnam Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC.

The post “Charlie’s Around Here Somewhere” appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                              BATTLE OF THE BACH DANG RIVER

In 111 BC the powerful Han dynasty of southern China invaded and conquered the region to their south then called Nam Viet (now northern Vietnam).  Hungry for the fertile farmland of the Red River Valley and for Nam Viet’s seaports, the Hans annexed the territory into their Annan Province.  To the Chinese, the native Vietnamese were uncultured barbarians, and their domination was harsh.  They imposed heavy taxes, seized trade functions, and forced Chinese language, religion, and culture upon the Vietnamese–at the expense of native ethnicity and Viet national identity.  Sinification continued for the next 1000 years, broken only briefly in several short-lived revolts.

Then in 931 AD, Vietnamese leader Duong Dinh Nghe incited a successful revolt, declaring Annam (Vietnam) independent and himself as jiedushi, or regional military governor.  This lasted only seven years until Dinh Nghe was assassinated by pro-Chinese activist Cong Tien in 938 AD, triggering yet another Han army intervention.  This time the invaders were met by a Vietnamese nationalist force under the command of Ngo Quyen on the Bach Dang River near Ha Long Bay in what is now northern Vietnam.

Quyen’s 30,000 men were outnumbered 3:1 by the Han, who were embarked on powerful warships.  However, Quyen had his men emplaced sharpened, iron-tipped posts in the channel of the river, deeply enough to be covered at high tide.  He then baited the Han with his smaller, shallow-draft boats at the river’s mouth.  These retreated rapidly upriver at the appearance of the Chinese, on the flood tide.  The Han warships, eager for an easy victory, gave chase.  But as the tide ebbed over the prepared channel, the Chinese warships impaled themselves on the hidden poles.  Their hulls were crushed, and Han soldiers and sailors spilled into the river.  Tens of thousands drowned, including the Han commanding general Liu Hongcao.  Quyen now attacked, handily routing the remaining Chinese.  Upon hearing news of this defeat, Han emperor Liu Yan sent reinforcements overland to augment Cong Tien’s force.  But before the two could rendezvous, Quyen marched to Dai La, where he enveloped and annihilated Cong Tien.  The battles stemmed the Han invasion and cast off a millennium of Chinese domination.

Then again, 350 years later in 1288, another Vietnamese army used the same tactics, in the same river, with similar success to defeat invading Mongols under Omar Khan, son of Kublai Khan.

It is hard to overstate how indelibly millennia of oppression have inculcated an enduring Vietnamese passion for freedom and an abhorrence of any foreign occupation.  Sadly, neither we nor the French comprehended this in modern times.

Watch for more “Today n Naval History”  29 FEB 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Anderson, James A. and John K. Whitmore.  China’s Encounters on the South and Southwest: Reforging the Fiery Frontier Over Two Millennia.  Leiden, Netherlands, Brill Pub., 2014, pp. 129-30.

Karnow, Stanley.  Vietnam: A History.  New York, NY: Viking Press, 1983, pp. 98-101.

Turgeon, Al.  “History of the Vietnam Wars.”  Penn State University Osher Learning Institute lecture series, University Park, PA, 18 September-8 October 2018.

The post Battle of the Bach Dang River appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                                   19 JUNE 1968

                                      CELEBRATED SAR MISSION

Any search and rescue team member will tell you that no SAR mission is routine.  Such was the case shortly after midnight on this date, as LTJG Clyde E. Lassen and the crew of his UH-2 Seasprite helicopter hovered over the water a few miles off North Vietnam.  Standing the nightly SAR duty from USS PREBLE (DLG-15), they had been on station for nearly an hour.  Earlier, an F-4B from AMERICA (CVA-66) had “gone in,” and there had yet been no word from the pilot and RIO.  LTJG Clarence L. Cook’s radio next crackled with the information that the two were alive, under cover, in a hilly, heavily jungled area–with NVA troops closing in.

Guiding off flares dropped from a circling plane, Lassen reached the correct hill.  He selected a rice paddy nearby where he hovered a few feet off the water.  Small arms fire began to ping the chopper.  The door gunners, Aviation Machinist Mates Bruce B. Dallas and Donald N. West, streaked the night with return fire.  But the downed fliers could not reach the paddy through the thick jungle, so Lassen moved to an alternate position along the side of the hill.  Here large trees and tricky winds threatened the aircraft, and to make matters worse, as the rescue collar was being lowered to the first flier the illumination flares burned out!  Lassen lost all depth perception in the pitch blackness.  The Seasprite shuddered and the crew shouted in panic as the rotor bit into a tree trunk.  Using all his strength, Lassen gained control of the careening chopper.  Now low on fuel, he directed the fliers to try again for the rice paddy.

He hovered out of range until more flares arrived, then returned into intensifying ground fire at the rice paddy.  More bullets peppered the chopper as the door gunners kept the enemy at bay.  Miraculously, no one was hit.  Yet again the flares burned out!  With no fuel to await more illumination, Lassen threw caution to the wind and flipped on his landing lights.  Now a perfect target, Lassen scanned the night for the aviators, then, determined to save them, set the chopper down.  The gunners dueled heavily with the inrushing NVA.  A seeming eternity later the exhausted fliers clawed their way out of the jungle to safety, guided by the lights.  Lassen pulled up, then made for the coast.  He landed on the first friendly object he could find, the guided missile frigate JOUETT (DLG-29), with only five minutes of fuel left.

The recovery rate of downed fliers in Vietnam was higher than in any previous conflict.  Largely this was due to the actions of the undecorated heroes of SAR.  But for their gallantry and fearless bravery on this day, Lassen was awarded the Medal of Honor, Cook the Navy Cross, and Dallas and West, the Silver Star.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 JUN 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Mersky, Peter B. and Norman Polmar.  The Naval Air War in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1981, pp. 118-20.

Murphy, Edward F.  Vietnam Medal of Honor Heroes.  New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1987, pp. 131-33.

Stevens, Paul Drew.  The Navy Cross Vietnam:  Citations of Awards to Men of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps 1964-1973.  Forest Ranch, CA: Sharp and Dunnigan, 1987, p. 74.

United States Congress.  United States of America’s Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients and their Official Citations.  Columbia Heights, MN: Highland House II, 1994, p. 92.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Lassen received his Medal of Honor on 16 January 1969, along with MAJ Stephen Pless, a Marine Corps Huey pilot who had performed an equally heroic extraction in 1967.  They were the first naval aviators of the Vietnam war to receive the Medal of Honor.

On 24 August 1998, the keel was laid for our (then) newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, LASSEN (DDG-82), at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.  Lassen Building, aboard NSA Mid-South, Millington, TN, also remembers this officer.

The post Celebrated SAR Mission appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                     CAPT HOMER L. SMITH, USN

The weather could have been better!  The A4D Skyhawks of the VA-212 “Rampant Raiders” launched from USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31) early this morning.  CDR Homer Leroy Smith, the squadron CO, led from the front as he rolled his Skyhawk toward the target.  In the crosshairs for this second day of strikes was the geothermal power plant at Bac Giang.  The site was familiar to Smith.  Not a year before his squadron had hit a POL facility (petroleum, oil and lubricants) in the same ancient North Vietnamese city.  Indeed, Smith received the Silver Star for this earlier raid.  Neither did the prowess of his “Raiders” go unnoticed.  His was the first squadron chosen to deploy the new AGM-62 “Walleye” television-guided bomb.

Conditions weren’t any different over the target.  Sandwiched into a thin layer of clear air between the low clouds and the ground, Smith jinked his warplane violently against a rising wave of anti-aircraft fire.  Bullets peppered his fuselage and smoke poured from his exhaust.  His Skyhawk was breaking up!  Smith had no choice–he punched out.  The squadron completed their attack, significantly damaging the power plant.  Smith was last seen on the ground, hands held high, surrounded by enemy soldiers.

Nothing more was heard from CDR Smith for five years.  Then in 1972 a propaganda film released by North Vietnam showed Smith’s flight helmet.  Late that year the last US troops “in country” were withdrawn, and in February 1973, 591 POWs held by the North Vietnamese were returned.  Smith was not among them.  It was learned from another POW that the Commander had died in captivity.  Downed American airmen were often subjected to brutal beatings and torture at the hands of those by whom they were first captured.  For CDR Smith this abuse was apparently violent.  Based on the available information, the Navy established the date of his death as 21 May 1967, the day after his capture.  His remains were returned without explanation on 15 March 1974.

Smith was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions this day.  He was interred on 20 May 1974 with full military honors at the Naval Academy cemetery–the institution from which he had graduated in 1949.  His career included tours at NAS Akron, NAS Lemoore, and as an instructor at the Naval Academy and in the ROTC program at the University of Southern California.  At the time he was shot down he was on his second combat tour in Vietnam, flying his 200^th mission.  He has been honored since by his native West Virginia with the naming of the “U.S. Navy CAPT Homer Leroy Smith Memorial Bridge” which carries WV State Route 18 over the Middle Island Creek in Tyler County.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  27 MAY 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

“Bridge Dedication–CAPT Homer L. Smith USN VN KIA–Middlebourne WV–18 Aug 18.”  WV Patriot Guard website.  AT:  https://wvpatriotguard.org/bridge-dedication-capt-homer-l-smith-usn-vn-kia-middlebourne-wv-18-aug-18/, retrieved 30 July 2019.

“Homer L. Smith, CAPT, USN.”  Naval Academy Memorial Hall website.  AT: https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/homer_l._smith,_capt,_usn, retrieved 28 July 2019.

Stevens, Paul Drew.  The Navy Cross Vietnam:  Citations of Awards to Men of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps 1964-1973.  Forest Ranch, CA: Sharp and Dunnigan, 1987, p. 303.

The post CAPT Homer L. Smith, USN appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                   CUNNINGHAM vs. “COL TOMB”

The title of “ace” has never been officially recognized by the US military.  It originated in the French air force of WWI for whom it was a formal honor conferred on pilots downing five enemy aircraft.  When LT David S. Ingalls, USN, scored his fifth kill from his Sopwith Camel on 24 September 1918, he became our first unofficial “ace.”  Our Navy’s most successful “ace” was CDR David McCampbell, flying an F6F Hellcat in the Pacific in WWII, credited with 34 enemy kills.  Today marks the first American “aces” of the Vietnam Conflict, a Navy F-4J pilot and radar intercept officer.

During the renewed bombing campaign against North Vietnam of 1972, the pilots of the VF-96 “Fighting Falcons” aboard CONSTELLATION (CVA-64) found themselves engaging enemy MiGs.  On 19 January 1972, LT Randall H. “Duke” Cunningham and his RIO, LTJG William P. “Irish” Driscoll, scored a kill, a MiG-21.  Four months later increasing North Vietnamese Air Force activity provided Cunningham and Driscoll their 2^nd kill, a MiG-17, on May 8^th.

On the morning of May 10^th, the pair took off to escort an A-6/A-7 strike against the rail yards at Hai Duong.  After dropping ordnance on a storage building, Cunningham climbed to engage the estimated 22 MiGs that rose in defense.  They downed their first of that day when Cunningham turned sharply to chase two MiG-17s off his wingman’s tail.  Then, noticing another Phantom with three enemy in pursuit, Cunningham turned again.  Another Sidewinder splashed one of these.  Four enemy planes now descended on his F-4, and “Duke” turned for the coast on afterburners.

On the way out they spotted a camouflaged MiG-17 against the canopy below.  Cunningham engaged, endeavoring to bring the F-4s horsepower advantage to bear.  But neither American expected the spectacular aerial dance that ensued!  Repeatedly, Cunningham strained for position over this unusually skilled opponent.  The jets traded loops, rolling scissors, and sharp turns, and each gained and lost the advantage several times.  This cagy dogfighter proved elusive until, nearly out of fuel, he broke head-first toward the ground to escape.  Cunningham wasn’t sure his heat-seeking Sidewinders could pick up his opponent against the jungle below but fired anyway.  The missile crawled up the enemy’s tailpipe, and the MiG impacted the ground at a 45^o angle.  Though his true identity has never been established, rumor holds that the last opponent this day was the infamous “Colonel Tomb,” North Vietnam’s top ace and national hero, with an unconfirmed 13 US aircraft downings to his credit.  Cunningham and Driscoll both received the Navy Cross.  They are our only Navy “aces” of the Vietnam war and, as well, our most recent “aces.”

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  15 MAY 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cunningham, Randy and Jeff Ethell.  Fox Two:  The Story of America’s First Ace in Vietnam.  Mesa, AZ: Champlin Fighter Museum, 1984, 98-113.

Foss, Joe and Matthew Brennan.  Top Guns.  New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1991, pp. 409-44.

Mersky, Peter B. and Norman Polmar.  The Naval Air War in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Pub., 1981, pp. 186-90.

Site visit, San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego, CA, 12 May 1992.

Stevens, Paul Drew.  The Navy Cross Vietnam:  Citations of Awards to Men of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps 1964-1973.  Forest Ranch, CA: Sharp and Dunnigan, 1987, pp. 82, 102.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, pp. 263-64.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  For years the enclosed central courtyard of the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park displayed a mock-up of this aerial duel.  “MiG” is a western acronym for the Mikoyan Aircraft Corporation, named for its founder.  The American military adopted codenames for all Russian aircraft; names beginning with “F” were given to fighters, names beginning with “B” for bombers.  In US circles the MiG-17 is the “Fresco” and the MiG-21 the “Fishbed.”

Though the exemplary deeds of our Naval heroes inspire admiration, our heroes are, after all, only human.  Following his 21-year Navy career, Cunningham served for 15 years in Congress as the Federal Representative from the 51^st District of northern San Diego County, California.  He resigned his seat abruptly in 2005, however, after pleading guilty to charges of bribery and corruption.  He paid $1.8 million in restitution and served his entire 8-year term in the federal penitentiary in Tucson.  He was released in 2013 and was granted a conditional pardon by President Donald Trump.

1. 

   I have added you to the distribution list Thank you for the kind words

2. 

   Thank you for the continued documentation of our Naval history. I live on Whidbey Island. Here the navy is most…

3. 

   I wondered the same, John. All I can say is, Since there are different spanks for different ranks, perhaps there…

4. 

   As a retired Navy orthopedic hand surgeon, I want to thank you for publishing this remarkable story. At the time…

5. 

   As you know, I enjoyed Sicily for two years at Sigonella. Fortunately the Sicilians had the good sense to preserve…

The post Cunningham vs. “Col Tomb” appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                        16 FEBRUARY 1965

                        VUNG RO INCIDENT

In 1965, the US was becoming more heavily involved in Vietnam with each passing day.  Though war had not been declared and we were officially only “advising” the South Vietnamese, there were already over 23,000 US troops “in country.”  In spite of our presence, well-supplied Viet Cong infiltrators had executed a series of attacks within South Vietnam; on the Ben Hoa airbase, on the Brink BOQ in Saigon and on a military barracks at Pleiku.  American deaths in these attacks worried US planners because little progress had been made in identifying the VC’s clandestine supply lines from North Vietnam.  It was suspected, in the absence of hard evidence, that the bulk of these supplies were moving down the South Vietnamese coast in the thousands of junks, trawlers, and sampans that plied those waters. 

Then this morning, Army 1^st LT James S. Bowers flew a medical mission in his UH-1B “Huey” southward along the coast of central South Vietnam.  Around 1030 he banked to pass the lush green shores of Vung Ro Bay, dotted with picturesque islets, when his eye caught the unmistakable trace of motion.  One of the tiny islands was moving!  Closer inspection revealed it to be hardly an island at all, but a trawler whose deck was camouflaged with potted plants.  Bowers notified the 2^nd Coast Zone naval advisor, LCDR Harvey P. Rodgers, who alerted his counterpart in the South Vietnamese Navy, LCDR Ho Van Ky Thoai.  Three airstrikes by South Vietnamese AD-1 Skyraiders beached the trawler.  On a fourth strike small arms fire was returned, and crates were observed being stacked on the shore.

American advisors pressed hard for an investigation of the site.  However, over the next two days, the South Vietnamese Navy stumbled in several attempts to land troops near the trawler, turned away each time by small arms fire.  Frustrated advisors sent Navy SEAL LT Franklin W. Anderson to lead South Vietnamese special forces in a shore assault.  They secured the area on the 19^th.  Though much of the trawler’s cargo had already been removed a five-day search of the area yielded caches of arms, ammunition and medical supplies totaling over 100 tons.  Documents recovered from the trawler included a Haiphong newspaper, letters addressed to North Vietnam, and military records of NVA soldiers.  The vessel was identified as Unit K.35 of the North Vietnamese Naval Transport Group 125, and further paperwork indicated that she had logged 22 previous trips south!

Suspicions were confirmed.  Naval planners began immediate efforts to stem further filibustering.  By March 11^th the 7^th Fleet destroyers BLACK (DD-666) and HIGBEE (DD-806) began the patrols that would soon grow to become Operation “Market Time.”

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  21 FEB 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cutler, Thomas J.  Brown Water, Black Berets: Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1988, pp. 76-79.

Schreadley, Richard L.  From the Rivers to the Sea: The U.S. Navy in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1992, pp. 78-82.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Subsequent US Navy and Coast Guard efforts against this waterborne supply line were successful to the point that the North Vietnamese employed alternative routes.  A system of jungle trails along Vietnam’s western border with Cambodia became the premier route–the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The post Vung Ro Incident appeared first on Today in Naval History.