Hoc Mon Detachment
212th MP Company (Sentry Dog)

18th MP Brigade

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This Page Last Updated   4 January 2012

89th MP Group

720th MP Battalion

Hoc Mon was located in Gia Dinh Province, Corps Tactical Zone / Military Region III, on Highway QL-1, midway between Saigon and Cu Chi.

September 1965 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery, a "HAWK" missile unit arrived in-country in September, was attached subordinate to MACV, and stationed within Tan Son Nhut Airbase. Their cantonment was located at the northwest area of the base close to the ammunition storage depot and Gate 0-55.

     North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) pilots had been going to the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR-Communist Russia) since 1959 at a rate of about forty per annum. They had been sent to Krasnodar to participate in a five-year training program in the MiG-17, single-engine fighter or the IL-28 (BEAGLE) light bomber aircraft they acquired through Communist China in early 1964. Their unit departed the airbase in September 1968 for assignment elsewhere. For additional information and photographs of A Battery, 6th Battalion 56th Artillery, use this Link.

56th Artillery Regiment Air Defense

      The heightened air threat from North Vietnam and the lack of allied low altitude radar coverage in the region meant that if the enemy chose to exploit this weakness it was estimated that the bases in South Vietnam and northeast Thailand would be open to attack.

      The troops of the 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery Regiment (Hawk Missile) established cantonments ready to defend their assigned air bases, fuel and ammo dumps, cities, major troop concentrations areas and free world ports in the Republic of South Vietnam.

     The United States Air Force, Hawk missile battalions, Duster 40MM Gun, Quad 50s and Vulcan tied in to an integrated early warning air defense system gave the allied forces in the Republic of South Vietnam an air defense force in depth.

15 December 1966 A Battery, 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery (HAWK) moved from Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Saigon to Hoc Mon. Battery A located in the Hoc Mon District of Gia Dinh Province (XT808029), was isolated for the first three weeks of TET and requiring helicopter resupply of rations, water, ammunition, and POL the men performed the assigned mission and stood ready to defend their battery.

1 February 1968 HQ 97th Artillery Group mobilized the organic transport capability, augmented this force with additional vehicles from the 79th Ordnance Detachment, and the 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery to provide thirty-five 2½-ton trucks to the Joint Defense Operations Center  on an on-call as needed basis.

2–20 February 1968 The vehicles were used to support a task force composed of elements of the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions and the 101st Airborne Division deployed in the Saigon/Bien Hoa area.

Reflections: I had just flown over from Okinawa after training, on a C130 with seven other dog handlers on 22 December 1967. My dog was named Shadow (X008). I remember seeing the Bob Hope show 23 December when I first arrived. I spent a week in Long Binh Post then I was attached to the A Battery, 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery in Hoc Mon. There were three Sentry Dog handlers and 12 MPs from another unit at this Hawk Missile Battery in the Jungle.

     I patrolled from 12 midnight until 0600 (6:00 am) every day until the Tet Offensive. The troops that attacked Saigon formed in our area and kept us in bunkers for 56 days. We still patrolled and escorted convoys as we could. I and my fellow MPs from the 720th escorted the first convoy from the Iron Triangle back to Saigon.

     We came in picking up a chopper escort and numerous other vehicles that joined the convoy. When I looked back to the rear of the convoy I could not see the end. People along the road ran out and yelled and applauded our arrival. It was a great day! The 6/56th moved from when I had less than two weeks on my tour.

     The dog handlers walked shifts at night. I always had the 12-6 am shift. We would walk in the battery and around the outskirts and through friendly lines as necessary. Shadow bit me 5 times during our tour. He once broke a NVA soldiers angle when the soldier tried to run from a group we were guarding. The Captain saw this and made Shadow the prisoner guard dog when we had prisoners.

     During the day we would escort patrols to Saigon or other bases and take body counts. We had mounted 50's on 3/4 ton truck, and M60's on jeep's. I had the privilege of being on the first convoy escort back to Saigon after Tet. We had chopper escorts once we hit Plantation Road.

     Our battery had 138 troops. Hawk Missiles, and Counter Mortar Radar (Top Secret at that time). We had 105's and 155's come in at times for field support operations. We had a free fire zone during TET, and we had many firefights.

     I have 5 campaign stars. We worked with the 101st Airborne, 1st Infantry, ARVN's, Australians, Koreans and Turkish soldiers. We had half-tents connected by wooden walk ways. We also had a mess hall that was a half-tent and showers that were heated by the sun on the water tank overhead.

     The CO and Sergeant Major did have a wood frame building for an office. The SM had the Sentry Dog handlers and MPs directly report to him through a SFC. But we were mostly left alone to perform security and guard since we were all trained MPs and Sentry Dog Handlers.

      We had four concrete kennels with steel fencing half way up each side. We had a fenced training area with a obstacle course for the dogs. On high alerts we would sling hammocks in the kennel and sleep there with the dogs. I believe that the other MPs were from Saigon. Every time we escorted a convoy in we would link up with the MPs there, and hit the bars in Saigon with them. We would go to the EM/NCO club in Saigon for Filet Mignon for a $1.50

      I do not remember a lot of details of my tour except I knew I did not want to be there and was scared every waking hour. SP/4 Thomas Wolfe, 212th MP Company, 95th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade.