18th Bde.
1968 Operation OVERTAKE Time Line
18th MP Brigade, 89th MP Group, 716th, 92nd, 95th, 720th MP Battalion's
~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association ~ Vietnam History Project ~
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89th GP
95th
720th
Quan Canh
Canh Sat

WANTED: Interviews of the soldiers that worked the Overtake Escorts regardless of unit or MOS. If you have Information, photos, personal stories, or documents to contribute, please use the Email Link above.
Operational control would be reassigned from 92nd MP Battalion
to 95th MP Battalion in April
OVERTAKE  Day
        The Military Police were initially assigned to five roving patrols and eleven vehicles as static (fixed) posts, monitoring the contracted vehicles as they progressed along Highway #316 (later designated as Highway QL-1A) from the Newport Docks in Saigon to the supply depots at Long Binh Post. The Operation OVERTAKE "Day" assignment operated daily between 0700 hours (7:00AM) and 1900 hours (7:00PM).

        Due to the number of civilian non contract vehicles on the highways during the daylight hours, close monitoring of all the U.S. contract vehicles was almost impossible. The black marketers, who were very well organized, would have their drivers feign mechanical problems or leave the convoy route at prearranged isolated locations along the highway and waiting crews would unload the truck contents consisting of high demand cargo within minutes. The truck would be left abandoned and the stolen cargo would find its way to the vast black market enterprises throughout South Vietnam. The drivers would also disappear and later reappear with new false identification cards and start all over again with a different contractor. It was a very lucrative and well organized criminal enterprise.
        When the initial daytime plan of "staggered static highway checkpoints" and roving patrols along the highway route proved ineffective, Operation OVERTAKE "Darkness" was initiated. Darkness was the official name for the added operation which was referred to by the MPs that worked it as Night Overtake.
OVERTAKE  Darkness (night runs)

        Night runs of smaller serials of trucks would completely eliminate the traffic problem, lessen the turn around time, the need for MP's check points and and increase the security and control. The primary concern then became enemy activity. The small convoys with limited security, being run on the highways every night was immediately observed by the local Viet Cong units and became viable targets for enemy ambush.

        The contract vehicles were formed into small convoy serials where they could be closely controlled and monitored. Instead of the eleven static post and five roving patrols, nine gun jeeps from A Company, and two Armored Personnel Carriers from C Company were provided.

       Night escorts of Operation OVERTAKE had the increased the hazard of enemy ambush ten fold, however during the hours of darkness unescorted military and civilian traffic was prohibited and the MP escorts could better control and monitor the convoys to prevent diversion and theft.

       Often as many as nine round trip convoys per night were conducted with two convoys on the roadway simultaneously, one coming north from the Newport Docks at Saigon and one returning south from Long Binh Post to pick up additional cargo at the docks. This made them predictable targets for Viet Cong ambush.

OVERTAKE Time Line 1968
Thu Duc
Check Point
Exact date unknown, Truck In The River Two to three men deserve the Soldiers Medal. I was the NCOIC in the last jeep and saw the truck go off the Newport Bridge. It was part of the Overtake Convoy heading north. We broke the convoy off with the lead jeep, dropped the middle jeep to tails duty.

        I kept two jeeps there at the accident. We went down to the ARVN camp, the mud was like quicksand and deep. The MPs had to lay on their stomachs and crawl along the surface slowly, approximately 200 yards to get to the driver.

       The driver was yelling he was OK but was scared to move. I was afrade the tide would come in and wash the driver and truck away. I found an American civilian contractor crane operating at the docks, and spent almost an hour trying to convince him into coming to the scene. The crane operator dropped a line with a cargo net on it down to the driver and MPs and lifted them to the bridge on two trips.

       From start to finish it took approximately 2 to 3 hours. The truck driver had only a broken leg or arm. I can not recall names. Both of the MPs were covered with mud and leeches from head to toe. They stood there burning off the leeches with a cigarette. The 716th MP Battalion units had arrived at the scene during the rescue attempt and they handled the accident investigation when the A Company units left. SSG Michael J. Maratea, A Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, January 1968-January 1969.

February C Company was tasked with assigning two Armored Personnel Carriers (APC's) and six MPs each night to provide added security to the escorts from the Newport Docks through "Rocket Alley" to the Tu Duc Intersection.
26 March, 0054 hours At 12:54AM, SGT Hefflinger, 89th MP Group, was notified that the Operation Overtake convoy was ambushed by an unknown size enemy force approximately 200 meters south of the Philco Ford motor pool at grid coordinates [map location] XS935981. The convoy took fire for fifteen to twenty seconds without returning fire. Two Equipment Incorporated vehicles were hit by small arms and automatic weapons fire. There were no casualties or injuries reported.
The Overtake Ambush I came across your website and was interested to see the bit about the "ambush" on 26 March during the early morning hours.

        I was in Vietnam with the US Army from August 1966 until February 1968 when I ETS'd in country. My first employment as a civilian was with Equipment Incorporated at Thu Duc as a Security Specialist. Our job was to ride the convoys in International Pick Up trucks, and attempt to detect and prevent diversions of cargo. I worked for Equipment Inc. from around the end of February 1968 until they lost their contract with the US Army around November of that year. Philco Ford took over both contracts at that time.

        I was involved with the convoy which took fire from the woods south of the compound. Our compound was right next to the Philco Ford compound on the highway [ Highway 316 aka 1A ]. As soon as we took fire we got the hell out of there and our MP security hosed down the area. I think that as soon as it was daylight there was a recon into the area which met with negative results.

      The Equipment compound was in communication with Overtake at Long Binh Post via our motorola radio system - If I recall correctly one of the call signs was "Pimpwood." Nigel Brooks, U.S. Civilian Contractor, Equipment Incorporated.
8 April The primary responsibility for operational control was reassigned from the 92nd MP Battalion (Saigon) to the 95th MP Battalion, Long Binh Post, utilizing A Company, 720th MP Battalion. A Company provided ninety-five enlisted men, two officers, six APC's, and twenty-eight gun jeeps daily to maintain the day and night escort missions.
92nd
95th
Long Binh Post PMO

        Based on currently available official battalion records in possession of the Vietnam History Project archives, the mission within the battalion was exclusive to A Company with C Company occasionally being called on to provide additional APC or V100 Armored Commando Car support.

        Operation OVERTAKE daily operations command and control continued to operate in a separate room at the Long Binh Post Provost Marshals Office located just inside the main gate.

       Daily operational control dispatch and assignment logs were separately maintained by Overtake.

        The 720th MP Battalion assigned fifty-five enlisted men, two Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and twenty-six gun jeeps daily to provide the needed security.

       The combined patrols also included members of the Quan Canh (QC), Vietnamese Army Military Police.
Quan Canh
Cargo Thefts
May-June

28 May, 1700 hours SFC Roger F. Ruggles (S3 Battalion Operations) received a message at 5:00 PM, through Operation Overtake concerning the Viet Cong digging emplacements.

1815 hours A message relating a sabotage attempt was received at 6:15 PM, from Operation Overtake through SFC Roger F. Ruggles, Battalion S3 Operations.

2240 hours Battalion TOC, received messages from SGT Payton (Telephone #6996) of Overtake at 10:40 PM, in reference to the Overtake personnel not being at the Newport staging area, Operations Officer, 300th MP Company is complainant (CPT Jenkinson), Desk Sergeant Tallent [Overtake] was in conversation with CPT Jenkinson concerning this.

2250 hours At 10:50 PM, SSG John Herman Wilkens,  SP/4 Dennis Rae Mason, and PFC Roy William Neal. all of A Company, were killed in a Viet Cong Ambush of their OVERTAKE Night escort jeep while proceeding to the Newport Docks on Highway 1A (#316), in an area known as "Rocket Alley" in Gia Dinh Province.

        The Viet Cong fired two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG’s) and small arms fire at the MP jeep.
Wilkens
Mason
Neal
        One RPG struck PFC Neal, the other the jeep, causing it to flip over and burst into flame. All three men died in the attack. It was later determined that SSG Wilkens had managed to empty one magazine from his M-16 rifle at the attackers before succumbing to his wounds.
29 May, 0245 Hours LT Volt notified this office at 2:45 AM that Expended Ordinance Disposal (EOD) completed blowing up in place up the M-79 grenade rounds that were burned as a result of the Viet Cong Ambush of the A Company gun jeep. The roadway is now open to normal traffic.

        CPT Steven Vass, Jr., Operations Officer (S3), of Headquarters Detachment, 720th MP Battalion, contacted MAJ Tuy, Police Chief of Gia Dinh Province, and requested that fifty Cahn Sat's [Vietnamese National Police] be attached to the 720th MP Battalion for duty to assist with Operation OVERTAKE escorts. MAJ Tuy agreed with the request and immediately assigned fifteen officers from his Gia Dinh and twelve from Thu Duc. That same day the National Police arrived at Long Binh Post and were billeted in the A Company compound. The initial request for fifty officers was later downgraded to thirty one.
Canh Sat

1905 hours An unknown size enemy force fired one Rocket Propelled Grenade round at one of the Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) in the Overtake Escort that was proceeding south on Highway 1A in the vicinity of of Grid Coordinates [map location] XS 925958. The RPG struck a telephone pole on the side of the highway. There were no damages or casualties, all Overtake convoys were halted until further notice.
2125 hours SGT Steven O. Payton [A Company] of Overtake, notified CPT Steven Vass, Jr. S-3, Battalion Operations, at 9:25 PM, that an element of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry at the north end of the Newport Bridge, had located a two foot long "ticking" boxes suspended from the bridge on the east side. Expended Ordinance Disposal [EOD] is on the scene conducting an examination.
2258 hours Information was received from 1LT Darryl K. Solomonson [B Company], Staff Duty Officer, at 10:58 PM, that the Overtake Convoy halted due to enemy activity on Highway 1-A at 1905 hours (7:05 PM) this date, were once again permitted to continue. Elements of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment conducted a sweep of the area with negative results for additional enemy.
11th
31 May, 1137 Hours SGT Steven O. Payton [A Company], Overtake Headquarters, notified Battalion Tactical Operations Command at 11:37 PM, that the Overtake convoys were being held up until the source of incoming mortar rounds could be checked out to locate the direction they were coming from. The rounds were landing at Grid Coordinates [map location] XS 592934. Personnel of the 2/18 Infantry report they think the rounds are coming from friendly forces.

Exact date unknown First Cargo Theft Attempt PFC David E. Wilson, a machine gunner in one of the A Company three man gun jeep escort vehicles accompanying an early morning convoy discovered a civilian contractors truck had left the convoy route and fled down a side road off Highway 1A (#316). The patrol secured the truck that had become stuck on the soft shoulder of the dirt road, and recovered its cargo of $4,000.00 worth of C Rations. The truck driver had fled when his vehicle became disabled and he was unable to meet with his black marketer counterparts.
Photo MD0174: Members of A Company, 720th MP Battalion Operation OVERTAKE escorts and their Quan Canh counterparts inspect a truck that attempted to flee from the convoy on a side road of a village along Highway 1A (#316) in 1968. It is unknown if this was the first or second theft attempt for the same date. If you can identify these MP's or provide additional information on this photograph use this Email Link. Courtesy of the 18th MP Brigade News Paper, The Roundup.

Second Cargo Theft Attempt On the same convoy, two A Company gun jeeps commanded by SP/4 James E. Scott and SP/4 Jerry L. King positioned themselves on a parallel roadway from the highway and placed the convoy under surveillance. PFC Robert P. Seay, machine gunner, in SP/4 Scott’s jeep spotted another truck leaving Highway 1A onto a back roadway. They pursued the truck until its driver lost control and the truck became stuck in a ditch. The driver fled on foot and escaped capture. The truck cargo worth $1,536.00 was secured and recovered.

WANTED: Official information, personal accounts, or photographs on the two attempted cargo theft incidents or the date they occurred, please contact the History Project Manager via the Email Link in the photo or at the top of this page.
September CPT Jed O. Pancost, 89th MP Group Chaplin authored a prayer that related to Operation OVERTAKE. The prayer appeared in the Chaplain’s Corner in the September 1968 edition of the 18th MP Brigade Roundup News Paper.

10 September At 2019 hours [8:19PM], a north bound Operation OVERTAKE Night escort reported that the convoy received two rounds of Rocket Propelled Grenade fire, approximate fifty rounds automatic weapons fire from the east side of Highway 1A at Grid Coordinates (map location) XS926956.

        The Overtake units returned approximately one-hundred rounds of fire with their organic weapons causing unknown results. One APC received three rounds of small arms fire. There were no injuries or damage and the convoy with all vehicles proceeded north. The ARVN unit who had responsibility for the area was notified, but what action had been taken, if any, was unknown.
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