720th

9 December 1967 ~ Saturday ~ Day 426
~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association ~ Vietnam History Project ~
This Page Last Updated ~ 17 August 2008

18th Bde.
 
 
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Enemy Weapons and Explosives Found, the VC Strike Back
 
  A Viet Cong (VC) arms cache was uncovered by a four boat force of the 720th MP Battalion River Patrol Units of A and B Company.
 
        The cache included two pounds of C4 plastic explosives, two pounds of Dynamite, an M-16 rifle, ammunition, one bayonet, four fragmentation grenades. The Dynamite was wired with an electrical blasting cap and was ready to be detonated. There were also two VC bodies located in the sunken sampan sitting on the bottom of a small cove in four feet of water just off the Buong River in the Tactical Area of Responsibility.
 
        The incident followed the discovery of a Russian made Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Tube on 8 December. The location of the cache was revealed by two Choi Hoi’s (VC defectors) accompanied by two ARVN (Army of The Republic of Vietnam) Special Agents, who directed the force to the scene of a sunken sampan.
 
        The importance of the cache was dangerously unveiled when an unknown size VC force opened fire with automatic and small arms at the search team from hidden positions in the thick jungle surrounding the cove. The MPs and their ARVN and PF (Popular Forces) soldiers engaged the hidden enemy until support arrived in the form of two Huey Cobra Gunships from Bien Hoa Air Base. The Cobra gunships peppered the surrounding area with machinegun fire allowing the boats to pull back to the main river without suffering any casualties, but prevented the recovery of the sunken sampan and VC bodies.
 
If you participated in this operation and can provide any additiona information, please take a moment to contact the History Project Manager at the Email Link provided above.
 
A Company Members members on the recovery team were, 1LT George A. Loftin, SGT Richard Walker, SP/4 Robert E. "Twigge" Henslee, SP/4 George Gillspie, SP/4 Thomas G. Lane, SP/4 ? Anderson, and PFC Max Ross.
 
First Name & Photograph Needed
1LT Loftin
SGT Walker
SP/4 Henslee
SP/4 Lane
SP/4 Anderson
PFC Ross