Ambush in An Hoa Hung Village
20 October 1968

We (B Company Ambush Team #76) were assigned to conduct a combat patrol of the roadway from Outpost #4 through Long Binh Tan to An Hoa Hung then on to Long Hung Village and spend the night as added security at Outpost #2. We were about half way between Long Binh and An Hoa Hung when we could hear automatic weapons fire to our southeast from the direction of the National Police Station in An Hoa Hung.

The ambush team assigned to that sector of An Hoa Hung Village had stopped at the National Police Station before starting off on their patrol. The station was manned by approximately twenty Canh Sat's [National Police] and PF's [Popular Forces] along with two B Company MP's, SP/4 Jack H. Buckner, Jr. and SP/4 Brownenberg.

SP/4 Brownenberg, who was scheduled to go home in two days was spending his last night in the TAOR. Naturally he had been celebrating at the police station and had consumed a respectable amount of village beer by the time the ambush team arrived.

SP/4 Brownenberg insisted on joining the ambush team and walking one last patrol in the village that night. The ambush team left the police station and, with SP/4 Brownenberg, went east down the path towards the back of the village.

On a clear night, which this was not, this part of the village is pitch black because of the tall canopy of trees around it. On this night you could just about see your hand held in front of your face. There were nights it was so dark you could see the florescence from the rotting vegetation.

The back end of the village is surrounded by numerous canals and beyond them is a vast wooded area. Many of the families in this part of the village have fathers and sons that are long time hard core Viet Cong. The most problematic VC family in this area lives in a hooch in front of a large, red brick two story rice mill that sits along the Rach Ben River. Their son is a member of the local VC platoon.

When the ambush team approached the hooch of the VC family near the rice mill they walked right smack into a VC patrol coming around the corner of the building. The VC opened fire first and SP/4 Richards of the 212th MP Company, Scout Dog Unit, who was walking point was immediately struck in the left hand. SP/4 Brownenberg who was right behind Richards, was struck with two rounds, one through each upper thigh, he went down. The PF interpreter was third in line and was not hit. Because of the darkness the rest of the ambush team could not be sure of the location of the three front men so they could not return suppressing fire on the VC. The shooting lasted only several seconds, the VC patrol were probably as surprised as the ambush team. The team moved into a defensive position around the wounded awaiting our arrival.

When we heard the shooting and radio transmissions we picked up our pace from a cautious walk to a full trot. Not knowing all the details at the time, my concern was that the first ambush might have been used to draw us into a second ambush. We were moving double time down both sides of the road through the dark village. The distance was just about a mile and I do not know how long it took us to travel it . At the time it seemed like hours but I am sure it was only minutes.

When we arrived they had already tended to the wounds of SP/4 Richards and SP/4 Brownenberg and we assisted in carrying Brownenburg back to the National Police Station. Because of the thick tree canopy and there was no space to land a Dust Off (medical evacuation helicopter), a 3/4 ton truck was brought in to take both of the wounded to the 24th Evacuation Hospital on Long Binh Post. Once the wounded were loaded on the truck, our team returned to the site of the ambush and searched the immediate area with the assistance of a light fire team called in from Bien Hoa Air Base.

The search lights from the choppers were almost totally negated by the tree canopies so we were very limited in out ability to see. We spent several hours searching the brick factory and the surrounding area in the dark without any success in locating the VC or drawing any response from them. A thorough search of the VC family hooch was also conducted with negative results. As usual the Mamasan and Papasan denied any knowledge of the incident. We returned to the National Police Station to spend the night as added security until a closer inspections of the area could be made in the morning light.

Upon returning to the site in the morning we found approximately one dozen expended US 7.62mm cartridges (M-14 and M-60 ammunition) and several sets of footprints leading towards the Rach Ben River behind the rice mill. The footprints included a VC with a crutch. It appears from the evidence at the ambush site that the ambush team and the VC patrol "unexpectedly" ran into each other in the darkness.

Later in the day I went to the 24th Evacuation Hospital to say good-bye to SP/4 Brownenberg. I found him laying in the hospital bed wearing his newly awarded purple heart on his hospital gown, a big smile on his face, and sporting a big hangover. I busted his ass about him almost losing his dick because of his beer muscles. He was one lucky son of a bitch, both rounds hit him in the inside of the upper thigh of both legs, just inches below his family jewels.

The ambush team caught a lot of flack from 2LT Chavis because they didn't return fire. For weeks he pounded us all constantly with the reminder. However, given the conditions of visibility at the time and the choice of possibly shooting your own wounded men or letting the VC escape, it wasn't a hard decision to arrive at, and I felt they made the right choice.

From the Journal of, CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP battalion, March 1968 to March 1969.