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Last Updated 29 November 2014

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At the start of the month Battalion HQ Detachment, its organic letter companies and the 615th MP Company were headquartered subordinate to the 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, III Corps Tactical Zone, Bien Hoa Provence, Long Binh Post,  South Vietnam.

18th MP Brigade

89th MP Group

720th MP Battalion

Exact Date Unknown Nancy Sinatra performed at II Field Force Heradquarters on Long Binh Post.

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Reflection  "This is a photo of the C Company Mess Tent before the new Mess Hall was built. We performed K.P. (kitchen police) for a while when we first got over there. When they hired the civilian personnel we were all overjoyed. With the civilian K.P. people and the hooch maids cleaning our tents and shining our boots we thought we were in second heaven".   SP/4 Ronald F. Kidder, 1st Platoon, C Company, 720th MP Battalion.

     The new Battalion Mess Hall, a 500 seat facility, was completed and opened for operation. The improved facility enabled the mess operations to move from tents into a permanent building. The resulting improvement in the appearance of the mess hall and the improvement in the quality of food preparation greatly improved morale.

Reflection  "The food seemed to be getting better. Instead of powdered milk and eggs, we got irradiated sterilized milk that I think didn't have to be refrigerated. Fresh meat and vegetables also." Journal of SP/4 Allan M. Portnoy, B Company & 615th MP Company, 720th & 95th MP Battalions.

     The Viet Cong once again created havoc in the 3rd Ordnance Battalion Ammunition Supply Depot on Long Binh Post, when a group of pads containing over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles were destroyed.

Reflection  "While we were at our ambush point outside the perimeter they blew up 22 pads of ammunition in one of the other areas of the 3rd Ordinance Ammunition Supply Depot, Long Binh Post. We had to retreat and take cover under the jeep at the rear of our ambush point to avoid the falling shrapnel. I will never forget this because it happened on my birthday. My family told me this attack was covered in the news media due to the amount of ammo pads that were blown up.

     If I remember correctly Battalion S2 investigated this and found that the local Vietnamese that were hired to unload the ammo from the trucks planted satchel charges in it and that’s what blew up the ammo pads."  PFC James J. Hogan, C Company, 720th MP Battalion.

     President Lyndon B. Johnson sent a letter to President Ho Chi Minh Democratic Republic of (Communist) Vietnam offering a full military cease fire to enter into negotiations for a peaceful end to the conflict.

Dear Mr. President:

   I am writing to you in the hope that the conflict in Vietnam can be brought to an end. That conflict has already taken a heavy toll-in lives lost, in wounds inflicted, in property destroyed, and in simple human misery. If we fail to find a just and peaceful solution, history will judge us harshly.

   Therefore, I believe that we both have a heavy obligation to seek earnestly the path to peace. It is in response to that obligation that I am writing directly to you.

   We have tried over the past several years, in a variety of ways and through a number of channels, to convey to you and your colleagues our desire to achieve a peaceful settlement. For whatever reasons, these efforts have not achieved any results. . . .

   In the past two weeks, I have noted public statements by representatives of your government suggesting that you would be prepared to enter into direct bilateral talks with representatives of the U.S. Government, provided that we ceased "unconditionally" and permanently our bombing operations against your country and all military actions against it. In the last day, serious and responsible parties have assured us indirectly that this is in fact your proposal.

   Let me frankly state that I see two great difficulties with this proposal. In view of your public position, such action on our part would inevitably produce worldwide speculation that discussions were under way and would impair the privacy and secrecy of those discussions. Secondly, there would inevitably be grave concern on our part whether your government would make use of such action by us to improve its military position.

   With these problems in mind, I am prepared to move even further towards an ending of hostilities than your Government has proposed in either public statements or through private diplomatic channels. I am prepared to order a cessation of bombing against your country and the stopping of further augmentation of U.S. forces in South Viet-Nam as soon as I am assured that infiltration into South Viet-Nam by land and by sea has stopped. These acts of restraint on both sides would, I believe, make it possible for us to conduct serious and private discussions leading toward an early peace

   I make this proposal to you now with a specific sense of urgency arising from the imminent New Year holidays in Viet-Nam. If you are able to accept this proposal I see no reason why it could not take effect at the end of the New Year, or Tet, holidays. The proposal I have made would be greatly strengthened if your military authorities and those of the Government of South Viet-Nam could promptly negotiate an extension of the Tet truce.

   As to the site of the bilateral discussions I propose, there are several possibilities. We could, for example, have our representatives meet in Moscow where contacts have already occurred. They could meet in some other country such as Burma. You may have other arrangements or sites in mind, and I would try to meet your suggestions.

   The important thing is to end a conflict that has brought burdens to both our peoples, and above all to the people of South Viet-Nam. If you have any thoughts about the actions I propose , it would be most important that I receive them as soon as possible.

   Sincerely, Lyndon B. Johnson

    President Ho Chi Minh sent a leter to President Johnson rejecting his request (8 February) for direct talks between North Vietnam and the United States.

To His Excellency Mr. Lyndon B. Johnson,

President, United States of America

Your Excellency:

   On February 10, 1967, I received your message. This is my reply. Vietnam is thousands of miles away from the United States. The Vietnamese people have never done any harm to the United States. But contrary to the pledges made by its representative at the 1954 Geneva conference, the U.S. has ceaselessly intervened in Vietnam, it has unleashed and intensified the war of aggression in North Vietnam with a view to prolonging the partition of Vietnam and turning South Vietnam into a neocolony and a military base of the United States. For over two years now, the U.S. government has, with its air and naval forces, carried the war to the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam, an independent and sovereign country.

   The U.S. Government has committed war crimes, crimes against peace and against mankind. In South Vietnam, half a million U.S. and satellite troops have resorted to the most inhuman weapons and most barbarous methods of warfare, such as napalm, toxic chemicals and gases, to massacre our compatriots, destroy crops, and raze villages to the ground. In North Vietnam, thousands of U.S. aircraft have dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs, destroying towns, villages, factories, schools. In your message, you apparently deplore the sufferings and destruction in Vietnam. May I ask you: Who has perpetrated these monstrous crimes? It is the United States and satellite troops. The U.S. Government is entirely responsible for the extremely serious situation in Vietnam.

   The U.S. war of aggression against the Vietnamese people constitutes a challenge to the countries of the socialist camp, a threat to the national independence movement, and a serious danger to peace in Asia and the world.

   The Vietnamese people deeply love independence, freedom and peace. But in the face of U.S. aggression, they have risen up, united as one man, fearless of sacrifices and hardships. They are determined to carry on their resistance until they have won genuine independence and freedom and true peace. Our just cause enjoys strong sympathy and support from the peoples of the whole world, including broad sections of the American people.

   The U.S. Government has unleashed the war of aggression in Vietnam. It must cease this aggression. This is the only way to restoration of peace. The U.S. Government must stop definitely and unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, withdraw from South Vietnam all U.S. And satellite troops, recognize the South Vietnam National Front for Liberation, and let the Vietnamese people settle themselves their own affairs. Such is the basis of the five-point stand of the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which embodies the essential principles and parovision of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam; it is the basis of a correct political solution to the Vietnam problem

   In your message your suggested direct talks between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the United States. If the U.S. Government really wants these talks, it must first of all stop unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It is only after the unconditional cessation of U.S. bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the U.S. could enter into talks and discuss questions concerning the two sides.

   The Vietnamese people will never submit to force, they will never accept talks under threat of bombs.

   Our cause is absolutely just. It is to be hoped that the U.S. Government will act in accordance with reason.

   Sincerely, Ho Chi Minh

      A Battalion Chapel was constructed by the officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Battalion in a special off-duty construction session. During a staff meeting Battalion Commander LTC Kenneth Weinstein suggested the temporary tent chapel be replaced with a more permanent structure. Under the direction of SP/4 Larry G. Gibson, a C Company machine gunner who is a carpenter by trade in civilian life, a general purpose large tent was framed, the alter refurbished, and overhead fans and neon lights were installed. The construction started early in the morning and by evening everything was completed for services on Sunday morning. Battalion Chaplain (MAJ) Robert Jones assisted and provided guidance.

     This not only enhanced the appearance of the facility, but provided a place where training could be conducted and movies shown during inclement weather.

MAJ Jones