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Tom Briggs | all galleries >> Galleries >> 1966 Vietnam > Our Mission ...
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1966 tom briggs

Our Mission ...

Vietnam

The 92d Military Police Battalion was tasked with providing security along the major Saigon river waterway from Saigon to its exit into the South China Sea at Vung Tau. As shown, the river was always full of ships carrying supplies into Saigon from where the rest of the country was supplied by air or road. These ships are all anchored at Nha Be, a holding area about 20 miles outside of Saigon awaiting pier space. Look closely and you can see the anchor chains holding the ships in place. On occasion, the Viet Cong would send swimmers into the river to attach mines to the anchor chains. As the ship lay at anchor, it would sometimes turn with the tide and if it crossed the anchor chain, BOOM. We patrolled the river by air and water and had several high-speed patrol boats (PBRs) which were like mini-PT boats. As some of the other photos show, we were not always successful in preventing the sinking of these supply ships.


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Guest 21-Nov-2016 16:39
i flew air recon with the 1st infantry division out of phi loi to the northwest of this bend in the river i recall a night mission just along the north edge of the river , we watched the viet cong launch rockets out of the fields across the river , they targeted the ships but that night the rockets only hit the river , it was a beautiful sight, the ships lit up like a city in the total dark of the river, the night and the paddies. quite spectacular. talk about rockets red glare. funny how such a thing can be beautiful. still today it haunts me because a lrrp patrol was being over run just to the north of us and we monitored their distress calls and could see the explosions of the artillery they called in on themselves,
ps in the 1st we hated the mp's because of the harassment we faced when on the road outside of our base camp. you guys were the law in a lawless place, a hard jpb i am sure. i got patted down once and my gear searched once, always for pot but i never got caught. it is coming up on 50 years and the us government is trying to rewrite the history to put themselves in abetter historical light, hard to do when many of the leaders should be tried for war crimes. keep them honest with your own stories and pictures, we were just pawns in a war to crush the resistance to colonialism. the us came in on the wrong side.
rick robbrobb. 28-Feb-2013 20:59
i was their in 1972 on the shell tanker hyria from paula bukom island to nha be oil instalation great shot brought back memories
rick robbrobb. 28-Feb-2013 20:56
i was on the shell tanker hyria 1972 loved this pic brought back memories
XiaoBernard9927-Nov-2009 15:44
Another troubling picture with your comments..
Guest 27-Oct-2009 13:28
I appreciate the photo and the historical information! Great shot!
Dave Berry21-Aug-2009 00:51
They were sure resourceful and motivated. Great shot Tom. Voted
Dave
H. P. Henriksen Starman31-Dec-2008 14:51
Fine historical lesson.
Guest 28-Nov-2007 15:52
Fascinating image and story.
veraferia14-Oct-2007 03:06
Brave men!
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