
Occasionally
at USARV headquarters at night we would see Huey's and ever better Puff
attacking the hilly area around the base. Puffy was a sight to be
seen. B.T.
Night was approaching as Spooky 71, an AC-47 gunship, took off from
Bien Hoa Air Base, a few miles northwest of Saigon. It was Feb. 24,
1969, and the second day of the Tet counteroffensive.
The Tet lunar new year of 1968—the one history remembers—had seen
large-scale coordinated attacks on cities, provincial capitals, and
bases all over South Vietnam. Militarily, it was a failure for the North
Vietnamese, but it undercut the confidence of the American public and
it was a turning point in the war.
The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong
irregulars. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in
the III Corps area around Saigon.
The rocket and mortar attacks on the bases picked up when darkness
fell. Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such
attacks.
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