First Battle of Saigon

"The company was firing like hell with .50-cals and M60s, but they couldn't get out of there," said MacGill, who was overhead with Gibler. "They were totally blocked in. I thought we were going to lose the whole company." Three GIs were killed and the B/5-60th Mech commander was among the sixteen wounded. "We couldn't get any artillery or close air support in there," Gibler recalled bitterly, noting the restrictions placed on U.S. units in Saigon to minimize casualties and property damage.

Huey gunships were made available instead, and after an hour of nonstop gun runs on the cemetery, the VC broke. Company B/5-60th Mech backed out of the ambuscade, and joined Company C/5-60th Mech in response to a frantic call for assistance at the Phu Tho racetrack. A large Viet Cong force was attacking from the west.

The added firepower of the two arriving armored-infantry companies broke the counterattack. The 3rd Battalion 7th Infantry swept the area around the racetrack for the next two days, reinforced by tracked M42 "Dusters" with twin, rapid-firing 40mm cannons in an open turret. "The twin-40s were a lifesaver," said MacGill. "Whenever we ran into resistance in a building, the company commander in contact would pull a Duster up and point out which room was giving him trouble, then they would wheel up there and pop four or five rounds through the window real quick. The shrapnel effect on the inside of the room just cleared 'em right out." The fighting ebbed and flowed for several days as the VC troops continued to attempt to rally there. Eventually personnel from every Viet Cong unit in the Saigon offensive was identified in the area.

Clearing operations in Saigon were originally designed to be a South Vietnamese show, with American units limited to blocking actions and screening operation in the suburbs. Between February 4th and 5th , General Ware shifted all U.S. units out of the capital at the request of the ARVN, which wanted the honor of clearing Saigon in coded operation TRAN HUNG DAO. On February 9th, Gibler's 3rd Battalion 7th Infantry redeployed to the racetrack to release the ARVN units securing the complex for ongoing Cholon battle.

Bill Schroeder helicoptered in the next day with a mission from TF Ware. Schroeder broke open his map and put his finger on the Phu Lam pagoda three klicks west of the racetrack in the rice-paddy fringe of Saigon. ARVN intelligence indicated that General Do's command post was entrenched in tunnels and bunkers in an adjacent cemetery. "The ARVN want to go in and wipe 'em out if you'll block for 'em," Schroeder said. "Bullshit!" Gibler rejoined. "I've got armor here, buddy. I'm going after 'em..."

The attack was launched on February 11th. Gibler commanded the operation from the ground, turning his C&C over for use in medevacking B and D 3-7th Infantry's six KIAs and fourteen wounded as they ran into heavy contact while surrounding the enemy headquarters. With the VC boxed in, the Dusters chewed the bunkers up with their twin-40s. The body count was forty-nine, and four prisoners were taken, along with radios, documents, etc. General Do, however, was nowhere to be found.

Although a renewed Viet Cong assault was made February 17th and 18th, with fifty-seven rocket shellings and ten firefight erupting inside Saigon and Cholon, the second wave effort quickly sputtered out. The Tet-68 Battle for Saigon ended after a final fierce battle between ARVN Rangers and main force Viet Cong in the Cholon sector March 7th. The Vietnam War had come to Saigon with a vengeance, and it would be hit again that May on a smaller scale.

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