OUT ARMED FOE SAIGON --- At approximately 8 p.m. Dec, 4, in a Vietnamese cemetery nearly 2,000
yards northeast of Viet Cong who, when found, had began firing. They were killed by the U.S. guards. On a third sweep with the sentry dogs, they found four Viet Cong who had been in hidding underground. In the exchange which followed, they, too, were killed by the U.S. Air Policemen. All nine of the enemy killed possessed small arms or automatic rifles. They are believed to be part of the force which attacked the base the previous night. The defending force was from the 377th Air Police Squadron. There were no fatalities among the U.S. forces. A2C Robert A. Thorneburg, the guard who first found the VC, received a shoulder wound in the ensuing fire fight. His dog was also wounded, but not seriously. The action terminated about midnight, although flare dropping aircraft stayed over the base until dawn. |
Saigon --- Personal for Brigadier Gen. William W. Momyer from General Hunter Harris. Have just received a report from your headquarters that immediate reaction by air base security personnel of your command was successful in repulsing attempts by Viet Cong to infiltrate the base perimeter and inflict destruction. I was also informed that aircraft of your command were successful in immediately locating, and bringing under fire, sites from which mortar attacks came. This highly effective reaction by defensive forces blunted the Viet Cong attack and resulted in 18 VC killed, two captured. Please extend a "Well Done" to all concerned. |