Attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, Vietnam, May 6, 1968

Here are recordings of an attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Saigon, Vietnam, on May 6, 1968On the recording, it's stated by
the airman recording the attack,
"I believe it's April 6th." (track
2 at 9:06). But when I created the
CDs from the ¼" tape (many
years later), at the very end, I
added it was "May 6th." (May 6,
1968 is the date written on the
¼" tape box and on the CDs.)
Searching the internet for attacks
on Tan Son Nhut Air Base in 1968
(see mini-tet offensive, 1968),
it seems more likely May 6th is
the probable correct date.. As soon as the first burst of rockets came in, a friend Nick (you can hear him talking at 49:32 of track 1) turned on his tape recorder to record the sounds of the attack, while I ran to a nearby sandbag bunker. Track 2 follows immediately from where track 1 leaves off, as I ripped these to CDs from a copy of the ¼" audio tape I got from Nick, and the whole 90 minutes wouldn't fit on a single CD. There is a lot of silence at times when little or no bombing, rockets landing, or shooting is going on, so basically, these mp3s are not something you want to just sit down and listen to for pleasure/entertainment. But when the action gets going, it can get pretty exciting.

Our barracks was right on the base perimeter, and the enemy was dug in in a field just across the perimeter fence. That's why you can hear RVN (Republic of Vietnam, our side) planes flying over dropping bombs and firing rockets,

and small arms and automatic weapons' fire from RVN troops being directed at the nearby Viet Cong so loudly. At at least one point, you can hear shrapnel from exploding bombs tinkling down on our barracks roof, and several times, you can hear bullets whizzing right by the screened windows of the barracks.

Most of us (but not all of us) remained in the sandbag bunker (I did!) during the attack until, as the rockets stopped slamming into the base, we figured it was safe to come out. Eventually, the all clear was given over the base's PA system.

The whole ordeal was pretty scary.

There were obviously others around as the tape recorder was running, so be forewarned, explicit language pops up occasionally during the 90 minutes of the recording.

Track 1

Track 2