Jay Gearhart
Tank Battle Ben Het
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| "Damaged PT-76 at Ben Het" |
I served with the 299th Cbt Engr Bt. from Jan. 69 thru Aug.70. The first 7 months were in the Dak To Ben Het area. In Feb of 69, my squad was sent from Dak To to Ben het to try to keep RT 512 open for Ben Het's resuply. That didn't work out very well because the NVA's 40th artillery kept us pinned down for the next two months. I was there on March 3rd when the NVA launched a tank attack, using PT 76 Light amphibious tanks to attack our North Hill. Luckily for us the 69th Armor had a couple of our main battle tanks on that hill. An anti-tank mine got one of their tanks & the 69th armor took care of the rest. The next morning we went out & surveyed the damage. Two destroyed PT 76's & a troop carrier of some kind. We drug the best of the damaged PT 76's back to Ben Het. The photo I took is just after we un-hooked it from a M 88. The brothers from the 69th armor saved our asses that day.
Jay Gearhart <jaybird718@charter.net>
Traverse City, Mich. USA - Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 14:23:26 (PDT)