~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association Vietnam History Project ~
Cat Lai Detachment
188th MP Company, III Corps Tactical Zone ~ Vietnam
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This Page Was Last Updated   11 March 2012
USARV
11th Trans
Battalion
18th MP
Brigade

   Cat Lai was located at the intersection of the the Dong Nai and Nha Be Rivers, east of Saigon, and was developed into the U.S. Naval Intermediate Support Base, a naval logistic installation during the Vietnam War.

1966 Cat Lai supplied American and Vietnamese river force operating bases in the Capital Military Region with maintenance, financial, repair, material, and administrative support.

89th MP
Group

   In September of 1971, after Training Vietnamese Navy personnel to carry out these logistic responsibilities, the U.S. Navy withdrew its advisors and disestablished the Cat Lai base as a U.S. installation.

   WANTED: Interviews, information, stories, photographs from the members of the 188th MP Company that worked the Cat Lai Detachment. Use the Email Link at the top of this page to contact the History Project Manager.
92nd MP
Battalion
1967

   The 11th Transportation Battalion had two terminal service companies, a tug boat and transport detachments located at Cat Lai. Total strength at the base camp was approximately 400 personnel. At this point the Dong Nai River was about a half mile wide with a rapid current. There were villages on each side of the river with a ferryboat service that transported civilian and military traffic back and forth.

   The ammunition ships that used the Cat Lai terminal were WWII Liberty ships, each loaded with more than 10,000 tons of high explosives. The ships would drop anchor in the middle of the river. Their cargo was then off-loaded on to barges anchored in the river awaiting transport orders. The barges were towed up river to the Cogido Docks south of Bien Hoa and east of Long Binh Post by U.S. Army tug boats.
Cat Lai Detachment Opened
   "I was about a month in-country when the Army had a better idea, and moved the Nha Be Detachment to the Cat Lai Ammunition Discharge Port. We had just been "issued" some Boston Whalers and we used these as our personal watercraft. They sure beat using an LCM for sneaking up on sampans!" PFC Thomas D. Carroll, Nha Be & Cat Lai Detachments, 188th MP Company, 1967-1968.

July The 92nd MP Battalion moved their 188th MP Company Ship Security Detachment at Nha Be to Cat Lai and expanded their mission to include the security of the ammunition ships and their barges anchored in the river.

3 December CPL George Franklin Antonitis, of Salisbury, NC and his patrol partner (yet to be identified) were assigned to inspect a barge that had been tampered with the night before. While jumping from one barge to another CPL Antonitis lost his footing and fell into the swift running river. His partner attempted a rescue in the tidal water but was unsuccessful. It took several days to locate and recover his body.
CPL Antonitis
   "With limited personnel it was only about one or two more months when I became a senior patrol leader. All the people I knew had DEROS'ed, and on many patrols I was PFC-In Charge. This wasn't a problem within the MP unit, but it led to many difficulties with the Transportation Company E6 and E7 boat personnel who occasionally filled in as patrol craft for us when our Boston Whalers were down. We also incorporated a few Security Guards from the Transportation Company to supplement our meager strength."  PFC Thomas D. Carroll, Nha Be & Cat Lai Detachments, 188th MP Company, 1967-1968.

    "On the water our normal uniform was fatigues and sneakers. Since we interdicted sampans, and often worked with and without vietnamese National Police, we had the National Police black beret assigned as a visual signal to the Vietnamese that we were to be "honored and obeyed". Now this really confused a lot of people, so we were advised against wearing this headgear into Saigon.

   The patch was one that was created sometime in late 1967 as I recall. We were authorized to wear it as a blouse embellishment. If I recall it was worn above the right fatigue pocket, or perhaps just below it. Under normal circumstances a flak jacket covered this patch." PFC Thomas D. Carroll, Nha Be & Cat Lai Detachments, 188th MP Company, 1967-1968.
Miscellaneous Photographs