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~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association ~ Vietnam History Project ~

Hoi Chan Points Out Viet Cong Base Camp
March 1970 (Exact date unknown)

This Page Last Updated 8 August 2008

Members of the B Company Ambush Platoon transported and supported by the River Patrol Unit, were guided by a Hoi Chanh to a Viet Cong (VC) base camp in the back river of the Battalion Tactical Area Of Responsibility (TAOR).

Through an ARVN officer accompanying the former VC who turned himself into authorities under the Hoi Chan amnesty program, the boats from B Company were guided to the bunker the VC lived in for months while operating in the area.

As with most enemy base camps and way stations in the far fringes of the TAOR, it was accessible only by sampan and constructed on a small rise of land hidden in the thick brush along a water way.

The three boat group entered the small shallow cove and disembarked into the thick wall of jungle hiding the entrance to the VC shelter. Their operational time in the area was restricted by the movement of the receding tidal waters. The flat bottom Boston Whalers had a shallow draft but were able to navigate the very shallow waters only at high tide.

If the boats remained in the area too long they could end up being grounded in the mud of the hidden cove for up to 12 hours awaiting the next incoming tide.

The MP ambush patrol searched the lean-to shelter and immediate area surrounding it. They recovered weapons, ammunition and food. The shelter and food was destroyed in place before they were forced to leave due to the outgoing tide.

The successful operation was the result of increased psychological operations in the TAOR during which numerous propaganda pamphlets were dropped by helicopter offering amnesty and rewards to the hidden VC if they surrender to allied forces.

B Company members participating in the operation were;

Ambush Platoon: SSG Clarence Lauchter, SP/4's Michael Ambrose, Autry, Doug Bishoff, Stephen J. Cullinane, Jerry L. Perry, Thompson, Gregory or Tommy?, Patrick L. Wohletz, and others yet to be identified.

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