USS Hunterdon County LST 838
Ambushed near Ben Tre on September 12, 1968
USS Hunterdon County LST 838
Ambushed near Ben Tre on September 12, 1968
On September 12, 1968, the Hunterdon County was ambushed on the Ham Luong river near Ben Tre. She was hit by rocket and recoilless rifle fire from shore and suffered extensive structural damage. Two of our shipmates (Carl R. Crone, EN3, Orange, TX and Wesley G. Doty, ENFN, Sussex, NJ) were killed and another twenty-five were wounded. Here are some photos I took the day after the attack. I did not get any pictures of the structural damage below decks. The severity of this attack could have been minimize if a couple of things were done differently. First mistake was that our new executive officer ran a General Quarters operations and continued firing in free fire zones until the 40mm cannon gun tubs were out of ammunition. Then the ship continued upriver into a hostile area during the period the crew was trying to reload ammo from below decks (we were attacked and could not return fire). Second, the new "rules of engagement" got in the way. Although we were fired upon, since the fire did not come from a free fire zone, we had to wait for permission to return fire (seemed like about a half hour delay). The Hunterdon County was too extensively damaged to continue operations and was moved to Subic Bay, Philippines for about a three month repair period. Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of each photo.
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