"ANSWERED THE CALL - Vietnam-era items owned by Larry Rosser of Quartz Hill, who served in the Fourth Infantry Division at Pleiku Village in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968. "RON SIDDLE/Valley Press
Posted on 02/03/2008 10:32:11 AM PST by BenLurkin
"We had a false sense of security," said Larry Rosser, a Vietnam veteran who now resides in Quartz Hill.
Rosser served as a signalman in the 4th Infantry Division and was stationed in Vietnam's central highlands, outside the town of Pleiku, when the attack came.
"Between 1 and 3 in the morning, they started rocket and mortar attacks on our base camp," Rosser said. "It was the first time it had been attacked."
Rosser said no one was prepared for the attack. In fact, just a few weeks before Tet, commanders at his camp, Camp Enari, had started locking up soldiers' rifles at night.
"That first attack must have lasted 30 or 45 minutes," he said. "If felt like two hours."
Soldiers waited in the camp bunker until orders started coming out, but Rosser said the camp was in disarray.
"There was a lot of confusion," he said. "They didn't want lights on the perimeter. They didn't want us to show up out there because we didn't want our own guys to shoot at us."
North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong hit Camp Enari's post exchange, the communications hill and other key facilities.
"They took over our water purification plant," Rosser said. "We didn't take that back until the sixth or seventh day."
...
"We heard Pleiku was taken over, and that Camp Holloway was overrun," he said. "We knew the whole country had been hit, but it was all scuttlebutt - you didn't know for sure."
A few days after the initial attack, the 4th Infantry went into Pleiku and retook the town.
Militarily, the Tet Offensive was a huge defeat for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
"ANSWERED THE CALL - Vietnam-era items owned by Larry Rosser of Quartz Hill, who served in the Fourth Infantry Division at Pleiku Village in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968. "RON SIDDLE/Valley Press
Except the media declared them the winner.
Been there, done that, now I have the T-Shirt!
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