March 2024
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives

Categories

Special Agent: Early Days, 1962 to 1964

Saigon slumbered on a Sunday morning in the spring of 1964. The
so-called Paris of the Orient was quiet after the preceding night’s weekend
revelry. Broad boulevards stood still, rows of tamarind trees reflecting morning
dew as the tropical sun began its rise over the tiled roofs of villas, business
establishments, and squatter camps that characterized the capitol of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN)—known throughout the Western world simply as
South Vietnam.

Click here to read more about the Capital Kihn Do Theater bombing February 1964 and the Presidential Palace bombing November 1963.

You can save a copy of this eBook to your computer if you want.

Bob

2 comments to Special Agent: Early Days, 1962 to 1964

  • Alice Blackburn

    According to the article in The Observer “the Kinh Do attack was “a well laid, team effort by the terrorists. Minutes before the blast a Vietnamese girl walked into the area, presumably to distract the guards. The MP (on security duty at the theater), PFC Peter M. Feieraben, asked the Vietnamese policeman on duty to remove her from the area. The policeman took no action. Feieraben then entered the theater to call a joint VN-US military patrol to assist. He then went outside with the theater manager, Sp6 Cecil Dutton. The girl departed and the police officer suddenly rode away on a bicycle. Within minutes, a Vietnamese man walked up to the manager and the MP, who were chatting. Using a rusty pistol – apparently homemade – and holding it in two hands, the Vietnamese shot Feieraben twice at point blank range; once in the throat and once in the stomach. Dutton ran inside the theater. “I don’t know why he didn’t shoot me, too,” said the manager later. He was wounded in the left leg by the ensuing blast. Dutton told The Observer that he couldn’t recall events after the shooting, but at least two other witnesses said that he too entered the orchestra seat section of the house and shouted a warning. From the condition of his pistol later, Feieraben, mortally wounded, fired at least one shot at the fleeing terrorists before his gun jammed. After Dutton ran into the theater, a second Vietnamese…entered the lobby and placed the bomb down. Following the warnings and subsequent explosion, there was practically no panic and little confusion. Most of the injuries came from debris falling from the shattered ceiling of the theater. Of the 51 Americans wounded, 16 were treated at the USAF dispensary at Tan Son Nhut, with the remainder treated at the Navy Station hospital in Saigon.”

    Marine captain Donald Koelper of MAAG, along with his companion navy lieutenant William J. Greeves, were credited with saving scores of lives with their warning shouts of “get down..get down.”

    Koelper and Greeves ran into the theater and shouted for everyone to “get down.” There was a clanging of seats as patrons hit the floor. About 15 seconds after the terrorists deposited the charge – estimated to be about 20 or 25 pounds of TNT – it exploded. The marine captain was still standing in the aisle and was killed by the blast.”

    My parents were in the Kinh Do that night as were many ACHS kids.

  • Admin

    After researching this event and reading about 30 to 40 accounts of it, from both Americans and former Viet Cong, I’ve found many accounts are … shall we say, somewhat lacking … in accuracy. It ceases to amaze me how on the Internet some people writing about various events, extract information from the first article they come across without confirming the accuracy though multiple reliable sources, etc. Then someone esle comes on the first ‘mis-info’ article and uses it to write an article … and the story gets more and more ‘out of focus’ … until it reaches the point of ‘pure fable’ … lol

    The Observer report has more accuracy to it then the majority found in cyber space.

    As always … White Rabbit … thank you much for your informative and “PEPPY” comments (or should I say ‘antics’ ???) … lol

    🙂 Wizard

    PS: I didn’t write this eBook. Just found it floating around in cyber space. Thought it might have something of interest to other SKs. It appears to be an excert from a book someone wrote. Have not really checked it out tho.

Leave a Reply to Alice Blackburn Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.