An Interesting win on eBay.........

[wombat2u2004]

Cu Chi Tunnel Operatives
F-100 Special Forces Medal
Phoenix Program, Decimated Viet Cong Unit

Extra Rare Medal presented to Viet Cong youth members of the Elite F-100 Commandos. Most were awarded post-war, posthumously.

By late 1971, with the removal of most of the US Military from the War the Phoenix Program continued to damage the Viet Cong. The F-100 Commando's, a mostly youth group operated out of both Saigon and Cu Chi / An Tinh. The F-100 Commandos were responsible for sabotage in the Saigon area including the bombing of bars frequented by US Military, the shooting of US Military Personnel in their hotel rooms, assassination of both US and ARVN Personnel whilst in the streets of Saigon and guerilla actions in the area strecthing from Saigon to the Cambodian border including actions against Tan Son Nhut Airport.

In October 1971, a Viet Cong defector (Nguyen Van Tung) directed a US Special Forces and ARVN operation to a major tunnel base at An Tinh, advising the Special Forces Operatives that a VC Unit was headquartered there. The destination turned out to be the headquarters of the F-100 Commandos. Led by Van Tung through the tunnel traps and mines the F-100 Commandos were decimated with all found killed or captured.

On clearance of the area scrapbooks of press clippings marked, 'F-100 Victories' detailed assassinations and bombings throughout Saigon. A more important find however was a notebook listing close to 80 agents based in Saigon. The list contained their real names, cover names, meeting times and message drop information, as well as their addresses. Of the eighty, some twenty were working with the ARVN in Saigon.

News of the find reached the F-100 Agents in Saigon however not before more than 70 of the agents were captured. Most were executed.

At the end of the Vietnam War, some three and a half years later, Nguyen Thi Kieu, in 1975 a 23 year old girl was honored as a 'Revolutionary Hero of the Fight for Liberation'. Thi Kieu had, at the age of 19 at the time of the F-100 Raid been the leader of the F-100 Commando's and had been the leader since she was 17.

She had escaped the Saigon Round-Up of October 1971. The F-100 Commandos however ceased to be a fighting force with no major acts of sabotage in Saigon for the remainder of the war.

[Karen]

Cool! Gotta love tangible bits of history!

[Bonny]

That is some really interesting history. You wonder about the girl Thi Kieu & if she is still around to this day?

[cassiesmom]

Wow, Wom! That's an extremely interesting win!

[Catty1]

I tried to find some info on Nguyen Thi Kieu - all I found were references to an actress/singer. Not sure it's the same person!

Really interesting find, Wom.

[RICHARD]

I read a book about the "Tunnel Rats" that fought in Cu Chi against their VC counterparts...

That was an interesting and terrible story.


Tunnel Rats were servicemen who were chosen, by size, to crawl into the tunnel openings with only a .45 pistol and a flashlight to try and engage the VC that ran in the tunnels.

Because the VC were smaller in stature, they only excavated tunnels large enough for them to get thru, most Americans were too large to fit, so the
job went to the smallest soldier.

There were booby traps, enemy soldiers, water, animals and insects they had to endure. They also had a rope tied to their ankles, so if they were injured or killed, their buddies had a way to get them out of the tunnels.

---------------

The Viet Cong were also very resourceful as they tunneled in the area.

There was one story of a tank that was buried in the ground and used as a fortified 'bomb shelter'. There were also command areas, hospitals, storage areas and sleeping quarters for the fighters that spent weeks and months at at time living in the tunnels.


If you like interesting stories about war and history I recommend it highly

http://www.amazon.com/Tunnels-Cu-Chi...p/0425089517#_

[wombat2u2004]

That is some really interesting history. You wonder about the girl Thi Kieu & if she is still around to this day?

Probably. She'd be a couple of years younger than me.

[wombat2u2004]

I read a book about the "Tunnel Rats" that fought in Cu Chi against their VC counterparts...

That was an interesting and terrible story.


Tunnel Rats were servicemen who were chosen, by size, to crawl into the tunnel openings with only a .45 pistol and a flashlight to try and engage the VC that ran in the tunnels.

Because the VC were smaller in stature, they only excavated tunnels large enough for them to get thru, most Americans were too large to fit, so the
job went to the smallest soldier.

There were booby traps, enemy soldiers, water, animals and insects they had to endure. They also had a rope tied to their ankles, so if they were injured or killed, their buddies had a way to get them out of the tunnels.

---------------

The Viet Cong were also very resourceful as they tunneled in the area.

There was one story of a tank that was buried in the ground and used as a fortified 'bomb shelter'. There were also command areas, hospitals, storage areas and sleeping quarters for the fighters that spent weeks and months at at time living in the tunnels.


If you like interesting stories about war and history I recommend it highly

http://www.amazon.com/Tunnels-Cu-Chi...p/0425089517#_

Oh yeah, those guys had the worst job.
I was welfare officer for a guy by the name of Barry McKay, he was a tunnel rat, and he passed away some 6 months ago after a fight with cancer.
At his funeral, a few of us had to give a bit of a talk, and a mate of his from Sydney did the same.........he was telling me that out of the 15 guys that were in his unit, only he was still alive.