Everybody now knows that Tet '68 - the Asian Lunar New Year - was the big surprise in Viet Nam, catching all the brass flat-footed and raising hell country-wide. Less well known is Tet '69 or MiniTet. here is one small portion of that nearly forgotten saga.

By Tet '69 I was a Master Sergeant on the list for E-9 and serving as Chief Operations NCOIC at Nha Trang SF Headquarters. In the event of a major attack on the city, I, along with Captain James Crysel and six radio operators were to leave the SP compound by vehicle and proceed to Vietnamese SF Headquarters, located in a large villa in the heart of Nha Trang city. Our purpose after the screw ups of Tet '68 was to ensure that USSF, Viet SF and 1st Field Force Headquarters, located in a beach villa at Nha Trang were at least in communication with each other and hopefully coordinated in our efforts . It was a six mile road trip between compounds. We had set up inside the VNSF compound in 2 conex containers with the required radios, charts and a good tape recorder, for the record.

The Viet compound had a stone wall about eight feet high and two feet thick all the way around. We were nestled up along the north wall and sand bagged in. The VNSF had built a wood walkway around the inside of the wall for guards to man the wall. There was a large double steel vehicle gate set in the east wall with a man sized entry set inside one of the vehicle doors. VNSF guards in starched tiger suits patrolled this wall day and night.

We had made several dry runs during daylight and even one at night. Of course, we never made our desired time due to the many cycles and foot traffic plus the normal vehicle traffic on the streets. In all honesty, it was not a high priority among the eight of us.

Well, when the fat went into the fire on about midnight of MiniTet, we cranked up our trusty 3/4 ton and took off - only six miles to go. Two inconclusive firefights and 45 minutes later we pulled up and yelled the code words at the VNSF gate guards. All was quiet here but sporadic firefights were all over town with the Korean troops shooting up any and everything. We got set up and entered all the nets. Our VNSF counterparts were there. Everything was "normal" at about 0200. I and SSG Sutter went out for a smoke, Conex containers get real stuffy.

I went around one end to take a leak when Sutter said, "Where the fuck are the guards?"

I said, "I don't know what's going on. Go ask Major Nugyen."

Just then there was a terrific explosion and a 6-8 foot section of the east wall exploded.

"Holy shit", said Sutter, who climbed up on top of our conex and