Monday, February 19, 1968
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9
Cong rocket hits terminal
SAIGON — (UPI) — Viet Cong rocketeers zeroed a single 122mm rocket into the civilian passenger terminal at Saigon's Tan Son Nhat airfield Monday crowded with about 200 U.S. soldiers and sailors waiting for a flight home.
Preliminary reports said one American was killed and at least 21 other persons wounded by the blast and flying shrapnel.
The powerful rocket, one of the most deadly weapons in the Communist arsenal, slammed through the roof of the terminal and hit directly in front of the Pan Am check-in counter and near an American Red Cross booth.
U. S. officials said most of the casualties were among American servicemen waiting to fly home to the United States after completing their tour of duty in the war zone.
Approximately 200 U.S. soldiers and sailors were in the terminal at Tan Son Nhut, one of the world's busiest airports. Most were waiting for the 8:05 a.m. flight which would take them to the United States.
"One rocket round hit the roof and sent shrapnel here, there and everywhere," Sgt. Donald Silverman, 19, of Pasadena, Calif., said. "I was blown off the chair. People started crying for help."
Silverman, an Air Force security guard, was working at the customs desk about 80 feet from the rocket's point of impact.
"We had to get somebody down here to get the wounded out." Air Force Sgt. Marvin Farney, 22, of Lafayette, Ind., said. "It took about five to 10 minutes for the ambulances to get here and in the meantime we just started patching people up.
"We tried to get most of the people out of the area," Farney said. "We put them all in the mortar shelter in the baggage area."
Among the Americans were 88 sailors, most of whom had been
Two receive grad research awards
Two University of Kansas graduate students will receive research fellowship awards from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of eight National Institutes of Health. The awards provide stipends to the fellows and payment of fees.
They are Larry P. Huston, Ashland, Ohio, and Kenneth E. Richards Jr., Miami, Okla.
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serving with the Riverine forces in the Mekong Delta. They also were waiting to go home.
James Peele, 37, of Danville, Virginia, was standing only four feet from where the rocket landed and exploded. However, he escaped serious injury because of a post between him and the blast.
"I was just standing there talk-ink when something blew me against the wall," Peele said. "I didn't even hear the sound of it going off."
Peele landed in a pile of suitcases and duffle bags.
The rocket left a gaping hole, about 40-by-20 feet, in the roof of the two-story passenger terminal. The explosion shattered virtually every window in the terminal.
"Old charlie—the Viet Cong—knew exactly what time to hit," Army Staff Sgt. John L. Watson, 31, of Atlanta said. "People had just started to gather for the flight.
"I had just walked in the front door when it happened," Watson said. "I dove back outside when it hit."
Watson was en route home to see his wife and eight month old son. He has never seen his son. "I had planned to be home by this time tomorrow." Watson said.
The Communists apparently chose their time to hit the terminal. It is normally crowded with hundreds of servicemen and civilians awaiting flights. However, the Communist rocket and mortar attack on the airfield Sunday curtailed some of the commercial flights.
The civilian terminal is located less than half a mile from the military headquarters of Gen. William C. Westmoreland, U.S. commander in Vietnam. The military complex was hit by more than 100 rounds of the 122mm rockets Sunday morning.
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