This region includes ten provinces: Binh Duong, Binh Hyua, Binh Long, Binh Tuy, Hau Nghia, Long An, Long Kahnh, Phuoc Long, Phuac Tuy Tay Ninh.
The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . The other skid remains upright, as it is unfastened from the crane. For the first time the U.S. territory of Tinian, a small island around 100 miles north of the American military hub of Guam, hosted F-22 Raptors. Advanced Search |
Filmmaker Mel Brooks once said he looked upon his Army experience in World War II as a newsreel.. The Spooky 71 crew could see mortar tube flashes about one mile south of the area of the earlier attack. Two of the pockets were destroyed by the next morning resulting in the capture of the acting commander of the 141st Regiment. . My Account |
After the massive casualties it suffered during the vicious battles in 1966 and 1967, and especially due to the division's disastrous . Unfortunately, the reporting was delayed and did not reach Long Binh until the morning of 22 February 1969, the day the defector warned the attacks were set to begin. The 228th per DA consolidated orders of 1970 was "confirmed" as being awarded an MUC for time period 15 February 1969 - 15 August 1969, as was the 277th and other units/sections under its command { HHC . An ambush platoon reaction team that was held in ready reserve was assigned to conduct a sweep of the tree line where the post perimeter had received heavy enemy fire from during the early morning attack. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. On 22 February, elements of the VC 274th Regiment, 5th Division assembled at three hills along Highway 15, approximately three kilometers south of Long Binh. Thus, my daily mission (with the aid of my eight-man crew) was to account for all the ammunition in South Vietnam, at least every round not yet in the hands of the fighting troops. After the battle came another shock. Militarily, it was a failure for the North Vietnamese, but it undercut the confidence of the American public and it was a turning point in the war. The loadmaster on Spooky 71 was A1C John L. Levitow, 23, from Glastonbury, Conn. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. . It would be relieved by another gunship for the midnight-to-dawn shift. When daylight came, I reported to my new duty station in the Engineer Section of USARV HQ, where, from the second floor of the air-conditioned building, we could observe the Post's perimeter wire about 1/4 mile away. In early August 1969, the 1st Infantry Division determined that its old nemesis, the 9th PLAF Division, was preparing for a new offensive in Binh Duong province.By this time, the 9th Division had been reorganized and redesignated as a PAVN (NVA) division. Then came a sound akin to that of large paper sacks tearing, as AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships began strafing the battlefield with 7.62 mm minigun bullets fired at the rate of about 4,000 rounds per minute.
[1], The VC made several attempts to advance on the base, but were halted. c chuyn cho qun i Ukraine 1.000 v kh chng xe tng v 500 ha tin di t - trn khng Typ/kiu Stinger (bo vc dch l : tn la t i khng).c cng ng thun cho Holland chuyn cho qun Ukraine 400 Panzerfaeuste/ v kh chng xe tng v cc v kh khc do c ch . As Ole-Luk-Oie, the pen name for British officer Ernest Swinton, wrote in the 1915 book. 3 Lt xem. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. Thomas Baer, the other gunner, and SSgt. Before the night was over, Levitow would perform an act of astounding bravery for which he would ultimately be awarded the Medal of Honor. Ni bt nht; Gn y; Gi. [4]:99, To the west of Da Nang, shortly after midnight on the 23rd Company M, 3/7 Marines ambushed a PAVN force killing 10 and later that night a larger force was spotted and artillery fire was called in.
On the other hand, one is left to ponder what affect seeding the battlefield or, even better, seeding the Ho Chi Minh Trail itself with C-ration packets of the despicable Ham and Lima Beans might have had. Terms & Conditions |
[4]:99, The PAVN/VC attacks on Da Nang were a failure resulting in more than 500 dead. "Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report #105 - Special Report: The Fourth Offensive - 23 February-3 April 1969", Cold War International History Project's Cold War Files, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_1969&oldid=1142428918, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 09:26. Top graduates of Air Force Airman Leadership Schools receive the Levitow Honor Graduate Award. My hope was that no more than one or two VC would reach my position. Contact Us |
He decided to try a different specialty after an experience in which the power was not turned off when I thought it was turned off, so he cross trained as a loadmaster. He is remembered at the Walk of Fame at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Levitow died Nov. 8, 2000, at his home in Connecticut after a lengthy battle with cancer. He had a serious leg wound and was evacuated to the field hospital across the street from my barracks. He delivered the keynote address. Citation Nr: 0307323 Decision Date: 04/16/03 Archive Date: 04/24/03 DOCKET NO. An ammunition dump at Long Binh, Vietnam. The resultant damage was a hole two feet in diameter through the wing and over 3,500 shrapnel holes riddling the fuselage, said Lt. Col. Robert A. Davidson, commander of the AC-47 forward operating location at Bien Hoa. Later I enrolled as an ROTC student at South Dakota State University, became an Army officer and was assigned to Long Binh in August 1968. In another scene, a large crane is used to stack shells in the ammunition dump. Dedicated to those who were there. Dennis Yenser checks in about Sapper Attack story. His grieving son had no option but to file away those unanswered questions forever. It was also called Dragonship and Puff the Magic Dragon (after a song, then popular, by Peter, Paul, and Mary) but went mostly by Spooky, the call sign with which it flew its missions. The medics cut away the dead and contaminated flesh to prevent infection, and Levitow was flown to the big Air Force hospital at Tachikawa, Japan, where 40 pieces of shrapnel were removed between his knee and his hip. I had the lanyard on the flare hooked up and my finger through the safety pin ring. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation's highest military award for his bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday. at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, both patient and unit members, to find each other and join in the. They tell me I ended up jumping on it, finally getting control and dragging myself and the flare back to the rear cargo door which was open and just managed to push it outside the door as it ejected and ignited simultaneously., Later, the citation to accompany the Medal of Honor put it this way: Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. The Hot War (1968-October 1969) The Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in late 1967 launched several costly attacks. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Since the headquarters building stood out on the hill like a large bulls eye, I proceeded outside and took up a defensive position behind a corner of our building, on the safe side. And yet there was nobody, absolutely nobody, visible out there. He flew two more AC-47 combat missions and showed up at the flight line for a third when the squadron commander told him he was grounded. Tet offensive attack on Long Binh and Bien Hoa, 31 January 1968: Date: 31 January-2 February 1968: Location: Bien Hoa, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, South Vietnam. License Agreement |
Surely neither the Viet Cong nor North Vietnamese Army would attempt such a suicidal mission. Shortly, another mortar battery began firing. [4]:97, After midnight on 23 February Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines and Company D, 1st Military Police Battalion detected VC approaching the Song Cau Do river bridges and attacked them killing 47 and capturing 11. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. The last major battle occurred along the berm of the rifle range on Highway 317 in the early morning just after daylight. I had a real tough time grabbing hold of it with two hands because of the pain in my leg and everything. Air & Space Forces Magazine is the official publication of the Air & Space Forces Association, 1501 Langston Boulevard, Arlington, Va., 22209-1198. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nov. Dec. Levitows hometown, Glastonbury, dedicated a memorial to him on the town green May 31, 2004. History is not a fixed set of facts. The pilot fired the guns, using a sight at the left side of the cockpit. Duration: 2 min 9 sec. U.S. Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawks from Attack Squadrons VA-163 Saints and VA-164 Ghost Riders attack the Phuong Dinh railroad bypass bridge, 10 kilometers north of Thanh Hoe, North Vietnam, on September 10, 1967. In 1998, Air Mobility Command named a C-17 Globemaster, The Spirit of Sgt. Hide. Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. (Vietnam War period). These attacks were repulsed for Marines losses of 18 killed and more than 75 PAVN killed. Metacafe, My driver arrived at the usual time, a little before sundown, on Feb. 22, for my 12-hour graveyard shift at the 1st Logistics Command headquarters. He was filling in for a loadmaster who had taken his place when he was sick. The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination requested by a nearby ground unit. Under Col. Robert Smoker, Task Force 99s new commander, the unit will continue to try to cut through red tape and field new systems quickly. We had no bunkers. As of 1969 Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri's III CTZ . He was the center of much attention but also the victim of bureaucracy. If it ignited, it would quickly fill the aircraft with toxic smoke, incapacitating the entire crew. A regimental commissar had assured the men in Trans company that the attack would be easily successful and after it was over we would be able to go home to North Vietnam. The rationale given for the supposedly easy victory: The VC battalion would face only desk soldiers without field experience (ouch!). This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. Contents. Brigadier General Leo D. Kinnard speaks to the troops. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. My class had graduated the month before from our 35-week "Fixed Ciphony Repair" course at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. The panorama took on an aspect of high noon, the entire battlefield bathed with an eerie golden glow. About 85 per cent of the force was estimated to be PAVN soldiers. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. The enemy would occasionally probe us, rocket us, mortar us and more than likely sometimes even shop at our PXs, but a ground attack? There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets. The AC-47 was the first of the Air Forces side-firing gunships. He was 55. The paperwork for advancement in skill level (from three to five) in his original specialty had been lost. The deployment, which began March 1, is part of an exercise dubbed Agile Reaper 23-1. Additional South Vietnamese Regional Force elements moved in and the ARVN troops continued to contain the PAVN/VC forces until 11:00 when assault forces, in the form of the ARVN 36th Ranger Battalion, reinforced the contact. A battalion of the 274th Viet Cong Main Force (VCMF) Regiment of the 5 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Division, attacked the southern perimeter of Long Binh Post. N Vietnamese forces overrun and capture Phuoc Binh City, Phuoc Long Prov capital, after wklong siege, striking significant psychological blow to S Vietnamese Govt; loss of town, with population . When we were hit, all of us [Owen, Levitow, Sgt. To Love Ru Tp 22 - Vit Sub. New York Times, January 8, 1969, p. 12. Carpenter rolled the gunship wings level and began his run on the mortar positions. We had a perfect view of the VC hill, and it slowly began to dawn on me that for the past seven months, as each evenings shift began with my casually scanning the quiet hills to the south and southeast of Long Binh, there was a fair probability I was being scanned right backlikely by some VC ammo counter busily inventorying his AK-47 bullets, 122 mm rockets, 82 mm mortars and B-40 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, while I counted M16 bullets, Claymore mines and howitzer shells. (Vietnam War period). Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. We were officially MOS (Military Operational Specialty) 32F20, which was depot-level repair and maintenance on AUTOSEVOCOM (AUTOmatic SEcure VOice COMmunications) crypto . Bruce Stern at his desk in Long Binh, circa 1968-69. . See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. Banned from the Long Binh O'Club: The Club was a . The intense heat of the flare would burn rapidly through the aluminum floor of the cargo bay and drop on the empennage control cables, destroying them and causing the aircraft to go out of control. A 70-strong VC force attacked the 2/1 Marines command post 6km south of Marble Mountain losing 17 dead. The gunship, situated on the lawn of the museum, was dedicated in October 2004. Dad wanted to be buried standing up. Result: United States and South Vietnam victory: Belligerents 472.6.9 Records of the U.S. Army Garrison, Long Binh Post, Vietnam (Provisional) And that they would already have been shot three or four times before they got there. Soldiers walk around outside the headquarters. They briefly seize control of Binh Gia, a village only 40 miles from Saigon. . It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. Troops lined up on a field. Soldiers in a line. The flare was armed just before it was thrown out the door, with timers set to give it some distance from the airplane before the parachute deployed and the flare was triggered. . A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. Most attacks centered on military targets near Saigon and Da Nang and were quickly beaten off. Aviation gas was leaking from the fuel lines on the right side, and that wasnt all. I try to control what I say, although for the most part, Im very quiet. Just after 16:00 US Air Force F-100s and F-4s along with Republic of Vietnam Air Force A-1 Skyraiders were directed against the PAVN/VC positions in the village. For the next six hours, Spooky 71 would fly a combat air patrol circuit over the Saigon/Tan Son Nhut area, ready to respond wherever its fire support was needed. He reported to the 3rd Special Operations Squadron at Nha Trang in July 1968 and was assigned to the squadrons forward operating location at Bien Hoa. The rocket and mortar attacks on the bases picked up when darkness fell. 44th Medical Brigade Headquarters Long Binh 1969.jpeg 2,079 1,716; 209 KB. It was presented in ceremonies in February 2002 by his son to CMSgt. Since my finger was through the safety pin ring the safety pin was pulled.. More recently, Enlisted Heritage Hall obtained a surplus C-47 and converted it to a mock-up of an AC-47, with the colors and markings that Spooky 71 bore in February 1969. Spooky 71 flew with a crew of eight. The Geography and Map Division holds a map from the war that was printed and created by the 66 th Engineer Company (known as the "Topo Corps"). The attack continued into 27 February when the Marines overran the PAVN resulting in a total of more than 200 killed. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, [].
By 15:00 the 36th Ranger Battalion moved into the village attacking the PAVN/VC force. I was a 2nd Lieutenant, on my second night in Vietnam when the attack on Long Bing Post began at 2 AM. Amazingly five or six Viet Cong actually did sneak into the compound, but, luckily or unluckily for my sake, depending on the outcome, not in my area. It isnt every day one peaceably sets off for work knowing someone is intent on ones personal demise. The Viet Cong had constructed some sort of headquarters compound, or staging area, or supply depot or maybe even an officers club. Slow fire was 3,000 rounds a minute each, or fast fire which was 6,000 rounds a minute each. [2][3], Since early February 1969, the 1st Marine Division had noted an upsurge in PAVN/VC activity around Da Nang. 5 Lt xem. All of the enlisted got wounded and the officers did not. Full-scale sweeping operations to secure the perimeter began just after noon that day. The view is from the compound of the 20. The pilot was Maj. Kenneth B. Carpenter, flying his first combat mission as aircraft commander. Featured Collections |
(Vietnam War period). The villagers told the ARVN forces how they were driven out of their homes and confined to an area near a creek running alongside the village. The pilot, copilot, and navigator were in the forward cabin, and the flight engineer, two gunners, and the loadmaster were in the cargo bay in back. [4]:101. Johanalvheey 1 ting trc. As darkness approached some comfort was provided by the constant sweeps outside the perimeter made at treetop level by the guys in their little OH-6 Loach light observation helicopters. The three guns were mounted in window ports, just forward of the open cargo door. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. Once the sun came up, a troop of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment found 139 dead enemy soldiers, Stars & Stripes reported. COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT, VIETNAM 1969. The soldiers with old (MPC) currency notes takes the receipt and proceeds towards the next officer. SSG Richard E, Slaven died from his wounds the next day. My Lightboxes |
In the interest of security - and to ease communications - the army centralized Saigon's American forces in 1967 by stationing them all at an enormous compound built just outside of the city. As Levitow dragged one of the other airmen toward the center of the cabin, he saw the flare between No. If I got stopped drinking and driving, its going to say, Medal of Honor Drunk. I realize that. Levitows Medal of Honor is prominently displayed at Enlisted Heritage Hall. Facebook. Many features may not work properly without it. [4]:97 Later that day rockets hit the An Hoa Combat Base destroying 15,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and igniting 40,000 gallons of aviation fuel and 50 rockets were fired at Naval Support Activity Da Nang with more than half going into the sea and the remainder causing minor damage. Mini-Tet 1969 Begins February 23, 1969. Others were there, others were wounded, but Levitow being the furthest removed from the flare, recognized the danger, took action when seconds counted, and saved the lives of the entire crew, Carpenter wrote. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. (Jim Van Eldik), It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling, Behind the driver, strewn about the passenger seat and floor, was his personal combat gear, including his, The enemy would occasionally probe us, rocket us, mortar us and more than likely sometimes even shop at our PXs, but a ground attack? Despite his wounds, Levitow helped secure the airplane on the way back. A change of command at 2nd Field Force Artillery Headquarters at Long Binh, Vietnam. 6924th Security Squadron Base Name. It would light up, oh, about half a mile, a good area, quite brightly, Levitow said. Some of our troops had recaptured it from the VC a few months before. Video TikTok t Thnh Long Jr (@thlongjr): "Bn tng xem qua v phim attack on Titan bao gi cha? #anime #attackontitan". More than 100 individual and crew-served weapons were captured. The VC attacks on Bien Hoa and the Long Binh complex were abject failures, due in part to the fact that on January 31, 1968, they had run into the Panthers of the 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry. The two huge U.S. bases dripped firepowerdozens of batteries of field artillery, large calibers and small, rows and rows of helicopter gunships and jet fighters loaded to the gills with the most lethal ordnance the world has ever seen, dozens of M113 armored personnel carriers with powerful .50-caliber machine guns manned by surly military police, and, of course, hundreds of trigger-happy clerks and truck drivers, not necessarily eager, but most definitely ready, for action. The attacks by Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces were one of several major attacks around Saigon in the first days of the Tet Offensive. The rounds landed on post with some igniting the POL fuel site east of the highway. I realize that what I say will be represented not only as a Vietnam veteran but as a Medal of Honor recipient, and the media will have a field day. As usual, I initially took refuge under my desk, then ordered everyone to rush downstairs on the assumption that any direct hits would likely riddle the upper floor. Jerry Breast/U.S. The gunship had flown into the path of an 82 mm mortar round, which struck the top of the right wing. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. Later I learned that we were attacked by the 274th Regiment, 5th Viet Cong Division, which was repulsed by the firepower of the 720th Military Police Battalion, the 18th Military Police Brigade and helicopter gunships from the 145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade. Apparently, not much was out there, as there was no firing to speak of. Clip Type: Unedited. Hc_Thn. The 64-year-old Army veteran died suddenly of a heart attack. "Text of Camp Lejeune Committee's Report to Commanding General." Small-arms fire opened up in his path. This attack was going to be a big one.. Unit flags at the headquarters. We heard later that the VC who attacked were trained as something akin to Peace Corps workers in North Vietnam, but when they arrived in South Vietnam, they met with a VC commander who told them that there was only one more small pocket of corrupt "fat desk soldiers" to root out in order to rid South Vietnam completely of U.S. soldiers. As a soldier unfastens a skid of 8 shells, from the crane, it falls over sideways. From there, I had a good view of the perimeter and the rapidlyunfolding battle. Seriously wounded were, SSG Slaven the squad leader, SP/4 Robert Cressman, PFC Larry W. Holton, and CPL Lee Van Muon, their Popular Forces Interpreter. United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . August 25, 1968, was a typical monsoon season day. Let us know if you remember Steve as we seek more information and photos to make a MyPage for him. The last pocket along the An Tan ridgeline proved more difficult and Company L, 3/7 Marines suffered numerous casualties forcing it to withdraw. Levitow also gave Enlisted Heritage Hall his fathers uniform and ribbons, the original Medal of Honor citation signed by President Nixon, photos, and other memorabilia. You can imagine how frightful that was to the mind of a 6-year-old. I dont think I was alone in this. Well, not everybody had departed. Tet Offensive attack on Long Binh and Bien Hoa 31 January 1968.jpg . I was a ticket office supervisor with several Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese women reservations/ticket agents. Edward Fuzie, the flight engineer] were knocked to the floor and the flare was knocked out of my hands. Some speculate that the attacks . Photos (51) by Lou Mengoli, 1967. Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such attacks. It took considerable effort to get Spooky 71 back to base. After Levitow left the Air Force, he worked in veterans affairs for more than 22 years. Surely neither the. For months I observed various combat actions outside the perimeter and every now and then even sought cover beneath a nearby steel desk as a stray mortar or artillery round came flying in our direction, which, whenever it occurred, was astonishing enough. The nomination package included statements from Carpenter and most of the crew. A three-second burst would saturate an area the size of a football field. He was told his unit would capture many C-rations. Food was always a dominant concern for the habitually starved Viet Cong. South Vietnamese woman 1969 Sep 15, 2017. . [4]:98, At dawn PAVN sappers attacked the 1st Marine Division headquarters on Hill 327 and the 2/7 Marines command post to the northwest. My driver arrived at the usual time, a little before sundown, on Feb. 22, for my 12-hour graveyard shift at the 1st Logistics Command headquarters. nhc nn - Nguyn Quc Hng - cng ty Hng Long Phc. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. . Stephen Hugh Lane SP5 Lead Clerk Jan 1969 to Sep 1970, MOS 67N20 has checked in and joined the 3/4 Cav Chapter. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. remembrance of shared experience. I had the aircraft in a 30-degree bank and how Levitow ever managed to get to the flare and throw it out, Ill never know, Carpenter said. 128 KB. The clouds hung low, making flying helicopters . On 18 February a Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines called in artillery fire on a group of PAVN/VC 5km south of Marble Mountain resulting in 21 secondary explosions believed to be from detonating rockets. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. Tran, who was from the Haiphong area of North Vietnam, had high expectations for a victory in the attack, according to an interview in Stars and Stripes. For my personal defense, I relied upon a somewhat rusty M16 kept around the office. Long Binh/Bien Hoa. On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced.. (Lt. Cdr. Numerous bases were attacked, these attacks were all beaten back but did inflict casualties and reinforced the fact that PAVN/VC forces were able to mount attacks at will. Dense blue smoke was pouring out of the burning flare fuze.. By mid-1967, United States Army, Vietnam (USARV), 1st Logistical Command and many other Army units dispersed in Saigon were moved to Long Binh Post to resolve centralization, security, and troop billeting issues. The Air Force sent a C-54 to Hartford to pick up him, his wife, and his parents and take them to Washington. On the morning of 26 February following Napalm and Snake Eye air strikes, Company L, reinforced by Company M assaulted the PAVN position making slow progress against determined PAVN resistance. Some speculate that the attacks were mounted to test the will of the new U.S. President Richard Nixon who retaliated by secretly bombing PAVN/VC sanctuaries in Cambodia the following month. Thought to be in retaliation for Chuyen's disappearance. 99-08 286 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Louis, Stacks of 155mm artillery shells are loaded onto a truck by a crane, in groups of 16 at a time, on wooden skids holding 8 apiece.The soldiers are stripped to the waist.