PFC GEORGE BINKO
Age
20, From Baltimore, Maryland
Killed in action December 27, 1967 - Binh Duong, South Viet Nam
INFORMATION
FOUND AT VIETNAM VETERANS
MEMORIAL FUND WEBSITE
(www.vvmf.org)
GEORGE BINKO
is honored on Panel 32E, Row 68 of
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Full Name: GEORGE BINKO
Wall Name: GEORGE BINKO
Date of Birth: 10/2/1946
Date of Casualty: 12/27/1967
Home of Record: BALTIMORE
State: MD
Branch of Service: ARMY
Rank: PFC
Casualty Country: SOUTH VIETNAM
Casualty Province: BINH DUONG
MEMORIALS
POSTED AT
VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
FUND WEBSITE
(www.vvmf.org)
"118th
MPs" - George was my Baltimore friend in the 118th. We shared great
times on occasional patrol, touring Fayetteville, and hanging out at
the barracks. Met his parents at MD Vietnam Memorial Dedication. Miss
ya George! God Bless!
Posted by: Chuck "Baldy More" Domm
"Friend" - George was a non imposeing person, I can't ever remember him
saying anything negative about anyone. God Bless you .
Posted by: Jim McConneha 101ABN 501st Sig Bn
Over the
years I have put most of the bad memories of Nam to the back of my mind
and tried to forget them. Occasionally, one will come back. Any other
time I would start out by saying Once Upon a Time or No Shit Man as I
would make up a bullshit war story. But, this time I am going to start
out by saying, to the best of my recollection the following did happen.
I was a
Grenadier or Thumper (M-79) with 1st Platoon, A Co, 1/502nd Infantry on
this day, 27 December 1967. The platoon had a bad case of the ass
because we had to go on this so called training mission in a
semi-secure area outside Cu Chi Base Camp. What really gave us the ass
was that we had to miss the Bob Hope USO show.
As I think
back to that day, I can feel the shoulder straps from the heavy
rucksack with the basic load of M-79 HE rounds, five quarts of water,
C-Rat's, claymore, M-60 ammo, hand grenades, trip flares, engineer
equipment, and all the other goodies we had to carry.
It seemed
like we walked for ever in a column, like ducks in a row. We walked
over dry roads, through rice paddies, on dikes, through ditches and on
a small trail through scrub vegetation where an enemy mine exploded.
Fortunately the only thing that was hurt was the scrub vegetation.
The platoon
moved into a clearing and halted while the point moved up to check a
hedgerow. The point drew fire and the platoon moved up. Gunships came
in and started strafing the area. The enemy fired something at one of
the choppers, it didn 't make an explosion, but it took out the rear
rotor. The chopper rolled over and a blue flame engulfed it as it fell
to the ground.
Cpt.
Holland, (A Company Commander-KIA 1 Feb 68), called for a Grenadier and
like usual, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He directed my
fire . Fire to the left, fire to the right, he had me fire at the base
of trees. One of my shots must have entered an aperture of a bunker
because the tree I fired at swayed back and forth.
Our M-60
gunner, Binko and his assistant, Cason were down, they were caught in a
crossfire. I don't know who retrieved Binko and Cason but the gun was
left where they fell. Cpt. Holland then told me to crawl out and bring
the gun back. Again, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I low
crawled to the gun. It was at the edge of the burned out area by the
chopper. I kept hearing bee's buzzing over my head, but I couldn't see
any. I rolled over on my back and put the gun across my chest and
started crawling back to the platoon. It seemed like an eternity
getting back, the bipod kept getting hung up in the vegetation which
made it even harder. Some one came part way out to help me with the
gun. We then rejoined the platoon.
When the
firing stopped we started toward the NDP (night defensive position). We
passed close to the downed chopper. The crew was still strapped in
their seats, burned beyond recognition.
When we
reached the NDP everyone started to dig in and put out claymore's. A
shithook brought re-supplies including constatina wire. We strung wire
around our positions and went back to finish the holes, I was with Lee.
When the reality of the events of the day sunk in, we both broke into
tears for our fallen friends.
Binko and
Cason were KIA, Mott, Knill, and for the life of me I can't remember
the names of the other four that were WIA.
Our first
fire fight was not what we imagined it should be. We should have
executed an ambush, not be ambushed.
I am not
writing this to say that I was a hero, because I wasn't. I was just a
young dumb G.I. that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A
forgotten memory has been rekindled and I appreciate having a place to
release it.
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