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From: Jim White
Dated: May 21, 2017
Subject: Brinks Bombing Photo 1964
Steve,
The Wikipedia article referred to by Mike McNally is very similar to a report on the AFVNVETS.NET site at (Click Here)
I think I have heard that there is a statue commemorating the bombing but don't have a reference for it.
For everyone's information: Although often pronounced or written "Brinks" or perhaps "Brink's, I have thought that the hotel was named for a CPT Brink (an early casualty of the Vietnam War). At the same time a BGEN Brink was the first commander of MAAG-Indochina and it could have been named after him. Either way, I am sure there is no "s" at the end of "Brink."
Jim W
[NB: I don't think there is a statue, but there is a free-standing memorial dedicated
to the bombing in front of the present hotel. Click Here]
From: Rick Fredericksen
Dated: May 24, 2017
Subject: B-R-I-N-K (no S on the end)
Here's how I refer to the hotel in my writing: "The Brink Hotel (also known as the Brinks)..." This sort of keeps everyone happy, and helps keep the actual name from being overtaken by all the folks who add the "s." It is still possible that in 100 years, the common name will be the Brinks. Oh well...
Rick Fredericksen
From: Steve Sevits
Dated: May 21, 2017
Subject: Brinks Bombing Photo
I was long gone before the Brinks bombing, but wasn't it carried out by a couple of insurgents with stolen ARVN uniforms? Was that around Christmastime '64? I've heard that one of the people responsible for the bombing was commemorated with a statue on the spot? Is any of what I've heard true?
Steve
From: Mike McNally
Dated: May 21, 2017
Subject: Brinks Bombing Photo
The Brinks Hotel in Saigon, also known as the Brink Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ), was bombed by the Viet Cong on the evening of December 24, 1964, during the Vietnam War. Two Viet Cong operatives detonated a car bomb underneath the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans, an officer and an NCO, and injured approximately 60, including military personnel and Vietnamese civilians.
The Vietcong commanders had planned the venture with two objectives in mind. First, by attacking an American installation in the center of the heavily guarded capital, the Viet Cong intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam. Second, the bombing would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese that the Americans were vulnerable and could not be relied upon for protection.
The bombing prompted debate within the administration of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson. Most of his advisers favored retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Vietcong. In the end, Johnson decided not to take retaliatory action.
Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on the Brink Hotel Bombing of 1964.
From: Craig Prosser
Dated: May 23, 2017
Subject: B-R-I-N-K (no S on the end)
Thanks Jim White for the research on the possible namesakes for the "Brink" Hotel and the fact that there is no S at the end of Brink. I was a member of the AFRS staff that moved the studios from the Rex Hotel to the Brink in November of 1963, not '64 as some history accounts have maintained, and I assure one and all it was the Brink and we knew it as such. I worked in the building until late September of '64 when I was assigned to Ft. Leavenworth for my final year in the Army.
I missed the Christmas Eve bombing but was there for and covered the bombings of the US movie theater and softball field, the sinking of a US transport carrier in the Saigon River, three different RVN coups d'etat, and the assassination of President Kennedy back home.
Craig Prosser
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: May 21, 2017
Subject: Brinks Bombing Photo
Hi Gang Rick Frederickson on the Facebook page just posted a photo he found of the AFRS Brinks hotel bombing.
Good find, Rick
From: Jim White
Dated: May 21, 2017
Subject: Francis Gerald Brink
Francis Gerald Brink (1893-1952) Born in Marathon, New York on August 22, 1893. B.A. from Cornell in 1916. Commissioned in the Infantry, Officers Reserve Corps in 1917. Instructor at the Infantry School 1921-1923. Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Louisiana State University 1928-1934. Graduated from Command and General Staff School in 1936. Commander of 31st Infantry, Philippine Islands 1938-1941. On the staff of General Wavell, the British Allied Commander in Burma 1941-1942. Staff Officer in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations 1942-1944. Brigadier General in November 1944. Chief of the Operations Division, Southeast Asia Command 1944-1945. At Headquarters of U.S. Army Forces in China 1945-1946. Chief of Military Advisory Group in Saigon at the time of his death on June 24, 1952. Decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, two Legions of Merit, the Commendation Ribbon and Purple Heart.
Brink Hotel not "Brinks Hotel"
May 2017
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