The Brinks Hotel in Saigon was bombed by the Viet Cong on December 24, 1964. 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 attack was intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam.
About 1964 Brinks Hotel bombing in brief
The Brinks Hotel in Saigon was bombed by the Viet Cong on December 24, 1964. 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 bombing prompted debate within the administration of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the end, Johnson decided not to take retaliatory action and trained the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Vietcong. The building was named after Brigadier General Francis. G. Brink, who had served as the first commander of MAAG Indochina during the FirstIndochina War. It was a six-story building and had 193 bedrooms, although The New York Times reported that the building had eight stories and had 60 bedrooms that housed two people each. It attracted off-duty personnel with its highly regarded food and drink, rooftop seating areas and movie screenings. It also hosted a few officers who were members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. By 1964, there were 23,000 American military personnel in the country. The communists viewed the Americans as colonizers and the South Vietnamese as their puppets, and attacked both with force. Urban attacks on American personnel began in February 1963, with a bombing at a dining venue that killed one and wounded three. During that month, three more attacks on Americans in dining or entertainment venues, killing a total of 6 and injuring 68, leading to systematic security measures being put in place to protect off- duty Americans.
In late-November, Nguyen Thanh Xuan and his comrade received orders from a Vietcong intermediary to bomb the Brinks hotel. The pair then procured the two cars and explosives for the operation. Noting that South Vietnamese officers mingled freely with Americans, they obtained black uniforms from the black market, enabling them to get closer to the real officers. Xuan dressed himself as a military chauurffeur, while his partner dressed as a South Vietnamese major. The Vietcong pair then detonated the car bomb in front of the building, killing the two Americans and injuring the Vietnamese civilians who had been invited to a rooftop dinner on Christmas Eve. The operation was a success, and the Americans were able to return home to the United States in time for the Christmas Day holiday. The United States was the main backer of South Vietnam and sent military advisers into the country to help train and guide the Army in their fight against the VietCong. The attack was intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United. States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam. It would also demonstrate to the South. Vietnamese that the Americans are vulnerable and could not be relied upon for protection. It had been planned with two aims in mind, Firstly by attacking an American institution in the heart of the heavily guarded capital, and secondly by demonstrating that the bombing would demonstrate that they could strike back.
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