The alert was sounded that we were taking in-coming. There was a lot of confusion at first, it was our first time hit. I remember diving in a house bunker near the latrine. Holbrook's hut was on the other side of the latrine. We heard the rocket coming, sounded like breaking a bundle of cedar kindling. Then it hit.
I remember seeing every color in the spectrum, a tremendous rush of air in and out of the bunker, and the deafening explosion. It was quiet for a second and then we could hear a lot of screaming. There were two guys I had just gotten to know, named Murray and A1C David Ware. Ware got pinned between his bunk and the wall and had a huge hole in his side, he was dragged into the bunker I was in (sure would like to find either of those guys).
I am sure about David Ware's side injury. When I came back in to the hut area after daylight I saw the hut where Holbrook had been. I remember being told that the guy with the side injury that was dragged into the other end of the bunker had been pinned between the end of his bunk and the wall that was still standing. I have doubted my own memory several times about those days. I don't remember seeing either of those guys again and I rotated back home shortly after that attack. I think I was told the guy who was screaming with the side injury, David Ware, was medevaced out to a big hospital.
A lot of the guys just went under their bunks instead of going to a bunker. Holbrook lived at the end of his hut and took cover under his bunk. The rocket came in at the other end and the majority of the damage was on his end. I was told that he misinterpreted the second alert siren for the all clear and had come out of cover and was getting his gear out of his locker when the rocket hit.
Shortly after the rocket hit on the bunker the rest of us assembled and went to post. I ended up in the new bomb dump on the west end and I had always worked the east end so it was all new ground for me. Spent the rest of the night sitting back to back with a guy I had never met before. Holbrook was talked about as the nice kid from the states. I don't think he had been in country very long.
The 3rd SPS Christmas of 1966 - My dad went out behind our house and dug up a small Douglas fir tree. He wrapped it in wet burlap and 
tin foil and shipped in Air Mail to me. We were the only guys that I knew that had a live evergreen Christmas tree decorated for Christmas. That is me in the photo, front of the tree with a small transistor radio my folks sent.
We planted the tree outside of my barracks and it was still alive when I left. It was an assigned chore to water the Doug Fir everyday. I worked for MSgt Morgan on bunker building duty for a week or so before I processed out.
Holbrook's death had a major impact on me, I still remember his whole name after all these years. I have always wanted to find his folks or a relative and share what everyone felt about him... that he was a great kid and everyone liked him.
I hope this helps someone to remember other things.
Many years have passed since 1966 at Biên Hòa. The above photo is the first photo that I realized I had Graves disease, a goiter (the big lump on my neck) or what is commonly known now as hyperthyroidism. I have no idea what caused it but I have heard of others getting thyroid disease that were in Nam. I was treated with radioactive iodine at Travis when I got back and have had problems several times over the years. Just last year I had the last part of my thyroid killed with another radio active isotope and I now have to take meds for the rest of my life. I am just finishing up 26 years in law enforcement so it hasn't effected my career but I often wonder how it all started.
Ron Peterson,
Bellingham, Washington
From: James Lebowitz
The
comments by Ron Peterson concerning the rocket attack at Biên Hòa in May
1997, and the death of Horace Holbrook, are very accurate to the best of
my recollection. In addition the injury sustained by A1C
David Ware
,
several other Security Police sustained various types of wounds. One was
Dennis Hahn.
Concerning the pictures, the person with
the blond hair is Dorsey (I do not recall his first name). I am in the
last picture on the bottom right---the one without the shirt and in
skivey shorts. James Lebowitz
I
was with the 3rd Security Police Squadron at Biên Hòa from May
1966 to June 1967. I was off duty on the night of 12 May 1967 when A2C
Horace Holbrook was killed in a rocket attack. It was a major attack
at Biên Hòa---rockets and the works.
