Dec. 24, 1964 - A U.S. officers billet in the heart of Saigon was partly demolished tonight by a bomb in a terrorist attack that injured at least 52 Americans and 13 Vietnamese.
The bomb exploded with tremendous force below the concrete apartment building, known as the Brink billet, just as the staff officers were returning home.
A civilian employee of the U.S. mission died, an official said. The explosion ripped holes through the lower three floors of the eight‐story building and hurled debris as far as a block.
The body of an American officer was found in the rubble of the billet, the Associated Press said.
A ball of fire erupted around the building and the interior burned for 40 minutes before Vietnamese firemen extinguished the flames.
The injured Americans were treated at a hospital for conditions ranging from lacerations from flying glass and plaster to concussions.
The injured Vietnamese were employees in the building.
The explosion silenced the Armed Forces Radio Service, whose studios are on the ground floor of the building only a few yards from the direct site of the blast.
Two hours later, the station returned to the air with an emergency transmitter, resuming a program of Christmas carols.
The blast seriously damaged several of the main support pillars and military engineers warned of the danger of collapse. A survey was under way within an hour of the explosion.
Police intelligence officials have captured numerous Viet Cong documents in recent weeks urging Communist agents in Saigon to make a special effort to strike at Americans during the Christmas season.
The Viet Cong aim is to stun local American personnel with terrorism, thus sapping their morale and stirring resentment in the U.S. itself. The ultimate aim is to bring about the withdrawal of the American troops from Vietnam.
“If the explosion had come a few minutes later, the building would have been full of officers back home from their offices,” said Lieut. Col. Louis A. Breault of Auburn, Mass., who was on his way to the Brink billet when he heard the explosion.
The blast occurred a few minutes before 6 p.m. Officers and others rushed to the scene as the fire and smoke billowed up. Within minutes, the entire building had been searched for survivors.
“I was just driving up when it happened,” said the deputy provost marshal of the Military Assistance Command, Maj. Jack G. Pruett of Keene, N. H. “I stopped my car where it stood and ran inside. So did everyone else nearby. We must have carried 15 or 20 men out before the ambulances arrived.”
Nearby buildings were damaged by flying debris. They included an enlisted men’s billet across the street and Saigon’s two major hotels, the Continental and the Caravelle. The latter was the scene of a terrorist bomb explosion last August.
The commander of the Military Assistance Command, Gen. William Westmoreland, inspected the billet under heavy guard one hour after the explosion. He then went to the hospital to see the casualties.
The bomb was believed to have been a 200‐pound plastic charge planted in an automobile parked in the garage under the building.
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