On this day, 16 March 1971, two US lieutenants at the Bienhoa air base near Saigon, Vietnam were killed when a fragmentation grenade exploded in the officers quarters. It was just one of hundreds of incidents during the Vietnam war of what was dubbed “fragging”, when US troops would kill officers who they saw as oppressive or put them in excessive danger with their “gung ho” attitude.
Amidst a powerful anti-war movement in US forces, sometimes anti-war GI newspapers would put bounties on the heads of unpopular officers, in some cases forcing the officers to be sent back to the US and replaced.
In this instance, private Smith, a 24-year-old Black GI from Watts, Los Angeles, was accused of the attack but was later acquitted at a court-martial.
Learn more about fragging and the GI anti-war movement in our podcast episodes 10-11 with anti-war Vietnam veterans. Find them on every major podcast app or on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/08/06/e10-the-gi-resistance-in-vietnam-part-1/
Pictured: Black GIs in Vietnam commemorate Martin Luther King Jr., 1971. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1673696022815541/?type=3