Dead Chinese Tank on Battlefield - Apr 1972
On a mission to scout out enemy locations (in April '72 shortly after TET II began on or about 3/30/1972) and a few miles south of Quang - Tri City. Our "Heavy Fire Team" discovered a "dead" Chinese tank which appeared to have been hit (probably) by a Marine/Navy F/4 Phantom rocket, in its turret on the front side.
It had been hit some time prior to our discovery because there was no noticeable smoke or active fire in the tank and the metal of the tank was melted, but not hot to the touch. Nor was there any indication that any enemy soldiers were still alive. The body count at the site was two NVA soldiers. As I recall they were outside the tank 
(which I think requires a crew of three), and the front of the tank (including the turret) suffered major damage. The photo shows that our close in air cover was a fire - team of Centaur Cobra's. We landed close by the destroyed tank in a Centaur Slick. Our recon party of three "back seaters" (myself and two troopers) were able to proceed directly to the site quickly without incident. Do you remember who they were or any pilot names?
I was interested in recovering any maps or written materials showing NVA Operations Orders. I think one of our Centaur troopers shown on the tank did find some maps/materials showing or describing the recent operations or locations of the NVA unit. Perhaps just as important, they found and recovered a Russian automatic rifle (w/tripod) which appeared to be brand new. Possibly the weapon had never even been used. I recall that it was clean and shiny. As always, during these types of activities, we did not want to spend more time than necessary looking for weapons or enemy intelligence, etc., when we were exposing ourselves and our entire flight team, to unknown enemy risks, i.e., booby traps, snipers or other potentially undiscovered enemy anti-aircraft location
s.
Not long before the TET II Offensive occurred, the NVA had introduced us to shoulder-fired rockets on the battlefield which proved to be a very deadly weapon for all helicopters. Our unit, F/4 Air Cav, may have been the first, or at least, among the first, to experience in person the deadly effects this type of weapon had on our aircraft.
We probably spent a total of four to five minutes on the ground and then broke off the mission and left as quickly as we could for our home base (Hue - Phu Bai).
Nearly 46 years later, in a conversation I had with John Spencer during the F/4 Reunion in Covington, GA (2018) to honor him, he told me that the weapon we found on the tank was now on display in the Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Postscript: It would also be great to know the names of the brave Centaur Troopers who are pictured on top of the tank with me. They must remember this moment since it is not very often that anyone has the opportunity to stand atop a destroyed enemy tank during an active combat mission. Hopefully some of our members will remember this incident and provide names of those two men with me and names of the helicopter pilots involved.
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