February 11, 1969. CMAC (Saigon)/Terrorist Attack.

February 11, 1969. CMAC (Saigon)/Terrorist Attack. At approximately 0630, 2 suspected VC terrorists, on a motorcycle, hooked an unknown type and size of explosive device, attached to a string, onto the screen window of a US MACV shuttle bus. The bus was 1 mile south of Tan Son Nhut AB & en-route to MACV headquarters with about 50 US officers. The actual placement of the charge was observed by an Army major who alerted Lt Col Harold J. Keeling of Topeka, Kansas, sitting next to the window. Col Keeling immediately detached the hook from the screen & the device exploded on the ground after the bus proceeded about one block further. The explosion was estimated to have been caused by the equivalent of 5 pounds of TNT or plastic type explosive. One building was lightly damaged and one Vietnamese child was reportedly slightly injured by the blast. The terrorists escaped. [204]

Bio: Lieutenant Colonel Harold J. Keeling (as of Oct. 20, 1967). Headquarters Marine Corps has announced that two K-Bay (Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii) officers have been selected for post-graduate schooling through the Marine Corps' Special Education Program. Lieutenant Colonel Harold J. Keeling, officer-in-charge, Data Processing Installation, and Captain Christopher J. Rooney, Provost Marshal, will participate in the program. Lt. Col. Keeling is scheduled to attend the United States Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, Calif., for a course in Operations Analysis. His attendance, however, will not be effective until he has completed a tour of duty in Vietnam.Lt Col. Keeling enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1945 and stationed in China. A native of Topeka, Kansas, he then received a discharge from active service and attended the University of Kansas. Upon graduation, he was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps and served in Korea with the 11th Marines. Other duty stations include Fort Sill, Okla., and sea duty aboard USS Valley Forge. The colonel was assigned to K-Bay in 1965.