Terrorist bombs shattered a floating restaurant on the Saigon river here tonight and killed at least 29 persons, including eight Americans.

Two big explosions sounded almost simultaneously from the river bank. Witnesses said they believed that as many as 50 persons may have died in the crowded restaurant, the My Canh, and on the riverside boulevard nearby.

Police said that 17 of the dead were Caucasians, and presumably most of these were Americans. Of six Viet Namese dead in the initial count, most were women. A United States military spokesman said the dead included five U.S. servicemen and three American Civilians. He said 30 persons injured were targeted at American installations. One hundred or more persons were wounded…

The explosions at the My Canh occurred at 8:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. St Louis time). One was caused by a powerful shaped charge - possibly an American-made Claymore electric mine - planted in the bank of the river. The Claymore explodes in the direction it is pointed.

The restaurant which is moored about 25 feet from the bank, has an entry over a gang-plank leading from the waterfront street. It is patronized mostly by Americans and wealthy Viet Namese.

A second blast, which investigators believed was caused by a bomb mounted on a bicycle went off at a tobacco stall on the bank next to the restaurant. Investigators assumed that the explosions were placed in advance and timed to explode at the peak of the dinner hour on a weekend night. The restaurant was crowded and its glass walls were crushed under the haul of fragments. Victims were carried to a number of Saigon hospitals and authorities had difficulty in compiling casualty lists.

The riverfront normally is thronged with strollers seeking cool breezes in the early part of the night. Women walking with the children were among the casualties. At least one American woman was believed to have been killed. The dead and wounded were scattered in a wide arc…

Dining on choice Chinese food and French wine aboard the My Canh were nearly 100 Vietnamese and Americans, including United States advisers in from field duty with Vietnamese Military units.

They were prime targets of the explosions, which left both decks a smoking smoldering mass of broken bulwarks, smashed tables and splintered crockery. Others hit were on the boulevard nearby seeking relief from the heat in early night breezes.

U.S. investigators said one of the bombs was a powerful shaped charge- possibly an American-made Claymore electric mine - planted in the back of the river near the restaurants' awning-covered gangplank. The Claymore is an aimed device, exploding in the direction in which it is pointed. The other was a bicycle bomb. Its explosion left a tangled of tires and twisted metal beside a boulevard stall.

Presumably both were timed devices set to go off simultaneously. Whoever planted them seemed to have escaped. Three was no indication of any arrests. The attack was the third major terrorist thrust within the capitol in the last three months……

I arrived at Phu Lam in mid November 1965, as a replacement for one of two fellows who were killed a few weeks or a month or so prior to me getting instant orders for shipping. The EM mess hall was named for them. I can not remember their names, but very clearly remembering them as being members of the overseas switchboard crew because of me looking at some old duty rosters that I was about to destroy... The two men mentioned were killed in a restaurant bombing in Saigon as I remember being told and were best of buddies, must have been killed around September or October 1965. I received instant orders to pack and move out without getting to graduate from signal school. It was four of us who were taken from school, given our final exams [right then] and off we were sent.

From: Harry Chamberlain 10/65 to 8/66