He was sent to Saigon in 1967 was promoted to Non Commissioned officer sergeant in 1968. He was NCO in Charge of Bunker 51 at the Saigon main gate. On the first day of Tet, they fought off 2 battalions (a battalion is a thousand men) of North Vietnamese infantry for over an hour.  They (they enemy) finally brought up the heavy artillery and blasted the bunker to smithereens. The NVA killed all but one in the bunker , Airman Alonzo Coggins;  who was wounded, and buried beneath the bodies of the other defenders.  The enemy soldiers took over the bunker, but never saw that Coggins was not dead.  After our reinforcements chased the enemy out of the bunker, Alonzo Coggins was found alive.  A miracle. He did not stay in the Air Force, but received an award, and returned to civilian life.