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| Khe Sanh Combat Base (Khe Sanh Airfield)    | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khe Sanh,Quảng Trị province in Vietnam | |||||||
 Diagram of base | |||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Type | Marine/Army base | ||||||
| Operator | Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) United States Marine Corps United States Army (U.S. Army) | ||||||
| Condition | Abandoned | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
  Khe Sanh Combat Base Shown within Vietnam | |||||||
| Coordinates | 16°39′15″N106°43′27″E / 16.65420°N 106.72423°E /16.65420; 106.72423 | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1962 (1962) | ||||||
| In use | 1962-1975 (1975) | ||||||
| Battles/wars |  Vietnam War Battle of Khe Sanh Operation Lam Son 719 | ||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||
| Garrison | 3rd Marine Division 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||
| Elevation | 1,608 feet (490 m)AMSL | ||||||
| |||||||
| [1] | |||||||
Khe Sanh Combat Base (also known asTa Con) was aUnited States Marine Corps outpost south of theVietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) used during theVietnam War.
US Army Special Forces (Detachment A-101, Company C, 5th Special Forces Group) constructed a camp with airfield outside the village of Khe Sanh in July 1962. It served as an outpost of the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups. Its purpose was to keep watch onPeople's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) infiltration along the border and to protect the local population.
In January 1966 the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) attacked the camp with 120 mm mortars and intelligence indicated that a PAVN buildup was taking place in the area. In MarchMACV instructed theIII Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) to plan a one-battalion security operation around the camp. On 27 March3rd Marine Division commander MGWood B. Kyle ordered the4th Marine Regiment atPhu Bai Combat Base to deploy the1st Battalion, 1st Marines and supporting artillery and mortar batteries to Khe Sanh. 1/1 Marines commander Lt. Col.Van D. Bell flew into Khe Sanh to plan his deployment and found the Special Forces there to be nervous and leaving all patrolling outside the perimeter toNùng forces. On 3 April the operational order forOperation Virginia was issued, with the operation to begin on 5 April. On 4 April an advance unit was landed at Khe Sanh, but the arrival of the rest of the force was delayed by bad weather and the effects of theBuddhist Uprising and it wasn't until 18 April thatVMGR-152Lockheed Martin KC-130s were able to complete the deployment. The plan called for sequential sweeps to the northeast, northwest and then southwest of the base. On 19 AprilHMM-163 helicopters landed the headquarters unit and Company C in a blocking position 6 km north of the base and then landed Companies A and B 9 km further east, Companies A and B then swept west meeting no PAVN and joined up with Company C on 21 April and the force then returned to the base. Reconnaissance patrols of the northwest sector indicated no PAVN presence and so the 2nd phase of the operation was cancelled. III MAF then ordered 1/1 Marines to march east alongRoute 9 which had been closed for several years to determine if there was any PAVN buildup south of the DMZ. The artillery unit was moved toCa Lu to cover Route 9 and on 1 May the 1/1 Marines completed the 30 miles (48 km) march from the base toCam Lộ encountering no PAVN.[2]
In December 1966, Special Forces Detachment A-101 moved from Khe Sanh to a site near the village of Lang Vei.
Fighting began at Khe Sanh in late April 1967 with theHill Fights, which later expanded into the 1968Battle of Khe Sanh. U.S. commanders hoped that the PAVN would attempt to repeat their famous victory at theBattle of Dien Bien Phu, which would permit the U.S. to wield enormous air power.Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses alone dropped more than 75,000 tons of bombs on the PAVN304th and325th divisions encroaching the combat base in trenches.
On April 1, 1968, the U.S. Army's1st Cavalry Division launched Operation Niagara to break the siege of the base. All three brigades from the 1st Cavalry participated in this vast airmobile operation, along with a Marine armor thrust.[3]
The defense of Khe Sanh commanded international attention and was considered the climactic phase of theTet Offensive. On July 5, 1968, the combat base was abandoned, the U.S. Army citing the vulnerability of the base to dug-in enemy artillery positions in neutral Laos and the arrival of significant airmobile forces in I Corps (1st Cavalry and101st Airborne divisions). However, the closure permitted the 3rd Marine Division to conduct mobile operations along the DMZ.
In 1971, Khe Sanh was reactivated by the U.S. Army (Operation Dewey Canyon II) to supportOperation Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. On the night of 23 March a PAVN sapper attack on Khe Sanh resulted in 3 Americans killed and several aircraft and 2 ammunition dumps destroyed, PAVN losses were 14 killed and 1 captured.[4] The base was abandoned again on 6 April 1971.[5]
On 27 January 1972 a U.S. Air ForceLockheed AC-130 gunship was shot down by a PAVNSA-2 missile over the base.[6] In March 1973, American intelligence reported that the PAVN had rebuilt the airstrip at Khe Sanh and were using it for courier flights into the South.
Khe Sanh Combat Base can be visited daily as part of tours starting inHuế. Since its abandonment, most of the base has become overgrown by wilderness or coffee and banana plants. A small museum on the site contains exhibits of historical pictures, weapons, and ubiquitous "impression books" common among battlefield and heritage museums in Vietnam.[7] Additionally a C-130,Boeing CH-47 Chinook,Bell UH-1 Iroquois, artillery and armor, restored bunkers and portions of the airstrip are visible.
