page_title: Đông Hà Combat Base
section_title: 1966–7
hierarchical_section_title: Đông Hà Combat Base / History / 1966–7
caption_attribution_description: Two U.S. Marine Corps Lockheed KC-130F Hercules (BuNo 149808) from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152) Sumos lands on the runway at Đông Hà, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, in 1967.
context_page_description: Đông Hà Combat Base is a former U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army base northwest of Quảng Trị in central Vietnam. The base was first used by the 4th Marines in late April 1966. In mid-July Đông Hà was used by the Marines as a helicopter base and logistics area. Numerous US marine and army units rotated through the base, and several artillery units were based there.
  During 1968 units of the People's Army of Vietnam made repeated attacks on the base, on one occasion destroying its ammunition dump. During these attacks, and in other actions in the general area the PAVN suffered heavy casualties. By January 1972 the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 3rd Division had assumed responsibility for the defense of Đông Hà and the area north of Highway 9. During April 1972 the PAVN made repeated assaults on Dong Ha and it fell on the 28th.
context_section_description: The base was in Đông Hà 13 km northwest of Quảng Trị on Highway 9 near the intersection with Highway 1 and only approximately 10 km south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
  The base was first used by the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines in late April 1966. 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines was deployed by air to the base on 29 May in Operation Reno to support Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces in sweeps around Đông Hà. During this period the U.S. Air Force (USAF) installed a Combat Skyspot radar system at the airfield, 6 USAF radar technicians were killed in an ambush on 5 June 6 km south of the base. The Marines departed Đông Hà on 8 June.
  On 22 June the Marines' "Task Force Charlie" comprising two Force Reconnaissance Companies, Companies from 2nd Battalion 1st Marines and 3/4 Marines and Battery H 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines deployed to Đông Hà and Cam Lộ.
  In mid-July Đông Hà was used by the Marines as a helicopter base and logistics area in support of Operation Hastings and Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16) established a forward base here at this time. Following the completion of Operation Hastings on 3 August, the Marines kept a force at Đông Hà comprising 2/4 Marines, elements of the 3rd Engineer Battalion, Marine logistics troops, MAG-16 and the Army's 220th Assault Helicopter Company and these forces were immediately used to launch Operation Prairie.
  On 10 October the 3rd Marine Division established a forward headquarters at Đông Hà to counter an expected People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) attack through the DMZ. Đông Hà became an increasingly important forward base supporting USMC operations along the DMZ and its airfield was lengthened to accommodate Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports. In addition a LCU/YFU offloading facility operated by the Naval Support Activity Detachment, Dong Ha was developed to receive supplies ferried from the Cửa Việt Base.
  On 12 April 1967 the 9th Marines moved their headquarters to Đông Hà.
  On the night of 27/8 April the base was hit by more than 50 PAVN 140mm rockets. On the early morning of 18 May more than 150 140mm rockets hit the base killing 11 Marines and wounding 91.
  In mid-May BLT 3/4 Marines was landed by air at Đông Hà to participate in Operation Hickory.
  Đông Hà was intended to form a supporting base for the McNamara Line and supported USMC forces engaged at Con Thien.
  On 26 August the base was hit by 150 PAVN artillery and rockets in 3 separate attacks destroying 2 helicopters and damaging 24 others. On 3 September PAVN rockets hit the ammunition dump and fuel storage facility causing a huge explosion that damaged 17 helicopters of HMM-361 and wounded 77 Marines.
  Marine aviation units based at Đông Hà during this period included:
  Marine Aircraft Group 16 Forward:
  HMM-163 detachments (December 1966 – January 1967)
  HMM-164 detachments (July 1966 – March 1967, July–November 1967)
  HMM-263 detachments (August 1966 – April 1967, August–October 1967)
  HMM-265 detachments (April–June 1967)
  HMM-361 detachments (June–November 1967)
  HMM-363 detachments (April–June 1967, August–November 1967)
  VMO-2 detachments (July 1966 – November 1967)
  Marine Air Support Squadron 2 - operated a Direct Air Support Center (DASC) and multiple Air Support Radar Teams in support of the 3d Marine Division.
  3 September 1967 attack convinced the Marines that Đông Hà was too vulnerable to PAVN artillery and rocket attack to continue to be used as a helicopter facility and the Marines moved their units back to Phu Bai and Marble Mountain while the logistics base was moved to the new Quảng Trị Combat Base.
  Army units based at Đông Hà during this period included:
  Battery F, 26th Artillery
  Battery G, 29th Artillery
  1st Battalion, 44th Artillery (1966–70)
  Battery G, 65th Artillery (1966–70)
  2nd Battalion, 94th Artillery (October 1966 – March 1968)
caption: VMGR-152 KC-130 at Đông Hà in 1967
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.0", "Image DateTime": "2018:05:05 14:54:03", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "256", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "176", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7629"}