Chu Lai is a seaport, urban and industrial area in

Núi Thành District N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. The city is served by Chu Lai International Airport. It is also the site of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (Vietnamese: ''Với Khu Kinh Tế Mở Chu Lai'').

History

Vietnam War

Chu Lai was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

from 1965 to 1970, and a United States Army military base from 1970 to 1971 during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. Roughly southeast of

Đà Nẵng Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is on ...

, the base had an airfield to supplement the major base at Đà Nẵng. It was not named for any local geographic feature, but rather was named by then Major General Victor Krulak using the Mandarin Chinese characters for his own name.

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Victor H. "Brute" Krulak, then the commanding general of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. Da Nang Air Base was the first major airfield used by the

during the Vietnam War. Shortly after conventional ground forces began arriving in country in 1965, it became necessary to open a second airfield because of the heavy traffic into and out of Đà Nẵng. On 6 May 1965 units from the ARVN 2nd Division and

3rd Battalion, 9th Marines The 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines (3/9) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War I it served until the early 1990s when it was redesignated as 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (3/4) during a realignment and ren ...

secured the Chu Lai area. On 7 May, the

3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade is a United States Marine Corps unit that is the "middleweight" crises response force of choice in the Pacific Area of Operation. It is the Marine Corps’ only permanently forward-deployed Brigade sized Marin ...

(3rd MEB), composed of the

4th Marine Regiment The 4th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Based at Camp Schwab in Okinawa, Japan, it is part of the 3rd Marine Division of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. Mission Close with and destroy the enemy by fi ...

3rd Reconnaissance Battalion The 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion (3rd Recon) conducts amphibious and ground reconnaissance in support of the 3rd Marine Division and Marine Forces Pacific (MarForPac), operating in the commander's areas of influence. The Battalion is based ...

, elements of

Marine Aircraft Group 12 Marine Aircraft Group 12 (MAG-12) is an active air group of the United States Marine Corps, tasked with providing fighter and assault support aircraft. It is currently part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), itself an integral part of th ...

(MAG-12) and

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 10 A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

landed at Chu Lai to establish a jet-capable airfield and base area.

Chu Lai Air Base Chu Lai Air Base was a military airport in Chu Lai, Vietnam, operated by the United States Marine Corps between 1965 and 1970. It was located near Tam Kỳ city, the largest city in Quảng Nam Province. Abandoned after the end of the Vietnam Wa ...

became operational on 1 June 1965 and remained in use by Marine aviation units until September 1970. The Seabees of MCB-10 built the helicopter pad, and the Marines also established a combat base and helicopter facility on the Kỳ Hà peninsula north of the air base. The Marine base was handed over to the U.S. Army's Task Force Oregon in April 1967 and subsequently became the headquarters and base area for the U.S. 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division from September 1967 until November 1971.

Auto factory

Since 2001,

Kia Motors Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

has manufactured automobiles at its Chu Lai Plant as part of a joint ventured with Truong Hai Automobile Co. The site covers , and Truong Hai was the first private company in Vietnam to manufacture automobiles, and the first to achieve an annual output of 5,000 automobiles. The facility expanded in 2003 on in Tam Hiep Industrial Park with an investment of VND1,900 billion. In 2007, Truong Hai Automobile Co. Ltd became Truong Hai Automobile Joint Stock Company (Thaco), with automobiles marketed as Thaco-Kia.

References

External links

Chu Lai map

Battle of Chu Lai reference
{{Coord, 15.412275, N, 108.704478, E, display=title Populated places in Quảng Nam province