Camp Lê Văn Duyệt (also known as Capital Military District Headquarters, Capital Military Assistance Command or CMAC and Camp Goodman ) was a

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suf ...

and

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

base located in

District 10 District 10 may refer to: Places * District 10 (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam * District 10 (Zürich), in Switzerland * District 10, an electoral district of Malta * District 10, a police district of Malta * District 10 School, a historic school in ...

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

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 ...

. It remains in use today by the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wi ...

(PAVN).

History

The base was originally built during the French colonial period as the ''Nouvelles Casernes d'Artillerie Coloniale'' (new barracks of the Colonial Artillery). With the departure of the French from

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

in 1954-6 the base was handed over to the

(ARVN) and named after Lê Văn Duyệt, an 18th-century military commander. The base was the headquarters of the Capital Military District responsible for the defense of Saigon. On 5 October 1963

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

officer

Lucien Conein Lucien Emile "Lou" Conein (29 November 1919 – 3 June 1998)Barnes, Bart"Lucien E. Conein Dies at 79: Fabled Agent for OSS and CIA" ''The Washington Post'', June 6, 1998. p. B6. was a French-American citizen, noted U.S. Army officer and OSS/CIA op ...

met with General

Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm ...

at the base to discuss the planned coup against

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic o ...

. In preparation for the coup one of the coup leaders General

Tôn Thất Đính Lieutenant General Tôn Thất Đính (, ; November 20, 1926 – November 21, 2013) was an officer who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). He is best known as one of the key figures in the November 1963 coup that led to the ...

moved 20 tanks to the base to ensure that the coup supporters enjoyed overwhelming strength against forces loyal to Diem. In 1964 the ARVN political warfare training center moved to the base but the facilities at the new location were so inadequate that they were moved to the Dalat Military Academy in 1966. The ARVN 1st Airborne Battalion was headquartered at the base. On the morning of 31 January 1968 at the start of the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

, US II Field Force commander

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 th ...

Frederick C. Weyand directed his deputy,

Major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Keith L. Ware Keith Lincoln Ware (23 November 1915 – 13 September 1968) was a United States Army major general, and a Medal of Honor recipient of World War II. Ware was killed in action in 1968 while commanding the 1st Infantry Division during the Vietnam ...

, to establish a tactical command post at the base next to the Capital Military District headquarters. Once operational, this headquarters known as ''Hurricane Forward'' would assume tactical control over all US units entering the Saigon–

Gia Định Province ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth Mi ...

zone. On the morning of 5 May 1968 at the start of the

May Offensive Phase Two of the Tet Offensive of 1968 (also known as the May Offensive, Little Tet, and Mini-Tet) was launched by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) against targets throughout South Vietnam, including Saigon from 29 April ...

Weyand directed his deputy, Major general

John H. Hay John Hancock Hay Jr. (October 2, 1917 – December 18, 1995) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as commander of the Berlin Brigade, the 1st Infantry Division during the Vietnam War and XVIII Airborne Corps. Back ...

, to re-establish ''Hurricane Forward'' at the base to perform the same function as in the Tet Offensive. On 27 June 1968 Weyand published orders establishing Headquarters, Capital Military Assistance Command (CMAC) (Provisional) at the base under the command of Hay, with an effective date of 4 June 1968. In this post, Hay exercised operational control over all US units and advisers in Saigon–Gia Định, with himself serving as adviser to General

Nguyễn Văn Minh Nguyễn Văn Minh (1929-2006) was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Vietnam War. Minh entered military service during the First Indochina War in 1950 as an airborne officer serving in the French colonial forces. ...

, the commander of the Capital Military District and military governor of Saigon. Weyand assigned two US brigades, the

199th Infantry Brigade The 199th Infantry Brigade (Light) is a unit of the United States Army which served in the Army Reserve from 1921 to 1940, in the active army from 1966 to 1970 (serving in the Vietnam War), briefly in 1991–1992 at Fort Lewis, and from 2007 as a ...

and the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division to CMAC control to protect Saigon against further

Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

attacks. The US

5th Special Forces Group The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (5th SFG (A)) is one of the most decorated active duty United States Army Special Forces groups in the U.S. armed forces. The 5th SFG (A) saw extensive action in the Vietnam War and played a pivotal role ...

's Camp Goodman was located within the camp until late 1968 when it was handed over to CMAC. In late 1969 II Field Force commander Lieutenant General

Julian Ewell Julian Johnson Ewell (November 5, 1915 – July 27, 2009) was a career United States Army officer who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He commanded the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force in Vietnam, and attain ...

transformed CMAC into an advisory organization for the Capital Military District, and charged it with transferring local American sensor and ground radar installations to the South Vietnamese.

Current use

The base remains in use by the PAVN as the Ho Chi Minh City Command ( vi, Bộ Tư lệnh TP.HCM). The street address is 291 Hẻm 285 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, Phường 12, Quận 10, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam.

References

External links

Photos of Camp Lê Văn Duyệt in 1968-9
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camp Le Van Duyet Buildings and structures in Ho Chi Minh City Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Military installations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 1860s establishments in Vietnam