Landing Zone English (also known as English Airfield, LZ Dog, LZ English or simply Bong Son) is a former U.S. Army and

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 Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...

(ARVN) base in

Bồng Sơn Bồng Sơn is a ward () of Hoài Nhơn town in northern Bình Định Province.''Vietnam Road Atlas'' (Tập Bản đồ Giao thông Đường bộ Việt Nam). Cartographic Publishing House (Vietnam), 2004 Geography and infrastructure Bong So ...

Bình Định Province B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

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 ...

History

1966-71

The base was located along Highway 1 approximately 82 km northwest of

Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( vi, Quy Nhơn ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2019 its population was 457,400. Hi ...

. LZ Dog was originally established by the 1st Cavalry Division in late January 1966 as part of

Operation Irving Operation Thayer (13 September 1966 – 1 October 1966), Operation Irving (2 October 1966 – 24 October 1966) and Operation Thayer II (24 October 1966 – 11 February 1967) were related operations with the objective of eliminating People's Army o ...

. The base served as headquarters (together with

Camp Radcliff Camp Radcliff (also known as An Khê Army Airfield, An Khê Base or the Golf Course) is a former United States Army base in the An Khê District in central Vietnam. History 1965–67 Camp Radcliff was established in late August 1965 by the 70t ...

) for the 1st Cavalry Division from July 1967 to January 1968. English was the base for the

173rd Airborne Brigade The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Eu ...

from May 1968 to August 1971. From August–October 1968 combat engineers from the

18th Engineer Brigade The 18th Engineer Brigade (Theater Army) is an engineer brigade of the United States Army. It is currently a subordinate unit of 21st Sustainment Command (Theater) and is headquartered at Conn Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany. Soldiers of the 18 ...

upgraded the existing airstrip into a

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

capable airfield. Other units stationed at English included: * 7th Battalion, 13th Artillery (1967-October 1969) * 1st Battalion, 30th Artillery (April 1967-February 1968) * 3rd Battalion, 319th Artillery * 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (March–April 1968) comprising: ** 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry ** 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry ** 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry ** 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry * 19th Engineer Battalion (August 1968 to February 1969) *

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

MILPHAP A civic action program also known as civic action project is a type of operation designed to assist an area by using the capabilities and resources of a military force or civilian organization to conduct long-term programs or short-term projects. ...

team (October 1967 onwards) In November 1970 military police investigated the sale of heroin from a Vietnamese house on the base. On 24 January 1971 NBC reported that soldiers of the

stationed at English were buying heroin from the house and the South Vietnamese then proceeded to demolish the house.

1972

During the

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ('' vi, Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972'') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted b ...

, after overrunning much of Bình Định Province, by 1 May 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 Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...

(PAVN) besieged the ARVN 40th Regiment, 22nd Division at the base. The 40th Regiment, supposed to number 3,000 soldiers had been reduced 40% by desertion and 30% by casualties. On the night of 2 May the 40th Regiment abandoned the base and fled east to the coast where they were picked up

Republic of Vietnam Navy The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...

landing craft.

Current use

The base is abandoned and turned over to farmland, light industry and housing. The airfield remains visible on satellite images.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landing Zone English Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Buildings and structures in Bình Định province