Tonle Cham Camp (also known as Tonle Cham Special Forces Camp or Tong Le Chon Special Force camp) is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base southwest of An Lộc in southern

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

The 5th Special Forces Group Detachment A-334 first established a base here in 1967 to monitor communist infiltration from base areas in the

Fishhook (Cambodia) The Fishhook was the name given to a salient of Kampong Cham Province, southeast Cambodia that protrudes into Bình Long and Tây Ninh provinces, Vietnam, approximately 80 km northwest of Saigon. The area consisted of generally flat plains ...

.The base was located beside the

Saigon River The Saigon River ( vi, Sông Sài Gòn) is a river located in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia, flows south and south-southeast for about and empties into the Soài Rạp, which in its turn empties into the ...

on Route 248 8 km southeast of the Fishhook and approximately 14 km southwest of An Lộc. On 28 November 1968 Lockheed C-130B Hercules #61-2644 of the

776th Tactical Airlift Squadron The 776th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force squadron activated after 11 September 2001, being engaged in the Global War on Terrorism. Its current status is not publicly known. The squadron was first acti ...

was damaged beyond repair after its nose gear failed while landing at Tonle Cham Following the

Battle of An Lộc The Battle of An Lộc was a major battle of the Vietnam War that lasted for 66 days and culminated in a tactical victory for South Vietnam. The struggle for An Lộc in 1972 was an important battle of the war, as South Vietnamese forces halte ...

the base was transferred to the 92nd Ranger Battalion in late 1972. On 25 March 1973, less than 2 months after the Paris Peace Accords went into effect, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) began a siege of the camp. The Rangers held out for more than a year before they abandoned the base to the PAVN on 12 April 1974.

Current use

The base has been turned over to farmland and housing.

References

{{reflist Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Buildings and structures in Bình Phước province