Vandegrift Combat Base (also known as FSB Vandegrift and LZ Stud) is a former

U.S. 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, cl ...

, U.S. Marine Corps, 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 north of Ca Lu in Quảng Trị Province,

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

1968

LZ Stud was originally established by the 1st Cavalry Division on Route 9 in early 1968 to support

Operation Pegasus Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on 22–23 October 1944, the Allied military forces, MI9, the British intelligence organizatio ...

, the relief of Khe Sanh. On 14 March engineer construction began on a x airstrip and a logistical complex at LZ Stud. On 24 March the quartering party moved to LZ Stud and began work on command and communications bunkers. By 29 March the strip was opened for

C-7 Caribou The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou (designated by the United States military as the CV-2 and later C-7 Caribou) is a Canadian specialized cargo aircraft with short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability. The Caribou was first flown in 1958 ...

aircraft. On 30 March the 11th Aviation Group moved to LZ Stud. The base was later occupied by the

9th Marine Regiment The 9th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War II, it served until 1994, when it was deactivated during the post Cold War drawdown. Battalions of the Ninth Marine Regiment, but not the ...

, part of the

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

who renamed it Vandegrift Combat Base after Marine General

Alexander Vandegrift General Alexander Archer Vandegrift, USMC (March 13, 1887 – May 8, 1973) was a United States Marine Corps four-star general. During World War II, he commanded the 1st Marine Division to victory in its first ground offensive of the war, the Bat ...

1969

From January–March 1969 Vandegrift was used to support

Operation Dewey Canyon Operation Dewey Canyon was the last major offensive by the 3rd Marine Division (United States)#Vietnam War, 3rd Marine Division during the Vietnam War. It took place from 22 January through 18 March 1969 and involved a sweep of the People's Army o ...

, an offensive into the

A Shau Valley A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

south of the base. On 9 April 1969 a Marine Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion helicopter (BuNo 153738) of

HMH-462 Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 (HMH-462) is a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron operating CH-53E Super Stallion heavy transport helicopters. The squadron, known as the "Heavy Haulers", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Mira ...

crashed into the logistics support area at Vandegrift triggering a large fire. In October 1969 the base was handed over to the ARVN 2nd Division who dismantled it and used it to reinforce

Camp Carroll Camp Carroll (also known as Artillery Plateau, Firebase Tan Lam and Hill 241) was a United States Marine Corps and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) artillery base during the Vietnam War. It was located 8 km southwest of Cam Lộ, Qu ...

1971

In late January 1971 the base was reoccupied by the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division in support of

Operation Dewey Canyon II Operation Lam Son 719 or 9th Route – Southern Laos Campaign ( vi, Chiến dịch Lam Sơn 719 or Chiến dịch đường 9 – Nam Lào) was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos. ...

and

Operation Lam Son 719 Operation Lam Son 719 or 9th Route – Southern Laos Campaign ( vi, Chiến dịch Lam Sơn 719 or Chiến dịch đường 9 – Nam Lào) was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos ...

. During the same period, the base was also occupied by the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 23rd Infantry Division in support of

. On 21 March PAVN sappers attacked the base destroying 10,000 gallons of aviation fuel.

Current use

The base is abandoned and turned over to farmland.

References

Buildings and structures in Quảng Trị province Military installations of the United States Marine Corps in South Vietnam Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam {{Vietnam-war-stub