Bunker Hill Hue
Please click images for slideshow
Overlooking the Perfume River with a panoramic view over the plains that stretches towards the mountains in the west are a number of bunkers located just a few kilometers west of the city of Hue. There are different versions of when these bunkers were built and by whom.
The normal take would be that they were built during the French era, most likely after the end of WWII as the French built watchtowers and bunkers along roads and strategic crossroads. Bunkers like this are still spread around the country but are being torn down at a fast pace to make way for wider roads and housing. The general view though of these particular bunkers is that they were built by U.S. troops in order to block off the approach for NVA troops infiltrating from the Ashau valley towards Hue. If they are U.S. built then they would be quite unique as they normally did not built concrete bunkers. One reason for that was that U.S. wanted to avoid being seen as occupying Vietnam. Update: According to a MACV person that operated in the area, they referred to these bunkers as “The French bunkers”.
JT
How to get there
The area is located in a small green area a few kilometers south west of Hue called Doi Vong Canh, in the same area there is also an old cemetary. It’s located on the east side of the river where it has turned south, just 200 meters from the Tu Duc tomb.
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Hi Bob. Thank you for coming to the site and for posting a comment.
I don’t know if that was done, but it doesn’t sound unlikely.
I have visited the site where the Quang Tri Combat Base was located, I did write up a page about it here on the site also: https://namwartravel.com/quang-tri-combat-base/
Check out the video and you will see the approach from Highway 1, I also got some pictures from the war (1970) from a veteran I know that I put in the video. The runway is still there and there’s space to walk around the area. Tell him to try to get where the base area was and he might find something. Where else were you stationed? I have no material from Con Tien or Cam Lo, but both are possible to visit. Dong Ha is gone, the town has grown all over where the base was, but there is a picture from what used to be the old runway on this page: https://namwartravel.com/quang-tri/
Your son can also contact me on the email address provided on the Contact page, [email protected] and I will do what I can to help him find his way around.
Again, thank you for coming to the site. It is my honor to provide any information I can.
I was a young Navy Corpsman, assigned to the 3RDMARDIV 3rd Combat Engineers in the Quang Tri Combat Base in 1969.
I head scuttlebutt that we either helped re-build the orphanage or the hospital in Hue City.
Does that “ring a bell” for anyone?
My Son will be visiting the old Quang Tri Combat Base on July 4, 2018, so any inside scoop would be appreciated.
Thanks for any help you may provide.
Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman Bob Spencer
(FMF) USN (ret)
Surprise, AZ