Camp Enari
Please click images to enlarge
Camp Enari was a very large base south of Pleiku that hosted the 4th ID and many other units including Special Forces. Outside the camp, small Montagnard villages were set up for the families of the Montagnard soldiers. Basically no remains of the camp is to be found today. The foundation of the old gate is still visible and of course Dragon Mountain is still overlooking the area.
How to get there
Follow the main road south from town, closing in to Dragon Mountain, turn east on 671 and follow it another kilometer or so south. The largest parts of the base area is on the west side of the road.
I spent almost all of 1968 at Camp Enari, arriving 19 days before Tet, when the first 122mm rocket landed 12-16 feet from my head. It failed to explode, explaining my ability to write about it, 56+ years later! I didn’t even know what it was, in the moment. I was sleeping the sleep of the just, dreaming of my French girlfriend, when a noise like gnats buzzing around my ear began to intrude. The sound changed to a horsefly batting against a window, then a bumble bee, a train, an express subway train, and the sounds of tracked vehicles grinding on either side of my head, as the rocket got nearer. Then, suddenly, silence. I sat up, reached for my trousers, as a mortar round landed in the motor pool 150 ft away, and another 122mm rocket came screaming in. Tet was on.
I told that story dozens of times over the next 24 hours, until a friend asked where I was sleeping. I took him over to show, and we started to look around, soon finding a 6-inch diameter hole, at the base of the corner of the wood floor under the supply tent, next door to my hooch. When the UXB team showed up, they measured the depth at 12 ft, pushed a tiny piece of C-4 down the hole, to set off the explosives in the rocket. When it exploded, that wood floor, with a few tons of gear on top of it, rose about knee high! I have photos of other craters left by 122mm rockets, 4 to 6 feet deep, 30-40 feet in diameter, making that dream as fresh in my mind, a half-century later, as it was that early morning.
My name is Blaize Morimando, I was a squad leader in HHC Recon 1/12th 4th ID from 66 to 68. I and others are creating a new Vietnam online war game called Brothers Forever Vietnam based on actual After Action Reports. Visit: brothersforevervietnam.com/ for an overview of the game and coming events.
i was an 04B/98C tactically deployed to various locations out of the 374th RRC in 69 and 70.
i spent most of my time in the field. My work was highly classiied having worked with tank units, LRP’s, fire bases (numerous) remote mountain tops, green beret out post, to name afew. I spent little time in the base.
I was a Medic, and then the Medical Section Chief for the 4/42 FA June ’76-June ’68. We pulled guard duty on the perimeter and did Medcap with the Montagnards in the AO. I also towed one of our 105s up to Dak To just before that kicked off. The “VVA Veteran” had an article about abandoned bases this month and I wondered about Camp Enari.
I was assigned to the 4th Admin Co. ASD from June of 68 to June 69. As a non
typist clerk, I operated AB Dick mimeograph machines for the first few months.
The AG Message Center is next door and is a part of ASD. My third assignment
was as one of two AG couriers to MACV in Saigon and USARV HQS. in Long Bihn
for a total of 6 months. 2 of those 6 months I shared an apartment in Saigon
with the other courier. As a courier, I had opportunities to see the sights of
Saigon that included pumping the bellows on the pipe organ in the Saigon Cathedral
and visiting the Saigon Zoo.
Thank you for your comment John and for providing some historical context. You sure did get to see a lot of the country.
Hey John!!!! Do you remember SSG Mac Alose? He was the msg ctr NCOIC. I was a courier also out of the MSG Center the last five months in country on my 2nd tour. The other courier was Sam George. I was there when the division move to AnKhe. I ran into Sgt Mac in Hanau Germany back in 75.
Wish’d I’d remember you. Did you take many pictures ? Are you a member of the 4th Inf. Div. Assoc. ?
What hooch was yours ? The supply room was across the street from ours. I got fired as a courier for
leaving the courier bag on the plane in NaTrang. It left me behind one day going to Saigon. I got the job back after my replacement met a gay guy in Saigon. I kept the holster for my 45. It had 3 clips + 25 rounds across the back.
I out grew it. I was in Idar Oberstein Germany in 70 as a commander’s driver. Add to that 21 years in the USAR in Milwaukee retiring as an SFC. Please reply.