Da Nang

DA NANG
Da Nang is the second largest city in Vietnam. It was where the first American ground combat unit,
the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade landed in 1965. The area in and around the city saw plenty of action
during the war. The city and the huge American Airbase were regular targets of Communist rockets and infiltration.
Pictures by Ronnie D. Foster
{click on picture for large view}


The day the ASP 1 ammo dump blew	A relaxing day of fishing	Dog Patch 1967 photo by Marvin Lockard	Passing through Dog Patch 1968

US Navy patrol boat	Main bridge	A view of the city from Marble Mountain	Outskirts of the city

Vietnamese girl, dressed American style	Shell gasoline truck	Marine Corps Ottor photo by Marvin Lockard	Da Nang Harbor from atop Marble Mountain

German hospital ship	A view of the twin bridges	The smaller boat is a converted LCM 6 and was used to push and help larger craft like the LST shown alongside. (description by Clyde Lovell USN)	China Beach security

27 Feb, 1969 Da Nang Harbor after a night of rockets
Remains of the LCU 1500 and the YFU 78. With the exception of one man from the LCU 1500, all aboard both boats were KIA. The LCU 1500 had earlier been hit and sunk in the Cau Viet River with some KIA. It was refloated, repaired and put back in service, only to be destroyed in Da Nang. ACU-1 has a memorial for the LCU 1500 on the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base in San Diego. That lone survivor, as of last year is still alive and helped dedicate the memorial in Coronado. (3 Photos by Clyde Lovell, USN)

China Beach USO	Da Nang Airbase		Famous pagoda in downtown Da Nang.

ARVN HQ in Da Nang	Pics from Dave Allevato USN This Navy A3D aircraft was configured for Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) and hit during rocket attack on the Da Nang Airbase, 1966 or 67		China Beach R&R Center

These photos were sent in by Marvin Lockard USMC I am a Marine that was in 1st Motor Transport Bn. stationed just south of the Da Nang air strip. I missed the ammo dump adventure but did see a lot of things going on at Marble Mountain. I was T A D to 2/1 and 3/1 south of Marble Mt. I did not drive a truck; I drove an otter. I was an instructor in Albany,Ga. MCSD We put 10 classes through and then they sent all of us to Nam. I was under a year left in the Corps when I left for Nam. When I got to Da Nang our company had just moved from down south ( Chu Lai ) SP. My first day at 1st M T the Staff/Sgt said he would give me a few days to get used to things, like guard duty, and all the other things no one liked. Well, later that day he came and asked, "Can you drive one of these things?" I puffed my chest and said "I was an instructor." He said, "I don't care if you're the President of the United States, can you drive?" Well, in class we had taught that they would have a fire team and an A driver ( 50 cal ). Here it is getting dark and we're headed south with 4 vehicles and only the drivers. Now, this is the first time I saw all those slant eyes and I was petrified. We went to 2/1 south and inland from Marble Mt. Nothing happened but I kept saying to my self, WHY ME LORD.

Marine Corps Ottor	Bridge security on Hwy 1 south of Da Nang	Somewhere near Da Nang

Near Marble Mountain	The chapel at Camp Faulkner	Dog Patch

PACIFIC STARS and STRIPES
24 February, 1969

REDS POUND U.S. VIET BASES

Da Nang was apparently the hardest hit. Stars and Stripes staff correspondent Mike Kopp reported more than 50 rockets pummeled US and ARVN military bases surrounding the city beginning about 2:30 a.m. Among the targets was a South Vietnamese ammunition dump which was still exploding spectacularly five hours after it was hit. Two rockets hit the Air Force base about 5:35, Kopp said. One hit the flightline of a Marine air group causing a small fuel fire but no casualties and little damage. Kopp said, the second started a bigger fire among the naval support activity fuel pipelines but failed to ignite any storage tanks or cause any casualties. The deep water piers manned by US Navy men at the foot of Monkey Mountain, the Marine air facility at Marble Mountain and the Air Force base on the city’s outskirts were all apparently hit by rockets, Kopp reported.
There was no evidence that the rockets had hit the densely populated city itself. The communists appeared to be aiming at military installations exclusively there Kopp said. In Saigon and Da Nang, flareships quickly lit the early morning sky and the sound of answering artillery fire reverberated through the streets.