Landing Zone English (also known as English Airfield, LZ Dog, LZ English or simply Bong Son) is a former U.S. Army and

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

(ARVN) base in

Bồng Sơn Bồng Sơn is a Ward (Vietnam), ward () of Hoài Nhơn town in northern Bình Định Province, Vietnam.''Vietnam Road Atlas'' (Tập Bản đồ Giao thông Đường bộ Việt Nam). Cartographic Publishing House (Vietnam), 2004 Geography and ...

Bình Định Province Bình Định (平定) was a former northern coastal province in the South Central Coast region, the Central of Vietnam. It borders Quảng Ngãi to the north, Phú Yên to the south, Gia Lai to the west and the South China Sea to the ea ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

History

1966-71

The base was located along Highway 1 approximately 82 km northwest of

Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon was the capital of the former Bình Định province. As of 2022 its population was 481.110. H ...

. LZ Dog was originally established by the 1st Cavalry Division in late January 1966 as part of Operation Irving. The base served as headquarters (together with Camp Radcliff) for the 1st Cavalry Division from July 1967 to January 1968. English was the base for the

173rd Airborne Brigade The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic respo ...

from May 1968 to August 1971. From August–October 1968 combat engineers from the 18th Engineer Brigade upgraded the existing airstrip into a

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

capable airfield. Other units stationed at English included: * 7th Battalion, 13th Artillery (1967-October 1969) * 1st Battalion, 30th Artillery (April 1967-February 1968) * 3rd Battalion, 319th Artillery * 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (March–April 1968) comprising: ** 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry ** 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry ** 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry ** 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry * 19th Engineer Battalion (August 1968 to February 1969) *

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

MILPHAP team (October 1967 onwards) In

Operation Pershing Operation Pershing was an operation conducted by the 1st Cavalry Division, the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 22nd Division and the South Korean Capital Division in Bình Định Province, lasti ...

, LZ English was nearly destroyed by a fire, probably set by the PAVN 3rd Division's sappers on 6 June 1967. In November 1970 military police investigated the sale of heroin from a Vietnamese house on the base. On 24 January 1971 NBC reported that soldiers of the

stationed at English were buying heroin from the house and the South Vietnamese then proceeded to demolish the house.

1972

During the

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive (') by North Vietnam, or the Red Fiery Summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, t ...

, after overrunning much of Bình Định Province, by 1 May the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

(PAVN) besieged the ARVN 40th Regiment, 22nd Division at the base. The 40th Regiment, supposed to number 3,000 soldiers had been reduced 40% by desertion and 30% by casualties. On the night of 2 May the 40th Regiment abandoned the base and fled east to the coast where they were picked up

Republic of Vietnam Navy The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; - ''HQVNCH''; was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats f ...

landing craft.

Current use

The base is abandoned and turned over to farmland, light industry and housing. The airfield remains visible on satellite images.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landing Zone English Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Buildings and structures in Bình Định province