Khe Sanh
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- For the song by Cold Chisel, see Khe Sanh (song).
- For the battle during the Vietnam War, see Battle of Khe Sanh.
Khe Sanh is the district capital of Hướng Hoá District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam, located 63 km west of Đông Hà.
Khe Sanh Combat Base was a U.S. Marine outpost in South Vietnam (MGRS 48QXD850418) used during the Vietnam War. The airstrip was built in September 1962. Fighting began there in late April of 1967 known as the "Hill Fights", which later expanded into the 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh. U.S. commanders provoked the battle, hoping that the North Vietnamese Army would attempt to repeat their famous victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. On July 5, 1968, Khe Sanh was abandoned, the U.S. Army citing the vulnerability of the base to enemy artillery. However, the closure permitted the 3d Marine Division to construct mobile firebase operations along the northern border area.
In 1971 Khe Sanh was reactivated to support Operation Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese incursion into Laos. It was abandoned again sometime in 1972. In March 1973, American officials in Saigon reported that North Vietnamese troops had rebuilt the old airstrip at Khe Sanh and were using it for courier flights into the south. Today Khe Sanh Combat Base is museum where relics of the war are exhibited. Much of the actual airstrip is now overgrown by wilderness oder coffee and banana plants.
The Australian rock group Cold Chisel used "Khe Sanh" for the title of a song about Australia's participation on the anti-communist side in the Vietnam War. The song, written from the perspective of a veteran, describes the bitterness felt by many Australian conscripts following the war. The attack on Khe Sanh was one of the largest sieges during the war next to the Tet Offensive.
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