Friday, March 8, 2013

REMAINS OF CAMP ENARI

Outline of old Military Police post at Camp Enari entrance
We’re south of Pleiku, driving to an old US military base. Suddenly, my Vietnamese guide asks me, “would you like to see the MP (Military Police) Gate?” I say yes, and our SUV immediately stops. We get out, I look around, and see only brush and small trees about. I wonder, where is the gate? I don’t know it, but we’ve just driven over it.

Outlined in the middle of the pavement, there's a diamond shaped line of cement. This was the foundation that surrounded the guard shack at the base's entrance. The foundation itself was finally chopped down to road level two years ago, since motorcyclists kept having accidents from running into it at night. Given the amount of drunks driving around on motorbikes in Vietnam, that’s not surprising.

Looking around, I see no control tower, no old barracks, no fencing, nothing. There are now farming fields, and cattle grazing nearby. There are no other  visible remnants of the old base in sight. It’s hard to believe that this was once Camp Enari, former base of the US Army's 4th Infantry Division.



Camp Enari in 1969 (Archive photo)
After the 1973 Paris Peace agreement, the 4th Infantry departed, and the base was turned over to the ARVN. After they abandoned the base later, nearly everything left here was looted, dismantled or destroyed. There is another old US base in Pleiku, Camp Holloway. But I can’t visit there; it’s now occupied by the Vietnamese Army! Camp Enari on the other hand, has ceased to exist.

We hop back into the SUV and drive onto the former base, arriving at the former Hensel Army Airfield. Getting out again, I see serrated metal visible in the reddish dirt before me. Laid down by military engineers, this steel matting used to make up a layer of the runway. These old runway remnants are the only thing left. Everything else is gone. In the late 1960’s there were more than 10,000 American troops based on this patch of land. Now there are few traces left to show that they were ever here at all. 


Serrated lines in the dirt are the remains of the Hensel Air Field runway
Looking to one end of the runway, it’s now covered by a building that processes coffee. Other parts of the installation have become a cement factory, but even with these small businesses, there are few other buildings. Most of the old base is now open country. There is farmland, thick with plots of coffee and cassava. The rest is open field, with the occasional herd of cattle passing through to graze.

From here we get a view of Dragon Mountain which used to have a small US Army lookout post on top. It’s been replaced by two towers, a TV tower and mobile phone tower, on each end of the flat topped mountain. Technology is slowly coming to the highlands.

My guide tells me that a couple days ago, she brought a former USAF soldier named Kim here, who had served a tour of duty on Camp Enari. When she brought him back to the former base where he had spent a year of his life, he was stunned.

“He cannot believe how much it change,” she said. “He walk around for 1 1/2 hour, looking for things to remember.” 


Dragon Mountain today, topped with cell phone towers
She gestures and says, “There is Artillery Hill.” I turn to see a sloping hill across the road in the distance. Kim told her about how he had gone up Artillery Hill, and sprayed dioxin there to kill the brush. At the time, they didn’t know how poisonous it was, so they took few safety precautions. As a result, he now has serious respiratory problems, and has difficulty breathing normally. 

It’s not just the local Vietnamese who have suffered the ill effects of Agent Orange. Thousands of American soldiers became ill from their exposure to it as well. It seems that when it comes to Agent Orange exposure, the land may be recovering faster than people do. 

Old map of Camp Enari during the war


19 comments:

  1. If I could snap my finger and be there I would. Don't really want to fly anymore. Camp Enari was a bustling place at one time. Wow

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    1. Good to hear from you David. I do recommend that you go back to visit sometime, many vets already have.

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  2. Was among the first to be at Dragon Mountain...floated on a ship from Ft. Lewis to Vietnam. After my 'shift', I headed home. The place was just beginning to install permanent barracks...my tour was spent in a tent with nine other guys on cots with pallets for a floor...was almost a pleasure to go on perimeter guard duty with only two other guys in the bunker! Oh, and don't forget the aroma of the burning of the shit barrels from the outhouses...and our 'sun barrel' showers. An experience bar none!!!

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    1. I remember that the Army was kind enough to NOT have the guys that burned the shit ... pull KP duty! LOL

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    2. Good to hear from you, sounds like you had quite an experience there. You were there when they were first installing the barracks, and now all those barracks are gone. The place has gone full circle.

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  3. I spent 1969 there for the most part. Interesting to see Artillery Hill mentioned, as that was the name of the hill where we had our AN/TPS-25 radar setup. I was the radar tech there and also ventured to a couple of firebases and also the Air Force base located near Pleiku to help out with their Q-4 radars. Loads of fun. Would have liked to have seen the old Camp Enari again, but looks like there is nothing to see. Personally, I have no other desire to go to Vietnam. Once was enough.

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  4. I spent 1969 there for the most part. Interesting to see Artillery Hill mentioned, as that was the name of the hill where we had our AN/TPS-25 radar setup. I was the radar tech there and also ventured to a couple of firebases and also the Air Force base located near Pleiku to help out with their Q-4 radars. Loads of fun. Would have liked to have seen the old Camp Enari again, but looks like there is nothing to see. Personally, I have no other desire to go to Vietnam. Once was enough.

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  5. Thanks for putting this online. I was at the base (we didn't call it Camp Enari at that time) from Aug., '66 until Nov., '67. The base was very secure in those early days. In fact my unit, the 124th Signal Battalion (approximately 500 men), did not lose a single man to hostile action for the first year that we were there (August, '66 until August, '67). I wish I knew how to get in touch with my friends from my time in Vietnam. Most of us were draftees. We weren't the most gung ho soldiers but we enjoyed the shared experience of hating being away from home. Looking back on it now I remember it as a good time with good friends. God bless those who were not as fortunate as I.

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  6. In 1969, I spent almost a year on top of Artillery Hill. I was assigned to a radar crew that operated a TPS-25 ground surveillance radar. I was the radar technician, and used to service that radar, and I would also go to the Air Force base outside of Pleiku and help out with their Q-4 radar. Also made trips to some other locales, I think one was LZ Oasis where they also had a Q-4 radar. Amazing to see that there is absolutely nothing left of Camp Enari.

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    1. Yeah, I was at Enari from April 69 til we moved to An Khe in Feb 70. 3 months as guards for the signal equipment on the Dragon. Artillery Hill became Signal Hill due to all the signal equipment up there. Worked at DTOC until we moved. We took plenty of rockets during my time..only one ground assault and one sapper attack that had everyone armed and patrolling. South side of Signal Hill had the high buffalo grass growing and the pot heads would sit and smoke in peace..you would see red glows all over the place. One day the MPs and engineers handed out rakes and shovels and lit a controlled fire...clear down to the bare dirt and 30-40 or so Ritz cans and plastic bags of grass. Guess they ended up hiding in the motor pool after that.

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  7. I, too, was on that Fort Lewis-Qui non boat ride; I recall we had to detour to someplace (Okinawa?) because of a typhoon. When we got to what later became Camp Enari, there wasn’t much on the ground. We slept in GP large tents and the medical operations were also in GP larges. We gradually “improved” with tents stretched across wooden frames. When I left in 1967, a few Quonset huts had been built and more were planned. When I left, Camp Enari was the only base camp that had not experienced rocket/mortar fire, but that changed quickly.

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    1. took the boat ride myself on the uss Pope. I can remember the stop in Okinawa but I remember the reason being some guy had a brain anuerism. Didn't get to go ashore cause I got kp duty on that day. Was in hdqtrs & hdqrtrs support command.

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  8. I was a 4th ID Divarty surveyor from HHB, 4th Divarty Artillery. In July and August of 1968, I was a forward flash Observer on top of Dragon MT. The top was divided into the US side and the ARVN side. My OP was at the far end on the ARVN side of the Mt.

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  9. I went over on the troop ship in '66 and was in HHQ Co 4th Engr. Battalion. We laid the air strip first so the Carrabou's could bring in supplies and more troops. We had mud asshole deep to an Elephant. I remember we built the Div. Chapel also.I was in the track section (tanks). I can believe that there is almost nothing left anymore. Kenneth (Big Lee) Lee.

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  10. Came from Ft Campbell July 68 C Troop 7/17th Air Cav would really like to visit we were everywhere in central highlands was. transferred. to D Troop in Nov 68 the rat patrol of the jungle

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  11. Was there in 1969 I remember everything and just about all the heart wrenching times I eexperienced. God bless the families who lost a loved one, and those who made it back to the world. Peace

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  12. I was in 7/17th Air Cav on Enari. I got there Christmas day 1968 and left Nov 23rd 1969. I was supply Sgt at the S4. Was hoping there was more left of the base but it has been over a half century!

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  13. I served with 4th div. 10th armored calvery B co. at Camp eneri , busted brush and convoy security alone HWY 19. There were places like LZ blackhawk, LZ oasis/ LZ schular/ FB action then to the border. I don't miss this place but would not want to do it again . 45 men in my plt. 1969.

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  14. I was with the ARP 67-68 10th cav working from oasis. Hq. Camp enari treated the ARP like dirt

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