Lam Son 719

In 1971 an effort was made to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos by Vietnamese ground forces with US fire and air support. The forward base was Khe Sanh, the same one defended valiantly by U.S. Marines in 1968. After that siege was over, the Americans abandoned the basis and bombed with B-52's so as to make it unusable. In 1971 we came back in and rebuilt the base and runways and prepared it to support the Vietnamese forces in Laos. The operation was beaten back by the North Vietnamese forces and the best face that can be put on it is that it forestalled a Tet offensive that year. These photos are from that time at Khe Sanh.