RVN List of Locations
Bill Kindred
This is a listing of firebases, landing zones, special forces, and other combat sites in the RVN AO. It is not all-inclusive nor could it be. The intent was to catalogue locales where US and Allied combat troops might have set foot and that subset alone contains almost 7,000 entries. If you want to see everything I've accumulated, take a look at the GoogleEarth file mentioned later and, better yet, Don Smith's file. The data are from "Where We Were in Vietnam: A Comprehensive Guide to the Firebases, Military Installations and Naval Vessels of the Vietnam War, 1945-1975," Michael P. Kelley, Hellgate Press (June 1, 2002), ISBN-10: 1555716253, R. J. Smith, and Don "Sgt. Snuffy" Smith, who has compiled an extensive and probably the most complete database available, and available AAR's, ORLL's, and other documents. Firebase or LZ? If I can document arty on the ground, I call it a firebase. Lat/Long coordinates are datum WGS84. Numerals in blue underline after the text are hyperlinks to online resources. This document is current as of 07/22/13 and will be periodically updated.
These locales and many more (airfields, heliports, naval installations, hills and other geographic features, bridges, etc.) are available as a .kml file, viewable in GoogleEarth, a free application showing points plotted against medium to high resolution satellite photography with lat/long resolution. I will email this file to anyone interested and help with its use.
I welcome any feedback regarding additions, corrections, and commentary relating to particular sites. It will be incorporated into this document.
Bill Kindred
198bgde@comcast.net
Download the List - Original 07/22/2013 version