Tag Archives: PlacesToGo

Places to go – Xepon Part 2

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Xepon was another of those places where you might think saturation bombing would close it all down. It didn’t. As everywhere on the HCMT… all the war for that matter… the NVA used grit, determination, and resourcefulness to overcome airpower.

Another map showing all the roads, trails, bypasses, and alternates into and out of Xepon at the center of the map. This is a pic of a map at the Xepon War Museum.

Even before 1970, it became clear the interdiction effort was not working. In the early years, the goal had been to inflict enough damage to cause the North Vietnamese to give up. The thinkers in Washington, DC (I use the term “thinkers” loosely) believed that Continue reading →

Places to go – Xepon Part 1

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The town of Xepon appears in more after-action reports, CHECO, and Corona Harvest documentation about the war than any other place on the HCMT. So much went on at Xepon I’m dividing this into two or three parts. I’ll post the other parts in the next few days.

I discovered this song, Tchepone, on YouTube. The lyrics tell a lot about flying near Xepon and perhaps are a microcosm of the entire air war over the Ho CHi Minh Trail. Click on it and let it play as you continue on. (Click Here to read the LYRICS)

Xepon is another of the places Continue reading →

Places to go – The Chokes

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Our ride from the Ban Loboy Ford will go back down Route 912 to the junction with Route 911. This is where the two routes join with Route 91 leading to Tchepone (Xepon). The area of the junction was an obvious chokepoint for almost everything that made it through the Mu Gia and Ban Karai pass areas.

Although there were many natural “choke points” on the HCMT, this is the area pilots always called, “The Chokes.” It was “chokes”… plural… because there were several chokepoints in the area. Right at the R911 – R912 junction, there were three of the “chokes;” “Alpha,” “Bravo,” and “Charlie;” each one to designate a specific area near the junction.

Map of the main routes from the Mu Gia and Ban Karai passes going to Tchepone (Xepon)

Click on any of the pics in this post for a larger view. (They will open in another tab.)

The map above shows “The Chokes”. These were the key Continue reading →

Places to go – Ban Karai Pass

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Our Trail ride takes us south from the Mu Gia Pass area to the other major pass  into Laos from North Vietnam; the Ban Karai Pass. This pass was nearly as important to Hanoi as the Mu Gia Pass… and nearly as deadly to the US.

Riding the HCMT to the Ban Karai pass will only take us part of a day. This doesn’t mean there is only one “Trail” to get there. There were hundreds… maybe thousands of alternates and bypasses. If we were to try riding all those, it would take years. Even Don Duval, who has been doing this for years, is still finding new trails. He even found a new one with the classic HCMT cobble roadbed in the last couple of weeks.

This is a 1973 map showing the mountains and the trail. Examine the map closely and you will see many of the alternates and bypasses. (In the top left there are at least 8 alternates for Route 23)

We will take mostly the main routes. Take a look at the map. Continue reading →

Places to go – Mu Gia Pass Part 3

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There is lots to see and do around the Mu Gia Pass. If you’ve been following along in parts 1 & 2, you know just how much effort the US put into trying to interdict this area. Part 3 is the final installment for the Mu Gia Pass. I hope this has given you a glimpse of what went on. I’ll finish talking about those efforts, and then I (and Don Duvall) will go over the places to go and things to do.

In the sixteen months from Nov 68 through Mar 70, there were 30 more aircraft shot downs near Mu Gia; 22 KIA and 2 POW. There were also Continue reading →