Pleiku Internment Camp

Not to be confused with the older French-built Pleiku Jail, the Pleiku Internment Camp (also known as the POW camp) was constructed in 1966 and remained in operation until 1972. The camp was run by the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN II Corps) so little has been written in English that I’ve been able to find except a brief mention in The International Review of the Red Cross, March 1972 referring to it as the the “Pleiku Correctional Institution” although the photo archive in French calls it the “Camp d’internement de Pleiku.”

source: fold3.com – Nov 14, 1968. A Quan Canh (ARVN Military Police) stands guard in a guard tower at the POW camp.

According to the Gia Lai museum, the camp covered roughly seven hectares and housed over 4,000 individuals by the end of its operation. The simple buildings were constructed of an iron frame with corrugated metal walls. Photos of a damaged building show how simple they were which must have been very uncomfortable in the Pleiku climate which alternates between tropical heat and tropical rain. These structures were encircled by barbed wire fences, and the entire camp was surrounded by minefields.

Crude building after damage, 20th or 21st January, 1972 source

Those held in the camp included soldiers from the North, guerrillas, and civilians, most of whom had been captured across the Central provinces. Once imprisoned, many were transferred to larger POW camps, such as the one on Phu Quoc Island.

My educated guess of where the POW camp was. The red road is the modern Phạm Văn Đồng street, Pleiku Airbase (now the airport) can be seen at the top right and Plei Roh can be seen at the bottom left. From the Pleiku city map Series L909 .

The camp was located between Pleiku City and Bien Ho lake. Today there is a memorial stele near Phạm Văn Đồng Street. The monument is set in a small park.