History of Pleiku

I moved to Pleiku nestled in the South Centrail Highlands of Vietnam in 2020. I’ve since been absolutely fascinated in the history of this beautiful, unique town. And the short history is certainly colorful! Established by the French to “pacify” the nearby Jrai and Bahnar people, in the 1960s it became one of the most significant places in the Second Indochina War due to it’s position on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. I research and write about the topics I can find based on American and Vietnamese sources (recommended reading from the Gia Lai Provincial Museum).

Pleiku, Gia Lai, Vietnam

Rocket Box

During the Vietnam War, Da Nang earned the nickname “Rocket City” because of the near-constant barrage of rockets launched by the Viet Cong. But what fewer people know is that Pleiku had its own version of this during the war, a place that became known to soldiers as Rocket Box. It was located about 20km…
Cinemas In Pleiku Before & After 1975

At VUS, where I teach, we have a lesson for secondary students on the topic of what their town was like in the past. Of course, this is perfect for me, a self-declared local amateur historian. But a recent comment from my teaching assistant stopped me in my tracks. She mentioned that when she was…
Mayréna Part 2: King of Sedang

In part 1, we explored how Mayréna lead an expedition into the wild jungle near Kontum, Central Vietnam. Here he succeeded in thwarting a rival Prussian expedition and thus secured French dominance in the region by forging alliances with chiefs of the Sedang Tribe; the last tribe standing in the way of a road from…
Mayréna Part 1: Expedition to Secure Highland Chiefs

In this 2 part post I’m going to recount a remarkable episode in the history of Kontum province, central Vietnam. It follows the escapades of a French cavalryman turned confidence trickster, Marie-Charles David de Mayréna, who ventured beyond the frontiers into lawless winderness. When he got there he did something very unexpected. He declared himself…
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…
The Voice of the Army and the People of Vietnam

The real war however, is being fought not for the bodies but the minds of the Vietcong. – Congressman David S. King 1966 In late 1967, U.S. Military Assistance Command-Vietnam (MACV) placed a 50,000-watt AM radio transmitter in Pleiku to broadcast to the northern provinces of South Vietnam. “The Voice of the Army and the…