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Where Were The Air Force BOQ’s Located?

by Doug Mowrey

Hello Bob,

I am trying to find the location of several Air Force BOQs from 1968, that were located on the outskirts of Saigon (at that time, and probably not too far from Tan Son Nhut Airport.

If I can locate them, I may be able to locate a house owned by (or rented by) the 3M Corporation in 1968.

This house was caught up in the TET offensive that began 30 Jan 1968, and many people were killed around it. One of my friends was in that house, and narrowly escaped with his life.

I would like to help him find the house, but we really don’t have much to go on. The only reference to any street, was marked on a hand drawn map as J & P. Have no idea what this means, but there was a cemetery in the immediate area as well.

I think that if we could determine where Air Force BOQ’s (Bachelor Officer’s Quarters) were located, it would be a starting point. Any help from you or anyone else would be greatly appreciated.

Doug Mowrey

Here is a June 1,1969 List of BOQ’s and other facilitates in Saigon, including a Map showing locations. CLICK HERE

[Doug – The *hand drawn map with J & P* that you reference may have been *JDP*. There was a JDP Compound near the airport. It was a housing compound built by JDP, Inc. (Johnson Drake and Piper, Inc.) who built highways and roads in Vietnam. They built Highway #1. In the 1950’s they built the JDP Compound near the airport to house JDP personnel and their families. After American dependents where evacuated in February 1965 they may have rented out the vacant houses. Possibly this is were the 3M Corporation house you reference was located. – Bob]

Here is an excerpt from the book House To House giving an accounting of activities in May 1968 and referencing an Air Force BOQ located in Cho Lon named Horne Hall. Click on the image below to enlarge and read it.

Click Image to Enlarge and Read

2 comments to Where Were The Air Force BOQ’s Located?

  • Mike McNally

    Doug, I was in Saigon during Tet 1968. If you could scan the hand drawn map and send me a copy, perhaps I’ll notice something. You can send it to me at mdrmmdrm at yahoo dot com and I will get back to you. There was an Iowa BOQ at 266 Truong Minh Ky, near TSN, but I don’t recall if it was strictly for the Air Force…Mike McNally

  • Jo Brown Strasburg

    Doug..when I lived there 1961-63…we rented a house across the street from the ARVN Hdqtrs., very close to the school, and the cemetary…was quite large with a tall concrete fence around it, topped by barb wire. Could be the house you’re thinking of…we also had quite a large front yard. I found the house in a pic that was sent some months ago on this site…think it was trying to show our school and surrounding area.

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