Camp Holloway

Camp Holloway was a United States Army helicopter base (with a field elevation of approximately 2500 feet) at Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam from 1962 through the early 1970s. Named in 1963 for CH-21 helicopter pilot Warrant Officer Charles E. Holloway, who in December 1962 became the first aviator assigned to the 81st Transportation Company to be killed in action. The 81st Transportation Company, re-equipped in 1963 with UH-1 "Huey" helicopters, became the famed 119th Assault Helicopter Company, and the base eventually expanded to house the headquarters of the US Army's 52d Combat Aviation Battalion of the 17th Combat Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. At its peak, Camp Holloway was home to two additional UH-1 "Huey" assault helicopter companies, a CH-47 "Chinook" company, an O-1 Bird Dog reconnaissance airplane company, a CH-54 "Skycrane" company, and other supporting units. A Viet Cong attack in the early morning hours of February 7, 1965 killed eight, wounded 108 friendly, and destroyed 18 aircraft. This prompted U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to begin bombing North Vietnam.