Camp Davis was formerly the barracks of a specialized unit of the US Air Force in Saigon, located south of Tan Son Nhat airport, in a heavily guarded military area.
After the Paris Agreement was signed (January 27, 1973), this camp was arranged as the headquarters of two military delegations of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Although still bearing the name of Camp Davis, its activities were to fight for the implementation of the most essential provisions of the Paris Agreement, promoting the forced withdrawal of American troops from South Vietnam. On the diplomatic frontline, this is an activity to enlist the support of world public opinion for the Vietnamese revolution.
At Camp Davis, the first meeting of the Central Committee of the Four-Party Joint Military Commission was held, which opened at 15:15 on February 2, 1973 with the presence of four delegation heads including: Lieutenant General Tran Van Tra - representative of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, Major General Le Quang Hoa - representative of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Lieutenant General Ngo Du - representative of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam, Major General Wood Ward - representative of the US government.
Photo: The US military delegation joins the Four - Party Joint Military Commission. Source: National Archives Center II
After that, at Camp Davis, there were many official working sessions between the four sides on the return of captured foreign military personnel and civilians. Those were the wits and arguments that took place very fiercely between the Vietnamese revolutionary parties and the enemy at the conference table in the camp and at the handover sites. Strictly implementing the Paris Agreement, the Vietnamese revolutionary side carried out 8 rounds of handover at Gia Lam airport (Hanoi) of all US military and civilian personnel arrested and detained in the North. The US side and the Saigon government returned 5,075 civilian personnel, 130 military personnel out of tens of thousands of political prisoners held by them.
Photo: After the US side received all 116 military personnel, the representatives of Vietnam and the United States reviewed for the last time and signed the minutes, February 1973.
In public activities between Saigon, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Delegation and the Provisional Revolutionary Government Delegation in the Davis camp organized activities and activities that clearly showed the feeling of one family and unity. Officers and soldiers in the Davis camp are considered a front-line unit. At 10 o'clock on April 30, 1975, 6th Battalion, 9th Regiment, 10th Division, 3rd Army Corps entered the Davis camp to welcome back officers and soldiers who had completed their missions.
Photo: The International Commission for Control and Supervision and the Four-Party Joint Military Commission visit the detention site of US and Thai military personnel prior to their return, March 1973.
On the morning of February 18, 1973, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam handed over 20 more US military personnel ahead of schedule in the presence of the International Commission for Control and Supervision and the Four-Party Joint Military Commission .
Photo: View of the handover ceremony.