FSB Fontaine
| Occupancy | Element | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 1971 – 8 May 1971 YS 803 953 |
D Co, 2/8 Cavconfirmed | Firebase gazetteer (refs 377, 394, AD518422) "FSB Fontaine, which came after Silver, was the first base to be reached by road." Resupply convoys ran from Mace. Six 105mm howitzers of 2/8 Cav on the firebase. |
FSB Fontaine was D Company's home through the spring of 1971 — the firebase Marvin Miller confirmed moving to in his letter of 9 March 1971, and the ground around which that April's contacts unfolded.
Unusually, Fontaine could be reached by road. A dirt track turned off Highway 1 at a small village — which housed the dependents of the ARVN compound across the highway — and ran to the base. Each day a supply convoy came up that road from Mace or Bien Hoa, led and trailed by gun jeeps, while a squad swept the dirt road for mines. The village children would greet the trucks as they turned off the highway.
The firebase mounted six 105mm howitzers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry. As one of Garvin's gun crews put it, "Call us any time. It's boring on the fire base, and when you call for a fire mission it gives us something to do."
Today: Site near former Highway 1 on the Long Khánh / Bình Tuy border, since returned to farmland.
2/8 Cav occupied FSB Fontaine from 28 Jan 1971 until it closed 8 May 1971 (firebase gazetteer). Jim Garvin's tour at the base (6 Feb – 11 May 71) falls within that window. The gazetteer also lists a re-survey ~100 m away (YS804953) for an April 1971 reading.
