Ham Rong Bridge

The Ham Rong (Dragon Jaw) Bridge spans the Ma River three kilometers northeast of Thanh Hoa city and is one of the most significant sites from the American War in Vietnam. The original bridge, built in 1964, was targeted relentlessly by US Air Force and Navy aircraft because it carried road and rail traffic — and therefore supplies — south from Hanoi. Despite more than a hundred air strikes, it was never kept out of service for long.

The current bridge is a reconstruction from 1973, and the hills on either side hold the remains of the anti-aircraft emplacements and command posts that defended it. A small war memorial and museum at the bridge entrance documents the battles with photographs and recovered aircraft fragments. For visitors interested in the American War, Ham Rong is a more direct and less crowded site than many of the more famous battlefields further south.

things to do sight
A story
Between 1965 and 1972, American aircraft attacked the Ham Rong Bridge 117 times without destroying it. The bridge was the critical bottleneck on the north-south supply route, and the North Vietnamese military turned its defense into a point of national pride — stationing anti-aircraft guns on the surrounding hills and scrambling MiG fighters from Hanoi to intercept bombing runs. The bridge was finally destroyed in 1972 and immediately rebuilt.