During the vietnam war(or Amerrican War as the north Vietnamese called it) Nnakhon phanom saw some of the most serious fighting between North Vietnamese insurgent and the US Forces.During the 1960s, 73 of the 131 subdistrict (tambon) were allegedly infiltrated by the Vietnamese and Lao communists and the province was known as the “heartland of insurgency” . Us and Thai forces established a base at Nakhon Phanom, where the Thai military hosted the 56th Air commando wing which conducted special operations against doth the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and carried out counter-insurgency operation against Thai communist forces while conducting search and res operations primarily inside Laos and North Vietnem