The Marines ultimately chose a stretch of sandy beach on the South China Sea that was about five miles southeast of Da Nang and just north of a series of red marble mountains for their first helicopter facility.

A week later Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) would approve the name "Marble Mountain Air Facility" (MMAF).

They attacked under the cover of 60 mm mortar fire using four demolition teams armed with Bangalore torpedoes and hand grenades.

[5][6]: 144 Beginning in 1969 the United States began to reduce its forces in Vietnam and by mid-October all remaining Marine helicopter squadrons were consolidated at MMAF.

[13] In August 1972 the 11th Aviation Group departed Marble Mountain Army Airfield and resettled at Da Nang AB.

[17]: 77–8 The PAVN attack began on the morning of 28 March with an artillery barrage on the city, probing attacks quickly penetrated the ARVN defenses, and the fragile ARVN discipline collapsed and soldiers began to desert their positions and seek refuge for themselves and their families.

On the night of 28 March General Trưởng received intelligence that an all-out PAVN assault against the city would commence the next morning and he decided to abandon Da Nang and ordered his forces to move to beaches for evacuation by sea.

A highway connecting Da Nang and Hội An now runs through the former base and only a few concrete and steel "Wonderarch" aircraft shelters remain.