Day 104: Refugee Processing Center at Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

📌APIA Every Day (104) - Situated in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, Fort Indiantown Gap, a resettlement and processing center, was established for thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Refugees first relocated to processing centers in Guam, the Philippines, Thailand, Wake Island and Hawaii before being flown to the four resettlement centers in the United States: Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Chafee in Arkansas, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, and Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. Refugees were then matched with sponsors through the processing center who agreed to provide food, clothing and shelter until they could become self-sufficient.

Fort Indiantown Gap’s history dates back to 1755 when the colonial government established forts for White settlers against the Susquehannock, an Iroquoian Native American group in Pennsylvania, who has long hunted and cultivated in the area. Moreover, the name “Indiantown Gap” was fashioned from the Native American presence and geography - “Indiantown” referring to the Native American villages and “Gap” pointing to the separation in the Blue Mountains made by a creek that runs through it. Fort Indiantown Gap was created in response to World War II when Pennsylvania agreed to lease the land to the U.S. Army as a training post. Today, the land continued to be managed by the military.

Following the Fall of Saigon and prior to the arrival of the refugees, Fort Indiantown Gap prepared beds, mess halls, medical care facilities, and other needed resources. Refugees began arriving at Harrisburg International Airport and arrived at Fort Indiantown Gap and then taken to an auditorium where they waited to be photographed, interviewed and assigned living quarters. For eight months in 1975, Fort Indiantown Gap housed more than 20,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees and slowly integrated them in American society. Additionally, the 1970s was not the only period in which Fort Indiantown Gap as a refugee processing center; Cuban began arriving to Fort Indiantown Gap during the 1980s after facing issues in the country.

While their significance in housing Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in 1975, and later cubans in 1980, is important, it is even more important to remember the land that was owned and taken by the Susquehannock Native Americans in the 1750s.

LEARN MORE:

PennLive: Fort Indiantown Gap after the fall of Saigon in 1975

JSTOR: Fort Indiantown Gap and Pennsylvania's Role in Refugee Resettlement

NY Times: Band and Applause Greet Refugees in Pennsylvania

ABC27: On this date: Cuban refugees arrive at Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County

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