Operation Ivory Coast was a United States military operation in the Vietnam War.

On November 21, 1970, U.S. Army Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons and Lieutenant Colonel Elliot “Bud” Sydnor led a team of 56 U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers in a joint Air Force/Army raid on the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam. The objective of the operation was to recover approximately 70 American prisoners of war thought to be held at the camp. The mission was a tactical success but the prisoners had been moved to another camp.

As a result of the raid, the North Vietnamese consolidated their POW camps to a few more easily defended central prison complexes, such as the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” After their repatriation, many POWs stated that being in close contact with other Americans lifted their morale, as did knowledge of the rescue attempt. During the course of the Vietnam War there were numerous attempts by U.S. Special Forces teams to rescue POWs but only one succeeded, and fifteen days after his recovery the rescued POW died from wounds inflicted by his captors during the rescue attempt.