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Although officially it never took place, between 1964 and 1973, the United States carried out some of the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and Cambodia trying to stop North Vietnamese Army from using the trail to attack American and South Vietnamese Forces in South Vietnam. It is estimated that over two million tons of bombs were dropped- exceeding the entire tonnage of bombs dropped during all of World War II and the equivalent of one planeload of bombs every hour for ten years. Estimates of the failure rate bombs dropped in the region- that is, bombs that have remained unexploded- are as high 30 percent. To this day, bombshells are still scattered everywhere, and have become part of the present day jungle landscape. Unexploded bombs, ammunition, and mines continue to maim and kill people, especially those who collect the scrap metal to sell to Vietnam and Japan.
Dec 7, 2009
Photos: 20
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