More bombs were dropped in Laos and Cambodia by US forces than in all of WWII

It’s hard to believe but for the last 10 years, since the home was built, our kids at the Krolai Church Home have been playing near three, 250 pound bombs, dropped more than 40 years ago on what was then known as the “Ho Chi Minh Trail”. “Those suckers make a lot of noise!” And, to think our US “birds” laid those eggs! I honestly felt a little guilty, but thanked God no one was hurt. Christmas got started with a “Bang” in Rattanakirri Province, maybe “Kaboom” would be more descriptive.  Some of the boys at the home were putting in a fence post, and hit steel. Fortunately they hit the side of the bomb, and after a little more digging they knew enough to stop. We got hold of the UXO (Unexploded Ordinance) removal team, and they carefully dug them out, put them in a hole on some vacant land, and blew them up. It could have been the start of a good fish pond, but they filled it up.

I remember in 1970, living in Pakse, Laos (Southern Laos, near the Cambodian border), I’d lie in bed at night, and as those bombs were falling, my house would rock on its stilts, for several minutes at a time. I was at least seven to ten miles from the bombing, and I’d think, “Man, I wonder what it’s like to be under those things?” Some estimates put the number of bombs that failed to explode, as high as 30% during the wet season. Personally, from what I heard, I doubt that estimate, but obviously, for three to be found on our five  acre tract meant something had gone very wrong.

The good news is, that if they didn’t explode upon impact, it takes quite a whack to set them off, and they are several feet in the ground. Guys digging with excavators are at the biggest risk. We exhumed three land mines at our rice farm in 2014, while clearing new land, fortunately they were all duds, but these 250lb bombs don’t deteriorate as fast as those shallow, thin skinned mines, and they pack a lot of punch!