Did you know that US Bombs dropped on Vietnam between 1965 and 1975 caused 100,000 deaths and injuries since the end of the war?
I did not until I read this article, An American Who Has Helped Clear 815,000 Bombs From Vietnam. The focus is on Chuck Searcy, a heroic Vietnam war vet who has devoted the last 30 years to clearing the bombs, which have become de facto land mines. He also teaches kids how to avoid injury, and helps victims by providing prosthetics and job training. Searcy’s story is inspiring, but what struck me was how little the media has covered the story of the long reach of that terrible war. Other after effects, like PTSD and Agent Orange are well known here, likely because we see their effect on Americans here.
In the ten years from 1965 to 1975, we dropped eight million tons of ordnance on Vietnam, and that legacy continued to kill and maim Vietnamese for fifty years since. The heaviest bombing of the war was in Quang Tri, where one of the war’s bloodiest battles took place at Khe Sanh, fought from January to July 1968. Searcy remembers, “It was kind of pointless,” he said. “They just bombed and bombed and bombed until there were no targets left. That made no sense.” Searcy’s group, Project Renew, is headquartered in Quang Tri.
And remember, we also bombed Vietnam’s neighbors. In Laos, more than 20,000 people have been killed or injured by unexploded bombs since the end of the war. In Cambodia, Over 64,000 people have been killed or injured by explosive items since 1979.
Searcy served one year in Vietnam in 1968, where as an army intelligence analyst, he knew the US government was blatantly lying: giving “information that was not just misleading but deliberate lies.” He returned home disillusioned, and joined John Kerry’s group Vietnam Veterans against the War.
Three decades later, he formed Project Renew, working with Vietnamese and a Norwegian group, employing 180 de-miners. In the group’s 20 years, explosions went from 70 a year to zero in 2019.
WOW! I did not know this but thanks for letting us know about it. Chuck is an American Hero!