THE SECRET WARS

As civil unrest escalates and sides are drawn the Ho Chi Minh Trail takes on a more difinitive roll. Between 1962 and 1963 the trail increases it's southward expansion into Cambodia as North Vietnamese soldiers infiltrate South Vietnam. Still supporting the Royal Lao Government and fearful of impending Vietnamese invasion of the south the U.S. changes its foreign policy and begins direct involvement.

The Secret Wars were just that, a war that no one talked about. The Secret Wars are the deadliest and most fierce campaigns ever anitiated by one country against another. The U.S. trying to interdict traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail begins a relentless bombing campaign. From 1964 to 1973 the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos. Conducting more than 580,000 sorties, (one plane one mission), it equates to a plane load of bombs every 8 minutes, 24/7, for 9 years making Laos the most bombed country per capita in the history of the world. Justification for such a genocidal act began to take shape in the confines of the Cold War, the civil war in Laos, impending civil war in Vietnam, and the Communist aggression  in Southeast Asia.

At one point most of the landscape outside of the larger cities looked like this. Carpet bombing, cluster bombing, and artillery barrages made a moonscape of Laos.

In 1962 President Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev leader of the USSR meet in Vienna to discuss, among other events, a neutral Laos. Agreeing on a policy of neutrality they focused on Vietnam. As China steps up its rhetoric and continues to supply North Vietnam with supplies the U.S. finds Beijing's influence on the meeting disheartening and steps up its bombing campaign. In turn the USSR increases it's munitions and supplies to the Leftist Laotian army by way of Hanoi. For the next twelve years each mega-power's position would eventually draw 40 nations into the war in Southeast Asia. In December 1975 Laos's 600 year old monarchy would fall to the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The Secret Wars, besides being a secret, had the dubious distinction of being the war with the most UXO (unexploded ordinance). Laos is contaminated with UXO's as almost one third of the ordinance dropped on it did not explode. These unexploded bombs periodically go off and approximately 20,000 people have been killed since the bombings ended. The legacy of the Secret Wars is not just the UXO's it's the Laotian people themselves. When the U.S. withdrew hundred's of thousands of refugees fled the country and settled in America.

American UXO's found and disarmed amounting to only one percent of 

bombs dropped. The rest remain live throughout the countryside.

Over 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Approximately 80 million did not detonate causing over half of the worlds cluster bomb casualties to be in Laos.

Part of a downed U.S. war plane sits alongside a 

river as part of a landscape of days gone by.

As all civil wars dictate it pits brother against brother. Here captured 

Leftist guerrillas plead for mercy from their fellow countrymen. 

Walking between craters this person is dwarfed by the holes in The Pain of Jars an area heavily fought over. Today the cleanup is getting little attention. The U.S. contributed $3.2 million per year for UXO cleanup but spent $13.3 million per day (in today's money) for 9 years of bombing. The U.S. Spent as much in 3 days of bombing as it spent for cleanup over 16 years.

A Laotian cleanup worker exhibits a defused munitions round.

It was always a welcome sign to see children playing when entering a village, it meant the village was safe and we could enter in peace. If it was fifty years ago this would have been a safe village. The children greeted us at the dock with homemade objects and smiles on their faces. 

Coming to the upper Mekong was very special and meeting the Hmong people gave me hope. These people were devastated by The Secret Wars and lost almost one third of the male population. I sat with the elders and played with the children for a day and made peace within myself. My guide was a university educated Hmong and he was proud to share his heritage. It was a holy day and the children were home from school playing as our children did when they were off. The shaman, religious leader, performed a ceremony and we took part. Each hut or house had two doors no matter how small, one in the front and one in the back. Friends enter the front door and I was permitted to enter this way. The back door was used by courting men when a marriage was permitted. The intended boy would only enter using the back door to show respect to his future inlaws. 

Outside the village Hmong people gather to buy food. Trading is very popular and the staples were the freshest food available. Live bull frogs croaking, eels squirming, and catfish jumping accompanied every imaginable fruit and vegetable and were for barter.

We communicated without words and I do believe great grandma has seen it all and could teach me a lesson or two. Beautiful people.

"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND"

After taking a picture the children want to see their image and always start laughing and poking fun at each other.

Food for the village is stored in these small houses and kept off the ground so rodents won't get at them. They contain mostly rice and corn. The children followed me everywhere.

Simple but functional homes with dirt floors.

Playing with the children, the innocent beings of the world.

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