Vietnam War-Era Artillery Shell Explodes; 2 Dead

Vietnam War-Era Artillery Shell Explodes; 2 Dead
Published January 02, 2012

| Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam – A Vietnam War-era artillery shell has exploded in central Vietnam, killing two people and wounding two others. Police officer Nguyen Thanh Hoai says a man who was collecting the shell for scrap metal on the side of a highway in Binh Thuan province died at the scene following Monday's explosion. He says shrapnel killed a passer-by who was sitting on the back of a motorbike, while her companion was injured. He said Tuesday that shrapnel also injured someone in a passing truck. Vietnamese government figures show unexploded ordnance have killed more than 42,000 people since the war ended in 1975.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/02/vietnam-war-era-artillery-shell-explodes-2-dead/?test=latestnews

Edited by tjadams - 02-Jan-2012 at 23:47

In a place like Vietnam, you'd think metal collectors would know better than to touch unexploded shells.

Logicv, the chance to earn a few more dong a day overcomes logic. Plus, there is a tremendous amount of naivete. Understand that after the war, Vietnam's population more than trebled. Since all lowland areas susceptible to rice cultivation were already overcrowded, many people began looking to unsettled lands which during the war had been jungles, swamps, or mountain tribal areas. Since many of the American battles against NVA Regular forces had taken place in these marginal areas, the new pioneers often found themselves ploughing up mines, bombs, and old artilery shells. On a visit to a former battlefield (Duc Lap) in 2005, I picked up a piece of shrapnel from a likely NVA artillery shell. Duc Lap had been nearly overrun twice, with the last battle taking place when the ARVNs held it. My unit had called in close B-52 strikes in 1968, and such strikes had likely been called in during subsequent attacks. In any event, my wife's niece's husband, a 40 year old high school educated Vietnamese, was accompanying my as I climbed a hill newly planted with coffee trees. He spotted what appeared to be a half-exposed 500 pound bomb. To check it, he banged on with the piece of artillery shrapnel. Needless to say, I physically removed him from the area. Again, this was an educated Vietnamese. Obviously he had never paid attention to the programs that the Vietnamese government runs on television warning people of such dangers.  Then again, there is a fatalism that sees such incidents as one's karma. If bad things happen, that is your karma. 

Edited by lirelou - 03-Jan-2012 at 22:31

Ah yes unexploded ordnance. Real bitch eh. Seen a lot blew a lot. When in doubt fall back on rule number one: when in doubt.... call EOD. And try to convince the locals a pound or two of brass ain't worth their ass.

Originally posted by tjadams I would have thought with time and the dampness of the country, the ordinance would have just rotted.

Vietnam wasn't that long ago. In Belgium farmers still dig up WWI ammo, most of which is still live

Flanders is also a very wet, muddy place with constant rainfall. Being a flat country, Belgium can become waterlogged if the drainage ditches become overfilled