Warren Richardson Images

Young boy finds an old unexploded bomb shell 20km from the Vietnamese border, from the 60s to the 70s America took a keen interest in Vietnam, but the war saw the surrounding countries start to become involved, in the late 60's America sent every thing they could spare to this one little location inside of Laos.

UXOs are explosive weapons that failed to detonate when they were fired, dropped, launched or projected, and still pose a risk of exploding. In Lao PDR, there are a range of UXOs contaminating the countryside, including large bombs, rockets, grenades, artillery munitions, mortars, landmines and cluster munitions.

And all carving explaining the Laos side of the story, It's there to remind locals 30 years on about the war In Southeast Asia.

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a handful of American advisers entered Laos with the intention of stopping the NVA. The mission meant that the ARVN would be in full control. Over 30,000 troops entered Laos and headed towards a town called Tchepone, about 43kms from the Vietnamese broader. Tchepone in which the Americans believe that this was a major supply depot to the North Vietnamese Army which are known as the Viet Cong (VC), the Americans sent in B52 bombers as well as attack aircrafts, tanks and many helicopters in support of the ARVN.

It was a mess, the American's underestimated the South Vietnamese Army strength and had to make a hasty retreat, in this area theres none to be up to 57 American's and up to 30 thousand NVA still missing in this area.

As fierce fighting broke out against the ARVN and the NVA, Americans were forced into rescuing the South Vietnamese troops from being overrun, and due to the fact that there was a break down in high command within the ARVN. By the time that the battle concluded, over 3800 ARVN had been killed, and 253 Americans died, and over 1100 wounded in the Lam Son Operation inside Laos.

Since 1966, over 630,000 men, 100,000 tons of foodstuffs, 400,000 weapons, and 50,000 tons of ammunition had traveled through the maze of gravel and dirt roads, paths, and river transportation systems that crisscrossed alone the Ho Chi Minh trail in southeastern Laos, the estimation of the amount of bombs dropped in the Vietnam war including Laos and Cambodia is a staggering 7 million tons.

Children play on an old American tank inside Laos close to the Vietnam border, as the American's where not meant to be in Laos, the American's had to rely on the newly trained South Vietnamese  army.

Everyday, children and adults wander into the countryside to find metal, like bomblets and weapons from the second Indochina war, to sell as scrap metal or souvenirs to tourists, or to turn into useful objects, only if they don't explode beforehand.

Unknown to the Americans at the time that the North Vietnamese Army was using their sistering country of Laos as a supply route known as the Ho Chi Minh trail, this trail was used to bring down tons of bombs and weapons to support the NVA. In this picture is a Russian made sandy missile that was found on the  very Southern boarder of Laos, this weapon was facing towards Ho Chi Minh City.

Local Laotain black smith shapes metal on an old canon shell casing.

The everyday metal objects skillfully made from recycled clusterbombs make you marvel at them and step back horrified at the same time. COPE asks people not to buy such objects from people in the streets in order to discourage the unmonitored collecting of UXO. Instead, visit COPE's web site to support their work helping people who lost their mobility through accidents and check if your country signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions to help clean countries of existing cluster bombs and prevent future use of the same.

A young Laotian Boy plays around a hut that is being held up by 2000Ib bombs. The Lao people have an amazing way of utilizing everything even when it comes to old weapons.

Bombs - exploded and unexploded - are a fact of life for Laotians. Many people use detonated, empty pieces in practical ways. Bigger pieces that are not dangerous, like cluster bomb casings (each of which may have housed up to 300 smaller cluster "bombies" which dispersed mid-air) or fuel tanks from planes might be used as feeding troughs for animals, gate posts, or stilts to hold up homes which are traditionally raised from the ground. People often already have these items in their community and will use them or sell them.

UXO Detonates a bomb in a village, all the people in the village are told to leave there village so they do not get hurt.

UXO deminers find a 2000 pound bomb shell.

The U.S. military dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos over a nine-year period up to 1973 while attempting to disrupt the Vietcong supply line known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. Around 20,000 civilians are believed to have been killed or injured by explosives since the end of the war. Some 40 percent of the victims in the past 10 years have been children. International assistance for bomb clearance in Laos began in earnest only about 20 years ago and experts believe that it will take many more decades to ensure that affected areas are safe.

As UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) sweeps through a village demining bombs, local village people and children block their ears, as some weapons need to be detonated on the spot as they become more volatile the longer they sit in the Jungle.

Young boy stands beside his mother after a land mine detonated in their village.

Children are more likely to fall victims to unexploded ordnance to the lack of education surroundings the problem of the war that took place in Southeast Asia between the 60s to the 70s.

People, often children, try to earn extra money by collecting UXOs hidden in the countryside and by selling it on as scrap metal or harvesting their explosive materials for fishing, risking their lives on a daily bases. UXO incidents in Laos alone lead to an estimated 300 casualties a year.

A nurse watches over a young girl that needs to have an operation to remove metal from her body due to a weapon detonating.

The total of 32 unexploded submunition casualties reported for 2017 was a decrease on the 51 reported for 2016. Of the 2017 total, 16 casualties were children and the other half were adults. Unexploded submunitions were reported to have caused 7,761 casualties in the period 1964–2017.

A young woman scared for life after a weapon had detonated close to her face.

Mr Nounta lost his lower left leg to a land mine in 1964 whilst fighting alongside the Americans.

Mr Nounta waits patiently as his new leg is adjusted to suit his way of walking in his everyday life.
 

C.O.P.E, Cooperative Orthotic Prosthetic Enterprise, is the only company that is operating inside Laos that makes prosthetic limbs for landmine victims.

Mr Nounta tests his new leg. Every 3 years he needs to replace his prosthetic leg, due to wear and tear.

Reminded of moments Mr Nounta just sits in the darkness of his old home change smoking.

My life as an army officer during the war in Vietnam was tuff, but the moment i stood on that land mine it changed everything for me, the army let me go as i could not perform my duties no longer, without support from the army i needed to survive the best way i knew how, i went into farming and have so for the last 30 years of my life Mr Nounta told me.

Mr Nounta shows a painted portrait of himself in military uniform.

An old shell lies at the feet of Mr Nounta, as a reminder of the war in Vietnam