Tham Piu Cave,Craters and 100 uses for UXO's.

The second day at Phonesavanh,(most people leave having seen the Jars,)I and my guide set off for more sombre sightseeing.At a point where the Ho Chi Minh trail became multiple tracks crossing  open ground there is a large paddock left pretty much as it was,except for the work done by the UXO clearance teams,photos do not do justice to the sight,what's missing is the third dimension of depth.Huge B52,500lb bomb craters just a few meters apart march in series across the land,like the malevolent footsteps of a mythical monster,just a small legacy of the millions of tonnes of ordnance dropped courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Resourceful Hmong tribe villagers find multiple uses for disarmed bombs and they are known to do their own dismantling to salvage the explosives to clear tree stumps for cultivation purposes,this often of course ends in tears for the survivors.

Most distressing by far though is the beautiful,peaceful idyllic Than Piu Cave,set in the mountain at the end of a valley,a mountain stream tumbling though the jungle and hundreds of colorful butterflies fluttering among the wildflowers.As far from war and conflict as is possible until one starts to see the blue metal flags marking the spots where  374 villagers are buried,the men ,women and children who used the cave as a bomb shelter until a US warplane having failed twice with bombs fired a rocket into the mouth of the cave.A mistake maybe,collateral damage, perhaps enemy soldiers or arms where the target?

The horrible brain numbing truth is that at that point in America's secret war in Laos,anything and everything was a target,they bombed temples,schools,hospitals,villages,farms and animals,cows and water buffalo.Having narrowly survived the two bomb attacks the village chief set off on a reconnaissance to find a safer cave for his people to  shelter in,on his return he found not a single survivor.I have no doubt the pilot is a well decorated war hero.

I doubt I will ever again hear the stirring words of The Star Spangled Banner without puking.

Bomb craters.

Fence posts.

Fireplace.

House stumps.

Than Piu Cave.

The result of the Bomb attack.

Inside looking out.

Cave mouth.

The Memorial.