Blood Road Page #5

---

and wanted to show us something.

because of the bombee in the ground.

There are some bombee

under the ground.

Walk here, in his steps.

Walk in the line.

I didn't see

where he first stepped.

Okay. Wow.

What is it?

A bomb.

A part of bomb.

Avoid.

You just step on it, it explode.

Be careful here.

(PAHN SPEAKING IN LAO)

NGUYEN:
Be careful.

(PAHN SPEAKING IN LAO)

NGUYEN:
Ah...

PAHN:
Bombees.

(MONK SPEAKING IN LAO)

The plane drop it to ground,

and then they do this.

Also they have many, many too.

The "bombees."

He only found it

about a month ago.

A month ago he found it?

He found, yeah.

Like Vietnam.

In Vietnam, we have many.

Thank you for showing us.

(MONK SPEAKING IN LAO)

RUSCH:
There was an unexploded

ordnance right on the ground

that the monk walks

every single day.

I can't even imagine

what that's like.

NGUYEN:
(IN VIETNAMESE) It was

the first time in my life

I have ever seen a bomblet,

and I knew it could go off

at any time.

People's lives

were still threatened,

though war has passed

for 40 or 50 years.

I couldn't understand

Rebecca's emotions fully.

She didn't express

her feelings to me,

but I did feel

that she was holding in a lot.

NARRATOR:
From 1964 to 1973,

the U.S. intensified

their bombing campaigns

along the Ho Chi Minh Trail,

especially in Laos.

Determined to stop

the continuous flow

of troops, weapons

and supplies on the trail,

the U.S. conducted more than

half a million bombing missions

over the course of the war,

averaging out

to about one strike mission

every eight minutes.

Approximately eight million

tons of bombs

were dropped over Southeast Asia

with three million tons

dropped directly on Laos,

making it the most heavily

bombed country on the planet.

Nearly one-third of those bombs

failed to detonate upon impact,

leaving approximately 25 percent

of the region littered

with unexploded ordinances,

also known as UXOs.

Since the end

of the Vietnam War in 1975,

it's estimated that

in Vietnam and Laos,

more than 60,000 people have

been killed or injured by UXOs.

MAN:
(IN VIETNAMESE)

Because of the bomb

left from the war,

I lost my eye.

I lost my arm.

WOMAN:
(IN VIETNAMESE) When we

clear our farms, that's scary.

I'm scared,

but if we don't do it,

how can we feed ourselves?

NARRATOR:
Over the past 40-plus years,

organized bomb removal teams

have been scouring the land

carefully extracting

the bombs one at a time,

and disposing of them

using controlled explosions.

In addition to bomb removal,

governments are working

to educate locals about UXOs.

Especially at risk

are villagers who earn a living

by recycling the scrap metal,

and children who think

the bombs are balls or toys.

BOY:
(IN VIETNAMESE)

Maybe it's a bomb.

Bring it out.

Gently, gently.

NARRATOR:
At the current

pace of UXO removal,

it'll be more than 100 years

before all the bombs

in the region

have been successfully cleared.

(BEEPING)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

RUSCH:
In one of the villages,

we met an elderly lady

who was alive during the war

and living there.

PAHN:
(IN LAO) Good afternoon, Ma'am.

These girls are foreigners.

Would you mind telling us

where people lived in the war?

Can you tell them?

(SPEAKING IN LAO) We lived

in the cave, the forest.

We lived in the mountain.

PAHN:
During the war,

how long did you stay

in the cave?

Very long.

How long, days or months?

Five to six years.

Also, she too is daughter.

She was born in the cave.

(IN LAO) She was born there.

Her brother was born there.

RUSCH:
And I asked this woman,

"Well, why did you come back

to this place

that was devastated?"

I mean,

their village is now built

around a whole maze

of bomb craters.

And she just simply said,

"well, this is my home.

Where else would I go?

I came home

because I live here."

That was really powerful for me,

and especially, you know,

I've lived out of my car,

I've lived all over the place,

and haven't had a sense of home

for a lot of my life.

The caves were essential

for survival during the war.

They were used as shelter

from the bombing,

for storing ammunition and food,

war room planning,

and even shortcuts

through the jungle.

Don found a cave

that we could pass through

and meet up with the trail

on the other side,

but since we are visitors

in this place,

we have to abide

by the local customs

to get permission

to go through the cave.

(ALL SPEAKING IN LAO)

RUSCH:
They drink the whole thing?

Whiskey.

PAHN:
Whiskey.

Okay.

Heh. Okay.

It's good.

Thank you.

PAHN:
Also for good luck.

What do I do?

I just touch it?

Yeah. No, no.

No. I eat it?

Yeah.

RUSCH:
Oh, okay. Really small.

Give me this small one.

Yeah. Okay.

Also good luck.

(ALL LAUGH)

The big one... Heh...

RUSCH:
No, the small one

is good, thank you, heh.

Yeah, I have something

to tie it down with.

Immediately after the ceremony,

Huyen and I grabbed our bikes

because we really wanted

to get through the cave

before nightfall.

Yup.

Okay.

I'll get the paddles.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

It was the biggest cave

I've ever seen. Absolutely.

And there's tons of caves

in this part of the world,

and it's a big part

of the history

of where people hid out.

But also the explorer in me

was, like,

"Okay, what's gonna be in here?

This is really exciting."

It's slippery. Be careful.

(GRUNTS)

(YELPS)

RUSCH:
You okay?

NGUYEN:
Yeah.

It's really slippery.

Hold on to the boat.

We have to take probably

at least two or three trips

to move all the equipment

one by one.

There was

a super-difficult portage

of getting around rapids

and boulder-hopping and moving

the bikes and the kayak.

NGUYEN:
(IN VIETNAMESE)

Two of us really struggled.

I wasn't as strong,

so Rebecca was always

by my side to support me.

(RUSCH GRUNTS)

RUSCH:
If these bikes survive

this, I will be shocked.

We're gonna be here

till f***ing 2 in the morning.

Wait, wait. The pedal.

(SHOUTS)

I'm pissed!

NGUYEN:
(IN VIETNAMESE)

The trip to the cave,

it was lengthy

and gobbled up too much time.

It took too much time,

while Rebecca

always wanted to forge ahead

to get to her dad

as soon as possible.

And I really felt for her.

RUSCH:
We had been in the

cave for almost nine hours.

It was exhausting,

frustrating, and set us back.

Huyen finally pointed out

the outline of a tree.

That's where I was, like,

"Oh, we made it out, we made

it out, we're outside."

(MUSIC PLAYING)

NGUYEN:
(IN VIETNAMESE) Rebecca and I

were born in very different cultures.

RUSCH:
Have you been riding with these?

Carrying these the whole time?

Yes. Yeah.

(IN VIETNAMESE)

However, very soon I found

one thing in common between us.

She lost her father

when she was a child,

and I lost my mom since I was 8.

We both have a family,

we have feelings,

have fathers and mothers

that we've lost.

RUSCH:
The first time

she talked openly

about how close

she was with her mother,

and I asked about her husband

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes