Vietnam War's Painful Legacy
by Ben Stocking, Mercury News

Hue, Vietnam - The rusty cylinder caught his eye, so 13-year-old Ho Van Nghia pulled it out of the stream, took it home and tried to take it apart.

Now, he has no feet and no left hand. Blood seeps through his stubs, each wrapped in white gauze, and he cries out to his parents.

"It still hurts. My legs really hurt," he says.

Nghia had no idea he had picked up a bomb dropped during the Vietnam War.

Since the war ended 30 years ago, lingering explosives have killed nearly 40,000 Vietnamese and maimed more than 60,000 others, according to the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, which is planning to map all the unexploded ordnance in the country, a task that will take several years.


Full story here.