The Reality of War
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I read an article today in Daily Mail titled “Brutal legacy of the Vietnam War: US bombs are still littering the fields and homes of Laos four decades after the conflict as Obama becomes the first President to visit” . A quick bit of research revealed that over the past 102 years of conflict no war has ever actually ended.
Every year in Germany hundreds of tons of unexploded ordnance are uncovered. A result of the practice of carpet bombing during World War II. An article published in The Atlantic in 2016: “Germany Keeps Finding World War II-Era Bombs” shows that the problem of left over war ordnance is an ongoing problem.
Even World War I has left its mark as reported in a BBC News article titled: “Ypres: World War One weapon explodes, killing two” , A shell or grenade buried in western Belgium since World War One, the device detonated as works were attempting to dig it up. Killing them both.
Even our own Civil War is still killing people. In an article from The Stars and Stripes titled: “The bombs beneath us: Unexploded ordnance linger long after wars are over” , “In 2008, Virginian Sam White — a Civil War history buff who crisscrossed the state looking for relics of past battles — was attempting to restore a 1860s cannonball when it exploded, killing him and sending a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a home a quarter of a mile away.”
The reality of War is, no war ever really ends just because countries signed a surrender agreement. I’m sure our Great Grandfathers never imagined their actions could be responsible for the deaths of their Great Grand Children.
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The reality of War is, no war ever really ends
"Beware the Military-Industrial Complex" -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
War profiteering, blood money, political/national egotism, propaganda …
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die." Jean-Paul Sartre
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die." Jean-Paul Sartre
And do so for decades after the supposed end of conflict.
Both of those statements are very true!!!
Sadly this is true, it never ends, the killing goes on.
I remember seeing all this first hand , left over or unexploded munitions being dug up in 84-85 , in Belgium, while they were installing a new fence line at my duty station they dug up a couple british 500 pounders that didn't explode when dropped on an airfield that became the base. 40 years later and they sat there right next to an active taxiway.
War is a racket , Gen Smedley Butler, USMC. rather an insightful and colorful character.
When my nephew finished his EOD training, he told us that it was difficult to work in Europe, they still get UEO reports at least once a month, and the problem is it's usually a buried aerial bomb around 500 lb iron case contact fused bomb, standard allied issue, (they go up to 2,500 lbs) they are so rusted it is almost impossible to disassemble them or defuse them. They are also usually damaged. The standard option in rural settings is to to DIP it, (destroy in place), set it off in other words. But some of them they come across are beneath buldings, homes, barns etc etc.
You cannot just blow them up, you cant defuse them, so you have to move them....
Bomb disposal is THE most dangerous occupation in Europe. My Nephew did it for four years, when he re-upped, he was sent to Afghanistan......
He never came home..... his occupation killed him.
Sorry to hear of your familys loss NWM. During my service I was trained for EOD, while stationed in Germany we got calls almost daily for UEOs from farmers and cities all over. The volume was crazy and those finds continue to this day.