Quang Tri Province Investigations



Landscape in Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province

 After arriving in Danang and receiving the teams at the airport on 20 May 2013, I integrated with the 111th Joint Field Activity (JFA) Investigation Team and we moved out for Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province the following morning.  Dong Ha City is the province seat of Quang Tri and served as our staging point for all of our investigations in the province.

We were obliged to stay at the Mekong Hotel at the invitation of the province officials.  The Mekong is a large two star hotel, stoic in nature that sits on the west side of National Highway 1A in the heart of Dong Ha.  While I don't think anyone on the team appreciated being relegated to stay where the province wanted us to be, the accommodations were not as bad as they were last year when I was "obliged" to stay there.  The two biggest complaints I had with the hotel were the hard bed and poor breakfast... but, hey, life isn't always five star hotels and rock star status.  We settled in for ten nights.

On 22 May we began our first investigation and kept going non-stop until we departed Dong Ha for Hue City on 31 May.  Most of our investigations focused on Cam Lo District.  Cam Lo District abuts Dong Ha City to the west and is the beginning of some very extreme terrain and weather.  Some of the wartime U.S. firebases lie in Cam Lo. Camp Carroll and Con Thien are a couple of examples.

The photo above is a panorama view taken near one of our survey locations.  The photo is indicative of the terrain in the area. The mountains that remain are bare of any natural trees due to clear cutting and planting of industrial trees like acacia and eucalyptus.  Other mountains have been taken down a notch or two from their former glory.  Much of the limestone was used in the making of the Ho Chi Minh Highway that now spans north to south from Nghe An to Ho Chi Minh City.  It is the western north-south corridor that has linked the two regions and eased the traffic on Hwy 1A. The limestone quarried here is also used at the many Vietnamese cement factories as a raw material in making the cement.  The lack of sustainability and the ugly results of strip quarrying make it somewhat ironic that the Vietnamese continue to blame agent orange for their troubles.

The biggest impact this lack of regard for nature and the beauty of the mountains had on us was the lack of shade on the hill.  Working on a clearcut mountain in 100+ F temps for hours on end took its toll on the team.  We went through cases of water in a matter of hours and left exhausted.  Living in Vietnam, I had the advantage of being acclimated.  The team had youth on their side.  In the end, I think we came up even, though the battle turned as the team got used to the heat and humidity.

Not all of our sites were like this, but most were exposed to the sun and sat on the side of a large hill or mountain.  We drove to most of our sites in Quang Tri with just a short, though intense walk most of the time.  This is only because all of our simple sites have been addressed. What we have left are those extremely difficult cases that lie in remote areas with few or no witnesses.  The work is hard, but the rewards when success hits are great.

I am in Hue now, taking a break from the team for a day so I can catch up on my reports.  With that being noted, I suppose I should get to work.  Here's to wishing everyone else a great weekend.