Vietnam Sites?

[Griff94]

Hello All,

I'm getting back into metal detecting from back when I was a kid. I'm going into the military after college and have a strong interest in military history, especially with the Vietnam war. I am preparing a vacation after my senior year to go and explore some foreign lands. Vietnam is on my list. I was wondering if there is any good battlefield relic hunting to be had. I've heard it's very dangerous because of all the land mines. Can't seem to find much of anything on the web. I'd like to get some input from some more advanced relic hunters.

Thanks,
-Griffin

 

[Mike1961]

Land mines, unexploded ordinance, venomous snakes, communist country, not the first place on my list of places to hunt.

Good luck if you do and good luck with your career in the military. What branch are you entering? Welcome to the forum.

 

[Griff94]

Land mines, unexploded ordinance, venomous snakes, communist country, not the first place on my list of places to hunt.

Good luck if you do and good luck with your career in the military. What branch are you entering? Welcome to the forum.

Haha that's the fun in it. Just Kidding. I thought it might be a little dangerous. But man the history of those battlefields. I'm going into the Marines, like my grandfather and his brothers back in WWII. And thanks I'm glad to be on the forum.

 

[Mike1961]

Well, I have to admit, were it Second World War battlefields in either Europe or the Pacific I would be eager to search them myself.

Good luck in the Marines.

 

[Dustyloins]

Vietnam has changed quite a bit since the war. My old base, Da Nang, is now a major tourist area and busy city on the coast of the South China Sea. Not even close to being the same place as during the war.......

Dusty

 

[Silversmith45]

See if you can find my duffle bag. I'm still waiting on it. It should have been shipped out of there in 1969.

 

[Joves]

See if you can find my duffle bag. I'm still waiting on it. It should have been shipped out of there in 1969.

Thats a good one.
But yeah I think you will mostly find unexpoded ordinance in alot of areas. Have you tried contacting their government to see if it is allowed?

 

[Silversmith45]

They used to say that there was so much shrapnel in the trees that they would never be able to log it. Probably worse than pull tabs.

 

[floridabill]

There is an old air strip near Quang Tri look for a big tree there , maybe you can find the AK47 bullet that ripped threw my chest and out my back, I would like to have it.............

 

[Esteban]

Land mines, unexploded ordinance, venomous snakes, communist country, not the first place on my list of places to hunt.

Good luck if you do and good luck with your career in the military. What branch are you entering? Welcome to the forum.

I agree 100% . I left there in 1970 & don't really see a need to go back & visit !

Look up " King Cobra ," Spitting Cobra , " & the one nicknamed " Two Steps ."

 

[njal]

There is an old air strip near Quang Tri look for a big tree there , maybe you can find the AK47 bullet that ripped threw my chest and out my back, I would like to have it.............

floridabill your post sure is an eye opener.

Glad you made it back..

 

[floridabill]

Thanks me too but can't say the same for a lot of good buddies

 

[gtoast99]

I wasn't alive to say it back then, so I'm sorry that it's coming a little late.
But welcome home. And thank you.

 

[jimg99]

I lost my youth there, and a lot of good friends. I'm not sure what you might find there.

 

[~Alan~]

As I understand it, there are still lots of no-go areas, due to land mines.

"....More than one-third of the land in six central Vietnamese provinces remains contaminated
with land mines and unexploded bombs from the Vietnam...."


".....Since the end of the U.S. war with Viet Nam in 1974, more than 38,000 people have been
killed from contact with these, and another 64,000 people have been injured. Sixty-one provinces
and cities still have landmines or UXO, and an average of 1,000 people are killed each year because
of landmines or UXO....."


"...Some areas of the country are more densely covered with landmines and UXO than others.
During the war, the demilitarized zone was in Quang Tri province and there remain some 15 million
landmines in the province, covering about 40% of its land...."

I think I might give detecting a miss.

 

[Jhkramer]

i think i would take a detector with me but it would be to AVOID any metal in the ground.

 

[hunter1]

md IN NAM

Why would you want to go there. I almost did a year there 69 to 70 till a nva cut my tour short by 2 weeks. It's hot , wet, stinky and like the other ex grunt said, the land is loaded with baaaad a#@*s bugs and snakes. If you go you may want to hit the paddies and streams ,they have really nice leaches in them. Man you can have the whole country.

 

[Esteban]

Yep, there is no telling what you might dig up , all these years later .

 

[HiDesertHunter]

Well, I have to admit, were it Second World War battlefields in either Europe or the Pacific I would be eager to search them myself.

Me too! Interesting though I brought this up on another MD forum once and literally got raked over the coals for even suggesting hunting WW2 areas - some replies were downright vicious!

 

[Mike1961]

I seem to recall that there are people on this forum who do hunt those areas.