Two calls in a single morning took NPA/RENEW’s mobile EOD team from the Gio Linh coast to the hill at Cồn Tiên. A 60mm mortar round and an M79 round were safely cleared.
On the morning of 26 June 2026, NPA/RENEW’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) responded to two calls from Quảng Trị local residents in quick succession, both through the provincial UXO hotline.
A mortar in the garden
The first came from Cẩm Phổ village, Gio Linh commune. Mr. Lê Văn Trà (born 1974, father of two sons) and his wife were clearing grass on the small plot in front of their house, preparing the ground for the next crop, when they uncovered a mortar round on the edge of the land plot. They stopped, left it untouched, and called the hotline immediately.
NPA/RENEW EOD team, led by Deputy Leader Nguyễn Văn Thuỷ, arrived and identified it as a US-made 60mm mortar round, with a missing fuze and safe to move. Mr. Trà smiled with relief as the mortar was removed from his garden. The land his family has farmed for years carries one less danger.
A heavily corroded US-made 60mm mortar round, lying in the soil of Mr. Trà’s garden for more than half a century before it was found and safely removed.
Mr. Lê Văn Trà smiles with relief after the 60mm mortar round was safely removed from his garden.
Quang Tri Mine Action Center’s statistics indicate that Cẩm Phổ village has recorded 31 accidents from explosive ordnance (EO) since the war ended. Every EO safely removed is one more time such an accident-recorded number does not grow.
The land his family has farmed for years carries one less danger.
The Hill of Angels
The second task took the team up to Cồn Tiên, the “Hill of Angels,” once a US Marine combat base. In Phú Ốc village, Mr. Võ Văn Bốn found a 40mm grenade or M79 munition round lying on the pavement of an inter-village road that is being repaired. He reported his sighting to the commune military command.
In the afternoon of 25 Jun, Captain Đoàn Văn Nghĩa, the military officer of Cồn Tiên commune, had come to the spot and placed four concrete blocks around the M79 to warn his neighbors and keep the area safe until the EOD team could arrive the following morning. He guided the NPA/RENEW team to the location himself. The 40mm grenade was later assessed as safe to remove.
Captain Đoàn Văn Nghĩa points to the spot on the inter-village road where the M79 round lay, marked the previous afternoon with four concrete blocks to keep residents safe.
Two ends of the same land
Two EO, from two ends of the same land, from the Gio Linh coast to the hill at Cồn Tiên, were carried to a safe demolition site and destroyed together that same morning.
The NPA/RENEW EOD team holds a safety briefing before destroying the two explosive items recovered that morning.
The two explosive items, a 60mm mortar round from Gio Linh and an M79 round from Cồn Tiên, are safely destroyed together on the morning of 26 June 2026.
During the first half of 2026, the NPA/RENEW mobile EOD team received 191 tasks through the hotline and safely removed and destroyed 283 EO items.
People report, local military forces secure the site, the EOD team clears it. This is how a community in Quảng Trị keeps itself safe, more than fifty years after the guns fell silent.
We sincerely thank the Government of the United States through the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, and the Government of Norway for the valuable support to our meaningful mine action work in Vietnam.
