[BIGLOOK]

Ahh.... we never mined the Trail. Anything there would have NVA stamped on it.

An unexploded 500 pounder would create a stir.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

We never made bouncing bettys either.

[Brad from Tennessee]

I don't know about the Trail because as far as I know I was never outside RVN. But in 1967, along the Laotian border, we began running into mines with U.S. markings we called "butterflies." These were gray or green, about the size of a hand grenade, and had three little wings on them. They were dropped out of aircraft and embedded themselves in the ground on a spike like some of the sensors they had at the time. They were seismically detonated when a person walked within a few feet. The body of the mine was stamped out of untreated steel so that they would rust over time and thus self-destructive. I would be interested to know if anyone knows anything else about these nasty little things./p>