VIET NAM. On a part of the trail that passes through the A Shau valley a driver who spent seven years traversing this section during the war stands near a crater made by a bomb that narrowly missed his lorry in 1971.

VIETNAM. A Luoi Valley. A contaminated fishpond. Recent tests by the Canadian Hatfield Consultants have shown that these are the most contaminated ponds in Vietnam (and possibly the world), spawning fish deadly with dioxin. 1989

VIET NAM. Displays showing some of the US pilots shot down and captured during the war.

VIET NAM. The outer casing - the "mother bomb" - of a Cluster Bomb Unit on the side on the side of the trail leading from Y Leng village.

VIET NAM. On the trail near the Mu Gia pass the remains of a bulldozer used to fill in bomb craters. It was destroyed in 1968 by fighter planes.

VIET NAM. Petrol storage tanks were installed underground at frequent intervals along the trail. Nowadays they are being dug up for use in more populated areas.

VIET NAM. Petrol storage tanks were installed underground at frequent intervals along the trail. Nowadays they are being dug up for use in more populated areas. The pipeline ended at Loc Ninh, near HCM City, where the petrol was stored in a giant underground tank.

VIET NAM. The Mu Gia Pass between Viet Nam and Laos where the trail passed. The guards spend their time collecting scrap metal. The pass was a "choke-point" on the trail, subjected to some of the heaviest bombing and one of the heaviest concentrations of anti-aircraft fire. Many Americans died in this remote area; others were lucky enough to parachute to safety before being taken to the "ha Noi Hilton." Interestingly enough, the longer a pilot remained in captivity, the greater his longevity. Medical tests on pilots released in 1973 revealed a much higher standard of health than those in a control group who had not been captured. They had been on a "balanced" American diet whereas their colleagues had been fed the war-time Vietnamese rice and vegetable "health-farm" diet.

VIET NAM. Scrap-metal collectors working in the De-Militarized Zone.

VIET NAM. Villagers sitting in a river near khe Veh sawing off parts of a bridge into portable pieces that could be sold for scrap. When a bridge was destroyed by American bombing, the soldiers often replaced it with one built just under the surface of the water. These were less visible to US reconnaissance aircraft but nevertheless trucks were able to easily cross.

VIET NAM. A water-filled bomb crater with remains of the metal the US used for runways appropriated fro surfacing the trail when the tracks became slippery after US planes dropped washing-up liquid on the trail.

VIET NAM. Scrap-metal collectors working in the De-Militarized Zone. A collection point with a large collection of artillery shells.

VIET NAM. Funeral scene. The American Commander, General Westmoreland, declared: "Orientals do not share the same respect and love for life as Westerners do."

VIET NAM. Scrap at a collection point near Khe Sanh awaiting removal.

VIET NAM. The view through the gates of the Hao Lo prison "Ha Noi Hilton" - the only glimpse of Ha Noi afforded the prisoners.

VIET NAM.

VIET NAM. Khe Sanh. Old US-built runway.

VIET NAM. War remnants including a half-buried tank.

VIET NAM. Mr. Nguyen Van Tuc, came to pay tribute to the memory of his son, Hung, killed on the trail in 1972 at the age of 22.

VIET NAM. At the Hue Museum a driver on the Ho Chi Minh Trail shows his daughter musical instruments - a guitar fashioned from a tin can and a bamboo flute.

VIET NAM. Displays showing some of the US pilots shot down and captured during the war.

VIET NAM. At the Truong Son Division Headquarters near Ha Noi is a custom made vehicle for setting off magnetic bombs. This armour-plated vehicle sported a giant electro-magnet that detonated the bombs at a safe distance. The driver became impotent after years of exposure to the strong magnetic field.

VIET NAM. Montagnard girl using an old US parachute flare tube as a water carrier. They were dropped over the trail at night to illuminate the trucks and are highly valued as they are made from rustproof aluminum.

VIET NAM. A group engaged in road widening.

VIET NAM. Training in using bicycles for moving heavy loads of rice and munitions silently along jungle paths.

VIET NAM. Soldiers wearing "Ho Chi Minh" sandals training in carrying heavy loads on their backs.

VIET NAM. Vietnamese soldiers on manouevers along the Lao border area. The military strongly believe in training recruits in the methods that proved so successful in the past.

VIET NAM. A driver in a camouflaged truck with a soil-filled bamboo shield on the door as a defence against antipersonnel weapons.

VIET NAM. In A Loei the old petrol pipes are used to bring water to newly dug fishponds. Unfortunately they are the most heavily contaminated fishponds in Viet Nam with Dioxin from the frequent spraying of the area with Agent Orange.

VIET NAM. General Vo Bam, the father of the trail, at his home in Ha Noi with a painting of the time in 1959 when Ho Chi Minh visited to ask him to set up the trail. Its first purpose was to enable Southerners to escape North during Diem's purges.

VIET NAM. Phong Nha. The outer casings, the "mother bomb" part of a Cluster Bomb Unit, being used as a step into the home of a family.

VIET NAM. Funeral scenes. The American Commander, General Westmoreland, declared: "Orientals do not share the same respect and love for life as Westerners do."