Joseph P Hupy - UWEC Geography Department

Research Interests Photo Gallery

Watch where you step…..

You are looking at a closeup photo of the ground atop Hill 861S on the Khe Sanh battlefield of Vietnam. Upon close examination you may notice the ground appears charred. Your observation is correct in that the hilltop was recently burned by locals to keep it grass-covered, rather than reforesting. The area is kept in grass to support cattle grazing and, I must admit, it is very surreal to see cattle wondering among UXOs and the site of some of the most furious fighting at Khe Sanh. I like this photo because it illustrates so well how this post-battle landscape is treated much differently than other battlefields. While places littered with UXOs like Verdun, France are treated like a memorial, Khe Sanh was put under intensive landuse, taking advantage of the loss of forest cover. This is a theory I really want to build upon