Moment TV daredevil Guy Martin makes savage war weapon napalm as he tours Vietnam 50 years after fall of Saigon

The Sun

2 days ago

LEGENDARY motorbike racer Guy Martin tried his hand at making napalm as he headed to Vietnam to mark 50 years since the end of the war.
For the latest "Our Guy in…" Channel 4 series, Guy travelled from Hanoi in the north of the country Ho Chi Minh city in the south and saw first hand the legacy of a war that claimed more than 1.3million lives.
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Speaking exclusive to The Sun, Guy said: "They're all looking forward, they're not dwelling on the past, and they're not letting the war define them. It just blew me away."
The war between the communist North and western-aligned South intensified in 1965 when the US committed serious force over fears that Soviet influence was spreading in the region.
After eight years of intense fighting, the US finally withdrew in 1973 and in 1975 evacuated the country once and for all, when Communist forces surrounded the country's embassy in the country's capital of Saigon, since renamed Ho Chi Minh city.
In total, 58,000 American troops were killed - over half of whom were aged just 18.
Guy took a Soviet-era motorbike down the route of the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail, a supply route used by the Viet Cong communist guerrillas.
It proved crucial in giving them the upper hand over the much more technologically advanced Americans.
More than a million tonnes of supplies were transported via the trail, often using nothing more than pushbikes and improvised bridges to cross rivers.
But limited resources and a deep knowledge of the landscape made the Vietnamese skilled engineers, and experts at creating boobytraps that would prove devastating to the Americans.
In response, the US deployed terrifying weapons such as Napalm - a fearsome mixture of chemicals used to burn through miles of thick jungle.
Mixing a small amount of its components in a jar, Guy was then able to see for himself the weapon behind some of the most horrific imagery that defined the war.
He said: "That is the worst weapon. Absolutely horrible.
"The fire would be that intense, it'll drag oxygen from wherever it can get it, so it'll suffocate whoever's in the building.
"The heat would be a thousand degrees. You're not lasting long."
Another weapon used with devastating effect by the United States was a herbicide called Agent Orange, designed to destroy vegetation in an attempt to deprive the Vietnamese of cover.
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Like the millions of bombs dropped, its legacy can still be felt today.
Guy paid a visit to Son, a maths and computer programming lecturer who is one of those battling the effects today.
His father was in the north Vietnamese army, and at one point during the war found himself soaked in the liquid dropped from an American plane.
Tests conducted years later confirmed he had been poisoned, and he passed away from cancer in 2006.
The genetic damage caused by the chemical has left Son born with birth defects and unable to walk.
Guy said: "They used the same weed killer than they use to kill the weeds on the side of the road, but it was 20 times stronger.
'And the landmass that they covered was bigger than Wales.'
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An estimated 3 million Vietnamese are still affected by its aftermath.
In one month alone, the US dropped as many bombs on Vietnam as it during the entire Second World War.
Many of them failed to explode on impact, meaning that acres of the country remain highly-dangerous no-go zones.
In total, more than 100,000 people in the country have died since the end of the war as a result of left-over explosives.
Guy joined the frontline of the effort to clear the countryside as he headed out with a team of charity workers.
'People are still getting killed because of unexploded mines and fields,' Guy said.
'They've been at it for 30-odd years, just working their way through the fields, using the metal detectors to find the mines and bombs, and then doing a controlled explosion,' Guy added as he reflected on joining in the operation.
'It was great to be part of.'
After heading out into the field with metal detectors, Guy and the team came across three unexploded bombs in the small area they were sweeping.
A controlled explosion is then performed once the device is wrapped in sandbags, the detonation cord dragged out to a safe distance, and locals warned to clear the area.
Guy was then shown how to use the detonation switch, and after a countdown from ten, triggered the explosion.
'There was muck and stuff flying everywhere,' he said. 'And this was a daily occurrence.'
Our Guy in Vietnam airs on Channel 4 at 9pm, Sunday June 1.
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