Richard Perry

Mess We Left Behind

In 1962 I was a Army Private on a Nike Missal Site in Okinawa. I volunteered for Viet Nam but my CO told me of a Secret Mission in Vientiane, Laos. So after another background check and a passport I went to Laos with no uniforms.

I was told to say nothing to anyone of my military status. I was a civilian on loan to the CIA to install a microwave radio system, living as a tourist. After working all day on this radio system, I used to outmaneuver the packs of wild dogs roaming the streets. I rented a Honda 50cc motorcycle during my time there to travel the country side

Then the Kennedy administration negotiated a deal with Russia that Laos would remain a neutral country and I was order out of the country - never to speak of my duty there, and I didn't until sometime around the year 2000. None of my friends knew I was in Laos.

To this day I have deep regrets of what America did to that little, peaceful, beautiful country. There was no need to drop 2 million tons of bombs on the woman and children of Laos. And you know what? It's not over. Even today kids are finding the 30% of bombs that didn't explode and blowing themselves up or at least loosing and arm or leg.

So I'm starting a company in Sept, 2017 to develop a product to help clean up the bombs that didn't explode. See: messweleftbehind.org for the rest of the story.