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RE: vietnam war and snakes
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by LarryDFishel on October 4, 2005
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I think you'll have a tough time finding any believable statistics on this. Everyone I've talked to in the snake room who tald me they were in Vietnam, brought it up because they remembered some ridiculous tale about people dropping dead in seconds (the infamous "two-step snake", or three or six or whichever version they heard). I don't remember any of them telling me they had personally even SEEN a snake of any kind there...
I have a couple of different theories:
The North Vietnamese spread these stories to keep the Americans distracted. (least likely)
American officers spread them to keep the men from wandering off. (possible)
Thousands of young, snake fearing American men letting their imaginations run wild in the jungle at night. (probably)
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RE: vietnam war and snakes
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by timberrattlesnake89 on October 4, 2005
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I know that durring the Vietnam War and I think during WW2 the Japs and the Viet congs would tie up several arborial vipers and hang then on trails at face level and then US soliders would come in a sometimes get bit on the face by them. I think though they used to it more as a psychological warfare that anything else.
Phillip
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RE: vietnam war and snakes
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by Cro on October 4, 2005
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For what it is worth, there are about 30,000 snake bites per year, now days in Vietnam.
Among 430 rubber plantation workers bitten by Malayan pit vipers between 1993 and 1998, the case fatality was 22%, but only a minority had received antivenom treatment. Fishermen are still occasionally killed by sea snakes but rarely reach hospitals.
This of course says nothing about bites to American soldiers, but it does point out that there are a large number of snakes in the area, and a large number of bites.
I would think that the American soldiers were somewhat protected by the Jungle Boots they wore, compared to the barefoot or sandle clad locals.
JohnZ
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