The American Man Who Blows Up Bombs in Laos

In just a few weeks, a very important man will return to Laos. His name is Jim Harris. He’s a retired school principal from rural Wisconsin. He’s the only American working in the field to clear U.S. bombs from the soil in Laos. That’s Jim in the picture. He’s standing among his boxes and bins full of Lao artifacts, all part of his living museum (currently homeless, aside from this basement storage room) depicting daily life in Laos. If you’ve been following the Rambling Spoon for a while, you’ll know that we’ve been documenting the effects of unexploded ordnance (UXO) remaining since the U.S. bombing campaign 40 years ago. It’s a grim situation.