DONG HA, Vietnam - Clear Path International's historic effort to clear 110 acres on the former Dong Ha combat base near the old Demilitarized Zone in central Vietnam is well underway.

The project, which is funded by the Freeman Foundation of Stowe, Vermont, is the largest humanitarian demining effort ever undertaken by a U.S. organization in Vietnam.

Once the forward headquarters of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division supplying fire bases along the DMZ, the combat base came under regular attack during the mid to late 1960s at the peak of the fighting during the war in Vietnam. Still littered with unexploded ordnance, the land has been the scene of many accidents involving young children. Once cleared, the area will be developed for much-needed housing, organic farming and aquaculture.

So far, more than 12.5 acres have been cleared and 60 pieces of lethal ordnance have been removed, said Martha Hathaway, Vietnam Project Director for Clear Path International.

"In partnership with the people of Quang Tri Province, we are sponsoring the clearance of this land so people can move back on it without fear of accidental explosions," she said. "We also hope that the scope of this clearance will bring much-needed attention to the life-threatening problem of unexploded ordnance and landmines in former war zones."

Clear Path International, which is based on Bainbridge Island, Wash., with offices in Dorset, Vermont, and Dong Ha, Vietnam, sponsors the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Southeast Asia and offers assistance to victims of accidental explosions.

Under contract with Clear Path, explosive ordnance disposal experts from UXB International of Ashburn, Virginia, have trained and equipped 24 Vietnamese deminers who started clearance operations on March 28, Hathaway said.

The Vietnamese demining team went through a demanding six-week training course to learn to identify and detect landmines and unexploded ordnance so their work can exceed United Nations standards for humanitarian demining, Hathaway said.

"The training is extremely rigorous," Hathaway said. "It ensures our demining team fully understands what it takes to clear land where children and their families will live, play and farm in safety."

The clearance project is managed by UXB International trainers Bret Dunkelbarger and Mike Kelly, and by Clear Path International in-country representative Hugh Hosman. The project is supervised by Jay Steed, Southeast Asia director for UXB International, and by Kristen Leadem, newly promoted regional director for Clear Path International. Steed and Leadem are veterans of former clearance projects funded by the Freeman Foundation in central Vietnam's Quang Tri Province.

The deminers set up grids, sweep and clear the land, using specialized detection equipment and, in some cases, customized bulldozers that bring the unexploded ordnance to the surface in a rotating armored bucket. It will take a year and a half to remove all deadly leftover explosives from the parcel, Hathaway said.

Clear Path International's approach to clearance and humanitarian programs calls for close cooperation with local residents and agencies that represent them, Hathaway said. Its projects are also designed to create an in-country capacity that can sustain the demining and victim assistance activities well into the future, independently or with minimal support from the international community.

Quang Tri, which used to be the northern-most province of what was then South Vietnam, saw some of the fiercest fighting during the war. As a result, millions of pieces of leftover unexploded ordnance continue to pose an everyday threat to children and their families in the region. Accidental explosions occur almost every week, often killing or injuring a group of children. Many accidents go unreported.