DONG HA, Vietnam - Seven years ago, when Vo Van Hung was just seven years old, he was tending cattle with his uncle near Hai An Commune, Quang Tri Province.

Several stone's throws from Hung's home, his uncle picked up a strange-looking object and began tampering with it. It turned out to be an unexploded bomb and the uncle's handling of it was enough to set it off.

The man was killed instantly and the boy lost one hand, his thumb on the other hand and one of his eyes in the explosion --

But in June, Hung became the owner of a new prosthetic hand. The boy, now 14, was one of 105 bomb victims examined and treated by a special medical team sponsored by Clear Path International and the Vietnam Medical Project (based in San Jose, Calif.) at the Quang Tri General Hospital.

The mission was the first of its kind in Quang Tri Province near the former Demilitarized Zone, according to Hoang Van Thong, vice chair of the provincial Committee for the Care & Protection of Children (CPCC), the government agency that selected the victims from throughout the province.

The examinations and follow-up medical treatment were a collaborative effort between the two American organizations, the Vietnamese Orthopedics & Rehabilitation Center in Da Nang, the CPCC and the Quang Tri General Hospital in Dong Ha.

"Before we came to Dong Ha, we knew these kinds of injuries were a problem here," Dr. Tom Kaschak, head of the Viet Nam Medical Project, which recruits volunteer physicians to do surgery at the Da Nang Orthopedics & Rehabilitation Center.

"But it wasn't until we saw all these victims that the extent of the war's lingering impact on people's lives hit home to us," said Kaschak, who headed the team with Dr. Frank Cobarrubia, Clear Path International's medical advisor. Both men are podiatrists.

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, said Kristen Leadem, Clear Path International's In-country Director who coordinated the mission's logistics.

As a result, millions of pieces of leftover unexploded ordnance still strewn everywhere continue to pose an everyday threat to children and their families in the region, she said. Local authorities estimate there are at least 1,000 accident survivors in the province.

Accidental explosions occur almost every week, often killing or injuring a group of children. Many accidents go unreported. An explosion wounding two farmers who were digging to plant coffee trees happened the day before the doctors arrived.

The team, which consisted of two American and one Vietnamese doctors, examined victims with injuries ranging from minor, non-threatening shrapnel wounds to missing limbs and eyes. Most patients complained of symptoms indicating post-traumatic stress syndrome, such as fatigue and depression. More than half of the victims were children.

The doctors performed surgery on six patients at Quang Tri General and at the Da Nang Orthopedics & Rehabilitation Center. Several dozen more will receive follow-up care at the two hospitals during the next several months. Others, who may benefit from special procedures such as plastic surgery, will be treated during a proposed second medical mission next year. The families' medical bills and transportation are paid by Clear Path International from its Victim Assistance Fund.

"When we come back, we want to bring other specialists -- a plastic surgeon, a general surgeon, and an eye doctor," Kaschak said. "We are committed to making this an annual mission."

Clear Path International, based on Bainbridge Island, Wash., and a project of the Greater Seattle Vietnam Association, sponsors the removal of deadly explosives, supports victim assistance efforts and provides medical equipment to hospitals in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam Medical Project, based in Redwood City, Calif., brings together volunteer physicians and surgeons who do stints and training at the Da Nang Orthopedics & Rehabilitation Center.

The two organizations saw a need for the missions because health care reforms in Viet Nam have placed a larger financial burden on the victims' families, who tend to be poor farmers and day laborers, said Imbert Matthee, Clear Path International's executive director.

"Many families in this region are simply not in a position to pay for the proper medical treatment of their children," Matthee said. "These children are the victims of a war that ended long before they were born and they need our support."