Rural homes or villages would often be used by communist North Vietnamese or Viet Cong forces to hide munitions, weapons, or foodstuffs during the war. One response to this would be for the United States or South Vietnamese military to burn the home or village to destroy the supplies and to prevent the area from being used again. Over time, such tactics led to resentment among the local population to the presence of American troops. From January 11 to January 29, 1971, U.S. marines conducted Operation Upshur Stream in the area around Da Nang. The goal was to prevent Viet Cong from utilizing the area to stage attacks on the U.S. air base at Da Nang. This required continuous reconnaissance missions and infantry patrols, with both artillery and air power playing major support roles. In this image, dated January 12 and taken just south of Da Nang in South Vietnam, a group of Vietnamese children watches their house burn just after a joint U.S.-South Vietnamese patrol set it ablaze after finding communist AK-47 ammunition.