War Remnants Museum

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

One of our shipboard speakers did a lecture about how memories shape history and how, as our perceptions and feelings shift and change over time, so does our belief about what happened, who did what and why. This applies, of course, to the whole world, but most particularly to the adversaries in this conflict – here, we’re talking about American and Vietnamese.

When this museum first opened in 1975, it was called “Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes”. Then in 1990, the name was changed to “Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression”. Relations between the U.S. and Vietnam continued to improve and become normalized. Then in 1995, the museum was given the name it bears today “The War Remnants Museum”. Some critics claim it is ALL anti-American propaganda, showing none of the atrocities committed by the Vietcong and the North. In any case, I found it a very sobering experience and well worth the visit. But I didn’t take many pictures; the images are in my head and that’s bad enough.

From the shipboard port sheet, “the War Remnants Museum features exhibitions of weaponry and vehicles used by the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. The museum features harrowing and thought-provoking photographs documenting the Vietnam War and its aftermath.” Thought-provoking is an understatement! Outside in the courtyard, is a display which includes a Chinook helicopter, Air Force jets, tanks, and lots of military vehicles.

The museum is divided into sections on three floors. The first section is labelled “Historical Truths” which includes pictures and quotes from world leaders. Next is a tribute to the 134 journalists from 11 nations who were killed during the war – a selection of their best war documentary photos are displayed along with pictures of the photographers themselves. Here there is a large copy of the photo that won the Pulitzer Prize and the World Press Photo of the Year award in 1972 – the one that shows the children running from a napalm bombardment with a screaming, naked 9-year old girl in the center. I didn’t take pictures of all of them, but I easily could have; there is a part of a declaration signed by university professors and scholars (see the photo attached here).

Another section outside the front entrance provides examples of how Vietcong and North Vietnamese were imprisoned – along with torture techniques used to extract information. Here are examples of “tiger cages” where prisoners were locked in squat wire cages in the hot sun – for a long time. There is a guillotine left behind by the French in this section – and, apparently, it was used for executions during the first part of the war. Yes, I know that American and Allied servicemen were treated as badly or worse by the other side, but that doesn’t make it any easier to see what WE did.

There is a section called “Aggressive War Crimes” and the pictures here are pretty terrible. I’ve already written about the problem that concerns the whole of Southeast Asia – hidden landmines and unexploded ordinance that continue to plague the rural populations in Vietnam, (especially) Cambodia, and Laos even today – 40 years after all the shooting stopped.

But maybe the most horrific area here concerns Agent Orange and the widespread use of agents containing dioxin that damaged both military personnel and civilians alike – Americans too! Almost as bad was concentrated bombing of chemical defoliant sprays which resulted in widespread deforestation, killing forests and jungles which have still not recovered today. The graphic photos of people burned by phosphorus bombs, napalm and Agent Orange are bad enough. But then there are the pictures of their children, born years later, with a wide variety of birth defects – missing, stunted, and disfigured limbs, torsos twisted like old tree trunks. And these pictures are often presented with the parent beside the child and the captions are like the ones we see in fundraising pleas for MS or cancer, “Despite her challenges, Little Lisa has a joy for life and is so loved by her family …” It is truly heartbreaking. One photo after another.

My emotions upon leaving here were sorrow and guilt. I felt guilty in this museum and several others said they felt the same. I keep thinking, “I should have done more to stop this at the time. We knew it was wrong. We knew bad things were happening. What would have happened if we had pushed harder?” Tough thoughts.

Several interesting and related concepts are intersecting right now for me.
– We saw the movie “American Sniper” before we left on this trip; what a powerful film it is and it gave me a small glimpse into what it must be like to be a soldier in the Middle East right now. Being here, I cannot help but be struck by the parallels between now and then.
– There was an article published in the NY Times opinion section this morning called “How we learned to kill” by Timothy Kudo, a Marine captain, about issues of morality and war and making the decision to kill at all.
– This whole area of Southeast Asia has been the scene for conflict and strife since way back in the olden days and before. Over the centuries, hordes of people have migrated into and out of this area continuously. Traders and conquerors from Europe and Asia have come for the spices and all the goodies plus the faster transit promised by the trade winds. Along the way, beautiful buildings are constructed, populations are slaughtered, political pacts are forged and broken, and cultures are forever altered. So much conflict!

No easy answers!