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Published: August 8th 2007
Remnants of War
Face to face with the vestiges of war.I don’t even know where to start. The Museum of American War Crimes, aka the War Remnants Museum, has put my mind in a tizzy. I was less pensive and more disturbed by what I saw. Now let me quickly recap the earlier part of the day, then I’ll give an account of the atrocities committed by the USA that were tantamount, if not paramount, to dropping an atomic bomb on Vietnam.
We get up, had breakfast, update the blog—subscribers, sorry for the bombardment—and set out into the sticky, moist, polluted, humid Vietnamese afternoon. Meli’s hyperthermia manifests as total body perspiration, and crops of rubor and eczema. For a tropically born and bred gal, she cannot take heat. Nor can she deal with the cold (how did she survive four years at Harvard?). Her hypothalamus is set to go haywire outside of normal body-temperature ± 2°. Knowing that we head to Thailand in two days, that we need a travel guide, and that there is more bootleg stuff here than the L.A. Swap Meet, we begin the search for a book on Thailand. Many vendors are posted up
Blue makes me happy
"Tropical fudges" sundae with mango, custard apple, and coffee ice cream. Ridic. on Le Loi and we have to walk past them on the way to the museum. The first couple don’ have what we are looking for. Then, eureka! We ask an elderly woman if the has a book on Thailand. “No. Wait one minute, ok?” She runs/speedwalks up the block, chit chats with another vendor, and powerwalks back with an 808 page “non-original but identical copy of” Lonely Planet Thailand. “$10!” We’re American, but we do not walk around with dollars in our pockets. No sale. Five meters later, someone is selling a guide on Bangkok. “$5!” Maybe, but we really would like a book on all of Thailand because we are going to Bangkok and Krabi and perhaps other islands. The search continues.
At this point, Meli and I split up. We come together at a vendor who has both a Bangkok guide and the LP Thailand. “$6” for the Bangkok book or, “both $10.” We don’t need both. How much for the Thailand book? “$5.” Give it to me in dong. I generally ask for the conversion because people like to overcharge in dollars. The price offered in dong tends to be less than the equivalent in
Remnants of War
A sobering afternoon with the war machines. dollar. Not in this case, but it’s still half the price of the first vendor we saw with the same guide. Sold!
We trudge on in inclement heat. Out of nowhere, Blue pops up. A mirage or an oasis? The sign advertises ice cream, smoothies, sandwiches, drinks and more. You had me at ice cream. Granted, we have not eaten lunch (breakfast was at 9am and it’s now 2:30pm), a midday snack never hurt nobody. I order a sundae with coconut ice cream and fruit, and a long island iced tea. Meli tackles “tropical fudges” sundae. Thirty minutes later, we brave the heat encore une fois. Past the Reunification Palace, where the VC tanks rolled in and essentially marking the end of the war, beyond street vendors trying to sell us water (we’re carrying our own) and coconuts (sorry man, I just had one… “how about another, mine is colder and better”), milliseconds before Meme is ready to pull a renege, we arrive at the museum.
So much for the Geneva Protocol First opened to the public on September 4, 1975, the museum describes itself as:
The unique Museum in Vietnam to systematically study, collect, preserve and Remnants of War
There were 8 thematic displays, we're either in #1 or #2, which had many photos from the war and an homage to the photojournalists who died capturing these images. display exhibits of war crimes and aftermaths foreign aggressive forces caused Vietnamese people.
The museum has eight permanent thematic exhibits. The courtyard (Exhibit 8: U.S. State-of-the-art weaponry used in the Vietnam War) is chock full of toys the Americans left behind, probably anticipating such a museum to be created. How generous, eh? Thanks, Choppers, Fighter Jets, and bombs (e.g, BLU-82 “Seismic bomb,” which destroyed everything within a 100m radius). To drive home the point of this exhibit, a sign informs us that during the war, the USA used 14 million tons of bombs and shells—20 times as much as during the Korean War, 7 times as much as World War II—and 70 million liters of toxic chemicals, more that half of which was Agent Orange.
The next exhibit is in a gallery and entitled “Historical Truths: causes, origins and processes of aggressive wars.” Lots of charts and statistics. Photos of tanks given to the French by the USA and incidents leading up to the Vietnam War. Also one of the first GIs landing in Da Nang in 1965.
In the same gallery is the next exhibit, “Requiem.” Probably the most powerful display, consisting of a collection of
Remnants of War
To the victors go the spoils. photos taken by 134 war reporters, from 11 different nations, killed during the war. Highlighted is the LIFE magazine spread by Larry Burrows, in addition to Pulitzer Prize winning images from other photographers. The one of a Vietnamese mother crossing the river with her four children (infants and toddlers) to flee an American bomb campaign by Kyoichi Sawada is still in my head. The disheartening fact that war causes more devastation for civilians, namely women and children, is painstakingly clear from these images.
Exhibit 3, “Vestiges of War Crimes and Aftermaths,” situated in the most central building, provides the most tangible and lasting feature of the war—two large jars filled with fixative and two fetuses with visible defects secondary to Agent Orange exposure in utero. The glass display case sans light further darkens the presentation. All the various types of guns used by the Yankees are up for show. A sickening picture by Tay Ninh of a GI from the 25th Infantry Division carrying the debris of a VC combatant’s corpse (really only the head and attached flaps of skin were visible; no torso, no legs) invokes the gag reflex. It is in this building that we learn that
2/3 of Vietnamese killed during the war were civilians. That over 2 million hectares of forest and agricultural lands were destroyed by toxic chemicals. And image after disturbing image of the phenotypes caused by Napalm, White Phosphorus, along with the toxic chemicals. Faces with holes where the jaw or eyes used to be. Limbs bending in the opposite direction. Heads and torsos without legs. Dwarfism. Get the idea? Adjacent to the main display hall is a side room with an exhibit of children’s paintings and drawings depicting the war and symbols of peace. A respite from its grueling neighbor it seems.
Blueprint The “Imprisonment System” exhibit is almost a relief after what we’ve just witnessed. This exhibit is a life-sized model of a prison and Tiger Cages. There’s also a guillotine. Call this one the blueprint for Guantanamo Bay. So, what were the Tiger Cages you ask? For those who don’t know, the U.S. built and maintained Tiger Cages at the notorious Con Son Island Prison. On this island, located far out in the South China Sea, was situated the largest South Vietnamese prison for non-combatants, 9,600 prisoners, all with no legal rights. Tiger cages were deep, dank
concrete pits, four by nine feet; each held three to five prisoners. Steel grates covered the top of each pit. Prisoners lay shackled to the floor of these concrete abysses. It is said that sometimes there were buckets of lime above the cages and the wardens would throw down clouds of it onto the chained prisoners as a form of sanitary torture. After months of internment, prisoners would lose the use of their legs, develop tuberculosis, gangrenous feet, life threatening dysentery. If reading this bothers you, why not stop by for a visit?
After another photo gallery, this one dedicated to Japanese reporters Ishikawa Bunyo and Nakamura Goro called “Vietnam - War and Peace,” we conclude our visit at the “International Support for the Vietnamese People in their Resistance War.” Probably the most neutral exhibit in the museum as it shows posters, pictures, and mementos from anti-war movements across the globe.
Neither of us says a word to each other during the first few minutes of our sobering walk away from the museum. What is there to say? This is one of those times when the horror of what we saw, on top of the heat, left both of us
speechless.
Battle for the bottle The museum must have emboldened us, because we take a gutsy stroll through traffic, dodging motorbikes with a Mercedes coming close enough for me to kiss the hood ornament before slamming on the brakes. That breaks the silence. To our surprise, the Ben Thanh Market, is close by. I stop in a stall for some EtOH. The lady is selling for 150,000 VND. I wait. 145,000 VND. That’s ok. We leave. I only have 114,000 VND in my pocket and I’m not ready to buy. We shop around and find nothing better. I go back. Knowing that I only have so much loot, I have to get her within my price range. She starts again at 145,000. Keep coming sister, keep coming. 135,000 VND. I pull out the big joker: 120,000 VND. She wants to slap me, I can tell by the look in her eyes. “Cheap!” I start the walk away. Success. Now the funny part. I pull out my 114,000 VND, show her what I got; she snatches the bottle off the counter, huffs, and turns her back on me. I messed up that one.
We walk some more. Meli stops
Remnants of War
I like my side of the gun better than Leroy's. to buy some green mango with chili salt off a street peddler and with the change gives me enough to go back to make the purchase. The vendor must be sick of me at this point. Hey, I’ve been getting taken advantage of time after time, so I’m up actually up for a game of hardball. I walk in, say 120,000 VND, she says 140,000 VND. “You agreed to 120,000 VND.” My being obnoxious must have precipitated her amnesia. She retorts 140,000 VND. I try once more to stiff arm her down to 120,000 VND. We settle on 130,000 VND and I grab the rum and jet. That was fun!
Meli here. Leroy can’t believe how long it’s taking him to finish the blog, so I’ve been assigned the task of ending his misery. Before he even finished the rum bargaining, a Vietnamese lady (although I think she looked hapa) came up to us and started talking to me in Vietnamese. I guess I could pass. All I have to do is learn the language and I could start bargaining like a champ. She tries to help us by translating and follows us around Ben Thanh market, asking us questions about where we’re from. Unfortunately, with our experience in Vietnam and the many warnings I have gotten from guidebooks and other people’s blogs, I trust no one who is this friendly or helpful. I am wearing our backpack in front and hugging it tight. As we walk, I take quick turns until we finally lose her. Sad, isn’t it, that we should have to be this wary and unfriendly to the only people who even take time to talk to us.
Dinner is at Pho 24 again, and what can I say, we like the place. The pho is good and the branches are clean. And dinner for two at U$6 is hard to beat. Back at the hotel, I am eager for a hot shower to wipe the heat, sweat, grime, and general nastiness that the war and the weather have left me. There’s no hot water. True, it’s hot as hell, but the A/C in the room actually works, and I don’t need steamy hot water, I just need something at about room temperature. We call reception ready to get mad at them again, but when housekeeping comes, he explains that we simply didn’t turn the
hot water on… by flipping the switch next to the other light switches. Oh. And how were we supposed to know about that?
The rest of the evening is spent with the bottle of rum in hopes of not spending too much money before going to Q Bar. We get dressed and walk to Lam Son Square, and Q Bar is definitely hopping, except it’s filled with white guys and their Vietnamese vacation toys. The scene is just that… a scene, and one that we’re not impressed with. And drinks are expensive. We cross the street and head to the Saigon Saigon bar on the 9th floor of the Caravelle Hotel, where we are guaranteed a fantastic view. The view is nice, but we don’t stay long because I can’t stop sneezing. Who can party after a day like today?
P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!
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Tom Nevers
non-member comment
museum is one sided
War itself is an atrocity and the Americans were not alone. The VC and NVA themselves committed countless atrocities against their enemies, their own people and the people of their surronding countries. I doubt if you got to see any pictures of civilians murdered by the NVA and VC like the bodies of dead students on the grounds of the university in Hue during the Tet offensive.