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Published: April 11th 2011
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I also visited the War Remenants Museum today. I must explain that, on this journey through Vietnam, one of the things I really wanted to do was learn about the war. My formal education is lacking in this area, and it's such a large subject, with so many books and websites and movies, that finding a starting point is a daunting task. You may wonder what I mean when I say my formal education is lacking with regards to the Vietnam war; I will explain, if for no other reason than for you to understand where I'm coming from with my reactions, confusion, and feelings.
My middle school years taught me well about American life and American wars up until the end of the Civil War. After that, nothing--there's history after 1865? My high school history class spent just one hour covering the Vietnam War. I suspect my teacher had his reasons. All of the students in the class know someone who was involved in the war in some way; it's a pretty personal, emotional topic. As high school students, what we knew about war in general was that it was heroic, exciting, full of blood, camraderie and explosions, and
it's dramatic. To a typical sixteen year old student, war was cool. My teacher wanted us to understand that there's a different side to war, a personal one; the only thing I remember from the entire lesson is the faces of one week's dead circling our classroom for a week, staring at me each time I took my desk. I couldn't tell you why the war happened, why the US was involved, when it was, or where Vietnam is located. I still haven't decided how I feel about the lesson.
Across the street from Reunification Palace and down a bit was the War Remnants Museum. Outside are a hand full of US tanks, planes, and helicopters. There's also a mock prison with photos of the prisoners that were tortured during the Vietnam war; the photos made me feel ill. Inside the main building were several exhibits, mostly photography (my favorite). There were photos taken by photojournalists from all sides and all nations. There were photos of war protests around the world (I had no idea), an exhibit about the effects of agent orange (so gruesome), a section on prison conditions, a section on war crimes, and one about life
in Vietnam today with a focus on war survivors. Compared to the DMZ tour, some of the exhibits felt a bit more biased to me; but then, I think it's an accurate reflection of how Vietnam thinks about the war. They are certainly entitled to their opinions as well as we are; they call it the American War and we call it the Vietnam War.
I'm still not sure what I think about the whole thing besides that it was a mess and a tragedy. But then, I feel that way about war in general. I'm still trying to make sense of it, trying to sort out what's true and what's propaganda. After seeing these exhibits, I finally understand why every non-American asks me how I'm treated in Vietnam as an American. (The answer is, "Just fine. So far as I know, I'm treated like every other tourist.") I will be doing further reading this summer--suggestions welcome.
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Dad
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Making sense of it all...
To get a full perspective, you really have to go back to the 1950's. The Korean War; Ho Chi Minh and his followers defeating the French in 1954; the split of the country into north and south; the American presence from 1961 to 1975; and, then the aftermath of the North conquering the south in 1975. Also, there is still a great opportunity to be able to talk with many who were there and lived it.