Military History Museum, Hanoi
This museum is a factual and informative collection of exhibits and items from wars with the Chinese, French, and Americans.
As I was about to leave, a group of veterans arrived touring the museum. I stayed for a while, curious to observe them. They paused at a sculpture welded out of parts of American aircraft shot down.
Cluster bombs:
Aircraft engines:
This man stayed behind as the rest of the group moved on. He reached out and touched a piece of US airplane wreckage. He held the gesture for a while, deep in thought. I imagine he had some historical relationship with these machines. I was profoundly moved.
What was particularly poignant for me was to look at these men with gray hair and realize that they were near my age and that had I ended up in the U.S. Army in Vietnam it would have been been their duty to kill me and me them.
The War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City
This museum primarily contains exhibits relating to the American War, and is a major tourist attraction with both locals and foreigners. Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government [of South Vietnam]." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum. The current name is consistent with the desire to foster better relations with the U.S., Vietnam's number one economic trading partner.
One gallery featured shots from American photojournalists. Over 150 journalists were killed in the war. Many of these pictures were familiar, especially those from Life Magazine photographers. Suffering.
This man is what, 40 yrs. old? He was too young to be in the war. What does he think of all this?
The struggling woman in the water with her children seems to call out to the passing viewers . . .
My Lai
Many folks saw other photo opportunities.
Sixty percent of Vietnamese were born after the war. Many of them see the war this way:
