War Remnants Museum

Yesterday we packed up our bags and left the city. We are in Hoa An province right now living in a building that is on stilts in the middle of a giant puddle. But more on that when I have the pictures to prove it. Since I have done a lot of blog worthy things in the past week, I am going to dedicate a post to each of them, since I now have the time to do that (no city distractions). So I am going to start off with The War Remnants Museum. I finally had the opportunity to go back and take my time to read the placards and really look at the photographs. I went early in the morning before class with Erika, and unfortunately this was before I had my new camera and Erika's camera was broken. Giant fail on all fronts. So the pictures are ones that I took the first time around.

American ammunition

Touring the War Remnants Museum was a very emotional and distressing experience. I think the museum does a surprisingly good job of showing the war from a multitude of sides, something that Americans struggle with, or at least the people who taught me about the Vietnam War (which here is actually called the American War) struggled with. Unfortunately, I did walk away feeling that overall American troops were depicted as destructive and deadly, unsure how to deal with all the power, weapons, and money that they were supplied with. I think it is unfair to be characterized like this because it is not representative of everyone who fought in the war, and surely not representative of the many Americans who opposed the war from the get-go. I don’t want America to be represented by photographs that show damage done at My Son or by statistics proving the tons of bombs dropped over the span of a few years. I don’t want America to be depicted as the bad guy.  However, I believe these images reflect the Vietnamese opinion of Americans during the era of the war, not in the present day. I am happy that we are no longer characterized by these images, but it devastates me to see at one point this is how Americans were perceived. I guess that is something that war does, someone is always going to be portrayed in a negative light. Because we both come from countries that have strong roots in nationalism it will always be difficult for one another to completely understand both sides. What grounds me to keep an open mind about America’s involvement are my relationships with veterans back home and what so many people gave up to serve. But that being said I now have a very different perspective on the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh, and America's position in the war. 

A quote and photograph that negatively portray Americans (or at least in my opinion)

I left the museum much more knowledgeable, but also with a knot in my stomach. Some of the exhibits in the museum were just too graphic. The second time I went I actually avoided the section of Agent Orange– there were so many photographs of people with birth defects from dioxins, it really turned my stomach upside down. I was more interested in the political and historical aspects of the war. Something that shocked me was the opposition to the war from the rest of the world. I had no idea that so many countries wanted America to exit Vietnam.

gas masks used for Agent Orange and other dioxins

Learning about the Vietnam War in Vietnam is an experience that I am very lucky to have. Something that continues to amaze me is that the Vietnamese don't hold grudges and Americans are not associated with the war. I don't think that this is a two way street. In general, Americans have no idea what Vietnam’s current and stable government is like, their patient way of life, or the kindness and hospitality that Vietnamese display. Back home in the states, Vietnam only reminds people of the war. I hope that when I return I can begin to erase some of these associations and paint a more colorful image of Vietnam, one that isn’t associated with drafts, camouflage, and B-52s.