Vietnam - War

Before coming to Vietnam, I had a very basic awareness of the Vietnam War. Since being here, I've visited three sites with Vietnam War significance:

1. Cu Chi Tunnels just outside Ho Chi Minh City. The area has over 200km of interconnected underground tunnels dug by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were used to hide from the enemy, shelter from air attacks, transport troops/weapons, and sometimes to live in. The tunnels are tiny and dark and I'm impressed by how much they were used and the extent of the system. There was an exhibit at the tunnels showing the different traps for enemy soldiers and they were really brutal and not just built to kill but also to maim. I wasn't expecting it.

Staff demonstrating how to enter a tunnel

Exhibition on enemy traps

Out of bomb craters grows bamboo

2. The War Remnants museum in Ho Chi Minh City. This was a mainly photo exhibition of atrocities committed during the Vietnam War, the protests across the globe and the aftereffects of Agent Orange. I had been warned about the horribleness of some of the content but I think the worst part was a series of photographs taken by an American photographer at the My Lai Massacre. The photographer photographed people just before or after they were killed by soldiers. I have really mixed feelings about the photographer. I'm really hoping he did it so that he could show the world what was actually going on, but he waited a year and then sold the photos to the press so I don't know. I know that he has to make a living, which could explain selling the photos (still, to me, it just seems so despicable to profit from photos like that), but if he really wanted to show the world what was going on, why wait?

3. My Lai Memorial Museum. This was a museum documenting the massacre of an entire village of innocent civilians (men, women and children) by American troops. The museum had the photos that were also shown at the War Remnants museum and had a bit of other information.

Statue at My Lai Museum

I now know a lot more about the war than before I came here and have decided that war is horrible for everyone involved except, perhaps, for the people calling the shots from cushy offices.