Vietnam War Through a Different Lens

The Vietnam War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh city impacted me so much, I decided to do a separate post for it. It was eye opening and humbling to see the Vietnamese people’s experiences and pain from a non-American perspective and I am still processing a lot of the images I saw and words I read. My heart was broken, and my brain was conflicted. My few hours in that museum changed the way I will view the Vietnam or “American” War for the rest of my life, and I don’t regret taking time out of traveling to go there. Disclaimer: these are my personal thoughts I have been wrestling with and my experience alone. I understand the sensitivity surrounding the Vietnam War and realize there are still open wounds having the war ended only a short five decades ago. I will do my best to be sensitive to the pain all sides of the war experienced, and you do not have to agree with all the remarks I say. Because of my age, upbringing and education, I experienced the museum in a unique way and took many mental pictures that will stay heavy on my heart for a long time.

Another thing I want to express is the US military is full of incredibly brave soldiers that fight every day for the freedoms I so often take for granted. I have visited countries that do not have the same freedoms I do as an American citizen, and I am forever grateful for the sacrifices past and current service men and women have made. I also acknowledge specifically with the Vietnam War, a lot of men drafted were boys younger than me, and experienced immense trauma and did not have a choice in their participation in the military. I am in no way blaming the soldiers for the pain of the Vietnamese people, or condone the treatment of them upon returning home to the US. I will acknowledge, however, how war changes people and can strip away morality. There was immense evil and suffering in the Vietnam War that could have been avoided, and the blame cannot be placed on one single military. America is not perfect, however.

Prior to going, I spoke with my roommate who had already visited the museum earlier in the week. She said to start on the top floor and work your way down so you end on a happy note and it doesn’t affect the rest of my day. I asked her how she felt while walking around and she said “I felt an immense amount of shame walking around as American. I cried multiple times and it was just really heavy.” It scared me because I knew I would react in a similar way, but I also know I may never get the opportunity to go back to the museum ever again.

A little background: I was walking into this museum with very minimal knowledge of the Vietnam War. I have always had a fascination with American history and loved the AP US History class I took in high school with Mrs. Davis. I know I learned about this war in my classes, but I obviously did not absorb the information or take it as serious as I should have. After talking to multiple students in my ship classes, a lot of the American students said they were never taught in depth about the Vietnam War like we were about World War I and II. We discussed this dilemma quite a bit and agreed we were taught about Agent Orange and North and South Vietnam were in a civil war over communist control, but we were also taught the war was a “necessary evil.”

This stuck with me. We are taught in extreme depth about the World Wars because America won. The American military came in and saved the day in those wars, and it is a historical event tied to a lot of pride – rightfully so. But the United States controversially got involved in the Vietnam civil war and made a lot of mistakes and ultimately lost. American involvement with Agent Orange caused lasting pain for innocent civilians for generations and there is an extreme amount of resentment the Vietnamese people still have in their hearts because of that. America messed up to a certain extent; soldiers from all sides lost their lives and witnessed horrible war crimes, and the wounds are still open and raw. I think a combination of all these factors and the war happening in recent past has made the subject hard for people to swallow and teach younger generations like mine. I never took the time to study this war, and after visiting the museum and meeting countless Vietnamese people, I wish I would have.

Entering the grounds of the museum, there were large tanks and fighter jet planes with US Military logos on the side. We walked around and looked at them, but with the 90-degree heat and humidity to match, we decided to go inside. We went to the fourth floor and the first exhibit I entered gave a brief description about the history and conflicts that led to the war. There wasn’t anything severely graphic or emotionally triggering, so I was wondering what my roommate was talking about. I walked into the next room and immediately understood. Plastered on the walls were images of deformed individuals affected by agent orange. For the next three rooms and entire next floor, the plaques and photos focused on agent orange and the extreme violence inflicted on Vietnamese people. I went into the museum knowing this was the Vietnamese perspective of the “American” War – as they call it. I understand they have biases against the US, just like the US has biases in their own museums. Even knowing that ahead of time, I was still extremely impacted by the images.

After the second or third room of pictures of amputated limbs of children, extreme birth defects, crying mothers, and war prisoners being tortured, I had a pit the size of an apple in my throat and I felt nauseous. There was one image that is burned into my memory of American soldiers posing behind beheaded North Vietnamese soldiers and smiling for the photograph. The plaque was captioned something along the lines of how war desensitizes people of blatant evil and can, quote: “fuck” people’s morality. I regret not taking a photo of the plaque, but it also something I’m glad is not in my camera role to lament over. It made my jaw quiver and was gut wrenching to look at. That along with photos of dead soldiers lined up, and mothers sobbing while bomb smoke filled the air behind them scarred me. Millions of innocent children and civilians were killed and severely injured, and the pictures hid nothing.

I slowly entered the room dedicated to Agent Orange victims knowing it was going to be severely upsetting. The images were more graphic than any image I was shown in an American History class. There was extreme pain in the eyes of the people affected. A lot of the children with birth defects as a result of the toxic chemical were smiling because they didn’t know any different. It almost had a haunting effect. This is where a lot of my guilt set in. Tears filled my eyes and even with my efforts to fan them away, they rolled down my cheeks as I kept walking through the exhibit. I am an extremely people-oriented person and care immensely about people struggling around the world. Seeing how the war had such a long-lasting effect on the Vietnamese people was very hard to look at and process. My heart just hurt. I also knew there were innocent people hurting at the hands of a chemical warfare the US military initiated. It was an interesting form of shame I have never felt before. I have felt shame over my personal actions, but it’s much different feeling the shame of a country you come from and being present in the one they hurt deeply.

I also know the US soldiers were extremely affected by agent orange and my heart is saddened by that as well. This war was filled with extreme evil and pain that still impacts the people of all countries involved. I am no war history expert and I know there are multiple perspectives I am missing in this post, I am going to continue to do research to learn more about this complex war. I understand why the US got involved in the war because the threat of communism and our pride in democracy, however, the US did a lot more hurt than good in the end. I also want to acknowledge the protests during the late 60’s and early 70’s against our involvement and killing innocent people. Protests are powerful, even if people think they’re dramatic and a waste of time. That was such an interesting decade in American history, and I understand the reasons behind the riots and “Make Love not War” posters more than ever.

The bottom floor of the museum was dedicated to the anti-war protests and aid from countries all over the world. The museum had a lot of bias against the US military, but it also acknowledged the protests and American people who were against it. This war was so dividing and is a hard pill to swallow as an American, but is also necessary to talk about so war crimes like this don’t occur again.

I was severely impacted by what I saw in the Remnants Museum and used this blog post not only to inform friends and family about what I experienced, but also to process the gut-wrenching images I witnessed. I’m still processing even weeks later. I apologize for the deep and emotional post, but human rights and the treatment of people around the world are important to me and it would be a disservice to not share my thoughts. You may not agree with everything I said, and that’s okay, but I challenge you to do research from the perspective of the Vietnamese and to visit this museum if you ever find yourself in Vietnam. I am so glad I attended this museum, it transformed my thoughts about the beautiful people of Vietnam and their sheer resilience. I still think this world is wildly beautiful and full of good people, and war is a complex issue that is unfortunately part of our realities as US citizens. My heart is heavy, but I am still full of so much hope and love for the world.