The Museum Of Many Names

The first thing we did in Saigon was go to our hotel and check in.

(Editor: Wow, this HAS to be the most boring lede you've ever written.  The noise you hear is hundreds of readers closing the blog.  Writer: Trying again.)

We went to the War Remnants Museum as our first activity in Saigon.  It used to be named the "Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes," but it is now focused on the Vietnam War.  The museum opened with the melodious name of "Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes."  There are a lot of people who don't like puppets, but I'm not sure they commit enough "crimes" to warrant their own museum.

(Editor: They weren't referring to "puppets" as in a puppet show!  Writer: Really?  I had no idea.)

In 1990 it was renamed the "Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression."   It seems that as the temperature between Vietnam and the US cooled, the name was changed.  In 1995, as relations were normalized, the museum became its current version -- the War Remnants Museum.  I doubt any other museum in the world has had four names in less than 50 years, much less four names in twenty years.

(Yes, I alternate between calling it Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon -- even many locals call it Saigon, and you'll see it referred to as Saigon on store signs.  I will alternate usage back and forth -- I prefer "Saigon" because it is about ten keystrokes faster to type!)

It's an interesting three story museum, featuring captured U.S. planes and tanks on the outside.  The scope of the three-story museum has broadened out.  On the top floor there is significant space allocated to how western journalists covered the war, as well as a section about journalists who died covering the war.  Seeing old "Life" magazine articles blown up big, alongside many Pulitzer Prize winning photos.  It was far less propaganda than I expected.

The second floor there are exhibition rooms dedicated to war crimes, with a big section on the My Lai massacre and Lieutenant William Calley (who apparently is still alive).  If you don't know about My Lai, Calley, and the whole sh*t show, I highly recommend reading about it on Wikipedia or other reputable source.  Basically the U.S. soldiers involved acted like Hamas on October 7th.  Warning -- it will make you sick to your stomach.  It's a good reminder that there are evil people in every country, including some who wear their nation's uniform.

There's also two rooms on Agent Orange, but, with limited time, I chose not to go into either of those rooms.

The ground floor featured a room telling the stories of individual North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, both military and civilians, and what they did after the war.  It's a good reminder that life continues for the living post-war.

The museum is more about telling stories of the war and its participants than it is about casting blame (there certainly is some).  I found it a thoughtful and worthwhile approach.  I figured I'd go and take my lumps, but instead I thought it took a pretty fair, more nuanced approach than I expected.  

Although the museum has some weapons on display, they are a very small part of it, as it mostly uses photographs and written explanations to tell stories.  The explanations are both in Vietnamese and English.  I read the English explanations.

(Editor: You don't say!)