We went to War Remnants Museum on our own after spending our half-day Cu Chi Tunnel Tour. Entrance was 10,000 VND and we received a brochure introducing briefly about the Museum.

War Remnants Museum, formerly named "Museum of American War Crime" was established in September 1975. The museum is an organization in charge of studying, collecting, examining, preserving and displaying the remnants of the wars the invaders in Vietnam. The museum is a call for peace and hope that history is not repeated - visitors are even asked to sign a petition against the kind of aerial carpet-bombing that devastated the people of Vietnam.

Once you enter inside you'll see a large collection of bombs, planes, tanks and war machinery in the main courtyard. (see photos below)



To increase the course of war, the US army feverishly sent M.48 tanks to South Vietnam in 1965 and step-by-step handed over them to the Saigon former army that was carried out according to the "Vietnamization Program". The Saigon Armored car Corps Number 20 and other units were equipped with M.48 tank.



The various weapons used during the war are displayed in this hall, like the Seismic bomb weighing 15,000 pounds (6.8 T) can destroy everything on the ground within a radius of 100m, and violently shakes up and down within a diameter of 3.2km. And the CBU-55B is a sophisticated bomb produced by the U.S. When exploding, the bomb can destroy oxygen in the radius of 500m. It was used at Xual Loc, Dong Nai province on April 9, 1975.


We got to see some relics as well as photographs showing crimes during the Vietnam War in the multiple themed rooms: American soldiers killing and torturing Vietnamese civilians and scattering poisonous chemicals, the bottle deformed fetus supposedly damaged by Agent Orange, a wall size photos of the My Lai massacre, the war against the North Vietnam.

There are some guillotine and two life-sized replicas of the "tiger cages" of Con Dao jail on the ground. Hb told me to take a peek into one of the tiger cages, which I did. "What the...!!!" I thought I saw a ghost prisoner inside. Phew! Believe me, it looks so real! I was really shocked and felt eerie of what I saw, but it turned out to be a dummy. Thank god. Hb asked me if i wanted to have a souvenir shot beside the cage. Even though I liked to have one, I completely declined since I was still pretty chilly at that time.

There are also halls focusing on the border wars and archipelago issues. There are also stalls showing cultural products of the ethnic tribes in Vietnam and a room displaying Vietnamese water puppetry. The War Remnants Museum is a must-see for foreign tourists.



Address:
WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM
28 Vo Van Tan. St.,
Ward 6, District 3,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel. 930-6325
Fax: 848 9305153
Email: warrm@cinet.vnnews.com

Open Daily:
7:30 to 11:30 am
1:30 to 5:15 pm