War Remnants Museum: A Poignant Display of the Futility of War

It was a sunny afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City when we made our way into the War Remnants Museum again. There have been many changes to the whole place over the years.  I mostly took photos and videos of the exhibition rooms, a lot of which was enlightening, and some are just incredibly disturbing.

War Remnants Museum formerly Museum of American Crime established in September 1975. The museum is a call for peace and hopes that history does not repeat itself.

In the outdoor exhibition zone of the museum, there are a large collection of bombs, planes, tanks, and war machinery. (see photos below)


Displayed in this area (third photo) are the various bombs used during the war, like the Blu-82 Seismic bomb weighing 15,000 pounds (6.8 T) destroying 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, a sophisticated bomb produced by the U.S. When exploding, the bomb can destroy oxygen in the radius of 500m. It was used at Xuan 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. What struck me the most was the Agent Orange room. Agent Orange is a deadly herbicide and defoliant chemical used and scattered by the US military to trigger desertification of the tropical rain forest to disenable Vietcongs hiding in the dense foliage. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, it is said that around 3 million people have suffered illnesses such as leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and various kinds of cancer because of Agent Orange.

(⚠ Please be warned, a graphic photo below that can upset some people, but I feel must be shared to show how horrible this chemical is.)

a forest transformed into a mass of barren trees

two baby bodies  killed by agent orange inside a glass tomb
Agent Orange causing developmental problems in children

The aftermaths of Agent Orange have created significant impacts not only on Vietnamese people but also veterans in America, South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia who participated in the Vietnam War.

fragments of exploded shell and bombs

Mother sculpture made from bomb fragments
The museum stores more than 20,000 documents, exhibits and films, in which more than 1,500 documents, artifacts, films have been applied to introduce in eight thematic exhibitions frequently. It provides such a more in-depth insight into the effect of war.

 Below is a short video tour of the War Remnants Museum. 🔻



The War Remnants Museum is located in Vo Van Tan, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Wa

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