Banana ManThis morning we took the students to the War Remnants Museum, which basically documents the atrocities committed by the US military during the American War (we call it the Vietnam War, but the Vietnamese call it the American War), though to be fair, there is one room dedicated to Anti-American protests around the world, and another with "politically correct" pictures drawn by Vietnamese children concerning issues like peace and protecting the environment (my cynical side wonders how this school assignment came about in the communist controlled education system that doesn't even allow my students to meet with their pen pals, but that is a story for another day). It is a very intense experience for anyone, but especially for Americans. We had a very good discussion afterward, helping the students to debrief. Mike, one of our national guides, came up to me after the discussion and told me that the comments my students made helped him feel so good about the situation. I told him to share that sentiment with my students, which he did when we got back on the bus.
GI posing with the remnants of a Viet Cong soldier
Child drawing titled "My Homeland In Peace"
Child drawing titled "All Under The Same Roof"I have been to this museum four times already, so when we got there, I just took a seat in the museum and watched the people. I saw many men a little older than me, and couldn't help but wonder if they were American Vets (I missed the draft by just a few years, being 14 years old when the US involvement in the American War ended). And if they are, what is going through their minds and through their hearts as they walk through this museum? Over the past four student trips to Vietnam, I have met a number of US Vets, and it always seemed like a healing experience coming back here.
And then I saw an old Vietnamese man, and who I assumed was his son taking pictures of him in front of displays of US munitions. The old man looked so serious. I assumed he was a veteran of this war. And as I was watching him, his face suddenly lit up into a huge smile. He was looking down at a little, blond child.
I introduced myself to the younger man. His father was a veteran of the American War. His family is from Hanoi. The son, who is 47 years old, has taken his father here for the first time. I asked him how it is for his father to see these images for the first time. He said, "My English is not good enough to answer that question." And then he said to me, "May I ask you, how old are you," which was his polite way of asking if I was an veteran of the American War.
It turns out the son, like his father, is also a veteran, but he was only 11 years old when the American War ended, though he does remember the "Christmas bombings" of Hanoi in 1972 (he was 10 years old at the time), when the US declared they would "bomb Hanoi back to the stone age." He was in the military for 12 years, and participated in the six-week border war with China in 1979, and the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, ending the "reign of terror" of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. "But now we have peace," he said, and held out his hand to shake mine.
Me with two generations of Vietnamese veterans
And then I saw an old Vietnamese man, and who I assumed was his son taking pictures of him in front of displays of US munitions. The old man looked so serious. I assumed he was a veteran of this war. And as I was watching him, his face suddenly lit up into a huge smile. He was looking down at a little, blond child.
I introduced myself to the younger man. His father was a veteran of the American War. His family is from Hanoi. The son, who is 47 years old, has taken his father here for the first time. I asked him how it is for his father to see these images for the first time. He said, "My English is not good enough to answer that question." And then he said to me, "May I ask you, how old are you," which was his polite way of asking if I was an veteran of the American War.
It turns out the son, like his father, is also a veteran, but he was only 11 years old when the American War ended, though he does remember the "Christmas bombings" of Hanoi in 1972 (he was 10 years old at the time), when the US declared they would "bomb Hanoi back to the stone age." He was in the military for 12 years, and participated in the six-week border war with China in 1979, and the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, ending the "reign of terror" of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. "But now we have peace," he said, and held out his hand to shake mine.
Me with two generations of Vietnamese veterans
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