War Remnants

As an American, the War Remnants Museum in Saigon is an unusual experience and even unsettling.

When it comes to history it is rare for the United States to be in a position in which it does not control the narrative. At the War Remnants Museum our government is definitely the bad guy in the movie.

Much of the first floor is dedicated to showing visitors how many countries were against American involvement and how many Americans were against it as well. John Lennon’s Imagine plays on a loop on the overhead sound system.

The next two floors are dedicated to American atrocities - like the My Lai massacre - the damage caused by Agent Orange, and the devastation that still has an effect on the health of Vietnam and its people more than 40 years after the war’s end.

It’s a different experience to be in such a setting with people from Vietnam as they read about the history of the war and occasionally glance towards you and wonder what you are thinking. Although the information presented at the museum has an obvious bias, it is generally accurate and it just cements the feeling most Americans have that our intervention in Vietnam was a tragic mistake.