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American War Museum

We call it the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese call it the American War. A visit to the War Remnants Museum in Central HCMC was a sobering reminder of the utter choas and mindless destruction of war, and our government's part in this one. I left this place in tears.

The Museum has on display all manner of weapons used by the U.S. during the 50's and 60's, from Huey II helicopters and M-1 Tanks, to bombs of all sizes, and for all purposes. You cannot help but feel great awe when standing next to one of these bohemoths. It's big, and incredibly heavy (you can't lift it even a little, though it's not nailed down).We dropped somewhere around a million tons of bombs on Vietnam and Laos during the war. Many still litter the countryside, unexploded.

A legacy of the French occupation, guillotines were used as late as 1956 against Communist sympathizers. Incredible, and horrifying to touch the wooden bench and look up at the blade.

The Horror

A picture of a picture, so thankfully the resolution is poor. But you can see that American G.I's are posing with two heads recently severed from the corpses in the foreground. The copy below the image reads: "The Picture above shows exactly what the brass want you to do in the Nam. The reason for printing this picture is not to put down G.I.'s, but rather to illustrate the fact that the Army can really fuck over your mind if you let it. It's up to you. You can put in your time just trying to come home in one piece, or you can become a psycho like the Lifer (E-6)in the picture who really digs this kind of shit."


Sheasworth 2006-2007 |Grand Canyon | Australia | India
2004 |Sea Kayaking NZ and Fiji | New Zealand South Island | Vietnam | Northern Laos | India | Germany | Welcome to Australia