2008 Blogs

Evidence of war

04/04/2009

Monday, April 6, is the national anniversary of Hung Kings, but there is a bigger "holiday" this month--April 30, which Americans will know as the fall of Saigon, but which my Vietnamese calendar labels as "Victory Day."  It seems appropriate to spend a little time talking about the few insights I have had into the war that consumed so many lives and has had such long-term impact.  Overall, as a historian, I'm struck by how matter-of-fact people here are about the war, and by how little they dwell on it.

Just as the Civil War in the U.S. is known in the South as the War Between the States, the war we in the U.S. refer to as the Vietnam War is called the American War here.  NOT that I hear people discuss it very often.  That is perhaps one of the most striking things--I seldom here anyone speak of it, and if I do, he or she usually is an older person.  Once, when talking with a young woman who would have been a baby when the war ended, she told me that she didn't want to visit the U.S.--NOT because of the war, but because we are a nation of extremes and she wouldn't feel comfortable there.  I couldn't help but wonder what influences shaped her impressions.

When I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City last January, I joined other Fulbrighters for dinner one evening.  While we were dining in an open-air restaurant, two men came by our table to serenade us (for tips).  I noticed that both were older men, and disabled.  The one had no leg from the thigh down, and had a wood stump fastened to his hip which he used as a prosthesis/cane.  Picture yourself playing a guitar and going from table to table in that manner.  I was told that these men were probably ARVN vets (soldiers who fought for the South) who now do not qualify for a military pension.  I don't know this for a fact--I'm just reporting what I was told.  Many, of course, left the country after 1975, while others went to re-education camps.

Initially, I wondered if anyone would bring up the subject of the war, and I've found that the people I'm with seldom do.  Men are more likely to make a comment than women.  When I am walking on the beach I often see older men doing exercises, sitting and watching the sea, etc., and given their ages, I assume that most of them must have served in the war.  There is some kind of hospital near the beach, and many of these grey-haired men are wearing blue pajamas.  Some are in wheelchairs, with attendants, others are walking their wheelchairs.  I have never seen any evidence of hard feelings.  Instead, they often speak to me in English, "Hello," "You from the U.S."--it's as though I have a label on me.  (Since there are many other white people here--Australian, British, Russian, and German tourists, I always wonder how they know.)

 

I also have talked with a few people who were re-educated after the war.  One, now living in Canada, explained to me that he was re-educated on the job because his skills were so necessary to post-war Vietnam.  Another woman told me of being sent to the Central Highlands to work as a nurse.  When she arrived at her camp, there were no facilities and the people there had to cut bamboo and build everything.  It was a time of hunger because they lacked rice, and they subsisted on the Vietnamese form of sweet potato.  To this day, she doesn't like to eat sweet potatoes.  One of the biggest health challenges in this camp was malaria, which was rampant.

 

There also are a number of American vets who have returned to Vietnam in order to come to terms with that phase of their lives.  I've been struck by the volunteer programs some have become involved with, and the efforts they are making to help victims of Agent Orange.  Since I raised that topic, it's a good time to mention that I have seen many disabled people of all ages here, especially those missing arms, hands, and legs, and I've been told that they are probably victims of Agent Orange and that it affects people to the third generation or more.  Ill, deformed, unable to work, many of these people resort to begging on the streets and at the beach.

 

As I wrote in earlier blog entries, there is a War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City and it used to be known as the Museum of American War Crimes, and then the War Crimes Museum until 1993.  There you can see American military equipment, graphic photos, and Tiger Cages.  I still want to check some of the facts given in some of the captions.  From my perspective, the museum stands as a testament to why we should avoid war at all costs, but it also does not present Americans in a positive light.  It felt strange to be two white people touring it with predominantly Vietnamese men, women, and children.  My visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels felt a bit surreal, as if we were going to an amusement park, but you are drawn back to reality when you see the booby traps.

I am not always the most observant person, and I also don't know what I'm looking for, but I'm sure there are many other remnants of the war throughout the countryside.  Cam Ranh Airport, which I use to fly in and out of Nha Trang, was where the U.S. trained fighter pilots.  When riding from Saigon to Nha Trang by way of Dalat I saw a few bunkers--eroded and covered with vegetation--by the side of the road.  There are also monuments, but since I don't read Vietnamese, I cannot tell you how they are related to the war but the statues often seem to glorify the valiant efforts of women in supporting their fathers, sons, and husbands during the war.

 

Despite being war-torn, Vietnam is a country looking to the future.  It is not dwelling on its past, yet the past nonetheless shapes the present and future, whether people acknowledge it or not.