Vietnam’s bloody memories as vivid as ever in Ho Chi Minh City

AUSTRALIA described Vietnam’s decision to cancel today’s war commemorations as a “kick in the guts”. But the scars the Vietnamese people carry deeper.

WARNING: Disturbing images

CLIMBING the stairs from the suffocatingly humid streets of Ho Chi Minh City and entering a large airconditioned room, the first feeling is one of sweet relief. The next is one of mounting horror, as you scan the gruesome photos of mutilated bodies and deformed children splashed large across the walls. Staring at the sickening images in heavy silence are hordes of domestic and international visitors. Their shock creates an uncomfortable atmosphere at what is one of the most popular and controversial tourist attractions in Vietnam’s buzzing largest city, formerly known as Saigon. The War Remnants Museum has been blasted as “biased” and “one-sided” by many visitors, particularly those from the US. It bitterly condemns Americans for brutally violent acts against innocent civilians in a war in which three million of its citizens were killed. Online reviews and the visitors’ book are full of complaints that the Vietcong soldiers’ atrocities are ignored, while the crimes of US soldiers are laid bare in grisly detail. There aren’t many museums that will give your kids nightmares, but this is definitely one of them. Australian officials have expressed deep disappointment after Vietnam made a last-minute decision yesterday to cancel 50th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Long Tan. “This decision and especially its timing shows a disregard for those Australians who have in good faith travelled to Vietnam to participate in this week’s events,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last night. Veterans’ Affairs Minister Dan Tehan called the decision a “kick in the guts”. This morning, Mr Turnbull has reportedly secured a deal to allow small groups to visit the commemorative site. Australians have a rich history of stopping to commemorate our part in wars — which shows why we were so offended by the shutdown — but many would not be aware that the Vietnamese look at war very differently. The country and its people still bear terrible scars over the decades-long war, which remains so much a part of their daily consciousness. Friendly locals clam up even at a mention of visiting the museum, while many Vietnamese are aghast at fashion’s appropriation of associated imagery. The Agent Orange room shows this devastating war’s legacy is still cruelly evident, with fourth-generation descendants of those sprayed with the toxic pesticide still living without arms or legs, with severe learning difficulties or with painfully distorted features. And as Australia today remembers the Battle of Long Tan, the nation’s bloodiest moment in the Vietnam War, it is by no means exempt from blame for the suffering on display here. The Aussies, like the Americans, were trying to help the Vietnamese government stop communist rebels taking over South Vietnam. But Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Smith, who lives on the Sunshine Coast, yesterday told the Courier Mail “Vietnam was a war we should not have been involved in.” The 83-year-old recalled firing artillery, machine gun and rifle rounds into waves of Vietnamese soldiers. While 18 Australians died, at least 1000 of their opponents were killed, wounded or missing after the savage battle at a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan. There is no doubt this museum focuses almost exclusively on the crimes of the “aggressive” US army. But it is not the world’s only monument to be selective in the history it covers. It gives little mention to the actions of the Vietcong troops. The only people involved in the war to emerge with real credit here are brave European, American and Vietnamese photographers who so expressively captured the agony of war. Many violent scenes on record here are reminiscent of the sort of barbarity we now associate most frequently with terrorists. In one photo, a GI swings the decapitated head of a Vietcong soldier. Elsewhere we see the concrete sewer in which a family hid before they were pulled out and executed. It is a gut-wrenching reminder of what humans can do at their very worst. [e-mail]