Vietnam War Remnants Museum

War Remnants Museum was one of the most surreal things we’ve experienced on our journey thus far was our trip to War Remnants Museum. Though neither of us were alive during the Vietnam War, the memory of it is still fresh within the collective conscious of both Vietnam and the United States. The museum contains many military artifacts from the war as well as first person accounts, news articles of peace protests from around the globe, famous photographs of the war torn country side and people, and stories of atrocities and the aftermath of Agent Orange and unexploded ordinances that still litter the country side of Vietnam. What we learned during our years of history class in grammar through high school failed to touch on much of what really happened during the war, the causes of the war, and the lasting effects of it on the Vietnamese people. Though opinions about the war vary greatly across generations in the United States, one thing is for certain after visiting the museum - war is horrible and what is does to innocent civilians where it occurs is nothing less than a war crime. Vietnam was left a mess and the effects still last to this day. The use of the chemical Agent Orange to defoliate the forest caused birth defects for three generations after its use. Even our service men fell victim to its effects while here. Only recently has our government admitted its fault in its use and agreed to pay restitution. Unfortunately, the people of Vietnam aren’t as lucky. Though our actions in the war have been ruled a war crime by international courts, we remain defiant in holding ourselves responsible. Seeing a perspective of the war that differs from the narrative we were brought up to accept as truth was truly an eye opening experience.