Despite its sobering focus, this museum that looks at the devastating effects of the Vietnam War—known locally as the American War—is very popular. Displays of military equipment and defused ordnance outside the main building are reminders of the huge number of weapons employed during the conflict; they also prime visitors for the powerful exhibits inside. The most disturbing of these are the many graphic photos displayed in galleries that highlight seminal moments of those years (including the infamous My Lai Massacre) and the catastrophic effects of the chemical weapons that were used against the Vietnamese.
Combat planes displaying at the War Remnants Museum, Ho chi Minh City, Vietnam
Fumio Okada/age fotostock
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War Remnants Museum
Formerly known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, the War Remnants Museum takes an unflinching—if rather one-sided—look at Vietnam’s turbulent past. The graphic photographs show the atrocities inflicted on Vietnam’s civilian population by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, including the horrific effects of Agent Orange and unexploded bombs. You’ll leave saddened by the brutality and the appalling legacy of war, one that still scars the country to this day.
