Vietnam Ho Chi Minh .... Visit to Uncle Ho Land, Part 2

Visit to the Land of Uncle Ho Part 2:

After the Presidential Palace, our next stop was the War Remnants Museum, a must-go, in my opinion.  It was a short drive from the Palace, about 5 minutes or so.

Alert - This museum is about Vietnamese propaganda - the Vietnamese have a vested interest in telling their version of the story.  I found this museum to also be a huge collection of war materiel that the Americans left behind, in their hurried attempt to leave Vietnam.

I have always wondered how an American would feel, viewing this museum.  So much of their equipment left behind and paraded as evidence of the greatest Vietnamese victory!

That looks like a very fierce American tank.

The M.48 A3 Tank.  US Army had some 370 M48 tanks in Vietnam by July 1969.  I wonder how many of these were left behind.

This was an M41 tank.

So much armour let behind, on display.  The Vietnamese kept all the equipment in good shape, from a photographer's point of view!This was a M132 A1 Flame Thrower.

This was the M40 106mm Recoiless Rifle.
Placed on an M79 tripod.  Sighted by a spotting .50cal-gun bolted to its barrel and firing a special phosporus tracer bullet.

Plenty more hardware.  All this hardware couldn't win the Vietnam War.

I hope they had defused all these ammo.  It is going to cause a huge explosion, if any of them blew up.

I think that is a F5-E jet.  Singapore operated these jets for many years, before we upgraded to the F-16s and then the newer F-15s.

Now, let's head on inside.  Remember, this is a propaganda museum. The Vietnamese are telling their side of the story, and I guess it is worth reading.

More signs pointing us to the 'historical truths'.  Truth, something very hard to find these days.

An interesting looking sculpture.

A closer look at the description - this was completely made out of bomb fragments.  Haunting.

Another angle of the 'MOTHER'.

It looks like a piece of metal from the wing or body of an airplane.

Map of My Lai Massacre sites.  Nobody doubts that the massacre took place, though American and Vietnamese historians dispute the number of deaths.  Very tragic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

A lot of unused American ammunition were on public display.

The 12.7mm Cartridge looks very fierce.

The AR-15 bullets look tiny.

40mm mortar shells.  Real nasty stuff.  Stay away.

60mm Mortar Shells, even nastier!  Ouch.

Mines and more mines.  Millions must have been used.  This was the infamous Claymore.

The XM41 E2 Gravel Mine.

This poster proclaims the lives lost due to the US Air Force and Navy.  200,000 dead and injured.

Some more bombs.

Now this poster said that 3 million Vietnamese were killed during the Vietnam War, of which 2 million were civilians.

Weapons left behind.

Rifles.  The two rifles at the bottom should be the M-16 and the M-16 attached with a grenade launcher.

These look like Machine Guns.

Big Shells.  For tanks and/or Arty, my guess.

Likely Artillery shells.

Tank or Arty shells again.

Back outside, a look at the other planes.

American helicopter.

They had the entire Chinook here.

A kid under a Chinook.

A tank right beside the Chinook.

Well, that was quite a visit.  I actually did not put up the most gruesome pictures related to Agent Orange.  Let's leave that out.   A sobering reminder of how nasty war can be.

Safe travels!

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