Browsing through the remains of war over Tet holiday
The Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi was built in the 1800s, when Vietnam was a territory of colonial France. The site was once a village that produced earthenware. Many Vietnamese who fought the French occupation were imprisoned there. Some were executed by a nearly floor-to-ceiling guillotine that still stands in the compound. It was brought from France to Hanoi in 1894, according to a brochure.
During my visit to Hanoi earlier this month over the Tet holiday, as Lunar New Year is known in Vietnam, I saw foreign tourists, espe- cially from Western countries, streaming into what is now a museum, including some with young children. A large part of the prison area was demolished in the 1900s.
What remains gives a glimpse of the past.
The prison is made of stone. Its walls are thick and cold. The cells used for those on death row are small. Now, tourists peep into them through tiny windows fitted with bars.
Similar to Spring Festival in China, Vietnam comes to a standstill in the first week of the traditional new year. In Hanoi, for instance, taxis are off the road and parks and lakes turn into gathering hubs for local residents. It is a good time for tourists to explore historic spots.
After North Vietnam’s start of self-rule and before its reunification with the south, Hoa Lo was used in between to hold American prisoners of war, mostly captured pilots. Following the December bombings of Hanoi and Haiphong in 1972, Vietnam said its northern fighters had shot down some B-52 bombers.
The late Republican senator John McCain was among those imprisoned at Hoa Lo.
The US POWs dubbed the prison the “Hanoi Hilton”.
The wreckage of US and French aircraft that were either shot down or crashed are exhibited at Hanoi’s military history museum that is located near Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. The museum, established in 1956, stores some remains of the Vietnam War.
Destroyed, abandoned and decommissioned US aircraft, helicopters, tanks and artillery, Sovietmade aircraft used by Vietnamese troops, military fatigues and Vietnamese anti-tank mines are among items in the museum yard, which is best viewed from the flag tower of Hanoi, previously a part of the city’s citadel.
Near it is a coffee shop that does brisk business and the ice cream sellers there cover flavors ranging from durian to mango. The first two levels of the tower, made entirely of stone, are open to visitors through short flights of steep stairs but the spire is closed to the public.
Given the number of Chinese tourists, who mostly arrive in groups, war footage with a voiceover in Chinese is available inside the museum, as are many Chinesespeaking tour guides. The plaques carrying information about the exhibits are in Vietnamese, English and French.
The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is thought to provide a more in-depth display of that history, highlighting the failure of Operation Rolling Thunder (196568), the aerial bombardment campaign of the US armed forces aimed at Vietnam’s communist forces.
Kim Phuc, 55, a peace activist, recently received an award in Germany for her work. She came to be known as the “napalm girl” after a photo of her — burned and fleeing at the age of 9 after a South Vietnamese plane dropped napalm bombs on her village — made world headlines.