The Vietnam War was worse than I thought…

We are visiting Vietnam on a month-long summer break excursion. This blog is separate from the ‘world trip’ posts that are on this site, as we’ve settled down since then. I am planning to make many blogs about this trip, so this will be solely dedicated to the Vietnam War. I will be breaking down this blog into two parts, the tunnels and the museum.

We visited the tunnels on a hot, sunny day. The area was shaded by a dense canopy of lushus trees. Occasionally, you could hear the echo of a gunshot in the distance. The tour started in a camp, consisting of open buildings with thatched roofs. We all hurried into the shade to avoid the scorching heat. The tour guide then cleared his throat and began explaining about the harsh conditions of war. He showed us the entrance of the tunnels used by the Vietnamese. It was tiny, and covered by a thin layer of foliage it was almost undetectable by an untrained eye. The guide then led us further along the unpathed path to a row of recreated booby traps. One of the most devastating strategies the Vietnamese used in the war against the US where traps. They were all gruesome, ranging from spike traps to grenade launchers rigged to tripwires. It is said that these held an important role in Vietnam’s victory, as they seriously decreased the morale of the US soldiers. Imagine trudging through enemy territory, knowing you can fall into a pit of poison-coated spikes at any moment. This, however, was only the beginning of the horrors the Americans had to face.

After a quick break (where we were allowed to shoot guns with real ammunition), we hiked to another clearing. Here, we were presented with a small entrance leading to the tunnels. Following the guide, we descended into the tunnels. I was shocked at how small these tunnels were. We had to get on all fours and squeeze our way through the winding passage. The only source of light we had was emitted from our guide. In the war, the Vietnamese would dig tunnels which could sometimes stretch hundreds of meters below the forest floor, like a web. The Americans would deploy ‘tunnel rats’, whose job it was to go into these tunnels and look for the Vietnamese. One in three people died while on these dangerous trips, as they were faced with more traps and enemy soldiers. They were faced with a great disadvantage, as while they struggled to navigate these tunnels, the Vietnamese soldiers felt at home. In the end, they counted 36 tunnel rats who had died, and 200 were injured.

America was not the only country that suffered. During the war, Vietnam was faced with many inhumane weapons. These included guns used to explode people to smithereens, and most infamous of all, Agent Orange. Despite chemical warfare being banned, this didn’t stop America from using these deadly weapons which would later cause incredible pain and birth deformities in Vietnam for the next three generations. Torture and the mass slaughtering of innocent civilians were also common practices in the US. Something I realised from viewing this war from the Vietnams perspective is how cruelly the US treated the Vietnamese people. In the war museum, we saw examples of the cages that were used to keep the Vietnamese sustained. These were no longer than 2 meters long and were not even tall enough to allow the prisoners of war to sit up straight. The US usually forces around 5 people in these barbed cages, like animals. The US Army also used the guillotine for executions. It was disgusting, how people go to such extremes in war.

I don’t think war is something you truly understand the horrors of unless you experience them. Seeing the photos in the war museum, I got a basic sense of what it was like. I’m starting to perceive wars differently, including the ones happening right now. One big reason why wars happen in the first place is because people slowly start to forget about their terrificness. My hope is that hopefully, this blog will open the eyes of some people reading this.