War Renmant Museum - Learning About the Devastating Effects of Agent Orange, Ho Chi Ming City, Vietnam

I am never interested in wars or visiting museums about any wars. However, since the Vietnam war was such an influencial period in my life when I heard so much daily reporting about it from the media, I made an exception and was willing to go with my family to visit the War Renmant Museum while we were in Ho Chi Ming City, Vietnam.

Inside the building on the main level, we entered into a large hall with a gigantic screen showing video clippings of the brief history of the war and the attacks experienced by Vietnam and its people.

There were exhibits about the brief history of Vietnam, the French's attempt to hold onto its colonial power, how the Vietnam war came about, the American bombings and the heroic sacrifices and resistance of the Vietnamese people.

In the open space right in front of the museum, there were displays of the renmants of the American war planes and the bombs used in the bombing of the Vietnam War

. THE interesting part of the display for me was the pictures of the Vietnamese women participating in the resistance and their courageous and dangerous efforts in transporting the essential supplies to their soldiers.

I liked the fact that the museum recognized and honoured the contributions of the Vietnamese women in their fight for freedom for their country.

There was a nice resting area at the entrance to the museum building where visitors could rest, and ordered cold and hot beverages. While I was going through the exhibits in detail, I was glad that there was a nice place where my family could rest in a shady spot so that I could take my time to learn about the history of this horrific war.

The moment that affected me deeply was reading about the use of Agent Orange by the American military and its lifelong lasting harmful effects on Vietnamese and their children years after its use.

It was heartbreaking to see the pictures of deformed children and read about their plights during the war and the post war period. About 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange and over 3 million of them were its victims. Agent Orange could cause complex and diverse effects on all parts of the human body such as skin cancer, disorder of liver, thyroid, diabetes, respiration and circualtion systems etc.

Common diseases in children and grandchildren of the Agent Orange victims include complete or partial paralysis, blindness, dumbness, deafness, mental illness and retardation, deformities, birth defects and cancer. Especially in Vietnam, Agent Orange many be transmiited across generations and its sequelae have transmitted to the 4th generations.

So sad to learn about all the destructions and damages done to this country and its people. Unfortunately, it seems that man has yet to learn from the lessons of the past history and the tremendous harm and cost of war!

  RT, War Renmant Museum

  Day 2

  HCMC, Vietnam, 2026