Operation Frequent Wind

That was the name President Ford used for the evacuation of Saigon on April 30, 1975. For those interested, April 30th is my birthday. Just throwin' that out there . . . you know . . . if you wanted to send cookies/pastries/cake/pie.

This is our last day in Saigon, which we spent on a bit of a historical tour. First we went to Reunification Palace (known in guidebooks as Reunification Palace, but upon arrival is labeled Independence Palace - the name used during Ngo Dinh Diem's reign.) I found it odd that they would choose to label it that way, but then again nothing in Vietnam really makes sense. See Below.

Today must have been some kind of Veterans Day because we saw several older servicemen and women around the grounds of the palace. It is also fast approaching the anniversary of the Communist takeover of Saigon (which incidentally is the same day as my birthday if you remember from above). Guidebooks say the palace is a time capsule - stuck as it was on that day in '75. I had envisioned papers strewn about, chairs upended, but it looked quite sterile . . . and boring. There were a few war maps of interest and a helicopter on a pad outside.

Two NVA pilots dropped bombs on the helipad days before the invasion, but even the bomb craters weren't visible. They were either patched up, or the bombs dropped were in fact watermelons. That would be kind of fun. After that, we went to the War Remnants Museum (formerly the war crimes museum). The gist is basically to make Americans feel bad about themselves. It wasn't as bad as the Hanoi Hilton Museum (the pilots had parties and cake was served). This museum attempted a slightly more balanced view (favoring the Vietnamese Communists of course), but some of the captions were a bit off. Either way, we both left feeling that the war was just such an epic waste of resources and manpower. Outside the museum was a collection of American tanks, artillery, and aircraft.

Victims of Agent Orange sat at the entrance promoting a charity. Outside, a man missing both his arms came up to talk to me about where I was from and seemed so pleased that an American was visiting the museum, but then (and this was awkward) he extended his nonexistent hand to shake with me.

I'm going to go ahead and say that this might have been a worse experience than when I visited Hiroshima and got mobbed by Japanese schoolgirls to write a letter for peace to their school. Needless to say, this was all very depressing, and Greg and I were anxious to get out of there and grab some lunch.

We searched around for the apartment building made famous for this photo, but it seems to have been leveled since the war. The U.S. Embassy (now consulate) has also been completely remodeled, now hidden behind a high concrete wall. But Greg and I often reflect on what we have witnessed during our time in Vietnam, and it is very difficult for us to believe that a war was fought here. As far as tourists go, there are very few Americans here. It is as if our country is still caught up in the divisiveness that the war caused: unable to overcome its legacy. I would just like to reiterate that Vietnam is a country, not a war.