A few kilometers from the village where we stayed by the beach lies the site of the most infamous massacre of the Vietnam War (known as the American War here); here 504 civilians including women, children, and elderly people were slaughtered by U.S. soldiers in 1968. The military authorities ordered a coverup of the atrocities, but after reports in the alternative press, the corporate media finally exposed the massacre more than a year later. People come from all over the world to pay their respects at the memorial site.
The memorial site is located in a peaceful farming area with green rice paddies and palm trees all around. There is an impressive large statue of a woman at once shielding her children while defiantly crying out for justice. There are the foundation remains of some of the burned out buildings and a replica of one of the destroyed homes so one can understand how the villagers lived. There is also a rebuilt model of one of the buildings that one can go inside of and see how the villagers lived before the massacre. There were several elderly ladies there asking for a handout, presumably they were from one of the villages that experienced the massacre. The museum does a good job of educating the visitor about the context and the details of what happened that morning on March 16, 1968. There are many photographs of the event since an army photographer accompanied the soldiers. The museum traces the background of some of the soldiers and what happened to them after they returned to the U.S. The museum also relates how several American soldiers flying in a helicopter were finally able to stop the massacre and honors them for their actions. This is a very somber place and we were very moved by the terrible events that occurred here. May humanity learn and finally put an end to war.
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