Saigon, I’m still only in Saigon

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Last set

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The John McCain memorial monument on Truc Bach lake promenade

It is a communist monument, it is not celebrating the memory of McCain, it was created to celebrate the capture of John McCain after he was shot down over Hanoi with his A-4E Skyhawk, with two broken legs and a broken arm, and was beaten on site by the locals. The wordings have since been updated to soften the tone and make some corrections to the message, and a green vegetation background has also been added.

But now, it’s also becoming a location where visiting US officials and tourists come to pay respect to McCain no matter the original purpose of the monument. Bone spurs are not welcome here.

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Taking my walk on the promenade again tonight, the monument was illuminated.

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Translated

“On 26 October 1967 at Trúc Bạch Lake, Hanoi’s people and armed forces captured U.S. Naval Air Force Lieutenant Commander John Sidney McCain who flew the A-4 aircraft shot down at the Yen Phu power plant. His was one of ten planes shot down that day.”

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The Hoa Lo prison, aka Hanoi Hilton

Prison built by the French in 1901 to hold political prisoners, and later used by North Vietnam to hold mainly captured US aviators shot down over North Vietnam.

Most of it was demolished in the 1990s, a good section remains as a museum, mostly dedicated to the Vietnamese prisoners during the French era.

There are only two small rooms covering the 10 years US prisoners were held there, mostly showing pictures of resigned American aviators getting medical treatment from smiling Vietnamese doctors, or playing football or celebrating Christmas. It’s the communist party description of the time the Americans had here.

I have no doubt how the French treated their prisoners, it’s well proven. But we need to look elsewhere for a complete story of the place.

The displayed flight suit has no indications as to who it belonged to. The helmet is in terrible shape. McCain already said that it’s not his.

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Others

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The Temple of Literature, Hanoi

It would have been a terribly boring place to visit if it had not been for the children, obviously more interested in interacting with foreigners than to listen to some speech about Confucius.

It’s easy to spot some future troublemakers.

It’s probably a good day when they only manage to lose 10 kids.

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Beautiful HaLong Bay

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Overnight boat stay with island beach and cave stops

The boats spending the night are assembled in a circle in one of the bay. The larger ones are full of Chinese, the Karaoke party starts at 9pm…

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Hanoi train street

One of the more photogenic area of Hanoi

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The B52 Victory museum, Hanoi

The war museums in Vietnam cities usually show the same things. Most likely you will see an F-5, a A-37 Dragonfly, a Skyraider, a Huey, all former VNAF usually shown in bad USAF colors and markings, and in various conditions from bad to pristine. Same for armor (M41, M48). After a couple of museum, there is no real point doing more to see the same stuff. It made me wish the US could exchange some F-4 or F-105 with the Vietnamese, they would be big hits here.

However, this museum in Hanoi intrigued me with the opportunity to see the wreck of a USAF B52 shot down over Hanoi in 1972. Some research identified it as a B-52D Stratofortress with the call sign “Rose 01” shot down during Operation Linebacker II, two of the crew were killed and four captured.

In addition to the parts of the partial B52 wreck assembled in a display, the museum has a Mig-21 PF credited with shooting down three F-4, and a superb SAM-2 battery with radar. There is a small interior show room with artefacts and pictures.

There is also a pile of aircraft junk turned into art pieces, it’s popular here.

The museum is free.

When going out, I saw what seemed to be an old Vietnamese veteran touring the wreck with a nurse. I approached him to see if he wanted to talk or do something with a westerner but he looked the other way. That’s fine.

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Other pics