Smeared Type

By Jian Ping

A guide demonstrating a hidden entrance to the tunnel

When we arrived at Ho Chi Minh City, Typhoon Megi, the strongest in Asia for the year, was forecasted to hit Vietnam. We were very concerned and kept checking weather forecast. Luckily, Megi changed its route and skipped Vietnam and Hong Kong, our next destination.

We made usual tourist stops at the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Ben Thanh Market. Then, we visited the War Remnants Museum, formerly known as the Exhibition of American War Crimes. Despite the bias of the exhibition that demonstrated only the cruelties committed by the Americans and my awareness of how the war was fought, the devastation of the Vietnam War was still nerve wrecking. The impact on me was much stronger than I expected, perhaps partially due to the fact that I was standing on the ground where the war took place.

A trap with bamboo spikes

In addition to photographs of the burning of villages and killing of people, there on display were gruesome samples of “tiger cage” and deformed fetuses, resulted from the use of Agent Orange. There was no much shown about how the Vietnamese fought the war. However, when we visited the Cu Chi Tunnel the following day, we saw the weapons that the Viet Cong used, including metal and bamboo spikes in hidden traps that were designed to pierce through people feet, rib cages, shoulders, and head. The Cu Chi Tunnel, which extended to 250 kilometers in distance, was first dug during French occupation in the ‘40s and expanded during the Vietnam War in the ‘60s. Listening to the horrific battles fought around the area by both sides, I couldn’t even raise my camera to capture the images of these weapons. I couldn’t imagine the fear and pain of all the people involved in the war, including the civilians! Yet, standing right then and there, I wondered if we could ever truly learn from history given that fact that war is still being carried on in other part(s) of the world by the U.S.  I followed a guide and crawled through a section of the tunnel, bending more than 90 degrees. I felt suffocated, both emotionally and physically.

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.mulberrychild.com. www.smearedtype.com

By Jian Ping

"Honai Hilton"

 Hoa Lo Prison, or sarcastically known as “Hanoi Hilton,” was built by French colonists in the late 19^th century and was used to keep Vietnamese fighting against the colonial rule until the mid 20^th century. During the Vietnam War, it was used to keep American prisoners. We made a stop there during our guided tour. Our guide took us to different rooms of exhibition, but remained quiet most of the time. I didn’t know if it was because she knew we all came from America or the images before our eyes were self explanatory.

For me, standing on the ground where many prisoners of war were kept and tortured, I felt impact of shock and awareness of the cruelty of war more than I had ever had before. The prison cells were narrow, the walls were dark and tall, and doors, heavy metal bars. A tiny opening close to the ceiling let in a beam of natural light. Some room displayed clay figures of prisoners on wooden boards, with one or both of their ankles locked in long metal bars. I felt suffocating as images of men and women, in some cases, even

Guillotine at "Honai Hilton"

children, came into view room after room. Then, walking into a larger room, we came face to face with a guillotine, intact in its original shape when the French used it to execute Vietnamese prisoners. I took a picture of the guillotine and felt the chill down my spine.

Apparently, many American veterans who had fought in the Vietnam War visited the prison, among them John McCain who was a prisoner at this location. I wonder what impact the visit would have on them!  

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.mulberrychild.com, www.moraquest.com.

Mulberry Child is being developed into a feature-length documentary film by award-winning director Susan Morgan Cooper and will be released in 2010.

Image via Wikipedia

I was interested to read in The New York Times that the army is embarking on a program to help soldiers face battlefield traumas and learn to reduce the risks of depression, stress, and even suicide.

The Pentagon has finally recognized that 20% of the troops that see action in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD (post trauma stress disorder) and need help to re-enter civilian life and cope with family challenges.  It has taken nearly a hundred years for our armed forces to address this problem.  During World War I, soldiers living through the horrors of trench warfare suffered from what was then described as “shell shock.”  In 1917, the British Army set up a medical unit in Edinburgh to work on what they then considered mental disorders, caused by wartime experiences.  But little progress was made; and, amazingly in World War II, PTSD did not surface as a major problem.  Maybe it was just not recognized.

I was interested to read recently about the passing of Henry Allingham at the age of 113 – the oldest British veteran of the First World War, where he served in the fledgling Royal Air Force.  He apparently would not discuss his wartime experiences until he was being honored, in his nineties; and, even then with tears in his eyes, he would give all credit to his colleagues.

Harry Patch, another British veteran, who fought at the Battle of Passchendaele died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 110.  Similarly, he would not talk of his personal wartime experiences, but was vocal about the futility of War, the ignorance and stupidity of the World War I generals and the suffering of the troops. 

My father-in-law, who is nearly 95 and who has a remarkably outgoing and jovial personality, will often talk about landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day plus One, but when pressed about his experiences on the ground as he fought with the British artillery all the way to Germany, tears will come to his eyes and he can’t continue.  I believe these are all examples of PTSD.

Not so long ago, I saw the award-winning documentary, “An Unlikely Weapon,” about the life of the celebrated photojournalist, Eddie Adams, who covered 13 military conflicts, including the Vietnam War which produced his most famous photographs.  He suffered from severe depression; and, since he saw the true horror of war and its effects on young and old, innocent and guilty, I believe his “depression” could well have been PTSD.

In my recent Novel, “Bear Any Burden,” the lives of the three main characters were all impacted by their Second World War experiences.  While I had neither the intention, nor knowledge of PTSD at the time of my writing, I believe I stumbled into a description of some of the symptoms that affected their behavior and character.

It will be interesting to follow the progress of the training that the army will be instituting to combat the post trauma effects of modern warfare.

Ellis M. Goodman, author of Bear Any Burden: www.bearanyburden.com