War Remnants Museum The War Remnants Museum ( ) is a war museum at 28 Vo Van Tan , in District 3 , Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon ) , Vietnam . It primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War . History . Operated by the Vietnamese government , an incipient form of museum opened on September 4 , 1975 , as the " Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes " ( ) , located in the premises of the former United States Information Agency building . The exhibition was not the first of its kind for the North Vietnamese side , but rather followed a tradition of such exhibitions exposing war crimes , first those of the French and then those of the Americans , who had operated at various locations of the country as early as 1954 . In 1990 , the name changed to Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression ( " Nhà trưng bày tội ác chiến tranh xâm lược " ) , dropping both " U . S . " and " Puppet . " In 1995 , following the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States and end of the US embargo from a year before , the references to " war crimes " and " aggression " were dropped from the museum ' s title as well ; it became the " War Remnants Museum " ( " Bảo tàng Chứng tích chiến tranh " ) . Exhibits . The museum comprises a series of themed rooms in several buildings , with period military equipment placed within a walled yard . The military equipment includes a UH - 1 " Huey " helicopter , an F - 5A fighter , a BLU - 82 " Daisy Cutter " bomb , M48 Patton tank , an A - 1 Skyraider attack bomber , and an A - 37 Dragonfly attack bomber . There are a number of pieces of unexploded ordnance stored in the corner of the yard , with their charges and / or fuses removed . One building reproduces the " tiger cages " in which the South Vietnamese government kept political prisoners . Other exhibits include graphic photography , accompanied by a short text in English , Vietnamese and Japanese , covering the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliant sprays , the use of napalm and phosphorus bombs , and war atrocities such as the My Lai massacre . The photographic display includes work by Vietnam War photojournalist Bunyo Ishikawa that he donated to the museum in 1998 . Curiosities include a guillotine used by the French and South Vietnamese to execute prisoners , the last time being in 1960 , and three jars of preserved human fetus es allegedly deformed by exposure to dioxins and dioxin - like compounds , contained in the defoliant Agent Orange . Reception . The War Remnants Museum is currently one of the most popular museums in Vietnam , attracting approximately half a million visitors every year . According to the museum ' s own estimates , about two - thirds of these are foreigners . However , it ' s visitor reception are mixed , ranging from favorable to " [ the viewing of the exhibits ] need to be taken with a grain of salt " , with some goes as far as to claim that Vietnamese regime has " borrowed images from the West and inserted them into a " distorted " history " , using images of the War to substantiate their version and views on Vietnam War history . According to one travel report , the exhibits are " blatantly one - sided " with " many exhibits in the museum contain [ ing ] a heavy dose of anti - American propaganda " , but " they do graphically portray the horrors of the Vietnam War and " worth a visit no matter your opinion of US involvement in Vietnam " . " US anthropologist Christina Schwenkel wrote in a 2009 book that the exhibition are " full of propaganda " , and while the description " war crimes " has been dropped from the official text , the museum still exhibits pictures that are considered controversial and perhaps unrepresentative like that of a " smiling U . S . soldier proudly displaying a VC head as a war trophy " accompanied by a caption that is still hinting at a criminal element , in this case : " after decapitating some guerillas , a GI enjoyed being photographed with their heads in his hands " . An analysis of the impression books ( which the tourists may use to leave their comments in at the exit ) revealed that the museum ' s visitors used to be mostly Europeans and North Americans before 2005 , but that its audience became much more varied after Vietnam dropped their visa requirement for ASEAN countries that year . The impression books also record mixed responses to the museum ; some visitors noted down their own anti - American sentiments , especially after 2001 . Others simply praised Vietnam , while some Europeans and Americans harshly criticized the museum for its " propaganda " and " glorification of [ their ] victory " .