The special museum in Nam Quat hamlet, Nam Trieu commune, Phu Xuyen district, the venue for former Phu Quoc prisoners of war, has become one of the attractions for both Vietnamese and international visitors to learn more about the life of Phu Quoc prisoners during war time.

With a strong wish to educate the young generation about the revolutionary tradition, as well as to commemorate and pay gratitude to prisoners of war (POWs) in Phu Quoc Prison, Mr. Lam Van Bang and other former prisoners over the past 20 years, have travelled to many areas nationwide to gather exhibits for their special museum.

The founder of the museum

20 years ago, war invalid Lam Van Bang, a prisoner in Phu Quoc from 1970 to 1973, came up with an idea to display war souvenirs to tell the young generations of the bravery of Phu Quoc prisoners and the barbarous crimes of enemies. The idea was supported by other former POWs of Phu Quoc Prison.

Bang joined the army in 1965 and served in Binh Gia Regiment. In the General Offensive and Uprising of Spring 1968, he was wounded, captured and imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison by the enemies.

The imprisonment was the most horrible experience for all former Phu Quoc POWs. To get information from prisoners, the enemies resorted to barbarous torture, from pouring boiling water their mouth, putting them in tiger cages, breaking their teeth, or killing prisoners by hammering nails into their heads, to name but a few. Even such barbarous torture failed to subdue the revolutionaries, but only made them more determined to fight for national liberation.

With the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, Bang and his comrades in Phu Quoc Prison were released and returned home and worked for the transport sector.

In 1985, his construction team of Management Unit of Road 1 A, under the Road Management Company, found a huge bomb dropped by American troops during the war of destruction in northern Vietnam. Having defused the bomb, he asked leaders of the company to display it in his office to remind him of the fierce but magnanimous time of the nation. This event also encouraged him to collects objects from the Phu Quoc Prison to educate the young generations about the revolutionary tradition of former generations. Bang’s idea was supported by his brother Lam Van Quan, another former prisoner of the French colonialists.

In 1995, as head of liaison committee, Mr. Quan organized a get-together of veterans and former POWs from different periods in Phu Xuyen district to share the idea, and asked them to collect more objects for their museum. The idea received strong support, especially from Colonel To Dieu, former Deputy Director of Adversary Mobilisation Department and many former Phu Quoc POWs.

Bang’s two-storey house has become an exhibition with a simple name, “The traditional room of troops imprisoned by enemies” or “Special museum”, with 3,000 exhibits, recalling different stories of the fierce but magnanimous time of former Phu Quoc POWs.

Stories behind the exhibits

Each exhibit has its own unforgettable stories from the life and history of each former Phu Quoc POW.

One of Mr. Bang’s fellow inmates, Mr. Kieu Van Uych, pointed to a tiger cage with twisted statue inside and recalled his own story. At that time in the struggle against the enemy’s intention to turn the prison into a military base, like other prisoners, Mr. Uych was put into such tiny iron cage that he could not make any movement.

Worse still, during daytime, they put the cage on a sand bank under scorching sunshine and their skin was burned seriously. During the night, as cold wind blew from the sea to the island, enemies poured cold water on the cages and many of the prisoners got a cold and died, such as Bay Ly in Cu Chi and Duong Ba Ngai in Trinh Yen hamlet, Phu Tuc commune. 

Uych further said everyday, POWs were provided with a bowl of rice with salt and a small glass of water.

Among exhibits, I paid special attention to a nail. Mr. Uych told that the nail was collected by Mr. Bang himself when he returned to Phu Quoc Island to repatriate the remains of martyr Pham Hong Son.

To exploit information from Son, enemies used a nail to hammer into his head until his death. The nail is seen as an invaluable exhibit to commemorate the martyr, as well as an evidence for crimes of the American troops.

Another special exhibit is a flag embroidered by a Phu Quoc POW and kept by Nguyen Can Du in Hong Duong hamlet, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi. The flag had given the Phu Quoc POWs more strength and determination to fight enemies and was evidence for the loyalty of Phu Quoc POWs to the Party.

Bang had many times cycled hundreds of kms to Du’s house to request him to present the flag to the special museum. Sometimes, former Phu Quoc POWs spent years to collect an exhibit for the special museum.

Mr. Bang confided that recently a foreigner visited the museum and expressed his hope to buy the flag. Former Phu Quoc POWs did not agree and told the foreigner that the flag was made from the blood of Phu Quoc POWs and is the soul of the Nation and a treasure of party members who were once imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison.

Translated by Tran Hoai

Source: qdnd.vn