Mr. Bang and former Phu Quoc POWs have over the past years made their utmost efforts to collect and preserve these valuable exhibits and spent time learning the stories behind them to tell visitors, especially the young generation.

Speaking live exhibits

Gathering artefacts was quite difficult, because their owners considered them invaluable souvenirs. Sometimes, former POWs spent years persuading the owners to present them to the museum.

Former Phu Quoc POW Chu Huu Ngoc still recalled that he had travelled to Vinh Phuc province 4 times to persuade Nguyen Trung Mau, a former Phu Quoc POW, and his family members to offer the museum a tiny notebook with the summery of the Party resolutions and issues discussed at meetings of Phu Quoc POWs. Thanks to such efforts, 3,000 objects from provinces and cities nationwide have been gathered at the museum.

Apart from 3,000 exhibits, former Phu Quoc POWs themselves are living and speaking exhibits, as they once witnessed with their own eyes and experienced barbarous torture by enemies.

In recent talks with us, Phu Quoc POW La Hau recalled that once they had organized a ceremony to admit excellent youths to the youth union and the Party on the occasion of the Youth Union’s founding anniversary (March 26th). The enemies had discovered and tortured participants brutally. Failing to exploit information from him, enemies used a club to beat his mouth and a hammer and pincer to break his teeth.

Hau added that to oppose the enemies’ barbarous torture and unreasonable rules, many POWs volunteered to disembowel themselves and the remaining scars on their body are evidences of the crimes of the American and puppet troops.

Tong Tran Hoi a former Phu Quoc POW in Soc Son district, Hanoi, pointed to scars on his legs and recalled that the enemies had cut the sinews of his leg and removed his knee joint. Hoi was captured when he was on a reconnaissance mission and imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison. Hau proudly said despite barbarous torture, the enemies had failed to exploit information from him. “We, the Phu Quoc POWs, could be proud of our victories over the enemies and over ourselves,” Hoi said proudly.

Over the past 20 years, Mr. Bang and former Phu Quoc POWs had been trying their best to collect around 3,000 objects and documents and collect more stories related to exhibits collected from Phu Quoc prison to provide visitors and preserve them for future generations.

Message to the future generation

The museum, since its establishment, has received tens of thousands of visitors and become a venue for POWs to recall magnanimous time and an interesting destination of Vietnamese and international people, especially young people, to learn more about national history.

Kieu Van Uych said that on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day, the Museum received more than 5,000 visitors, including veterans, staff of agencies, and organizations and students.

Through exhibits and stories told by former Phu Quoc POWs, visitors, especially students, can understand more about the Vietnamese revolutionary tradition. Most visitors also expressed their admiration for the brave deeds of revolutionary fighters against foreign invaders and their puppet troops.

State President Truong Tan Sang, who is also a former Phu Quoc POW, had visited the Museum many times and highly appreciated the values of exhibits and praised the meaningful deeds of former Phu Quoc POWs.

Many visitors have written down their impressions after touring the museum in the guest book. To Thi Lan from Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa province, a former Phu Quoc POW wrote, “I was one of the POWs in Phu Quoc prison. Having seen the exhibits relating to the murder of 148 POWs on May 6th, 1972, my indignation to barbarous deeds of enemies aroused. I want to say thanks to former Phu Quoc POWs for collecting these invaluable exhibits for us, former Phu Quoc POWs, as well as for future generations.”

Anna Maria Salvini, a staff member of the Italian Embassy in the Philippines, who had an opportunity to visit the museum in August, said, “I had known little about Vietnamese history and Vietnamese POWs through books and other sources before I came to the country, but this is the first time I met and talked with POWs, the live witnesses. These exhibits and stories told me of the cruelty of American troops and the bravery of Vietnamese revolutionaries.”

Despite the former POWs’ efforts, many of the exhibits, especially the huge ones, are now in poor condition.

Understanding the difficulties facing Bang and former Phu Quoc POWs, from 2010 to 2012, Hanoi People’s Committee offered VND 179 million to the museum for restoration and improvement. Pham Quang Nghi, Politburo member, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, also instructed Hanoi’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and related agencies to help former POWs preserve and further promote the museum.

Phu Xuyen district also granted VND 200 million to repair the showroom, and children from local schools take turns to care for and clean up the museum.

However, to further promote its effects, the museum should have management staff and professional tour guides. It is recommended that to better preserve these exhibits for future generations, the museum should be listed in the system of state museums and upgraded with good materials.

Translated by Tran Hoai

Source: qdnd.vn