My Lai Massacre - Son My Memorial
My Lai Massacre - Son My Memorial
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SirandMommie
British Columbia, Canada182 contributions
Mar 2017 • Couples
The site is really well done, even though it is disturbing. The memorial is tastefully done, with paths throughout the area where one can contemplate and pray. We visited on the 49th anniversary. The day was hot and sunny, just like the day of the massacre. The big difference was, we were able to walk away.
Both my husband and I were truly moved by this memorial - more than in any other we visited in Vietnam. As I write this one month later, it still is with me. Images we saw in the museum and around the site were so graphic. Such a tragic waste of life, such a poor decision on the part of those who took part, such an evil to try to cover up. This event is one that should never be forgotten - it is important that the dead are remembered.
The physical area has recovered. There are again rice fields and people living their lives; laughing and spending their time with families. What hit home most from our visit here and throughout Vietnam, is the importance everyone here has for family.
Both my husband and I were truly moved by this memorial - more than in any other we visited in Vietnam. As I write this one month later, it still is with me. Images we saw in the museum and around the site were so graphic. Such a tragic waste of life, such a poor decision on the part of those who took part, such an evil to try to cover up. This event is one that should never be forgotten - it is important that the dead are remembered.
The physical area has recovered. There are again rice fields and people living their lives; laughing and spending their time with families. What hit home most from our visit here and throughout Vietnam, is the importance everyone here has for family.
Written April 12, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JacknDude
Ballina, Australia182 contributions
Aug 2016 • Couples
This is the actual site of the My Lai Massacre that occurred in 1968 during the Vietnam War. The site has been recreated in concrete to how it was on the day of the massacre. I am an Australian Vietnam Veteran and it was of particular interest to me just to see the place. Alongside the recreated village is a museum that contains artifacts, photos, video etc. It is very solemn and peaceful as you would expect.
We hired a car and driver from Hoi An for the 2 hour drive south, there is a modest entry fee. The driver waits for you in the carpark and drives you back to your hotel.
We hired a car and driver from Hoi An for the 2 hour drive south, there is a modest entry fee. The driver waits for you in the carpark and drives you back to your hotel.
Written February 14, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bish555
Munich, Germany162 contributions
Feb 2018 • Couples
Go see for yourself. If ever the USA should be brought before the Human Rights Courts, its for this. Over 400 women and children massacred by American soldiers......and the dead and living have never seen any justice. The babies were shot in their mother's arms!!!!! This was an American witness statement.
Written March 1, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alexander Lewis
London, UK56 contributions
Jan 2023 • Solo
I’m afraid this place has been let go which I think is bad. Empty with just workers and a lot of mess. The exhibition has been stripped back. The War Remnants Museum was far better as bringing the story across although the village is moving in its preservation. But sad to see such an important monument in such a neglected state.
Written January 14, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Multiple_Sarcasms
Bengaluru, India157 contributions
Dec 2018 • Couples
You need to know where you are coming from to know where you are going.
This is what I believe, and I am a huge history buff, so I had to come here to pay respects to the departed and to see the monument with my own eyes.
We made a 3 hour drive one way from Hoi an to the memorial.
Surprisingly there was no other visitors apart from me and my wife.
I was expecting lots of people.
The site is very well maintained, and has a eerie silence about the whole area.
Read up before you visit the site, if you are unfamiliar about it.
Note - Take a Cab, because if you go yourself, you will definitely get lost in trying to find the site, due to lack of sign boards, or just use the google map. (Not sure if the location is correct, my driver had to ask locals)
I would definitely recommend everyone to visit this site.
This is what I believe, and I am a huge history buff, so I had to come here to pay respects to the departed and to see the monument with my own eyes.
We made a 3 hour drive one way from Hoi an to the memorial.
Surprisingly there was no other visitors apart from me and my wife.
I was expecting lots of people.
The site is very well maintained, and has a eerie silence about the whole area.
Read up before you visit the site, if you are unfamiliar about it.
Note - Take a Cab, because if you go yourself, you will definitely get lost in trying to find the site, due to lack of sign boards, or just use the google map. (Not sure if the location is correct, my driver had to ask locals)
I would definitely recommend everyone to visit this site.
Written December 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
None of Your Biz
Canada775 contributions
Oct 2018 • Solo
The memorial site is a 20 min ride from Quang Ngai. Entrance is 20,000 VND.
As of October 8, 2018, the Google Maps location for Son My Memorial is WRONG.
To get there, look for Son My Vestige Site, that will get you to the correct spot.
I was surprised when I finally got to the site at noon. I expected to find myself amongst tour buses loaded full of Americans.
The site has about 2-3 people working the ticket office and the coffee stand (they sell cigarettes), but I was shocked to find that I was the ONLY VISITOR in the entire complex.
I've been to Guernica in Spain, Ypres in Belgium, Vimy Ridge in France, but no-where did the memorial bring to life the TERROR as vividly as here in My Lai. If there had been the sound of helicopter blades, I'd run away in terror.
Those army-boot and children's foot prints still give me the creeps, as does The Ditch.
Atrocities like this should NEVER be forgotten, especially in the kind of world that we're slipping into, namely where some side want to not use the term Massacre by call this the "My Lai Incident" instead.
As of October 8, 2018, the Google Maps location for Son My Memorial is WRONG.
To get there, look for Son My Vestige Site, that will get you to the correct spot.
I was surprised when I finally got to the site at noon. I expected to find myself amongst tour buses loaded full of Americans.
The site has about 2-3 people working the ticket office and the coffee stand (they sell cigarettes), but I was shocked to find that I was the ONLY VISITOR in the entire complex.
I've been to Guernica in Spain, Ypres in Belgium, Vimy Ridge in France, but no-where did the memorial bring to life the TERROR as vividly as here in My Lai. If there had been the sound of helicopter blades, I'd run away in terror.
Those army-boot and children's foot prints still give me the creeps, as does The Ditch.
Atrocities like this should NEVER be forgotten, especially in the kind of world that we're slipping into, namely where some side want to not use the term Massacre by call this the "My Lai Incident" instead.
Written October 8, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
miangeliqueb
Nha Trang, Vietnam4 contributions
Apr 2018 • Couples
My partner and I decided instead of taking a tour to “Son My Memorial” we should go on our own, that way we could really spend as much time there as we needed to gain a full understanding of what happened there and really put it in perspective for ourselves.
We took the train from Da Nẵng to Quang Ngai where we stayed with a lovely Vietnamese couple who own a guest house “Thành Lich - Guest House”. They don’t speak any English at all but we were able to talk to them through google translate. They were very friendly and honestly made the stay worth while! We hired a bike from them for 200,000 for the day and were given a drawn map and also used our own map to get there, which was actually pretty easy, it took us about 30 minutes to get there, after we realised we passed it haha otherwise it would have taken 15 minutes. (From their guest house, you go straight, turn left, go through a round about and keep going straight)
When we arrived we made our way through the museum and as small as it may look... there was quite a lot of information, not only that but outside there’s the restored homes, artillery shed, footprints of the My Lai people and soldiers and the ditch where 120 people were killed and dumped in.
You’ll also see a photo of a man named Mr Pham Mot Lai in the museum and you can go outside and see his restored home and the names of his family that were murdered. All of this puts it into such a real perspective.
You’ll also have the temple, the bell and some park benches that face the beautiful statue they have in rememberance for the Son My massacre.
You are able to light a inscent to pay your respects. They should have candles already lit up and the incense there.
There are 5 places you can put this in. (That’s what I did anyway), then after, my partner and I rang the bell and sat on the park bench taking all of it in.
It is such a tragedy, and something we should not forget.
Definetly worth our trip.
Note:
Vietnamese call it the Son My Massacre
Americans call it the My Lai Massacre
We took the train from Da Nẵng to Quang Ngai where we stayed with a lovely Vietnamese couple who own a guest house “Thành Lich - Guest House”. They don’t speak any English at all but we were able to talk to them through google translate. They were very friendly and honestly made the stay worth while! We hired a bike from them for 200,000 for the day and were given a drawn map and also used our own map to get there, which was actually pretty easy, it took us about 30 minutes to get there, after we realised we passed it haha otherwise it would have taken 15 minutes. (From their guest house, you go straight, turn left, go through a round about and keep going straight)
When we arrived we made our way through the museum and as small as it may look... there was quite a lot of information, not only that but outside there’s the restored homes, artillery shed, footprints of the My Lai people and soldiers and the ditch where 120 people were killed and dumped in.
You’ll also see a photo of a man named Mr Pham Mot Lai in the museum and you can go outside and see his restored home and the names of his family that were murdered. All of this puts it into such a real perspective.
You’ll also have the temple, the bell and some park benches that face the beautiful statue they have in rememberance for the Son My massacre.
You are able to light a inscent to pay your respects. They should have candles already lit up and the incense there.
There are 5 places you can put this in. (That’s what I did anyway), then after, my partner and I rang the bell and sat on the park bench taking all of it in.
It is such a tragedy, and something we should not forget.
Definetly worth our trip.
Note:
Vietnamese call it the Son My Massacre
Americans call it the My Lai Massacre
Written April 21, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Houziwang
Denby Dale, UK53 contributions
Feb 2020 • Family
We made a special trip from Danang to visit this place. I’m interested in history and to anyone with any knowledge of the Vietnam Was this place is infamous. From Danang it was around 3 hours drive. We hired a car as this was considerably cheaper than going on a tour as a family of 5.
The centrepiece of the museum building is a wall listing the names of the 500+ who were killed at My Lai. Around the museum are the famous photos taken by an army photographer (on his private camera) that first alerted the world to the massacre. For this part of the trip we asked our children (12 and 8) to sit outside.
Outside the museum building is a powerful monument depicting scenes from the massacre. To the left of the monument is the My Lai hamlet itself which includes an outline of where the destroyed houses once stood. There is also recreation of a traditional style house.
There are a number of information boards around the area giving the names of those who died and also identifying an innocuous looking ditch as the site of a mass murder of civilians.
It was a very sobering visit, the surrounding countryside is beautiful and, as we gazed through a fence to the rice fields in the distance, it was very hard to imagine helicopters landing in those same fields all those years ago and the death they brought with them.
The centrepiece of the museum building is a wall listing the names of the 500+ who were killed at My Lai. Around the museum are the famous photos taken by an army photographer (on his private camera) that first alerted the world to the massacre. For this part of the trip we asked our children (12 and 8) to sit outside.
Outside the museum building is a powerful monument depicting scenes from the massacre. To the left of the monument is the My Lai hamlet itself which includes an outline of where the destroyed houses once stood. There is also recreation of a traditional style house.
There are a number of information boards around the area giving the names of those who died and also identifying an innocuous looking ditch as the site of a mass murder of civilians.
It was a very sobering visit, the surrounding countryside is beautiful and, as we gazed through a fence to the rice fields in the distance, it was very hard to imagine helicopters landing in those same fields all those years ago and the death they brought with them.
Written February 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kristina D
Zagreb, Croatia35 contributions
Jul 2018 • Couples
It doesn't matter if you are historian or you are just familliar with some facts, this is a place that people traveling to central Vietnam should see.It is a place where one of the worse episodes in human history happened and should never happened again. Some sites like this you can find in Europe also, and that is why we, as Europeans, and from country that was in war too, could understand what happend in My Lai. It hurts, it is sad. The museum provides ample photos and exhibits to explain this injustice and war crime.
Written August 15, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tom K
Seattle, WA16 contributions
Mar 2018 • Friends
Extremely disturbing, but authentic and well maintained for its purpose! Just walking around the hamlet screams with an eery silence - especially if one is a war veteran!
Written April 2, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am Fritz from the Philippines,
I am in the process of writing my thesis and basically focusing on Son My Memorial Museum.
I am in need of any contact person or email address from the management of Son My Memorial. I will be visiting the country on November 24th through 29th and I am in need of any contact from the Museum.
Thank you so much!
Written October 17, 2017
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