How The Vietnamese Remember The Vietnam War [PHOTOS]

While on vacation in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010, I had a chance to view some Vietnam War history from the local perspective.

I toured the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, or the "Hanoi Hilton" as it came to be called by the American GIs who were imprisoned there during the war — including U.S. Senator John McCain. 

I also visited the Vietnam Army Museum in Hanoi, which as you'll see in the photos, was focused less on displaying Vietnamese military hardware, and more geared towards showing off piles of left-behind American hardware and relics of the war.

Vietnam is a much different place now than during the brutal war in which approximately 3 million people were killed, including 58,000 Americans. It is a beautiful country and its people by and large friendly and accommodating. For many Vietnamese today, the Vietnam War is a distant memory.

Even though both museums are filled with Vietnamese propaganda, the relics on display still serve to remind visitors of the Americans and Vietnamese that fought and died in the war.

The Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) can still be visited today.

Though the main prison was demolished in the 1990s, the gatehouse is now a museum. It mostly focuses on the use of the prison by the French for "political prisoners."

There is very little mention of Vietnam POWs by comparison.

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