After lunch we walked to the remnants of the Hoa Lo prison. It was a somber time for both of us. Here is Nam standing at the entrance where the French brought Vietnamese who dared to rebel against their running of the country. It is a place where you can feel the ghosts of those kept there.
The big ironwood doors, originally out front, are now placed inside. They are formidable. Behind are the rows of raised platforms where prisoners were kept, one or both legs shackled to the platform. They could only lay down or sit up. The solitary confinement cells were covered in black pitch to take away any ambient light that might come into them.
During the war with the United States, captured prisoners were also housed here. This is the famous "Hanoi Hilton" where Senator John McCain was taken after he crashed into the lake. Don't believe a word on that sign...the men were kept in squalid conditions, tortured, starved, and brutalized.
There is a picture of Senator McCain being taken from the water. The men were led through the streets in shackles, cursed and spit upon by the people along the way. I can only imagine how I might feel having foreigners bomb my homeland and kill my relatives and friends. All the while I thought about our driver's father. It was a sobering end to a full day for Nam and I.
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