Maison des Arts – Memory of the Long Bien Bridge #2

– Sat 12 July 2008 –

Memory of the Long Bien Bridge #2: War time

a new presentation of Maison des Arts’ collection about the memory of the Long Bien bridge.
This week is dedicated to a dark and painful episode of the bridge and of the country, the Vietnam War, 1959-1975.

Beyond the new hanging of paintings, sculptures, photographies tied to this period, some war’s witnesses will tell their stories, their memory, which need to be kept, protected and shared with the young generation, the one who was born in peace and in a good living standard.
About ten witnesses, soldiers or simple citizens, who have protected and defended the bridge, will attend every day of this week to tell their stories, before, during and after the war.
– The poet and writer, Nguyen Bao Sinh, true expert of the bridge, will tell the stories about the period before the war. He will go back up to his childhood when he picked up a box of cigarettes Bastos thrown by a French soldier leaving Hanoi and Vietnam after the defeat of Dien Bien Phu.
– Many soldiers, posted on the bridge, will talk about the war, about the importance of the bridge, vital artery, link to the North and China, strategic place for supplies, troops’ moving, anti-aircraft struggles. They will live again with us those hours when they were on the bridge waiting for enemy bombing planes. We will discover their courage and also their sorrow after losing friends, dead to protect and save the bridge.

– The Americans are gone, the war is over. Now, Vietnamese have to rebuild, to restart a normal life, soldiers and citizens will tell the post-war.

We are looking for you as many as possible to share this part of the Long Bien bridge memory.