The cemetery was apparently established in 1965, although the earliest graves appear to date from 1968.[citation needed]
The location of the cemetery was marked by a 13 feet (4.0 m) tall statue on Highway 1 by Vietnamese sculptor, Nguyen Thanh Thu, depicting a weary ARVN soldier seated with his M1 rifle on his lap that would come to be nicknamed Thuong Tiec. The statue was originally caste in concrete at a cost of US$170 and put in place in 1966, however in 1972 it was replaced by a bronze version at a cost of US$22,000. Over time legends grew of the Thuong Tiec statue coming to life to warn of Vietcong attacks.[4]
The statue stood at the beginning of a ceremonial road leading to a hilltop pagoda accessible by stairs, behind the pagoda was a ceremonial walkway leading into the cemetery with the graves laid out in a series of circles around a circular monument and obelisk. The cemetery was built to hold a maximum of 30,000 graves and by the time of the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 approximately 16,000 burials had taken place there, with half the graves covered by cement and half simple dirt mounds. By 2009 total burials numbered approximately 12,000.[citation needed]
Following the Fall of Saigon the Thuong Tiec statue was destroyed and access to the cemetery was restricted until 2006 when families were allowed to tend the graves.[citation needed] A sign was erected outside the cemetery which read "Here lie the Americans' puppet soldiers who have paid the price for their crimes."[5]
Thuong Tiec or weary soldier statue, November 1966
Cemetery entrance
graves in their original condition, April 2015
original and renovated graves, April 2015
graves being renovated, April 2015
graves being renovated and renovated graves, April 2015
graves renovated by families
Referencesedit
^Vietnam, Now: A Reporter Returns – p. 99 David Lamb – 2003 "This cemetery, the South Vietnam equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery, was just off the highway in Bien Hoa and marked clearly with a sign. I don't remember the soldier's name, but I know he wasn't anyone prominent. He was just part of ..."
^Christina Schwenkel – The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational ... – p. 218 2009 "3. This contrasts with official military commemoration in the former Republic of Vietnam (see Figure 3.5). In the spatial configuration of the (now empty) graves at the RVN military cemetery I visited at Biên Hòa, men of rank were separated from ... As stated, this practice is generally not found in war cemeteries in contemporary Vietnam, with two important exceptions: Hanoi's Mai Dịch Cemetery, which contains the hierarchically arranged graves of government leaders and other famous revolutionaries, ..."
bình, cemetery, vietnamese, nghĩa, trang, quân, Đội, bình, formerly, bien, military, cemetery, vietnamese, nghĩa, trang, quân, Đội, biên, hòa, cemetery, bình, dương, province, vietnam, army, republic, vietnam, arvn, military, cemetery, arvn, cemeterycentral, m. The Binh An Cemetery Vietnamese Nghĩa trang Quan Đội Binh An formerly the Bien Hoa Military Cemetery Vietnamese Nghĩa trang Quan Đội Bien Hoa is a cemetery in Dĩ An Binh Dương Province Vietnam It was an Army of the Republic of Vietnam ARVN military cemetery 1 2 3 Binh An CemeteryARVN CemeteryCentral monument at the CemeteryDetailsEstablished 1965LocationDĩ An Binh Dương ProvinceCountryVietnamCoordinates10 53 21 41 N 106 48 37 19 E 10 8892806 N 106 8103306 E 10 8892806 106 8103306TypePublicOwned byGovernment of VietnamSize58haNo of graves 12 000Find a GraveBinh An Cemetery The cemetery was apparently established in 1965 although the earliest graves appear to date from 1968 citation needed The location of the cemetery was marked by a 13 feet 4 0 m tall statue on Highway 1 by Vietnamese sculptor Nguyen Thanh Thu depicting a weary ARVN soldier seated with his M1 rifle on his lap that would come to be nicknamed Thuong Tiec The statue was originally caste in concrete at a cost of US 170 and put in place in 1966 however in 1972 it was replaced by a bronze version at a cost of US 22 000 Over time legends grew of the Thuong Tiec statue coming to life to warn of Vietcong attacks 4 The statue stood at the beginning of a ceremonial road leading to a hilltop pagoda accessible by stairs behind the pagoda was a ceremonial walkway leading into the cemetery with the graves laid out in a series of circles around a circular monument and obelisk The cemetery was built to hold a maximum of 30 000 graves and by the time of the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 approximately 16 000 burials had taken place there with half the graves covered by cement and half simple dirt mounds By 2009 total burials numbered approximately 12 000 citation needed Following the Fall of Saigon the Thuong Tiec statue was destroyed and access to the cemetery was restricted until 2006 when families were allowed to tend the graves citation needed A sign was erected outside the cemetery which read Here lie the Americans puppet soldiers who have paid the price for their crimes 5 In 2015 then United States ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius visited the cemetery 6 Thuong Tiec or weary soldier statue November 1966 Cemetery entrance graves in their original condition April 2015 original and renovated graves April 2015 graves being renovated April 2015 graves being renovated and renovated graves April 2015 graves renovated by familiesReferences edit Vietnam Now A Reporter Returns p 99 David Lamb 2003 This cemetery the South Vietnam equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery was just off the highway in Bien Hoa and marked clearly with a sign I don t remember the soldier s name but I know he wasn t anyone prominent He was just part of Christina Schwenkel The American War in Contemporary Vietnam Transnational p 218 2009 3 This contrasts with official military commemoration in the former Republic of Vietnam see Figure 3 5 In the spatial configuration of the now empty graves at the RVN military cemetery I visited at Bien Hoa men of rank were separated from As stated this practice is generally not found in war cemeteries in contemporary Vietnam with two important exceptions Hanoi s Mai Dịch Cemetery which contains the hierarchically arranged graves of government leaders and other famous revolutionaries Fighting a Long Gone War 2005 Gloria Emerson 14 November 1971 Near Saigon ghostly legends grow around statue of a grieving soldier The New York Times p 16 Hastings Max 2018 Vietnam An Epic Tragedy 1945 1975 Harper p 730 ISBN 9780062405661 Letter from Ambassador to Edward R Royce and Alan Lowenthal PDF 27 October 2015 Retrieved 10 October 2019 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Binh An Cemetery Photos of Bien Hoa Military Cemetery before and after 1975 ARVN Cemetery at Find a Grave Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Binh An Cemetery amp oldid 1206240743, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
