The Bình An Cemetery () (formerly the Bien Hoa Military Cemetery ()) is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

in Dĩ An, Bình Dương Province, Vietnam. It was an

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

(ARVN) military cemetery. The cemetery was apparently established in 1965, although the earliest graves appear to date from 1968. The location of the cemetery was marked by a 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 The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the Communism, communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vi ...

attacks. 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 An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

. The cemetery was built to hold a maximum of 30,000 graves and by the time of the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

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. Following the

the ''Thuong Tiec'' statue was destroyed and access to the cemetery was restricted until 2006 when families were allowed to tend the graves. A sign was erected outside the cemetery which read "Here lie the Americans' puppet soldiers who have paid the price for their crimes." In 2015 then United States ambassador to Vietnam

Ted Osius Theodore George Osius III (born 1961) is an American diplomat and the former United States Ambassador to Vietnam. Early life and education Osius grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. He attended The Putney School in Vermont, graduating in 1979. Osi ...

visited the cemetery.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Binh An Cemetery Cemeteries in Vietnam Buildings and structures in Bình Dương province Monuments and memorials in Vietnam Vietnam War sites