Graffiti Vietnam

[Laurelino Braendel]

Ihave been saving some period photos of graffiti on Marine helmets during the Vietnam war. As I started looking I was extremely surprised because graffiti seems to be prevalent in almost every time period of the war as opposed to photos of the Army. Please feel free to share period photos of marine graffiti if you have them!

Based on the Coronavirus Response Plan for Texas Tech University, the Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive (VNCA) will be strictly limiting its on campus operations and staff presence effective 5:00 PM CDT on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

As an essential research component of Texas Tech, the VNCA will maintain researcher support operations through a combination of online access and assistance via the Virtual Vietnam Archive ( ) and through email-based reference support (vn...@ttu.edu). We encourage all researchers to explore our extensive Vietnam War online holdings first and, if needed, submit reference requests to us via email for additional support.

To help maintain research support for our on campus community, the current policy of TTU is to continue providing public access to the TTU Main Library and the Special Collections Library Reading Room. As an extension of that support, we will maintain a very limited staff presence to assist on campus researchers should the need arise. Again, we strongly recommend that all researchers first exhaust our online holdings before coming on campus. If an on campus research visit is critically needed, we recommend submitting an email notification to us ahead of time so we may better prepare to assist you with your onsite research needs.

While we will maintain onsite research support operations until directed otherwise, the VNCA administrative offices will be closed to onsite visits and tours effective immediately and until further notice. Please visit this web page for further updates and alerts regarding changes to our status.

The Vietnam Graffiti Project of The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University is a cooperative project with the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration. Created early in 2005, the project began with the intention of collecting canvas bunk bottoms from various troop transport ships used during the Vietnam War. These transports, currently part of the US National Defense Reserve Fleet and docked in various parts of the country, were all originally commissioned during World War II, and saw service through Korea and into Vietnam, generally being phased out during the late 60's and early 70's.

Journeys between the United States and Southeast Asia generally took between two to three weeks, and were periods of intense boredom for the troops onboard. The young soldiers passed the time in a variety of ways, including playing cards, writing letters home, and expressing their opinions and feelings on the canvas bunk bottom of the bunk directly above them. This "graffiti" could be anything from a simple "I Was Here" to elaborate artwork, and everything in between. These canvases provide a unique perspective on the thoughts and feelings, and the creativity, of the soldiers who served in Southeast Asia.

In spring 2005, archive staff and other volunteers traveled to two ships, the USNS General John Pope and the USNS General Edwin D. Patrick (see ships histories), docked in Suisun Bay, CA, as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Almost 400 bunk bottoms were removed over a period of 5 days and returned to the archive for processing, cataloging, and preservation. All canvas bunk bottoms have been inventoried and photographed for access and viewing via the Internet.

In addition to the canvas bunk bottoms, a wide variety of other items from the Vietnam War era were found on the ships, including artifacts relating to ships operations, ship documents, and a few personal items left behind. Many of these items can be found in the Virtual Vietnam Archive in the USNS General John Pope and USNS General Edwin D. Patrick Collections. See the Graffiti Project Links Page to access these individual pages.

The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive would like to thank a number of people for their assistance with this project: Peter Wagner of MARAD, for giving us access to the ships and helping with the transfer of the materials; All of the great employees at Suisun Bay, including Earl Johnson and our guide, Ryan; Art and Lee Beltrone who first developed the Graffiti Project concept and removed canvases from the USNS General Walker in James River, Virginia; and Craig "Spotty" Spots, a Vietnam veteran and former employee at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. His knowledge of the ships, as well as his connections with the fleet employees, was invaluable and this project would not have been nearly as successful without him.

Art or vandalism is a famous question on Graffiti in Viet Nam, many may consider it is vandalism meanwhile other, especially the millennials, may see it an interesting art and way to express themselves.

In early 2000s, Graffiti started it journey in Viet Nam not long after Rap Music arrived in 2002. It was around 2003 when a Hanoian graphic designer (Linkfish) painted his first drawings on walls in Tinh Gia (Thanh Hoa province). Since then, Linkfish started to paint, copying the style he saw on-screen, and within six months there were already crews in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In big cities like Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh, there is an undeniable fact that Graffiti is becoming ugly in the eyes of many of its own people due to "incomplete" style, without investing in either idea or technique, using below and immature standard, etc. which only make the streets look dirty and sloppy. This trend has devaluated Graffiti as an art which formed part of a young Hip-hop culture in Viet Nam and caused loss of urban beauty.

Nowadays, at its teenage, Graffiti in Viet Nam still need a playground for its young community to show off the creativity and pursue their dreams for the art. The art of Graffiti has been accepted in many parts of the world, receiving support for young graffiti artists. When young artists do not have a playground to express themselves and lack a sense of living space, it will inevitably lead them to "sneak" in order to satisfy their inner passions.

The attraction of Graffiti is associated with the landscape, the array of colors, giving young people dynamism and creativity. In order to make Graffiti a widely recognized art in Viet Nam, a playground is necessary for graffiti community to develop not criticism./.

Recently while driving Tchoupitoulas--one of the few ways to escape Uptown--my wife saw some new stenciled graffiti on the side streets. We doubled back and found one wall that looked like a place where someone tried out stencils of dollar signs, spray paint cans with hearts on them, and a younger George W. Bush's head. Around the corner is a clown made scary by its sloppily painted red nose and blue tie.

The one that got us thinking is a stenciled image of two boys, one pointing at the other, one pointing at the viewer, with a bullet hole-like mark beside one of the figures. It seems to be assessing blame, but it reminded us of a famous photo from the Vietnam War, "Saigon Execution" by Eddie Adams. In it, the figures are similarly posed, but Adams' photo was taken split-seconds after the Saigon police chief shot a man in the head. The facial response on the victim captures him as the bullet is going through his head.

There are differences between the graffiti image and Adams' photo, but the similarities made us wonder if the street artist was deliberately referencing Adams' photo, or if any similarlity is coincidental. If one is a deliberate echo of the other, what should we take away from that?

Areas that have fallen victim to this vandalism look like the economically depressed and often violent neighborhoods of my home country, stark places of victimization, deprivation, and human suffering. Walking or driving by these dystopian scenes in Hanoi, where I live, or HCMC, which I visit on a regular basis, leaves me with feelings of unease, sadness, and anger. During a recent trip to the South, I was struck by two distressing and ubiquitous sights: building for rent signs, a legacy of the pandemic, and graffiti.

This defacing of public and private property, virtually unheard of ten years ago, is an indication of decline and a loss of control. It is a sign that parts of our community no longer belong to us, the people, but rather to a group of twentysomething delinquents who relish the thought of sticking it to the authorities and trying to be cool at the same time.

Stop indulging and start arresting these arrogant, self-indulgent smart asses. Make public examples out of them. Make the punishment so severe that it will act as a deterrent to other members of this dysfunctional community. In Singapore, which places a premium on law and order and frowns upon anyone sullying their fair city-state, caning is one of the punishments for graffiti. In a highly publicized case in Singapore in 2015 two young Germans were sentenced to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane for spray-painting graffiti on a train. Vietnam must act swiftly to reverse this visual tide of disgrace.

The solutions to this growing problem are simple and less expensive than painting surfaces with an anti-graffiti coating that makes it easy to remove spray paint. (This is a costly but effective option for those individuals and companies that can afford it.)

Finally, drastically increase the amount of the fines for those who are apprehended and include prison time for convicted repeat offenders. The perps should also be required to cover the cost of cleaning up their messes. For that matter, reward people who report the riffraff. They can supplement their income and perform a public service at the same time.

Vietnam is our country, whether we are Vietnamese nationals or foreign transplants. Property owners, both private and public, should not have to tolerate wanton destruction of what belongs to them. As citizens, we have a right to an environment that is pleasing to the eye, heart, and soul.

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