US Army 101st Airborne paratroopers rushing a wounded comrade to a waiting Bell UH-1D "Huey" helicopter Medevac Dustoffunit in a combat zone near Duc Pho, South Vietnam. Photography by US Army Private First Class Michael Willey, ca. 1967. Soldiers Memorial Military Museum Collections.
Vietnam: At War and At Home
Earlier this year, Missouri Historical Society president Dr. Jody Sowell told us about the long-requested Vietnam exhibit coming to Soldiers Memorial. “It's something that people have asked us for from the very beginning,” he said. “I think it's going to be a chance to get people back to that museum, especially after the pandemic.”
That’s the plan for Vietnam: At War and At Home, opening Veterans Day and running through May 27, 2024. Visitors will have 18 months to view the exhibition exploring both the experiences of those on the ground in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and the lives of people in St. Louis from 1955-1975. There’s also plenty of incentive for patrons to make return visits, as artifacts will be rotated in and out of the displays over the course of the exhibition.
Vietnam: At War and At Home has been created not only with the visitor experience top of mind, but also with direct input from the community. Mikall Venso, the military and firearms curator of the Missouri Historical Society, and his team crafted the exhibition based on feedback from several listening sessions with patrons.
“We heard from veterans, we heard from activists, we heard from people who have experienced and lived these stories and members of our team and our volunteers,” says Venso. “The overwhelming majority of people felt that we should tell a chronological story, and they weren’t opposed to the idea of telling it separately.”
Missouri Historical Society Military & Firearms Curator, Mikall Venso shows crew members of the USS St. Louis LCS 19 a case featuring US Navy artifacts in the "Vietnam: At War & At Home" exhibit. Photo courtesy of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum.
Vietnam: At War and At Home 2
The result is what Venso calls “two exhibits in one”: a gallery split down the middle to explore the “At War” and “At Home” sides of the Vietnam War. The six sections on each side of the gallery mirror one another both in content and aesthetics, with similar titles and colors tying together displays across the two halves.
In creating two distinct experiences, Venso says, Soldiers Memorial was able to reemphasize to visitors that the the 20 years covered by the exhibition were completely different depending on whether you were at war or on the homefront, but they still shared common threads. The separate experiences also allow visitors to direct their own paths and interact with—or not interact with—whatever elements they choose.
“It takes what was already a controversial war and a difficult time period, and it provides an opportunity for people to experience those stories at their own pace and how they feel comfortable doing so,” says Venso.
Beyond the expected images and display cases featuring interesting artifacts—a St. Louis flag flown in Vietnam on a Missouri National Guard-owned F4, tire sandals worn by the Vietcong, a portion of the flight suit worn by Michael Blassie, the St. Louis-born airman who was interred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for more than a decade before his remains were able to be identified—there are interactive elements throughout the galleries. Soundscapes featuring period music and recorded voices play throughout the galleries. On one wall, a touch screen lets visitors enter their birthdate to find out when and if they would have been drafted, then lets them walk through the choices to be made: to comply, to try to become a conscientious objector, etc. On another, a “Vietnam Jukebox” is full of songs of the era, from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” to Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee.” As patrons select songs, they’re then offered two options for the next to play: a song in a similar vein, or one that was written from the opposite perspective.
Hillsboro Hawks football helmet adorned with a POW-MIA sticker and the "Hawk Zero Two" call sign of US Air Force First Lieutenant Michael Blassie. Photo courtesy of Soldiers Memorial Military Museum.
Vietnam: At War and At Home
“The idea is to help visitors see both sides and make choices about what they want to expose themselves to, but also to remind them that these debates, especially these protests—about the civil rights movement, about the women’s movement, about the LGBT movement, about the environment, about a living wage—all these things were happening at the same time as the anti-war movement. And they were not just signs and protests, politicians debating...they were in the music you were hearing on the radio. By experiencing that, we’re giving people a little bit of the flavor of that era.”
Tactile pieces around the gallery are also on offer, providing both another interactive element and opportunities for those with visual impairments to engage with some of the material in a different way. These include a scale model of a Phantom F-4 aircraft, a topographical map of Vietnam, and a replica section of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Elsewhere, stations featuring oral histories from veterans, activists, and members of the Vietnamese community are divided by topic, giving listeners the chance to hear multiple perspectives on different issues and themes. A memorial database provides access to records for the more than 58,000 names recorded on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Soldiers Memorial’s own Court of Honor.
Listening stations feature oral histories from veterans, activists, and other individuals who experienced aspects of the Vietnam War. Photo courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society.
“It includes a tremendous amount of detailed information about their race, their religion, when they died, how they died…and it provides recognition and additional context for their story,” says Venso. “But what it really functions as is a guide to where you can find these memorials. On each page it shows you precisely which panel and which row their name is on the Vietnam wall in D.C.” Those locations can also be used by those who want to make a shorter trip; The Missouri National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, about 45 minutes south of St. Louis, includes an exact replica of the D.C. monument.
Tours and additional programming for the exhibition are still being planned, but will be available beginning in 2023. Venso says he hopes to bring several individuals featured in the exhibition to Soldiers Memorial in person for panels. Small and large group tours led by Venso, volunteers, veterans, and activists are also in the works.
“My hope is that visitors find a connection to this story, and I think that will come pretty easily for most folks. A lot of us have a relative or a friend who served, and a lot of times they never really shared much about their experience and that story," says Venso. "I hope that, where there’s that absence of information about what happened, both at home and overseas, that folks may come and fill in some of those gaps.”
Vietnam: At War and At Home runs November 11, 2022 through May 27, 2024. It is a free exhibition. For more information, visit mohistory.org.
