While reading old Times Records on microfilm at the museum, I was struck by the impact of the Vietnam War on our small town and our people in 1969. I had a visceral reaction to what seemed like a flood of guys enlisting, guys getting drafted, couples getting married, and, finally, reports of the wounded and killed.
I, on the other hand, had a very different experience. For one, I'm a woman and the military was different back then. Second, the two men I cared most about in the world received numbers in the draft lottery somewhere close to 300. But, that was later, and, in truth, I have met nurses who were in Nam, so I could have been, too.
No, I chose sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll (figuratively speaking, for the most part) and war protest. This photo shows the porch of the home where I was living in Urbana in the summer of 1969. That sign reporting the number of dead and I made our way to the 4th of July parade shortly after this photo was taken. Before autumn I was married, making babies, and less worried about war than putting food on the table.
Nearly forty years have past and I still feel called from time to time to put signs in my yard decrying war, but I am also called to try to understand what that time was like for the rest of you. Some served, some loved and married those who served, and I am certain there were others whose path looked not unlike mine.
For the most part I have skipped the VietNam movies, though I do play the music from "Good Morning, Vietnam" occasionally. But I have recently read 2 books which touched me in different ways: The Things They Carried by Tim O"Brien and Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. Both bespeak the horror of war but they are powerful books.
Will you share your stories of that time?
I, on the other hand, had a very different experience. For one, I'm a woman and the military was different back then. Second, the two men I cared most about in the world received numbers in the draft lottery somewhere close to 300. But, that was later, and, in truth, I have met nurses who were in Nam, so I could have been, too.
No, I chose sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll (figuratively speaking, for the most part) and war protest. This photo shows the porch of the home where I was living in Urbana in the summer of 1969. That sign reporting the number of dead and I made our way to the 4th of July parade shortly after this photo was taken. Before autumn I was married, making babies, and less worried about war than putting food on the table.
Nearly forty years have past and I still feel called from time to time to put signs in my yard decrying war, but I am also called to try to understand what that time was like for the rest of you. Some served, some loved and married those who served, and I am certain there were others whose path looked not unlike mine.
For the most part I have skipped the VietNam movies, though I do play the music from "Good Morning, Vietnam" occasionally. But I have recently read 2 books which touched me in different ways: The Things They Carried by Tim O"Brien and Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. Both bespeak the horror of war but they are powerful books.
Will you share your stories of that time?
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