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TEMPLE, Texas - The Texas Military Forces Museum's Living History
Detachment deployed 21 of its members to Temple to take part in the
annual Central Texas Air Show, May 2-3, 2015.
Although the
museum's re-enactors usually focus on the history of Texas Volunteer
Regiments in the Civil War or the 36th Infantry Division in World
War II, every year at the air show they turn their focus to the war
in Vietnam.
For the Detachment, this was an opportunity to
honor the men and women who served in Vietnam.
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Volunteers from the Texas Military Forces Museum's Living History Detachment conduct a Vietnam War-era reenactment portraying U.S. service members engaged in battle with elements of the Viet Cong, May 3, 2015, during the Central Texas Air Show in Temple, Texas. The Living History Detachment conducts living history programs across the state and nation, in an effort to educate the public on the service and sacrifices made by veterans from the Civil War to present day. (Photo courtesy of Chris Hunt, Texas Military Forces Museum)
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“We want to give ourselves and the public the chance to
say thank you to all of those who answered their nation's
call and did their duty in Southeast Asia 50 years ago,”
said Jeff Hunt, director of the Texas Military Forces Museum
and commander of its living history detachment.
After setting up an authentic Vietnam-era military
encampment, the museum's volunteers helped the thousands of
people, attending the air show, better understand the
service American troops had in Southeast Asia during the
1960s.
Displays of
weapons, equipment, period magazines, manuals, radios and
even tape recorders are big attractions. Among the most
popular items on exhibit are the M60 machine gun and M79
grenade launcher.
“Veterans love to see the weaponry
they carried during that war,” said Hunt. “You can see the
excitement on their faces and the thrill when we let them
hold one of the firearms. Certainly, the sights, sounds and
feel of these historic objects bring back a flood of
memories.”
Some of these memories are good and some
are painful.
“It isn't uncommon to see a vet tear up
as he interacts with us,” Hunt said. “A few become so
emotional they can only shake their head and smile at us
before they walk away. Many more take the time to tell
stories of their time ‘in country' or combat. As historians,
we love hearing those stories. We take what the veterans
tell us and incorporate it into what we tell the general
public. Those stories make us better and more accurate
interpreters of this important piece of our past.”
John Eli is the resident expert on the Vietnam War for the
museum's living history detachment. He served as an
infantryman in the 25th Infantry Division in 1968 – at the
height of the Tet Offensive. Wounded in action and awarded
the Purple Heart, Eli saw a lot of combat and often acted as
a “tunnel rat” for his unit.
A part of the museum's
living history team for more than 5 years, Eli shared his
personnel history – including photos and mementos he brought
home from his service – with those who stop by the museum's
living history encampment. Very often he finds himself
speaking to a fellow Vietnam veteran.
“You can
certainly see the bond all the men who served in Vietnam
have,” said Hunt. “It doesn't matter if they weren't in the
same unit or even if they weren't in the country at the same
time, they are brothers.”
Having an authentic
Vietnam veteran in their ranks is a special thing for the
museum's volunteers.
“John is a great guy and a
great historian,” said Hunt. “We are so incredibly lucky and
honored to have him as part of our unit. He has taught all
of us more about the war than we could learn from reading
1,000 books.”
The most popular event of the
detachment's events at the air show was the Vietnam War-era
air assault re-enactment.
Wearing the correct
uniforms and equipment from the era and carrying actual
weapons modified to fire blanks, the volunteers boarded a
Huey helicopter and flew into “battle.” The scenario is the
rescue of a downed helicopter crew being pursued by a group
of Viet Cong guerrillas.
With air show caliber
pyrotechnics going off in the background, a Cobra gunship
and an observation aircraft zooming overhead, the reenactors
raced out of the helicopter as it touched the ground. A
second “lift” brought in reinforcements as the rival forces
exchanged fire. At the end of the scenario a “wounded”
crewman is carried on a stretcher to the Huey as it lands to
conduct a medical aerial evacuation.
The action only
lasted for a handful of minutes. It is all very dramatic,
but the re-enactors know that it is a mere shadow of the
real thing.
“There are no real bullets zipping
through the air, little real danger,” said Hunt. “We know
that we are all coming out of the scenario in one piece and
that at the end of the weekend we are going home to the
comforts of our daily lives and families. That is certainly
something the real combat veterans could not say or even
count on.”
That reality didn't make the
demonstration any less interesting or educational for the
public. But reflecting on how truly dangerous what they just
reenacted was in real life gives the museum's living
historians a deeper understanding and affinity for the men
who did it on the actual battlegrounds of 50 years ago.
“It truly dives home the risks they faced,” said Hunt.
“The courage, skill and professionalism they embodied - it
makes it unquestionably certain that all of the men and
women who fought in that war are real heroes.”
As the
nation moves through the coming years of the fiftieth
anniversary of the Vietnam War, the Texas Military Forces
Museum plans on doing more programs focused on that time
period.
“We want to help our fellow citizens learn
the true history – not the mythology – of the Vietnam War,”
Hunt said. “We want to help the veterans reflect and perhaps
heal some of their lingering, painful, memories. We want
them to understand that their war was just one battle in the
much bigger Cold War and that what they did helped us win
that bigger war. We want to let the veterans of Indo China
know that they are our heroes every bit as much as the
veterans of World War II or Korea of the War on Terror are
our heroes.”
The Texas Military Forces Museum is the
official museum of the Texas Army and Air National Guard.
The museum's Living History Detachment routinely puts on
programs for visitors highlighting the role of The United
States Armed Forces in American history from the War of 1812
through the Vietnam War.
By U.S. Army Gloria Montgomery
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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