Wisconsin Veterans Museum exhibition honors, remembers Vietnam War veterans
Marking the 50th anniversary of the official end of the Vietnam War, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum opened a display in its Capitol Square window titled, “Our Vietnam Veterans: Then and Now.”
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -A new exhibition brought by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison honors Wisconsinites who served during the Vietnam War.
On March 29, 1973, U.S. ground forces withdrew from South Vietnam, officially ending the war. To mark the 50th anniversary, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has on view in its Capitol Square window an exhibition titled, “Our Vietnam Veterans: Then and Now.”
A QR code visible on the display leads viewers to unlock the stories and experiences of select veterans featured in the display. In the virtual exhibit, one can read and listen to their service in the veterans’ own words.
“I think that’s a very powerful message where you have the idea that the museum is the microphone, the veterans are the voice,” said Kevin Hampton, WVM curator of history. “We’re uplifting and giving them that platform to be able to talk and tell their own story in their own way.”
The images and oral histories in this exhibit honor a handful of the more than 57,000 Wisconsinites who served in Southeast Asia during the war.
“To be able to hear the story in their own words allows that opportunity to actually understand people, to understand that even though it was 50 years ago, we can still learn something from each other, we can still experience those same things,” Hampton said.
The window display will be on view through Veterans Day 2023.
If you would like to share your story as a Wisconsin veteran, the museum would like to hear from you whether it’s a photograph, oral history, letters or diary entries. “It’s important these stories are remembered for future generations,” Hampton said.
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