By Andrew Fefer, Reporter/Editor
A Vietnam veteran with history in the Chippewa Valley is part of an event later this month that includes stories of that war from soldiers’ perspectives.
The “Reflections of Vietnam” program is scheduled for April 24 at the Chippewa Valley Technical College Business Education Center on W. Clairemont Avenue in Eau Claire. The Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 351 of Appleton will present its hour-long program twice in CVTC’s Casper Conference Room and display Vietnam artifacts nearby.
The group travels the state to share veterans’ stories with high school and college students. The April 24 programs here are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
“Everybody’s got a couple stories to share,” Vietnam veteran and moderator John Koehler said. “They do an introduction and then we open it up to questions and answers.”
The goal is to provide an overview and background on the Vietnam War and an understanding of what it was like for soldiers in Vietnam.
“What I focus on, and I think they (attendees) come away with in my presentation is the complexity and the brutality and the ambiguity of the Vietnam War, as opposed to just guys over there fighting the good war for a good cause.”
“We’ll try to keep it light and add a humorous side, but also to tell them the truth about the brutality of the war,” Koehler said.
That includes problems that Koehler said veterans had here at home with the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder and Agent Orange, a tactical herbicide that the U.S. Military used during the war.
“We love road trips,” Koehler said. “We love students and they love us too. When they leave, we get handshakes and hugs and all sorts of things. It’s a real win-win for everyone, I think.”
A marine with history in the Chippewa Valley
The group previously appeared at Carson Park in June 2016 at an event that featured the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall. Koehler said the trips the chapter makes to Eau Claire are special to him, since he graduated from Memorial High School and UW-Eau Claire.
“For me, it’s kind of like coming home,” he said of the CVTC event.
While serving in the Marine Corps, Koehler said he believed he was fighting for the South Vietnamese government so that North Vietnam would not invade and “make them communists.” After getting out of the service, he said he learned things that led him to believe that most South Vietnamese people did not want the United States there and that they just wanted to be left alone.
Koehler also said that he has spoken with high-ranking generals and soldiers from the north, one of whom said they would have been willing to lose 10-50 lives for each U.S. soldier, and may still be fighting today to “wear you down into attrition.”
“It was a war that wasn’t going to be won by us, militarily,” he said.
But he also said that other veterans in the group remain proud of what they did in Vietnam and say they would do it all over again if they could.
“We learn to co-exist with our different thoughts.”
He added that he has returned to Vietnam twice since serving in the Marine Corps and that he has “kind of adopted” many Vietnamese children he said are still feeling the effects of Agent Orange and un-exploded ordinance there.
“Kind of like a museum”
The chapter started sharing war stories with high school students in and around Appleton in the 1980s. Later, one of the members built display lockers, which are used to show memorabilia that includes firearms, grenades and other equipment, clothing and photographs.
“It’s like a museum,” Koehler said. “It’s probably the biggest museum of artifacts from Vietnam (on) this side of Madison.”
“We’re just very fortunate to have everything that we’ve got, and each year we add to it.”
Members of the group brought the artifacts back from Vietnam a few at a time and donated them to the chapter during the last 15 years. They are laid out in ten different lockers, which take up about 100 feet. Several veterans will answer questions about the items.
Other goals of the chapter
Organizers also want to encourage people to pay attention when war is a possibility in the near future.
“Get involved politically,” Koehler added. “Don’t vote for politicians that want to put your kids’ boots on the ground as first choice.” He did acknowledge that there are times when war is necessary, but mentioned that the military should “defeat the enemy” and leave its country immediately in those situations, so that the United States isn’t “stuck” in places like Vietnam or Iraq.
The group’s website said that it holds other events to raise funds for veterans and their families and holds seminars about toxic substances used in war and how they can affect people long-term.
The CVTC presentations are free and open to the public. The displays will be set up outside the conference room from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The photo on the homepage shows a Reflections of Vietnam Program at Brillion High School in 2016 (Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 351 photo).