It has always been said of wars and conflicts that no one can tell the story of combat better than those who actually fought it.
That is what “More than Self: Living the Vietnam War,” a new exhibition at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, endeavors to tell that story of conflict through the eyes of the soldier. It opened Nov. 11 and runs through March 18.
The exhibition has compelling photographs, documents and artifacts of the conflict, which ran from 1955 through 1975, with each telling a story about this war in which nearly 3.5 million men and women served in Southeast Asia during that conflict.
According to Sue VerHoef, the center’s director of oral history and genealogy and the exhibition’s curator, it uses narratives from more than 650 oral histories preserved in the center’s Kenan Research Center Veterans History Project to explore the Vietnam War.
VerHoef said the center has partnered with the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association for many years. That organization has encouraged its members to not only be interviewed for this exhibit, but also to donate artifacts regarding the war.
Such artifacts on displayed include an Army nurse’s boonie hat which is near a photo of an Army nurse protecting military patients while their evacuation hospital is under attack.
In addition, other artifacts include an AR-15 rifle and a Montagnard crossbow, created by indigenous people of the Vietnamese highlands, which underscores the difference in weaponry and military tactics used in Vietnam.
“We encourage the public to visit this exhibition because everyone who was involved in the war has a story to tell, and many did not get to tell their stories when they came home — the media did it for them,” VerHoef said. “The exhibition makes clear the fact that no one who served in Vietnam, in any capacity, came home from the war unchanged.”
The association’s Max Torrence said that organization assisted in putting the exhibition together and he was very proud of the exhibit, calling it “awesome.”
“Being the exhibit is at the Atlanta History Center makes it the best place for Atlantans to learn the real story of the Vietnam War, from service members, both men and women, who were in combat in Vietnam,” he said. “I am grateful to Sue and her staff and the … center for reaching out to our organization and am proud of what was done there at the center.”
The title of the exhibition was inspired by the song “America the Beautiful,” written in 1883 by Katherine Lee Bates.
“While many Americans have memorized the first verse of this patriotic song, perhaps less familiar are the lyrics of the third verse which states, ‘O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife who, more than self their country loved and mercy more than life,’” VerHoef said.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. However, if visitors want to view other center exhibits, they must pay the center's admission fee. For more information on this and the center’s other exhibits, visit www.atlantahistorycenter.com.
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