Legacies of the Vietnam War to be explored in Mount Mercy lectures

The Vietnam War's legacy still is deeply felt today, four decades after its end. A three-month series at Mount Mercy University will explore that legacy.

'Stories We Tell: Legacies of the Vietnam War,” will include lectures, art, music and a visit from the Moving Wall, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

The Stories We Tell series is Mount Mercy's Fall Faculty Series for 2015 - this is the second year for the series, which focused on World War I last year. Going forward, the Mount Mercy faculty plans to chooses a topic each year to be the subject of an in-depth, public conversation.

With big anniversaries of the war this year, the conflict was an obvious choice to focus on in 2015, says Mount Mercy associate professor of communication Joe Sheller.

'This year is both the 50th anniversary of the first big U.S. combat push in Vietnam, when Marines landed at Da Nang in 1965 to protect the air base there, and the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 when Saigon fell,” he says.

He is coordinating the series, which will include speakers from across campus disciplines and from the wider community.

'A big issue like the Vietnam War is a complicated thing - there are lots of different perspectives,” he says. 'It's a matter of recognizing culturally how important it is.”

A series highlight is the Moving Wall visit Sept. 17 to 21. The Wall, which has visited Eastern Iowa in the past, has toured the country for more than 30 years and, like the original, bears the names of each life lost in the Vietnam War. The wall was built by John Devitt, Gerry Haver and other Vietnam veteran volunteers in California and first displayed in Tyler, Texas in 1984.

Sheller saw the real wall during a visit to Washington D.C. in March. He says having the replica visit Mount Mercy will be a stirring tribute to those lost in the war.

'It's a very vivid and visual reminder of the cost of war,” Sheller says. 'It's a pretty powerful monument.”

Another highlight will be an art exhibit, 'Visions of Courage: the Legacy of Vietnam.”

The exhibit will include both historic artifacts and fine art. Members of the Mount Mercy community are contributing to the display as well as area Vietnam War veterans.

Veterans were invited to contribute pieces that reflected how the war impacted their lives. Kristy Raine, Mount Mercy reference librarian and archivist, says she still is collecting pieces for the final exhibit. Veterans interested in submitting a piece can contact her at (319) 368-6465 or kraine@mtmercy.edu.

'Particularly for our younger students who might not have a sense of the time and place of the war, I'm certainly hopeful they'll feel it has a continuing impact on all of our lives,” she says. 'I'm hoping people see the courage it took for many people to be part of this exhibit.”

Sheller says he hopes the series engages both community members and Mount Mercy students.

'I hope it gets people in classes to talk about important issues and see connections to how we live now and spark conversations,” he says. 'In a larger sense, we hope that also happens with community members who come here, and that we all learn from each other.”

Stories We Tell: Legacies of the Vietnam War

All events at Mount Mercy University, 1330 Elmhurst Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids and are free. More information: www.mtmercy.edu/vietnam.

' The Moving Wall, Thursday to Sept. 21, Warde Hall West Lawn

An opening ceremony will be at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The memorial will be open 24 hours a day until noon Sept. 21. Dr. Mohammad Chaichian will be available to inform visitors on the history of the memorial 3 to 4 p.m. Sept. 19. Parking is available in the Lower Andreas and 27th Street lots. Overflow parking shuttles will run every half-hour from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 19 and 20 from additional parking at Mount Mercy's CRST International Graduate Center, 1650 Matterhorn Dr. NE and Rockwell Collins' 35th Street Campus, 904 32nd St. NE.

' Discussion: They Were There: Vietnam Veterans Share Their Stories, 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Flaherty Community Room, 204 Basile

Vietnam War veterans, both American and Vietnamese, will share just stories about the war. Joe Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and son of a Vietnamese war veteran, will pose questions about the war to a panel of veterans. There will be time for veterans to mingle and converse with attendees.

' Lecture: Selling and Unselling the Vietnam War: Government Propaganda vs Anti-war Advertising, 7 to 8 p.m. Sept. 30, Betty Cherry Heritage Hall

' Lecture: Down the Memory Lane: My 1992 Personal Journey in Post-War Vietnam, 7 to 8 p.m., Oct. 5, Flaherty Community Room, 204 Basile

This talk will be based on a two-week trip Dr. Mohammad Chaichian made to Vietnam in 1992 with a group of American academics as guests of the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Universities. He will take the audience on an audiovisual journey from north to south, with stops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) cities, the infamous and formidable Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai's sect Temple in Tay Ninh.

' Exhibit: Visions of Courage: The Legacy of Vietnam, 4 to 6 p.m. daily, Oct. 6 to 25, Janalyn Hanson White Gallery

The exhibit will reflect Vietnam-era stories tied to the lives of Mount Mercy faculty, staff and students through a combination of fine art, artifacts and multimedia as well as area veteran's oral and visual histories. An opening reception will be Oct. 6 from 4 to 6 p.m.

' Lecture: The Wounds of Vietnam: How Long Will the Healing Take? 7 to 8 p.m., Oct. 13, Betty Cherry Heritage Hall

In June 1967, Regis High School graduate Charles Edward Gradoville, a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corp, died in Vietnam. His death reverberated in the lives of his family, and K.C. Churchill, a Marine from Marion, who served with Gradoville. As a reporter for The Gazette, Dale Kueter wrote about the death in a brief story in 1967. Since them, Kueter has researched and written about the impact of this death on Gradoville's family and on Churchill in his book, 'Vietnam Sons.”

' Lecture: The War on TV: Images of Combat in American Living Rooms, 7 to 8 p.m. Oct. 15, Conference Center, CRST International Graduate Center, 1650 Matterhorn Dr. NE

' Lecture: The Ongoing Inner War: Recognizing Post-Traumatic Stress, 7 to 8 p.m. Oct. 28, Donnelly Center, Room 300

' Lecture: There's Something Happening Here: Anti-War Protests During the Vietnam Era, 7 top 8 p.m. Nov. 3, Flaherty Community Room, 204 Basile

' Lecture: Dr. King Breaking Silence: Challenges For Our Time, 7 to 8 p.m. Nov. 5, Flaherty Community Room, 204 Basile. An analysis of the reasons Martin Luther King Jr., 'broke silence” and took a public stance against the war in Vietnam and militarism generally. Audio of excerpts from his 1967 'A Time to Break Silence” speech will be heard.

' Lecture: Operation Babylift: The Daring Rescue of Innocent Children in the Final Hours of the Vietnam War, 7 to 8 p.m., Nov. 11, Chapel of Mercy, Busse Center

In 1975, two Iowans, LeAnn Thieman and Carol Dey, worked with a group called 'Friends of Children of Vietnam,” which encouraged adopting Vietnam orphans. As the Vietnam War wound down in 1975, Dey and Thieman were on a trip to Vietnam, expecting to transport six babies. As the chaotic final days of the war approached, six became 200. LeAnn Theiman, who since has become a nationally-recognized writer and motivational speaker, will describe that experience, which she and Dey detailed in their book: 'This Must Be My Brother: The Daring Rescue of Innocent Children in the Final Desperate Hours of the Vietnam War.”

' Reflecting on Vietnam in Music and Poetry, 7 to 8 p.m. Nov. 19, Chapel of Mercy, Busse Center

The Mount Mercy Handbell Ensemble, English and drama students and others will perform music and poetry that reflect stories and emotions about the Vietnam War.