Producer/Director/Interviewer for the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum
Part of the ongoing creation of an exhibit about the Vietnam War
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Producer/Director/Interviewer for the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum
Part of the ongoing creation of an exhibit about the Vietnam War
DaveTatum:
Watching this interview brings back many memories , some were fear . Like how do I get out of this “one”…. I’m in my second year of Art School and my Father was in Viet Nam . He was a “Lifer”, and I was scared ! Thinking for sure this would be over before I graduated . These interviews were real to me .. these soldiers were just like me except they were there and I wasn’t . And very happy for that fact. The interviews brought back those feelings again ; fear / shame / and hatred of what this crazy war was doing to My “Age Of Aquarius , My “Pepsi Generation”. Not now ! Not Now !
Im just getting started and im going to stay where I am .
Guilt was a daily problem … How can I hide when my Father spent his entire life in the Army (WWll /Korea/and Viêt Nam . I didn’t think too
much about then (aside from Walter Cronkite’s nightly “head count”.
But I did ! PTSD comes in many colors …the brutal images of death and bravery in battle , and the calmness of soldiers and nurses doing there job and me drawing and painting with happy young kids back in the states … was not (as I found out) as safe and insulated as I thought.
The “Interviews” were strong with all the pain and. feelings brought forth . I learned that we were people just doing what we had to do .
There was bitterness , but it was an internal struggle that we ALL fought in art schools and on battlefields.
Thank You Ed Buffman and well done to keeping that part of ” Viêt Nam ” alive in all of us.
Pat M.