BOW VALLEY – A new exhibit at The Military Museums in Calgary is telling the story of the thousands of Canadians who fought with U.S. Forces in Vietnam.
It’s estimated that 40,000 Canadians served with the U.S. during the Vietnam War. The U.S. began its involvement in the war, meant to stop communism from spreading, in 1955, effectively taking over from France that had begun fighting the communist Viet Minh in 1946.
The Viet Minh defeated French forces in 1954. The U.S., meanwhile, began its withdrawal in 1973. Fighting did not formally end until 1975 when communist North Vietnam unified the country.
Rory Cory, senior curator at The Military Museums (TMM) said 103 Canadians died fighting in Vietnam. Two of those soldiers are buried in Calgary cemeteries.
Tour of Duty: Canadians and the Vietnam War, which is being held in the Founders Gallery until Jan. 13, 2019, was built around the personal stories of the Vietnam veterans, largely an untold story in Canada.
“We’re using individuals to tell their stories about the specific part of the timeline they can relate to, so it’s not just me as a historian talking about how the Vietnam War went. It’s them talking about their experiences and you learn about the course of the war through their eyes and through their experiences,” said Cory.
“This is the biggest Vietnam exhibit that I’m aware of in Canada that has ever been mounted and that includes the Canadian War Museum, so it really is an untold story.”
Along with the stories of Canadian veterans who served with U.S. Forces, the exhibit also includes stories of American veterans now living in Canada and South Vietnamese veterans who came to Canada as refugees.
Tour of Duty also explores Canada’s official role in Vietnam as part of the International Commission of Control and Supervision, a peace-keeping mission, which had been tasked with overseeing the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam.
Unlike soldiers returning from both world wars, Vietnam veterans were not welcomed back with honour and respect, and the idea of sharing their stories didn’t come easily, even 50 years later after some of the major incidents featured in the exhibit, namely the 1968 Tet Offensive and Battle of Khe Sahn.
“These guys were so down trodden, so dishonoured over time that they learned to hide their experiences and be reserved about their experiences and not broadcast them and not be proud of them,” said Cory.
“We actually had people that had been interviewed before and had a lot of their comments used out of context, so they were pretty leery of us at first,” said Cory, adding it took about five years to build trust with the veterans.
“That’s turned out really positive.”
Cory said he hopes Tour of Duty will help Canadians learn about this little-known chapter of Canadian history and give Vietnam veterans the opportunity to be proud of their experiences.
“It’s a healing opportunity really,” Cory said, “a chance to bring together a lot of people. It’s also a chance for Canadians to know about another part of their history. It’s shedding light on an unknown group of veterans.
Go to www.themilitarymuseums.ca for more information.
