• When/Where: Sunday at Monroe High School
• What: Exhibits, including photos and memorabilia by Army photographer Peter Finnegan, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Program begins at 1:30 p.m. Speakers will include Finnegan; author Steve Saunders; Monroe veteran Junior Robertson; Kay Krebs, family member of a deceased veteran; and Clayton Ruegsegger of Green County Veterans Services.
• Cost: Free and open to the public.
MONROE - It's been four decades since the Vietnam War ended, but for many families, the grief of losing a loved one in the conflict remains an everyday presence in their lives.
All told, more than 58,000 American troops were killed in Vietnam. Tammy Derrickson of Monroe knows the pain - she is one of an estimated 20,000 children who lost her father during the Vietnam war. Her father, Staff Sgt. Donald L. Smith of Fennimore was killed in Vietnam when she was just a year old.
Last year, she was part of a program sponsored by the Grant County Historical Society that honored her dad and other local soldiers who were killed in Vietnam. The ability to come together as adult children and families inspired Derrickson, the director of the Behring Senior Center, to put together a similar program here in Green County.
"A Salute to Vietnam Era Veterans" will honor the seven men from Green County who were killed in Vietnam as well as all veterans who served during the era. The free event is Oct. 4 at Monroe High School and will include exhibits and a program with speakers.
For Derrickson, organizing the event is about providing comfort to veterans and families of the Vietnam era, an especially challenging time because of the unprecedented public opposition to U.S. involvement in the war and the ensuing cultural turbulence.
Derrickson shared her experience, including the loss of her father, with The Monroe Times:
It is my hope that the Oct. 4 program will provide some comfort to those who lost a loved one in the war and give those who served an opportunity to talk about a life-changing time they experienced. Anytime a program sparks a conversation in a community, it's a positive thing and as we know many veterans didn't talk about their service because of the highly charged political environment. Vietnam veterans never received the proper homecoming they deserved and this event helps give some measure of closure for that.
As a child talking about my dad and the Vietnam war was something that was very difficult.
My father was killed in Vietnam when I was a year old. My mother and I lived with my grandparents. When I was about 3 years old, I became aware that my father was missing from the picture when a cousin asked me who my dad was or where he was. I went to my mother and asked her about my dad she refused to talk about it except she pointed up to the sky. For a period of time as a 3-year-old, I had no idea what that signified. I thought he was flying on a plane and I wondered why he never landed and came home. At some point in time I figured it out on my own and Vietnam must have been mentioned in the house. I do recall my mother showing me a picture that she kept in her wallet. When I mentioned my dad in the household it was uncomfortable for everyone, and I got very little information other than the basics.
When I turned 6, my grandfather said to me, "Don't go to school and talk about your dad because there are people who might be mean to you if they found out that he was in Vietnam." So I never talked about it. There was a rift between my mother and my father's family so I had no opportunity to get answers about my dad.
However, growing up it was on my mind constantly. My mother left the household when I was about 7 years old and I was then raised by my grandparents on a small farm between Montfort and Fennimore - after raising 13 children of their own, they raised me. They were wonderful people and I can't say enough about them. They certainly shaped my life. When I turned 18, my grandfather gave me a package and in it was information and newspaper articles, pictures of my father including letters that he had written to my mother and a Christmas card he sent to me shortly before he was killed by a land mine. It was somewhat shocking to me that these things had been kept from me; however, it was the environment at the time no one wanted to discuss Vietnam. I learned that my dad, Staff Sergeant Donald L. Smith from Fennimore, Wisconsin was a Green Beret, held a black belt in Karate and served in the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry 101st Airborne Division Company C (Charlie Company), also known as the Screaming Eagles. I also learned more about his family from the newspaper articles even though I grew up about 10 miles from them.
When I went off to college, I just tried to put all of this behind me and move on. However, it's the kind of thing that's always with you in some shape or form, when there is no resolution it's a hard thing to manage in your life. It becomes a hole in your life when you don't know who you are and where you came from.
When I turned 40, I really hit a stage in my life where I wanted to know who my father was and I would say it hit me hard for the first time. I started looking for information and I visited his grave for the first time since I was a child. I also started to talk about it more.
In 2012, it was really the turning point for me in coming to terms with this. My dad's brother contacted me out of the blue and wanted to meet with me. I also traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the reading of the names at the Vietnam Memorial. I got to read my father's name, including the names of the two men who were killed in the same incident that he was.
So after 45 years, I met my uncle for the first time and he brought me things that belonged to my dad, and I think he needed closure as much as I did. The meeting was wonderful and two weeks later I met my grandmother who was 99 years old and in a nursing home. She was a wonderful lady and I had a great time with her. I now know it is possible to say all you need to say in a very short period of time and I'm thrilled I had the opportunity to meet her. On her 100th birthday, I met the rest of my family and two weeks later she passed away.
My story is just one story and there are 58,169 stories on the wall. Behind every name is a person and behind every person is a family.
In Green County we have seven stories and seven families who have had to come to terms with their loss. It's something that we should never forget.
I once heard someone say the war isn't over until the last person affected by it has died and that is certainly true. The greatest way to honor our veterans is to remember them and hopefully that's what people come away with when attending this event.
All told, more than 58,000 American troops were killed in Vietnam. Tammy Derrickson of Monroe knows the pain - she is one of an estimated 20,000 children who lost her father during the Vietnam war. Her father, Staff Sgt. Donald L. Smith of Fennimore was killed in Vietnam when she was just a year old.
Last year, she was part of a program sponsored by the Grant County Historical Society that honored her dad and other local soldiers who were killed in Vietnam. The ability to come together as adult children and families inspired Derrickson, the director of the Behring Senior Center, to put together a similar program here in Green County.
"A Salute to Vietnam Era Veterans" will honor the seven men from Green County who were killed in Vietnam as well as all veterans who served during the era. The free event is Oct. 4 at Monroe High School and will include exhibits and a program with speakers.
For Derrickson, organizing the event is about providing comfort to veterans and families of the Vietnam era, an especially challenging time because of the unprecedented public opposition to U.S. involvement in the war and the ensuing cultural turbulence.
Derrickson shared her experience, including the loss of her father, with The Monroe Times:
It is my hope that the Oct. 4 program will provide some comfort to those who lost a loved one in the war and give those who served an opportunity to talk about a life-changing time they experienced. Anytime a program sparks a conversation in a community, it's a positive thing and as we know many veterans didn't talk about their service because of the highly charged political environment. Vietnam veterans never received the proper homecoming they deserved and this event helps give some measure of closure for that.
As a child talking about my dad and the Vietnam war was something that was very difficult.
My father was killed in Vietnam when I was a year old. My mother and I lived with my grandparents. When I was about 3 years old, I became aware that my father was missing from the picture when a cousin asked me who my dad was or where he was. I went to my mother and asked her about my dad she refused to talk about it except she pointed up to the sky. For a period of time as a 3-year-old, I had no idea what that signified. I thought he was flying on a plane and I wondered why he never landed and came home. At some point in time I figured it out on my own and Vietnam must have been mentioned in the house. I do recall my mother showing me a picture that she kept in her wallet. When I mentioned my dad in the household it was uncomfortable for everyone, and I got very little information other than the basics.
When I turned 6, my grandfather said to me, "Don't go to school and talk about your dad because there are people who might be mean to you if they found out that he was in Vietnam." So I never talked about it. There was a rift between my mother and my father's family so I had no opportunity to get answers about my dad.
However, growing up it was on my mind constantly. My mother left the household when I was about 7 years old and I was then raised by my grandparents on a small farm between Montfort and Fennimore - after raising 13 children of their own, they raised me. They were wonderful people and I can't say enough about them. They certainly shaped my life. When I turned 18, my grandfather gave me a package and in it was information and newspaper articles, pictures of my father including letters that he had written to my mother and a Christmas card he sent to me shortly before he was killed by a land mine. It was somewhat shocking to me that these things had been kept from me; however, it was the environment at the time no one wanted to discuss Vietnam. I learned that my dad, Staff Sergeant Donald L. Smith from Fennimore, Wisconsin was a Green Beret, held a black belt in Karate and served in the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry 101st Airborne Division Company C (Charlie Company), also known as the Screaming Eagles. I also learned more about his family from the newspaper articles even though I grew up about 10 miles from them.
When I went off to college, I just tried to put all of this behind me and move on. However, it's the kind of thing that's always with you in some shape or form, when there is no resolution it's a hard thing to manage in your life. It becomes a hole in your life when you don't know who you are and where you came from.
When I turned 40, I really hit a stage in my life where I wanted to know who my father was and I would say it hit me hard for the first time. I started looking for information and I visited his grave for the first time since I was a child. I also started to talk about it more.
In 2012, it was really the turning point for me in coming to terms with this. My dad's brother contacted me out of the blue and wanted to meet with me. I also traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the reading of the names at the Vietnam Memorial. I got to read my father's name, including the names of the two men who were killed in the same incident that he was.
So after 45 years, I met my uncle for the first time and he brought me things that belonged to my dad, and I think he needed closure as much as I did. The meeting was wonderful and two weeks later I met my grandmother who was 99 years old and in a nursing home. She was a wonderful lady and I had a great time with her. I now know it is possible to say all you need to say in a very short period of time and I'm thrilled I had the opportunity to meet her. On her 100th birthday, I met the rest of my family and two weeks later she passed away.
My story is just one story and there are 58,169 stories on the wall. Behind every name is a person and behind every person is a family.
In Green County we have seven stories and seven families who have had to come to terms with their loss. It's something that we should never forget.
I once heard someone say the war isn't over until the last person affected by it has died and that is certainly true. The greatest way to honor our veterans is to remember them and hopefully that's what people come away with when attending this event.