Honoring the Fallen

As you approach the Vietnam Era Museum, you can’t help but notice the Huey helicopter out front. “Our Huey is a 1964 [Bell] UH-1D that served two tours in Vietnam,” says Executive Director Sarah Taggart. “It was completely restored by a crew of about 20 veterans who served in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.” Helicopters were a major means of transportation during the war, with more than 12,000 serving. “It was a labor of love,” she adds.

Before entering the museum, follow the path leading to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. The pathway narrows and you enter the memorial through a tunnel. “Once inside you’re supposed to feel like you’ve left the larger world and are in-country, a feeling echoed by many veterans on their arrival in Vietnam.”

The memorial is a circle of polished granite slabs engraved with the names of 1,563 New Jerseyans who gave their lives in Vietnam. “The circular design reflects the journey the men and woman memorialized have taken; they’ve come full circle, their tours of duty have ended, they are home.”

On your short walk back to the museum, linger a moment at the Women’s Meditation Garden that pays tribute to the women who serve our country, especially Captain Eleanor Alexander, a U.S. Army nurse and the only woman from New Jersey recognized as killed in action during the Vietnam War.

The museum was built as a companion to the memorial. “We’re the only site in the country dedicated to telling the complex history of the Vietnam Era and its lasting impact on our society,” says Taggart.

Like the memorial, the museum’s main room is circular. The wall is covered with images that present a timeline of the war juxtaposed with images from U.S. news and pop culture during the same period. For example, you’ll see photos from the January 1968 attack on the U.S. Marine firebase at Khe Sanh under a picture of a beleaguered-looking President Johnson with an image of Goldie Hawn from Laugh-In nearby.

“It’s a big story told through the lens of New Jersey and its residents,” says Taggart. “We talk about the events like Tet, but we’re telling those stories through the eyes of a few from our state who experienced it.”

That perspective is conveyed through the museum’s Circle of Letters, pieces of correspondence between New Jersey Marines and soldiers and their families back home. “There’s a series of letters between Tom and Michelle Chalfont,” says Taggart. “When Tom was serving in Vietnam, Michelle was pregnant. The letters really show the complicated emotions many families were living with. You can sense how terrified they were, but they are also really excited about having a baby. They’re trying to normalize the situation and have conversations: “Who’s she going to look like?’ ‘What will we name her?’ In the meantime, Tom’s saying, ‘We got shelled last night.…’ It really brings you into the moments so many families shared.”

Tom made it home, but there are other letters focused on families who were not so fortunate. The letters, Taggart says, “give you both sides of the story that you’re not going to get from reading a history book.”