Vietnam Museum Organizers Adjust Course

Although she believes the country was wrong to fight in the Vietnam War, Barbara Hauke also believes those soldiers’ efforts have been undervalued for years.

“I really felt that this country really didn’t do anything for these men,” said Hauke, chairwoman of the nation’s only museum dedicated to Vietnam. “It had to be done. The story had to be told.”

Some veterans say the story isn’t being told right. They say the Vietnam Era Educational Center focuses too heavily on the antiwar movement and gives offensive portrayals of U.S. soldiers as drug users.

“They were putting, like, Abbie Hoffman in there, and there had been some rumors of pictures of Jane Fonda,” veteran Bob Maras said, referring to two war protesters. “We said, ‘You put that in there, you can kiss this building goodbye.’ ”

So organizers opted to change the exhibits even before the museum officially opens next September in Holmdel, 40 miles south of Newark. All references to U.S. soldiers using drugs in Vietnam will be eliminated, and some antiwar footage will be replaced with soldiers’ stories.

In one video, for example, 20 seconds of an antiwar protest were replaced with 40 seconds of footage in support of the war, Hauke said.

Creating a center that honors soldiers while documenting what was arguably the most protested conflict in U.S. history is a tricky, sensitive undertaking, Hauke says.

“They want fair treatment. The Vietnam veterans feel they were never dealt with fairly,” she said.

But not all the bad news is being removed. Hauke quoted a veteran who said of the protest footage, “You know, I don’t love looking at this, but this is what happened. That has to be there too.”

The museum sits a few hundred yards away from the 2-year-old Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a black granite arena bearing the names of 1,553 New Jersey residents killed or missing in action in Vietnam.

It will include a timeline describing milestones in the conflict, as well as corresponding events in the United States; letters and photographs of soldiers and family members; computerized exhibits and a theater for video exhibits.