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Mexican American veterans lend their voices to Kansas City project

A Kansas City historian is preserving the stories of Mexican Americans who served during Vietnam. The new oral history project is titled "In Their Own Words: Mexican American Vietnam Era Veterans."

More than 50,000 U.S. service members died in theater during the Vietnam War. A disproportionate number of those killed and injured were Latino. Ahead of Veterans Day, historian Dr. Gene Chavez and Army veteran Frank Hernandez spoke with Steve Kraske on KCUR's Up To Date about the experiences of Mexican American veterans.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Jacob Smollen and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Emily Younker.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
Jacob Smollen is the 2025-2026 intern for KCUR Studios. Email him at jsmollen@kcur.org.
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