More than 50,000 American service members were killed during the Vietnam War. Thousands of the surviving veterans who returned to America faced debilitating mental and physical injuries, with little support from the country that sent them into combat.
Mexican Americans made up a disproportionate number of casualties.
Dr. Gene Chávez, a historian in residence at the Museum of Kansas City, said the stories of Mexican Americans are often not told in history books or museums.
“It's amazing to me that the Hispanic stories are so undertold in our history books, in museums and in our general society,” Chávez said. “It's a prejudice that people have built up. And that's so sad, because Latino Americans have helped build this country.”
“In Their Own Words: Mexican American Vietnam Era Veterans” is an oral history project that will help preserve some of the stories of Kansas City-area Latino veterans.
“I am very proud of, first of all, who I am. My grandparents, my parents, they all raised me to be proud,” Army veteran Frank Hernandez told KCUR’s Up To Date.
More than 50 years after returning home from Vietnam, Hernandez deals with post-traumatic stress disorder and struggles to talk about his experience. But his psychiatrist tells him “it’s time to let it out,” he said.
Overcome with emotion at times, Hernandez shared stories from his time in Vietnam with Chávez. The oral history project will be archived at the Library of Congress.
“What happened with Dr Chávez … to let me talk about that. I still thank him today, because of the fact that I finally got it out,” Hernandez said.
- Gene Chávez, historian in residence, Museum of Kansas City
- Frank Hernandez, Vietnam veteran, U.S. Army
