We collected at the Remembrance Site with 200 people in attendance, some wearing their uniforms or ID tags from the era. A current Stetson Army ROTC cadet, Maria Franklin, stood in camoflage fatigues at to the right of the podium, presenting the United States flag. To the left, four student musicians in the University Brass Ensemble began playing “Mansions of the Lord” by Nick Glennie-Smith.

Grady Ballenger, Professor of English, then gave a welcome from the podium:

Our deep thanks to the Stetson University Brass Ensemble for gathering us together this morning with that powerful hymn, which some of you will recall from the funeral of President Reagan and also from the end of the film, We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young.

It’s a great honor to welcome you on behalf of a splendid group of Stetson people—students, faculty, administrators, alumni, friends and families, and especially alumni veterans of Vietnam and the era of that war—all of whom came together to make this Remembrance Site a reality on our campus. You’ll hear brief comments today from some members of our team, including President Wendy Libby and veteran alumnus Richard Swartz, and you will hear many other names individually recognized.

At the outset, however, I want to thank the person who grabbed this idea and wouldn’t let it go, who developed a concept for honoring veterans and also educating coming generations about the war, and who gathered supporters and raised money for both a campus monument and a Stetson Vietnam Veterans website. For your vision and leadership, Jay Mechling, Class of ’67, our most sincere thanks.  Jay will rightly acknowledge other talented people who worked on this project, but from start to finish, he was our guide and our engine for getting this done.

Some of us here answered our nation’s call, out of patriotism, a sense of duty, or a family tradition. Some of us went courageously from Stetson’s Pershing Rifles directly to battle in Vietnam; some of us served as grunts or medics or pilots, or in support and supply functions in-country. Some served elsewhere in the world during the Vietnam period, always knowing that they were directly connected to men and women who were daily, and nightly, in harm’s way. Some of us, at home or in service, struggled with principles, both political and religious. Some of us had student deferments or medical deferments, and some had high, safe numbers in the draft lottery. Some of us were wounded in body and many of us in our hearts. Some of us prayed daily for friends and loved ones in service and longed for the day they would be returned to us unharmed.

In other words, we experienced Vietnam in many ways, but all of us who lived through the period felt the impact of the war. All of us knew that the war, like the Civil Rights movement unfolding at the same time, required us to take stock of our beliefs and commitments as American citizens. And one commitment many of us made at that time, especially those of us who did not serve in the military, was never to forget those who did put their lives on the line when our nation called them to military service. Some of us took an oath to support our veterans when they came home, and to learn from them the “lessons of war” that succeeding generations must understand.

Some of us, and frankly I could use I here, have been deficient and late in honoring that commitment we made to those who served. The American war effort formally ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon, and over the forty years since, we’ve slid from war to war, combat event to combat event, too often without thinking through, as institutions of learning especially should, the lessons of Vietnam. As Max Cleland recently reminded us in Debt of Honor, the powerful Ric Burns documentary on soldiers after war, our veterans live with their experiences for their whole lives. We, who never heard a mortar round or sniper’s bullet or felt the heat of napalm or inhaled Agent Orange, too easily put old wars and their veterans out of mind.

Today all of that changes. We have this lovely place to honor all those who served our country during the Vietnam War and its era, and we have a growing collection of materials on the Vietnam Memorial website at DuPont-Ball Library to help us, and future generations of Stetson students in particular, to learn directly from veterans’ experiences in Vietnam and its era.

It’s about time. Today we say to our Vietnam and Vietnam-Era veterans, we thank you for your service, but also we pledge that we will not forget that service. Your Alma Mater dedicates herself to learning from you the lessons of Vietnam, the meaning of war, the hope of peace.

We’ll follow our program now, beginning with an invocation from Chaplain Michael Fronk and reflections from Dr. Libby and Dr. Mechling.

Later in the program, Dr. Ballenger introduced Dr. Julie Schmitt, director of Stetson’s Theatre Program, and student performers Erin Foster and Peter Nyong’o who read letters featured in Reflections on Vietnam: An Oral History Performance at the Theatre Program’s Second Stage theatre. Some of the letters were written by Stetson veterans Ned Ricks and Adrian Bambini. (Later that evening or on Sunday afternoon, many veterans and supporters at the dedication attended performances and stayed afterward for conversation with Dr. Schmitt, the performers, and veterans.)

Finally, Dr. Ballenger introduced Richard Swartz ’68. Mr. Swartz served in Vietnam as a pilot in the 134th Assault Helicopter Company and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and Air Medal. (The story of his service can be found on the Vietnam Veterans website) From the beginning, Mr. Swartz gave the planning committee the guidance that only a veteran of Vietnam could offer. In his remarks, Mr. Swartz paused to recognize the Vietnam service of distinguished alumnus Max Cleland, who was in attendance. For himself, Sen. Cleland, and all Stetson veterans, Richard accepted the Remembrance Site as an honor and a welcome home from their Alma Mater.

Dr. Ballenger concluded by thanking everyone for coming, asking that they sign the guestbook for this event, continue to connect us with veterans of Vietnam and its era, provide oral histories and photographs from the era for our website, and consider a small gift to help us to maintain the site and the website. He then gave one more expression of gratitude:

We can’t say it too many times: Stetson veterans of Vietnam and the Vietnam era, we salute you, your sacrifice, and your service to our nation. May you feel that gratitude whenever you visit this Remembrance Site, and for years and years to come!

Greetings, all.I am Jay Mechling, Class of 1967, and a retired Professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis.

This project began back in September of 2010. I was in DeLand for a meeting of Grady Ballenger’s College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board, and I had e-mailed Board of Trustees President Nestor de Armas, who was my next-door neighbor in Gordis Hall our freshman year, 1963-64, to see if we might meet for breakfast as long as I was in town. I also knew that Nestor had served during Vietnam in an army hospital in South Carolina. Nestor and I had a great breakfast, picking up a friendship after so many years, and he summed up those army hospital experiences by telling me, “If you’ve seen M*A*S*H you know what it was like.”

My breakfast with Nestor came at a time when warriors and veterans were very much on my mind. One evening in 2004, while watching the silent roll of the American warriors killed that week in Iraq and Afghanistan, I realized that the faces could belong to my students and that, without a draft, my students were not paying much attention to the wars. So I created and taught for the five years before I retired a course entitled “War in American Memory.” For that course and then for some writing I was doing, I began reading war memoirs and reporters’ accounts, including many by Vietnam veterans.

When I got back to campus after that breakfast with Nestor, I recalled that, while there is a very large plaque in Elizabeth Hall with the names of Stetson students, faculty, and staff who served in World War II, there is no such recognition of the service by Stetson students during the Vietnam era. I approached then-Dean Ballenger during one of our Advisory Board meeting breaks and proposed to him that we launch a project to create some sort of physical artifact on campus to honor the military service of Stetson students in Vietnam and elsewhere during the Vietnam era. He immediately said “Yes, let’s do it.” And we did.

As we progressed and had a larger and larger list of our Stetson alumni veterans, we discovered a number who have passed away during the past few decades. One of those veterans was Larry R. Clarke, who was my freshman roommate and then my senior roommate in legendary Hon Hall until I got married that spring we graduated. I lost track of Larry after graduation, knowing only that he did serve in Vietnam. When the project began I searched for Larry on the web and sadly found his obituary. By luck, a mutual friend put me in touch with Larry’s son, Max Clarke, who is here with other members of the family.

I wish Larry and dozens of other Stetson veterans we know about (and probably dozens more we don’t) could be here with us today.

In honor and memory of those Stetson veterans no longer with us, please join me in observing a moment of silence.

Much happened between Dean Ballenger’s “Yes, let’s do it,” and the completion of the physical site you see before you. I am the “face” of this project for many veterans and donors here because I issued the monthly email updates and had correspondence with you veterans regarding the biographies and photographs on the library website. But just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a Hatter village to raise a Remembrance Site. Here, then, are those who played such a key role in the project:

• first, of course, are the veterans themselves and the donors (all listed on the project website);
• Without President Wendy Libby’s blessing and support, this project would have been impossible. Provost Beth Paul and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Karen Ryan, likewise, have been strong supporters of the project.
• From the start, Dr. Grady Ballenger as been an indispensible partner. His support and his mustering the people on campus who could make this idea a reality has been immeasurably crucial for this project.
• Dean Susan Ryan, Director of the du-Pont Ball Library, has provided the piece of this project that so greatly enhances the presence of the physical remembrance site—namely, a website (see the address on the bookmarks we have distributed) with veterans’ autobiographies, photos, and other materials to further the educational mission of this project. Dean Ryan could not be with us today but she has a good excuse—out of town attending her mother’s 80^th birthday celebration. Angela Story, the library’s Archive Specialist, has maintained our growing list of names for the website and, with her student assistants, has been finding and scanning for the website the yearbook photos of our veterans. Bryan Roppolo designed and maintains the website.
• Kate Pearce, Assistant Vice President for University Relations, and her staff in the development office have provided support for the gathering of names, for finding and contacting alumni veterans, and for the all-important fund-raising dimension of the project.
• Lt. Col. (Ret) Oakland “Oak” McCulloch helped us spread word of the project through his ROTC Newsletter for Stetson alumni who went through that program, and some of the current ROTC cadets are here with us.
• Class of 1968 Alumnus and Vietnam veteran Richard Swartz not only has been a great voice for the veterans on the planning committee, but through his Newsletter for the Lambda Chi Alpha alumni he has helped us find many alumni veterans whom we had not found in our other ways of searching.
• Dave Rigsby, Manager of the campus Department of Streets and Grounds and Senior Assistant for Special Projects, designed the site, responded creatively to the committee’s suggestions as his site plans developed, and did all the detail work necessary to convert an idea and a drawing into the real thing you see here today. Al Allen, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management, and Bob Huth, Executive Vice President and CFO of the University, found time in their very busy schedules of projects to make sure ours got the attention it needed to be planned, priced, and contracted. Tim Eden and BACE Construction were the basic construction contractors and Caulkins Electric did the electrical contracting. Mike Baldauff of Volusia Monument was our contractor for the granite marker.
• Students have played a role in the project as well; in addition to the student actors and musicians here, our thanks go to Digital Arts student Annette Morton and to student journalist Nicole Melchionda.

Finally, I want to note that there is the same wide range of complex attitudes about the Vietnam War among the veterans today as there was among warriors then and the American public then and now. The Vietnam War was a trauma for individuals and for the nation, and we are still seeing the aftermath of that war in our lives. William Faulkner said that in the South, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even the past” (1951), and this is true, as well, for the Vietnam War. The marker here invites visitors to pause “to reflect on war and peace, then and now.” The veterans’ biographies on the project website and other links on the site explore the range of thoughts about the Vietnam War. The website is a living, growing accompaniment to this beautiful Remembrance Site, and I invite you to visit the website often

Many thanks for your presence here.

I was but a small cog in a much larger wheel that brought this Remembrance Project to reality but I want you to know what a labor of love it was by all that have been recognized here today.On behalf of the Vietnam Era Remembrance Committee and Stetson University, I say to all gathered here today, but especially to all of you who served our nation during the Vietnam War Era, regardless of the nature of your service or where your orders took you, I say Well Done and Truly Welcome Home.

While there are many here today who have had long and distinguished careers serving our country, I take a point of personal privilege and great honor to recognize one of our most distinguished alumni.

He was a 1964 Stetson graduate and ROTC Cadet. He served gallantly and with great personal sacrifice in Vietnam in 1967-1968. He was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star. After his return and lengthy rehabilitation he was elected to the Georgia State Senate. In 1977 he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to be the Administrator of the Department of Veterans Affairs becoming the youngest administrator and the first Vietnam Veteran to hold that position.

In 1981 he returned to Georgia and was elected as Secretary of State. In 1996 he was elected as the U.S. Senator from Georgia. He was later appointed to serve on the 9/11 Commission and was appointed by President Barack Obama to the American Battle Monuments Commission. He continues to provide support and leadership to Stetson University.

Please join me in recognizing my fraternity brother, Senator Max Cleland.

As you can see, this Remembrance site will for many years to come be a wonderful setting for reflection and remembrance. But equally important is the digital Vietnam Remembrance Archive at our DuPont-Ball Library. The biographies that have been submitted bring to mind all of the emotions that many of us share. I have had the opportunity to read all of the biographies and I encourage you to visit the site and read them as well. Some will bring you to tears and others will bring a smile to your face. If you have not submitted your bio, please do so.

To all of our Stetson family and the Remembrance Committee, I’d like to say on behalf of all who served during the Vietnam Era, all here today, those who are no longer with us and those who could not return for this homecoming, Well Done and Thank You for Our Welcome Home.

Thank you.