SHSMO Center for Missouri Studies
605 Elm St.
Columbia, Mo.
True stories about war, accompanied by original live music, will be presented by four miliary veterans: Larry Rottmann, Springfield, Mo.; Tim Burrows, Nixa, Mike O’Brien, Boise, Idaho; and Eli Redstone of Gainesville, Florida. Fifty years after the last soldier left Vietnam, our nation’s historical and cultural memories the Vietnam War have been shaped by movies, books, and other influences. Among the common storylines are the brutal and inhuman enemy and the atrocities and casualties of war. Lost in that depiction is the humanity, if even for a moment. President Abraham Lincoln told of, “the better angels of our nature,” in his first inaugural address, as he tried desperately to avoid a civil war. Some of the “better angels” encountered by Vietnam veterans will be shared in intimate stories of war, reconciliation, and hope for humanity.
In conjunction with these events marking the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War, the photo exhibit, Faces from Vietnam, by Larry Rottmann will be on display in the SHSMO lobby.
Rottmann donated his collection to the State Historical Society of Missouri, beginning in 2000, and has made additional donations of photographs, manuscripts, correspondences, audio and video recordings, and other materials related to his life and service as a veteran of the Vietnam War. The Larry Rottmann Collection can be accessed at the Columbia Research Center.