When Lee Chilcote ’64 and Francis McGrath ’64 visited professor Edward Miller’s class in the fall of 2012 to share their stories of fighting in the Vietnam War, the experience dredged up memories and emotions that had remained unvoiced for decades. On Monday — nearly 50 years after accepting their military commissions — Chilcote, McGrath and fellow veteran James Laughlin ’64 will return to speak to Miller’s class for a second time and to give a public lecture.
Glen Kendall ’64 Tu’71, who fought in the Vietnam War after taking part in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at Dartmouth, will also join this year’s panel.
McGrath said his 2012 visit to Miller’s course, which examines leaders’ decisions as well as the lives of soldiers in Vietnam, was the first time he had talked about his wartime experiences in depth.
“It sort of put me on a journey of going back over the places I had been in Vietnam,” McGrath said. “It certainly brought up emotions that I had probably squashed for a number of decades, but overall, it was definitely a positive experience to go back over and try to articulate to myself what that experience was like.”
Miller, who hosted documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in the class earlier this term to discuss the Vietnam War, said he hopes the panel will connect students with alumni who can apply their perspectives to the class material.
Class visits are a form of experiential learning, Miller said.
“At some level, this is what history is all about — making connections between larger trends and processes and the actual lived experience of real people,” he said.
Chilcote said he hopes to convey a historical perspective that lectures and texts cannot always communicate.
At the 2012 panel, McGrath was impressed by the students’ historical knowledge, he said.
“When I went to Vietnam, I was very naive,” McGrath said. “I had no idea of what was going on, of what had been going on over there. I think the students in Professor Miller’s class probably have a better understanding of that war than I do, even now.”
The four speakers will publish essays on their Vietnam experiences as part of a project conceived by Class of 1964 secretary Phillip Schaefer ’64, who proposed the first panel to Miller while auditing the 2012 class.
Schaefer said he began reaching out to classmates in the ROTC after recognizing that they, like many Vietnam War veterans, struggled to communicate their overseas experiences to others.
After writing a column in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine about his classmates who served in the military, Schaefer asked each of the approximately 150 veterans in his class to write essays about their experiences in Vietnam. The 55 essays he collected became chapters in his book, “Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives,” which includes an introduction by Miller and will be released on April 1. Miller’s class will be joined on Monday night by veterans currently studying at Dartmouth, ROTC members and members of former College President James Wright’s history seminar on American military history.
Each of the students in Wright’s class was assigned a paper about one of the Dartmouth men who died in Vietnam, Schaefer said. Students in Wright’s class and Miller’s class, as well as all members of the Class of 1964 will receive a copy of “Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives,” he said.
In addition to the panel discussion on Monday night, Chilcote, Kendall, Laughlin and McGrath met with current Dartmouth veterans on Sunday night and will have lunch with ROTC members on Monday, Schaefer said.
This lack of understanding is common among Dartmouth students going into the class, Miller said. Many are aware that the Vietnam War was a central event to 20th century U.S. history, but have learned few details about it.
“They don’t understand why the Vietnam War became such a central and divisive event in the ’60s and ’70s, and why it continues to be controversial today,” Miller said.
With two sections of over 30 students, “The Vietnam War” is Miller’s most popular class, he said, adding that the course highlights an important moment in recent U.S. history.
Chilcote said he is looking forward to returning for the event and added that he is better prepared this time after reading some of the assigned texts and listening to Miller’s lectures.
“I’m hoping, from my standpoint, that I can illuminate the history they’re studying a little bit better, from their standpoint,” Chilcote said.
The panel, which is open to campus, will be held tonight at 8 p.m. in Filene Auditorium.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: February 17, 2014
The original version of this article misattributed a quotation to a student who was not interviewed for the piece. The reference to this student and his quotation have been removed. The article also reported Miller's Vietnam War course enrolled 33 students, when he has two sections of the course, each enrolling over 30 students.
