Today is the Navy’s 236th birthday!  The Vietnam Center and Archive staff want to wish the Navy and all of its personnel past and present a very happy birthday.  To comemorate this day, we have created a small exhibit of Navy items.  You can view the exhibit by clicking on the link below.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/navy/navy11.htm

Today is the Air Force’s 64th birthday, and the staff of the Vietnam Center & Archive want to wish the Air Force a very Happy Birthday!  We have created a small exhibit of Air Force related materials from our collection to celebrate.  You can click here to view the exhibit, or use the link at the bottom of this post.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/airforce/airforce11.htm

Dick Rutan's Voyager Aircraft on display in the Air and Space Museum

The Vietnam Center and Archive is pleased to announce that thanks to a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation, our successful Guest Lecture Series will continue in 2012 with four speakers (dates are tentative):

March 2012 – Brig. General Tom Draude, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps University Foundation, Draude served for over 30 years in the US Marine Corps, including three tours in Vietnam.  He later commanded Marine Security Guards in Europe and the Fifth Marine Regiment, and served as the Assistant Division Commander of the First Marine Division during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  He received two Distinguished Service Medals and ten personal awards for combat, including two Silver Stars and the Purple Heart.

April 2012 – Dr. Raymond Scurfield, professor of social work at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, is an expert in PTSD.  He served as an Army officer on a psychiatric team in Vietnam from 1968-69, and has spent three decades working with hundreds of combat veterans of the Vietnam War and other conflicts.  Scurfield is the author of numerous books and articles on the effects of PTSD.

October 2012 – Dick Rutan served in the Air Force in Vietnam, flying over 325 combat missions.  Following his time in the military, Rutan continued his aviation career, earning many honors, breaking many world records, and being inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.  In 1986, he was the first person to fly nonstop around the globe without refueling.  He received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal of Honor, and his plane “Voyager” now hangs in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

November 2012 – Rocky Bleier, a star football player at Notre Dame, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968.  He also received a US Army draft notice that year.  Leaving the NFL, Bleier served in Vietnam with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade.  Wounded when his platoon was ambushed, doctors told Bleier he would never play football again.  With the support of Steelers owner Art Rooney, his coach and teammates, Bleier trained for two years and eventually became a star running back for the Steelers during their four Super Bowl wins in the 1970s.

 More information about dates and times will be posted as they become available.

 We would also like to remind you that our 2011 series continues on October 13th with Dr. Kara Dixon Vuic, followed by Dave Carey on November 10th.

 For more information about the Guest Lecture Series, visit www.vietnam.ttu.edu/gls

just an electrical transformer that failed knocking out power to our building for most of the day.  The Vietnam Center and Archive’s online resources are now available, and onsite services will resume with normal business hours tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

Long time Lubbock resident and friend of the Vietnam Center and Archive General Dudley Faver passed away on Friday.  He was 95.

General Faver was born in Sweetwater, TX (southeast of Lubbock) in 1916.  He joined the US Army Air Corps in March 1941 and served in a variety of posts around the US and the world, mostly as an instructor.  During the Vietnam War, Faver assumed command of the 3500th Pilot Training Wing at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock.  He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1966, and was transferred to US Air Force Headquarters.  Eventually promoted to Major General, Faver retired from the Air Force in 1973 and returned to Lubbock, where he was a fixture in the community and a great friend to many.

Services are pending with Resthaven Funeral Home in Lubbock.

US Air Force Biography

Lubbock Online

Today the U. S. Coast Guard turns 221.  To honor the Coast Guard and celebrate their birthday, we have created a small exhibit of Coast Guard materials from our collection.  The Vietnam Center and Archive staff would like to say thank you to all of the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard for all that they do.  Click on the link below to see the exhibit.

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/coastguard/coastguard11.htm

Dr. Bob Smith, Provost, Texas Tech University, opens the 7th Triennial Symposium

Session videos from the 7th Triennial Symposium are now available online on the Symposium Sessions Videos page and in the Virtual Vietnam Archive.

The Symposium was held on March 10-12th at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center in Lubbock, TX, and featured speakers from around the United States, Australia, Scotland, China, Vietnam, and Germany presenting on a wide variety of topics.

Still photographs of the symposium are also available on the Vietnam Center and Archive’s Facebook page.

Symposium Session Videos

Still Photographs Album 1

Still Photographs Album 2

Symposium Information

We have added two new pages to our website that we hope will be helpful to researchers: Browse the Digitized Audio and Browse the Digitized Moving Images. These pages join our existing Browse the Collections and Browse the Oral History Interviews as an alternative way to research in these media types without having to go through the Virtual Vietnam Archive search page.

The Browse pages are beneficial to both researchers unfamiliar with the holdings of the Archive and to those interested in specific types of items. The digitized audio and moving image items remain accessible through the Virtual Vietnam Archive, and as new items are digitized they will be made available through both resources.

The Archive does have numerous items of both media types that have not yet been digitized. Those interested in viewing the records for non-digitized items will need to go through the Advanced Search page of the Virtual Archive.

For more information on alternatives to the Virtual Vietnam Archive search page, see our Researching Online page.

Links:

Browse the Digitized Audio

Browse the Digitized Moving Images

The Vietnam Center and Archive is now on Twitter at http://twitter.com/vietnamTTU.  Keep up with VNCA news, updates from events, and more right in your Twitter feed.  If you already have a Twitter account, go to http://twitter.com/vietnamTTU and click “follow.”

AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter (serial: 67-15532)

The Vietnam Center and Archive will be closed on Monday, July 4th. 

For those of you in Lubbock and the South Plains planning on attending the 4th on Broadway parade, be sure to watch for our AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter, which will be pulled in the parade by oral historian Dr. Kelly Crager, and accompanied by Cub Scout Troop 511.

AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter, Chuck Carlock Collection

Lubbock’s 2011 4th on Broadway Celebration