Documents tell story of U.S. allies and employees sent to Vietnamese reeducation camps.
Texas Tech University’s Vietnam Archive hosted the grand opening of its Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association Collection May 28 in the Marshall Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library. At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, thousands of U.S. allies, employees and Vietnamese dissidents were imprisoned in communist reeducation camps. The collection provides more than 10,000 primary sources for studying the experiences of these prisoners and refugees and their families who immigrated to the U.S. once they were released. Donated in 2005 to Texas Tech by the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, the collection contains 156 linear feet of documents meaning the materials stretch approximately 52 yards when stacked end-to-end. “We hope this collection will help historians and others understand the experiences of this group of Vietnamese immigrants,” said Ann Mallett, project archivist for the collection. “These people were our allies; they were U.S. employees or they didn’t agree with communism and they were forced into reeducation camps. The collection contains photographs and handwritten letters, so it is very personal, and it gives another piece of the story of the Vietnam War – what happened after the war ended to these people who were our allies.”

Texas Tech University Press Release

Dr. Kelly Crager, head of the Oral History Project at the Vietnam Center and Archive, delivered the keynote address for the May 26th Memorial Day Program at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Frederickburg, Texas. The title of Dr. Crager’s address was “Honoring our Veterans and Their Families.” After his presentation, Dr. Crager held a book signing for his recently published book Hell under the Rising Sun: Texan POWs and the Building of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway.

National Museum of the Pacific War
Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post Online

The faculty and staff of the Vietnam Center and Archive extend our congratulations to Senior Editor Victoria Lovelady on her recent graduation from Texas Tech University. Mrs. Lovelady has earned a B.A. in Communication Studies. She was also awarded the Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award and the Undergraduate Service Award by her department. Congratulations, Victoria!

Session videos and presentations from the 6th Triennial Symposium are now available online at the link listed below. There are versions of the videos for both high-speed and slower connections.

6th Triennial Symposium Session Videos and Presentations

Dr. Kelly Crager’s article, “‘God Knows What’s Going to Happen to Us’: The ‘Lost Battery’ of Texas’s ‘Lost Battalion’ in World War II,” will appear in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly in the July 2008 edition. The article presents a history of the little-known E Battery of the Lost Battalion, whose members were captured by the Japanese on Java in March 1942 and who spent the remainder of the war laboring for their captors in the Japanese home islands. His account follows the men throughout their experiences and attempts to explain their high survival rate; one of the most important factors for their survival was the comradeship shared among these Texans POWs. Dr. Crager based this study on oral history interviews with survivors of the experience, as well as on governmental and U.S. Army documents gathered at war’s end. Dr. Crager is the current head of the Oral History Project at the Vietnam Center and Archive.

Texas State Historical Association

Amy Hooker, C.A., Reference Archivist for the Vietnam Center and Archive, has been invited to participate in a panel discussion at this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Southwest Archivists in Houston, TX, on May 24, 2008. The panel is titled “CA-Wannabes: aWeb 2.0 Lifeline” and will discuss how Internet tools such as blogs, wikis, listservs, and chatrooms aid archivists in preparing for the Academy of Certified Archivists Examination. Ms. Hooker earned her archival certification in 2007.

Academy of Certified Archivists