Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed analyzing the narrative styles of these three American veterans of the Vietnam War and endeavored to explore your own relationship to memory and how you engage with your own narratives. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, in choosing these particular veterans, among many others, to be featured in the documentary series, approached their role in telling the story of the Vietnam War with great intentionality toward the formation of the American collective memory of the war. It is common for Vietnam veterans to stress the uniqueness of individual experiences from all types of service during the war. By illuminating and engaging with the subjectivity of these individuals through oral testimony, we may piece together the nuances of historical events like the Vietnam War. I encourage all visitors to this exhibit to thank veterans for their service and approach them with an appropriate sense of respect and curiosity.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Mike Heaney for participating in the Dartmouth Vietnam Project, for being a wonderfully engaging narrator, and for his cooperation in this digital exhibit. I also want to thank Professor Edward Miller and my classmates for a lively and instructive term. Additionally, I want to thank David Hoffman for his correspondence with me about his interview with W.D. Ehrhart. Finally, I’d like to thank Caveh Zahedi, who has inspired me to explore the deeper meanings of reflexive storytelling.