Elmira museum pays tribute to Vietnam Veterans

By JoAnn R. Walter —

The Vietnam Veterans Museum, located at 1200 Davis St. in Elmira, N.Y., and a significant resource in the Twin Tiers, welcomes all to visit. Nearby is the historic Woodlawn National Cemetery, and the final resting place for thousands of our military.

Opened in 2009, and a reasonable drive for those in Tioga County, N.Y. or Bradford County, Pa., the museum is home to some 2,000-plus artifacts. 

Dennis Wolfe Sr. (Denny), director of the museum, explained, “The museum is dedicated to educating people about the Vietnam War, and our mission is to tell the true story of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.”

Nearly every inch of the museum’s space is utilized. Within various display cases, visitors will find a multitude of items, such as a piece of shrapnel from a North Vietnamese rocket, a variety of patches and medals, gas masks, hand grenades and C-ration tins, just to name a few.  

Floor displays feature uniforms, combat boots and helmets, and then on the walls are numerous photos and flags, such as North Vietnamese and Viet Cong battle flags, and flags from other countries that also served in Vietnam, like New Zealand and Thailand. Don’t forget to look up; you’ll notice a deactivated RPG hanging from the ceiling, among other interesting pieces.     

An extensive library featuring documentaries, books, pictures and maps is available for the public to use during regular museum hours.

One of Wolfe’s favorite items is a psychedelic-inspired painting. The emotional draw is that the artist, Mike Oliver, a Marine veteran, blended together 23 faces, and all members of his unit who died in Vietnam.

The museum pays tribute to the women who served in Vietnam, i.e., the “Angel Nurses” as Denny calls them, along with Red Cross volunteers. Two nurses from Elmira, Mary Lou Raplee and Kathy Shields, were stationed at a hospital when it was hit during the infamous January 1968 Tet offensive.  Both women received Bronze Stars. 

The “Wall of Honor,” a central spot in the museum, displays the 32 names and photographs of soldiers from Chemung County who died during combat, along with a Missing Man Table, in honor of the missing and fallen.   

Veterans from VVA Post 803 gather for a weekly support group meeting at the museum, which is an opportunity to share, listen, and help each other. After their meeting on May 17, five veterans from the Elmira area stayed to share for this article.

Herbert Hatch, an Army Combat Engineer in Vietnam, defended floating bridges.  He recalled the day he went through San Francisco on his journey home; it was not a warm welcome.   

Fred Steiner served six years in the U.S. Navy, and four of those aboard the history-laden aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Forrestal, and where he was a pipefitter and firefighter. The Mediterranean was home base for Steiner; a ship break entailed driving boats filled with service men headed to shore for leave. 

Marty O’Donnell was drafted after college. He spent a year in the central highlands of the Vietnam jungles, and as part of an Army infantry reconnaissance unit supporting fire bases. A dark memory Marty noted was black rain, the toxic drips from vegetation after Agent Orange was sprayed. A more positive light today is Marty’s friendly dog that accompanies him to meetings and provides support to fellow vets.  

Ken Krieger served in the artillery and explained that he did everything he could to help save lives. His role was to fight back as mortars and rockets were incoming, and remarked, “Other lives depended on me.”

Krieger said that when he returned home from Vietnam to his native Brooklyn, N.Y., his family prominently placed a welcome home banner. Ken wasn’t ready for that then, and explained that the support group has helped him work through that memory. Ken has since been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, along with suffering from Agent Orange effects. 

Denny Wolfe spent his 20th and 21st birthdays in Vietnam. He vividly recalls the induction that took place at the Chimes Building in Syracuse, a clear memory as if it was yesterday.

A helicopter crew chief for the First Air Cavalry, the mission of his Army unit was to recover downed aircraft and salvage what they could. After his three-year obligation, Wolfe worked for Bell Helicopter, and, ironically, returned to Vietnam on three different trips where he disassembled helicopters to take back to Texas.

Denny shared that the film, “Saving Private Ryan,” and subsequently the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, were triggers for him, yet it opened the door for his own self-care. Wolfe credits the VA Medical Center in Batavia, N.Y. for offering PTSD assistance for many veterans.  

Wolfe is also raising awareness of a disease that is afflicting Vietnam Veterans called Cholangiocarcinoma, a malignant tumor of the bile duct within the liver, or leading from the liver to the small intestine. The parasite associated with it originates from the water supply in Southeast Asia.  

Wolfe encourages all to visit the museum. To learn more, call the museum at (607) 737-2760.