KIMBERLY, WI (WTAQ) – On Friday, Kimberly High School was the latest stop for a traveling Vietnam War display, which is helping a number of veterans open up and find peace decades after returning from combat.
For students, it’s a rare opportunity to see real war artifacts and speak with the individuals that lived out the experiences.
“It’s the forgotten war, most of these kids have never heard of all the stuff that goes on,” says Gary Brynjulfson.
Brynjulfson served in Vietnam from 1967 to 68, spending his time in the central highlands of the country as a mortarman in the Army.
Brynjulfson was hit by shrapnel from a mortar within his first thirty days.
“If you look at my hand and arm, you can see the scars, they’re over 50 years old and they’re still there,” explains Brynjulfson.
Yet he’ll say those scars pale in comparison to the mental anguish he’s lived with for years after returning from war.
“Just like me, a lot of veterans for years and years could not talk about it,” he says. “I’m smelling the moisture, I’m smelling the dirt, smelling the powder, I don’t hear the explosion, but I get all the senses that I’m there.”
According to him, the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 551 traveling display has been helpful in starting the healing process.
Brynjulfson and other veterans have the opportunity to share their stories.
“When students are so attentive and interested in what you have to say, I would tell you that not only me but all these veterans here, it helps them to tell their stories because they kept it for years,” he explains.
For many students, the experience has changed their outlook on the war.
“It makes me realize a lot more, its no longer a causality number in a page but people I actually knew,” explains student Nathaniel Klitzke.
