Documentary lets state's Vietnam vets open up

Journal Sentinel
Maj. Gen. Al Wilkening (left) watches as Brig. Gen. Kerry Denson, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, shows his Vietnam battle scars to guardsmen in San Antonio. Denson, a Huey helicopter pilot who served two tours in Vietnam, is featured in “Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories.”

Documentary lets state's Vietnam vets open up
Many had kept war stories to themselves
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
It was through Sue Haack's typewriter that many families learned of the deaths of their loved ones in Vietnam.

Assigned to U.S. Army Vietnam Headquarters in Long Binh, she arrived to the war in January 1969 and left one year and two days later. Sometimes she had to go to the morgue to help sort identifications before rolling a form letter into an old manual typewriter.

"All you had to do was put in the name and address. It was such a cold feeling. It was hell on earth," said Haack, 62, of Madison.

Haack didn't talk about her experiences in Vietnam as an enlisted soldier for 15 years after she returned home in 1970.

Wearing her uniform - the only clothes she had - on her journey back to Madison, she was kicked out of a taxicab and a stewardess refused to let her on a flight until the plane's captain intervened. Why talk about Vietnam when it seemed as if everyone was protesting the war, Haack figured.

Now, she and many other Wisconsin Vietnam veterans are getting a chance to speak about their experiences in a documentary that will be broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television this month. "Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories" will air in three one-hour segments May 24 to 26, the week after LZ Lambeau, a three-day event and welcome-home gathering at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

In the documentary, she relates the fate of the soldier she replaced in casualty notifications - he committed suicide 10 days before the end of his tour. Though most of the names of the casualties were unknown to her, Haack handled letters to the families of five friends she met in Vietnam who died when their helicopter crashed.
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