Breaking the Silence and Healing the Soul: The Oral Histories of Vietnam War Veterans of North Carolina

Based on "Breaking the Silence: The Unspoken Brotherhood of Vietnam Veterans," Sharon Raynor’s oral history project funded by the NC Humanities Council that highlights the war experiences of Vietnam veterans in different parts of NC, this program explores the concepts of trauma, silence, healing, and recovery. The project evolved from her father’s war experiences as seen and told in his photographs and diary kept during his tour of duty. During the project, veterans who were once silenced by their memories of war shared their stories of indignities and pride, disappointment and sacrifice, honor and death, healing and recovery. This program focuses on the stories of the community of veterans who once shared a strict code of unbreakable silence and who now have formed a brotherhood to heal their wounded souls. Raynor also shares the process she used to be accepted into this community of veterans and to gain their trust in order to record their stories. She shows her audience videotape clips of the public forums, and shares excerpts from the oral history interviews, photographs and newspaper articles, and memorabilia from the war.