Vietnam Veteran News

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Missouri National Veterans Memorial adds a Vietnam Era Huey Helicopter to its offering

Episode 3064 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the dedication of a Vietnam Era Army helicopter at the Missouri National Veterans Museum at Perryville, Missouri. The featured story appeared in the Republic Monitor of Perryville and was titled: Hundreds Gather for Huey Helicopter Dedication at Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial. The story was submitted by Kevin Jenkins, the editor of the Monitor. [editor@perryvillenews.com]

Jenkins reported that a large and enthusiastic crowd braved overcast skies to witness a significant new chapter in Missouri’s commemoration of military service: the unveiling and dedication of a restored Vietnam War-era Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” helicopter at Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial (MNVM) in Perryville.

The ceremony, emceed by MNVM executive director Rae Lynn Munoz, marked the culmination of a yearlong restoration effort and celebrated the helicopter’s new status as a permanent outdoor display.

The Huey, a 1964 model, was previously on display at Wentworth Academy before being transferred to Perryville in March 2024 through the cooperation of the Museum of Missouri Military History.

Its journey to Perryville signaled the start of a significant transformation, as a team led by Col. Kevin P. Robinson, US Army (Ret.), and supported by more than 50 volunteers and local businesses, dedicated over 1,700 hours to restoring the aircraft to its former glory.

As the centerpiece of the day’s events, the Huey’s restoration included extensive cleaning, disassembly, sheet metal repair, and reassembly, ensuring its place as a lasting tribute to those who served in the Vietnam War.

Visitors to the site can now see the Huey along with other prominent tributes, including a full-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall—one of the most accurate in the nation—as well as the Honor Flag Memorial, the Guardians of Freedom monument, and the Old Guard statue.

The MNVM grounds are open 24 hours a day, offering a peaceful setting for reflection, while the welcome center and military museum provide educational exhibits and staff assistance daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Listen to Episode 3064 and discover more about the dedication of a Vietnam Era Army Helicopter at the Missouri National Veterans Museum at Perryville, Missouri.

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Vietnam War MIA Allen Christensan’s family.

Searching for MIA remains.

Episode 3063 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the family of Vietnam War MIA Allen D. Christensan and their hopes for the future. The featured story is titled: Family of missing Vietnam War soldier holds hope after 53 years and it appeared in the Moody County Enterprise paper of Flandreau, South Dakota. The story was submitted by Carleen Wild, a writer for the Enterprise staff.

Wild reported that Each year, Daryl and Kay Christensen attend the government’s family update on Missing in Action (MIA) soldiers, hoping for any news about Daryl’s brother, Allen, who has been missing since his helicopter was shot down during the Vietnam War in 1972.

After more than five decades, updates have been few and far between.

This year, however, marked a turning point. Kay and her son, Troy, attended the recent family update, hopeful like never before that they might finally have answers about what happened to Allen — and perhaps even bring part of him home.

During the June weekend event, they toured a forensic lab at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha and learned about three potential sites where Allen’s remains might be. A private company, Stony Beach, has been contracted to help exhume these sites in 2026.

Kay expressed that if Allen’s remains are not found during their lifetimes, she hopes someone will remember him.

“It’s been 53 years, but we won’t stop looking. One way or another, we’ll keep fighting for answers,” she said.

Next year’s family update will take place in Arlington, Virginia.

Let’s hope that when Allen Christenson’s remains are found his memory will be fully honored by a grateful country here in the U.S..

Listen to Episode 3063 and discover more about the family of Vietnam War MIA Allen D. Christensan and their hopes for the future..

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Aussie Vietnam Vet Richard Norden was awarded the Victoria Cross after a 57 year delay

Episode 3062 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Private Richard Norden, a courageous Australian soldier who served in the Vietnam War, has been posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia — the nation’s highest military honor — in recognition of his extraordinary bravery under enemy fire. The late soldier, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident in Canberra in 1972, is now being formally acknowledged for his gallant actions that saved the lives of his comrades during one of the conflict’s most intense battles.

Private Norden’s heroism took place during a fierce engagement deep in the jungles of Vietnam, where his unit came under heavy enemy fire. Despite being severely outnumbered and facing imminent danger, Norden displayed unwavering resolve. Ignoring his own safety, he advanced across exposed terrain to provide cover for wounded soldiers and direct effective return fire. His actions disrupted the enemy assault and enabled a successful evacuation of his platoon, demonstrating leadership and bravery well beyond the call of duty.

In a solemn ceremony held at Government House, Governor-General Sam Mostyn presented the Victoria Cross to Norden’s surviving family members. “Private Norden’s selfless courage, loyalty to his mates, and devotion to duty reflect the highest ideals of our armed forces,” said Mostyn. “Though his life was tragically cut short, his heroism will be remembered for generations to come.”

The posthumous recognition brings long-awaited honor to a soldier whose actions exemplify the true spirit of the Victoria Cross. Private Norden’s legacy now stands among the few who have earned this rare distinction, cementing his place in Australian military history. His story serves as a powerful reminder of the personal sacrifices made by those who serve in combat, and the enduring value of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Listen to Episode 3062 and discover more about Aussie Vietnam Vet Richard Norden and his award of the Victoria Cross.

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Dieu Ly Hoang, left and Kien Nghi Ha, right, hail from different Vietnamese backgrounds and today live in the same Berlin neighbourhood [Giulio Ferracuti/Al Jazeera]

Episode 3061 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the Vietnamese Diaspora in Germany. The featured story is titled: ‘We are all Vietnamese and came to Germany to build a better life’ and it appeared in Aljazeera. It was submitted by Gouri Sharma. She is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. Previously, she spent five years working on the production desk for Al Jazeera‘s media critique show, the Listening Post.

In her story, Sharma reported that an estimated 35,000 refugees arrived in West Germany in 1979, while 70,000 contract workers began to arrive in the GDR in 1980. The fractures in Vietnam mirrored divisions in Germany, with North Vietnam backed by the USSR-aligned East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the capitalist West Germany supporting South Vietnam.

Within months of the war’s end in 1975, Vietnam established diplomatic relations with the GDR(communist East Germany), paving a different kind of path for Northern North Vietnamese immigrants to fly overseas a few years later to the communist paradise in East Germany.

“In the GDR, people were proud to show international solidarity, and this went hand in hand with hatred of the capitalist West, while the West German government saw the Vietnam War as part of the global struggle against communism,” explained German historian Andreas Margara.

On April 30, Vietnam marked 50 years since the end of the war. For the large Vietnamese-German diaspora, who arrived as refugees and contract workers, this year’s milestones have stirred a sense of reflection.

Today most Vietnamese in Germany feel that “Even though Vietnam has been damaged a lot, we are all Vietnamese and came to Germany to build a better life for ourselves.”

Listen to Episode 3061 and discover more about the Vietnamese Diaspora in Germany.

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Episode 3060 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3060 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

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Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3059 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3059 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3058 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3057 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3056 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3055 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3055 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises…