The Lyon County Museum is opening a new exhibit, “The Vietnam War and Lyon County” by this summer. The exhibit’s purpose is to help explain and further our understanding of how the war in Vietnam affected our Lyon County communities and to share stories from Lyon County Vietnam veterans. The exhibit will be thematically driven with themes including: Living Conditions, Keeping in Touch Overseas, Returning Home, and Ways Vietnam Shaped Me to name a few.

For over a year now, we have worked with local and Lyon County connected veterans to help us with this exhibit. These contributing veterans have helped in many ways including: some have provided oral history interviews and photos/documents with LCHS President Bill Palmer; many have participated in Veterans Roundtables at the museum to help identify and provide examples for the exhibit’s themes; some have completed our veterans questionnaires; and others have donated or loaned artifacts to use in the exhibit to help illustrate the veteran’s accounts about their service in Vietnam.

In the process of working on this exhibit, we have drafted with input from veterans, a Lyon County Vietnam Veterans Roster. The roster is a working document. It includes names of those from Lyon County (born here or have lived here) who served in Vietnam, Thailand, Guam, or the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Along with their name, data such as hometown/residence and service branch/Vietnam dates are included if known.

The roster and biographical sketches of our contributing veterans is located on the museum’s website: www.lyoncomuseum.org under Lyon County Veterans. I encourage Vietnam veterans and friends and family members to review the Lyon County Vietnam Veterans Roster and let us know about names missing or data missing from the roster. We are also asking for assistance in identifying any names of living or deceased veterans who served during the Vietnam era, but not in Vietnam, Thailand, Guam, or the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Information can be sent to us on the website, emailed to director@lyoncomuseum.org, call 507-537-6580, or stop in at the museum at 301 W Lyon St, Marshall. If you cannot access the information on the website, stop in the museum and I can gladly show you the roster.

Lastly, if you are a Vietnam veteran and would like to learn more about the exhibit, we are having a Vietnam Veterans Roundtable at the Lyon County Museum on Tuesday, March 28 at 1:30 pm.

The photograph featured this week is courtesy of Daniel Dybsetter. Daniel served in the US Army and was stationed in Vietnam from March 1969 to May 1970. He was located at the Mekong Delta in the southernmost, IV Corps region of South Vietnam.

The Lyon County Historical Society (LCHS) is a non-profit, member-supported organization. LCHS operates the Lyon County Museum at 301 W Lyon St in Marshall. The Lyon County Museum is open year-round to visitors. To contact us, visit our website: www.lyoncomuseum.org, call: 507-537-6580, email: director@lyoncomuseum.org, or on our Facebook page.