Speaker Shares ‘Letters from Vietnam’ in Watson Auditorium

Author and Vietnam War veteran Joseph Allen Freeborn spoke to Wentworth students and others in Watson Auditorium on Feb. 25, sharing awe-inspiring tales from his new book, Letters from Vietnam.

Freeborn served in Vietnam from August 3, 1971 through March 16, 1972, stationed in Da Nang where the U.S. Air Force housed a major air base. He told Wentworth students about arriving in a foreign land, his ruck sack that weighed nearly 86 pounds, and about how he would have to build his bedding most nights. Other nights, he had nothing more than a poncho on the ground.

Freeborn also displayed numerous images of friends eating food from cans, of himself dressed in uniform before a mission and of his hammock before taking questions from the audience. Several students remarked that they were amazed by the way Freeborn had to live at the time.

The Letters from Vietnam discussion is part of an effort to convey historical events to students though living examples. The event was hosted by the Student Veteran and ROTC Club in conjunction with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

--John Franklin