Voices of Vietnam Veterans

12/31/22 • 50 min

Kansas 1972

After more than two decades of involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, on October 26, 1972, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger declared, “peace is at hand.” A peace agreement was signed just a few months later, and US troops left Vietnam. This episode features stories from Kansans who served in the Vietnam War. What led these Kansans to serve? What did they experience during the war? How did they navigate the complicated reactions to their service when they returned home? How did their service affect their lives? And what can we learn from these Kansas veterans’ experiences today?

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Rattlebone Hollow

Founded by Exodusters in the late 1800s, the story of Rattlebone Hollow has been mostly forgotten by Kansans. A thriving African-American community for the first part of the 20th century, Rattlebone Hollow was a neighborhood of black professionals, businesses, and homeowners. But decline set in, and in 1972, the US federal government was building a landfill in this Kansas City, KS neighborhood. Learn about the history of this important community and the five-decade fight against environmental discrimination from two individuals who are trying to keep the Rattlebone Hollow story alive.