麻豆免费版下载Boulder distinguished professor and Marine veteran Richard Jessor reflects on what the planting of the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi Feb. 23, 1945, meant for the country and for him personally

Eighty years later, Richard Jessor vividly recalls hitting the beach on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945.

鈥淭he island had been under severe bombardment from U.S. aircraft and our Navy ships offshore,鈥� says Jessor. 鈥淏oth types of bombardment had been going on for quite some time, and the sense was that Iwo Jima could be taken in three or four days because nothing could have survived such a massive bombardment from American forces.鈥�

The first three waves of Marines landed on the beach without taking enemy fire.

鈥淏y the time we in the fourth wave hit the beach, the Japanese鈥攚ho were concealed, waiting for us鈥攑ulled their artillery out of the caves and had every inch of the beach registered, so when our tractor hit the beach, we were under severe fire,鈥� recalls Jessor, then a 20-year-old Marine. 鈥淥ur tractor got stuck at the beach edge and could not move us up, so we jumped out of the tractor into the water.

鈥淎s I hit the beach, I looked over and there was a Marine lying on his back, a bubble of blood coming out of his mouth. He died there, and that was my first exposure to combat.鈥�

Jessor was hit in the back by shrapnel during the first day ashore but was able to continue fighting. After four days of fighting, he and his company were pulled back from the front line and told they could write one letter.

He wrote a letter to his parents, thanking them for everything they had done for him. He also said his goodbyes, 鈥渂ecause I didn鈥檛 think anyone was going to get off the island alive,鈥� he says, explaining, 鈥渢here was carnage all of the time, every day, and you felt every day that it was going to be your last day.

鈥淲e were constantly being fired upon by the Japanese, who would come to the openings of their caves and fire, and then withdraw, so we didn鈥檛 see the enemy, and that was a huge source of frustration,鈥� he adds. As it turned out, the Japanese had heavily fortified the island and had a dense network of tunnels from which they could launch attacks.

The flag raised atop Mount Suribachi

Back on the line the morning of the fifth day, Jessor looked at the opposite end of the island to see something in the distance atop Mount Suribachi, the dominant geographical feature on Iwo Jima.

鈥淎s I looked, I suddenly saw the American flag flying. I couldn鈥檛 see anything else that was that far away, but I saw the flag flying and I started shouting, 鈥楾he flag is up! The flag is up!鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淭he other Marines around me began turning around to look. Seeing that made us realize that our rear was now being covered, because we had been under attack from behind as well as in front.

鈥淔or me, it was a moment of being able to say to myself, 鈥楳aybe I will get out of this alive,鈥欌�� he adds. 鈥淚n that sense, it was transformative for me, and I remember it well.鈥�

The flag raising lifted the spirits of the Marines on the island, and later it did the same for a war-weary American public at home, when the image of Marines raising the flag was captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Rosenthal won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for photography, and the photo is one of the 

Jessor says the photo symbolized the Marines鈥� perseverance in the face of one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and it helped shape the public鈥檚 sentiment that victory in the Pacific was at hand. However, it also may have inadvertently created a false impression among the public, he says.

鈥淪ome people may think that when the flag went up the island was secure鈥攁nd that was absolutely not the case,鈥� Jessor explains. 鈥淲hen the flag went up, on day five, we still had 31 more days of fighting鈥攁nd most of the casualties took place after the flag raising. Close to 7,000 Marines were killed in the 36-day battle.鈥�

Meanwhile, as the Marines advanced, they sometimes came across the bodies of dead Japanese soldiers, whom they searched for souvenirs. Marines were particularly interested in Japanese 鈥済ood luck flags,鈥� which bore well wishes from friends and family and which were often tied around soldier鈥檚 waist.

鈥淥ne morning, when I looked out my foxhole, I saw a dead Japanese soldier. I walked over to him to see whether he had a flag under his shirt, and as I bent over, I saw he had letters in his shirt pocket,鈥� presumably from his family, he says. 鈥淲ell, I had letters from family in my pocket鈥�and suddenly I was struck by the fact that in so many ways we shared the same humanity. I couldn鈥檛 blame him any more than I could blame myself for being in the same situation. It gave me pause about how stupid it was to be engaged in this kind of activity (war).鈥�

An epiphany amidst combat

Jessor called that moment an epiphany. He made two vows then and there: that he would never go to war again and that he would go on to do something meaningful with his life.

First, though, he had to get off the island alive.

His next challenge came a few days later, when he was ordered to take a Japanese soldier captured at the front lines under his guard to the beach, where interpreters could question the prisoner about the placement of weapons facing the Marines.

鈥淎s I said, there was a great deal of frustration that we could not see the enemy we were fighting, so I anticipated there could be some attempts on my prisoner as I started walking him back through the rear lines,鈥� Jessor recalls. 鈥淎s we got through the rear of the lines, where our artillery was, a Marine jumped up, running toward me and my prisoner, saying, 鈥業鈥檓 going to kill that son-of-a-bitch.鈥�

鈥淚 had to point my rifle at his head and say, 鈥業 have orders to shoot anybody who touches my prisoner,鈥� and so he stopped and finally backed off. And the same thing happened a second time before I got the prisoner to the beach and turned him over to command headquarters,鈥� he says.

鈥淎s I鈥檝e ruminated these 80 years, I鈥檓 not sure whether I would have shot that fellow Marine if he had not desisted from his threat, and it worries me that I might have done that.鈥�

Finally, the objective is achieved

After 36 days, the Marines secured Iwo Jima. A short time later, U.S. aircraft were able to use its runway, which鈥攃ombined with the island鈥檚 proximity to the Japanese mainland鈥攎ade it a strategic military objective.

鈥淐apturing Iwo Jima had immediate consequences for the approach to Japan,鈥� Jessor says. 鈥淲hat was happening was that our bombers were leaving from Saipan or Tinian, and some of those bombers would get hit over Japan and not be able to make it back, so they would have to ditch in the sea, and many were lost. So, the fact Iwo Jima had a landing strip on it was important for that reason, as well as serving as a base for the projected attack on Tokyo.鈥�

But the victory came at a tremendous cost to the Marines.

鈥淲e were destroyed. As I said, almost 7,000 Marines were killed on that island,鈥� Jessor says. The scale of the loss was on display when Jessor and fellow Marines retraced their steps to the landing beach, which was arrayed with crosses where Marines were temporarily buried after falling in combat.

The Marines were shipped back to their training grounds in Maui for their next mission鈥攖he planned invasion of Japan.

They spent their days practicing landing craft invasions. At night, Jessor says he and a few of his fellow Iwo Jima veterans would gather in their tent to relive details of the battle, which he believes had a cathartic effect.

Jessor also recalls being on Maui when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

鈥淲hen the bomb dropped, we all thought it was a great thing,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淲e were saying to each other, 鈥楴o more war! We get to go home!鈥欌��

However, in retrospect, as the scale of the death and destruction in those cities became known, Jessor says he reevaluated his opinion about that fateful decision. At the same time, Jessor says he developed a deep disdain for politicians who were so easily willing to put American troops in combat.

鈥淭hey talk about it like it鈥檚 a game,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 the slightest sense of what combat is like and what it does to people and the destruction it causes. Even for the many people who survive the experience, their lives are changed forever.鈥�

After the war

After he was discharged, Jessor made good on his promise to himself to make a difference for the better. After earning his doctorate, in 1951 he accepted a position as an assistant professor of psychology at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder.

During his ensuing 70 years at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, he co-founded and later directed the (its building was recently renamed in his honor); wrote in January 1970 critiquing the lack of diversity on campus and making suggestions for positive changes; wrote a report in the 1960s that took the 麻豆免费版下载Board of Regents to task for being unresponsive to students and faculty, which earned him the ire of former Regent Joe Coors; and wrote 10 books. He retired as a distinguished professor in 2021, which makes him the university鈥檚 longest-serving professor.

Like many World War II veterans, Jessor rarely spoke of his experiences during the war, even to close friends and his own family. That changed for him after he saw the World War II movie , which opens with a scene of American soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy, France, under intense fire from German soldiers.

鈥淎s a trained clinical psychologist, I didn鈥檛 want to share my experiences with others, so I didn鈥檛 talk much about having been a Marine,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd then one day, my wife, Jane, and I were in Aspen. It was raining, so we couldn鈥檛 go hiking, so instead we went to the movies and saw Saving Private Ryan.

鈥淭he Steven Spielberg-directed movie was the real thing,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen the invasion scenes start at the beginning, I was sobbing, and the tears were running down my face. And while that was happening, I鈥檓 saying to myself, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e a psychologist and you didn鈥檛 know that you still had this inside you?鈥� And obviously, I didn鈥檛.

鈥淭he movie brought it all back to me, and so I began talking about it from that point on.鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 ever want to forget that experience, because it strengthened me in many ways. Sometimes I would say to myself, 鈥業f I can get through Iwo Jima, I can get through anything.鈥� But in other ways, it reminds me what war is all about and what has to be done so they don鈥檛 happen anymore.鈥�

Jessor had hoped to return to Iwo Jima last year. The  in New Orleans offered to cover all expenses for him and his wife to attend a Pacific war theater travel lecture tour series it offers to patrons, which was to include a visit to Iwo Jima. However, the island is open to visitors only one day a year, and volcanic activity on the island at the time resulted in the tour being cancelled. Noting his age鈥攈e is 100鈥擩essor says he鈥檚 unsure he will ever have the opportunity to return to the island, despite his strong desire to do so.

Reflecting on the past

These days, Jessor keeps some mementos on his work desk to remind him of his time on Iwo Jima: a deactivated Japanese hand grenade he took home from the battle and a jar containing black sand from the beach where he landed. The jar of sand was given to him by a friend who visited the island in 2002.

鈥淪ometimes I鈥檓 barely aware they are there, and then other times I鈥檒l look over and see the grenade or the vial of sand and it all comes back to me. It鈥檚 a reminder that I value a great deal,鈥� he says.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 ever want to forget that experience, because it strengthened me in many ways. Sometimes I would say to myself, 鈥業f I can get through Iwo Jima, I can get through anything.鈥� But in other ways, it reminds me what war is all about and what has to be done so they don鈥檛 happen anymore.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about behavioral science?

Related Articles

Invited by the king of Bhutan, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD student Clare Gallagher completed the 109-mile Snowman Race to bring attention to the realities of climate change

Usually when Clare Gallagher runs 100 miles, she does it all at once鈥攁 day that鈥檚 alternately punishing and exhilarating and at the furthest boundaries of what her body can do.

The 109-mile was different. It spanned five days across the Himalayas and saw 16 of the most elite ultramarathoners from around the world traversing multiple mountain passes approaching 18,000 feet.

Clare Gallagher (left) was invited by Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to run the 109-mile Snowman Race ultramarathon. (Photo: Snowman Race)

鈥淎s far as ultramarathons go, it was not that crazy a distance鈥攚e were doing about a marathon a day,鈥� Gallagher explains. 鈥淏ut it took so, so long because these mountains are just so high. We started in Laya (Bhutan), which is about 13,000 feet in elevation, and went up from there.鈥�

Gallagher, a PhD student in the 麻豆免费版下载 Department of Environmental Studies and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), was invited by the king of Bhutan to participate in the 2024 Snowman Race held at the end of October. It was the second time the race was held鈥攁n event envisioned by Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to draw international attention to the stark realities of climate change in Bhutan and around the globe.

鈥淥nce we actually got there and were literally on top of these glaciers, I could see his point,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淗is goal is for international trail runners like myself to help share the story of what we saw, and what I saw is that the glaciers are melting.鈥�

Running 100 miles

Before she vividly learned that a journey of 100 miles begins with a single step, however, Gallagher was simply a girl who liked to run. She ran track as an undergraduate at Princeton and kept running in Thailand, where she moved after graduating to teach English. While there, she signed up for the inaugural Thailand Ultramarathon almost on a whim and ended up winning.

Read more about Clare Gallagher's experiences in Bhutan in an .

The races she entered grew in length, and in 2016, at age 24, she ran the Leadville Trail 100 for the first time and won. 鈥淚 had been reading Outside magazine, and I always looked up to some of the women who preceded me (in ultramarathons),鈥� Gallagher says.

鈥淚 thought they were really badass, and trail running seemed a lot more interesting than track鈥擨鈥檇 gotten really burned out in undergrad, but to race in a beautiful mountain environment, in places that are so remote, really appealed to me.鈥�

Clare Gallagher (front row, far left in purple shirt) and 15 ultramarathon colleagues from Bhutan and around the world completed the five-day Snowman Race. (Photo: Snowman Race)

She won the 2017 , setting a course record, and the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run in 2019, the Black Canyon 100K in 2022 and the Leadville 100 again, also in 2022. She was invited to run the inaugural Snowman Race in Bhutan that year, but she鈥檇 started her PhD program, and her schedule couldn鈥檛 accommodate the training.

When she was invited to the second Snowman Race in 2024, despite still being in graduate school, she eagerly accepted. The 16 participants were evenly split between Bhutanese and international runners, 鈥渁nd the Bhutanese runners destroyed us,鈥� Gallagher says with a laugh.

鈥淭he physiology of running at altitude is pretty fascinating. A lot of the literature is finding that aspects of this ability are genetic, so if you don鈥檛 live at these altitudes and if you can鈥檛 afford to be acclimating for a month, your experience is going to be really different. It鈥檚 probably the gnarliest race I鈥檝e ever done, and I got wrecked by altitude. People thought I might do well because I鈥檓 from Colorado鈥攁nd I was using an altitude tent beforehand a little bit, but I was also taking my PhD prelims and didn鈥檛 want to be sleeping in it. So, I got destroyed.鈥�

She did, most importantly, finish the race, and the slower pace she adopted in acquiescence to the altitude allowed her more time to look around.

鈥楶lease send our message鈥�

The Snowman Race course follows the historic, high-altitude Snowman Trek route, beginning in Laya and ending in Chamkhar, and summitting a series of Himalayan passes鈥攖he highest of which is 17,946 feet.

"My experiences in Bhutan reminded me that I also feel a lot of hope and a lot of motivation to do what I can do, and smile while I鈥檓 at it," says Clare Gallagher (foreground, running in Bhutan), a 麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD student in environmental studies. (Photo: Snowman Race)

鈥淥n day three we were up almost to 18,000 feet, and I鈥檓 walking and kind of sick with altitude, but I still had never felt the immensity of what I felt in the Himalayas,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淭he race route goes really close to glaciers well over 18,000 feet, and I鈥檝e honestly never felt so scared. I could tell these glaciers were melting and the sun was so hot.

鈥淭he story of Bhutan is that these glaciers are melting at a much faster rate than predicted and are then creating these big alpine lakes that break through their levy walls or moraines and flood villages. We ran through one of these most at-risk villages鈥攊t takes seven days to get there by horse鈥攁nd the people who live there don鈥檛 want to be forced to move. So, they were saying, 鈥楶lease send our message back to your countries, we鈥檙e scared of our glaciers obliterating us.鈥欌��

And even though her PhD research focuses on plastic pollution in oceans, 鈥渆ven the issue of plastic pollution was apparent up there,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淭he interconnectedness of our world became so, so apparent up there. A piece of plastic trash up there is going to degrade really fast because of the high altitude and super harsh alpine environment, and then all those chemicals are going to go downstream. There鈥檚 not ton of trash in Bhutan, but plastic pollution is still a part of this story.鈥�

She adds that Bhutan, like many smaller nations, is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change despite having one of the smallest carbon footprints on the planet, and she rues that it takes runners from western nations flying there鈥攁nother carbon-intensive activity鈥攖o draw attention to the seriousness of climate change.

鈥淎 really surprising take-home from this journey was how spiritual the experience was,鈥� Gallagher says. 鈥淎ll of my fellow Bhutanese runners were praying at mountain passes, and any time there was a meditative stupa, they were stopping and praying to the mountain deities, thanking them for safe passage.

鈥淚 really do feel there鈥檚 some connection between caring for this planet and each other and all the plants and animals on this planet. I feel like that reverence is something I鈥檝e been missing in my work as an environmentalist. The phrase 鈥榗limate change鈥� has taken on an almost corporate flavor, but in Bhutan things aren鈥檛 emails or PowerPoints or slogans, they鈥檙e real. Climate change is not just a phrase; it means melting glaciers. So, I鈥檓 interested in taking that depth and reverence for the land and living things and beings and asking, 鈥極K, what are our problems here in Colorado? What are our challenges?鈥欌��

A hazard of the field in which she鈥檚 immersed is extreme climate anxiety, and Gallagher says she鈥檚 worked to focus day-to-day on 鈥渢aking care of what I can take care of and acknowledging my present. My experiences in Bhutan reminded me that I also feel a lot of hope and a lot of motivation to do what I can do, and smile while I鈥檓 at it. I feel a lot of gratitude for being alive at this time in history and asking, 鈥榃hat are we going to do with this moment?鈥欌��

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about environmental studies? Show your support.

Related Articles

麻豆免费版下载Boulder alum and regent emeritus Peter Steinhauer shares Vietnam experiences with students, to be featured in the in-progress documentary Welcome Home Daddy

Peter Steinhauer joined the U.S. Navy because that鈥檚 what young men of his generation did.

鈥淚 was brought up to finish high school, go to college, join a fraternity, get married, spend two years in the military, then work the rest of my life,鈥� he explains. 鈥淥f everybody I went to high school with in Golden, most of the boys went in (the military).鈥�

So, after graduating the 麻豆免费版下载 in 1958鈥攚here he met his wife, Juli, a voice major鈥攈e attended dental school in Missouri, then completed a face and jaw surgical residency, finishing in 1965. And then he joined the Navy.

Peter Steinhauer (left) and Steven Dike (right) after Steinhauer's presentation during the Oct. 18 class of The Vietnam Wars, which Dike teaches.

He had two young daughters and a son on the way, and he learned two weeks after being stationed at Camp Pendleton that he鈥檇 be shipping to Vietnam, where he served from 1966-67.

鈥淗ow many of your grandparents served in Vietnam?鈥� Steinhauer asks the students seated in desks rimming the perimeter of the classroom, and several raise their hands. Steinhauer has given this presentation to this class, The Vietnam Wars, for enough years that it鈥檚 now the grandchildren of his fellow veterans with whom he shares his experiences of war.

Even though Steinhauer had given the presentation before, the Oct. 18 session of The Vietnam Wars, for students in the Honors Residential Academic Program (HRAP), was different: It was filmed as part of the in-progress documentary , which chronicles Steinhauer鈥檚 experiences during and after the war and his deep love for the country and people of Vietnam.

鈥淧ete told me once that he dreams about Vietnam all the time, but they鈥檙e not nightmares,鈥� says Steven Dike, associate director of the HRAP and assistant teaching professor of history, who teaches The Vietnam Wars. 鈥淗e鈥檚 spent his life as a healer and an educator, and I think one of the values (for students) is hearing how his experiences in the war informed his life after it.鈥�

鈥楢n old guy there鈥�

Steinhauer, a retired oral surgeon and 麻豆免费版下载regent emeritus, served a yearlong tour with the 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Medical Battalion in Da Nang, Vietnam. Lt. Cmdr. Steinhauer was a buzz-cut 30-year-old鈥斺�渁n old guy there,鈥� he tells the students鈥攚ith a Kodak Instamatic camera.

He provided dental care and oral surgery to U.S. servicemen and servicewomen as well as Vietnamese people, and he took pictures鈥攐f the rice paddies and jungles, of the people he met, of the nameless details of daily life that were like nothing he鈥檇 experienced before.

鈥淭his was the crapper,鈥� Steinhauer tells the students, explaining a photo showing a square, metal-sided building with a flat, angled roof. 鈥淭here were four seats in there and no dividers, so you were just sitting with the guy next to you.鈥�

When the electricity went out, he and his colleagues worked outside. When helicopters came in with the wounded, it was all hands on deck.

Left image: Pvt. Raymond Escalera holds the since-deactivated grenade that Peter Steinhauer (to Escalera's left) removed live from his neck, in a photo that made the front page of The Seattle Times; right image: Peter and Juli Steinhauer (on right) visit Raymond Escalera (white shirt) and his wife in California.

鈥淭hey鈥檇 be brought off the helicopter and taken to the triage area,鈥� Steinhauer says, the photo at the front of the classroom showing the organized chaos of it. 鈥淎 lot of life-and-death decisions were made there, catheters and IVs were started there. The triage area is a wonderful part of military medicine.鈥�

Steinhauer also documented the casualties, whose starkness the intervening years have done nothing to dim. One of his responsibilities was performing dental identification of bodies, 鈥渙ne of the hardest things I did,鈥� he says.

Then there was Dec. 21, 1966: 鈥淎 guy came in鈥攊t was pouring rain, and we had mass casualties鈥攁nd he came in with trouble breathing,鈥� Steinhauer recalls. 鈥淲e discovered he had an unexploded M79 rifle grenade in his neck. We got it out, but a corpsman said, 鈥楧oc, you better be careful with that, it can go boom.鈥欌��

Not only did Marine Pvt. Raymond Escalera survive a live grenade in his neck, but about 12 years ago Steinhauer tracked him down and visited him at his home in Pico Rivera, California. 鈥淲e call four or five times a year now,鈥� Steinhauer says.

Building relationships

Steinhauer and his colleagues also treated Vietnamese civilians. 鈥淥ne of the most fun parts of my year there was being able to perform 60 or 70 cleft lip surgeries,鈥� Steinhauer tells the students, showing before and after photos.

Peter Steinhauer (left) and medical colleagues in Vietnam, with whom he worked during many of his 26 visits to Vietnam since the end of the war.

He then shows them a photo of the so-called 鈥淢cNamara Line鈥� between North and South Vietnam鈥攁 defoliated slash of brown and gray that looks like a wound that will never heal.

Healing, however, has happened, and continues to. 鈥淚 was blessed by the ability to go back to a place where so many horrible things happened during the war and make something beautiful of it,鈥� Steinhauer says.

In the years since he returned from war鈥攁nd met his almost-one-year-old son for the first time鈥擲teinhauer has gone back to Vietnam more than two dozen times. Acknowledging that his experience is not all veterans鈥� experience, he says he has been blessed to learn about Vietnam as a country and not just a war.

鈥淗ow veterans dealt with the war, how they鈥檙e still coming to terms with it as we鈥檙e getting further away from it, are really important issues,鈥� says Mark Gould, director and a producer of Welcome Home Daddy. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a war that we quote-unquote lost, but it was the most confusing war the United States has ever fought. We never had closure, but that didn鈥檛 stop Dr. Steinhauer from reaching out. Our tagline is 鈥楪overnments wage war, people make peace,鈥� and that鈥檚 what he stands for.鈥�

The idea for the documentary originated with Steinhauer鈥檚 daughter, Terrianne, who grew up not only hearing his stories but visiting the country with him and her mom. She and Gould served in the CalArts alumni association together, and several years ago she pitched him the idea for Welcome Home Daddy, which they are making in partnership with producer Rick Hocutt.

Peter Steinhauer with his children upon his return home after serving in the Vietnam War; the "Welcome home daddy" message inspired the title of the documentary currently being made about Steinhauer's experiences during and after the war.

The documentary will weave Steinhauer鈥檚 stories with those of other veterans and highlight the relationships that Steinhauer has built over decades鈥攖hrough partnering with medical professionals in Vietnam and volunteering his services there, through supporting Vietnamese students who study in the United States, through facilitating education and in-person visits between U.S. and Vietnamese doctors and nurses. At the same time, Juli Steinhauer has grown relationships with musicians and other artists in Vietnam. Both parents passed a love for Vietnam to their children.

An ugly war, a beautiful country

The stories of Vietnam could fill volumes. In fact, Steinhauer attended a 10-week course called Tell Your Story: A Writing Workshop for Those Who Have Served in the Military in 2008鈥攐ffered through the Program for Writing and Rhetoric and the Division of Continuing Education鈥攁nd wrote Remembering Vietnam 1966-67, a collection of his memories and photographs of the war that he published privately and gives to family, friends and colleagues.

About 10 years ago, Steinhauer asked to audit The Vietnam Wars鈥斺�渨ars鈥� is plural because 鈥渨e can鈥檛 understand the American war without understanding the French war,鈥� Dike explains鈥攊n what was only the second time Dike had taught it.

鈥淪o, I was a little nervous,鈥� Dike remembers with a laugh, 鈥渂ut he comes in and is just the nicest guy in the world. I asked if he鈥檇 be interested in sharing his experiences, and he鈥檚 given his presentation during the semester every class since.鈥�

In the Oct. 18 class, Steinhauer shares stories of bamboo vipers in the dental clinic, of perforating vs. penetrating wounds, of meeting baseball legends Brooks Robinson and Stan Musial when they visited the troops, of a since-faded Vietnamese tradition of women dyeing their teeth black as a symbol of beauty.

鈥淚t was an ugly war, but it鈥檚 a beautiful country,鈥� Steinhauer says. 鈥淛ust a beautiful country.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about history? Show your support.

Related Articles