ST FRANCIS, Minn. — This month marks 60 years since the international confrontation that brought the United States into the Vietnam War.
It also marks six decades of a rocky relationship between Vietnam veterans and their home front.
Many soldiers faced an icy reception when they came home. The war was unpopular politically, and many vets chose to hide from their service altogether.
Dennis Berg, from Anoka County, was one of those veterans.
“There were families that hadn't published obituaries because of the protesting,” Berg said. “It's, you know, people that you cared about telling you you shouldn't have done it. It really makes you search your soul.”
During the Gulf War, Berg began sharing his experiences from Vietnam, speaking at local veterans’ functions and at his alma mater, St. Francis High School. Over the years, he incorporated the stories of other St. Francis alumni who died in Vietnam.
It took the student body six decades after the conflict to honor the legacies of Peter Hedlund, Leslie Cowden, Phillip Watters and Raymond Baker. All four men gave their lives protecting fellow soldiers in combat.
“We started out thinking of naming a bridge, for example,” Berg said. “And then we got the county involved and they encouraged us to think even bigger.”
Families in Anoka County spent the last few years passing a combat boot around the stands at St. Francis athletic contests, collecting money to build a memorial in the Cedar Creek Conservation Area in Oak Grove. This year, they reached the group's $35,000 goal.
“The students came out, putting money in the boot,” Berg said. “I literally went to my car and cried.”
Emotions came flooding back — years of staying silent meant Berg only recently began telling people how he survived the conflict in Vietnam.
“My true hero was Russell Halley from Waterloo, Iowa,” Berg said. “Exposing himself to enemy fire to protect us. I wouldn't be here today if not for Russell. There's a lot of stories in Vietnam like that.”
Four of those stories are now etched in stone.
The memorial for Hedlund, Cowden, Watters and Baker was finished earlier this summer, complete with a ceremony and flag presentation to the four fallen soldiers’ families.
St. Francis students helped design and create metal figures installed at the memorial’s entrance.
“We could have gone to school with these people,” said Lydia Nelson, a St. Francis student who worked on the project. “Just really surreal.”
“I shared a story, they’re the ones who picked it up and ran with it,” Berg said.
Running with the idea, Berg said, that no veteran should have to keep their service a secret.
“It should be documented, should be shared with their family, and they should be able to be proud.”