Ossining Students Tell Veterans’ Stories Visually

Decades have passed since the Vietnam War ended, but the pain felt by veterans who were excoriated and spat on when they returned from their service is still raw.

The difficult memories shone through in the artwork created by Ossining High School students after learning about Danbury-area veterans’ wartime experiences. Twelve veterans from the Danbury Vet Center met with students in November, and the artists had two weeks to create photography, paintings, drawings and videos based on the conversations. The assignment was part of the second annual Veterans Art Project with the center. Students in art teacher Ron Whitehead’s and photography teacher Harry Quiroga’s classes participated.

Eleventh-graders Katherine Pulla and Rashell Villa, who are photography students, said they were horrified to learn how poorly Bill Dwyer was treated when he returned from Vietnam after serving for 15 months. At San Francisco Airport, people were following him around and telling him he was a horrible person.

“He came back from serving to be treated horribly,” Rashell said. “Imagine going through so much difficulty there and to be recognized as something terrible when you have so much pride in what you did.”

Their design for Mr. Dwyer, who lives in Danbury, featured a current photograph of him in a 5th Infantry Division Vietnam Veteran hat, with older pictures from his service days. “EVERYBODY IS A HERO” is in orange type across the top of the artwork.

Mr. Dwyer told the girls during their interview that he is not proud of his military service, said Mr. Whitehead, a Desert Storm combat veteran. “That really hurts me because he should feel proud, because I feel proud,” said Mr. Whitehead, who became emotional as he spoke.

The veteran was not able to attend the event at OHS, but Mr. Whitehead asked the audience to stand up and say “Welcome Home, Bill.” After sending an email to teachers and letting them know about Bill’s story, he received enough “welcome home” cards that Bill can open up one a day for two years. Roosevelt School made an oversized card and had everyone sign it.

Seniors Austin Velger and Darren Smart created their artwork for former Marine Bill Winder of New Fairfield, Connecticut, who served in Vietnam from 1968-72.

“It was a very eye-opening experience hearing your stories,” Austin said. “People have traumatic experiences from these things, and sometimes they don’t ever recover.”

The students depicted Mr. Winder’s service as a “tunnel rat” in the war. Tunnel rats were sent into tunnels to find enemy soldiers and set up explosives to destroy them. The bottom half of the artwork is the color of reddish/orange sand and includes underground tunnels with people in them and maps of Vietnam and the United States. Austin and Darren included a picture of Mr. Winder’s tunnel rat patch and the insignia for the New York City Police Department, where Mr. Winder worked after the war. The top of the piece has a photo of him in Vietnam, and a current photo of Mr. Winder with the New York City skyline as a backdrop.

“I just want to say thank you very much because I don’t think any of you have any idea what it means to me when somebody says ‘Welcome home,’” Mr. Winder said. “There’s no way to describe what we met when we did come home, and to hear it now, even though it’s 50 years later, it still means a lot. It touches us every time.”

Mr. Whitehead said he was well received upon returning from the Persian Gulf, and a lot of that has to do with Vietnam War veterans. “Vietnam veterans always come up to me and they say, ‘Welcome home.’ That’s the first thing they say to you, so the least we can say is ‘Welcome home.’”