Montana women affected by the Vietnam War tell their stories 50 years later

Reporting by Madigan Schmitz, University of Montana School of Journalism

In the Vietnam War, which ended 50 years ago, about 2.7 million men and women served in the various branches of the military. Of course, most of them were men. But the war also affected many women.

Sharon Burhman of Missoula grew up in a predominantly white rural town in Illinois, but when she walked into her classroom at Coleman Barracks Army Base, her little world was turned upside down. “I’m not proud that I didn’t know anyone from a different background than my own, and I mean ethnically,” Burhman said. “So when I walked into class on my first day, there were 35 men in my classroom, all but two were black and the other two were Hispanic. My knees felt weak and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t think I can do this,'” she said.

She had just graduated from college and took a job teaching high school classes in Germany. Most of her students were to be deployed to Vietnam. First they had to graduate. “They were scared, they were young, they were away from home for the first time in their lives. They knew where they were going. Many of them couldn’t even read and had been drafted,” Burhman said.

This experience changed her and her attitude toward authority and American involvement in Vietnam.
“When I say it changed my life, I mean I no longer trusted my government,” Burhman said. “I decided to take a job at an inner-city school because education is the key to everything. I think I would never have been ready to do it without that experience. For me personally, it was a wonderful experience in some ways,” she said.

For Sharon, the Vietnam War became a dividing line. There was always a life before and a life after. Although Sharon never worked in Vietnam, working with these men left a mark on the rest of her life. Women and men in the United States were busy making their distrust of the government known loudly.

The anti-Vietnam War protest movement drew tens of thousands of people to marches in Washington DC and other cities and towns across the country. Taylor Pape, who lives in Missoula, spoke about her experiences as a child in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“I actually skipped school for my first anti-war demonstration and never told my parents what I did that afternoon,” Pape said.

She studied at Boston University. At that time, most universities were confronted with the growing protest movement. One of Pape’s professors was the famous historian Howard Zinn. “He often missed classes because he was in prison, and we protested quite violently in Boston. Many students also went to the huge protests in Washington,” Pape said.

Pape was supposed to graduate in 1970, but then protests at Kent State University in Ohio turned violent and BU became afraid. “Boston University decided to shut down their university completely. They closed the dorms, sent everyone home, we had no finals, no graduation ceremony, and we had all the time in the world to protest some more, even though they thought they were going to send us home,” she said.

Pape had a longtime partner, Haddon Hufford, who served in Vietnam. He was a soldier whose job it was to film everything he could there. Pape’s views have changed over the years, particularly regarding the anti-war movement. “I saw suffering everywhere,” Pape said. “The children, the massacres, the soldiers. People who came back in terrible distress, people who came back who could never walk again or whose mothers had to take care of them for the rest of their lives. There was a lot of suffering, and I’m not sure my participation in a protest changed any of that.”

Heather Collins of Bozeman didn’t protest the war. She was a baby when it ended. Her parents met in Vietnam. They are both dead, but she remembers how important their work was to them. Her father was a soldier. Her mother worked for the American Red Cross.

Christine Campbell was a member of the Donut Dollies, a Red Cross group formed during World War II and brought back during the Vietnam War. Young women were sent overseas to provide some comfort to the men serving there. These women volunteered for a year, moving between bases and hospitals, often bringing doughnuts with them.

“Like 20,000 doughnuts in one day,” Collins said. “I think they probably met at one of those game nights and just became really good friends and then it was more of an interest than a friendship. But I think it’s pretty incredible to see that at such a negative point in our history. Two people can fall in love and start a family,” she said.

Heather Collins’ mother told her many stories about flying in helicopters, camping on the front lines, and tending to the wounds of those returning from battle. But after the war, the Donut Dolly service to the troops was largely forgotten.

More than 600 women served with the Dollies, but their story has been less well documented. They were recently honored with a memorial in Washington, D.C. “They flew with the troops in helicopters. They saw combat. They weren’t in combat, but she was proud to be a Donut Dolly and was thrilled to see the memorial,” said Collins, who explained that Christine died before she could visit the memorial in person. “They didn’t really get the recognition they deserved,” she said.

The loss of her mother made Collins realize the importance of talking about women’s stories.

Fifty years ago, the Vietnam War ended and the soldiers who survived it returned home. More than 36,000 Montanans served in the war. To mark the 50th anniversary of its end, students from the University of Montana School of Journalism spoke with Vietnam veterans across the state. YPR will share their stories throughout the month. This series on the Vietnam War is supported in part by the Greater Montana Foundation.