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Photograph by George Sakkestad

Paul DeCillis holds the original Vietnam combat helmet that he inscribed with the name of his home state, the number of months he served, peace signs and former girlfriends' names.

Real History

Artifacts bring a grim piece of history to life

By Danthanh Huynh

In 1969, Cupertino resident Paul DeCillis began a journey that would change his life forever. He was 23 years old when he boarded the plane and headed to Vietnam to serve his tour of duty. Although the Vietnam War had taken the life of his high school friend in 1967, fear was not on his mind.

"I had quit smoking, but started again when I was on the plane," DeCillis said. "However, I wasn't afraid of dying."

Twenty years after the death of his friend, Vincent J. Weedo Jr., DeCillis wrote a poem in honor of him and all the veterans who "left their minds and childhood in Vietnam."

Suddenly our country had to prove right from wrong
We had to go fight, we had to be strong
It seemed the Hawks and Doves could not agree
Something about saving Democracy...
We were so very young and still so naive
Sure, we'll go to Vietnam because we believe.

Today this poem hangs in the Open Media Lab in the remodeled De Anza Community College Library. It is part of the DeCillis Vietnam Conflict Collection, which includes drawings, helmets, dog tags, grenades, buttons, medals and a jar of soil from Vietnam. It also includes 800 books and 650 videotapes donated by DeCillis.

The memorabilia is disparate, but each item evokes memories of the war, at home and abroad: A drawing from vet Mike Kelley shows the wasted faces of two soldiers, one holding a skull. The caption reads: "Both made it home, although Bob carries grenade shrapnel in his right biceps and Ron the haunting memories of a bad day in September 1970."

Slogans on buttons encased in one display read: "Welcome Home to a Proud America" and "Bring Home Our POWs."

In another corner lies a simple framed statement written by DeCillis' daughter when she was in the second grade. It reads, "My dad was in the army. Good thing he lived."

As troubling as this collection may be to some viewers, DeCillis doesn't want this war to be forgotten. DeCillis began collecting magazines and newspapers in Vietnam. Often, he said, friends and relatives would tell him to abandon his collection, recognizing it was painful for him. "There's nothing wrong with them telling me to let go," DeCillis said. "But you can't put it away. You can never put a dramatic experience away--you can deal with it. I started collecting it for historical purposes. You don't want people to forget about it, because there were mistakes made, and too many people were hurt by this [war]."

DeCillis stored the collection in his garage before donating it to the De Anza library. He decided to give the collection to the college in 1994 after taking a class taught by John Swensson, an instructor in the English department at De Anza.

DeCillis wanted the collection to be a learning process for the students, not a political statement. "The only thing controversial about the war was the politics," DeCillis said. "There's nothing controversial about the soldiers serving their country."

Swensson spearheaded the donation's approval, believing it will benefit the students. For spring quarter, Swensson will be teaching a critical-thinking class about the Vietnam War, and he will require the students to read at least one book from the collection, he said.

"Many of our students will understand what their parents went through," Swensson said. "For all of us, [the Vietnam War] covered 25 years of history. It impacted our culture so much. I hope the students will learn to avoid similar conflicts and make the right choices."

DeCillis understands that the collection may not appeal to everyone, but he wants to honor the men and women who lost their lives or survived the Vietnam War.

Importantly, DeCillis said, "I want the new generation to learn that they can resolve things with diplomacy and words, and not bullets and bombs."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 21, 1998.
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