Exploring the stories of veterans and civilians is at the heart of programming in the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Typically, local history buffs and enthusiasts join the museum team in-person to spend their lunch hour listening to the unique perspectives of others. But we had a far-bigger-than-usual audience for the museum’s noon history talk on Feb. 16.
There were 34 in the room, but for the first time, millions will see the program on C-SPAN as well.
It was definitely a new wrinkle in the regular live presentations at the museum, which were recently rebranded to Noon Debriefs (formerly known as Lunch & Learns). And this was a fascinating program worthy of the attention. Dennis DuPuis of North Augusta, who was an Army warrant officer flying helicopters in combat in Vietnam at the age of 19, shared his story in a lecture he calls “From High School to Flight School.”
This was one of a large number of such programs featuring Vietnam veterans, in connection with the museum’s new exhibit, “A War With No Front Lines: South Carolina and the Vietnam War, 1965-1973.” Read about some of those recent programs here.
ADCO helps the museum publicize these programs, and our own Brad Warthen — who has a deep, lifelong interest in military history — also helps organize these programs and presides over them. This time there were a few extra things to do which fell under that “organization” category for Brad, once C-SPAN expressed interest in broadcasting the program. After a few days of excited preparation, we’re pleased with the way the program came together.
But the star of the show was definitely Dennis DuPuis, who told riveting stories of his experiences in combat more than 50 years ago. He served two tours in the Army during the war, flying Hueys and Cobra gunships, and later served a long career in the South Carolina National Guard. You should tune in and hear him talk about it.
We’re still waiting to confirm when the program will air on C-SPAN, and will come back and post the link here when we have it. But in the meantime, you can watch the video that the museum presented on Facebook.
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