TET: Military Victory, Political Defeat
February 14th, 2008
“Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on the day of the TET Offensive,”
By Judit Trunkos
“Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on the day of the TET Offensive,” says Jim Knight, chief curator of the “TET: Military Victory, Political Defeat” exhibit, which opened at the State Museum on January 31. Knight, a Vietnam War veteran, was in Vietnam at the time of the attack.
The TET Offensive was launched between Jan. 30 and Feb. 28, 1968, by the combined forces of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) and the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The attack was named after the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday and was meant to start a general uprising in an attempt to end the war in a single blow. The military mission targeted over 100 cities and villages including the American Embassy in Saigon.
Knight organized the show to educate people on war and to honor both the museums collection and those who contributed from their private collections.
“Since January 31 was the 40th anniversary of the offensive and the State Museum had many items in its collection from the war, it seemed like a good idea to utilize all that with the additional pieces from private collectors,” he says.
The exhibit is “weapon heavy” says Knight and is designed to guide the visitor through the offensive by exhibiting weapons, uniforms and pictures of the military attacks. “As you enter the show, you will see many photos of Vietnam, which is, by the way, the most beautiful place I have ever been. At the entrance you will find information about Vietnam, historical background for the region and a short summary of how exactly the U.S. got into Vietnam. Also we demonstrate important elements of the war, such as the usage of helicopters and airplanes carrying bombs.”
The shows ultimate goal is to provide additional information about the war and to supplement schools’ curricula on the issue.
“Visitors get to see real uniforms and real weapons which were used in the war, which experience can not be obtained from textbooks and movies,” Knight says. Not to mention the audio and video footage from Vietnam, the first war that was, as Knight puts it, “broadcast live every day.”
“Listening to the TV news footage and music from 1968 and reading the old newspapers, students will be transported back to the time when television became the primary source of information on the war,” he says.
“TET: Military Victory, Political Defeat” will be on display until January 25, 2009. To learn more about the exhibit go to http://www.museum.state.sc.us.
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