Sponsored By:
Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning (NELL)
Program will be in Gonvick Community Center:
Coffee at 9am, program at 9:30 and wrap up around 11 or so. depending on questions.
Open to the public
(From NELL Newsletter)
In January 1968 Wendell Affield went to Vietnam as the cox’n of Armor Troop Carrier 112-11 with the Mobile Riverine Force. Part of his tour of duty was in the Mekong Delta with the Army 9th Infantry Division and, for four months, with the 3rd Marine Division on the Cua Viet River. He was wounded in an ambush and medevac’d home in August 1968.
Forty-five years later he reconnected with four of the ambush survivors after one of them discovered his book on Amazon. Affield will talk about his journey since Muddy Jungle Rivers was published in 2012. During book signings and speaking engagements he has listened to hundreds of veterans and witnessed the devastating long-term effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“As we age, we hope to make peace with the past; to make sense of long ago traumas. PTSD is not unique to Vietnam Veterans,” Affield says. “World War Two Veterans have broken down when they shared their story with me. We need to educate the public. PTSD is a normal human reaction to violence. And it’s normal not to burden loved ones with those memories. With this new generation of young men and women returning from combat zones it is our responsibility to listen to them and not judge. It is our responsibility to help them reintegrate into the community they left.”
Books will be available for sale at the NELL gathering
Tamara Edevold, NELL coordinator
Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning (NELL) is a 501(c) (3)non-profit organization, created to enrich the quality of life in our local communities through lifelong learning and the arts. Our goal is to inspire people to learn, to grow, and to give to their communities.
Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning provides programs in humanities and the arts, including a series of lectures in the spring and fall that are free and open to the public. NELL also offers performing arts and intergenerational programs in local schools, the Evergreen Reader program in area assisted-care facilities and special cultural events.
Tamara Edevold
tedevold@me.com
Minnesota’s Historic Northwest
If a person were interested, it would be helpful to have some indication of where Gonvick Community Center is located.
You’re right, Galen. Gonvick is a thriving village about twenty miles north of Bagley, MN. You can’t miss the Community Center.