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The time-honored tradition of individual states honoring their own to die in a national conflict has been replicated in one form or another since Gettysburg. The Vietnam War is no exception, and of late there has been a growing number of tributes arising from the state and local level.

The award-winning Wisconsin Public Television film Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories aired in 2010. Produced by Wisconsin Public Television, the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs, this high-quality production is a deftly organized collection of oral histories of Wisconsin veterans, complimented with an excellent selection of historic film footage. The film offers a good overview of the history of the conflict. Throughout, participants talk movingly and honestly about the war, many of them speaking for the first time about their wartime experiences in Vietnam, of the prevailing prejudices of the times, the realities of war, American miscalculations and failures. It is a top-notch, moving film.

This film is not just for the veterans and people of Wisconsin, but serves for the entire nation with its poignant remembrances that add further dimension to our understanding of the war.

2010, Wisconsin Public Television, www.wisconsinstories.org/vietnam