"A controversial war, an unpopular president and divisions in the major political parties: To see the future, look at the past.

A local historical group is doing just that on Saturday with “Marking Time: Charlottesville and the Vietnam War.” The multimedia historical forum features graffiti from the era, a public television documentary and a panel of local residents.

“We wanted to look at the era from a local perspective,” said Art Beltrone, curator of “Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam.” That exhibit features a complete eight-man bunk rack from a troopship and the graffiti-covered canvas inserts on which soldiers slept. It is installed at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society downtown.

“There are some interesting perspectives from 1967 and a lot of them carry through to today,” Beltrone said. “The documentary is especially interesting.”

The Saturday forum includes a panel of local residents who grew up in Charlottesville and either served in Vietnam or were active in social issues. It also features the showing of a National Educational Television documentary, “Homefront 1967.” The film, from the precursor to the Public Broadcasting System, featured Charlottesville as a “typical American community.” It was made in 1967.

Charlottesville was a sleepier Southern town at the time, Beltrone said. The documentary shows interviews with University of Virginia students who were all male and all dressed in sport coats, ties and slacks, and follows fraternity brothers at a party. Other interviews show Lane High School students flummoxed by the hippie movement and the growing seeds of social dissent.

Charlottesville was the first city in the country to create a Vietnam Veterans Memorial to local residents killed in the conflict, and Jim Shisler was a moving force behind the memorial. He says similarities between the Vietnam era and today are striking, but so are the differences.

“The unpopular war and the politics are similar, but you don’t have the contentious, sometimes physical debate with large groups protesting every weekend,” said Shisler, who will be among the participants in Saturday’s forum. “Vietnam protesters had a personal interest in the war because, if they dropped out of college or lost their deferments, they were likely to be drafted.”

Shisler said the lower troop count in Iraq and Afghanistan, as compared with Vietnam, means casualties affect fewer families.

“When war hits you at home, when you have regular deaths in your community, it’s more likely to stir stronger personal feelings,” he said. “There was a lot more support of the troops then, but there was a lot less support for the war. It was a two-edged sword.”

The forum begins at 9 a.m. at the historical society, located at 200 Second St. NE, with a tour and discussion of the “Voyage to Vietnam” exhibit. The forum will then move next door at 9:30 to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library for a viewing of “Homefront 1967” and panel discussion.

The forum is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Beltrone at 296-1288." (Bryan McKenzie, The Daily Progress, February 15, 2008)