The End of the War in Việt Nam: Reflection, Recovery, Reconciliation11.11.2025
Tuesday, November 11, 4-6:30pm
Flatirons Room, Center for Community (C4C)
4:00pm Reception
5:00pm Introductory remarks
5:10 - 6:30pm presentations followed by Q&A
April 30th marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Việt Nam. In Việt Nam, the day was one of celebration, featuring an elaborate parade among other events. In the United States, reactions were mixed: relief, shame, gratitude for improved relations between the two countries, and perhaps confusion over the meaning of the war.
This program will prompt us to consider reflect on the impact that war has on soldiers, even in the absence of physical wounds or outwardly manifest psychic pain. In her 2021 book, And Then Your Soul is Gone: Moral Injury and U. S. War-Culture, Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Professor of Global Religions, Moravia University, writes, “…moral injury results from participation in the moral distortion of the world that is created by war (pp6-7). She will help us understand how the effects of war endure over time in the hearts and minds of veterans.
The people of Việt Nam continue to cope with the lasting environmental, health and emotional effects of the war. This includes the search for remains of missing relatives, the need to clean up the environment from the toxic chemicals sprayed to reduce tree cover, and not least the task of removing tons of unexploded ordnance that litter the land and pose a continual danger to farmers and children. Mr. Chuck Searcy, a veteran of the Vietnam War will share his thoughts on one path to recovery. After the war, Searcy returned to Vietnam and witnessed the damage unexploded bombs and shells were wreaking on the population and vowed to help. He founded the organization Project Renew to teach Vietnamese how to safely uncover and disarm or detonate these silent killers and to educate villagers and children to stay away from them and alert project staff. He will present an update on the work of Project Renew and its impact on the population.
The issue of post-war reconciliation is complex. Competing memories and narratives, serve to divide veterans from both sides of the war whether in the United States or in Vietnam and successive generations bear intergenerational burdens of incomplete understanding. Ms. Erin Steinhauer has chosen to grapple with the need to promote reconciliation among those marked by the war by founding the Vietnam Society. The Society fosters reconciliation through the arts and culture as a way to encourage conversation and healing.
Moderator:
Linda J. Yarris a research affiliate of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder and director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Aisa (PISA), a program that has partnered with universities and research institutes in Asia to enhance international affairs education and research.Previously, she was a research professor of international affairs at the George Washington University, taught political economy and political economy at Long Island University and serves on the board of directors of the journal Critical Asian Studies.She has earned degrees at Cornell University, Sciences Pô in Paris, and D’Youville University.
Speakers:
Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Ph.D., is a professor at Moravian University in Global Religions and Peace and Justice Studies. Struck by the rhetorical defense of unjustifiable violence following 9/11/2001, as “a necessary sacrifice,” she began researching and writing about the role of religion in direct, structural and cultural violence, leading to U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation. Her analysis of military moral injury resulted in her 2022 book, And Then Your Soul is Gone: Moral Injury and U.S. War-culture. Currently she is exploring veteran visions of moral recovery and health for new book, Light at the Tip of the Candle. She collaborates with the Moral Injury Program based in the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center and teaches "Moral Injury: A Public Health Crisis" with military veterans.
Title: Reflecting on War Aftermath: Military Moral Injury as An Inevitable Outgrowth of U.S. War-culture
What is "military moral injury," and how should it be addressed by U.S.citizens and leaders? In this talk, Denton-Borhaug will provide a brief overview of this toxic consequence of U.S.war-culture, and an argument for understanding the phenomenon of military moral injury as an outgrowth of U.S. ways of militarism, militarization and war with unacceptable consequences for American society. Lastly, she will point to emerging visions from U.S.military veterans living with moral injury, who are discovering pathways of moral recovery, growth and healing that could matter "for the rest of us," as citizens struggle to imagine how we should live, and what we should be doing, in our current national environment.
ChuckSearcyhas lived for decades in Ha Noi, Vietnam where he serves asthe International Advisor for Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province, which funds and supports projects that mitigate the legacies of war, in particular explosive ordnance and consequences of Agent Orange.Quang Tri Province, which straddles the former demilitarized zone, was the most bombed province of the most extensively bombed country in the world.
Born in 1944 in the state of Alabama,Searcyattended the University of Georgia and graduated with a degree in political science. He was an intelligence analyst in the US Army in Saigon from 1967 to 1968 and served one year in 1969 at US Army HQ in Germany as an intelligence specialist.Searcyhas worked as a weekly newspaper editor and publisher, an official of the US Small Business Administration in Washington, DC during the Carter administration, and he was a staff member in the US. Senate for two years.
Searcyhas represented several American veterans’ organizations in Viet Nam since 1995 – including the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), the Viet Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), and VFP. All have shared a similar mission, to reduce injuries, deaths, and other consequences from wartime bombs and mines as well as Agent Orange. He serves as a member of the Veterans for Peace national executive board and as president of the Vietnam chapter made up of American veterans who have moved to Vietnam.
Title:Recovery from War: Removal of Unexploded Ordnance and Mitigation of Agent Orange Contamination
Whereas the guns and artillery were silenced fifty years ago, citizens of Việt Nam continue to be injured and killed by bombs and munitions that still emerge from the soil. Additionally, herbicides sprayed by U.S. aircraft during the war to destroy the forest canopy and reveal enemy troop movements linger in the environment leading to diseases for those exposed to them and birth defects among their children. Following the initiatives of veterans and Americans convinced of the need to heal the wounds of war, private organizations lobbied the US government to provide funds necessary for clean-up. As the founder of one of those organizations, Project Renew, Chuck Searcy will tell a story of how Vietnamese have embraced reliance to bring about recovery and appreciation for maintaining peace after conflict.
Erin Steinhauer is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Vietnam Society, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the understanding of Vietnam past and present through the vibrant expressions of its cultural heritage. Its mission is to serve as the arterial pathway connecting Vietnamese arts, culture, and business with U.S. and international audiences through programs and events in Washington, D.C., including Vietnam Week. Founded in 2021, Vietnam Society endeavors to broaden the public knowledge about Vietnamese and Vietnamese American lives, by expanding perspectives from legacies of the Vietnam conflict to showcase dynamic confluences as reflected through the arts, literature, film and cuisines.
Prior to founding Vietnam Society,Ms. Steinhauer had a career spanning over 25 years in senior corporate executive and policy leadership roles working in government and global Fortune 100 companies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, Visa Inc., New York Life, Iridium and MicroStrategy. She has a long track record in building successful businesses and partnerships, corporate strategies and policy initiatives globally.
Originally from Vietnam, Ms. Steinhauer immigrated to the U.S. as a boat refugee when she was nine years old. She is married to Peter Steinhauer, a renowned photographer who spent 30 years photographing Vietnam with published books. Theylive in Virginia with their three children.
Title: In Search of Reconciliation and Healing: Beyond Prejudices, Trauma, and Politics
The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Third Indochina War, known in Vietnam as the Anti-American War for National Salvation and in the United States as the Vietnam War. Half a century later, the consequences of a missed opportunity for reconciliation have left behind two Vietnams: one embraced by the “winners” inside the country, and another pursued by the “losers” abroad.
Over the decades, efforts toward reconciliation have emerged, seeking to bridge divides and heal enduring emotional wounds. The Vietnamese government has called for reconciliation, recognizing the diaspora as an inseparable part of the nation. Many former officials and soldiers of the former South, along with their children, have returned to Vietnam, symbolizing meaningful steps forward.
Yet, the journey toward full national reconciliation is far from complete. To move beyond the legacies of prejudice, trauma, and politics, both the government and the diaspora must work together in building mutual trust, empathy, and understanding. Only then can the Vietnamese people, both at home and abroad, could achieve the healing and unity that history has long denied them.
Free and Open to the Public