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Vol. 147 Issue 23
Returning home LONGFORM
Champaign-Urbana veterans share stories from their time in Vietnam, Afghanistan Last Thursday, contributing writer Fatima Farha took dove deeper into the lives of Champaign-Urbana World War II and Vietnam veterans. Here are the final chapters of her report.
Chapter Two continued :
Half a century later BY FATIMA FARHA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Steve Douglas started with a two-year job at Solo Cup, which he described as a deadbeat job. He then worked as a mechanic for 10 years at a Pontiac Buick dealership. He later enrolled at Parkland College in Champaign and studied business information systems. “I actually made honor roll,” Douglas said. “First time I had ever made honor roll in my life.” After graduation, Douglas worked in the training and development department at Hobbico Inc., even though he had initially applied to work with data information systems. For nearly 20 years, Douglas said he trained young professionals in their work. In 2008, his job was “eliminated.” At the time, he was 59 and decided to retire. Since then, Douglas has taken an interest in history and volunteers at libraries with the Rantoul Historical Society. He has taken to writing his memories from Vietnam, in case his memory fails him one day. Douglas said Vietnam veterans are beginning to get more recognition since people are more aware of the draft. He notices the sheer differences between the ways veterans were treated then and how they are treated today. “I don’t know of a Vietnam vet who begrudges the way these guys are treated,” Douglas said. “That would be self-serving. We were treated the way we were treated, it’s over and it’s dead, but it isn’t. You live with it all the time.” Joe Bolser, a Vietnam veteran, said he agrees that people today are more accepting of veter-
“When I got back, the last thing I wanted to do was identify myself as a part of the army.” STEVE DOUGLAS
ans and wars than they had been post-Vietnam. Bolser said it was unfortunate how Vietnam veterans were treated unfairly when they returned from the war, as opposed to the World War II veterans before them, and the veterans in recent wars today. “(The recent wars) are a lot more agreeable to people’s palette than the Vietnam War was,” Bolser said. “During the Vietnam War, we had all of the flower children and everybody that was against anything establishment. Now, if you were in service you did your country proud, and it should have been like that during Vietnam.” Bolser believes that people are more willing to acknowledge now that troops and soldiers are simply fulfilling their duty, and blaming them for government’s orders is not fair. Douglas said his patriotism and love for America had greatly diminished after returning from war, especially because people could not separate his actions as a veteran from the government’s, and therefore used veterans as scapegoats. “When I got back, the last thing I wanted to do was identify myself as a part of the army,” Douglas said. “I had such a hate for this country because of the way the war was conducted, and how so many kids unnecessarily lost their lives.” He had trouble standing up for the “Star-Spangled Banner” for some time. Douglas said he recognized how terrible that was, but believes that many veterans felt that way because they had not been supported by society, the government or their loved ones. Today, Douglas admits that he would go back and do it all over again. He said he does not regret volunteering because he knew he would have had to go either way. Although he does not miss the terrible conditions, he does miss the positive sides of his service. “You were so alive,” Douglas said. “It was like an adrenaline rush the whole time. The humor was crude, Mom wasn’t there, Dad wasn’t there, you’re on your own, you’re with a bunch of other like-minded people. I miss it. I miss it a lot.” PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHLEY ANDERSON
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VIETNAM VETERAN
Branden Dyke poses for a photo in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2010. Dyke now struggles with PTSD.
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Chabad Jewish Center discusses menorah damage BY MADELYN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Security cameras outside of the University Chabad Jewish Center captured a video of two students removing a branch from the building’s menorah structure on Oct. 27. This is the fourth time since 2015 that the menorah has been damaged. According to a report made by the University of Illinois Police Department on Nov. 6, “The preliminary charge of criminal damage to property is a Class 4 felony because it happened at a place of worship.” Both of the people identified in the video, University students Jacob Bassler and Nicholas Gustafson, were issued court summons. Through his attorney, Bassler declined to comment. Gustafson’s attorney did not respond to comment at the time of publication. As a response to the menorah vandalism, the Chabad Center has kick-started the plans for a new menorah, which they hope to complete by Hanukkah of this year. “It is going to be even bigger and better. It will be something that
PHOTO COURTESY OF UIPD
Two people caught on camera vandalized a menorah in the front lawn of the Chabad Jewish Center. The center is working on creating a more durable structure, which should be completed by Hanukkah of this year.
won’t be easily dismantled,” Kurtz said. Assistant Rabbi Mordy Kurtz was on staff with the Chabad Center when the first incident of damage occurred in 2015.
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“The first time it happened, it was very uncomfortable. This is where we work. This is our center. It is a safe place for people to come and express their Judaism, and be who they want to be. When
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someone is intruding on that, it makes for a very unenjoyable experience,” Kurtz said. Charlotte Spiro, student board member of Chabad and sophomore in AHS, agreed these types of events create discomfort. “The first time I was told about the most recent incident, I was pretty shaken up because Chabad is somewhere that I go a lot and I do not ever want to be faced with fear in the place that I feel the most comfortable in,” Spiro said. Spiro first heard about the incident via Facebook, but soon received a message from Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel confirming the event. Soon after, Spiro viewed the security footage that caught the vandalism on tape. “When I first saw the video, I immediately got goosebumps. I was disgusted because I have always thought that we were on a campus full of people that are above things like this and that respect one another, but clearly this act showed that that mutual respect does not always exist,” Spiro said.
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