SALUTING VIETNAM VETERANS
CCU’s United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies Partners with U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to Honor Vietnam Veterans.
Contact Us
- Rod Gragg, Director
Coastal Science Center 110
843-234-3431
rgragg@coastal.edu - Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, S.C. 29528-6054
(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have named the United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies at Coastal Carolina University as a regional partner for the United States Vietnam War Commemoration, which is designed to honor American Vietnam veterans and their families during the 50th anniversary of the conflict.
"The Vietnam Commemoration Commission was established to provide a way for our country to thank and honor all Vietnam veterans for their service," said William N. Outlaw, Veterans Health Administration representative to the Vietnam Commemoration Commission. "This expression of appreciation to all Vietnam Veterans by our nation is long overdue, and it is truly great to see this take place in South Carolina through our partnership with the United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies at Coastal Carolina University."
Established in 2010, CCU’s United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies conducts and preserves oral history interviews with veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in partnership with the Veterans History Project at the U.S. Library of Congress, produces a regional television cable interview program with American veterans, and engages in various other projects designed to recognize and preserve the contributions of American veterans.
As an official partner in the United States Vietnam War Commemoration, the Center will conduct oral history interviews with American veterans of the Vietnam War in a five-year program. Each interview will be placed in a collection named in the veteran's honor at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Copies of interviews with veterans who reside in Horry County will also be donated to the Horry County Museum in Conway, S.C., through the Center's Lieutenant "Tab" Stogner Horry County Veterans Oral History Project, and will also be available to students, researchers, historians and others through the Digital Commons program administered by CCU’s Kimbel Library.
"The United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies is pleased to partner with the V.A. and the Department of Defense in honoring the veterans of the Vietnam War during its 50th anniversary period," said center director Rod Gragg. "According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are more than six-million American veterans living today who served their country in uniform during the Vietnam War. They deserve our respect and gratitude --- and we're glad that we can help recognize their service and sacrifices."
The United States Vietnam War Commemoration was authorized by Congress and established by the U.S. Secretary of Defense. It recognizes and honors all men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, and their families for their sacrifices on behalf of our nation during the Vietnam War. It will continue through Veterans Day of 2025.
SALUTING VIETNAM VETERANS. Rod Gragg, director of the United Bank Center for Military and Veteran Studies at Coastal Carolina University, receives an official flag of the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration from Bill Outlaw, a representative of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. The Center has been named an official partner for the commemoration by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, which are honoring American veterans of the Vietnam War. The flag presentation was made at South Carolina’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Columbia. Photo courtesy of the United Bank Center for Military and Veterans Studies