OSU Alumnus to Offer Insight into Vietnam's Past, Present

Friday, February 19, 2010

By Joseph Dunn

(Feb. 19, 2010, Stillwater, Okla.) – David Helmer, a Vietnam veteran and a 1964 alumnus of Oklahoma State University, did something he thought he would never do.

In 2004, Helmer returned to Vietnam where in 1965 he had spent a year running convoys in support of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force.

Helmer will present “Vietnam: Now and Then” at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 22 at Thatcher Hall on the OSU campus in Stillwater.

“It is a privilege to host Mr. Helmer at OSU,” said Lt. Col. Will Beck who heads the ROTC battalion at OSU. “Men such as he represent the very best of our country.”

Helmer’s talk will be based on his 2004 tour of Vietnam focusing on the development of rural Saigon into a commercial center now known as Ho Chi Minh City. He also will address the country’s changes in transportation and its shift of attitudes toward Americans.

Helmer, an Oklahoma native, lives in Roanoke, Va. He and his wife, Grace, are actively involved with the OSU community.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Master Sgt. Brian Disque at (405) 744-8668 or brian.disque@okstate.edu. OSU is one of 273 colleges and universities in the nation to have an Army ROTC program. The program falls under the College of Arts & Sciences at OSU.