San José State’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano and Native American Studies Center hosted a “Chicanos in Vietnam” event Wednesday afternoon in honor of Veterans Day.
The Vietnam War spanned from 1954 to 1975, according to a History web page.
The Vietnam War was a manifestation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and was called the “American War” in Vietnam, according to the same web page.
Richard T. García spoke about his experience in the Vietnam War and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Intrusive thoughts are unwelcome, involuntary memories that make you feel like you’re back in the moment that your trauma happened,” García said. “Mine took the form of flashbacks, nightmares and other involuntary emotional recalls.”
PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that may occur if someone has experienced or been exposed to a traumatic event which can affect their physical, mental and emotional state, according to an American Psychiatric Association web page.
Among Vietnam veterans, roughly 52% of them have PTSD and experience nightmares, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs web page.
Charley Trujillo, a Vietnam War veteran, spoke about his experience in combat in the early ‘70s and how he was injured.
“They started surrounding us and someone gave me a grenade launcher,” Trujillo said. “So I shot it, shot left-handed, and — boom — it hit my right eye.”
PTSD affects veterans who are traumatized because of experiences in combat, being injured or prisoners of war, according to the Library of Congress web page.
Elia García Rotch, García’s daughter and a SJSU alumna, came to the event to support her father.
“Many people suffer from PTSD and mental health struggles and there is a big stigma in our Latino community,” Rotch said. “I think it’s being broken through now, especially with the younger generations.”
People who suffer from PTSD are often stigmatized because of misconceptions, like thinking it makes a person dangerous or not realizing it’s an illness that can be treated, according to a web page from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It’s a mix of pride being here listening to my dad’s story, but also checking to see if he’s okay,” Rotch said.
Trujillo spoke about his struggle with traumatic experiences from Vietnam, but focused on the divide the nation faces because of racism and deportation.
“Wars are very, very negative and I think we need to at least think about what’s going on in (the) present time, and how we can unite as people, not just Chicanos and Chicanas but as a whole society,” Trujillo said.
He said he experienced racism during his time serving in the Vietnam War for being a Chicano soldier and also after he was injured during combat.
“The border patrol comes around, ‘Where are your papers, boy?,’ ” he said. “You go through all that and people are still questioning your nationality. That was the final straw.”
The U.S. military reported processing over 750 complaints of discrimination from service members in 2020, according to a May 27, 2021 AP News article.
Diana García, Richard T. García’s sister-in-law, has PTSD because her brother also served in the Vietnam War in the 70s.
“It does affect the whole family,” she said. “I lived through it with my mother who would cry in her room because my brother was in war and I saw that all the time.”
War trauma can lead to intergenerational trauma which affects the family members of those who went to war, according to a Dec. 5, 2023 American Psychological Association article.
“These to me are very important issues that we need to deal with in (the) present time,” Trujillo said. “It’s not in the past. We’re living it right now.”
