A Vietnam war helicopter, transformed into a work of art, will be on display at the EAA Aviation Museum beginning this July 4th weekend. The exhibit honors Vietnam veterans and brings awareness to PTSD.
"They never really got the proper welcome home and we're trying to fix that," said EAA Programs Coordinator Chris Henry.
Henry said the helicopter was shot down in 1969. It was refurbished and later used for training at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
The aircraft was originally used in the Vietnam War for medical evacuations. Saturday it brought back memories and created dialog for veterans.
The display is called "Take me home Huey". A veteran said the helicopter had many uses.
"This was a life line to get inserted or extracted out of fire bases in Vietnam," said Vietnam War veteran Stephan Ruby.
Ruby said if it wasn't for Huey, there would have been more deaths in the Vietnam War.
"Being here is a healing process for me,” said Ruby.
According to the U.S. Department of veteran affairs 30% of Vietnam veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
"I know a lot of Vietnam vets don't like to talk about it, but for me being able to share it with other people it kind of lifts it away," said Ruby.
Dan Johnson, a retired Huey pilot in the Army National guard from1994 until 2008, said he noticed the benefits for veterans.
"While I was flying them, we'd have a lot of Vietnam vets come up, as we go to different air shows, and they want to share their stories with us,” said Huey.
Light Horse Legacy, a nonprofit organization from Arizona, brought the exhibit to Oshkosh. The organization restores military aircrafts and takes the displays to veteran events to promote conversation.
"This project came out of a desire to honor the Vietnam veterans the 50th year, commemorative with the Department of the Defense," said Light Horse Legacy CFO Paula Barron.
The exhibit will be held in Oshkosh all month long from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm every day. Veterans will have free admission on the 4th of July.
