Monday afternoon, in a pesky drizzle, a handful of people set out 400 small American flags on the empty lot at Second Avenue and 15th Street in memory of the 400 Nebraska men who died in the Vietnam War.
It was a prelude to last weekend's 40th -- and final -- annual Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Reunion.
"We're all in our 70s and 80s. A lot of men can't get to Lincoln or Omaha for reunions anymore, so the board decided to go out on top," Denny Houska of Kearney said.
"On top" means 500 attendees, 700 52-page programs, 800 T-shirts and three days of food and activities.
On Sunday, an outdoor sunrise service was set to be held near the Younes Conference Center South to remember the 400 Nebraskans who never came home.
Special Gold Star flags will be distributed or mailed to the families of those 400 men. Their names were read on radio station KRMC twice this week.
Lori O'Brien, regent of the Fort Kearney DAR, is one of five Kearney women serving on the 20-member reunion committee. O'Brien's husband Steve served during the Vietnam era but was not sent overseas.
"We owe Vietnam veterans the respect they deserve but didn't receive when they came home," she said.
The reunion began in 1985 after military veterans from World War II and the Korean War finally let go of their resentment toward Vietnam veterans.
"They saw us as the first (American) group that lost a war. Between 1975 and '85, we were in the shadows," Houska said.
Then, in 1985, that attitude faded. "We all (veterans) decided to heal together," he said. The NVVR has been held annually ever since.
Getting Drafted
Like all Vietnam veterans, Houska stayed quiet after he got home from the war in 1971.
A 1967 David City High School graduate, he left Wayne State University when the military draft began in 1969. He was a bit directionless in college, and "some students were there simply to avoid getting drafted," he said. He didn't respect those students. He left school and took a chance.
Sure enough, in 1969, Houska was drafted. He trained in infantry but served as a mechanic and truck driver for the U.S. Army in Tay Ninh, Vietnam, from January 1970 through April 1971.
"We were close to Cambodia, and there were rockets everyday. I got kind of numb to it. It was pretty safe compared to eyeball-to-eyeball conflict," he said.
When he came home to David City, he found "friends more interested in beer parties than far-away war," he said. He put a few pictures and keepsakes in a scrapbook and locked it away for 42 years.
Meeting Pat
In 1972, Houska was working as a photo apprentice in Columbus when he spotted Pat, who was working at a company that made car seats.
"She was washing a Volkswagen out front, and I thought she had a cute wiggle," Houska said.
Houska had a date with Pat's roommate, but the roommate stood him up, so he asked Pat to go instead. She said yes. They married in 1973, moved to Kearney in 1974 ("Kearney felt like the right fit") and started Denny's Photography.
They kept busy. "The business took off like a rocket ship. Sometimes, we had three weddings on a single Saturday," Houska said. He took classes at what was then Kearney State College. They had two children.
He never talked about the war, not even to Pat.
Then, 10 years ago, Houska went to the funeral of a 26-year-old Marine who had taken his own life. He was shaken.
"I thought I should do something to help Vietnam veterans. Some were still mentally and physically hurting 40 years after the war ended. "I thought maybe I could use photography to help people," he said.
In 2015, he went to his first NVVR reunion. He went back in 2016. This time, he took Pat because conferences had programs for women, too. They've attended every year since.
Within a few years, he joined the NVVR Board of Directors. He and Pat have been co-chairmen of the convention since 2022.
The Forgotten 4
Houska is helping with another cause: getting the final four Nebraskans who died in Vietnam to be added to the official fatality list and the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.
Official records say that 396 Nebraska veterans died in the war, but Houska and others insist it's 400.
Those forgotten four were on a USS Evans training mission on June 3, 1969. The ship was too far off the coast to be in Vietnam waters, but it was part of the war effort.
That night, the ship was operating in darkness in the South China Sea in a formation with ships of the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy. All were running without lights.
The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier Melbourne made a wrong turn, crashed into the USS Evans and cut it in half. It sank in five minutes.
Its 74 casualties included the three Sage brothers from Niobrara who had requested to serve together. One was married and had an 8-month-old baby.
The names of the 74 men were read at the 2022 Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Reunion, but their names are not on the official casualty list. Houska theorizes that's because the war was unpopular and politicians didn't want to raise casualty figures.
The fight to get those names put on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., was led by the late Jack Jones, an insurance agent and the Sage brothers' high school football coach in Niobrara.
"Jack loved those boys," Houska said. "He called senators and congressmen and even talked to President Trump from a kitchen in Kearney."
Jones died a year ago, but his four daughters are continuing the fight.
The final year
This final NVVR convention is no small undertaking. Kearney was selected because of its central location and because only Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney have facilities to accommodate 500 people.
The reunion committee has advertised with large signs on trailers. This one traveled all over the state. Several others sat at key locations in Kearney.
Attendees will share stories and help each other heal. "Three years ago, there was one veteran who, if I'd simply say 'Vietnam,' he'd just start crying. Now he has opened up," Houska said.
Because of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, Houska has had both prostate and kidney cancer. "They say with Agent Orange, it's not if you're going to get cancer, but when," he said.
He doesn't dwell on that. He values listening to other Vietnam veterans, including an 87-year-old who calls from time to time.
"The best thing about this group is just the self-satisfaction of a Vietnam brother helping another Vietnam brother," Houska said.
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