2025 marks fifty years since the United States’ conflict in Vietnam ended. A powerful new exhibition at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington, honors Vietnam veterans and their wartime experiences through stories, objects, and film.

“The Things They Brought Home” was co-curated by Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours historian Lt. Col. Erik Flint, U.S. Army (retired), and Dr. Megan Nishikawa, Ph.D. The exhibition features deeply personal stories from some of Washington State’s 183,000 Vietnam veterans. It provides a uniquely human perspective by showcasing personal items that veterans brought home to remember their experiences in Vietnam.

“We originally intended to tell this story through objects carried by veterans during their military service,” said Flint, Director Emeritus for the U.S. Army’s Lewis Army Museum. “Instead, we found objects deliberately brought home to remember the war. We were amazed at the variety of items, from everyday functional military uniform pieces to ceremonial items and even a mail-order shopping catalog. No two objects are the same, just as no two wartime experiences are the same.”

Dr. Nishikawa, a post-doctoral fellow at the Lewis Army Museum, said the collection focuses on unique personal items, such as a collection of letters between one veteran and his Vietnamese landlady, as well as war artifacts such as bullet casings and uniforms. Lesser-known facts about the war period — such as that some veterans had been able to live in civilian buildings with landlords — are brought to light in the exhibit.

“It is going to be 50 years, and this is a wonderful way to commemorate it,” Flint said, “We’re acknowledging the end of the war and its relation to the state and the people of the state.”