The ml becker educational Center

Our Goal as Educators

Our goal is to educate the citizens of the world, especially future generations and today's elementary through high school students. We want to teach about the rich military history of the United States and the role of men and women in the military, not forgetting the sacrifices made by our war dead. This will be accomplished through interactive programs that round out today's classroom curriculum.

Programs are developed to enhance the classroom learning experience and will be tailored to the needs of the individual teacher. This includes outreach programs.

Educational programs include exhibits, tours, briefings, publications, audio-visual projects and assorted other public programming.

A guided tour for school groups is highly recommended and reservations must be made at least three weeks in advance. School groups that wish to tour the veterans park on their own are welcome to do so, but advance reservations are still required. One teacher or chaperon for every ten students will be required. Chaperons must stay with the group to help ensure appropriate student behavior. It will be recommended that student tour groups allow a minimum of two hours up to a maximum of four hours for a visit.

Heritage Speakers & Docent Tours

Museum staff and docent volunteers will provide programs to schools, veterans groups, military units, and other civic organizations upon request.

Veterans will be encouraged to share the recollections of military service. This will be a chance to tell their stories, preserve their history and their memories for future generations. Oral history interviews will be archived at the Educational Center and the veteran will be provided with link to the interview for his or her use.

Volunteers, military history buffs, and students will be recruited to help with conducting interviews and typing/transcribing. We encourage teachers to support this project by giving student volunteers some academic credit for participation.

Teaching about Vietnam

Almost 50 years ago in Vietnam on April 29, 1975, Irving Berlin's seasonally uncharacteristic, White Christmas hit the airwaves via Saigon's Armed Forces Radio. The North Vietnamese offensive against Saigon advanced, and the musical selection was a pre-arranged code to trigger a massive, dramatic American evacuation.

It became the largest helicopter evacuation in history – for 18 hours, heavily loaded Marine helicopters ferried 7,000 Americans and South Vietnamese evacuees from the American Embassy compound to the Tan Son Nhut airfield, ultimately to ships of the Seventh Fleet. Thousands more thronged the gates of the compound, hoping for a place on the airlift.

On April 30, Saigon fell, and in one sense, America's almost thirty-year involvement with war in Vietnam ended.