When LTC Jim Berger, USAF (ret) and VMI Class of 1961,  returned to Lexington, VA, after 6 ½ years in a North Vietnam Prisoner of War camp he brought with him items graphically recording his incredible experience. Those items are the subject of a new exhibit at the VMI Museum in Lexington titled  Duty, Sacrifice, Service, Vietnam. The exhibit pays tribute to the nearly 4,000 VMI alumni who served in Vietnam by focusing on the experiences of three graduates.

Nothing was trash for the POW. Anything could be turned into something useful: toothpaste tube tops become game pieces; a pair of socks become a cap; cigarette pack labels become stationery. One of the most poignant items created by Berger was a small American flag made from a carefully folded red shirt covered by a white handkerchief with strips cut out and a small blue swatch of cloth. The three pieces of cloth were assembled daily. The pledge of allegiance was recited, and then the flag would be disassembled to avoid discovery by the guards. As one of the first pilots to be released, Berger was able to bring home many of the day to day items he used in prison. Soon after his return, the North Vietnamese forbid POWs to bring items out of their cell. As a result, the Berger material provides a rare glimpse into the POW experience.

The story of Arnold Schlossberg, Jr., VMI Class of 1958, portrays duty in the exhibit through a taped letter home recorded in February 1966. The tape, originally recorded in an ammunition bunker, shares its story of war events with the visitor who listens as it plays in the background. Arnold Schlossberg, Jr., matriculated to VMI from his family home in Roanoke, VA. Schlossberg would retire from a career in the Army as Major General.

Major General James Humphreys, VMI Class of 1935, represents the story of service through the heroic removal of a live grenade from the back of a South Vietnamese farmer. The X-ray sheets on exhibit still clearly show the armed grenade. General Humphreys successfully removed the grenade using six-foot long surgical instruments from behind a sand bag barrier.