Featured Exhibit
Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam
Ended December 13, 2009
Washington resident Mick Santa's canvas bed, scrapped
from USNS General Nelson M. Walker. (Vietnam Graffiti Project)
View an original sleeping station salvaged from the USNS General Nelson M. Walker,
graffitied with the thoughts of young Americans traveling to the Vietnam War.
Graffiti has long been a form of artistic or political expression; some call it art, some call
it vandalism. Archaeologists and art historians find it provides context and insight
into the minds of those who inscribe personal messages in public places.
The names of Soldiers and Marines, and their hometowns; wives and girlfriends; poetry; drawings;
patriotic sentiments; political statements and more cover these canvas beds preserved by the
Vietnam Graffiti Project and
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, organizers of the exhibit.
Among these men, is Mick Santa of Bellevue, a Marine aboard the Walker on his way to Vietnam in 1967. He
was seasick for 20 days, and didn’t know if he’d even live to get off the ship in Vietnam, let
alone survive war. He made it both in and out of Vietnam alive, and eagerly awaits seeing his
old sleeping quarters.
When the Vietnam Graffiti Project recovered the graffitied canvas beds as the Walker was being
scrapped, they found books, magazines, newspapers, playing cards (many aces!), Rosary beads,
candy wrappers and more, telling more stories about these men. In addition to the graffitied
beds, issues of The Walker Report, the ship’s newspaper, and these other artifacts will be on
display, furthering understanding of what these men were experiencing.
A cell phone tour accompanies this exhibit. To access the cell phone tour, dial 253-275-3380.
Vietnam 1967-68 was written on this canvas bed, once aboard the
USNS General Nelson M. Walker. (Vietnam Graffiti Project)
Soldiers aboard the
Walker playing cards, waiting to arrive in Vietnam. (Vietnam Graffiti Project)
An original sleeping station once aboard the
Walker. Now, you can see it and the graffitied canvases in
Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam, at the History Museum.
(Vietnam Graffiti Project)