Surf Museum Opens Exhibit Honoring Vets who Surfed in Vietnam

Over 40 years since its end, the Vietnam War remains one of the most controversial military conflicts in American History. While there was never an official declaration of war, the American government sent over nine million men to Vietnam over the course of 20 years, 48,000 of which never returned home.

While images of the time period are typically tied to protests back home, the California Surf Museum opened a new exhibit that honors a little-known part of Vietnam War history. In 1968, during the height of the bloody Tet Offensive, a group of American soldiers opened the China Beach Surf Club, where soldiers were able to escape the daily horrors of the unpopular war and feel a little closer to home.

Over the past two years, the California Surf Museum interviewed over 60 vets about their experiences surfing in Vietnam. The museum’s historian said that countless vets had said, “If it hadn’t been for surfing when I came back from Vietnam, I don’t know what my life would have been life but it wouldn’t have been good.”