VIET NAM PAPER MILITARY MONEY

Among the many items just donated to the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley recently by Jerry Berns is this paper nickle distributed for use during the Vietnam war.
Paper coin-denominations have been long issued by the American government for military usage. (I have a paper quarter found in my great grandfather Josiah Crites' Civil War "picket duty" reminder book.) The use of paper money makes sense from the perspective of weight but also because of its noise factor.
Who do you suppose the lady with the fancy hairdo is?

US AIRMAN BILL HIEGERT IN VIETNAM

2010 THE YEAR OF VALLEY ADVENTURES

Corporal William Dean Hiegert USAF - Photo taken in Vietnam - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Jerry Berns 2010 - click on image to enlarge.

Bill Hiegert was born on the 6th of December, 1944. He was a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. While attending Los Angeles Pierce College, Bill was initiated into the Phi Delta Psi Fraternity
Bill was a fun-loving man, who loved American blue-grass music. When he returned home, Hiegert became a farmer and wholesale nursery man. He died young, many believe in large measure, due to problems that he returned with from the war.

Bill Hiegert USAF and Jerry Berns USMC in Vietnam.
The young fellows who shared membership in the Phi Delta Psi took "fraternity" very seriously. Like Jerry Berns and Bill Hiegert, at war in Vietnam, they often traveled great distances to see one another.

A MEMORY FROM THE VIET NAM WAR BECOMES PART OF VALLEY HISTORY

2010 - The Year of Valley History
When Jerry Berns and Dennis Nolet became friends and fraternity brothers at Pierce College, they could have never dreamed of meeting one day half way around the world in Viet Nam. The ugly disruptions of war sometimes soften with time, and for the average college student today, born long after the Viet Nam war was over, that terrible conflict is seldom talked about and little understood.
This flyer was given to Jerry Berns from Denny Nolet somewhere in Viet Nam. Today Berns contributed it to the archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley, where it will soon be translated and made available for scholars and future exhibits.

GRADY ELLIS TALBOT - FOUNDER OF YOUR MUSEUM

Museum Founder Grady E. Talbot JD - Photo scanned by LeRoy Hunt for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - 2008 (Click on image to enlarge)
It was 46 years ago when Captain Grady E. Talbot began flying in Viet Nam for the United States Air Force. He served three tours of duty there as a fighter pilot from 1962 to 1969. He flew F-100's. Captain Talbot flew on the first strike into North Vietnam in the Spring of 1965.
Prior to entering the Air Force he had served as a United States Marine in the Korean Conflict. On his return from Korea as a Marine, Grady Talbot enrolled in Los Angeles Pierce Community College. There, with students from both Pierce and Los Angeles Valley College, he organized the Phi Delta Psi Fraternity on October 13th, 1956. He served as the second president of that organization. After his graduation from Pierce College in 1958, he completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo in 1961.
On his return to the United States Grady worked as a stockbroker in Phoenix, Arizona from 1970 to 1973. From that year until 1986, Grady farmed in the Imperial Valley, near El Centro, California. In 1990, he completed his Doctorate of Law degree from the University of San Diego's School of Law. He was an active member of California State Bar until his recent retirement..
Grady was elected the first President of the reorganized Maple Leaf Society in the spring of 2004. The Maple Leaf Society is an alumni organization of the Phi Delta Psi that raises funds for community college scholarships.
He is a founder and member of the Board of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley.
He and his wife Alice live in Arcadia, California.
He was born on the 30th of November in Los Angeles, California