Vietnam War soldier killed on rescue mission honored with memorial scholarship fund
A Wisconsin veteran is fundraising to start the scholarship program.
A Wisconsin veteran is fundraising to start the scholarship program.
A Wisconsin veteran is fundraising to start the scholarship program.
A new effort aims to honor a soldier killed during the Vietnam War with a memorial scholarship fund.
Prior video coverage above: Vietnam War Hero Scholarship
Michael O'Donnell died in Cambodia in 1970. His high school classmate is raising money to start the scholarship in O'Donnell's name at Shorewood High School in Wisconsin.
While fighting in Vietnam, O'Donnell wrote poems about what he saw there.
"They really bare his soul as to what he was going through in Vietnam," said Jon Reddin, who is starting the memorial scholarship fund.
Reddin decided to start the scholarship fund after reading O'Donnell's story in the book, "In That Time: Michael O'Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam."
Daniel Weiss, former president and CEO of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and professor at Johns Hopkins University, wrote the book published in 2019.
"The poetry brought me into his story," Weiss said. "Michael's life was worth honoring and worth remembering."
The book details O'Donnell's Wisconsin upbringing and work as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. Widely known as one of the war's most dangerous positions, Weiss said O'Donnell used poetry to cope with the carnage he saw.
"In Michael's case, this happy-go-lucky, charismatic young man three or four years later was talking about his own death because he knew that there was no future for him. I think if we can think about those two moments in the life of this one individual, we won't be so quick to go to war unless we really need to," Weiss said.
O'Donnell died on a mission in Cambodia in 1970 after he flew into heavy fire attempting to rescue eight soldiers.
A veteran himself, Reddin has made it his new mission to honor his friend.
"He almost saved eight lives, and it was such an exceptionally brave act that I thought it should be memorialized," Reddin said.
He hopes to raise $20,000 to start an annual scholarship at Shorewood High School for students like O'Donnell with an aptitude for poetry.
Reddin said after he raises the money, the school will manage the scholarship program.
Those interested in donating to the scholarship fund can reach Reddin's GoFundMe fundraiser here.
