BLOOMINGTON - In the 1960s, Terry Garbe volunteered to be drafted, fully expecting to be sent to the Vietnam War. "Going into the military to fight enemies of the country was not a difficult decision to make," said Garbe, now a Normal businessman. | Video 1: Closer look at exhibit | Video 2: War's effect on U.S.

"I enjoyed the military … doing battle with bad people who had in mind to take over the world."

He completed three tours of duty. When he returned home and went back to college, Garbe said he and other veterans were treated like "pariahs of the college campus."

Carrol Cox, a veteran of the Korean War, admits the events of the time "radically" changed his viewpoint from the preceding decade.

Cox, at the time an Illinois State University English professor, became the faculty advisor for Students for a Democratic Society, a campus anti-war organization.

"I rapidly became an active member of SDS," said Cox, who was an analyst attached to the National Security Agency during the Korean War. "The turning point for me was the invasion of the Dominican Republic in the spring of 1965. I moved radically left. By 1967-68, I considered myself a Marxist."

Garbe and Cox are among 31 McLean County residents whose memories of the Vietnam War are included in a new exhibit, "A Turbulent Time: Perspectives of the Vietnam War," which debuts Saturday at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St.

"We are trying to help people understand how (the war) happened," said museum curator Susan Hartzold. "It's a primer for those who didn't experience it."

Three years in the making

Illinois State University Assistant Professor of History Ross Kennedy was guest curator for the project, which was three years in the making. Materials alone cost about $15,000. "I think it's a very good glimpse, the best we could have done with the time circumstance," Kennedy said.

The exhibit shows how and why the United States got involved in the war, how local residents and soldiers felt about it, how feelings changed as the war intensified, and why the United States continued its involvement even after anti-war protests escalated at home.

It begins with the lead-up to the war: what was going on in Indochina and the United States, communism in Europe, the Soviet Union's development of nuclear weapons.

Music of the era, bits of news broadcasts and war ads play in the background.

A timeline takes visitors into the war: the assassination of President Kennedy, racial unrest, the election of Richard Nixon, Kent State and Jackson State universities' shootings during protests.

Superimposed are the number of South and North Vietnamese and Americans killed in the war, including 25 from McLean County, and the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam.

There's a panel on the selective service; an example of a soldier's "hooch," or living quarters; a care package; and a bunker that visitors can crawl into and experience replicated sights and sounds of war.

Cost of the war, and the protests against it

Back on the home front, the exhibit revisits the hippie counterculture, shows anti-war and pro-war demonstrations, and how ISU students responded.

"One thing about the protests at home is the class division," said Kennedy.

Many middle-class citizens protested the war, while the working class - the ones fighting - supported it, Kennedy said.

The exhibit also shows what happened after the troops came home; the cost of the war; and telegrams telling families that their loved one had been killed.

One of Kennedy's favorite components is a memory panel with quotes from presidents since the war.

"It shows that the presidents, regardless of parties, consistently said 'Forget about it,' " Kennedy said.

The exhibit shows you can't just forget the whole thing, he said.

"If people give themselves time to go through the exhibit, they can come out learning a lot," said Kennedy.

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Support Our Veterans effort

When: Each Saturday, from Jan. 26, 2008, through August 2010.

What: Visitors will receive free admission to the McLean County Museum of History with the donation of an item that will be given to patients and residents of the Department of Veterans Affairs Danville Medical Center.

New and unused items accepted include: Spray deodorant, mouthwash, hairbrushes, combs, liquid hand soap, body powder, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving cream, pre-shave lotion, aftershave, disposable razors, stationery kits, paperback puzzle books with large print, playing cards, T-shirts, socks.

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Want to see it?

Exhibit: "A Turbulent Time: Perspectives of the Vietnam War"

Where: McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington

When: Saturday through August 2010

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday (September through May)

Cost: Regular museum admission: Adults, $5; seniors 65 and older, $4; children, museum members and students with ID, free.