Vietnam War vet's Melbourne museum provides closure for those who served

What began as a modest collection, turned into an annual exhibit and tent at Wickham Park as part of the annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion. Ben Bydalek would set up a large tent to coincide with the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall that is displayed each year at the reunion in Melbourne.

Now Bydalek’s collection has grown so much that he’s set up his own museum and education center tucked away just off U.S. 1 north of the Pineda Causeway. Keeping the items in storage between the annual reunion just didn’t make sense, Bydalek said. They needed a permanent home.

“I’m a Vietnam Marine Corps veteran. I was in country early in ‘66 and '67. I began collecting Marine Corps memorabilia by the early 1980s and from there it just grew,” Bydalek said.

His memorabilia has now become a small museum and education center just north of Melbourne. The crowded displays of wartime artifacts such as weapons, gas masks and minesweepers has become a makeshift home for visiting Vietnam veterans to connect with and come to terms with their past, Bydalek said. Grown men breaking down in tears as they look at weapons of war and reckon with their shared experiences of violence has made his efforts worth it, he said.

See the memorial wall: Moving tribute to soldiers lost in Vietnam comes to Brevard

Witnessing the deaths of friends, horrific injuries and suffering injuries himself, Bydalek said the trauma of Vietnam never goes away, even after five decades. "We all have PTSD in some form. We all carry it with us," he added. Establishing the museum at 2475 Jen Drive #5 in Melbourne has been as much about educating the public about the war and its servicemembers as it is about providing closure to those who served. It's not uncommon for veterans to visit the center and stay for hours talking.

He hopes the museum and education center will serve as a way for Veterans to connect with their past as well as others to connect with the unique experiences Vietnam veterans had.

“It’s a window in time to a veteran’s tour of duty," Bydalek said. “I would like people to understand and get a little bit of an understanding as to what we actually experienced with that first step we took off the plane entering Vietnam," he said. "It was a totally different world." That new world those men entered didn't disappear when they left the battlefields of South Asia. It continued well after their return as they struggled to grapple with the lasting effects of traumatic stress, Agent Orange, horrific injuries and the cumulative effects of a grisly war that quickly became unpopular at home. Bydalek himself regularly comforts former servicemembers who break down in tears while looking at the exhibits while he himself uses the process as a way to sort through his own emotions.

"It’s a safe place. They will come in and just talk for hours," Bydalek said. "The only good thing to come out of the Vietnam War for the Vietnam soldier is the brotherhood that we have. And it only gets stronger as we get older"

"When I see a veteran come in, it's just such a powerful experience. A man and his wife came in this week as a matter of fact. He was overwhelmed by the extent of the collection and he used the exact minesweeper we have on display," Bydalek said. "He was able to tell his wife about his time there and share the experience in a new way."

The Vietnam War Exhibit and Education Center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. But Bydalek said he often will open the museum for those interested who call 321-212-9726.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Space Coast veteran's war collection turns into museum in Melbourne