Ted Engelmann

Ted Engelman - Helping to Heal the Wounds of War

Profile

Photo by Brian Doan

O1-E "Bird Dog," Lai Khe, Viet Nam, 1968

Ted Engelmann was born in Bloomington, Indiana. He grew up in the Midwest and Upstate New York. During World War II, Ted's father was an army officer stationed in the South Pacific. During the Korean War, Ted's family was stationed at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. Both parents were educators, involved in community affairs, and his father was a photojournalist; all of which played a significant role in Ted's life. Ted graduated from Johnstown High School, in Upstate New York, June 1965.

Military Experience: Ted began his four-year enlistment in the US Air Force in Albany, New York, February 1966. In March 1968, air force sergeant Engelmann arrived at Bien Hoa air base, a few miles north of Sai Gon, Viet Nam. Sergeant Engelmann was assigned for seven months to a Forward Air Control team directing tactical air strikes in support of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, 40 miles north of Sai Gon, and five months with Advisory Team #55 in the fishing village of Rach Gia, on the west coast of the Mekong Delta. Ted was honorably discharged from the air force in December 1969.

Educational Background: From 1970-1974, Ted attended Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, New York, and Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He received his bachelors' degree in earth science, biology and secondary education from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley in 1977. Ted received his masters' degree in curriculum and instruction and international relations from the Center for Teaching International Relations/Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, 1990.

Veteran Advocate: From 1979 Ted was the first Veterans Service Advocate hired by the Department of Colorado, Disabled American Veterans, to support the Vietnam Veteran Outreach Program, one of six pilot programs in the US. Ted interviewed veterans, scheduled counseling sessions for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and developed community resources for veterans and their families in the Denver area.
From 1991-1994, Ted was the primary facilitator for the three-day Transition Assistance Program at five Colorado military installations to support active-duty military in their transition to civilian life. Ted later trained facilitators nation-wide for the National Veterans Training Institute, University of Colorado-Denver.
Ted is co-author of "Activities for the Treatment of Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" in Occupational Therapy in Health (Haworth Press, 1991).

Photographer: Since the early 1980s, Ted has traveled and lived part-time in Australia, South Korea, Viet Nam and the US, photographing the parades, monument dedications, memorials, and after-effects of the war in each country. In 2006, while rephotographing several 1968 images of his base camp in Viet Nam, Ted finished his documentary project, Wounds that Bind: Four Countries after the American War in Viet Nam.
Ted has curated and exhibited his work at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Art Gallery in Albany, NY, The Exhibit Space and Library in Boulder, CO, conferences and smaller exhibits. His photographs have been published in The Journal of American History and other publications.

Educator: Ted has observed "how we tell the story to our children," through the materials and methods used in four countries to teach about the war in Viet Nam. He has been developing educational materials to help Americans understand a broader perspective of this shared traumatic period of history.
Since 1971, Ted has given slide presentations about the conflict in Viet Nam to secondary and college students, veterans, and educators throughout the US, Viet Nam, South Korea, and Australia. He has presented at conferences of the National Council of Social Studies, the Vietnam Center Symposia at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, the Australian Forces Defence Academy, Canberra, Australia, Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, and Han Nam University in Taejon, South Korea, and was an Inter-port Lecturer about the war and culture of Viet Nam for 700+ college students attending Semester at Sea in 2002.
Ted has been a full-time science teacher for 7th and 8th grade, taught psychology and cultural geography for summer school, substituted for middle and high school, classes on art and science at the Rocky Mountain School of Art ad Design, undergraduate classes at Han Nam University, Taejon, South Korea, and a graduate class at the Center for Teaching International Relations, University of Denver.
Starting in 1999, Ted became the first American War veteran to teach about the "Vietnam War" at the United Nations International School in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

As a result of the American invasion of Iraq, Ted is developing "Connecting the Wounds: Viet Nam - 9-11 - Iraq," to supplement his book project.

Ted resides in Denver, Colorado.