Jim Hamlyn of rural Denver, Iowa is a 1965 graduate of Waterloo West High School and a former president of United Auto Workers Local 838 in Waterloo. He served in the U.S. Army's 196th Light Infantry Brigade during the Vietnam War and received the Bronze Star for valor in combat.
In this clip from his "Voices of Iowa" oral history at the Grout Musuem District, Jim talks about how a comrade saved his life during a grenade attack. Jim took home movie footage while he was in Vietnam and that footage was made into a PBS documentary, "A Bad Deal: My Vietnam War Story," in 2019. Jim also played a key role in getting wartime movie footage of his neighbor and U.S. Navy Korean War veteran Bill Rector made into a new PBS documentary, "Shrapnel Down: My Korean War Story." Both documentaries were produced by Mark St. George for PBS station WSIU in Carbondale, Ill. and are distributed nationally by PBS. Both have been screened at the Grout Museum District's Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum.
"Shrapnel Down" will have a public screening 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday June 14, 2022 in the theater at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo. It is free of charge but snacks and refreshments will be served and free will donations will be accepted. The half hour documentary will be shown continuously several times during the screening event.