In a black-and-white photograph, a young man wears a steel pot helmet with looped string tucked into a band wrapped around the shell. He gazes past the camera with a grin on his face.<\/p>\n
The year is 1966. The young man is Cpl. Joe Beaver Jr., United States Marine Corps. He is about 19 or 20 years old and fighting a war in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The photograph was taken by Bob Schieffer, then a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. One of the first Texan journalists to do boots-on-the-ground reporting in Vietnam, Schieffer\u2019s mission was to find, interview and photograph locals fighting in the war.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260207_OurManinVietnamEvent-3-1024x683.jpg\")
Marine Corps and Army veteran Joe Beaver Jr. stands for applause at the \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d exhibition Feb. 7 in the Central Library at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections. Beaver was one of the soldiers photographed by Bob Schieffer, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
That picture, along with other photos, paintings and letters, is on display at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections in an exhibition of Schieffer\u2019s work titled \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibit has a special significance to the community and to a journalist who went on to have a storied career that included anchoring a national television news show and moderating presidential debates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI covered a lot of stories, but I never felt the way I did \u2014 I never got the response that I got \u2014 when I would ask kids, \u2018Hi. I\u2019m Bob Schieffer from the Star-Telegram, and your mother asked me to find out how you\u2019re doing.\u2019\u201d Schieffer said at an opening dinner Saturday night. \u201cI remember kids, they would absolutely break into sobbing tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260207_OurManinVietnamEvent-11-1024x683.jpg\")
Bob Schieffer, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, holds the \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d exhibition pamphlet Feb. 7 in the Central Library at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections. Schieffer\u2019s photographs, paintings and artifacts are on display. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
The collection began when Schieffer reached out to university archivist Sarah Pezzoni.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wanted to know if the UTA library, which holds the Star-Telegram\u2019s entire photo collection, had the negatives of the photographs he took in Vietnam.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The library didn\u2019t, but the two started talking. Schieffer ended up donating letters, notebooks, prints and negatives he\u2019d held on to all those years.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260207_OurManinVietnamEvent-13-1024x683.jpg\")
Bob Schieffer, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, right, and his wife, Pat, center, talk to Walter Clerihew\u2019s son James at the \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d exhibition Feb. 7 in the Central Library at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections. Schieffer photographed U.S. Air Force Capt. Walter Clerihew in 1937 during the Vietnam War. James said Schieffer and his father made big impressions on each other. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there, Bob proposed an exhibit of his photographs, naturally, and at this point, I was kind of pinching myself on a regular basis,\u201d Pezzoni said. \u201cI could not have been more excited by this idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schieffer proposed that he paint portraits of a few of the men as a gift to their families. Those paintings are included in the exhibit, hung side by side with the men\u2019s photographs.<\/p>\n
In the center of the wall, a painting by Schieffer uses brushstrokes of black, white and shades of gray to form an oil paint facsimile of the photo he took of Beaver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the planning of the exhibition, Pezzoni reached out to Beaver\u2019s wife, Dee, and shared some of the photographs, including the one of a grinning young man with string in his helmet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this you?\u201d Dee asked him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was. Beaver had never seen the photograph before.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260207_OurManinVietnamEvent-18-1024x683.jpg\")
Paintings line the wall during the \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d exhibition Feb. 7 in the Central Library at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections. Bob Schieffer, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, proposed painting portraits of a few of the men as a gift to their families.<\/p>\n
Beaver, who was wounded three times in Vietnam, joined his family during Saturday night\u2019s events. He shared a detail from nearly 60 years earlier.<\/p>\n
He recalled that the string tucked into his helmet was used to rig booby traps from hand grenades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t ever noticed it, until tonight,\u201d Beaver said. \u201cIt brings back memories.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those too young to remember Vietnam or who learned about it through textbooks and films, the exhibit offers a more personal look into history and the people who lived it, said John Wang, dean of UTA Libraries.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260207_OurManinVietnamEvent-17-1024x683.jpg\")
Bob Schieffer, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter, right, and his wife, Pat, explore his \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d exhibition Feb. 7 in the Central Library at University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections. Schieffer hopes that visitors to the exhibit will understand the sacrifice made by those portrayed. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Instead of focusing on politics or a national perspective, it focuses on individuals, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about dogma,\u201d Wang told attendees. \u201cIt is about humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schieffer hopes visitors to the exhibit will understand the sacrifice made by those portrayed. Knowing them changed him and made him proud to know them, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His time in Vietnam was also the beginning of a philosophy he would carry with him in how he approached journalism, and one he insisted be reflected in the exhibit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not about him \u2014 it\u2019s about them.<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
What: \u201cOur Man in Viet Nam\u201d<\/a> exhibit<\/p>\n When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through April 4<\/p>\n Location: University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections, Central Library, 6th floor<\/p>\n Admission: Free. Parking at the nearest garage, the Maverick Parking Garage, is $4 per hour.<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n