June 2017 - Present

When I realized that many American Vietnam veterans have seldom had the opportunity to tell their stories due to public disdain towards the war, I decided to give veterans a platform to share, and civilians a way to understand the truths of this war. I was inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and my grandfather, Naval Officer Scott Wilson, Sr.. While attending Amherst College, I was awarded the Davis Foundation's Projects for Peace Grant to execute my project, Vietnam War Veterans: Then and Now, on a national scale. In 2022, I began my Senior Honors Thesis, So, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? Working with Diane Carlson Evans, founder of the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C., I created a Women Vietnam Veterans' archives. I was awarded Amherst College's Engaged Research Grant and Alpha Delta Phi Grant, enabling me to travel throughout the United States to interview and photograph these women. The culmination of this work is presented in my Senior Thesis Exhibition, So, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?, in which I was awarded Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College's Art and History of Art Department. All oral histories on this website are archived in the Library of Congress's Veteran's Project. Organizations that formally support the project include Vietnam Veterans of America, Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, The United States Vietnam War Commemoration, and The Witness to War Foundation. Spencer hopes to continue this project for many years.