McAlpine, Barry (Interview outline and video), 2012

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Barry McAlpine was born in Cass City, Michigan in 1945. After graduating from high school in 1963, McAlpine briefly worked at General Motors before attending Michigan State University. However, his time at Michigan State did not work out and in 1965, McAlpine received his draft notice. After going through the induction center in Detroit, McAlpine went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for his basic training. Once he completed the basic training at Fort Knox, McAlpine's MOS was military intelligence, which required him to go through advanced infantry training, also at Fort Knox. After finishing the advanced training at Fort Knox, McAlpine deployed to Germany, where he received an assignment to a unit stationed of the West German border with Czechoslovakia. McAlpine left Germany in 1966 and after a short leave, deployed to Vietnam. Once in Vietnam, McAlpine's orders sent him to "B" Troop, 1st of the 9th, 1st Air Cavalry Division. While with "B" Troop, McAlpine served as a member of the Blues, a ground scout section of the troop tasked with purposely finding and engaging the enemy. McAlpine spent his entire tour with "B" Troop, eventually becoming a squad leader. When his tour ended, McAlpine returned to the United States and began going back to college.

2012-04-26

Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

McAlpineB1378V

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