Tolson, Thomas Phillip (Interview outline and video), 2015

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Phil Tolson was born in Akron, Ohio in 1949. He was drafted in March, or April, 1969 and received his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Infantry Training then went to Fort Benning, Georgia for Noncommissioned Officer School and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He helped train new infantrymen at Fort Polk until March 1970 when he was deployed to Vietnam. Upon arrival in Vietnam he was assigned to lead a squad in Bravo Company 2nd Battalion 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. They went on patrols around Camp Evans and Firebase Ripcord before going onto Ripcord in late June/early July 1970. Bravo Company was stuck on Firebase Ripcord through the battle from July 1 to July 23 when the base was evacuated. During the evacuation Phil was wounded and recovered at Camp Evans for a month before rejoining his unit. He conducted patrols with Bravo Company until he left Vietnam in January 1971 and was discharged at Fort Lewis, Washington.

2005-10-09

Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

RHC-27_TolsonT1888V

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