Nazario, Moises (Interview transcript and audio, part 1), 2019

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Moises Nazario was born in Manila, Philippines, on October 25th, 1936. He recalls his uncle fighting in World War II when he was as young as five years old, and he remembers when Manila was occupied by Japan. Once the Philippines gained independence, Nazario attended college and medical school before enlisting in the Navy in early 1958. He got his physical at an American base in the Philippines, Sangley Point, and was accepted a few months later after which he was shipped from Sandy Point to Fort Mason, San Francisco. In August 1958, he flew out of San Francisco to San Diego for basic training. He was assigned to a company in September. After basic training, he attended steward school where he was trained to cook and serve before being transferred to Naval Academy as a steward. He served as a steward from 1959 to 1961. After that, Nazario was transferred to the USS Sampson and attended commissioning school in Rhode Island. After five months on the USS Sampson, he went back to the Philippines on leave before going to Boston where he assigned to the USS Johnston. While on the USS Sampson, he traveled to Charleston and then Cuba for the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade in December 1962. After a Mediterranean cruise, he was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for corps school. In July 1963, he graduated corps school and was stationed at the hospital in Great Lakes. In June 1965, Nazario was sent to lab assistant school, and he worked as a lab assistant in Great Lakes after finishing the 8-week course. After that, he was sent to Camp Lejeune to train as an emergency medical technician. After a brief return to the lab in Great Lakes, Nazario was flown to Vietnam in October 1966, landing in Da Nang. There, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division and served as a general corpsman at the battalion aid station. His battalion went on a “sweep,” or patrol to look for enemies, and it was his job to take care of casualties in the field. Nazario himself was injured when he got hit on the knee with shrapnel and got eight stitches on his knee at the battalion aid station.

2019-08

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Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

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