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Grand Valley State University
Veterans' History Project
Kent Fisher
Vietnam War Era-Stateside Service
Part 1 – 43 minutes 38 seconds
(00:00:48) Early Life
-Born on July 1, 1946 in Lansing, Michigan
-Spent majority of his early life in Howell, Michigan
-Father had come out of the Army as a result of World War II ending
-Oldest of three children
-Howell was a great place to grow up
-Enjoyed life in Howell
-Father worked in medical sales and his sales area was shifted to west Michigan
-Had to drive 100 miles to get to his sales area
-Heard that a new high school, Forest Hills Central, was being opened
-Also heard that a new college, Grand Valley State College (now university), was opening
-Moved to the Grand Rapids area when he was 14 years old
-Attended Grand Valley State College
-Wanted to attend Michigan State University to play basketball
-Father wanted him to attend GVSC because of its low cost and liberal arts program
-Studied English
-Started Grand Valley's basketball team
-Wanted to be close to home, but not too close
-Moved to Allendale, Michigan in his sophomore year of college
(00:04:58) Civil Unrest & the Vietnam War
-Aware of the civil unrest in the 1960s especially on college campuses
-Different atmosphere at Grand Valley meant there was no unrest on that campus
-Students had more conservative values
-Saw college as a place to prepare for a job and adulthood
-Aware of the Vietnam War
-Enrolled at Grand Valley in 1964 as the Vietnam War escalated
-Felt that if the American government wanted to fight the war, then it must be right
-To him, the escalation of the war made sense
(00:08:15) Enlisting in the Coast Guard
-Felt he had a duty to serve the United States
-Father died after his freshman year of college
-Significant personal change
-His dog also died, he broke up with his girlfriend, and he became eligible for the draft in 1968
-If he stayed in school then it meant he was not at risk of being drafted
-Army allowed four years of college deferment, and after fourth year he was eligible to be drafted
-Didn't matter if he had a degree, or not
-Took the Armed Forces Exam at Fort Wayne in Detroit
-Qualified for every branch of service
-Relatives had served in previous wars
-Had been exposed to the Coast Guard growing up in Michigan
-Remembers having a positive image of the Coast Guard in northern Michigan
-Search and rescue operations, law enforcement, and a general sense of professionalism
�-Attended the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven, Michigan
-Vietnam War escalated even further in 1967 and 1968, and grew out of control
-It became apparent that the United States could not defeat North Vietnam
-Didn't want to get drafted into the Army
-Knew the Coast Guard was a defensive branch and had better living arrangements
-Slept in beds and ate hot meals
-Coast Guard had a limited enlistment quota
-Without a degree or an applicable skill he couldn't be an officer
-Meant he would have more trouble being enlisted
-Left college in the summer of 1968 after getting married
-Went to the Coast Guard recruiting station in Grand Rapids and enlisted
-Told to go home and wait for his call to service
(00:16:14) Basic Training
-Received his call to service in mid-December 1968 and reported in Detroit
-Quit his construction job and within four days he was ready to leave
-Wife drove him to Detroit
-He was sworn in in Detroit
-Sent to Cape May, New Jersey for basic training
-Lasted nine weeks
-Received a draft notice by way of telegram from the Army
-Didn't know if he was considered a deserter
-Reported to his commanding officer to ask if he was in trouble
-Commanding officer tore up the telegram and threw it away
-For the rest of training, his commander teased him about the draft
-Never became an issue
-Ten years later he ran into his former recruiter at a Coast Guard festival
-Told Kent that he had just made it into the Coast Guard
-Told that Cape May was in the top three most challenging basic training programs
-Both physically and emotionally challenging
-Removal of certain civilian habits
-Learned Coast Guard vernacular
-Floors became “decks,” windows became “ports,” and stairs became “ladders”
-Focus of basic training was changing recruits through “shock therapy”
-Rapidly immersed into a new way of life and a different culture
-He was homesick
-Winters in New Jersey were wet, cold, snowy, and rainy
-Forced the recruits to focus on their training
-If you deviated from training you were punished with extra physical training
-If you made enough mistakes you were discharged or “reverted”
- “Reversion” meant being sent back a number of weeks to restart training
-Discharge during basic training meant you were unfit for military service
-Taught him self reliance
-Had to rely on himself during basic training
-Basic training also instilled a high degree of teamwork
-Using your personal skills to help the rest of the unit
-Had to learn to trust and be confident in the skills of the other Coast Guardsmen
(00:28:06) Training at Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle
-Wanted to be assigned to a station in the 9th Coast Guard District in the Great Lakes area
-Request was considered, but Coast Guard need took precedence
�-Assigned to a station in the 5th Coast Guard District
-Stations in Virginia, North Carolina, and part of South Carolina
-Assigned to Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle
-16 man lifeboat station close to Swansboro, North Carolina
-Received ten days of leave before reporting to Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle
-Made preparations for his wife to live near him
-Reported to Emerald Isle on March 10, 1969
-A large deal of adjusting to the local culture
-Different dialect (mix of Cockney English and American Southern English)
-He was a Seaman Apprentice
-Original plan was to do four years with the Coast Guard then get out
-Return to Michigan, complete college, teach English and coach basketball
-Believed the Vietnam War would be totally over by 1973
-Training at Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle meant learning a new set of skills
-Firefighting, boat handling, ropes and lines, painting, cleaning, and radio communications
-Learned these new skills on the job
-Worked from dawn until dusk
-He was considered exceptionally different
-College educated
-Had a northern accent
-Some of the men thought he was a Coast Guard Intelligence officer doing undercover work
-This was because he paid so much attention to detail
-Stationed there for eight months
(00:33:57) Training at Governors Island
-Applied for Advanced Training which would lead to an advance in rank to petty officer
-Note: Petty officer is equivalent to non-commissioned officer in Army, Air Force, or Marines
-Applied for Yeoman School and he was accepted
-Learning how to do clerical work in the Coast Guard
-Courtroom paperwork, discharge paperwork, enlistment paperwork, building records,
and leave records
-Worked in offices
-Warm and dry in the winter, and cool in the summer
-Trained at Governors Island, New York
-Wife stayed in Grand Rapids, Michigan while he trained at Governors Island
(00:35:50) Basketball in the Coast Guard
-While at Emerald Isle he played pick-up games of basketball on a parking lot court
-At Governors Island there was a basketball league
-Teams from other training groups competed against each other
(00:36:55) Stationed at Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle
-After three months of training at Governors Island he became a petty officer
-Returned to Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle, North Carolina
-He had only been on loan to Governors Island for training
-Still part of the 5th District
-Worked on a Coast Guard cutter, USCGC Verbena
-100 foot long construction ship
-Built navigation aids in the inter-coastal waterways and serviced buoys
-Set up lights and reflective markers for boats
-Used sextants to mark the locations of the navigation aids
-Able to conduct search and rescue missions and assist law enforcement
�-Remembers there was a junction where a waterway met a channel that led to the Atlantic Ocean
-An 85 foot ship missed a navigation aid and ran aground
-The station called the Verbena to investigate the situation
-Insure that the navigation aid had been properly placed
-Pulled the ship back into the water and went aboard to talk to the captain
-See if he was drunk, or if he had improper charts
-He was sober and had been sailing from New York
-Asked to see his charts
-Complied and produced a gas station map, not an actual naval chart
-Captain of the ship sailed south and ran aground, again, in South Carolina
-Got dislodged and got out of the 5th District
-Last they heard he ran aground a third time in southern South Carolina
Part 2 – 53 minutes 20 seconds
(00:00:34) Promotion to Officer & Assignment to USCGC Munro
-Promoted to the rank of E-5 (petty officer second class)
-Received transfer orders
-He was the second petty officer in the 5th District with the most seniority
-Transferred to the High Endurance Cutter, USCGC Munro
-Had its home port in Boston
-Had a son by time he gained rank and received his new orders
-Moved his wife and son to Grand Rapids, Michigan
-Reported to Newport, Rhode Island where the Munro was being built
-Coast Guard drew on petty officers from all over the country to build the ship's crew
-Ship was completed in August 1970
-Met the officers of the ship and the captain
-Sailed to New Orleans, then from New Orleans to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
-Conducted anti-mine training
-It was a fast ship
-Top speed was classified
-Fast enough to keep pace with nuclear-powered submarines
-Ship's home port was Boston and he and his family lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts
-Sailed to Guantanamo Bay for Underway Training
-Practicing basic routines to insure everyone remembered how to do them
-Participated in the ship's commissioning in September 1971
-Escorted Douglas Munro's mother during the commissioning ceremony
-Douglas Munro was the only Coast Guardsmen to have been awarded the Medal of Honor
-Posthumously rewarded for action at Guadalcanal in 1942
(00:08:05) Drug & Alcohol Abuse Program
-Assigned to Washington D.C. and stationed at the Coast Guard Headquarters
-Worked in the Personnel Services Division
-Trained by the Navy in San Diego as a drug & alcohol abuse specialist
-By 1971 and 1972 the drug problem had ballooned
-A lot of men were returning from southeast Asia with serious drug addictions
-A $5/day habit in Vietnam was a $100/day habit in the United States
-A lot of men turned to theft to fund their addictions
-Traveled to Coast Guard stations and offices all over the country
-12 District offices
�-Coast Guard Academy
-Coast Guard Headquarters
-Training Centers
-Mission was to establish drug & alcohol abuse and prevention programs
-Trial and error process
(00:11:00) Becoming an Officer
-Selected for Officer Candidate School
-Trained with enlisted men and college graduates
-OCS lasted 18 weeks
-He was still on active duty while other candidates were Reservists
-Graduated with the rank of O-1 (ensign) and received a temporary commission
-Promoted to the rank of O-3 (lieutenant)
-He was discharged as an enlisted man, and was immediately sworn back in as an officer
-Given an indefinite service length
-Only ended if he retired, or was passed over for promotion two times
-Knew the Coast Guard would become a career
-Commissioned in December 1973
(00:15:15) Assignment to USCGC Tamaroa & End of the Vietnam War
-Assigned to the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Tamaroa in New York
-Joined the ship in January 1974
-Vietnam War was coming to an end
-People complained to Coast Guardsmen about taxes and the Vietnam War
-Not as much animosity toward Coast Guardsmen as toward members of other branches
-Always lived and worked in a civilian community
-People understood the Coast Guard assisted the Navy in Vietnam
-Also understood the Coast Guard focused on humanitarian missions and saving lives
(00:19:02) Stationed at Governors Island
-Stationed at Governors Island, New York as a duty officer
-Worked in the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Rescue Coordination Center
-Conducting search and rescue missions and operating east of the Mississippi River
-He was a rescue planner, worked in navigation, and coordinated with the British
(00:20:48) Sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald
-Area commander had a search and rescue telephone linked to other rescue coordination centers
-When the red light on the phone lit up, it meant a search and rescue operation was underway
-On the night of November 10, 1975 the phone rang from RCC-Cleveland
-A freighter named the SS Edmund Fitzgerald had gone missing on Lake Superior
-Made plans to send out everything available to search for the freighter
-Knew that a major storm had been coming, but powerless to stop shipping on Lake Superior
-No rescue operations possible until November 11 when the storm passed
-70 knot (80.55 miles per hour) winds with 30 foot high waves
-Established a search and rescue plan at 7:30 p.m., but had to wait until morning to launch it
-Thought about the men and their families and prayed the men died a quick death
-Knew they had either died quickly from the ship sinking, or freezing to death in the water
-Saddened by Gordon Lightfoot's folk ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
-Also proud of it though, because it references the Coast Guard and life in northern Michigan
-The vicar, Richard Ingalls, at the Mariners' Church had been the parish priest in Howell
-Rang the bell 29 times to commemorate the number of lives lost
(00:28:22) Command of Coast Guard Station Cape May
-Given command of the Coast Guard Station at Cape May, New Jersey
�-Most active station in terms of search and rescue, anti-pollution, and law enforcement
-High amount of traffic in the area, especially from Memorial Day to Labor Day
-Worked 24/7 dealing with fires, medical emergencies, etc.
-Had an auxiliary Coast Guard unit and a Coast Guard helicopter unit to assist them
-Remembers flying out to a ship that had caught fire and been abandoned
-The crew put out the fire, then abandoned the ship, but it had taken on water
-He flew out, was lowered to the ship, and helped pump out the water to save the ship
-First shore unit to have women working in all enlisted capacities except for radar and gunnery
-Did just as good as their best male counterparts
-Even the bad female personnel did better than their bad male counterparts
-Received some small arms training
-Search and rescue operations, search and clear ships
-Conducted law enforcement operations
-Seized ships, arrested a number of people, searched ships, and seized goods
-Stationed at Coast Guard Station Cape May for three years
(00:35:48) Stationed at 9th District Commander's Office
-Transferred to the 9th District Commander's Office in Cleveland to work as a recruiting officer
-Managed recruiting offices and sub-offices in the greater Great Lakes area
-Visited the offices and made sure proper protocols were being followed
-Had enlistment quotas
-Urged to get African-American and Native American recruits
-Went to Indian Reservations to look for possible recruits
-Natives fired warning shots at government vehicles
-Stopped once they found out they were Coast Guard personnel
-Trusted them, not the “bad” government
-At that time they had fewer Coast Guard personnel than the New York City police
-Coast Guard has grown since the September 11th Attacks
(00:40:00) Deaths of Presidents
-While at the Coast Guard Headquarters he was selected for the Honor Guard at Arlington Cemetery
-During President Johnson's funeral (1973)
-Had been part of the Honor Guard when President Truman died (1972)
-Stood for an hour by the casket then got two hours off
-Had to stand at full attention in his dress uniform
-Learned how to give and receive silent commands to be relieved from duty
-Tremendous honor
-Stood a few feet from President Nixon, but couldn't look at him or talk to him
-Felt a single bead of sweat rolling down his back
-Couldn't scratch his back to relieve the itch
-Thought about each president's place in history, and his own place in history by being at the funeral
(00:45:18) Stationed at Coast Guard Station Muskegon & Promotion to Lieutenant Commander
-Promoted to the rank of O-4 (lieutenant commander) before leaving Cleveland
-Sent to the Coast Guard command station in Muskegon, Michigan
-Managed stations on the east shore of Lake Michigan (from Michigan City to Frankfort)
-Felt great to be back in Michigan
-Had a $600,000 budget for all stations
-Able to use everything he had learned in the Coast Guard
-Station activity slowed down in the winter
-Stowed the cutters during the winter
-Gave leave to station personnel
�-Sent necessary personnel to Coast Guard stations on the Gulf of Mexico
-They were always busy and the Michigan personnel relieved those personnel
-Had “Coast Guard Night” with the Muskegon Lumberjacks hockey team
(00:48:47) Retirement from the Coast Guard
-Told he could retire with 19 years and six months, or go to Governors Island, or go to Adak, Alaska
-Decided to return to Governors Island, New York
-Stationed there for three years
-Served as the Chief of News & Photos
-Became the Chief of Administration for that area
-Retired from Governors Island
-Son was attending Grand Valley State University
-Mother-in-law was suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's Disease
-Both factors contributed to his decision to retire from the Coast Guard
-Put his retirement orders into effect on May 1, 1990 after 22 years of Coast Guard service
(00:52:11) Work & Study at Grand Valley State University
-Started studying at Grand Valley State University on May 7, 1990
-Returned to Michigan and completed a degree at Grand Valley State University
-Got a degree in advertisement & public relations communications
-Hired by Grand Valley State University to work in Alumni Relations
-Raising funds
-Became the Associate Director of Alumni Relations
-Did that for nine years
-Retired from Grand Valley State University on January 1, 2007
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Veterans History Project
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. History Department
Description
An account of the resource
The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs.
Coverage
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1914-
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American
Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Michigan--History, Military
Oral history
Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American
United States--History, Military
United States. Air Force
United States. Army
United States. Navy
Veterans
Video recordings
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Contributor
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Smither, James
Boring, Frank
Relation
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Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Identifier
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RHC-27
Language
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eng
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-27_FisherK1938V
Title
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Fisher, Kent E (Interview outline and video), 2016
Date
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2016-06-13
Description
An account of the resource
Kent Fisher was born on July 1, 1946 in Lansing, Michigan. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in the summer of 1968 and was called up for service in December 1968. He received his basic training at Cape May, New Jersey then received further training at Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle, North Carolina. From Emerald Isle he went to Governors Island, New York, where he attended Yeoman School. He returned to Emerald Isle and worked on the Coast Guard cutter, USCGC Verbena. He was promoted to the rank of petty officer second class and received orders to join the USCGC Munro. He was selected for Officer Candidate School, graduated with the rank of ensign, and was then promoted to lieutenant. He joined the USCGC Tamaroa in January 1974 and served aboard the ship until he was reassigned to the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Rescue Coordination Center, where he helped plan the search and rescue operations for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. He was then given command of Coast Guard Station Cape May, New Jersey and from there was transferred to the 9th District Commander's Office in Cleveland, Ohio. He also served at Coast Guard Station Muskegon, Michigan, and ended his career at Governors Island, New York, as the Chief of News & Photos. He retired from the Coast Guard on May 1, 1990 after 22 years of service and with the rank of lieutenant commander.
Creator
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Fisher, Kent Edmonson
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (Interviewer)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Veterans
Video recordings
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. Coast Guard
Type
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Moving Image
Text
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a>
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Format
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video/x-m4v
application/pdf