1 24 1541 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/94383c7e365fc4fb0051cf216d10fc77.m4v 60955664b9987c315e67e3db5ac73009 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7f2666d5f2fb7722a28b41db880daadc.pdf 4f64b9f6f00a9ae866c4804de25b0fcf PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans' History Project Diane Aamoth Vietnam War Era 1 hour 18 minutes 47 seconds (00:00:40) Early Life -Born on November 13, 1950 at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan -When she was a year and a half old her family moved to Jenison, Michigan -Mother worked on an assembly line at a General Motors factory -Retired from that -Father worked for the city of Grand Rapids -Retired from that -Attended Grandville High School -Graduated in 1968 (00:01:37) Social Unrest & Vietnam War Pt. 1 -Aware of the Counter-Culture and social turmoil in the 1960s -Remembers the race riots in Grand Rapids in 1967 -Watched the news and saw businesses in Grand Rapids closed -Knew about hippies -Counter-Culture didn't appeal to her -Knew about the Vietnam War -Understood that North Vietnam and South Vietnam were fighting -Understood that South Vietnam didn't want communism (00:03:04) Enlisting in the Army -Attended Grand Rapids Junior College (now Community College) fall of 1968 -Took general education classes -Enjoyed it, but it felt too much like high school -Decided to join the Army -Every day on the way to school she passed the Army induction center -One day the thought just entered her head that she wanted to join the Army -Patriotic and felt a need to serve her country -Liked the idea of having college benefit -Father had served in the Army during World War Two -Didn't support the idea of women serving in the Army -Had an uncle that served in the Marines during World War Two -Parents were surprised that she wanted to enlist, but supported her -Urged her to do research before enlisting -Recruiter was an honest, wise woman -Happy to talk with Diane's parents about the decision to enlist -Answered every question they asked to the best of her ability -In December 1968 she went to Detroit for her Army physical -Stayed over night at the YWCA -Intimidating to be on her own �-Women were separated from the men for the physical -Remembers taking the oath and realizing that she was now in the Army -Felt proud, excited, nervous, and scared (00:09:18) Basic Training -Following her induction into the Army she boarded a plane for Alabama -Sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama for basic training -Close to Birmingham -In the Women's Army Corps -Trained separately from the men -Took a lot of classes on Army regulations, Army history, and Army hierarchy -Received a lot of physical training every day -Did drills and went on marches -Did gas training -Supposed to do a bivouack, but it was cancelled due to weather -Disappointed that she missed out on that -All of the drill instructors were women -Will never forget the first night at Fort McClellan -A drill instructor came in and one recruit said "Hello ma'am" -Should have said "Hello drill instructor" -Drill instructor screamed at her and the rest of the recruits for the mistake -Made Diane think about her decision to sign up for three years -Began to understand why drill instructors yelled at recruits -Befriended one drill instructor and is still friends as of 2015 -Emphasis on discipline and orderliness -Learned how to follow orders without question -Clothes had to be stored in a certain way -Beds had to be made a specific way -Shoes had to be polished -If everything wasn't exactly right you would get a "gig" (demerit) -Too many gigs meant starting basic training over -If you made a mistake you had to do push ups -Remembers failing to have her clothes "pressed off" (smoothed out) -Had to write "I will be pressed off" 100 times -Discipline didn't bother her -Had some downtime during training -Wrote home at night -Allowed to go to the PX (Army general store) -First time going there she was terrified she would fail to salute the right people -At the end of eight weeks of training she was relieved she made it and was more confident -Kept entirely separate from the male recruits -For gas training you went into a room and learned how to put on a gas mask properly -Instructors filled the room with tear gas -Ordered to remove gas mask and say name, rank, and serial number -She quickly said all three then got out of the room �(00:23:44) Advanced Individual Training (AIT) -For her AIT she was assigned to Clerk Typist School -Specifically requested that because she didn't want to be a nurse -Her AIT was at Fort McClellan -During Clerk Typist School she was selected for LOG X at Fort Lee, Virginia -Worked with officers who were learning how to operate during a war -Sent to Fort Lee in the middle of the night -Didn't know where she was going -Thought she was being sent to Vietnam -Exciting to do paperwork for high ranking officers -Trained with women at Fort Lee (00:26:35) Assignment to the Pentagon -At the end of AIT she was allowed to pick three different assignment locations -One of her friends suggested they both pick the Pentagon on a whim -They were both assigned to Fort Myer, Virginia to work in the Pentagon -Excited to work in the Pentagon (00:27:28) Working at the Pentagon Pt. 1 -After completing AIT she was given a leave home to Michigan -Flew from Michigan to Washington D.C. -Met up with her friend the night before they had to report for duty -Met at Washington National Airport -Got a room at the Harrington Hotel -Excited to be in the capitol -Walked up Pennsylvania Avenue in uniform -In retrospect realizes she could have been harassed or attacked -Told to expect harassment from protestors -Checked in at Fort Myer the next day -Nervous about doing clerical work for a major in the Pentagon -Assigned to be a keypunch operator -Took three weeks of Keypunch School -Keypunch: machines that used punch cards to organize information (primitive computer) -Able to reduce the error rate in the Keypunch Office she was assigned to with her friend -Verified the cards properly -Former clerks didn't do their job properly -Became a Data Analyst Specialist instead of a Keypunch Operator -Able to understand the information on the punch cards and cross reference it -Knew if someone was dead, being transferred, or getting reassigned -Worked with information coming in from all over the country and the world (00:35:55) Deployment to Vietnam -Enthusiastic about wanting to help the war effort -Wanted to be deployed to Vietnam -Knew she couldn't fight, but could at least be in the country -Requested a transfer to Vietnam, but got denied -Tried to process her own transfer orders and got caught �-Not punished though -Explained that she was needed in the Pentagon -After seeing combat veterans come back from Vietnam she is glad she didn't go -Saw some Vietnam veterans that dropped to the ground at the sound of explosions -There was a cannon they fired at Fort Myer and the veterans didn't react well to it (00:38:50) Promotions -Started off at the Pentagon as a private -Made Specialist 5th Grade in only 15 months -Attributes that to duty station, work ethic, and having good superiors -Promotions were easy until she was up for promotion to Specialist 5th Grade -Had to go before a board for evaluation -Nervous about the evaluation, but prepared herself for it -Afterwards she realized her face, arms, and neck were red from anxiety -Successfully passed the evaluation and was promoted to Specialist 5th Grade (00:41:52) Relationship with Fellow Soldiers Pt. 1 -Had one female, civilian worker and one other female soldier in the office -Rest of the workers were male soldiers -Male soldiers were uncomfortable with female soldiers at first, but adjusted to it -Never had to deal with inappropriate remarks from the male soldiers -Able to take free trips out of Andrews Air Force Base -Some men said she got the trips for free just because she was a woman -Free trips were offered equally, all you had to do was put forth the effort -Some men made outrageous claims with no backing -For example: Diane and her friend didn't do things like other female soldiers -Only female soldiers they knew were Diane and her friend -Men were respectful and, for the most part, treated her as an equal (00:46:44) Working at the Pentagon Pt. 2 -Worked at the Pentagon for a year -Transferred to the Commonwealth Building in Rosslyn, Virginia -Across from the Potomac River (00:47:04) Relationship with Fellow Soldiers Pt. 2 -Got irritated with some of the other female soldiers at Fort Myer for being too relaxed -It reflected poorly on the other female soldiers -Had contact with soldiers from the other branches of the military without any problems -Got along well with male soldiers because she grew up with sports and male cousins -When she went on dates she judged the men based on how they reacted to her being a soldier -Noticed a negative change in some men when they found out -Not supposed to fraternize with officers -Everyone respected the rule -Disappointing to meet someone only to learn they were an officer (00:50:55) Social Unrest & Vietnam War Pt. 2 �-Remembers being cautioned about avoiding protests in Washington D.C. -She was in D.C. for a concert at the Washington Memorial -Saw a car drive into the Reflecting Pool and people swarm the car -Older friend said they needed to leave -Got to the edge of the crowd and ran into tear gas -Older friend helped her out of the situation -Drove up to the White House on another occasion -Saw a line of police surrounding the White House -Noticed a gradual change in the Pentagon when it came to the Vietnam War -People started to talk about the war more -Asking how long it would take to end and what the purpose in Vietnam was -Arguments about being pro-war and anti-war -Arguments in favor of draft evasion and against it -Knew of Black Panther demonstrations in Washington D.C. (00:57:37) Race Relations -Worked with black soldiers and white soldiers -Befriended a black soldier while working at the Commonwealth Building -Offered her a ride on his motorcycle and she took the offer -Went on a ride together in the city and people stared at them -Knew that people had disdain for interracial relations -Didn't think anything of riding with a black man -Parents weren't racist and she didn't grow up in a racist area -Heard stories about racism during basic training (01:00:44) Downtime -Went to concerts in Washington D.C. with friends -Saw Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, and Jesus Christ Superstar -Hated that people complained about having nothing to do in Washington D.C. -Felt that there was plenty to do in the capitol (01:02:00) End of Service & Life after the War Pt. 1 -Considered reenlisting because she enjoyed the Army -Discipline and authority wasn't foreign to her -Met a fellow soldier in her office -Started dating and decided to get married after getting discharged -Influenced her decision not to reenlist -Got out in April 1972 and got married in September 1972 -Married for four years and got divorced -Had no children in that marriage -Army encouraged her to reenlist -Immediate promotion to the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6) -Allowed to choose where she would be assigned -Would have picked Germany -Offered a bonus -Asked for a three month extension and got it -Offered a reenlistment despite the war ending �-Feels that the office wanted to keep her until they found a replacement for her -When they found her replacement she was able to train them (01:05:35) Women's Rights Movement -Noticed the Women's Rights Movement as early as high school -Agreed with some of what they wanted, but not the extremists -Felt that extremism would be too antagonistic -Wanted women to focus on major issues like employment equality, not minor issues -Never had problems with men in the Army, so she wasn't compelled to protest -Noticed more opportunities open up for women in the Army -Shortly after she was discharged the Women's Army Corps was disbanded -Note: 1978 -Female units were integrated with male units (01:07:40) Life after the War Pt. 2 -Finished her Associate's Degree as a legal secretary through Davenport College -Worked for a couple of the bigger legal firms in Grand Rapids -Lived in Nashville, Tennessee when she was married to her first husband -Worked as a legal secretary in Tennessee -Worked for an insurance company -Did some travelling after getting divorced -Lived with an aunt and uncle in Oregon for a year and a half -Helped build a road in Oregon and enjoyed that -Always wanted to live in Alaska and in 1980 got to move there -Got to move up there with her uncle (the Marine veteran) -Lived there for two years -Met her current husband in Alaska -Has three sons and is still married -Worked for Herman Miller Furniture for 15 years -Worked in their competitive intelligence department -Is a member of American Legion Post 535 in Lansing, Michigan -Had been part of the Grandville post -Left it because of the sexism -Joined the all-female American Legion Post in Lansing -Had been established for Women's Army Corps veterans from World War Two -Place to talk about harassment they experienced during the war -Small post with 25 members -Majority are World War Two veterans -She is the commander of that post -Would like to go on an Honor Flight in the future (01:15:11) Reflections on Service -Doesn't feel that the Army changed her, it just made her grow up -More aware of issues with the country -Learned to never make generalizations -Grew up a lot in the first week of basic training -Heard about people's lives and some of the troubles they experienced -Learned a lot in the Army, and grew up a lot, but it didn't change her as a person �-Army was a great experience for her, but doesn't believe that it is for everyone -Feels that the Army is what you make of it � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AamothD1721V Title A name given to the resource Aamoth, Diane (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-01-15 Description An account of the resource Diane Aamoth was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 13, 1950. In late fall 1968 she enlisted in the Army and in December 1968 she reported for duty. She was part of the Women's Army Corps and received basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. She received clerk typist training at Fort McClellan and at Fort Lee, Virginia and wound up being assigned to Fort Myer, Virginia and working at the Pentagon. She became a keypunch operator in the Pentagon working for a major, and during her time in the Army worked up to the rank of Specialist 5th Grade (equivalent to the rank of sergeant). During her time in Washington D.C. she saw the social unrest and racism that still plagued the nation in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She worked at the Pentagon for a year and completed her service at the Commonwealth Building in Rosslyn, Virginia. She was discharged in April 1972. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Aamoth, Diane Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) 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 United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/21c035099f635cbfd82d6d87d4987523.mp4 6f500cb750dcc2f5474d102e89b01bc1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/976fcd145c96bd179dbd33846a5f45af.pdf 3c01e829e91175ea432b23d8a47183b2 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project The Cold War Marvin Abbott Interview Length: (00:36:56:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:38:00)  Abbott was born in June 1938 on a farm in Decatur, Michigan; growing up, Abbott attended a country school before going to Decatur for high school (00:00:38:00)  After graduating from high school, Abbott attended Michigan State University from 1956 until 1960; at the time, attending ROTC was mandatory, so Abbott volunteered for the second two years (00:01:02:00) o When Abbott graduated from Michigan State, he received a commission having successfully completed the ROTC program (00:01:22:00) o One aspect everyone in the ROTC program had to complete was a basic training portion and Abbott completed his between his junior and senior years; all ROTC students from Michigan State and other colleges and universities in the area went to Fort Riley, Kansas for the basic training, so in the summer of 1959, Abbott spent six weeks there, satisfying the basic training requirement (00:01:33:00)  During the six weeks, the students went through the traditional basic training, including: KP, guard duty, physical training, work on the rifle range, hand to hand combat, tactics, marching and inspections among other things (00:02:09:00) o Abbott returned to Michigan State in the fall and upon graduation, received a 2nd lieutenant commission in the artillery branch, specifically in the air defense branch (00:02:33:00) o After receiving his commission, a soldier either served two years or six months and a lot, including Abbott, received a six-month enlistment because there were so many of them at the time and not a lot of conflict in the world (00:03:03:00)  Abbott’s initial orders were for a six month active-duty enlistment and he was told not to report until the following May, so he took a job near where his parents lived (00:03:14:00)  Once he finally did report, Abbott drove to El Paso, Texas and Fort Bliss, where the air defense artillery school was located (00:03:31:00) o When Abbott reported in early May, he first went through the officer orientation, which was an eight week class (00:03:45:00) o During the training, the soldiers had to receive security clearance because they dealt primarily with the Nike missile, which could be loaded with nuclear warheads (00:03:56:00)  There were also classes that dealt with the radio codes that the soldiers would be using; a typical Nike site was spread out over twenty or thirty acres and sometimes the soldiers would communicate using telephones and other times by using radios (00:04:20:00) � The soldiers also worked with computers, as primitive as they were at the time, and needed security clearance for that (00:04:40:00) o The Nike missile was the primary missile the soldiers studied and it had two variants, the Ajax and the Zeus; the Ajax was the initial version of the missile but before Abbott arrived at Fort Bliss, the Army developed the Zeus, which was four Nike mortars put together, allowing for a larger warhead, higher altitudes, and a longer range (00:04:53:00) o One of the highlights of the training was one morning, all the soldiers were woken up and driven into New Mexico, where the was a practice firing range for the missiles (00:05:28:00)  Most of the missile units around the country at the time were run by National Guard troops, although there were some Reserve- and ActiveDuty-run sites, and every so often, each unit would have to leave their assigned location, travel to New Mexico, and set up there to go through firing missiles at drone targets (00:05:50:00)  They would start the drone at the south end of the range and flew it towards the missile, which were located at the north end of the range; as soon as they acquired the drone, the crew would fire a missile (00:06:21:00)  The range that the soldiers fired the missile on was itself larger than the state of Rhode Island (00:06:34:00) o Abbott and the other soldiers graduated in the beginning of July and because he still had four months left on his original enlist, Abbott was told to report to Fort Knox, Kentucky at the end of July (00:06:45:00) Active-Duty (00:07:12:00)  Once he arrived at Fort Knox, Abbott was assigned to the Army Training Center and a specific basic training company as an executive officer (XO) (00:07:12:00) o As an XO, Abbott did not have a full-time job because the company commander was there and Abbott would just occasionally fill in so that the commander could have a little time off (00:07:40:00) o However, Abbott received other assignments, including being the guard post officer several times, which was a little different at Fort Knox because of the gold supply stored on the base (00:07:52:00)  The guards were stationed in a building not too far away from where the gold was stored and the commanders made sure they all understood what to do if something happened with the gold supply (00:08:07:00)  When the soldiers pulled guard duty, there where three shifts, two of which stayed in the guard building; once retreat came, one of the two waiting shifts would take the flag down, fold it and a reveille the next morning, put the flag up (00:08:29:00)  The commanders made sure the guards had enough vehicles, more than the guards really needed because if something happened to the gold, the guards had run out and drive the vehicles to the gold supply (00:09:20:00) �     However, the guards were never told what to do when they were at the building where the gold was kept, only to wait outside the gate (00:09:37:00)  Not every assignment required the guards to carry live ammunition; all the guards carried weapons but only in certain areas, such as the bank, PX, or any place with money, did the guards carry ammunition (00:09:47:00)  Most of the time, the weapon a guard carried was either for show or was a night stick (00:10:07:00)  One time, they loaded halve a dozen bus loads of soldiers who had been trained at Fort Knox and took them to Fort Riley for a weekend and Abbott ended up having to do escort duty for trip (00:10:22:00) In August, the soldiers noticed that the Russians and East Germans were building a wall around West Berlin, which really excited President Kennedy, who called up a lot of higher ranking officers and NCOs and shipped them to Germany (00:10:41:00) o As best the soldiers who remained in the United States could figure, the deployed soldiers were either keeping an eye on what the Russians and East Germans were doing or stationed in West Germany in case anything went wrong (00:11:16:00) o At the beginning of September, Abbott was not due to be discharged until a month later but he received orders that he would be extended for another twelve months on active-duty on top of the original six months, meaning Abbott would have a year and a half enlistment (00:11:41:00)  Further down the road, Abbott extended for the remaining six months, making his enlistment a full two years (00:12:04:00) Towards the end of October, about three weeks before the original six months were complete, Abbott assumed command of the basic training company next to the company he had been working with as the executive officer (00:12:28:00) o Abbott stayed with the training company for the better part of fourteen months and completed six, eight-week basic training cycles; Abbott usually had between a few days and a couple of weeks off between training cycles (00:12:53:00) o When new recruits came in, Abbott went to the processing center and watched as the recruits received hair cuts and uniforms, which took a few days to happen; afterwards, Abbott, plus his platoon leaders and NCOs, went to the processing center and tried to march the recruits back to the company area (00:13:16:00)  Abbott and the other instructors had eight weeks to try and make soldiers out of the recruits by putting them through similar exercises that Abbott had gone through while at Fort Riley (00:13:52:00) o Just before his commanders turned over command to the lieutenant who was his XO, Abbott was promoted to 1st lieutenant (00:14:27:00) In October 1962 was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which caused excitement even Fort Knox and some soldiers from the base, although none from the training center, had to deploy (00:14:48:00) o At the time, Fort Knox was the main armored training center and some of the older soldiers on the base who had served during World War II told stories of General Patton coming to the base for training (00:15:05:00) During the same period of time, there were around a thousand Cuban exiles who had left Cuba and there was a program that they could join the military; however, when the � Cubans joined, the Army kept them as a separate unit, about the size of a battalion, and kept that battalion near where Abbott’s training company was (00:15:47:00) o Most of the Cubans could not speak English, only Spanish, so in order to have cadre for the battalion, the commanders pulled any Spanish-speaking cadre out of Abbott’s battalion and sent them to the Cuban battalion (00:16:25:00)  Abbott did not have any Spanish-speaking cadre in his company but the company he had left had two (00:16:47:00)  Every now and then, the Spanish-speaking cadre would drift back and talk with Abbott and the others and revealed that they feared for their lives working with the Cubans (00:17:03:00)  The cadre stayed with the Cubans all the time and they eventually determined they needed someone awake in each barracks every night because the Cubans would steal anything and everything, from weapons to ammunition, and get into fights (00:17:16:00)  The Cubans' assumption when they joined the program was they would receiving training and either the United States would invade Cuba or they would send the Cuban forces back, similar to the Bay of Pigs, which happened a month before Abbott went onto active-duty (00:18:05:00) o The NCOs who came back said that the Cubans had a lot of trouble accepting the concept of teamwork; each one had decided that when he went back, he was going to be the commanding general (00:18:32:00) o As well, the Cuban soldiers complained about almost everything (00:18:54:00)  For Abbott’s recruits, they had to march to reach the firing range and march back but the Cubans did not like that idea and they complained enough that the commanding general decided to use trucks to transport them around (00:18:57:00)  During one day in the fall, it was a rainy and chilly and Abbott’s company was on a firing range while the Cubans were on another range about a mile to a mile-and-a-half away, although Abbott did not realize it (00:19:36:00)  Once they finished on the firing range, Abbott had the recruits ready to march back when all of the sudden, they heard trucks coming and they knew what that meant (00:19:56:00)  The sergeant Abbott had running the recruits looked at Abbott, asked if he thought they should “shanghai” some of the trucks, and Abbott told him to go for it (00:20:23:00)  The sergeant went down, waved his hands, and the trucks drivers pulled up to the range, where the recruits loaded up and were driven back to their barracks; it took a couple of loads but the drivers took Abbott’s recruits back first before going to pick up the Cubans (00:20:40:00) Around the end of November, Abbott was relieved of his company command and assigned to the battalion headquarters to work as the S-1/S-3 in-charge of personnel and training for the battalion; however, at that level, Abbott had a sergeant major who did most of the work for him (00:21:06:00) �o At the time, the battalion had a newly-arrived commander, a major who was out to make a name for himself; although the battalion was good before he arrived, the major decided he wanted to sharpen it up (00:21:42:00) o The major told Abbott that he would take care of training with the company commanders and Abbott would take care of the paperwork (00:22:01:00)  Every company had a training NCO who had to keep track of the records for every recruit going through the training at the time; on occasion, a recruit would be sick or have another assignment that took him away from training and they had to get the training made up (00:22:16:00)  Towards the end of the eight weeks, usually in the seventh week, there was a large inspection and the higher-level officers would come down to inspect the paperwork (00:22:47:00)  The major had Abbott going to all the training companies, none of whom had the same schedule because they picked up their recruits at different times, which was a lot of the work Abbott did (00:23:00:00) o Another one of Abbott’s assignments was running an Article 32 investigation on damaged radio equipment that a soldier had taken out and returned damaged but refused to pay for (00:23:23:00)  An Article 32 investigation was similar to a grand jury, meaning it was typically run by one person, and after Abbott’s investigation, the soldier would still not relent, so he went through a court-marshal (00:23:46:00) o During that time, Abbott also served in the general court-marshal board for around a month to six weeks (00:24:02:00)  The board typically met once a week and heard whatever cases came before them for that typical day (00:24:10:00) Reserve Duty (00:24:26:00)  On May 9th, 1963, Abbott was released from active duty and assigned to the Army Reserve Control Group in Battle Creek, Michigan; Abbott did not have to immediately report, so he arrived at the assignment in July (00:24:26:00) o At the time, there were two reserve units stationed in Benton Harbor, Michigan; one was platoon-sized, with around fifty soldiers, and the other was companysized with around one hundred soldiers (00:24:48:00) o Abbott’s commanders attached him to the smaller unit, the 511th Transportation Platoon, which dealt with transporting soldiers and equipment around and was a B.A.R.C. (Barge Amphibious Re-supply Cargo) unit (00:25:07:00)  The B.A.R.C. was a massive four-wheeled vehicle that could not be drive down the city streets, so none were in Benton Harbor (00:20:30:00)  The unit’s summer camp was at Fort Story, Virginia, which was where all the B.A.R.C.s in the country were kept; the base itself was located where the James River flowed into the Atlantic Ocean, downstream from Norfolk, Virginia (00:25:48:00)  Larger Navy ships had to sail up the James in order to reach Norfolk (00:26:06:00)  There was a Navy post next to Fort Story called Little Creek and smaller ships, such as LSTs, were located there (00:26:12:00) �   The B.A.R.C.s were large enough to haul an M-60 tank, the largest tank the military had at the time, or an entire company of soldiers (00:26:28:00)  There was a ramp in the front that could be dropped so forklifts could haul cargo off or vehicles could be driven off (00:26:45:00)  The unit’s actual training with B.A.R.C.s happened for the two weeks they were at Fort Story in the summer and Abbott attended the camps 1964 until 1968 (00:27:01:00) o Although Abbott was attached to the unit in August, he was not assigned to it until November because the unit’s previous commanding officer had been promoted to major and the commanding position was only available to a captain, so they moved the major on, promoted his XO to lead the unit and brought in Abbott as the XO, where he stayed until the end of his Reserve duty (00:27:21:00) Abbott originally joined the Army in the artillery branch but when he was assigned to the B.A.R.C. unit, he changed to the transportation branch (00:27:54:00) o The Vietnam war was looking close at that point, although actual combat was still a few years away (00:28:07:00)  While Abbott was at Fort Knox, on some Saturday mornings, the officers and senior NCOs went to an auditorium and received lectures about what was happening in Vietnam; the war had not yet broken out but the Army was constantly putting Special Forces into the country (00:28:16:00)  Whenever a soldier went to Vietnam in the early part, he was a volunteer and Abbott knew several soldiers who did volunteer to go (00:29:03:00) o When he switch to the transportation branch, Abbott went to Fort Eustis, Virginia, which was there the Army Transportation Corps was located, to take a basic officer extension course (00:29:22:00) o Abbott finished the extension course in a couple of months and in Dec. 1963, the Army sent out orders that he had completed the course and had switched to the transportation branch (00:29:41:00) Abbott stayed in the service but the 1968, the Vietnam War was hot; Abbott was due out at that time but he hung on, hoping for a promotion and within a few months, received a promotion to captain (00:30:07:00) o Once he received the promotion to captain, Abbott asked for and received a discharge, finally leaving the Army in Sept. 1968 (00:30:34:00) Reflections (00:30:53:00)  Abbott feels that his time in the service helped him a lot, especially the time spent at the training center, although the first training cycle was horrendous (00:30:53:00) o Abbott had only been in the Army for five months and although he had been around the training, he had never had an responsibility in the training, so he did not know what he was confronted with and it was tough (00:31:03:00)  The company he took over had been the top company in the battalion for several years under the previous commanders and the top NCOs in the company had been there for the better part of a year, so the history was important to them (00:31:24:00) �   The company went from the top to the bottom but the one thing Abbott learned was that he had to start studying (00:31:45:00)  At one point, the first sergeant told Abbott that he was signing all the inspection orders and the other sergeants knew this, so they were writing down anything (00:31:52:00)  The other NCOs knew Abbott did not really know what he was doing and were nice to him, while the only one who confronted him was the first sergeant, who was a World War II vet that spent most of the war in POW camp and had been around (00:32:19:00) Abbott’s brother graduated from Michigan State three years after Abbott and by the time the brother got into the military, the hot war was starting in Vietnam; the brother was part of the quartermaster branch, went to Vietnam for a year, and helped set up a supply depot to the north of Saigon (00:32:53:00) o The brother did not have much experience in the enemy actually firing at him but every now and then, he would send a letter home saying that someone had driven past the depot in a jeep and the soldiers on the depot heard gunfire (00:34:06:00) Abbott’s brother-in-law also went to Vietnam and because he chose to make the military a career, deployed to Vietnam twice; the brother-in-law was also in the artillery branch, but in field artillery, and worked as a forward observer (00:34:31:00) Examination of photographs (00:35:36:00) - (00:36:56:00) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Abbott, Marvin (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Abbott, Marvin Description An account of the resource Marvin Abbott was born in June 1938 in Decatur, Michigan and after graduating from high school, attending Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, Abbott went through the ROTC program, which included a six-week basic training course at Fort Riley, Kansas. After graduating from Michigan State, Abbott received an officer commission and went to Fort Bliss, Texas for air defense artillery training. Once he completed the training at Fort Bliss, Abbott went to Fort Knox, Kentucky and served as part of the training units there. Following his active-duty service at Fort Knox, the Army transferred Abbott to an Army Reserve transportation unit using B.A.R.C.s (Barge Amphibious Re-supply Cargo). Abbott stayed with the Reserve unit for another five years, until 1968, when he received his discharge. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bodnar, Christine (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-03-30 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AbbottM Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8b2ca37aeff7318c62a4b7476ef1061a.mp4 693b2c4b5ec5659b6a764719622d94fe https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/02d0ae76f1a9c16796287a52a572e0c2.pdf 5d655c31f182e92c98e7d723e5cd229d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project World War II James Abrams Interview Total Time: 1:20:33 Background  (00:12) Born in Sparta, Michigan, in 1923  (00:27) His father worked on a railroad o Two siblings; mother died in 1928  (1:00) After his mother died, they headed west to California o They eventually moved to Montana, which is where Mr. Abrams spent most of his time growing up  (1:55) In Montana, his family raised sheep o Mentions that his father was a very good mechanic  (2:35) Mr. Abrams said he didn’t suffer during the Great Depression; his family always had food  (2:41) Went to school up until the 8th grade in Montana, then moved back to Michigan o Joined Civilian Conservation Corps camp o Moved to Grand Haven, met a friend o Got a job at Clark Piano Factory o Soon met his future wife  (4:20) Mr. Abrams joined the Marines o His friend joined two months before he did; ended up going to the 101 st airborne  (5:14)Enlisted in the Marines in 1942 after Pearl Harbor o Said the Pearl Harbor incident was why he went �Training  (6:38) For basic training, Mr. Abrams went to San Diego o They got him to San Diego by train o Remembers the train going through the edge of Mexico  (7:26) The first day of boot camp was rough o The drill sergeant told him as he goes down the landing ramp, the only person he can depend on is himself  (8:13) They worked all the time in boot camp; recalls when they were in formation one day the drill sergeant asked for volunteers to drive a truck somewhere o Said the truck had one wheel and two places to steer o Mr. Abrams said this is the first time he learned “never to volunteer for anything in the Marine Corps”  (10:30) Mr. Abrams said it was easy for him to adjust to life in the Marines, although sometimes he would get mad o Learned his serial number – still remembers it today  (12:04) Says he “got even” with the drill sergeant  (13:44) Said he was in good physical shape during training  (13:54) He learned to use weapons in training and mentions that he eventually became a squad leader  (14:07) Trained on a 30 caliber, 50 caliber machine gun, 37mm anti-tank gun, he also shot a 75mm a few times o Talked about halftracks  (15:30) Basic training was 60 days o Said that the first few days in the Marine Corps, new recruits are like prisoners o There were instructors telling them what they could and couldn’t buy o Mr. Abrams said there is something he bought because it was the only thing he could buy at that time  (16:38) After the first 60 days, Mr. Abrams said they went into their regular outfits o Went on liberty, etc. � (16:57) After boot camp, he shipped out right away Overseas  (17:16) Shipped overseas in a ship that was bigger than a LST, but not an ocean liner  (18:11) Remembers crossing the Equator  (18:40) Landed in the Solomon Islands o Went to Melbourne a few months later o After that, went to New Guinea  (20:39) Talked about Ernie Pyle being killed at Iwo Jima (Ie Shima, off Okinawa)  (21:14) Guadalcanal – there was still a bit of fighting when Mr. Abrams arrived here  (22:15) When he arrived, Mr. Abrams went into the 1st Marine Division, 1st Regiment, Weapons Company  (23:38) Base camp on Pavuvu Island  (24:06) In Melbourne, he says there were “15 women per man,” all the Australian men were in the Islands during this time  (25:02) Melbourne was mostly for R&R, but also “in case something happened”  (25:24) Remembers sleeping in a football field in Melbourne o Military beds on the bleachers  (25:55) When Mr. Abrams first joined the 1st Division, he said there were never any problems with the soldiers who had been there a while o Only one guy they had a problem with  (26:22) After Melbourne, they went to Cape Gloucester, New Britain o (27:08) Here was the 2nd battle he participated in  (27:22) Mentions that in Guadalcanal, he was shot at o Mr. Abrams shot back o At this point they were in the jungles, no base camps were built here o (28:12) Mentions that he went to sniper school; at this point he was a sniper  (28:32) The first time he shot someone: says he will remember it the rest of his life  (29:35) Mr. Abrams learned how to shoot as a kid; this was helpful � (29:56) “Always shoot the guy with the most stripes on.” o This is why the Marines never wore stripes in combat o Shoot the highest ranking soldier in line before anyone else  (30:31) He was in an ambush position  (30:50) On Cape Gloucester, all of the Japanese big guns were out o US landed here on Christmas day (1943) o The Japanese were waiting for them when they got off the landing craft on the beach o (33:44) Japanese also used Molotov Cocktails o After they captured the point, they were there about a week o (35:05) While they were here, Mr. Abrams said the enemy tried to bomb them  (36:17) After Cape Gloucester, they went back to Pavuvu o Red Cross had a tent here; served coffee o Ran into medics that told him of an instance where a man had been decapitated on another island by the enemy  (39:12) The next battle Mr. Abrams was in took place at Pelelieu o May have had one meeting about it to prepare them for the mission  (39:54) Says the people at Melbourne knew where his group was going to land before they did o Information leaked; this is why the man who was in charge would change plans at the last minute  (40:34) In Peleliuu, he said they “blew the hell out of everything” o Fire coming from both directions o Lost a lot of guys here o Believes this was the worst battle they experienced in the Pacific o Japanese had a lot of tanks  (41:08) They had 3 squads of 37mm antitank guns o Japanese had 105’s  (41:41) Remembers something like a big shotgun (canister round) � (42:40) Supported the weapons company  (43:07) They had 50 caliber machine guns, and tank destroyers o Each tank destroyer was open on the top  (44:17) M-7 (self-propelled howitzer) fired up as well as straight (used indirect fire)  (44:44) Mr. Abrams said he tried to stay as far away from the Japanese as he could o Says he was safer over in Japan, and mentions some injuries when he came back to civilian life  (46:18) Stayed in Peleliu even after the fighting was over o Doesn’t remember shots being fired after Japanese surrendered  (46:45) Didn’t see any prisoners; says he didn’t pay much attention to them  (47:30) Recalls a time when a fellow soldier was ordered to shoot a Japanese prisoner  (48:40) Remembers the first person he shot; something Mr. Abrams will never forget o Had to pull the trigger because he knew the enemy spotted him; the guy reached for his gun and Mr. Abrams shot him  (51:20)After Pelelieu, Mr. Abrams went to smaller islands nearby  (52:03) After Pelelieu, they started moving up the Pacific o Eventually went to Okinawa  (52:25) In Okinawa, Mr. Abrams was put in a Reserve Squad to go home o In a group of 5 or 6 men o Captain Thomasma; shot in the chest o Remembers a friend who was killed who had a girlfriend in Boston  (53:34) When they first landed in Okinawa, they fought o Didn’t run into the Japanese until they were on the other side of town (the capital, Naha)  (56:00) Talks about seeing the old capital city of Okinawa in a magazine years later, looking much better than what they had seen o “Had nicer buildings than we did in Grand Rapids” o American contractors were sent over there  (57:05) Mr. Abrams was involved in some of the key fights in Okinawa �o Remembers that it rained a lot  (58:05) Still used tank destroyers and large weapons on Okinawa  (58:23) Mostly offensive fighting on Okinawa  (1:00:41) After Japanese surrendered, Mr. Abrams went to the Casual Platoon o In a group of about 4 men o Waiting for a boat to take them home o New captain says they were going to China because Mr. Abrams volunteered  (1:01:54) Went on a ship to China o (1:03 :35) Was to stay there for 6 months o Mr. Abrams didn’t enjoy it o His job was to protect the Japanese here  (1:05:40) Recalls stopping riots in China  (1:08:09) Recalls seeing Japanese comfort women o Traveled with them Going Home  (1:09:50) Mr. Abrams got back to the U.S. on a slow boat from China o Took a train once he got to San Diego o Train to Chicago o Great Lakes Naval Station  (1:11:24) Got discharged March 17th, says he had malaria o This was the first time he had it o Had bouts of malaria later in life also after being married  (1:12:55) After getting home, Mr. Abrams got a job in Muskegon at a cement block plant o Injured his leg on the job  (1:13:40) Eventually went to work in Grand Rapids o Retired from here  (1:18:11) Mr. Abrams said being in the Marines helped him grow up fast � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Abrams, James (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Abrams, James Description An account of the resource James Abrams was born in Sparta, Michigan, in 1923, and eventually grew up in Montana. After moving to Grand Haven, Michigan, he joined the Marines after Pearl Harbor. After boot camp in San Diego, he was shipped to the Solomon Islands and joined the Weapons Company of the 1st Marine Regiment on Guadalcanal toward the end of the campaign there. The regiment refitted in Melbourne, Australia, and then went to New Guinea prior to landing on Cape Gloucester, New Britain. After that battle, they went on to the hard fight at Pelelieu, and went on from there to Okinawa. After the Japanese surrender, he spent several months in China escorting Japanese soldiers and civilians who were being sent home. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-06-14 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AbramsJ1116V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c518581998ba6a4e088bc60542975ec.m4v d31921a93dc65c98bf93ac38d78b9948 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b24e3d994b13549ae16496c75cf8306.pdf 49b83ca0ba8d78a6023a6353c0d54289 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Raymond Acker Cold War; Vietnam War 17 minutes 57 seconds (00:00:11) Becoming a Chaplain -First served in the Army as an enlisted man -Served overseas with the 549th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion as a radio operator -Returned to the United States and attended Philadelphia College of Bible -Attended the Reformed Episcopal Seminary -Did his graduate work at the Dallas Theological Seminary -Commissioned in the Army as a staff specialist -Received his 1st lieutenant chaplain commission at Fort Wadsworth, New York in 1964 (00:01:14) Pre-Vietnam Service -Went on active duty in July 1965 and served as a chaplain at Fort Polk, Louisiana -Left Fort Polk in 1966 and was stationed at Okinawa (00:01:32) Service in Vietnam -Deployed to Vietnam in March 1969 -Attached to the 159th Transportation Battalion (Boat) -Operated out of Vung Tau -In charge of moving supplies in the Mekong River Delta -He went to various ports in the Delta in the 159th’s area of operations to meet with the troops -Endorsed by the Independent Fundamentalist Chaplains of America -Held services for soldiers -Went to the USNS Corpus Christi Bay (helicopter repair ship), and held services on the ship -Occasionally took enemy rocket attacks at Vung Tau -Remembers during one attack a rocket hit the fuel area -Held some memorial services for soldiers -Mostly noncombat fatalities -Not much contact with the pilots (00:05:29) Stationed at Fort Polk -Before Vietnam, he served at Fort Polk with an advanced infantry training battalion -First battalion to train for combat in Vietnam -Had a mock village -Few noncommissioned officers or officers with prior experience in Vietnam -Changed over time as more men served in Vietnam -Time at Fort Polk was an outstanding part of his military career (00:07:35) Stationed at Okinawa -During his time at Okinawa, Chief of Chaplains Frank Sampson came to visit the troops -At this time, Raymond was with the 96th Ordinance Battalion -A the father of one of the soldiers in the 96th had served with Sampson in WWII �-Flew to a Marine base near where Sampson was visiting an Army unit -On the way to meeting Sampson, Raymond drove his truck into a ditch -The accident resulted in a sprained ankle -Thought it was the end of his Army career -Later attended Sampson’s retirement party in Washington D.C. -He avoided bringing up the incident at Okinawa (00:11:00) Stationed at Fort Hood -He was stationed at Fort Hood with the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division -The day before his promotion he planned on throwing a promotion party -He was in the chapel offices when he heard a crash and dust filled the hallway -Went down the hall to investigate the source and found a truck in the corner of a room -It was a beer truck that had been delivering to the NCO Club uphill -Brakes had failed causing the truck to roll downhill into the chapel -Fortunately, nobody was in the room when the truck hit the building (00:14:34) Reflections on Service -Joined the chaplaincy because of his time as an enlisted man -Opportunity to meet the spiritual needs of military personnel -Later in life, he encountered numerous men that had heard of him during his time as a chaplain -Didn’t know them at the time, but they remembered him -Feels he made a significant spiritual impact as a chaplain -Accomplished without directly guiding or forcing soldiers � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AckerR2053V Title A name given to the resource Acker, Raymond A (Interview outline and video), 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-26 Description An account of the resource Raymond Acker first served in the Army as a radio operator with the 549th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. He attended Philadelphia Bible College, the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and the Dall Theological Seminary and was commissioned in the Army as a staff specialist. He received his 1st lieutenant chaplain commission at Fort Wadsworth, New York, in 1964. He started serving at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in July 1965 before going to Okinawa in 1966. He deployed to Vietnam in March 1969 and was attached to the 159th Transportation Battalion (Boat) out of Vung Tau. He conducted chaplaincy duties in the Mekong River Delta and aboard the USNS Corpus Christi Bay. After his tour in Vietnam he served at Fort Hood, Texas, with the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Acker, Raymond A. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Keizer, Herman Jr. (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 United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6b51be0fe9fc973b82361a0c0a02a9ab.mp4 aba7f3f665522908192edfb3f500c5bc https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d303bd07faa10f8e9a85893c061b51cd.pdf bd7dd9628b41e7822d57aec1a03f228f PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Iraq Interviewee Name: Michael Adams Length of Interview: 00:30:35 Background  He wanted to be in the armed forces since he was six or seven. In his junior year, he began researching the different branches and decided on the Marines. Training (1:02)        He trained in boot camp in San Diego, CA. He was there for 13 weeks. While he was there he spent about 80% of his time in a classroom. It is just a myth that when you are there you run all the time. At first it was hard to get used to someone yelling at you inches from your face, but then by the last third of boot camp, it became humorous. After boot camp he spent eight weeks in infantry training. There he learned how to fight and use his weapons. He would then proceed to a specialty school for three weeks, in which he learned antitank assault. He would then be transferred to Chesapeake, VA where he would learn security force assault training, or SWAT school, after which he would work SWAT on and off for three years. He would go back and forth to VA for three years going to school and getting more training. (6:10) When he worked on the SWAT team, they would train all day and then work out in the evenings. Active Duty (10:25)          In spring of 2003, he was sent to Kuwait, to serve in “Operation: Iraqi Freedom” He spent six weeks at Camp Ripper, and trained for chemical warfare while they waited. When it was time to invade Iraq, they actually heard that they were invading through a broadcast over the BBC before they were told by their commanders. When they were in combat they spent most of the time on the offensive because of their aggressive colonel. His first experience on Iraqi soil was coming out of an Amtrak and seeing a woman and her child there. He did not expect any civilians. While he stayed with the civilians, he found that they were very pro-American. (15:45) When his team entered Baghdad, his team was greeted by the local population who asked them to tear down the statue of Saddam Hussein, so they did. His team never stayed in one place more than two days and they always slept in foxholes. When they got to different cities they would enter, sweep through it and clear it the best they could and left. The units behind them would occupy the cities. (20:23) �   When the statue came down they thought the war was over, so they set up camp in the middle of the desert and ran security for six weeks. When he was there the whole Marine Corps unit was stopped by a huge sandstorm. It was difficult to keep everything clean. Most could not go outside their vehicles or they would suffocate in the sand. After six months of service they took Kuwait public buses back to Kuwait and flew home to CA in civilian planes. After Active Duty (25:45)    When he was home he and his team spent their time preparing to go back. Most of his team did end up going back but he got out of the Marines a year after returning. The last four months he spent going to different funerals for the people who were killed in his unit. He spent some time visiting injured Marines as well. � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Adams, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adams, Michael Description An account of the resource Michael Adams was a marine who served in Operation: Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He served as a security forces specialist who would be one of the first team of Marines to enter Baghdad. He reports observing the destruction of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. His unit mostly patrolled in the desert after the fall of Baghdad, and he does not report problems with local civilians. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Oberlin, Cody (Interviewer) Higley, Blake (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-05-13 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AdamsM Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/49ddde5911b6ac1c645424fc69f506b1.mp4 5986581e24004680437de01c5d7aa22e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fbd9e4cda891d9bf3497bb774b0fafd5.pdf b7f50cdf3ae239ab31684f7709e62f08 PDF Text Text 1 Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Oral History Interview Veteran: Rita Adams Interviewed by James Smither Transcribed by Grace Balog Interviewer: We are talking today with Rita Adams of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project. Okay now, can you begin with some background on yourself? And to begin with, where and when were you born? Veteran: Well, I was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. And February 7, 1922. Interviewer: 1922, so you are 99 years old. Veteran: Right. Interviewer: Not quite a record for me, but close. Okay. Now, did you grow up in Wheeling? Or did you move around? Veteran: I spent my first 21st years in Wheeling. Interviewer: Okay. Now— Veteran: And I went to school in Wheeling at a girls’ academy in high school. Interviewer: Okay. Now, was that a private school or a public school? Veteran: It was a private school. �2 Interviewer: Okay. Now— Veteran: You paid to attend there. Interviewer: Right. Now, what did— Veteran: I have a picture of that. Interviewer: Okay, now what did your family do for a living when you were growing up? Veteran: We were very fortunate because this was during the Depression and my father was in construction. So, we had a comfortable enough home. And we lived in the city. It wasn’t unusual to have a vagrant stop and ask for a meal in the evening. But my mother would serve him. They usually just came one at a time. Interviewer: Right. Now— Veteran: And so, then I grew up in Wheeling. Interviewer: Okay. Now, with your father’s business, did he do a lot of government contracts or…? Veteran: No. Interviewer: Just private work? (00:02:21) Veteran: No, it was just a…You know, work for the city. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: In the city. �3 Interviewer: Okay, but was he paid by the city of Wheeling or was he paid by just private people? What kind of contractor was he? Did he just do people’s homes? Veteran: Yeah, mostly. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And some businesses… Interviewer: Right. Veteran: …in Wheeling. But it was all in Wheeling. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, so even during the Depression there was enough work for him. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay, so you got by pretty well. And how many kids were in your family? Veteran: There were 5. Interviewer: And where were you in the sequence? Veteran: I was the 4th from the 5th. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now, when did you finish high school? Veteran: 1940. Interviewer: Okay. And then what did you do after you graduated from high school? Veteran: Well, it was very popular then if you didn’t go away to college, why, the girls often were employed with the telephone company. Interviewer: Okay. �4 Veteran: And I—so, I was there for 2 years. Interviewer: Alright. And what were you doing for the telephone company? Veteran: Well, they called it representative. You know, service representative. You know, when you come in to pay your bill. Interviewer: Okay. So, you were not an operator, you were somebody who kind of worked at a desk and helped people. Veteran: Yeah. Of course, we all started out with just being an—you know, a telephone operator where you plug in. Interviewer: Okay, so you learned how to do the telephone operator job. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, after that, then one day I noticed this post card—not post card, but… Interviewer: Like an announcement or…? (00:04:39) Veteran: A big… Interviewer: Poster? Veteran: And it said woman Marine. And I looked at it and I thought now there’s a uniform that I could wear every day. And the other, you know, the WACs and the— Interviewer: The WAVES. Veteran: --and the WAVES never turned really, you know… �5 Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now, what— Veteran: And I liked—felt that—I was probably doing something for the war effort just by being there in Wheeling in the telephone company. But that really stuck my eye. And so… Interviewer: Okay. Now, I’d like to back up the story a little bit. Before Pearl Harbor happened, were you paying any attention to the news and the war in Europe or things like that? Veteran: I don’t think so. Interviewer: Okay. How did you learn about Pearl Harbor? Veteran: Oh, well everybody heard. You know, that was on a Sunday. And it was, you know, a very big happening. Interviewer: Now, did you listen to the radio or just hear from other people? Veteran: We must have had it on the radio. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I remember I was—we were practicing Christmas hymns. And it was, you know, the 7th of… Interviewer: December. (00:06:26) Veteran: December. And yes, it was just—everybody was caught up in that… Interviewer: Okay. Right. Now— Veteran: …the bombing at Pearl Harbor. �6 Interviewer: Right. Now, after—once the war started, how did that effect life in your hometown? Is there rationing or things like that? Veteran: Everybody tried to do something for the war effort. Everybody was caught up in it. And well, as you probably know, the automotive kind of came to a standstill and they, you know, started making planes and all that. We had like food stamps, I guess you would say. Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: And they were rationed. And everything was rationed I would say. Interviewer: Right. Now, because of your father’s business, could he get more gasoline or anything else than other people? Veteran: Probably but you know I wasn’t privy to that. Interviewer: Okay. Now, after you finished high school, were you still living at home? Veteran: I was. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. (00:08:16) Veteran: And I had no dependents. I was pretty free. I wasn’t engaged or anything like that. So, I was really very free to, you know, to leave. Of course, I had to get it by my mother and my dad. Interviewer: Now, what did they think of the idea of your joining? Veteran: Mother was always open for us to improve ourselves. And but my dad? You know, that was a little bit different because he said, “What does your mother think?” you know. And so, I had to get it past him. And I said, “You know, we will be supervised…” you know. So, in that �7 era, my dad—we had two brothers—dad seemed to cater to the boys and mother to the girls, the three girls. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So anyway, I got the permission from both of them that, okay, I could try out. Interviewer: Okay. (00:10:06) Veteran: So, I went to Wheeling enrollment, but they didn’t have an enrollment for women Marines in Wheeling so we had to go to Pittsburgh, which was 50 miles away. So, the—there was one other girl and—who was about to—enlisting. So, her dad volunteered to take us, the two of us, to Wheeling—or to Pittsburgh. And so, he knew his way around Pittsburgh pretty well. We went to the Marine enrollment, you know. And he walked in and he said, “These two girls want to be Marines.” So, we enlisted that day and then we were like on call for a month or two until we were… Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: …notified. And so, then we— Interviewer: Now, when did you originally sign up? What year was that? Veteran: I do have it on my record there. In April, like April 14, in 1941. Interviewer: Or…’43? The record says ’43. ’41 was before Pearl Harbor. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: So… Veteran: It wasn’t ’41. It was…Well, it would have been…Let’s see… �8 Interviewer: Well… Veteran: I signed up in ’43. Interviewer: Yes. Okay. So, we have that. That’s what the record says. So, we are good. So, April of ’43 you sign up and then do you go home then and wait for them to contact you? (00:12:22) Veteran: Yeah, exactly. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And we—then they—I was notified in I think it was June. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And then we went to…Went to—well, I think we went once more to Pittsburgh. Interviewer: Maybe Pittsburgh, yeah. Veteran: We went to see them and we were still in civilian clothes. And from there then we went to—we were notified to go to Hunter College in New York City. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, we were on a Pullman. Interviewer: Because you took a train, yeah. Veteran: And we were met in New York by a woman Marine officer. And then from there, we went to Hunter College for I think it was 6 weeks. Interviewer: Okay. So, you are in bootcamp now. �9 Veteran: Basic, right. Interviewer: Okay. So, what was that training like? What happened to you at Hunter College? Veteran: You learn to march. We marched in the rain or whatever. There were men who were the callers and they taught us to march. Then we also were screened at that time. And we were fitted with uniforms. I would say we were beginning to feel like we were Marines, you know. (00:14:36) Interviewer: Okay. Now— Veteran: So, everybody was assigned and I was assigned to Marine headquarters in Arlington. Interviewer: Okay. Let’s talk a little bit more about that time at Hunter College. Now, when men trained as Marines, there is a lot of emphasis on discipline; following orders, punishing people who don’t do it. How much of that did you get? Was there—were they teaching you to follow orders? Veteran: We—that was very important and a very important part of our training. The discipline, you know. So, we—I think the one thing that I missed most was the privacy. You know, if you wanted to cry or you had to cry, there was—you know, we just didn’t have privacy. But anyway… Interviewer: Now, were you all in an open barracks? Veteran: At Hunter College we were just in dorms. Interviewer: Dorm rooms, okay. �10 Veteran: Yeah. When we left Hunter College, I think they were—it was very new places to barracks Interviewer: Yeah. (00:16:20) Veteran: And there were…I don’t know, I would say maybe a lot of us people who were working in civil service. They had a long barrack, a long row of rooms. And we were housed there and then as that opened up and we would be transferred by trucks—Marine trucks—to the city in Washington. Interviewer: So, were you— Veteran: To headquarters. It wasn’t that—we were in the Arlington or we were in, sometimes, we were in Maryland. And we would be transferred to wherever we were assigned. And I was Marine headquarters. And that’s just like right across from the Arlington Cemetery, really. You know, it’s on a hill. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: So, there I assigned the Marines—the male Marines—to their duty on their nights. And where other people worked. We—it was I think just, you know, assigning the men on their duties. Interviewer: So, you were in charge of just keeping track of duty assignments and who was supposed to be where. So, you were just in— (00:18:46) Veteran: I worked in an office. Interviewer: Right. Okay. Veteran: And that was my job. �11 Interviewer: Okay. Now, in that office, who else was in the office with you? Veteran: Probably 3 other Marine women and then the management was all male Marines. Interviewer: Okay. Now, were they sergeants or officers or…? Veteran: Well, what is the term for, you know, they are not—almost an officer but— Interviewer: Well, there is a warrant officer. Veteran: That’s it. Interviewer: Okay. There you go. See, she knows her stuff. Alright. Veteran: Yeah. And he was our—the, you know… Interviewer: He’s your supervisor? Veteran: The supervisor. Interviewer: Okay. Now, how did the male Marines there treat you? Veteran: Usually, they were very good. Of course, you know, they organized women to release more men. And, you know, so we took over. But on the whole, I didn’t encounter any, you know, resentment… Interviewer: Alright. (00:20:25) Veteran: …to women. In fact, I think they were so glad to have women around, you know because, you know, it got pretty boring. And they were probably not assigned for a very long time and then they’d be out, you know, so everything was a very short relationship. �12 Interviewer: Okay, so a lot of these men that you are dealing with come in for a short period of time and then are transferred out somewhere else. And a lot of them were new to the service or they had just gotten in and they had just left home and… Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: And you are a nice person who can talk to them. Veteran: And I remember one incident. The people like myself, the women Marines, that were in very early in the organization, we would have the opportunity to go out on a subsistence [allowance] and many people in Washington D.C. were eager to make some money, rent out a room for four girls or something like that. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And so, we—before the barracks were finished in Henderson—that’s where the barracks were—we would have the opportunity to maybe go into a subsistence, what they called subsistence. (00:22:31) Interviewer: So, you are renting a room in a private home or apartment building or something. Veteran: Exactly. Interviewer: Yeah. And did you do that? Veteran: Yes. We did that from time to time. When they got—we first saw maybe a note in our luggage. And we—they would transfer us to a home. Interviewer: Okay. �13 Veteran: And maybe there would be four, you know, living in this home. And we would be able to come to the barracks that were accommodating some of the people who enlisted later on. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: But there weren’t quite enough barracks yet for all the women Marines in Washington. So, you know, we had the opportunity to go into other places. Interviewer: Now, when you lived off base, did you live in Arlington or Washington or where were you? Veteran: Some of—most of them were in Washington. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And before we went to Washington, we were in, as I mentioned, Maryland. They had some—a lot of places, but I imagine were built for the…You know, the people who worked in what’s—what I am trying to say, that worked in my—in social security. (00:24:31) Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now, while you are…So, when you are based at Arlington and you have your job and you are going in, did you have a lot of free time in the evenings? I mean, did you just work a day job? Or a night shift? Or what did you have? Veteran: Yeah, well we were all on a limited—I think it was 9 o’clock at night I think was the… Interviewer: Was that a curfew? You had to be in by 9? Veteran: Curfew, yeah. Interviewer: Okay. �14 Veteran: So, we had to be off the streets at that time. But to—we were—there were USO clubs and things to see other than—like the museums and so on. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay, but when you were living off the base, did you still have to be inside by 9? Or did you have more freedom? Veteran: Oh definitely. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: Because they had, you know, security on the streets, you know. But what did they call them? Interviewer: Could be military police or— Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: --Navy shore patrols and things like that. Veteran: Military police. Interviewer: Right. Okay. Veteran: And so, yes, everything was supervised. Interviewer: Okay. Now, how long were you at Arlington? (00:26:18) Veteran: In Washington D.C.? Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: 19 months. Interviewer: Okay. �15 Veteran: And then I volunteered to—when they opened up Honolulu, or Pearl Harbor, I volunteered to go. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: It was all volunteer. Interviewer: Alright. Now before we get there, when you think about the time that you spent in Washington and that area, are there particular things that happened that stand out for you? Or people or events that you remember? Veteran: Well, we were—in Washington, there were a lot of important people coming into the city. Every time that happened and every holiday, it would be a big march, which was really a lot of the time that we did because—I shouldn’t say a lot of the time, but those were things that I think they wanted to impress on people coming in. And so, we did a lot of marching. Interviewer: Okay. So, they had the women Marines marching in parades or welcoming people. Veteran: Parades, right. Interviewer: Yeah, parades. Okay. Veteran: Yeah. Other than that, we—I was working in an office and had the opportunity to go to the barracks for our mess hall. And so, it was…Pretty much day to day we would be transferred when we were living out of the barracks—or I should say when we were transferred into the barracks and we would be transferred in a Marine truck into the, you know, city. Interviewer: Okay. (00:28:51) Veteran: So, Arlington is very close to Washington D.C. �16 Interviewer: Right. Veteran: So, you know… Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now, did—when you went to the mess hall, for instance, were you there with the men as well and everyone together? Veteran: No, it was all women. Interviewer: Okay. So, they kept you apart so that— Veteran: Oh yes. We were not—they had their own—they were in from Quantico. Interviewer: Okay, alright. Okay, so you made a trip to Annapolis. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: So, talk—tell us about that. Veteran: Well, it was just like an overnight. So, I don’t know how we were transferred. It must have been on a bus. And it cost—we had to pay for the transportation. And this one girl who was going with us, she could not come up with the money. And we said, “Well here, just call—get in touch with your parents.” She was from Portland, Oregon. And she said, “Well, I’ve never asked them for anything.” (00:30:30) Veteran: But anyway, we encouraged her and she did. So, I said, “Well, what do your parents do?” She said, “They are both attorneys.” And she was afraid to even ask for probably $20, you know. So anyway, they sent the money and so, yes. So, we just toured the Annapolis and all the men that we joined up with were all officers—ensigns, probably. And we were all enlisted. And that didn’t set very well with the people in Annapolis, you know. They said, “Well, you really should, you know, cater to the…. officers.” �17 Interviewer: Yeah. Well, they did not want officers and enlisted fraternizing. They did not do that. Veteran: Yeah. I remember that was—the women were all enlisted and the men were all officers. So, they were—we just toured the place. And I can’t remember any great meals or anything. We, you know, somewhere or another we—it’s been a long time ago, you know. Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: So, all I remember is we had a great time. Interviewer: Okay. Now, when you are on the base back in Arlington or in Washington, were there rules about personal relationships? I mean, were you allowed to date any of the men? (00:32:28) Veteran: Oh yeah. Yeah. And most of the time, you know…Most of the time it was enlisted people with enlisted people. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: But that’s not to say that there weren’t a lot of officers with enlisted women, you know. Interviewer: But there was not a problem with enlisted men and enlisted women going out or whatever. Veteran: No, no. In the private school in Annapolis, you know, they probably… Interviewer: Well, that was a little different because that’s the military academy. So, they are a little different there. But on your base, for the regular personnel, there was not a problem. �18 Veteran: Right. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now, during that 19 months you are in Washington, did you ever go back home? Or did you just— Veteran: Oh yes, we had liberty. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And we would—most of the time, we were able to get home for Christmas, Thanksgiving maybe. Interviewer: Okay. Now, did you have any brothers in the service? Veteran: Yes, I had 2. Interviewer: And what did your brothers do? Veteran: My one brother was in the radio and he was—you know, they had a select[ive] service, which was really before Pearl Harbor. And he—there would be, you know, their name would be called and they would select. Interviewer: Right. Well, like drafted? (00:34:18) Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: So, he was in radio at that time. My other brother—and he was married and had a child. So, he, you know, didn’t touch those people until long—maybe ’44? Interviewer: Yeah. �19 Veteran: You know? And so, he went right into the infantry. And he went overseas. Interviewer: Did he go to Europe or to the Pacific? Or…? Where did he go? Veteran: Alsace. Interviewer: Okay, so France. Yeah. Veteran: And I can’t…I would have to… Interviewer: Okay. But he was in the European theater. Veteran: Oh definitely. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I was in Washington when my one brother was going through to go overseas. So, that was nice. We met: he with a buddy and me with a friend, a girlfriend. And you know we sat around and didn’t do much, just until his train was up. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: That was…Yeah, he—it was good to see him before he left, you know. But they were—they both got through their Army and they were both in the Army. Interviewer: Okay. (00:36:17) Veteran: And also, the one boy that—one brother—that was in radio, he too went overseas about the same time. So, he was stateside quite a while. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And then he went over. And they both survived the war. �20 Interviewer: Very good. Okay. Veteran: But my one brother said he felt his time was near being—losing his life in some way because he saw so many die or the sister ship he saw go down. Interviewer: Okay. So, he was in a convoy going across the Atlantic and another ship sank? Okay. Veteran: And just to see your friends, you know…It was pretty…So, he felt his time would be… Interviewer: Yeah. Well, if he was in the infantry late in the war, there was a lot of hard fighting in northeastern France and then even going into Germany. So, the area he was in was hotly contested in ’44 into early ’45. So, he would have—he might have seen a lot there. Yeah. Veteran: Yes. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So anyway, when—I guess I did say that we now prepared to go to Pearl Harbor. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: To Honolulu. Interviewer: Right. Okay, so how did they get you to Pearl Harbor? (00:38:13) Veteran: How did we get there? Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: Oh, on a ship 5 days. I went on the Matsonia, which was a luxury—an old—luxury liner. 5 days. Sick the whole time. And but when we disembarked, it was beautiful. The highlight �21 of my career, you might say, because I was able to walk off the ship. And we were greeted…300 sailors, you know. And everybody welcomed us. And they had built a barracks. Our barracks were ready for us. Interviewer: Now, was that right there by Pearl Harbor or around that area? Veteran: It was on Pearl Harbor. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And then I—at first, I was assigned to the post office, which was right on Pearl Harbor. But that was in, you know, ’44. You could still see the smoke. But I didn’t get near the Atlantic. Interviewer: Well, the Arizona? Veteran: The Arizona. Interviewer: Yeah, because that was the ship that blew up and part of it was still sticking up. Yeah. Now, were you the first women Marines there? Veteran: Not the first, but probably the third group. Interviewer: Okay. And then about how many women Marines were at that base, do you think? Veteran: At the base? Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: I don’t…I wouldn’t venture to say. Interviewer: Do you know how many women Marines came out in your group? When you landed, how many of you were there? (00:40:27) �22 Veteran: Yeah, I am trying to think about how many were on the ship, you know, going over. I will backtrack there and say from Washington we went to San Diego to train. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: For 6 weeks. Interviewer: So, what kind of training did you get in San Diego? Veteran: Well, we had to make sure we knew how to swim. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: We exercised. That was—and that’s, you know, a real base for the Marines, for the male Marines. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: So, then from there, it’s always a time when you have to just sit and wait for the right time to go. And so, we mailed—we left from there from some…It wasn’t San Francisco because we came back from San Francisco. So, it was…I don’t know. Interviewer: Probably out of San Diego or Long Beach. Veteran: Probably. Interviewer: Or some place, yeah. Veteran: Someplace near San Diego, you know. And as I said, 5 days on the ship. Interviewer: Okay. �23 Veteran: And so, then we were assigned as I say. And left in the barracks, double deck barracks. And we had to, you know, have our night—you know, 2-4 you had to have your…You probably can tell me the terms of these things at night. It’s hard for me to pull it all out. (00:42:54) Interviewer: So, they have—you’re talking about bed checks, or you have to be in bed by a certain time? Veteran: Well, and you were always assigned, just like I was assigning people in Washington. Well, over there, I was being assigned. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And you had to, you know, peruse—go through all these—barracks and, you know, you’d usually get on a 2-hour shift. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And mine always seemed to be 2-4, you know. I was always kind of hesitant to…You know, I wasn’t too brave about walking up and down these corridors and, you know, hear all these… Interviewer: Okay. So, you are basically making sure everyone else is where they are supposed to be. Veteran: Exactly. Interviewer: And nothing funny is happening in the barracks. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. �24 Veteran: Yeah. So, sometimes I would, you know, encourage someone to go with me, which was crazy. But anyway, I was—you know, you hear all these funny sounds at night, you know. And one of the things I do remember was the night before we—are you looking at something? (00:44:41) Interviewer: No, I just saw somebody walking around out front. Veteran: Oh, okay. The night before we left, everybody was bedded down and you would hear this voice in the darkness preparing us for what we would encounter overseas, and what we might encounter. And it was such a wonderful talk to prepare us, you know. I think that was maybe that one time that I thought this could be really scary, you know. And before that, maybe I thought well, it’s just an adventure to get over to Honolulu. But she pointed out how important this particular venture was. So, but anyway, I was over in Honolulu. That was the city. Interviewer: Yep. Veteran: And Pearl Harbor was where the post office was. So, we—I was just over there for 7 months until the war ended. Interviewer: Right. Now, while you were there, could you get liberty and go to the beach and go into town and…? (00:46:29) Veteran: We had liberty, yeah. you had to apply for it, you had to have a—you know—pass. And you had to present that wherever you were. Interviewer: Okay, now— Veteran: Wherever you went, you had a time limit. �25 Interviewer: When you went off the base, did you wear your uniform or did you get to wear civilian? Veteran: We could wear civilian. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now— Veteran: And it was a great time to do it too, you know. Just to pretend like you were there visiting. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: But there were a lot of people over there who lived over there, you know. And they would invite us for parties and, you know…And it just so happened that I had a distant cousin who was a chaplain. And so, he had a lot of contacts. And so, there were I think just more or less that there were a lot of opportunities maybe to meet other people, to—and to meet some of the people who lived there. Interviewer: Right. (00:48:11) Veteran: And this chaplain took us to—took me—to a place like a convent of nuns. And I think now I wish I had a picture of that. But anyway, and being over in Pearl Harbor, they did give us opportunities to visit Diamond Head and you know all of the… Interviewer: The tourist places? Veteran: Absolutely. Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: So, I know I—it’s been hard for me to pull up this thing at 99. �26 Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: You know, but so I just hope you have been… Interviewer: Okay. Now, did you meet your husband in Hawaii? Veteran: Yes, at the—a friend of his…He was in the Army and a friend of his was to marry a woman Marine. So, I was invited by her and my husband was invited by the male, the groom. And it was in a little, you know, church. And then we had a little reception after. And I…When I met my husband at the reception, we just kind of took to each other. And he managed to—I don’t know how he did it—but we were all transported by truck, except the officers would have a jeep. And so, he took one of the jeeps afterwards and took me back to the back barracks. And he was up for—what do they call it? You know, when you have to report for being like AOL— (00:50:54) Interviewer: AWOL? Well yeah, so he is... Veteran: Or something like that, you know. So, an officer called him up and so he had to explain what happened. And but anyway, that was in June. And then the war ended in… Interviewer: In August. August? Veteran: Yeah. Yeah, August 15th. Interviewer: Now, what branch of the service was your husband in? Veteran: He was in intelligence. Interviewer: Was he in the Army? Veteran: Army. �27 Interviewer: Army, yeah. Okay. Alright. And was—and he was an enlisted man? Veteran: He was. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: That’s why he got in trouble for taking the jeep, right? Veteran: Yeah. But this distant cousin of mine who was a chaplain, you know, he was just so this man, but I didn’t know whether I really wanted…There were other things in the world that I thought maybe I might like to do, you know. And the service was—the Marine Corps—well, all of the services were very generous with education and GI Bill and all that. (00:52:27) Veteran: You know? So, I don’t know whether I would have agreed to get married at that time or not. But as it happened, the war ended and my husband was—had been in the service for four years so he was one of the first to be discharged. And he came back I think in September and I came back in November on another ship, the Solace. That was a hospital ship. And I was only sick for two or three days because they had some, I don’t know, saline solution or something to get me on my feet. And so, I kind of enjoyed the—you know, the… Interviewer: You got a good ocean voyage this time. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. Now, where was your husband from? Veteran: Michigan but… Interviewer: Okay. �28 Veteran: Wyandotte. Interviewer: Alright. Now, had you—were you writing to each other or stayed in communication? Veteran: Yeah. I guess we…But we had planned to get married. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And—which we did. I was…I came back in November and we were married in November, the last part of November. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, then it’s whole different… Interviewer: Alright. Well, what kinds of things did you—after you got out of the military, you got married. Now, did you take a job after that? Or what did you do? (00:54:35) Veteran: For 9 months, my husband worked for the Veterans Affairs. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: In Wyandotte. And I learned how to cook. I think he was tired of poached eggs in the winter and strawberries and ice cream in the summertime. So, he presented me with a couple good house keeping books. And so, but I still wanted to do something more. Take advantage of the opportunities that was offered. Well, he wasn’t open to a 4-year college, so we settled for 2years of business college in Detroit. I don’t know whether you are familiar with downtown Detroit, but it was in the Pugh building. Interviewer: Okay. �29 Veteran: So, we graduated from there. Business, bookkeeping, type shorthand. I don’t think that shorthand is—people don’t even know what it is. Interviewer: They don’t learn shorthand anymore. Not too often. Veteran: We learned shorthand. Interviewer: Yeah. (00:56:07) Veteran: And, you know, men had secretaries. Now, the men have their own computers and do it themselves, you know. But anyway, my husband didn’t—after we graduated, he went with Ford, I went with GM. And so, that—I don’t think he was very comfortable that we were separated by the different automotive companies. He thought maybe I should be, you know, where he was in Ford. But anyway, that worked out fine. And I was in GM overseas. That was my—and I was doing secretarial work. I don’t know whether you want that. Interviewer: Well, I was just curious. Did you continue to work after you had children? Or did you leave when you started to have kids? Veteran: When I—after we were married about 4 or 5 years, I thought yeah, it’s time. You know, we should have…In that time, we had gone to business college. And I had worked a couple years. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: And I…So, we had—I stopped working and we had 3 children. And then I thought, oh, I want to go back to school or something as soon as that first one is able to stay home by herself if she had a cold, you know. So, then I started. Madonna College was, you know, there in the city that we were living in. We were living in Livonia at that time. �30 Interviewer: Right. (00:58:38) Veteran: So, I went and I talked to these nuns. And I said, “I don’t think I am going to have anymore children.” And I wanted her to say well that’s fine, you know. And so, I said, “I just thought maybe I would like to get a little more education.” And she said, “Well, what would you like to do?” And I said—the only thing I could think of was home ec, you know. And she said, “Well, we will start with history and English.” You know? So, I did part time in those subjects. And then—from then, I went to…We had the—I don’t—I think it was maybe the city or I don’t know who it was that offered this occupational therapy assistant. Excuse me. Yeah. So, I thought that sounds like what I would really like to do. And it was only a one-year course. And then you could be certified as an assistant. Interviewer: Alright. Now, we were talking about the education you got after you had kids. And you went into occupational therapy. So, you did a one-year program for that. And then, did you get a job in that field? (01:00:48) Veteran: I got a job with—in physical at—with the VA hospital. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And that was in Allen Park, at that time. And I worked and I have some pictures of that. I have…Let’s see. From there I think I was there four years. And then I went back to school. That occupational therapy course was given at Schoolcraft College. And it was the first year that they had the… Interviewer: That program? �31 Veteran: That program. Yeah. And there was a—our tutor was from Wayne State. She came and she was very good. Registered…You know… Interviewer: Nurse? Veteran: Occupational therapist. Interviewer: Occupational therapist, okay. (01:02:18) Veteran: But anyway, so after that, then I went back to Schoolcraft and I just got another degree in general studies. And then I… Interviewer: Well, did you continue to work? Did you go back to work again? Veteran: No…I think for a while I went to Schoolcraft. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: And then, we had a Right to Read program and I went through that at Madonna. And then…You know, I can’t remember. Oh, well then when I did get through the—I graduated from Madonna College with a degree. And then I did substitute teaching. I thought, you know, I was like 54 years old then. And I surely didn’t want to take on a class, you know, full time. So, I remember the first time I went in to have the—you know…Yeah, and so the next after that day— after—the teacher wanted me to come back, you know, the next day. And I said, “I don’t think they like me.” And she said, “Oh, that’s the way they always act.” So, then I made the adjustment and I—you know, I did substitute teaching for quite a while. (01:04:47) Interviewer: Okay. And where were you doing that? Which towns? Veteran: Where what? �32 Interviewer: Where were you substitute teaching? Veteran: Oh, just in Livonia. Interviewer: Okay. Now, were you doing high school or elementary? Veteran: Yes, it was one of those from kindergarten through high school. Interviewer: Oh, okay. All in one school? Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: So, I could have the, you know, the advantage of every one. Then substitute teaching kind of dwindled. Maybe—I don’t know why? But maybe some people dropped out. There wasn’t that need. And so, then I went into…Oh, like recreation therapy. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: You know, like that type of thing with some of the older…what do I say? You know, when they have occupational and also exercise. Interviewer: Right. (01:06:25) Veteran: Different activities. In several different… Interviewer: Yeah. With hospitals or— Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. Alright. Now, so you did a lot of different things after you got out of the military. �33 Veteran: Why, I did. I did. And then for a hobby, I had always—as a kid—little girls were always encouraged to take piano, you know. So, I did a little of that. And when—after all these other things, I decided to—you know, to play piano you just had to keep practicing all the time. So, I took up keyboard. And I really enjoyed that. And I could make, you know, music sound pretty nice. But anyway, that was…But then, you know, things started to go. My eyes—I couldn’t see as well as I used to be able to. So… Interviewer: Alright. Well, to think back to the time that you spent in the Marine Corps, what do you think you learned from that experience or how did that effect you? (01:08:20) Veteran: What did I learn about it? Interviewer: Well, from being in the Marines, yeah. Veteran: For being…Just as I wrote here, and it was—this is what I learned, I think. You can read that, I can’t. Interviewer: You can go ahead. Veteran’s Daughter: It says—Mom said her memorable experience was: Being involved in World War 2 as a member of the Marine Corps was a once in a lifetime experience. Learning about discipline and how to carry out orders were very much a part of our day. During my two and a half years of service, most of which were spent in the clerical field, I was assigned to Arlington, Virginia, and Hawaii. Out of this wartime experience came lasting friendships, the most significant of which was meeting my husband in Hawaii. �34 Interviewer: Okay. And then, while we were off camera here, you also mentioned that at least one of your friends from Arlington kept in touch with you. And gave you a wedding present? Or…What was that story? Veteran: What was your question? Interviewer: Well, I just wanted you to tell us about how she found you or how you… Veteran: Oh, the wedding gift. Interviewer: Yeah. (01:10:02) Veteran: Betty Mitchell. And she was in Baltimore. Had horses. And so, she was going from coast to coast to visit her former Marines. And I think got back—our stop in downtown Detroit was—probably would have been her first. So, she was there for overnight. And we took her to the Statler and had another boy—she wasn’t married. So, we got her one of our friends so four of us, you know. Had a lovely evening at the Statler Hotel. And then when she left, yes, she said, “Don’t you have any china?” And I said, “No. You know, we were just married like that…Married in the uniforms when we got back.” So, then she sent these Audubon plates with the Audubon birds on them. And Amy has these. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: So, that was…You know…But if you look in that envelope that has the…Yeah, the— well, I just wanted to… (01:12:18) Interviewer: There you are. Let’s see, that is a graduation picture. Now, do you have— there’s the larger portrait picture of her in uniform. Can we pull that one? Because I can �35 just…That first one there, yeah. Because that one…And then that is her in her flashy Marine Corps uniform. Alright. Veteran: I—when I was discharged, I was a sergeant. Interviewer: A sergeant, yes. You have only got your one stripe in that picture. But you got three. Okay. And then the wedding picture. Alright. Now, let’s see if we can get that one there. There we go. Now, one miscellaneous question while I think of it: did the Marine Corps have limits on how long your hair could be? Did they make women cut their hair or just…? Veteran: I think it had to be above the shoulder. But they were very strict at first, you know? What the women wore and the hat was designed by…I wish I could tell you the name…Something like Knox or, you know, isn’t there… Interviewer: But by a fashion designer or…? Veteran: Well, they really had a nice uniform. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Well, all of this makes for a very good story, so I am just going to close here and thank you for taking the time to share it today. Veteran: Well, I’ll thank you for spending the time and coming. Interviewer: Alright. (01:14:33) �36 On file at the Women in Military Service For America Memorial: Poster: �37 United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve: Brother and sister newspaper announcement • Sep 1942: �38 Immunization card • Jun 29, 1943: �39 Tribute paid to Women Marine Corps • 1944: �40 I'm in the Marine Corps: �41 Moving into the new barracks at Henderson Hall • 1943: �42 Rita E Vogler • 1943: �43 Farwell parade for Gen Waller 1943-1944: �44 Franciscan Monastery • Aug 13, 1944: �45 All American kids! • 1944: �46 Rita in DC • Aug 1944: �47 Sightseeing in DC • Aug 13, 1944: A night out • 1944: �48 Rita and Nancy Saunders • 1944: �49 Dinner out with my pals • 1944: Fooling around • 1943: �50 On the base • 1943: 1943: �51 1944: �52 When one of your Marine Corps buddies has a brother at Annapolis! • 1944: Sightseeing in Annapolis, MD • 1944: �53 Apr 10, 1945: Enjoying a lunch out • 1944: �54 Mar 1945: �55 Father Bernard and me • 1945: Fr. Bernard knew a brother of a girl in this group. He brought us all together for a casual afternoon to socialize. • 1945: �56 Honolulu • 1945: 1945: �57 The day I would meet my future husband at this wedding • 1945: �58 Leaving the wedding: �59 Honorable Discharge • Nov 16, 1945: �60 United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve: �61 Our Wedding Picture 11/27/45: �62 After discharge Bob and I attended Detroit Commercial College • 1946: I attended Schoolcraft College to get my certification as an Occupational Therapy Assistant • Jul 25, 1969: �63 Associate degree in General Studies • Aug 15, 1974: I continued my education at Madonna College getting a BA in Social Science • May 5, 1977: �64 I live at Botsford Commons - Farmington Hills, MI now. Here are a few of our resident veterans that gathered to mark Veteran's Day: �65 My Marine insignia pin • 1943: �66 Women's Military Memorial: � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AdamsR2357V Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adams, Rita Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06 Title A name given to the resource Adams, Rita (Interview transcript and video), 2021 Description An account of the resource Rita (Vogler) Adams was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 7th, 1922. She grew up during the Great Depression. She lived in Wheeling until the age of 21. Rita attended high school at a girls’ private school, which she graduated from in 1940. After high school, Rita worked at a telephone company for 2 years. She then enlisted in the Marine Corps on April 14th, 1943 during World War 2. She completed her basic training at Hunter College in New York City, New York. After completing her training, Rita was assigned to work in an office at Marine headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. After 19 months in her position in Arlington, Virginia, she volunteered to be sent to work at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Prior to being sent to Honolulu, Rita was sent to train for 6 weeks in San Diego, California, to ensure that she was able to swim well and was physically fit. Her husband, Robert Adams, was in the Army, and she first met him while they were both stationed in Hawaii. Rita was honorably discharged from the military in 1945 after World War 2 ended, at which point she was a sergeant. Rita and Robert were married on November 27th, 1945. After leaving the service in 1945, Rita eventually attended 2 years of business college in Detroit, Michigan. She then completed training at Schoolcraft College to become an occupational therapy assistant. Rita later attended Madonna College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in social science. She worked as a substitute teacher in schools in Livonia, Michigan, towards the end of her career. Rita currently lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Note: This video has images of photos and documents embedded it that help to illustrate different parts of her story. The images are from her personal collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource George, Amy M. (Interviewer) Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States—History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945—Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401. Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ad7948ea59c2c8b16eaa98081885a04b.pdf 1800afa77334cac1623d4cd7ed0b8b8c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Panama Era – Operation Just Cause John Adkins 05:30 Introduction (00:30)              Growing up, John had two sisters and one brother. Prior to his enlistment, he went to school and worked some part-time jobs. John chose to join the United States Army because it was something that he had always wanted to do and also because he could not find a good job. It was a growing experience. He remembers the friendships that were started while in the service, and he enjoyed the jobs that he was able to do and the people and places he met and saw along the way. John served during the conflict in Panama. He was there for two weeks and when the conflict ended he was stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. (02:25) While away, he was not able to communicate back home with his family. He has maintained quite a few friendships with people that he served with. When John first entered the service, his training lasted for nine months. The first six months was difficult and intense. After that first six months, he began training to drive fuel trucks, which was enjoyable. John’s grandfather was in the Air Force and then switched over to the Army and he also had two uncles in the Army. Some important life lessons that he learned were to be respectful to others and to be neat. (04:30) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Adkins, John (Interview outline), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adkins, John Description An account of the resource John joined the United States Army and spent nine months in training. He became a fuel truck driver, and eventually spent two weeks in Panama in support of Operation Just Cause in 1989. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wisdom, Alaina (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-05-27 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AdkinsJ1494V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6449ef5b46a9da04e7a991aa6e5deba6.m4v 9b97509a37e7ff7ff81239fde87db331 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4646931beaa002fb1820c2a6a1a2c100.pdf 5f57a41dc29573173d00bf2ba59a9168 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Margaret Akines Note: Widow of Bill Akines (World War II veteran and survivor of the USS Indianapolis sinking.) 46 minutes 48 seconds (00:00:39) Margaret’s Early Life -Born in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 18, 1938 -Father was a tomato farmer and mother helped on the farm until she got a management job -Loved growing up in Nashville -Had three brothers and three sisters -One brother is still alive (as of 2016) -All of her sisters are still alive (as of 2016) -She is the oldest child (00:03:06) Margaret’s Adult Life -Got married when she was 15 years old -Had four children before she turned 20 years old -Got her GED when she was 40 years old -First marriage didn’t work -Worked for the Krystal fast food chain for 29 years -Became the first female area manager -Started working on a grill and through various promotions became an area manager -Retired from Krystal in 1985 -Met her second husband, Bill Akines, working at Krystal -He was her boss -Love at first sight -He had a tough exterior, but was actually a gentle man -He had two children from a previous marriage -Daughter is still alive, but son has since died -Met in 1971 and got married in 1978 -Had met her before when he came to one of the stores (00:08:48) Bill’s Involvement with the USS Indianapolis -Knew he had served during the Second World War aboard the USS Indianapolis -He didn’t talk about it often, and those details stayed in the background -He started talking about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis later in life -Invited to the dedication of the USS Indianapolis memorial in Indianapolis in 1995 -She learned more about the sinking from the other survivors and, Only 317 Survived! -Bill always shrugged off the “hero” label -He was just grateful to have survived, and remembered the comrades that died -Had gone to one or two reunions before they got married -The reunion group had lost his address, so he didn’t go to any reunions until 1995 -Sponsor of the memorial dedication reached out to him -Allowed him to go to the ceremony and reconnect with the group (00:13:12) Sinking of the USS Indianapolis -Note: USS Indianapolis torpedoed on July 30, 1945; only 317 men survived out of 1,196 �-She knew almost nothing about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis -Learned more about the sinking during the memorial dedication in 1995 -Most survivors couldn’t talk about the sinking without being emotional -Bill was only 17 years old when the ship sank -On the last day before getting rescued his life-jacket approached failure -He was on the ship’s bridge and had just gotten off duty at midnight on July 30 -Doing some quartermaster work -At 12:14 a.m. a Japanese submarine torpedoed the Indianapolis -He may have jumped overboard, or waited to slide down into the water as the ship sank -He managed to get with a larger group of survivors -Remembers sharks being in the water around his group, but not in the group -Saw sharks attacking survivors, and survivors fighting off the sharks -Sharks had been attracted by the open wounds on some of the men -Remembers the light coming from the USS Cecil J. Doyle, first ship to arrive on the scene -Like a light from heaven -Note: Began rescue operations on August 2, 1945 -Brought to Guam to recover -Bill knew they had classified material, and it was important, but didn’t know what it was -The Indianapolis had brought the atomic bomb components to Tinian on July 26, 1945 -He felt the bomb ended the war and brought about a quicker victory for the United States -Supported Captain Charles B. McVay III during the court-martial -Note: Captain McVay was court-martialed in November 1945 for losing the ship -Bill never held any ill-feelings for the captain -Felt it was a tragedy that he was being tried for losing a ship during wartime -Note: Captain McVay committed suicide in 1968 (00:25:42) Public Awareness of the Sinking -Jaws was the first time Margaret remembers seeing widespread exposure of the sinking -The dedication of the memorial in 1995 was the next major event -Remembers the campaign to exonerate Captain McVay of his court-martial -Mochitsura Hashimoto (Commander of submarine that sank the Indianapolis) -Hunter Scott (sixth grade student) -Commander of the USS Indianapolis (submarine) -All worked to see Captain McVay exonerated -Captain McVay, via Congressional resolution, had his record exonerated in July 2001 -Margaret and Bill felt it was a long time coming and the right thing to do (00:27:51) USS Indianapolis Reunions Pt. 1 -Thinks it’s wonderful that Hashimoto’s daughter and granddaughter come to the reunions -The survivors understand that it was part of the war and nothing personal -None of the men carry any hate for Commander Hashimoto or his family -She never saw any disrespect of the daughter or granddaughter -Accepted them into the reunion group and treated them like family (00:30:48) Media & Teaching about the USS Indianapolis Pt. 1 -Thrilled with the new documentary by Sarah Vladic, USS Indianapolis: The Legacy -Margaret feels the documentary is well done and serving a good purpose -Getting more public attention about the sinking in the United States and abroad -Good for the survivors to have their story known by more people -Believes the sinking ought to be taught in American History lessons -Ignored because the Navy made a fatal mistake that killed over 900 men and lost a ship -Note: Distress signal from the USS Indianapolis ignored by Navy personnel �-Feels the Navy tries to distance itself from the sinking because of the negative PR -Doesn’t surprise her (00:35:03) USS Indianapolis Reunions Pt. 2 -Bill passed away in 2011, but she still attends the reunions every year -Bill would have wanted her to go -She cares about the other survivors and the friends she made in the reunion group -Her way of staying connected to Bill (00:35:45) Media & Teaching about the USS Indianapolis Pt. 2 -People often confuse the USS Indianapolis with the USS Arizona (sunk at Pearl Harbor) -Understands why people confuse the two ships -Has found that more people are learning about the sinking -Getting more public involvement and attention -There are plans to have a memorial erected in Lansing, Michigan, for the Michigan survivor -Addition to memorials in Colorado, Texas, Connecticut and Indiana -She feels that anyone involved in the sinking deserves recognition -Every detail is important -Feels that Doug Stanton’s book, In Harm’s Way, is one of the best books about the sinking -Outstanding job of chronicling the survivors’ thoughts and feelings -Feels that Only 317 Survived! is the most personal record, In Harm’s Way best overview (00:45:21) Reflections -Proud to have been Bill’s wife -Glad she can still represent him and the story of the USS Indianapolis � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AkinesM1951V Title A name given to the resource Akines, Margaret (Interview outline and video), 2016 Description An account of the resource Margaret Akines was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 18, 1938. She married Bill Akines in 1978. He was one of the 317 men that survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and in this interview she tells about his experience surviving that catastrophe. Bill was active in the USS Indianapolis survivors’ group, and since his death in 2011 Margaret still attends the annual reunions and maintains contact with the other survivors. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Akines, Margaret Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hammond, Steve (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-09-12 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/750cc5aeb6e71507f4ccb5a1a4ce5bea.mp4 0e8fd6958e8a2c0845109c153ff6c1ad https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9cd6ba7bb2f1bb5a12a3f1d311407dbc.pdf 6f417e9b606ef3ea77670e2b659be71e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Les Alcumbrack (01:02:00) Background • Full name is Lester Alcumbrack (00:14) • From Kentwood, MI (00:31) • Born in Grand Rapids, his family moved to the corner of 32nd and East Paris when he was about five years old. (00:44) • He was in the #8 District school, which had one teacher. (01:03) • The school was about five and a half miles away. (01:14) • He went to Godwin High School, as did all of his siblings. He was the youngest of five children. (01:21) • They usually walked to school. Sometimes his father dropped them off on the way to work. (01:34) • His father worked at a laundromat. It was initially called “U.S. Laundry,” and the name was later changed to “American Landry.” (01:53) • Les worked on nearby farms after graduating high school. (02:08) • Graduated 1939. (02:27) • He didn't pay much attention to international affairs, or WWII, he was too busy at the time. (02:40) • He heard about Pearl Harbor in Silver Lake. He and his girlfriend were delivering calendars for his sister's church, and they heard about it on the car radio. (02:55) • At the time, he didn't think about being drafted or enlisting. He was very afraid. (03:33) • Later on, he attempted to enlist and was rejected because he was set to be drafted very soon. (03:53) • He was drafted a few weeks later. (04:16) Training • Went to Fort Custer. (04:38) • He was given written aptitude tests. (04:47) • Next, he was sent out to Yuma, AZ in the middle of the desert. (05:15) • The trip to Yuma was his first cross-country trip. It was a long train ride. (05:27) • At this time, he was not yet assigned to a company. (05:43) • The dirt in Arizona was black, powdery and very dusty. (06:21) • He had his winter clothes on because he had left Michigan in September. Arizona temperatures reached the hundreds, and his clothes made him even hotter. The dust stuck to his sweat. (06:21) • They were split into four companies, A through D. He was in company A. (06:46) • The base was in a mountain. (07:03) • Basic training was in Yuma. It was mostly field hikes, and rifle training, but he missed most of it as he was very sick. (07:10) • He felt sick, and passed out in front of the doctor's office. (07:50) • He had a fever of one hundred and four. (08:18) • He was rushed to the hospital tent. (08:25) • His sickness may have been infection from the water. He was hospitalized for forty-nine days. (08:45) • He didn't do much, but eat and sleep. He gained a lot of weight during his hospital stay. The �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • lack of activity was a drastic change to his life at home on the farms. (09:00) A man wanted him to change units. (09:18) He talked with his superior officer about a transfer, and was denied. (09:42) He didn't find out about his duty until after basic training, which he had not still finished. (10:00) He drove a truck, and took care of garbage on the base. (10:30) Later on, he filled gas cans. There were about twenty truck drivers. (10:55) Patton trained his men nearby. Les brought fuel to him, and took the empties back for refill. (11:09) Patton was training a large armored unit, which used large amounts of gas. (11:32) Les' grandson later trained in the same area as a Marine. (11:48) Still in Yuma while he was driving trucks. (12:14) Big trucks brought in gasoline, which they pumped into five gallon drums. (12:18) Sometimes trains brought the gas instead of trucks. (12:40) He spent six months in Arizona. (12:49) Next he was sent to Fort Preston, FL for amphibious training. (13:00) He was assigned to a unit responsible for supplying gasoline. (13:12) During the amphibious training he had to be able to swim two miles and climb a mock ship. (13:25) He didn't practice climbing down nets onto landing craft. (13:54) He went from practicing on a fake ship to practicing on actual ships. (14:04) He practiced loading ammo cases filled with sand onto amphibious trucks called “ducks.” (14:17) The exercises didn't have much to do with driving trucks, but he followed the orders despite the seeming impracticality. (15:04) He did not have a discipline problem. (15:21) Some of the men had problems with discipline, but not many of them. (15:30) Many of the men disliked digging foxholes, including himself. (15:45) He once was training in foxholes, and found a pre-made foxhole. He planned on using the foxhole, but decided to make a new one when he noticed the rattlesnake inside. (16:07) Fort Pierce was about fifty miles north of Miami, halfway between Miami and Jackson. It was on an island. (16:33) The base being on an island made it hard to get into trouble. (17:06) He was in Fort Pierce for about six months, late 1943. (17:19) He was next sent to Camp Pickett, VA for more training. They had marching and an infiltration training course. (17:29) As part of the course, they had crawl up a hill on their hands and knees around fake land mines. The “mines” were very noisy and startled. They activated with strings. (17:55) He did well on the course. (18:33) The Army usually sent about ten men through the course at a time. (18:44) His training was not related to truck driving, it was in case of capture. (18:54) By this time, he was in a company which he trained with. (19:06) He had a fourteen day furlough. He spent most of it with his girlfriend. (19:21) He had asked his girlfriend to marry him before he was drafted. He then asked her father for his approval. Her father preferred them to wait as Les had been drafted. Les decided to follow his advice, and believes it was the correct decision. He didn't want to start out on the wrong foot with his in-laws. (19:42) He frequently received letters from his girlfriend, but did not answer them often as the Army kept him very busy. (20:40) �Deployment/Scotland and Wales • He was at Fort Pickett about two months, and then shipped out at Boston. (21:04) • The ship was an old gambling ship, the Evangeline, the ship came to Boston from New Orleans. (21:16) • The ship had been converted to a troop ship, but it still had many accoutrements from its life as a gambling ship. The dancing floor was still intact. (21:44) • The ship held 300-400 men. The bunks were stacked about three high. (22:22) • The ship was not very crowded. (22:34) • He was shipped out fall or winter of 1943. (22:42) • Once, during the night, the ship supposedly scraped sides with another ship in the convoy. He didn't hear the scrape, and didn't see evidence of it. (22:50) • The ship was bound for Glasgow, Scotland. They took the long way around to avoid U-boats. (23:27) • The convoy was large and involved about twenty ships. (23:54) • The weather was cold, but the sea was probably calm as he doesn't recall being sea-sick. (24:15) • Next, he was put on a train to South Wales. (24:51) • He stayed in South Wales, but didn't do much. (25:02) • They were in tents, in winter, in Wales. It was very wet, but not too cold. (25:15) • The tents were set up off ground a bit. (25:41) • There was a lot of mud. (25:52) • Trucks brought in sand to counter-act the mud. (26:00) • They were waiting for the invasion of Normandy. (26:18) • They also made roads, and improved the base. (26:30) • There were not many towns in the area. (26:46) • Swansea was the nearest town in the area, but he didn't go. (27:08) • His company was the only one there at the time. It was a small unit. (27:29) • They were sent to Plymouth, as a “holding tank” before the invasion. They were only there for a week. (28:05) • The invasion was soon underway. About sixty “ducks” were sent, but only about sixteen made it. (28:48) Service on the Continent • He was in Plymouth during D-Day. There were many German planes flying over that day. They didn't drop bombs; he assumes they were reconnaissance planes. (29:04) • He landed on June 23, he didn't remember a storm. (29:46) • Landed at Omaha Beach. (30:20) • France had many hedgerows. (30:36) • He drove the truck off of a landing barge, an LST with a drop down door [probably an LCT— ed.]. (30:48) • He dropped into water about four feet deep. (31:18) • Some of the later trucks partially flooded after dropping off. As each truck dropped off the transport, the transport floated higher in the water because of the lost weight. Each truck dropped from a higher point, and as a result the later trucks were splashed with water. (31:40) • Before the landing, he had to waterproof his truck with a layer of grease. After the landing the grease had to be removed. (31:45) • The ordinance outfits set up a tent. (32:05) • After they captured the area, they had to pick up loads and distribute them. (32:38) • Two men were assigned to each truck, one drove at a time in shifts. This way they were able to drive in forty-eight hour stretches. (32:50) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The beach was sandy. (33:12) There was not much traffic, some roads were just trails. (33:33) He mostly transported food supplies. He only drove, other men loaded and unloaded the trucks. (33:50) After they took St. Lo, the travel distance increased. (34:16) Some WWII movies were very accurate, and brought back memories for him. (34:42) He drove along a road one day, and went to turn when about a hundred yards away he saw a cannon. The cannon had fallen over, and was pointing right at him. It scared him badly. (35:42) The Americans had a pipeline for gas which went through the English Channel. (36:58) The first time they used the pipeline, the gas was about ninety percent water. He got blamed for it. (37:55) Most supplies continued to come from Normandy, as it was the best place for a base for a while. The train tracks had been destroyed and could not be used. (38:55) A German bomber dropped a “blockbuster” bomb near his truck, sending large fragments of clay near him. (39:24) Back at the base, large tanks of water were used for showers. The tanks warmed in the sun, providing a warm, but not hot, shower. (40:13) He never had a problem with food. (40:42) Sometimes he stole food out of the trucks with his friends. Canned peaches were a frequent favorite. (41:05) He had to deliver gas to a nearby unit. (41:55) The unit wasted gas, the soil was moist from it. Some of the men got lead poisoning and lost their legs because of the gas. (42:07) As the troops moved forward, so did his supply trips. (43:18) He stayed in France until they entered Germany. (43:29) He supplied Patton's Army. After the war, Patton was killed near the area. (43:38) His unit began using refrigerated trucks after the war. (44:06) He was not in much danger, aside from the bomb incident. (44:26) He observed very little of the action, but knew how the war was going. The Army kept him informed. (44:40) Once, they had an emergency at an airfield. One of the planes couldn't get its landing gear out in time. He saw the pilot’s body in a nearby tree. It sickened him. (45:08) He met some of the French people, but didn't like them because he thought they were dirty. He believed they had low morals, and he was also not impressed by their public latrines. (46:36) He was once set to the outskirts of Paris to pick up empty gas cans. (47:38) He went to Paris on furlough once, and was not impressed. (48:28) He thought Germany was cleaner, despite the wreckage of Mannheim. (48:50) Some of the men moved into a nearby building, which had been an old girl's school. They used the classrooms as bedrooms. They played basketball in the gym, and used the showers and footbath in the basement. (49:29) He drove refrigerated semi-trucks later on. He had never driven a semi-truck before. (50:41) He went from Mannheim to Heidelberg, and a few other small towns. (51:42) The trips were about sixty to seventy miles. (52:06) He carried food supplies around in the semis. (52:10) When they stayed at the school, the officers put on a party which had a lot of alcohol. They had a dance, and brought in a few girls as well. The party helped him keep his mind off the war. (52:38) He left Europe shortly after, and arrived home Christmas Eve. (53:54) �• • • • • • • • • • • He went from Manheim into France, and disembarked on a Liberty ship from Marseille, through the Mediterranean Sea. They passed the Rock of Gibraltar. (54:27) Before leaving, the commander announced a storm was on the way. He asked the men if they wanted to try and beat the storm or wait it out. The men decided to go right away. They beat the storm. (55:12) They landed in Boston, it was cold. The ship was covered in ice from water that had splashed up at sea. (56:02) When they arrived home, they were given fresh milk. They had had powdered milk in Europe. (56:45) He called his brother to pick him up to avoid using a bus or a train. His brother was initially a little reluctant because it was the Christmas season. His brother offered to bring Les' girlfriend along, but Les advised him not to as the car would be full of men. His brother was also picking up a few men in his outfit who were from Grand Rapids. His brother thought she would be miffed at the exclusion, but went forward with it anyway. (57:29) His girlfriend/wife knew some of the men from school. The other men were from Grand Rapids, but from other parts of it. (59:20) He married January 30th. (59:52) He worked at a lumber company for twenty seven years, counting the years before the war. He started in 1939. (01:00:03) The company closed, and then he worked with a hi-lo. He only had two jobs, aside from working on the farms. (01:00:28) He doesn;t think the service changed him all that much, but it was a good experience. (01:00:42) Believes enlistment would help some kids with discipline issues. (01:01:10) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Alcumbrack, Lester (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alcumbrack, Lester Description An account of the resource Lester Alcumbrack was drafted into the army in 1942. Les became very sick during basic training, and became a truck driver. He trained as a fuel truck driver and received amphibious training. He began duty in Scotland and Wales prior to the Normandy Invasion, and continued to serve as a truck driver in France and Germany during and after the Invasion. After the German surrender, he spent his last months working with a refrigeration unit delivering food to US occupation troops. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-02-28 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AlcumbrackL Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/136c5948de33ed53617b0f693eb15a95.mp4 31062292ed7adc20dd9de4ed9c69a431 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/72ada9503b21a03deff53495fba5eb72.pdf 5786485af050f28f602184ce7b7567dd PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project World War II Charles Aldrich Interview Total Time: 1:50:34 Background  (00:11) Mr. Aldrich was born on February 7th 1925 in Hastings, Michigan  (00:35) He and his family lived on the farm  (1:00) After living on the farm for a few years, they moved to the Cascade area, SE of Grand Rapids  (1:25) Rented property, they had their own gardens o the property had cows, chickens, grew their own vegetables o picked apples and peaches o (2:00) They didn’t necessarily farm, but had gardens for their own personal use  (3:15) His father signed for him to enlist in the Navy at age 17  (3:26) Has younger twin brothers, 8 boys in his family altogether  (4:36) His brother Harold was in the Air Force  (5:11) Another brother was in the CCC  (5:30) Most of their information regarding the war, Pearl Harbor, etc., came from the Grand Rapids Herald newspaper  (5:57) Mentions that they didn’t have electricity in their house, so no radio Enlistment  (6:11) Mr. Aldrich was just 17 when he enlisted in the Navy  (6:30) Enlisted because he didn’t finish high school, didn’t have anything in particular to do  (7:20) Remembers his father taking him to the recruiting office at Reed’s Lake o Physical o Papers OK’d while father was on the job at WPA  (8:00) Took a train to Detroit for another physical and to do more paperwork  (8:20) After that, took another train to the Great Lakes, north of Chicago �Training  (8:45) Says that Great Lakes was a “mammoth place”  (9:43) It was busy, you were always kept busy from morning until night  (10:00) Had classes about Navy procedures, lots of marching  (10:24) Instilled the idea of following orders  (10:32) Blue Jacket Manual, they were supposed to read it and learn the rules and regulations  (10:50) On Sundays they marched to another base to go to church o Included a Catholic and Protestant church  (11:11) After 5 weeks of training, they were put in an Outgoing Unit  (11:44) Didn’t have a hard time adjusting to his training, thought of it as a job o (12:18) Mr. Aldrich noticed others having trouble with this o If someone decided they didn’t want to go through with it, they would jump over the fence, but eventually caught and put on trial  (13:20) After the first 5 weeks, and after the week in OGU, they were sent to Little Creek, Virginia o Gunnery school o Different training for different guns o Different sized guns o (15:34) Gunnery training was for service on merchant ships, but could be used on different ones as well o (15:55) They were being trained to be Navy Guards on merchant ships o (16:36) Stayed at Little Creek for about 4 weeks o (16:55) They were allowed to explore the area a bit, went to Norfolk and Virginia Beach o (17:29) The people in Norfolk weren’t necessarily fond of sailors because there were so many around, some felt they were disruptive  (19:00) They were supposed to get boating experience, but the boat happened to be broken down at the time  (19:17) Sailing experience was new to him  (19:38) After his training at Little Creek they took a ferry to Newport News, and took a train to New York, then went to the Armed Guard quarters at Brooklyn Navy Yard  (20:16) Brooklyn was where they were stationed until they were assigned to a ship  (20:30) While waiting, they got to visit New York a bit �Shipped Out  (22:18) Was in the Armed Guard Center from July 30th to August 4th o Shipped out on the John Penn  (22:27) John Penn was a Liberty ship, carried cargo o (22:56) Went out of New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada o Picked up more ships o Assembled in the ocean o Went to northern Scotland o Waited here for orders to proceed  (23:36) When he first got on the ship, he says there wasn’t too much to remember o They were replacements, Mr. Aldrich and another man o (24:26) His first night on the ship he slept in a bunk, had to get up at a certain hour o About 34 guys from the Armed Guard on the ship o (26:12) They took turns standing on gun watch; 4 hours on, 4 hours off  (27:00) Accommodations on the Liberty ship: o Bunk beds, some underneath the bridge, some under the stern o About 4 bunks per room o Each had their own locker o (28:05) They had their own lunchroom: gun crew, merchant marine, o Mess boy would deliver food o Says it was good food  (29:07) Mr. Aldrich remembers getting seasick once o They ran into a 72 mile an hour gale o He was on watch, getting sprayed with ocean water, was told to come back on the bridge because of the weather o One of the lifeboats was lost  (30:28) They didn’t have any U-boat scares on the way to Halifax or Scotland o Remembers the ocean being beautiful o (31:12) Mr. Aldrich remembered on the way to the British Isles the fog prevented them from seeing things, and once it cleared they had to get their convoys lined up again o This was the only problem they had  (32:23) He was put in a convoy at the British Isles and started heading over to the Soviet Union, it was PQ-18  (32:33) PQ-18 was escorted by a number of British destroyers o Remembers having a British cruiser in the convoy o Was told there was an aircraft carrier �      o They had a convoy master o Near Iceland was where they experienced the 72 mile an hour gale o (33:40) This was when they made a turn (33:57) On the morning of September 13th Mr. Aldrich remembers two ships being hit and sunk within 15 minutes o These were slower ships o (35:03) A submarine was also hit and sunk (35:13) Later that day, after everybody had lunch they went back on watch o About 3 pm a bunch of JU-88’s came out and sent torpedoes o This brought down some ships, the John Penn was one of them o (36:04) Mr. Aldrich was a first loader during this o His job was to put a new shell into the gun every time they fired it o (37:06) After numerous firings, the gun was lowered on the surface level and he could see a bomber flying over the convoy o The bomber blew up in pieces that flew all over o (38:09) His ship got hit just a few minutes after this o He infers that the bomber is the one who hit them with a torpedo o (38:44) He was looking in the opposite direction as they were hit o (39:22) In a matter of minutes, they announced “Abandoned ship!” o Mr. Aldrich couldn’t hear this, but he turned around and saw everyone running o (39:58) Remembers all the lifeboats being gone, there were 5 guys (including Mr. Aldrich) left  Remembers one was hanging on a pulley near the water  (41:18) They got in the lifeboat, and it was filled with water o (41:35) It was snowing during this time, so it was cold water, temporarily couldn’t move his legs because they were so cold o (42:20) A British destroyer picked them all up from their lifeboats o (43:00) There was oil in the water, his clothes from the waist down was soaked and had oil on them (43:33) They were all given food when they got on the ship (43:45) Legs were starting to warm up, remembers getting help walking around for a bit o (43:57) Thinks they didn’t know his rank and one man thought he was an officer o Ate with the officers during this time (44:30) After this, they were far enough into the Russian territory that the British escort left the convoy, and the Russians took over (45:11) 7 British Destroyers got their formation together and went back to Scotland, taking the rescued men with them o (45:37) They stopped and refueled in Iceland �                (46:39) Got on a train to Glasgow o (47:12) Remembers getting new uniforms here o They went to the Red Cross Center and got a British uniform o (47:43) They were free to travel around Glasgow for awhile, and then they were transferred to a training base for the Marines o (48:18) They stayed there until they got their next assignment (49:15) Remembers a Scottish castle being used as the training base for Marines (49:56) While they waited for their next assignment they marched around with the Marines o (50:12) They were US Marines (50:21) They had Navy shoes, and they weren’t good for marching, so they got army shoes. (50:43) They gave them M1’s, which were 30 caliber rifles, marched them around and taught them how to shoot the M1’s, load, unload, etc (51:18) Mr. Aldrich and his buddy took a bus to Glasgow in between all this (51:48) They packed up and went to the dock, and were headed towards Oran, Algeria in North Africa (52:38) They were put on a troop ship, which was British transport (53:30) They got to Oran in March of 1942 [1943] (54:20) He worked in Oran Harbor (55:30) His duty was to go back and forth between harbors and pick up supplies off of the merchant ships and bring them back to Oran (55:56) The distance between the two harbors was about a mile and a half (56:30) He remembers being in a schoolhouse in Oran while awaiting a new assignment and they were allowed to explore the area again (57:25) Remembers seeing French and Arab people, had dinner with a French family one night o (57:53) They could speak English too (58:11) Everyone seemed to be friendly in Oran (59:30) Remembers troops coming in to get the wounded transferred back to the US Leave  (1:00:18) Mr. Aldrich was given a 30 day leave o Went home and back to Brooklyn again  (1:00:58) Not a lot going on back at home o His brothers tried to entertain him as much as they could o They took him to shows, introduced him to girls �    (1:01:36) There were dances at halls, included drinks (1:02:00) They didn’t question age when they were drinking, he wasn’t quite old enough (1:02:22) Went back to Brooklyn, then took a train to Detroit, and Canada o (1:02:45) Mr. Aldrich enjoyed riding trains (1:03:16) After a short period of time in Brooklyn he was assigned to an oil tanker New Assignment  (1:03:29) The oil tanker was in Chester, Pennsylvania o The ship was new and hadn’t been in the water yet o Guns had to be cleaned  (1:04:01) They went to New Jersey, loaded up with oil, and went to Port Arthur, Texas, unloaded the oil  (1:04:25) Next stop, they loaded up with gasoline, then picked up a convoy and headed out for England  (1:04:55) First stop in England was Bristol, where they unloaded the gasoline  (1:05:20) The trip over was quiet, except for the fog again that made it difficult to see  (1:06:03) Mentions that when tankers hit rough water, they sort of bounced  (1:07:22) His job was to use the 20 mm gun  (1:08:36) After the 3rd trip, he was assigned back to Brooklyn  (1:09:01) Mr. Aldrich mentions on their final trip, they were told they were going to fire their guns o (1:09:33) 20 mm’s were supposed to fire at balloons o (1:10:02) But never saw any German aircrafts or submarines  (1:10:22) After 1943, they had more escorts, the Atlantic got safer  (1:11:09) To get from Curaçao to England it took about 15 days  (1:11:20) In England, they were also given the opportunity to travel around  (1:12:47) Eventually took out a war bond, and remembers sending $10-$15 a month home  (1:13:26) After doing the 3 round trips with the tanker, he was assigned back to Brooklyn  (1:13:42) He was then sent to Pier 92 in New York  (1:14:12) Mr. Aldrich was assigned to the USS Montcalm; a tugboat  (1:14:30) Took the train from Grand Central Station to Key West, Florida  (1:14:49) Went to Key West Air Base  (1:14:57) Then transported to a minesweeper, which took them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba �        o This is where they were assigned to the USS Montcalm (1:15:34) They went to many other islands and picked up empty barges and took them back to Cuba (1:16:31) They hauled a target from a destroyer from a Caribbean island (1:17:00) Remembers Guantanamo City, Cuba, being a “liberty port” (1:17:43) Went to Puerto Rico and San Juan a couple of times, also Kingston, Jamaica (1:18:24) Remembers being assigned to Trinidad (1:18:46) There was two Armed Guards on a tugboat that he knew of (1:19:30) Got points towards discharge for sea duty, and also for being on land (1:20:39) The war was over when he got back from Cuba After Cuba/After Germans Surrender  (1:20:51) Came back to Norfolk, Virginia  (1:21:02) Mr. Aldrich was given another 30 day leave o Came back home, spent his 30 days there  (1:21:25) When his 30 days were up, he reported to Detroit  (1:21:38) From there he was shipped to Bellingham, Washington  (1:21:50) While waiting for his assignment, he worked in the Navy laundry  (1:22:27) Was able to travel around Bellingham  (1:22:55) Eventually put on another ship  (1:24:12) Went to the deck officer, got bunk assignments  (1:24:29) His duty was to wheel watch  (1:25:09) There were two man on the wheel, they would switch back and forth  (1:25:40) They headed for Okinawa, which took 30 days  (1:25:58) Believes the atomic bomb was already dropped when he was on leave, so Japan had surrendered  (1:26:20) They unloaded in Okinawa, and saw that a typhoon went through there  (1:27:06) Saw all the damage in Nagasaki from the bomb  (1:28:12) Also transported people from one port to another  (1:28:43) Didn’t see much of the Japanese people  (1:29:07) Remembers seeing Japanese kids on the docks to see what was going on, and saw rifles sitting there o Mr. Aldrich took one � (1:30:25) When he got back, he was asked if he wanted to go home, he said yes  (1:30:40) Packed up his sea bag and was gone within an hour Going Home  (1:30:55) He got on an American destroyer, was taken to another transporter, then went to San Francisco, then to Treasure Island for awhile  (1:32:38) Remembers eating dinner with a fellow seaman and his wife  (1:33:10) Didn’t have a specific assignment at Treasure Island  (1:33:29) Taken to Oakland, then took a train, remembers sleeping and waking up in Utah seeing snow o (1:34:36) Went through Denver, then to Great Lakes o (1:35:40) Remembers a sailor getting beer, almost missed the train and lost half of his beer  (1:36:10) Got a physical again at Great Lakes  (1:36:38) His only problem was hearing, which didn’t require any special treatment  (1:37:02) Finally got back home December 22nd, 1945  (1:37:15) Family knew he was coming home  (1:38:13) Once Mr. Aldrich was back home, he registered with the local draft board to make sure his discharge papers were registered with the county clerk, he was given unemployment compensation until he could find a job  (1:39:02) Continued living at home in the Cascade area  (1:39:30) Worked for a manufacturing company that made die cast parts for automobiles, refrigerators, etc o (1:40:09) He worked as a buffer o (1:40:20) Eventually switched to polishing o (1:40:54) Worked there for 29.5 years until they closed up in 1975  (1:41:10) He was on unemployment for about a year after that  (1:41:22) The last job he had was as a handyman  (1:41:48) Married twice �o (1:42:02) First got married in 1959, he was almost 25 years old o (1:42:21) 2nd marriage was in 1960  Wife passed away two years ago from this interview  (1:42:43) Had 5 kids from his first wife, 2nd wife had 3 from a previous marriage  (1:43:10) Has many grandchildren  (1:44:15) Has great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren  (1:44:40) Being in the Navy helped him have more respect for people that were worse off, also had respect for the Japanese, and other soldiers  (1:46:19) Had a brother in the Air Force, another in the Korean War  (1:46:34) One of his sons was in the Army, drafted during Vietnam War o Had a lot of experience in the armed forces  (1:47:48) He would still join the Navy all over again  (1:49:05) Mr. Aldrich advises young people to take a chance on the Navy, says there are many opportunities � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Aldrich, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Aldrich, Charles Description An account of the resource Charles Aldrich was born in 1925 in Hastings, Michigan, and enlisted in the US Navy after Pearl Harbor at the age of 17. He trained for 5 weeks at Great Lakes, and then went to gunnery school in Little Creek, Virginia to train as an Armed Guard for merchant ships. On his first voyage, he was on the Murmansk run with convoy PQ 18. He shot down a German bomber, but his ship was sunk by a torpedo, and he was rescued by a British destroyer. He then spent time on a US Marine base in Scotland, Oran, Algeria, on an oil tanker In the Caribbean and Atlantic, a tugboat in the Caribbean, and finally on a cargo ship in the Pacific after the end of the war, visiting Okinawa and Japan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-09-29 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AldrichC1266V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b5c5dadf64bb89413521f07ba0725bf3.mp4 1bf6c022169a474c9f9a2e8a73f0ef8c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7fd2a2e98e40bf9d6e4f0aa66b1b69b0.pdf 335e794fd81af4ca796e189082af036a PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Floyd Alexander Vietnam War 57 minutes 40 seconds (00:18) Early Life -Born on October 29, 1949 in Jerseyville, Illinois -Went to first four years of grade school there -Moved to Dow, Illinois -Graduated in 1968 (00:53) Army Enlistment -February 1969 enlisted in the Army -Wanted credit for a new car -Bank refused to give him any credit because of being draft age -Did not know much about Vietnam -Two cousins served in Vietnam but didn’t talk about it -Requested to be an MP (military police) -Wound up being placed in artillery (02:20) Basic Training -Sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri -Greeted by a drill sergeant -Screamed at the recruits -Intimidated them -Had “zero week” for processing -Placement tests -Documentation -Physicals -Was in a “fat farm” for overweight recruits -Had to run everywhere, walking was not allowed -Always got recruited for “special” jobs -Very difficult to adjust to military living -Never had trouble with other recruits -Drill instructors were all Vietnam veterans -Told that they were fat and stupid and thus would get people killed (05:16) A Quick Note on His Parents -Father worked for a flour mill -Family raised small livestock -Helped family raise the animals -Helped with being disciplined, somewhat strong, and having some stamina (06:15)Advanced Infantry Training -Went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for AIT (advanced individual training) -He was told that the majority of the recruits there would go to Vietnam -Only one recruit did not go to Vietnam -Training consisted of field maneuvers and firing the howitzers �-Learned how to calculate range for the guns -Trained on the 105mm howitzers -Was trained how to do everything artillery related -Loading the guns, firing the guns, calculating ranges, etc. -AIT was just as difficult as basic training in terms of actual training -Not as emotionally taxing as basic training -Wasn’t harassed by drill instructors in AIT -AIT lasted eight weeks (08:53) Deployment to Vietnam -After AIT was over was given a thirty day leave to go home -Dad was a WWII vet who was upset about enlistment and deployment -Mom got draft notice five days after he left for basic -Both parents knew that he was going to be sent to Vietnam one way or another -Sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for deployment -Went from Washington, to Alaska, to Japan (10:07) Arrival in Vietnam -Arrival date was December 22, 1969 -Landed in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam -Country had a weird smell to it -Kept in Cam Ranh for a “zero week” waiting for deployment orders -Also got booby trap training at this time -Assigned to Bravo Company of the 2nd/319th Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division -Flew up to Camp Evans via Chinook helicopter (11:40) Brief Overview of Timeline -Sent to Bravo Company for an amount of time -Helped move guns to Firebase Ripcord -Attached to Alpha Company of the 2nd/506th under Captain Burkhart -Infantry duty as an RTO (radio telephone operator) in the field (12:59) Firebase Jack -Met up with Bravo Company at Firebase Jack -Great reception -Looked for soldiers that were also from Illinois (found two) -Assigned to a gun crew -Gun 5 (out of 7 or 8 total gun crews) -Guns stayed there for a while until being moved -Firebase Jack stayed relatively calm (14:38) Firebase Ripcord -Moved to Firebase Ripcord around May to help move 105mm howitzers there -Nothing serious happened during the transfer of the howitzers -Loaded the guns onto a Chinook helicopter -Traveled with the guns -Surrounded larger artillery (155mm guns) with smaller howitzers -Had to reinforce and barricade their positions -Fired countless shells every day -Job was a “loader”: physically put rounds into howitzer -Wasn’t quick enough once and the recoil hit his leg �-Got sent to Camp Evans for medical examination -Stayed there for one week -Thought he would get to go home -Had to physically move the ammunition around -They had beehive (shrapnel-projectile) rounds, illumination (flare) rounds, and white phosphorous (incendiary) rounds -Stayed on Firebase Ripcord for about a month (19:53) Alpha Company-General Information -Got assigned to Alpha Company at this point to be an RTO for Lieutenant Brennan -Flown out to the field via helicopter -Job was to figure out coordinates and call them in via radio that he carried -Never had to walk point in the field -Called in heavy firepower on enemy positions -Artillery and gunships -Miserable walking in the jungle especially during monsoon season -Hunkered down and stayed quiet at night -Captain Burkhart’s replacement, Captain Hawkins, was an equally good leader -Had one 2nd Lieutenant who was reckless and wanted to be a war hero (26:12) July 22, 1970 Pt. 1 -Before major engagement on July 22 there was a sense of deterioration around Ripcord -More contact with NVA, helicopter crash, artillery positions was blown up -Does not recall anyone from his gun crew dying because of the battery exploding -Found an NVA communications line shortly before fighting on July 22 -Encountered small arms fire and satchel charges -Hunkered down on the hillside with officers -Started losing officers -Rescued wounded soldier from NVA fire -NVA were advancing rapidly down the hill -NVA were executing wounded Americans -Played dead and laid on top of soldier -Got kicked in the head by advancing NVA -Blacked out (30:30) July 22, 1970 Pt. 2 -Woke up from being blacked out -Went to get help for wounded man -Found Captain Hawkins who helped move him -He (Floyd) and Captain Hawkins began to call in fire again until Capt. Hawkins got wounded -Pinned down by the NVA for the entire day -NVA pulled back at nightfall after relentless airstrikes -Had to dig in for the night -Delta Company came in the next day and evacuated the survivors -Came right to Alpha Company and created a landing zone for the helicopters there -Started to take fire as they pulled out, he was one of the last ones to leave (35:50) Post Ripcord Vietnam -Sent to Firebase Rakkason for a debriefing -Kept separated from other soldiers �-Didn’t want to damage morale -Sent to Camp Evans after Firebase Rakkason -Stayed with the infantry until he left the country (December 1st 1970) -Bitterness in the wake of what happened at Ripcord -All other contact with the NVA seemed to pale in comparison -Spent a lot of time in the field -Only got to be in the rear for five days (besides leg incident) -Wanted to take an R&R to Australia -Resupply helicopter that would have served as a transport was shot down first try -Fog kept everyone grounded on his second try for R&R (39:30) General Morale in Vietnam -Never saw drug use in the rear or in the field -Never saw racial tensions -Served alongside African American soldiers in the artillery and in the field -Seen as equals in battle -Wrote home almost every day -Mom, aunts, cousins, dad, brothers wrote back -Three to four day wait time -Care packages were very common -Got half a case of baby food after mentioning fresh fruit in a letter (42:14) Leaving Vietnam and Coming Home -Got a “Santa Claus Drop” from Richard Nixon -Got sent home before Christmas (December 1st to be exact) -Landed in Fort Lewis, Washington -Flew in in the middle of the night -Options were a steak dinner then leave, or getting “dress greens” then leaving -Opted to forego the steak dinner and just go -Encountered protestors in Dallas, Texas -Got called a baby killer by one of them -No violence, no retaliation, just walked away -Welcomed home extremely well in Illinois (44:18) Fort Hood and Honor Guard Duty -Sent to Fort Hood -One of the six highest decorated men in his battery and was made an honor guard -Felt guilty not being able to tell families what had happened to the soldier -One mother was so bitter that she refused to accept the flag -Was not attached to any other duties at Fort Hood during his time as an honor guard -Took turns carrying a loaded casket using an honor guard for the sense of realism (47:46) Life after the Army -Army wanted him to re-enlist -Offered him money, promotion, and retirement plan -Catch was that he would have to go to Vietnam for another tour -He refused to re-enlist �-Went back to his place of work before the war -Was being turned away because he was a Vietnam veteran -Union president got involved as well as the VA and got him his job back -Worked there until he retired (49:50) Reflections on Service -Views service as having a positive impact on his life -Not a good time, but there were good times during his time in the Army -Had a temper coming home -Arrested for disorderly conduct -Has to see psychiatrist to keep emotions in check -Wife and family have a noticed a positive impact from therapy -Thirty two years after Vietnam he finally decided to seek therapy -Hated and resented the government -Disgusted by the fact that the Battle of Firebase Ripcord was covered up by Congress -Never talked about his experience in Vietnam with anyone -Couldn’t get loans from banks because of being a Vietnam veteran -Joined Ripcord Association after being contacted about it -Book was written and published in the early 1990s about the battle -His name was mentioned in it -Association wanted him to join because of this � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Alexander, Floyd (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alexander, Floyd Description An account of the resource Floyd Alexander was born in 1949 in Jerseyville, Illinois. He grew up in that area and joined the Army in February 1969. He trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Fort Sill, Oklahoma to be a part of the artillery. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and attached to Bravo Company of the 2nd and 319th Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division and later Alpha Company of the 2nd and 506th as a radio operator. In Alpha Company he saw action in the Battle of Firebase Ripcord and served in Vietnam until he was released early on December 1st, 1970. After the war he returned home and served as an honor guard at Fort Hood during the last part of his enlistment. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-10-12 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AlexanderF1452V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ecafaabda501ef8202123912f316cb8.mp4 aad90eb132ebb355b73a5f2894be4319 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a95d30044212c4fd8c93c0fe91b0b725.pdf 4787cda7e32a7d30120bb0eda120b2dd PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Michael Alioto Vietnam War Interview Length: (02:01:49:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:27:00)  Alioto was born on December 19th, 1947 at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan (00:00:27:00) o While he was growing up, Alioto and his family alternated living in East Dearborn, Michigan and the west side of Detroit (00:00:34:00) o Apart from himself, Alioto also had two younger sisters (00:00:41:00) o While Alioto was growing up, his father had a drinking problem, which did not always manifest itself in pleasant ways (00:00:55:00)  Alioto’s father worked in a series of different jobs; when he initially got out of the service following World War II, having served as a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps, he took a job as an inspector for the city of Dearborn (00:01:05:00) o After working as an inspector, Alioto’s father held a series of jobs as a salesman until his death in 1973 (00:01:20:00)  Alioto attended twelve years of Catholic school in Detroit, followed by (in no particular order): Henry Ford Community College, Wayne State University, Central Michigan University, Arizona State University and the University of Michigan (00:01:48:00) o Alioto attended some of the college before his service in Vietnam, although the majority came after he left the military (00:02:17:00) o Alioto graduated from high school in 1966 (00:02:23:00)  After Alioto graduated from high school, instead of just going straight to college, his father convinced him that he could work full-time at Ford Motor Company and still go to school full-time, doing his homework on breaks (00:02:29:00) o At the time, a man had to be taking twelve credits in order to receive an educational deferment for the draft (00:02:46:00)  During his first semester, Alioto ended up taking seventeen credits, which on top of working full-time, was almost an undoable task (00:02:49:00) o Alioto initially attended Henry Ford Community College and did relatively well the first year, maintain around a 2.5 G.P.A. while still working full time at Ford; it was roughly the same for Alioto during his second year in college (00:03:08:00)  Although he still had his educational deferment, Alioto was accidentally drafted during his second year in college (00:03:31:00) o Alioto called his draft board and explained he had a deferment; the draft board said that happened all the time and all Alioto needed to do was bring in proof of the deferment to them (00:03:41:00) o Even though he said he would bring the proof down, the more Alioto thought about it, the more he hesitated; the only reason he was in school in the first place was to avoid going into the service (00:03:50:00)  However, Alioto had always scored high on the standardized tests in school, so he knew that if he went into the service, he would test into a �  clerical position or some other relatively easy position and sail through the two years of military service (00:04:02:00)  Earlier, Alioto had applied to the Michigan National Guard; however, when the Guard called in 1968, Alioto turned them down because he did not want to go to training at that time (00:04:19:00) Alioto officially entered the service on June 26th, 1969 (00:04:48:00) o At the time, Vietnam was up-front in the news and as a college student, Alioto was very aware of what was happening (00:04:54:00)  From Alioto’s experience, a significant portion of the other students in college were there, taking twelve credits, for only one reason, to avoid the draft (00:05:02:00)  In order to avoid joining the Army or Marines, men also tended to join the Reserves or the Air Force or Navy; some men did join the Army but under the condition that they be allowed to choose their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) (00:05:12:00) o If someone voluntarily enlisted, they had a three-year enlistment and could choose their MOS; if someone was drafted, they had a two-year enlistment but were subject to the will of the military in terms of their MOS (00:05:39:00)  During Alioto’s junior year in high school, his history teacher gave Alioto’s class a two-question test; the questions were: What is the capital of North Vietnam and What is the capital of South Vietnam (00:05:58:00)  All Alioto could remember was one of the capitals was Hanoi, so he put that for both and received a 50% on the rest (00:06:17:00)  However, Alioto’s father was astute and well-read and had warned Alioto that he did not want to end up having to go to Vietnam to fight (00:06:39:00)  Alioto had friends who were in the service in Vietnam and who were writing letters home (00:07:02:00) After finally joining the military, Alioto went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for his basic training; in order to get to Fort Knox, Alioto ended up taking a bus from Fort Wayne in Detroit (00:07:12:00) o Once they had arrived, Alioto and between two and four hundred other recruits were herded into a large auditorium and they all went through their aptitude testing (00:07:22:00)  A couple of weeks into the training, Alioto’s training company commander called Alioto in and told him that Alioto had earned the highest test scores in the company, about 200 recruits (00:08:01:00)  As a result of the high test scores, Alioto was even more confident that he would receive a reasonable MOS; although he might go to Vietnam, he would not have an assignment that would put him in harm’s way (00:08:17:00) o Prior to being drafted, Alioto went through his Army physical around his nineteenth birthday at Fort Wayne in Detroit (00:08:59:00) � During his physical, Alioto did not pay too much attention to whether other men were trying to cheat and get themselves disqualified from having to serve (00:09:27:00)  However, if any of the men really wanted to serve, they could have enlisted, so if they were doing their physical for the draft, they did not really want to go (00:09:30:00) o A lot of the men talked about having bad knees, asthma, high blood pressure, etc. in order to get themselves disqualified (00:09:48:00)  Alioto did not try anything to be disqualified, partially because he was drafted while still on deferment, so he was not exactly sure if he would have to serve or not (00:10:32:00) o Even if he did serve, Alioto was fairly certain that he would end up with a fairly cushy job (00:10:44:00) o There were about forty other recruits in Alioto’s training company at Fort Knox and Alioto could not have met forty nice men (00:11:07:00)  There were a lot of bright kids in the company, which was not what Alioto had expected going in (00:11:29:00) o Nevertheless, the training was demanding and the intensity of the training really depended on the individual training company commanders; in some training companies, during the nine-week basic training, the men received up to seven twenty-four to thirty hour weekend passes (00:11:41:00)  Conversely, during the nine-week period, Alioto’s training company ended up receive only one weekend pass, from noon Saturday until six p.m. Sunday (00:12:09:00)  Because he arrived at Fort Knox in June, Alioto did not have to worry about it being cold; Alioto liked this fact because although he could stand the heat, he did not like the cold (00:12:18:00)  Having played a lot of sports while he was growing up, the physical rigors of the training were not a problem for Alioto (00:10:32:00)  There was a large emphasis placed on discipline and following orders and pretty much all of the soldiers followed them (00:12:45:00)  For the small percentage who chose to “fight the system”, the drill sergeants knew several methods to convince the men to follow the rules (00:12:52:00) o One of the most popular methods was for the drill instructors to punish all the other men in the platoon who were not acting up, who would in turn dole out their own punishment (00:13:04:00)  The facilities that the recruits were using were older but were still nice and clean, albeit very spartan (00:13:26:00)  The men would wake up early in the morning and go through PT (physical training) before going to breakfast; if the men got dirty doing the PT, they had to go back to the barracks and change into a clean pair of fatigues before going to breakfast (00:14:06:00) �  Each of the men were given two pairs of boots, one pair of which were marked with red dots; the soldiers would not wear the same pair two days in a row, which forced them to spit-shine the boots every night (00:14:36:00) o Most of the training platoons had a head drill sergeant along with three or four other drill sergeants; some of the drill sergeants were career soldiers but a large portion were sergeants who had returned from Vietnam and had to finish out their enlistments (00:15:11:00)  The head drill sergeant in Alioto’s platoon had already served a couple of tours in Vietnam in the infantry, was hard-as-nails, and did not tolerate any nonsense (00:15:42:00)  When Alioto graduated from the training, the drill sergeant shook his hand and told Alioto to go home and tell his mother that he had made her proud (00:15:57:00) o At the end of basic training, the men lined up in formation and went through graduation (00:16:21:00)  While the men were in formation, the various MOS assignments were given out; eventually, the commanders reached Eleven Bravo Ten and all the men crossed their fingers and hoped that they would not be assigned to medics or infantry (00:16:45:00)  From what Alioto can remember, only a small number were called for Eleven Bravo Ten, only around eight or so; however, the first name that was called was “Alioto, Michael” (00:17:08:00) o Up until that point, Alioto was convinced that he was just going to coast through a two-year enlistment (00:17:24:00) The gravity of his situation hit Alioto the following day, when he and the other Eleven Bravo Tens flew from Fort Knox to Fort Polk, Louisiana, which was colloquially known as “Tigerland” (00:17:48:00) o All the soldiers who went to training at Fort Polk knew their odds of going to Vietnam were immense (00:17:56:00) o One of the reasons basic training was relatively easy was that some of the men in the training with Alioto were National Guardsmen and Reservists (00:18:32:00)  However, when Alioto arrived at Fort Polk, out of the two hundred men in his training company, he believes all of them were draftees (00:18:45:00)  A large portion of Alioto’s training company were either Southern whites or Southern blacks and because that was the era of the Civil Rights movement, there was a tremendous amount of hatred from the Southern blacks towards the Southern whites (00:18:57:00) o From Fort Polk until the end of his time in the service, whenever he arrived in a new area, Alioto was told about where to go and when to go in large groups (00:19:27:00)  In a sense, it was code that if someone was planning to go to the areas where black soldiers tend to hang out, either don’t go or go in a large group (00:19:43:00) � All the men at Fort Polk knew where they would be going, knew what they would be doing when they got there and knew there was a very good chance they could be wounded or killed (00:19:58:00)  A lot of the men were unhappy they had to be at Fort Polk, given what training their signified, which made the mood very dissimilar from what Alioto had experience during basic training (00:20:30:00)  As much as he had enjoyed the training at Fort Knox, Alioto disliked the training at Fort Polk (00:20:39:00) o For the most part, the training at Fort Polk was a replication of the training Alioto had received at Fort Knox; during basic training, almost everyone trained to be an infantryman, although not all of them would be regular infantry (00:20:47:00)  Once at Fort Polk, all the recruits trained with M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, LAWs (Light Anti-Tank Weapons), etc., as well as anything else that was combat-related, such as in-the-field medical training and a lot of night training (00:21:06:00)  A lot of the men skipped out on the night training; the training was much more chaotic at Fort Polk and a lot of the men figured out that when the men got on the buses at two in the morning to return to base, the instructors did not take a roll-call (00:21:24:00)  A lot of the men, Alioto included, would be marching to the buses to go out to night training and as soon as they could, they would drop out of the line and go do something else with a couple of friends (00:21:44:00)  A large amount of the training was replication of what the men had already learned and there was only so many times the soldiers could do the same things without being bored (00:22:04:00)  One part of the training was combat courses where the men were taken into the field and told to march three miles to a location; meanwhile, instructors would be all along the route trying to catch the men and if they did catch any, the instructors would “torture” the men to see if they would learn any information (00:22:14:00) o A portion of the men figured that the best way not to be caught was to not go out in the first place (00:22:32:00)  Although they did manage to occasionally get out of the night training, the men still had to go through training during the day, so they did not miss much (00:22:50:00)  Instead of being a nine-week basic training course, the training at Fort Polk was like an eighteen-week basic training course (00:22:55:00)  Given Fort Polk’s location in the swamps of Louisiana, the terrain and weather were comparable to what the men would eventually experience in Vietnam (00:23:05:00) o Despite the training Alioto and the men received, one of the first things they were told when they arrived in Vietnam by the men who had already been deployed was to just watch the veterans and do what they do; after a couple of months, the new guys would know everything they needed to do to survive (00:23:37:00) �    The training at Fort Polk was strictly about getting the soldiers combatready for Vietnam (00:24:03:00) o The training at Fort Polk lasted for another eight or nine weeks, although unlike the training at Fort Knox, the men had weekend passes every single weekend and Alioto would take the passes and go into a small nearby town with three other soldiers (00:24:15:00) Once Alioto finished at Fort Polk, he was supposed to go to Vietnam; however, he decided to attempt to go through more specialized training, with the hopes that when he finished that, the Army would re-issue him orders and send him to Korea or someplace other than Vietnam (00:24:55:00) o Therefore, after Fort Polk, Alioto went to Fort Benning, Georgia for specialized training, although the training turned out to be almost another nine weeks of basic training (00:25:14:00) o When Alioto went from Fort Polk to Fort Benning, he was given a pass and soon after he arrived at Fort Benning, the soldiers were given a two-week pass to go home for Christmas (00:25:26:00) Alioto finished the training at Fort Benning in March, the Army re-issued him orders, and still sent him to Vietnam; all Alioto had done was delay the inevitable (00:25:44:00) o The advanced training consisted of more infantry training; although there was some leadership training, it was not to the level of NCO (non-commissioned officer school) school (00:25:54:00) o Throughout Alioto’s entire training, the instructors pushed him to go through officer training (00:26:23:00)  At the time, there were three different OCS (Officer Candidate School) programs: Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Engineering at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and Infantry at Fort Benning (00:26:36:00)  Alioto told the instructors that he would extend his enlistment for a year and go through OCS if and only if they could guarantee that he would go through engineering OCS (00:26:45:00)  However, there was not a need for soldiers to go through Engineering OCS (00:26:56:00) When Alioto finished the advanced training at Fort Benning, he received another leave home and returned home around Easter (00:27:17:00) o While Alioto was on leave, his family went snowmobiling in the northern part of Michigan, Alioto got a little reckless and drove his snowmobile into a tree; Alioto was thrown from the snowmobile but his feet got caught and he initially assumed that he had broken a leg (00:27:28:00)  Alioto laid in the snow, actually hoping that he had broken one of his legs; however, it was only bruised (00:27:44:00) Deployment to Vietnam (00:27:58:00)  When he actually deployed, Alioto first traveled to Fort Dix, New Jersey and from Fort Dix, he flew first to Alaska and to either Tokyo or Manila before arriving at Bien Hoa Air Force Base, which was just outside of Saigon (00:27:58:00) �o Once he was at Bien Hoa, Alioto was placed into a massive holding area with other soldiers who had just arrived in-country; at that point, Alioto still did not even know what division he would be joining (00:28:21:00) o When Alioto arrived at Bien Hoa, it was around mid-to-late morning and his first impressions of Vietnam were how oppressive and enveloping the weather was and how secure the surrounding area was (00:28:39:00)  In part of his mind, Alioto believed that he was going to get off the airliner and immediately have to start ducking enemy gunfire (00:29:01:00) o From Bien Hoa, Alioto and the other soldiers were bused to Long Binh, where they stayed while they waited to be assigned to a unit (00:29:06:00)  Typically, the men had to wait three or four days before they received their individual assignments; while they waited, the men would go to bars at night and played basketball during the day (00:29:26:00)  While waiting on the base, some of the men were assigned to do guardduty at night, which was a scare experience for them; although Alioto looks back and realizes it was extremely safe, he was still new in-country and feared there was an enemy in every bush (00:29:57:00) o Every day, the men would go out and look at a large board to see if their name was up their; one day, Alioto saw his own name and next to it, it said “Phu Bai” (00:30:26:00)  Alioto did not know what Phu Bai was, so he asked someone what it was and the other soldier said Alioto was not going to like it; when Alioto asked why, he was told that Phu Bai meant he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (00:30:39:00) (00:30:58:00) – (00:32:42:00) : Technical Difficulties o In order to get to the 101st Airborne, Alioto flew aboard a C-130 transport from Long Binh to Phu Bai; once in Phu Bai, Alioto was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Airborne Regiment (00:31:56:00)  Once Alioto was assigned to a company within the battalion, he met the company first sergeant, was sent to the company supply sergeant, given his equipment, and told to go to a helipad the following morning, so he could be taken out to his company (00:32:42:00)  Prior to when Alioto arrived at the battalion area, his company had been involved in serious fighting with the enemy and was down in manpower; therefore, when Alioto went into the field, he went with three other soldiers to a join 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company (00:33:07:00) o When Alioto joined his platoon, they were operating in very mountainous terrain, in either the A Shau Valley or an area contiguous to the A Shau (00:33:27:00)  Alioto’s battalion did not have a set area-of-operation but were passed around the division’s area-of-operation; this meant that ever five or six days, the men were moving to a new firebase (00:33:57:00)  When they first arrived at the platoon, Alioto and the other replacement soldiers received a very poor reception from the other solders already in the platoon (00:34:11:00) �  When Alioto got off the helicopter, the platoon was actually involved in a small fire-fight and the first words the four men heard were “Get Down, A******” (00:34:18:00)  Alioto dove behind a nearby log and from what he can remember, nobody approached him for around three hours; all Alioto remembers think was if that was a daily occurrence, how could anyone make it for 365 days (00:34:33:00)  After the first day, nobody was warm to the new soldiers; more than anything else, Alioto attributes the cold reception to the immaturity of twenty-year-olds (00:35:00:00) o After two weeks, Alioto and the other new soldiers were not receiving all that much more respect from the other soldiers; after one month, there was more respect and after two months, Alioto and the others were considered veterans in the platoon (00:35:15:00)  Alioto never forgot the experience, so when he became a “veteran”, he was always welcoming to any new soldiers (00:35:29:00) o It was an uncomfortable experience for Alioto when he was a new guy; it was bad enough that he was over there but the weather was traumatic and the mission the men had to do were tiring (00:35:45:00) In the year Alioto was with his platoon, the platoon never once did operations from a firebase; instead, the platoon remained in the field, constantly doing search-and-destroy missions (00:36:28:00) o Initially, there were twenty-five men in the platoon, although if there was a lot of combat, that number could be whittled down to as few as sixteen; conversely, if the platoon was re-supplied and kept up regularly and did not face combat for an extended period, that number got as high as thirty-one or thirty-two (00:36:38:00) o On a typical day, the men would wake up in the morning, march through an area, and to set up camps on any of the higher hills in the area (00:36:54:00)  When set-up the camp, the platoon would set up on a trail, ring their entire area with flares and claymore mines, and set out two guard posts, one at either end of the trail, each supported by a squad (00:37:11:00)  Although they were in the field, most of the men were asleep by eight o’clock (00:37:35:00)  The men never dug in once and for the most part, they never set-up any protection over their heads; if it was raining, they would make tents out of their ponchos (00:37:54:00)  During the night, one man would be awake and on-guard from eight o’clock until nine o’clock, when he woke up another man; the cycle repeated every hour (00:38:15:00)  In the morning, the men would wake up, one of their squads would leaving their heavy equipment with the rest of the platoon and go into the jungle for a three- or four-hour patrol (00:38:32:00)  The patrol would return around noon, eat lunch, and the entire platoon would saddle up, to move out, stopping and setting up another position around six o’clock in the evening (00:38:46:00) �   For the most part, if the soldiers did find any enemy forces, it was almost always accidental (00:39:04:00) o Every seven or eight weeks, the soldiers were pulled out of the field for about six days (00:39:17:00)  On Christmas Eve, 1970, the men received a hot meal; however, it was only mostaccioli without any meat and Alioto would have just as soon eaten regular C-rations (00:39:34:00)  During the entire year, Alioto received two beers, which also came out on Christmas Eve (00:39:52:00)  When the opportunity presented itself, Alioto was one of the men selected from his unit to go see a Bob Hope comedy show; however, because his platoon was a in bad area, they were unable to get a helicopter in to get Alioto out and he ended up missing the show (00:40:05:00) o For the most part, the things the soldiers did on a daily basis was very repetitive, search-and-destroy patrols day-after-day-after-day (00:40:29:00) During the first couple of months Alioto was in the battalion, the battalion moved on a nearly regular basis, shifting to a new position every six or seven days (00:40:42:00) o At one point, Alioto tried to figure out how many times the battalion moved and from what he counted, it was seventy-eight times (00:41:03:00) o The reason why the battalion moved so much was there thirteen total battalions in the division and Alioto’s battalion was frequently used as support for whichever battalion was involved in the worst fighting (00:41:17:00) o Alioto’s battalion remained the “bastard battalion” for about six months and he remembers one night that information was passed around that the battalion was finally going to receive an area-of-operations (00:41:34:00) o Soon after, the battalion was given the AO (Area-of-Operations) that surrounding Firebase Birmingham, which was the “cushiest” area-of-operations that the 101st Airborne had (00:41:51:00)  The way Alioto looks at it, the battalion receiving the AO around Birmingham was a “make-up” for all the stuff that the battalion had gone through in the first six months he was there (00:42:01:00) o The battalion ended up staying at Firebase Birmingham for around three months and although the men were still operating in the field, it was much easier than what they had been doing (00:42:14:00)  Birmingham was a very large firebase and when the men spent six days there, it was almost like a vacation (00:42:33:00)  At the time, Birmingham had 175mm artillery guns stationed on it, which were massive guns; as far as Alioto is aware, Birmingham was the only firebase in Vietnam to have 175mm guns (00:43:17:00)  The men were on the firebase over Thanksgiving and were able to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing, etc.; while on the firebase for Thanksgiving was the only time Alioto ever saw a “Doughnut Dolly”, an American girl who worked for the Red Cross (00:43:29:00) Alioto clearly remembers his first firefight, mostly because the platoon “ran into a buzz saw”; over a four-day period, the platoon suffered thirteen casualties out of the twentyfive soldiers, with three killed and ten wounded (00:44:05:00) �  o For the most part, the wounded came as the result of friendly fire from American artillery (00:44:22:00) o Math had always been a strong-suit for Alioto but it did not take much to figure out that if his platoon lost over half its strength in only four days, it did not bode well for him going forward (00:45:56:00) o Still, out of all the combat Alioto saw, there were only three other times where the fighting was as gruesome as those first four days (00:45:16:00) o In Alioto’s platoon, the platoon lost well over 100% of its soldiers, either wounded or killed; from what Alioto can figure, approximately half of the platoon’s casualties were a result of friendly fire (00:45:38:00)  At one point, mortars were called in to assist the platoon but they ended up landing on the platoon’s position; Alioto still gets chills thinking about the sound that the mortar rounds made, which shows just how close the mortar rounds were (00:46:06:00)  During his tour, Alioto had two other soldiers die in his arms (00:47:24:00)  In one case, the soldier was a fairly new, having only been in the field for a couple of weeks, and had not gotten himself fully acclimated to being in the field (00:47:39:00) o Alioto has always felt a little responsible for the soldier’s death because Alioto had told the soldier to go help bring back some water from the base of a hill (00:47:43:00)  The hills were extremely large and tough to climb; Alioto had gone through nearly nine months of training and even he was not in shape to climb up and down the hills (00:47:57:00) o The platoon went out on patrol and all of sudden, the soldier snapped and started waving his gun around, saying there were NVA; the other soldiers had never seen him act this way, so they thought he was trying to get a psychotic discharge (00:48:55:00) o All of a sudden, the soldier started breathing oddly and although the other soldiers tried everything they could, there was nothing they could do (00:49:13:00) o That particular soldier’s death was the only time Alioto saw someone die without being wounded by a bullet or artillery or mortar round (00:49:35:00) Alioto actually went into the field in April of 1970 (00:49:54:00) During his first couple of months in the field, Alioto had never heard of Firebase Ripcord, although as far as he knows, he might have come within several miles of the firebase (00:50:24:00) o At one point, his unit was flown into an LZ (Landing Zone), LZ Kelly, but was socked in by bad weather, which prevented even re-supply helicopters from coming in (00:50:38:00) � It eventually reached the point where the men were literally out of food; the unit had a scout dog and there were a lot of jokes about killing and eating the dog (00:50:56:00) o Once the unit finally made it out of LZ Kelly, they were moved to an AO near series of firebases adjacent to the South China Sea; on the 4th of July, the men were taken onto one of the firebases, Firebase Tomahawk, and were treated to a steak cookout (00:51:06:00) o After Firebase Tomahawk, Alioto’s unit went for a stand-down, the first it had had since May (00:52:01:00)  Whenever he was not in the field, Alioto was a heavy beer drinker and a big card player, and he remembers that by around six in the morning on the third day of the stand-down, he was playing cards when someone came in and told he and the other men to saddle-up because one of the other battalions was being hit (00:52:12:00)  Even though he was still drunk, Alioto got his gear and went out to the helipad (00:53:06:00)  Eventually, the men were flown out to an in-active firebase about four or five kilometers away from Firebase Ripcord called Firebase Gladiator (00:53:23:00) o Once there, the men began rebuilding Gladiator; as they rebuilt the firebase, Alioto realized the gravity of the situation because that was the first time he had ever seen any officer in the field above the rank of captain (00:53:41:00)  There were two generals on the firebase and Alioto remembers that as the men were digging in, the generals walked up; although most of the men stopped and saluted, Alioto did not and kept digging (00:54:03:00)  Another officer with the generals asked if Alioto did not know how to salute and Alioto replied that he did not have time to salute; when he said that, one of the generals commented and said that Alioto was a smart soldier (00:54:32:00)  Later in the day, the Vietnamese began walking mortar rounds up the hill where Gladiator was located and when Alioto ran to one of the only areas that had been dug in, he found it so full of soldiers, there was no place to go (00:54:50:00)  Instead, Alioto laid on the top of the hill, without any cover or anything, and to try to keep his mind distracted, he read a small copy of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (00:55:06:00)  The men continued rebuilding Gladiator, with heavy engineers eventually called in to remove tree-stumps (00:55:45:00)  At the time, Alioto’s platoon had a young, eager 1st Lieutenant and at one point, when the commanders wanted one of the platoons to fly from Gladiator to fly off the firebase and support Ripcord, the Lieutenant volunteered Alioto’s platoon (00:56:09:00)  The Lieutenant figured it was safer to be supporting Ripcord than to be on Gladiator, which was sure to be hit by enemy mortar rounds every night (00:56:41:00) � o Although the Lieutenant may have been right, Alioto would have rather stayed on Gladiator (00:56:46:00)  At the time, Alioto was carrying an M-60 machine gun as his weapon and traditionally, whenever his platoon moved, one of the platoon’s two M-60s and one of the platoon’s medics were always in the first helicopter (00:56:55:00) o The two M-60s alternated who went on the first helicopter and when the platoon moved to support Ripcord, it was Alioto’s turn to be on the first helicopter (00:57:19:00)  As the helicopter was flying into the area around Ripcord, it was shot down; the helicopter was hover about thirty feet to land and the enemy gunfire knocked the rotors off, which caused the helicopter to drop like a rock (00:57:48:00)  Apart from Alioto, there were four other soldiers on the helicopter, plus a pilot, co-pilot, and two door gunners and when the helicopter crashed, Alioto was the only one of the nine who was not injured (00:58:09:00) o They were unable to send in a second helicopter because Alioto’s helicopter was still burning and cooking off ammunition (00:58:21:00) o The medic was doing his best to help people although he was injured and Alioto’s ammunition carrier was hurt severely (00:58:32:00) o Eventually, other medical personnel made it into the crash site and managed to medi-vac the wounded, although Alioto’s ammunition carrier, the medic, and one of the other soldiers never returned to the field (00:59:04:00)  Even though they were clearly in a dangerous area, Alioto and the other men in the platoon were not allowed to leave until a special group from the rear area came out to investigate the helicopter crash wreckage to see what exactly had happened (00:59:34:00)  While the men waited, they moved off the landing zone and took up a position on a nearby hill; the men knew that the enemy knew they were there but they did not know how many men the enemy had to use (01:00:01:00) o The men began doing patrols and spent the following night on the same hill, which was something the men almost never did (01:00:28:00) o The platoon eventually stayed on the same hilltop for three or four nights but never saw another enemy after the helicopter was shot down (01:00:46:00) o After three or four days, an inspection team still never came to look at the crash wreckage (01:01:26:00) The triple canopy jungle where the platoon was operating was so immense that a large enemy force could only be a couple of miles away but it might have been comparable to being a state away (01:02:01:00) � o For the most part, the men almost never encountered signs indicating enemy soldiers (01:02:35:00) o The soldiers were very regimented in terms of making sure they did not leave anything behind, so whenever they would move positions, they would try to make it seem as though no one had been there (01:02:48:00) o Whenever the platoon hit combat, it was because they had walked into the fighting or, during the first six months, they were flown into an area to support another unit (01:03:22:00)  For the first six months, there was a lot of combat, followed by three months of little combat and three months of intense fighting when Alioto’s battalion was moved out of the area in and around the A Shau and north to an area near the DMZ (01:03:53:00) While his platoon was near the DMZ, Alioto ended up going on an all-night patrol with just six other soldiers along the South China Sea, just south of the DMZ (01:04:38:00) o During the patrol, the soldiers watched as what looked like an old school bus drove across the DMZ and dropped off around forty enemy soldiers (01:04:44:00) o Although they could have bombarded the enemy soldiers, the men on the patrol made the decision not to and the enemy group eventually marched off to the west, away from the South China Sea (01:05:18:00) o It was interesting that because they were operating in the same area for nine or ten months, the soldiers became acclimated to that area and although the area near the DMZ might have been safer than the A Shau Valley, the area was not as comfortable for Alioto (01:05:53:00)  After his first month in-country, Alioto considered re-enlisting the Army just so he could receive a new MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) and after two months, he would have never left his platoon (01:06:40:00) Misc. Reflections (01:07:21:00)  From Alioto’s experience, there were three types of officers: those who had gone through OCS, those who had gone through West Point, and those who had gone through an ROTC program (01:07:21:00) o On a scale of one to ten, the officers who had gone through OCS were all tens, while West Point officers were often mediocre at best and the ROTC officers were a joke (01:07:32:00) o Officers rotated more quickly than enlisted personnel and during his twelve month tour, Alioto’s platoon had five different 1st Lieutenants; still, the platoon never had a 1st Lieutenant who was not very good (01:08:24:00)  As the lieutenants rotated, it always seemed as if the replacement was smart enough to go to the sergeants and other veterans in the platoon to ask for advice and assistance (01:09:13:00)  None of the lieutenants had the attitude that they were the officer and the other soldiers should defer to them (01:09:32:00) o Often, even with the sergeants, if an E-6 (Staff Sergeant) who had never been in combat came into the field and worked with a pair of E-4s (Corporals) who had been in the field six months, the E-6 deferred to the E-4s (01:10:38:00) �   Alioto would characterize the morale of the platoon was phenomenal; all of the men got along and although there were occasionally petty arguments, there was never anything physical (01:11:14:00) o For the most part, the ethnicity of the soldiers in the platoon were white; there was never a large contingent of black soldiers in the platoon, with the most being only three or four (01:11:36:00)  Nevertheless, whenever the unit was not in the field, Alioto could always sense a racial tension (01:12:47:00)  When Alioto was working in the Ford factories prior to his service, the racial divide in some of the areas was almost fifty/fifty; as well, playing sports while growing up had given Alioto experience in being around black people (01:13:08:00)  However, for the soldiers who had come from the northern suburbs, they had zero experience with black people; these soldiers tended to make comments, such as their best friend being black, that the black soldiers saw right through (01:13:38:00)  While Alioto was in a training, there was one point when a couple of black recruits in the unit went to one of the white National Guardsmen in the unit and asked what state he was from and what he did in the National Guard there (01:14:29:00) o As the recruits talked, one of the black recruits snapped his fingers and said, “Oh, I know, you guys kill n****** don’t you” (01:15:06:00) Something Alioto hopes will change about the American public’s perception of the soldier in Vietnam was that he was sitting in the field, high on drugs (01:16:20:00) o In his twelve months in the field, Alioto never once saw an incident of anyone ever using drugs (01:16:32:00)  There was a sense of responsibility amongst the soldiers and they knew that there was no way they could be doing what they were doing if they were high (01:16:44:00)  That being said, whenever the platoon went on a stand-down, as soon as the men were out of the field, one group would go wherever they needed to go to get a beer while another group went wherever they needed to go to get drugs (01:17:01:00) o From what Alioto saw, the drug use amongst the soldiers was largely restricted to the rear area(s), which happened to be where the bulk of the soldiers in Vietnam were stationed (01:17:48:00) Alioto’s platoon almost always had a Vietnamese scout assigned to it (01:18:16:00) o However, given the types of operations that the 101st Airborne was operating at the time, working in the triple canopy jungle, Alioto never once saw a Vietnamese village (01:18:32:00)  If the men saw human life, it was either an American soldier or an enemy soldier (01:18:56:00) o Still, there was a large contingent of Vietnamese civilians who worked in the rear area(s) and by and large, Alioto got along great with them (01:19:07:00) �   Alioto never had concerns that the Vietnamese working on the bases were enemy personnel (01:19:46:00) The experience of the soldiers in the field was so strong that just the experience of getting out of the field for six or seven days on a stand-down was more enjoyable than a week’s vacation in Florida (01:19:52:00) Alioto was fortunate enough to receive an R&R (Rest and Recuperation) to Bangkok, Thailand in the middle of his tour; even better for Alioto, he ended up receiving a nineday R&R instead of the standard seven-day (01:20:25:00) o Alioto took his R&R in September and in the following January, his company received a new First Sergeant (01:20:47:00)  Several years before Alioto deployed, a band named the Hollywood Argyles had release a song titles “Alley Oop” and for the majority of his tour, Alioto was called “Oop” by the other soldiers (01:20:56:00) o Eventually, the new First Sergeant came up and asked if Alioto had been on R&R yet; almost immediately, Alioto formulated a complete thought and said he had not (01:21:34:00)  Alioto decided to drag it out for a little bit and the First Sergeant eventually said that Alioto’s best friend in platoon was going to Hawaii on R&R and there was an extra spot open (01:22:18:00)  At the time, the in-demand R&R spot was Australia but soldiers had to wait eight or nine months to receive an R&R there (01:22:55:00) o Alioto ended up going to Hawaii with his friend, who was trying to convince his wife, who had sent him a Dear John letter, to come meet him (01:23:15:00)  There were a large portion of men in Alioto’s platoon who were married and many of whom had married only a month or two before they deployed; from what Alioto can remember, almost half of the married men ended up receiving a Dear John letter (01:23:29:00)  When Alioto and his friend arrived in Hawaii, they got a hotel room for cheap and the friend got in contact with his wife, who was at a bowling alley at the time (01:24:00:00)  The wife said that she was not going to come to Hawaii and about a minute later, she said that she had to go because it was her turn to bowl (01:24:44:00)  When the wife said that, the friend slammed the phone down and swore at the wife before ripping the phone off the wall (01:25:37:00)  Meanwhile, Alioto was hoping to find the first girl he could and strike up a conversation between her and the friend (01:26:25:00)  The two eventually went to a bar and came across a group of four girls, who they started talking with; however, one of the girls eventually mentioned that her father was in the military, which set the friend off again (01:26:42:00)  Around three in the morning, the two made it back to the hotel and Alioto passed out, only to be woke by someone shaking his shoulder; when he opened his eyes, he saw it was a black prostitute that his friend had gone �  out and hired for him by way of apology for messing up the evening (01:27:19:00) When Alioto first arrived at Bravo company at the beginning of the tour, there was a black First Sergeant who interviewed him (01:28:38:00) o The two men hit it off and as it turned out, because Alioto had the highest test scores out of anyone in the company, the First Sergeant offered Alioto the company position when the current company clerk rotated home (01:28:49:00) o After the soldiers were pulled off of LZ Kelly, they were flown into some lowlands, where it was warm and sunny and they were told to take off their boots and socks to dry them out (01:30:01:00)  All the soldiers had jungle rot on their feet and for Alioto, for almost a year after his tour, he had to take his shoes off and leave them outside because they would stink so bad (01:30:28:00)  As the men were drying off, the company medic was walking around, checking the soldiers’ feet and when he got to Alioto, he said Alioto had the worst case of trench foot he had ever seen (01:31:14:00)  In reality, Alioto did not have trench foot; he had just been laying in the sun for so long that his feet were sunburned (01:31:28:00)  The medic sent Alioto back to the rear area with two other soldiers to see a doctor and when the doctor saw them, he said there was nothing wrong with their feet (01:31:35:00)  Alioto talked with the first sergeant, who told him to take a helicopter out to his unit; however, Alioto knew how disorganized everything was in the rear, so he figured he could get away with spending a couple of days in the rear and nobody would be the wiser (01:31:52:00)  After a couple of days, Alioto finally took a helicopter out to where his company was supposed to be, around Firebase Bastogne; however, none of the company was there (01:32:29:00)  When Alioto finally caught up to the company a day or two later, nobody said anything (01:33:03:00) o Eventually, when the company made it to Firebase Tomahawk, the first sergeant flew out and called in Alioto to talk (01:33:22:00)  When Alioto walked into the hooch where the first sergeant was, he remembers the first sergeant waging his finger and saying that Alioto was not going to be the company clerk (01:33:48:00)  When the first sergeant said that, Alioto realized that he had traded two days for eight months; however, as it turned out, it was probably for the best because Alioto was a better soldier in the field than out of it (01:34:04:00) Carrying the M-60 was exhausting work and when Alioto first joined the company, another soldier was carrying the machine gun; however, the soldier said that the next time a big soldier came in, he was passing off the M-60 and as it turned out, that soldier was Alioto (01:34:43:00) o Once Alioto managed to pass the M-60 onto someone else, the remainder of his tour was much more palatable (01:35:32:00) �     In total, there were only five or six major fights that Alioto was involved with during his entire tour in which his unit suffered significant casualties (01:36:08:00) o Alioto’s unit never once had a situation where the enemy tried to probe their position and/or send sappers against them (01:37:20:00) o Alioto’s unit did encounter enemy bunker complexes but it was always after the enemy had gone; the men would often take a hill and it would be obvious that there had been an enemy position there (01:38:01:00)  During one time, the unit finally managed to take a hill that they had been attacking for around four days (01:38:56:00)  One of the first men at the time of the hill dropped some grenades into a hole, thinking there might be some Vietnamese hiding in them (01:39:04:00)  Instead, the hole turned out to be a Vietnamese latrine that proceeded to explode straight up and cover the soldier in feces (01:39:17:00) o It was May, which meant the weather was getting warmer and the soldier had no way of getting the stench off apart from canteens of water (01:39:31:00) o The platoon eventually went down a day or two later and the soldier cleaned himself off in a pond (01:39:39:00) 80% of the time, the soldiers ate C-Rations while in the field while the other 20% were LRP (Long-Range Patrol) rations; Alioto himself always carried a bottle of Tabasco sauce and made sure his food was drenched in it (01:40:14:00) o For the most part, Alioto tried to eat the same three meals as much as possible; whenever they were re-supplied, the men took turns pulling out meals and if any of his meals were there, Alioto took them (01:40:41:00)  The men were re-supplied every four days, so Alioto typically carried eight meals on him, as well as thirteen quarts of water (01:41:08:00)  After a re-supply, Alioto was usually carrying about 100lbs of equipment and supplies and by the time the next re-supply came in, he was down to around 60lbs (01:41:15:00) Alioto was only wounded once in the field, when he was nicked by a piece of shrapnel from an American artillery round (01:42:16:00) o As weird as it sounds, a large portion of the men who were injured in Alioto’s unit were injured either marching up or down the mountains (01:42:32:00) Alioto never counted down the days he had left until he got out of the field; he always knew the day and roughly how many months he had left but that was it (01:44:27:00) Because of the incident where he stayed in the rear area longer than he should have, Alioto was not taken out of the field when it came close to the time when he would go home (01:44:43:00) o When the time came for Alioto to leave, he was pulled out of the field and began going through out-processing; however, the soldier who was doing the outprocessing said there was a mistake because Alioto still had three weeks left in the field (01:44:52:00) �o Alioto went to the company first sergeant and told him what had happened; when the first sergeant told him to go to the helicopter pad to rejoin the company, Alioto refused to (01:45:07:00) o Eventually, Alioto was given the job of escorting a prisoner from the base to a base in Da Nang (01:45:23:00)  Once in Da Nang, Alioto met up with some Air Force personnel who he had met during his R&R and he stayed at their barracks for two weeks; when he finally made it back to the unit, the first sergeant asked where he had been and Alioto merely said that he could not get a helicopter for the ride back (01:45:52:00) End of Enlistment / Post-Military Life (01:46:11:00)  Once Alioto finally left Vietnam, he did not have much time remaining on his enlistment; he returned home in March 1971 and was discharged in August 1971 (01:46:11:00) o During the last remaining months of his enlistment, Alioto was mostly stationed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, although for two months he was stationed at an Army base in Germany (01:46:18:00)  When he arrived in Germany, Alioto asked if there was any way that he could be assigned to a job in the rear area; eventually, Alioto was given an assignment was an MP (Military Police Officer) (01:47:11:00)  When Alioto reported for the duty, the commanding officer said that before Alioto could go out on an assignment, he needed to have a German driver’s license (01:47:32:00)  Alioto took the test and flunked it on purpose so that he would not have any assignment; ergo, until the next test, Alioto had nothing to do except read, watch movies, and go to local bars (01:47:58:00) o Alioto ended up flunking the exam the second time he took it as well (01:48:52:00)  Once he was back in the United States, Alioto went to Fort Sheridan and bided his time until his enlistment was over (01:49:04:00)  Alioto got out of the Army on August 24th and was back working at a Ford plant just after Labor Day (01:49:34:00) o After he was out of the Army, Alioto had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder; if he drank too much, he would occasionally be a little obnoxious with some of his friends (01:49:47:00)  Alioto figures that part of it was he did not know anyone else who had gone through the same experiences he had (01:50:03:00)  During Alioto’s first night home, he was sleeping in one of his sister’s rooms and when he woke up in the middle of the night, he saw a Styrofoam and immediately thought it was an enemy soldier; he started yelling and both his parents had to come in to settle him down (01:50:19:00)  Alioto figures it did not take much more than a year for him to become acclimated to civilian life (01:51:12:00) � o Alioto did not receive much in the way of a negative reception when he returned home (01:51:22:00)  At one point, Alioto was hitch-hiking from Fort Sheridan and was picked up by a group of hippies (01:51:28:00) o When Alioto returned from Vietnam, he first flew into Fort Lewis, Washington, then to Detroit Metro Airport, and he hitch-hiked home from there (01:51:47:00)  Once Alioto got home, he went into his house, took a shower, put on civilian clothes, and walked to where his mom was working; when he arrived, he told the secretary to tell his mom that the man she had met in the bar the night before was there to take her to lunch (01:52:26:00)  The secretary called Alioto’s mother, who worked on the second floor of the building and when she came out, Alioto thought she was going to fall over the railing (01:52:47:00) o For Alioto, it was not so much that anybody treated him poorly; instead, what bothered him was mostly that people did not acknowledge what he had done, apart from his family (01:53:14:00)  Alioto’s younger sister had gotten him a membership to the VFW; however, when Alioto went there for a beer, he received a very frosty reception from the World War II veterans (01:53:32:00) Alioto worked for Ford off-and-on through 1978, when he was laid off during the oil embargo, at which point he attended Arizona State University (01:54:23:00) o In 1976, Alioto met a young man in a bar who worked as a businessman/trader and the two eventually became roommates; for three years, the friend pushed Alioto to get into what the friend was doing but Alioto did not have enough selfconfidence to do that type of work (01:54:46:00) o Eventually, Alioto did go in for an interview with the friend’s manager, who said that in two months, he would hire Alioto (01:55:37:00) o Alioto told the friend what the manager had said and the friend suggested Alioto go for another interview at one of the firm’s other offices; (01:55:52:00)  Alioto went to the second interview and when asked, he said his sales experiences was limited to selling newspapers and golf balls; when the manager asked how Alioto did selling the newspapers and Alioto told him, the manager said he wanted Alioto to take an aptitude test (01:56:08:00)  Alioto took the test and answered all one hundred questions (addition of fractions) on the test and took another test where he had to write as many words as he could that began with the letter “T” in the three minutes (01:56:46:00)  The firm sent Alioto’s test to be graded and when it came back, he went in and the manager said that although the company was going to hire him, it was not going to be in sales (01:57:10:00)  When Alioto asked why, the manager said they had never seen anyone score so high on the aptitude tests and they feared Alioto was not going to be able to work with everybody; Alioto pointed out that he had spent ten years between the Army and working for Ford and had gotten along with everyone (01:57:24:00) � o As it turned out, after he took the job, Alioto eventually ended up becoming the number one person in the entire firm (01:58:18:00) Alioto believes that the time he spent as an infantryman made him extremely secure in himself (01:59:15:00) o A lot of people have asked Alioto how he could endure being in combat for a year and Alioto’s answer was that his parents did a great job raising him, the Army did a great job training him, and he acclimated to anything (01:59:31:00)  Alioto knew that if he was able to go through Vietnam and acclimate to that, he could acclimate to anything (02:00:02:00) o Looking back, if he was twenty years old and had to do it again, Alioto would serve (02:00:02:00) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Alioto, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alioto, Michael Description An account of the resource Michael Alioto was born in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Despite having a college deferment, he received a draft notice in 1969, and rather than argue the issue, he decided to go into the Army anyway. Despite his high test scores, he was trained as an infantryman, and was deployed to Vietnam in April, 1970. Assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, he spent most of his year in Vietnam on patrol in the northern part of South Vietnam, usually in or near the A Shau Valley. His platoon took heavy casualties in a number of firefights, and participated in the Ripcord campaign in the summer of 1970, reopening Firebase Gladiator to support Ripcord while it was under siege. When he tour of Vietnam was up, he was sent to Germany briefly, and then completed his enlistment in the United States. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-03-05 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AliotoM1480V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a1e2e55cc41c89c86f686e5f03a5c670.m4v e51843ac1db7a5aa38c9db45143f6dff https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cf804f0632aa4f981325dd477a9ef5ca.pdf 51a1296a525abdf7c97a0f2f0c717ef2 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Richard Alkema World War II 52 minutes 33 seconds (00:00:10) Early Life -Born in 1926 in Detroit, Michigan. -Located very near to the Detroit River. -Father was an engineer on the Wabash Railroad. -Has a history of railroad workers in the family. -Able to keep busy with work throughout the Depression. -Attended South Western High School in Detroit. -Graduated 1944. -Sold newspapers as a teenager. -Likely heard about Pearl Harbor from the papers. -Father was from the Netherlands. (00:05:00) -Decided to enlist in the Navy after high school. -Received permission from a Federal judge in order to enlist. -His mother very hesitantly signed for his enlistment. -The fact that certain family members were in the military helped to influence him toward joining the Navy. -Two brothers in law that were involved in the military in Italy, and later Germany. -Another relative that was in the Navy. Training and Locomotive Engine Delivery to Europe -Sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for basic training. (00:10:00) -Next, sent via train to Norfolk, Virginia for gunnery training. -Boarded the Seatrain Texas ship. -At that point he had about a week of basic training, and a week of gunnery training. -Upon leaving there was a 100 ship convoy. -Left from New York Harbor. -Destined for England. -England was in need of locomotives. -While crossing the Atlantic, the ship was shot at but the torpedo went underneath their ship. (00:15:00) -However the ship was damaged. -Docked at the Falmouth, England. -Delivered two locomotive engines. -Next, crossed the Mediterranean and went to Naples, Italy. -Delivered two locomotive engines. -Baldwin engines made in Pennsylvania. -Finally the last two engines were delivered to Marseille, France. �-They knew how to use the anti-aircraft guns, however there wasn’t extensive instruction given. Pacific and Transporting Japanese Civilians -Next headed to the Panama Canal with a destination for Japan. -Travelled with some other ships to Panama. (00:20:00) -Left the Seatrain Texas ship to board the LST 801 headed for Japan. -The goal was to pick up Japanese that were remaining from the War. -Japan had surrendered by this point. -Many of them were women. -Eventually the boarded Japanese were to be repatriated back to Japan. -Picked them up at Okinawa. (00:25:00) -Usually on guard duty. -Took up laundry duty as well during certain times. -Refused to swim in the ocean because of the dangerous sharks etc. -Guards with guns would keep watch for sharks while other crew members swam in the ocean. -Experienced some bad storms on the LST. -Sea sickness amongst the crew was common. -Threw their trash overboard from meals etc. (00:30:00) -Situations to fire anti-aircraft guns to attack were seldom at that point. -During their time at Falmouth they were able to go into town. -Did not have transportation to get around. -English citizens were welcoming to them. -Did not go into town at Naples or Marseille. -At Okinawa they were able to go ashore to town. -However it was not common. -In Japan they were unwelcome to go into town. (00:35:00) -The trip from Okinawa to Japan was short. -So the interaction between the crew and Japanese being transported was limited. -Communication to the US at home was not very feasible. -Sent mail to their base. -Socialized with his fellow guard members. -Only one person was a closer friend of his. -His duration in the Navy lasted about two and a half years. -Discharged in 1946. Post War Life and Misc. -Relieved to be sent home when the War was ended. (00:40:00) -Certain ships would have the luxury of a shower stall while others did not. -LST vehicles were extremely cramped. -A lot of movies to watch to keep the crew entertained. �-LST featured showers with desalinators. -Priority was to use the pure water for laundry and drinking not bathing. -After leaving the military he worked with his father on the trains. -Made good money. -At that time their family was using one car amongst them. (00:45:00) -His work with the railroads lasted about 10 ~ 12 years. -Took flying lessons to be certified to fly a plane. -Didn’t continue on to fly as a habit or as a pilot. -Some of his friends were casualties that never returned from War. -Didn’t enroll in college after being discharged. -Became a police officer as well as working security jobs. -Worked for about 12 ~ 15 years. (00:50:00) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AlkemaR1905V Title A name given to the resource Alkema, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-12-03 Description An account of the resource Richard Alkema was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1926. After graduating high school in 1944 he enlisted to the Navy. For his brief basic training he was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois. In Norfolk, Virginia he was trained to use the anti-aircraft guns to be a guardsman. Thereafter he traveled aboard the Seatrain Texas ship to Falmouth England, Naples Italy, and Marseille France to deliver locomotive engines. The ship next passed through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor where Richard boarded LST 801. Their next destination would be Okinawa where they transported Japanese to the mainland in the aftermath of the War. His time in the military lasted two and a half years and he was discharged in 1946. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alkema, Richard Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb5e87df9b52898e847d4edada76b704.m4v 46bb33549ac3a5912aa2071ca405ffac https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6ef0f65b15fcb209d1b082516308a93.pdf 54d5a17006848bf23721f5c8d37a6ddd PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran's History Project US Navy Paul Allen Total Time (01:23:00) Introduction (00:00:19)  Paul was born in 1926 in South Boston; his heritage includes some Irish and English (00:00:34)  His father served in WWI for the US Navy where he met his future wife in Belfast, Ireland (00:00:46)  Paul graduated from high school on February 1st, 1942; he was only 15 when he graduated as he skipped a couple of grades (00:02:19) ◦ He mentions that in middle school and high school that he was aware of what was going on in the world due to the Boston school system (00:04:15) ◦ Although he wanted to go to Harvard, Paul knew he would eventually end up in the military so he became a welder until then (00:05:42) ▪ Paul took the naval aviation exam and passed it- from there he went to Dartmouth College for mechanical engineering (00:07:00) ▪ Due to a small color blindness issue, Paul was sent to the Supply Corps by 1945; he went to school in New Jersey by the time the war was just ending (00:08:56) ▪ After he graduated from that school, he was stationed to the battleship New Jersey as the dispersing officer (00:09:07)  While he was at Dartmouth, Paul received naval and military training; in addition he took 15 hours of classes each semester (00:10:29)  Paul was the youngest officer on the New Jersey at the age of 19 (00:11:11) ◦ As a supply and dispersing officer, Paul arrived in San Diego to a pretty bad situation which he had to resolve which involved getting cash, equipment, food, and clothing for the men on board- they were headed to China for four months (00:15:08) Overseas & Beyond (00:15:08)  On the way, Paul mentions they had to refuel at Hawaii and Japan for several weeks; he mentions the trip was cold and torturous (00:16:40)  Paul said that he was almost killed while in China when it was Chiang Kai Shek's birthday but his rickshaw driver talked the men who held them up out of it (00:19:23) ◦ He didn't decide to make a career out of the Navy at that point as he mentions he was quite fed up with his captain at the time (00:22:00) ◦ Once he got back to San Diego, Paul decided to put in his papers; the Navy guaranteed he would get a masters degree out of it if he stayed on so he changed his mind; this was in 1947 (00:23:43) ▪ His next assignment was to join a destroyer based out of his hometown of Boston (00:24:05) ▪ At this time Paul held the rank of Lieutenant, which took him eight years to do (00:25:45) ▪ He was stationed on the USS Power at the time (00:26:13)  Paul trained at Guantanamo Bay for six months while he held the positions of supply �  and dispersing officer (00:26:58) He was on the USS Power for a year and a half; after Guantanamo, Paul says they did fleet exercises after that (00:28:22) In 1948 after the USS Power, Paul was asked where he would like to go next and told them he wanted to be stationed at a shipyard in Boston (00:28:49) Korean War & Beyond (00:31:06)  Paul arrived to the Eastern theater during the Korean War the day the United States invaded Inchon, South Korea on September 15th, 1950 (00:31:06)  He was primarily based out of Yokusuka, Japan at this time (00:32:05) ◦ Paul's future partner was one of a few hundred nurses that was flown over to Yokusuka; this was during the last week of November in 1950 (00:35:03) ◦ He mentions that the military was downsized considerably from World War II to the Korean War and says that there were only a few divisions from the Army and Marines as these divisions would be sent back to combat even after you were injured or received purple hearts if you were healthy enough to return to combat (00:37:52) ▪ Paul's brother joined the National Guard in Minnesota and was sent to fight in the Korean War; his brother lost seven platoon leaders in three months and became the sergeant major of the battalion at the age of 23- he passed away at the age of 59 from cancer due to the effects of contracting malaria while in South Korea (00:40:39) Back Home & Eastern Theater (00:41:35)  Paul became the deputy chief of petroleum logistics for the Navy while he worked in the Pentagon (00:41:35)  He served in the Pentagon for two years; he helped set up fueling stations throughout the rest of the world in case of another war breaking out (00:43:35)  Paul served on the USS Essex from June 1954 til 1956 as the aviation supply officer (00:44:53) ◦ After being stationed near Taiwan, Paul and the crew of the USS Essex were sent to Thailand as he mentioned it being a very touchy place; most of the missions were diplomatic and he mentions the natives of Thailand liked them being there (00:47:27) ◦ Between training and deployment, Paul says they lost 13 aircrafts and five pilots (00:49:40) ▪ After the Essex, Paul was the logistics and planning officer for the naval air force pacific fleet; he was stationed in San Diego, California (00:52:18) ▪ At this time, he made the rank of Lieutenant Commander (00:52:37)  Paul was stationed on Subic Bay in the Philippines; his wife and three of his children were there as well- he was stationed there from 1959 til 1961 (00:53:42)  He went to Monterey Bay Naval Postgraduate School; from there he went to the aviation supply office in Philadelphia- he did this from 1962 til 1964 (00:55:37) ◦ Paul mentions that when the Vietnam conflict finally came along he realized it was a big mistake (00:58:46) ◦ He made rank of captain and had a small staff of about 20; four of them were commanders and the rest were high ranking civilians (01:02:10) ◦ Even after Paul aired concerns about overspending on supplies in one event, the military went ahead and did it anyways (01:08:30) ▪ After one of Paul's flights to Da Nang, Vietnam was cancelled, a gentlemen at the hotel bar offered Paul up a seat on his flight (01:11:37) ▪ Paul's impression of Vietnam at that point was that the people were very �unhappy; people were getting killed for no reason over there (01:13:22) Back Home Again (01:13:50)  After Vietnam, Paul decided to leave the Navy and came back to the states to head the international logistics at the supply systems command as a primarily diplomatic job (01:14:18)  Paul looked for a civilian job and was hired as the head of information systems and became the chief deputy of social services for the state of Michigan (01:15:14) ◦ Paul's time in the service made him a person with integrity, honesty, and it gave him a great education (01:18:49) ◦ The service also taught him to ignore extraneous things and turn the other cheek (01:19:26) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AllenP1652V Title A name given to the resource Allen, Paul (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-06-23 Description An account of the resource Paul Allen was born in 1926 in South Boston. His father served in World War I for the US Navy. Paul graduated high school at the age of 15 in 1942. Although he wanted to go to Harvard, Paul knew he would end up in the military he wound up being stationed to the battleship New Jersey as a dispersing officer where he would be the youngest officer on the ship at age 19. After a few years on a few different ships, Paul would arrive to the Eastern theater during the Korean War as he was primarily based out of Yokusuka Japan in late 1950. He later served assignments at the Pentagon and aboard the carrier USS Essex (1954-56), and later had assignments in the Philippines and at the naval base in Da Nang during the Vietnam War. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Allen, Paul Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ace1c97f7a623577a06847c044ec3393.mp4 e9c2f779bfa0ce4277bfe0cfec52180a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b20c0d1194421a86635f06211496b641.pdf 337008469bf0b78652b4ffeb51cdbdf1 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Ronald Allen Vietnam War 24 minutes 45 seconds (00:00:01) Overview of Service and Training -In the Air Force from 1970 to 1974 -Worked with the Airborne Air Rescue Recovery Service -Better known as Air Force Pararescue -Worked as a crew chief on the Sikorsky HH53 helicopter -Started off with the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing in Ogden, Utah -Spent his first year there (00:00:36) Deployment to Vietnam -In April 1972 he was assigned to the 37th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron -Stationed at Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam -Joined the squadron just after a rescue crew was lost during Bat 21 rescue attempt -Also joined prior to a major operation carried out at Quang Tri -Massive evacuation of South Vietnamese Rangers and Americans (00:02:18) Daily Life at Da Nang -Rocket and mortar strikes were a common occurrence -Lived on the north side of the base in the old Marine compound -Heavily fortified position that also had a hospital -Allowed them to get to the helicopters and to launch quickly -Had to wear body armor at all times for the most part -Ate mostly C rations even while on base -Worked in conjunction with the other maintenance teams -Insured that the helicopters and other aircraft were working properly -Formed a deep bond with each other -Worked with two Coast Guard pilots that were stationed at Da Nang -Being involved in the missions made him feel like he was playing a major part -Day to day life could be boring -Weather was always hot and humid both during the day and at night -Mosquitos were also a constant annoyance that he just had to get used to -Involved in a large number of missions (00:06:49) Involvement with the Army -Worked with the Army on occasion -Got invited to fly in a Cobra attack helicopter once -Took the opportunity to fly along the South China Sea coast and got target practice -Upon landing he was severely reprimanded by a superior officer -He was definitely not allowed to ride along in a Cobra (00:08:54) Enemy Attacks -Remembers on August 19, 1972 the base was hit by a sapper and rocket attack -Happened at night -Blew the doors off the hut where he slept �-The next morning, August 20, they were hit again -Attack happened at 6:30 in the morning -120mm Vietnamese rocket made a direct hit on the helicopter he worked on -Destroyed the helicopter -He was uninjured though (00:09:58) End of the War Pt. 1 -His unit was deactivated in December 1972 -He was flown out of Da Nang by the Utah National Guard -Remembers flying over the Ho Chi Minh trail as they left (00:10:36) Typhoons -During his time in Vietnam he was a part of two typhoon evacuations -Once to Saigon -Once to Thailand -Considered to be somewhat of an R&R period -Chance to rest for a couple days while the storm blew through (00:11:32) End of the War Pt. 2 -War was winding down when he was deployed to Vietnam -Army was being withdrawn -Firebases in the north were being overrun by Vietnamese forces (00:11:52) Involvement with Other Aircraft -Bombing missions were being flown out of Da Nang on a daily basis -He could feel the ground shake when the bombs were dropped in the distance -Search and rescue teams from his unit would follow the pilots out -Circled the area of operation in case a jet was shot down -Always a celebratory event when a pilot was recovered and returned to base successfully -Saw a B52 bomber land at Da Nang -SAM (surface to air missile) was stuck, unexploded in the wing -Vietnamese pilots would come into Da Nang and have to make crash landings -Remembers a rocket attack that destroyed several Marine F4 Phantoms -Marines suffered losses because of that (00:15:49) End of the War Pt. 3 -Towards the end of the war a large amount of soldiers were being moved to different positions -He and his unit were pulled out of Da Nang because of eroding security in the area -Also part of the political maneuvering that occurred -He was transferred to the 40th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron in Thailand -Worked with them for a few months -Remembers a large number of B52s flying out for bombing runs -Remembers one that crash landed upon its return -The crew ejected safely -In February 1972 he was pulled off the base in Thailand -Given twelve hours to pack and get ready to leave -Part of the Paris Peace Accords of 1972 -Flew out of Bangkok, Thailand back to the United States -Returned to the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing in Ogden, Utah �(00:18:52) Enlisting in the Air Force -Enlisted in the Air Force to avoid getting drafted into the Army -He had a low lottery number which meant he had a high chance of getting drafted -He had a fascination with aircraft and the Air Force since a young age -This also played a major part in influencing him to join the Air Force -Had to travel from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Indianapolis, Indiana for his induction (00:19:49) Mascots of the 37th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron -The pararescue unit’s mascot was a boa constrictor named “Stretch” -It was a real boa constrictor that had been taken out of the jungle -Fifteen feet long -His maintenance crew’s mascot was a dog named “Dash” -He got hurt by shrapnel from a Vietnamese rocket attack once -Pararescue soldiers gave him stitches and brought him back to health -Dash received the Purple Heart for his wounds at an on base bar -They lost track of him during the evacuation of Da Nang -Never knew what happened to him -Stretch was taken with the unit to Thailand and released back into the wild (00:22:52) Reflections on Service -He felt that the war was an important part of shaping himself and his generation -It was difficult being a soldier or a veteran during the war -Despite the negative aspects of service he is glad that he was a part of the war -Feels that it was worth it because he was able to help save some lives � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Allen, Ronald (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Allen, Ronald Description An account of the resource Ronald Allen served in the Air Force from 1970 to 1974. He enlisted in the Air Force to avoid getting drafted into the Army and had a deeper interest in serving with the Air Force and working with aircraft. After travelling from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Indianapolis, Indiana he was inducted into the Air Force and was sent to basic training. He was deployed to Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam in April 1972 where he served with the 37th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron after he trained with the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing in Ogden, Utah. During his time in Vietnam he was involved in a large number of rescue missions and had multiple incidents involving enemy artillery fire. In December 1972 his unit was deactivated and he was flown out of Da Nang by the Utah National Guard and attached to the 40th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron stationed in Thailand. In February 1972 he returned home and continued to work with the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing in Ogden, Utah. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cullison, Jennifer (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-05-21 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AllenR1495V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4b9c0673624e7551151b2582120bfcd7.m4v ab9f70b804b73ea01d411e40b5db451a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0eb17cea2f38fd5949739fb3be6929cf.pdf 319b31f43aed03c593c87b36fea8c510 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans' History Project Don Alsbro Cold War, Vietnam War, Peacetime (00:00:11) Early Life -Born in Detroit, Michigan on May 20, 1940 -Moved to Plymouth, Michigan in 1944 -Grew up there -Father was a travelling claims adjuster for the Pere Marquette Railway -Went to the scene of train wrecks for insurance purposes -Family was allowed to travel with him -Got to see New York City and San Francisco -Father died suddenly in 1949 -Traumatic experience for Don -Fortunately, the railroad had a retirement fund set up -Father had also purchased a small apartment complex in Detroit to rent out -Fund and income from rent made it so his mother didn't have to work -Spent summers at the family cottage on Whitmore Lake -Graduated from high school in 1958 (00:02:55) ROTC at Western Michigan University -Went to Western Michigan University -Encouraged by his machine shop teacher/track coach to do something he loved doing -Inspired him to go into teaching -Had been accepted by the University of Michigan and Michigan State University -Chose Western because it had the best teaching program in the state -There was a two year requirement of phyiscal education or Reserve Officer Training Corps -There were 1500 ROTC cadets at Western -Decided to be in the ROTC -Only had to wear his uniform once a week for drill -Had to apply, and be accepted, for two extra years of ROTC -Encouraged to sign up for the extra two years -Told he would only have to do six months active duty -Also told he would be commissioned as an officer in the Army -Due to the Cuban Missile Crisis the six months of active duty was extended to two years -Took a semester off to deliver a car to Phoenix, Arizona -Allowed to return to Western and continue with the ROTC -Received orders to go to West Germany for three years at the end of ROTC training -Drove to Phoenix in spring 1961 -Commissioned and graduated in January 1963 (00:11:33) Teaching and Infantry Basic Training -Went to Infantry Basic Training from June through August 1963 before going to �Germany -Did some substitute teaching in Kalamazoo, Michigan before Infantry Basic Training -Trained for 10 weeks at Fort Benning, Georgia -Learned how to be an infantry officer -Summer was bad in Georgia -Wound up at Martin Army Hospital due to heat exhaustion -Had gotten married in May 1963 -If he took an extra year of service he could bring his wife and stepdaughter to Germany -In December 1965 he got an invitation to teach at Comstock Park, Michigan -Requested release from the Army -Could only leave early if he served a tour in Vietnam (00:15:42) Stationed in West Germany Pt. 1 -Served at Larson Barracks in Kitzingen, Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division -Became the athletics and recreation (A&R) officer for the 3rd Infantry Division -Coached the 3rd Infantry Division baseball team -Coached the brigade basketball team -Assistant coach for the brigade football team -Played against teams from all over Europe -Army wanted soldiers to play sports to avoid getting into trouble -Offered a chance to stay in the Army and work as a coach (00:18:06) Deployment to Vietnam Pt. 1 -Received orders for Vietnam in February 1966 -Once he was done he could leave the Army -Didn't know much about Vietnam (00:19:10) Stationed in West Germany Pt. 2 -Germany was a good place for American servicemen and their families -Not always enjoyable, but good for the most part -Baseball team played a championship game in Nuremberg -Same stadium where Jesse Owens ran in the 1936 Summer Olympics -Note: Most likely played in Berlin, not Nuremberg, or was at Nuremberg stadium used for famous Nazi rally in film Triumph of the Will -Basketball team played the Air Force teams (00:20:19) Deployment to Vietnam Pt. 2 -For 90 days he was attached to the 15th Infantry Regiment for infantry training -Allowed to return to the U.S. in July 1966 -Assigned to be the Civil Affairs Officer in the 11th Aviation Group in the 1st Cavalry Division -More helicopters in the 1st Cavalry Division than trucks or jeeps -Sent a welcome letter by the 1st Cavalry Division (00:22:32) Arrival in Vietnam Pt. 1 -Spent two days in Saigon being processed -Took a helicopter to An Khe -Would spend a year in An Khe working as the Civil Affairs Officer (00:23:17) Deployment to Vietnam Pt. 3 -Spent 30 days of leave in the U.S. -Received 15 days of Jungle Training at Fort Sherman in the Panama Canal Zone �-Taught how to rappel and cross rivers -Tremendous experience -Spent one week in the barracks and one week in the field -Taught how to build shelters and identify poisonous snakes -Returned to Charleston, South Carolina -Had to get to California on his own -Returned to Michigan to spend a few days with his wife and stepdaughter -Went to Chicago O'Hare International Airport -Boarded an Air National Guard C-130 at O'Hare Air Reserve Station -Took him five or six days to get to California -Landed in California and was processed in Oakland -Flew out of Travis Air Force Base -Flew between Travis AFB and Vietnam aboard a C-130 six times -24 hour trip one way -Stopped at Clark Air Base, Philippines to refuel -Went to Vietnam as an individual soldier, not as part of a unit (00:29:54) Arrival in Vietnam Pt. 2 -Landed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon -Received three days of orientation in Saigon -Not a lot of training for officers -Learned about the country -Culture and geography -Traveled in a school bus with grates on the windows to stop grenades (00:31:26) Stationed in An Khe with 1st Cavalry Division -Flew to An Khe -Near Highway 19, in II Corps, and inland -Arrived in June 1966 along with soldiers from South Korea -Stationed at Camp Radcliff and took a bus to his unit -Didn't get to meet the officer he was replacing -Had a sergeant serving under him that had been shot down seven times -There were 400 helicopters in the 1st Cavalry Division -Had a South Vietnamese interpreter -Spoke excellent English and was college educated -He was part of a Civic Action Team -Medic, sergeant, interpreter, and himself -Worked from 9 AM to 10 or 11 PM in the village inside Camp Radcliff -Villagers were moved one mile away to a place near a river -Each villager was paid $300 to move -Enough money to build a permanent house with bricks -Moved off base for security reasons -Had a medic in his Civic Action Team who treated civilians six days a week -Very primitive area -No running water, no electricity, and no sewers -Had a hospital in An Khe that they could use (00:41:57) Interactions with Vietnamese Civilians -Worked with the village chief, the two hamlet chiefs, and the local police chief �-Set up a shower system to deal with the rampant impetigo in the area -Built a basketball court, volleyball court, softball diamond, and playground with engineers -Played games with the villagers -On Friday night showed movies to the villagers -Showed them footage from space -On Monday nights had English classes for the children -20 to 50 children came on average -On Wednesday nights they provided math classes to the children -On Christmas they brought gifts to each household in the village -Got so comfortable with the villagers that he didn't carry a rifle -Never had a problem in the entire year that he was there -Brought the village 18 piglets to bolster their economy -By June 1967 the village had 150 pigs -Gave the girls dolls for Christmas and boys sports gears -One soldier dressed up like Santa Claus (00:49:21) Working with South Korean Soldiers -South Korean soldiers put on a tae kwon do show for the villagers -Chopped bricks in half with their bare hands -For a few weeks after they treated a lot of children with broken hands -They had tried to emulate the South Korean soldiers -Showed the Vietnamese that the Koreans were formidable soldiers -By extension, it also meant the Americans were formidable as well -Prior to June 1966 a lot of American soldiers were killed on Highway 19 -He routinely traveled between An Khe and Qui Nhon to get supplies -Never had a problem thanks to the South Korean soldiers (00:53:06) Reenlisting in the Army -Initially planned on getting out of the Army after his tour in Vietnam -In October 1966 he decided to stay in the Army -Wife supported the decision -Requested transfer to the Adjutant General Corps -He was accepted and would be sent to the Adjutant General School after June 1967 (00:55:50) Travel -Went to Saigon a couple times for paperwork -Went to Qui Nhon -Went to Hawaii for R&R in February 1967 and got to see his wife -Went to Tokyo near the end of his tour in 1967 (00:57:05) Getting Shot Down -Experienced getting shot down while on a Caribou transport -Went to a leprosarium (leper colony) run by the Catholic Church to deliver presents -Incredibly clean -Ate dinner with the priests and nuns -Boarded the Caribou with his interpreter and sat down in a seat near a window -Heard a voice from nowhere say, "Don't sit there" �-Moved to a different seat and the plane took off -Shortly after take off he heard a "ping" -Gunshot had gone through the plane and hit the plane's hydraulic line -Looked out a window and saw the ground coming up fast -Saw his life flash before his eyes -Able to land back on the runway, but it was a rough landing -Learned that a .51 caliber round had gone through his original seat and hit the hydraulic line -Spent a night in the field -Didn't sleep well that night, but they didn't get attacked -The next day a plane came in and they were able to leave (01:04:17) Building a High School -The 1st Cavalry Division donated $9000 to build a high school for the villagers in An Khe -Villagers could only get a 6th grade education before the high school was built -High school had 12 rooms and two stories -Supposed to get two cement mixers to build the school -Only received one -Went to Da Nang to ask about the other mixer -Learned that the mixer had been moved to the Monkey Mountain Facility -Note: Located at the peak of Son Tra Mountain -Went to the Marine signal unit stationed there to ask about the mixer -Found it and was able to move it down the mountain -A week later they got the mixer to An Khe and proceeded with construction (01:09:38) Adjutant General Corps -Returned to the U.S. and was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana -Took the Adjutant General Career Course -Seven month course -Adjutant General Corps was in charge of paperwork in the Army -Mail, personnel action reports, punchcard processing, and court martial processing -Sent to Fort Sheridan, Illinois for Adjutant General duty -Headquarters for the 5th Army -Took care of 50 colleges in that area with ROTC -Processed commissions and ROTC paperwork for one year at Fort Sheridan -Had a lot of say in whether or not someone was qualified -Didn't run into a lot of anti-war problems -Lived in Zion, Illinois -Near Great Lakes Naval Station -Almost in Wisconsin -Enjoyable time living in Illinois -His second year at Fort Sheridan he ran a printing plant -Had 40 civilians and 10 or 15 soldiers working for him -Had presses and cameras �-Responsible for book binding -When former president Eisenhower died they dealt with press for his funeral (01:17:15) Redeployment to Vietnam -Didn't anticipate having to return to Vietnam -Told he had to do a tour as a member of the Adjutant General Corps in Vietnam -Returned to Vietnam in August 1970 (01:18:10) Stationed in An Khe with the 4th Infantry Division -Assigned to the 4th Infantry Division in An Khe -When he returned to An Khe in 1970 he was not allowed to leave the base without protection -This was as opposed to being able to go into the village without a rifle -Didn't return to the village of An Khe -Wasn't allowed to and didn't want to see what had become of it anyway -Processed paperwork as the 4th Infantry Division prepared to return to the U.S. -Processed paperwork sent to senators and representatives from soldiers -Issues and complaints -Every issue from the trivial to the serious -Usually took a month for an issue to be addressed and dealt with -Processed paperwork concerning men that went on leave and didn't return for duty -Men that went on leave in the U.S. and decided not to return for service (01:24:55) Stationed in Chu Lai with the 23rd Infantry (Americal) Division -Sent to the Americal Division/23rd Infantry Division in Chu Lai -Unit strength: 22,000 men -Worked with them for eight months -Worked as the Special Actions Officer -Cut orders for men going home on emergency leave or on R&R -Processed special orders -On one occasion he received a top secret message that had 150 copies -149 were accounted for, but one had gone missing in Da Nang -He went to Da Nang to the South Vietnamese headquarters there -Successfully found it and had it signed for -Responsible for producing the daily bulletin for the division (01:29:52) Morale & Drug Use -Morale changed during his second tour -Didn't see any evidence of drug use on his first tour in Vietnam -On his second tour he saw evidence of drug use -Soldiers still did their jobs without resistance on his second tour (01:31:39) End of the War -Remembers sitting in the chapel on Easter Sunday 1971 -Heard that Firebase Mary Ann had been overrun by the Viet Cong -Marines were pulled out in spring 1971 -Didn't think too much about what would happen to South Vietnam after the U.S. left (01:33:11) Interactions with Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) -Had positive encounters with soldiers from South Vietnam -Felt that South Vietnam had been left to be conquered at the end of the war -Didn't have proper funding from the U.S. to defend itself after U.S. troops left �-Friends with a South Vietnamese colonel -Had fought alongside the French forces in the First Indochina War -Able to get out of South Vietnam via Saigon in April 1975 -Left on the last helicopter out of Saigon with his family -Resettled in Corpus Christi, Texas -All 10 of his children made it out South Vietnam before it fell (01:38:42) End of Active Duty -At the end of his second tour in Vietnam he was ready to go home -Had orders for Fort Bliss, Texas -Drove to Texas with his family -Spent seven or eight months in Texas -In February 1972 he received a letter saying Army was reducing in size -Meant that his active duty was coming to an end -Active duty ended in April 1972 (01:39:53) Army Reserve -Drilled with an Army Reserve unit in Kalamazoo starting in May 1972 -Spent five years with the hospital unit there -Worked as an executive officer for seven years at Fort Sheridan -Part of the 149th Medical Detachment -Went on active duty in the summers -Did four summers at Camp Ripley, Minnesota -Did four summers at Camp Grayling, Michigan -Got promoted to the rank of colonel -Spent 31 years in the Army (active duty and reserve) (01:41:22) Civilian Work -Had teaching jobs while he was in the Army Reserve -Owned a horse farm in Niles, Michigan -Raised horses and went to shows -Got his doctorate in teaching -Coached a track team at Lake Michigan College and worked as their athletics director -Developed "Dump Your Plump," an international weight loss program -Team based, goal oriented, competitive program (01:43:38) Lest We Forget -Part of Lest We Forget -Patriotic organization -Collects the stories of veterans -Have collected the stories of 300 to 350 veterans -Educates people about American military engagements -Conducts war reenactments for World War Two, Korean War, and Vietnam War � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AlsbroD1899V Title A name given to the resource Alsbro, Donald E (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-17 Description An account of the resource Don Alsbro was born on May 20, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan. In 1958 he attended Western Michigan University and enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, received his commission in January 1963 and graduated in June 1963. He received Infantry Basic Training at Fort Benning, Georgia and was stationed at Larson Barracks in Kitzingen, Germany from 1963 to 1966 working as the athletics and recreation officer of the 3rd Infantry Division. In February 1966 he received orders for Vietnam and in summer 1966 he deployed to Vietnam. He served as the Civil Affairs Officer in the 11th Aviation Group of the 1st Cavalry Division at An Khe promoting the welfare of the Vietnamese civilians in the area. He left Vietnam in June 1967 and received Adjutant General training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana and served at Fort Sheridan, Illinois for two years. In August 1970 he returned to Vietnam for a second tour where he served with the 4th Infantry Division at An Khe and the Americal Division at Chu Lai. He returned to the U.S. and served at Fort Bliss, Texas until his active duty ended in April 1972. He continued to serve in the Army Reserve in Kalamazoo, Michigan Fort Sheridan, Illinois Camp Ripley, Minnesota and Camp Grayling, Michigan. Don served for 30 years and attained the rank of colonel. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alsbro, Donald E. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (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 United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8669d4646ceaf826380b8a24f3d48267.m4v 49155b33c4b2a588fc1cf1aa117ff10b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e1a4ebebbc5e7959cb84604c1d6f1053.pdf 7d64c85d056e8d02c2ae70bda670a9d1 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Willard "Bill" Alverson Korean War & Vietnam War 1 hour 55 minutes (00:00:43) Early Life -Born in 1929 in Olympia, Washington -Grew up in Olympia -Planned on living in Olympia for the rest of his life -His father worked in saw mills -His mother was a housewife -He had one brother -His father didn’t have steady work during the Great Depression -They had food and a house though, so he didn’t pay much attention to it (00:01:44) World War II -He was chopping wood when he heard the news that Pearl Harbor had been bombed -Immediately after the start of the war everyone in Washington was anxious -Believed that Japan would mount an invasion of the West Coast -Civilian Defense groups were formed -He was a bicycle messenger and took part in the drills -Remembers a Japanese family that he was close with being interned during the war -Never saw, or heard from them again -He hoped that the war would go on long enough for him to be able to fight in it -Felt that he owed something to his country (00:04:17) College & Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) -Went on to attend college at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington -It was a Land Grant School which meant he had to take at least two years of ROTC -Received leadership training and map reading courses -There was a six week summer camp that consisted of basic military training -A milder form of basic training -Received weapons training with rifles, pistols, machine guns, and mortars -This summer camp took place between his junior and senior year -There were 2500 ROTC cadets at the camp -Took place at Fort Lewis, Washington -Graduated from college in June 1951 (00:06:27) Becoming an Officer -After college he was offered a commission to become an officer in the Army -Initially declined because he just wanted to get out of the Army -He was eventually convinced to accept the commission -Told that he would be on a fast track to getting promoted -Went to Fort Benning, Georgia for an officers’ training course -Lasted four months -Consisted of more weapons training, leadership training, and navigation training -Introduced to the discipline and physical conditioning of the Army �-He tried to go to jump school (paratrooper training), but was declined (00:08:20) Deployment to Korea Pt. 1 -Left the United States in January 1952 -En route stopped in Yokohama, Japan (00:08:44) Assignment in Japan Pt. 1 -Before going to Korea new second lieutenants were assigned to a unit in Japan -Six months of learning how to command a unit before going to Korea -It was a chance to get introduced to being an officer -His assignment was on the island of Hokkaido, Japan -Attached to the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division -The commander was tough, but a good and fair man -He had served in WWII and during the 1950 march into North Korea -Focused on squad (10 soldiers) and platoon (40 soldiers) tactics -Most of the enlisted men he commanded had already seen combat -The sergeants under him taught him how to be a good and effective officer (00:11:14) Deployment to Korea Pt. 2 -In Korea he was assigned to Easy Company 15th Infantry Regiment 3rd Infantry Division -When he arrived in Korea he had a rifle, but was not given any ammunition for it (00:11:58) Assignment in Japan Pt. 2 -While he was in Japan there was a lot of training and very little downtime -Trained near the town of Sapporo, Japan -Only went into the town once while on duty -Part of courtesy patrol to pick up unruly soldiers and bring them back to base -He had little, to no contact with the Japanese civilians (00:12:49) Deployment to Korea Pt. 3 -When he arrived in Korea he saw firsthand the devastation -Poverty, poor sanitation, and pitiful people were everywhere -He was sent up to the frontline in August 1952 -Stationed near a little town called Cheorwan south of the 38th Parallel -Located in a valley about fifty to sixty miles from the coast (00:14:31) Conditions in Korea and Unit Organization -Originally there wasn’t any action when he arrived -The most fighting happened during patrols or when communist forces charged their line -Lived in foxholes and bunkers -The bunkers were sturdy and well-defended by barbed wire and landmines -Easy Company was understrength -His platoon consisted of three different groups of soldiers -Regular American GIs -South Korean soldiers -Puerto Rican soldiers from the 65th Regiment -He had an outstanding platoon sergeant while in Korea (00:17:31) Enemy Contact and Fighting in Korea -Went on patrols about once, or twice, a week -Most patrols were conducted at night -More difficult and dangerous than the daytime patrols -Objective was to gather intelligence and put pressure on the North Koreans �-Patrols were generally quite costly -A few men were taken prisoner, killed, or wounded during them -Mostly went up against Chinese soldiers -Noticed that North Korean soldiers were far more aggressive when they fought -Enemy activity increased as the war went on -Both sides were jockeying to establish the best defensive positions before the war ended -There were battles at Outpost Harry, Jackson Heights and White Horse -During fighting they held their position and the communists held their position -There was one point during the fighting where they were taking at least one casualty a day -He had access to artillery and air support -The artillery support was excellent -The air support was a little lacking especially in the area of accuracy -Chinese troops would attack in waves -The first wave had weapons, and the second wave would pick up the dropped rifles -Used a lot of fanfare while charging (whistles and trumpets) -They were persistent, dogged soldiers -They were never able to break through the American perimeter (00:23:16) End of Deployment and Miscellaneous Details -Left Korea on May 1, 1953 -A friend of his was killed, saving his life, in Korea -There was a high turnover of U.S. troops coming and going -He eventually got to know the South Koreans that he served with -Felt bad for them because they couldn’t really leave the fighting -It was their country and they were stuck there -He had a South Korean assistant machine gunner who was a good man -He called him John -During the Chinese charges they would sometimes run out of ammunition (00:26:40) Rear Duty and R&R in Korea -Generally didn’t want to go to the rear for duty -Being in the rear meant not getting combat pay -Also meant doing menial tasks like digging ditches -They would get rotated off the line occasionally -Command tried to give everyone somewhat of a break around Christmas -He got an R&R to Japan -Given three minutes to call his wife and his family -Went up to a resort near Mount Fuji -Got a chance to have some drinks and relax -He had the chance to get a few more days of R&R -Wound up declining because the regiment needed him (00:29:33) Making a Career out of the Army -His initial commitment to the Army was for three years -He fully intended to resign after his third year of service -Eventually decided to stay in and make a career out of it though -Started to think about leading soldiers as being similar to being a football coach -Before serving he had originally wanted to be a high school football coach -He began to enjoy being in the Army and wanted to strive to be a fair leader �(00:31:33) Stateside Army Career -His first assignment after coming back from Korea was at Fort Lewis, Washington -Three year assignment -Served as a rifle company commander there -He got selected to be the regimental football coach -The draft was still on while he was at Fort Lewis -They were mostly just ordinary men -Some of the draftees had been convicted of various crimes -Serving in the Army was their way out of jail -Men from a variety of backgrounds were being drafted -Learned that the key to successful leadership was having mutual respect -His next assignment was at Fort Benning, Georgia -Took the Infantry Officer Course there -Nine month course -Coincided with the normal school schedule -Allowed for his children to not get pulled out of school in the middle of it -Part of the process of getting promoted from a captain to a major -There was a lot of competition between the officers to be the best -Mostly consisted of classroom training -Also received some more weapons training and navigation training -He completed the course and went to jump school (paratrooper school) -His next assignment was being a trainer for the ROTC at Washington State University -Requested that assignment to be close to his family -His father was dying of cancer and he wanted to be near him -Three year assignment -The hours were terrible -Felt strange to be on an 8 – 5 schedule -Completed that assignment in 1960 (00:36:02) Army Ranger School -After the ROTC assignment he went to the Army Ranger School -The training was difficult -It was the only course where he was an honor graduate -Started at Fort Benning, Georgia then went into the mountains, then to swamps in Florida -Each area consisted of three weeks of training -Learned how to go on patrols in the mountains and in the swamps -Only allowed to have seven hours of sleep per week -Some men would fall asleep standing up and then fall over -Started with 225 men and only 83 men completed the course -If they were hurt, or washed out, they could not recycle and try again -Most didn’t want to try again anyway -The training required a lot of physical and mental stamina -Graduated from the Army Ranger School in the fall of 1960 (00:38:52) Assignment to Germany -Sent to Frankfurt, Germany to serve with the 3rd Armored Division -Three year assignment -Defending against a possible Soviet invasion of West Germany �-Served as a rifle company commander -Became the operations officer of one of the brigades of the division -His unit had good morale -Led by General Creighton Abrams -They were immediately put on alert during the various Cold War crises that developed -His wife and children were in Berlin when the Soviets put up the Berlin Wall -They were able to be evacuated out of Berlin without incident -His unit and the West German government reacted immediately -If there was an invasion he knew that they wouldn’t be able to hold out for long -Even with tactical nuclear weapons available to them (00:42:27) Interactions with German Civilians -The Germans held various opinions of Americans -Some were pro-American, others were not -Germans knew that American had money and spent it, which they liked -He rented a house from a German man and his wife -He and his wife got to be good friends with the couple -No German man wanted to admit that he had been in the German Army during WWII -He was just curious to see what it had been like (00:44:00) Cuban Missile Crisis and Other Alerts -The Cuban Missile Crisis was a very big deal in Germany when it happened -Checked their equipment and immediately went on alert -Some units were sent to an assembly area to prepare for a counterattack -They were better prepared than they had been during the Berlin Wall Crisis -There was not as much tension as the Berlin Wall either -For about two to three weeks they were ready for a Soviet attack -After about a month they relaxed and the routine returned to normal -They had monthly drills to check their preparedness -Always made sure to treat each drill as if it was the real thing -In a way he always kind of thought that World War III wouldn’t happen -Knew that even if it did his unit would be prepared (00:47:05) Attending the Command General Staff College -His time in Germany ended in June 1963 -He left the day that President Kennedy came to Germany -He was sent to attend the Command General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas -It was the best family assignment -Had his nights and weekends off -It was a nine month course -He was in class when President Kennedy was assassinated -Classes were cancelled and the college was shut down -Everyone behaved appropriately -Everyone was shocked that it had happened -Any planned festivities for the weekend were cancelled -No matter what a person’s political orientation was, they mourned the loss -While at the College he paid attention to the situation developing in Vietnam -Some of his classmates had already been to Vietnam -Completed the Command General Staff College in 1964 �(00:50:45) 6th Army Headquarters -Sent to 6th Army Headquarters in San Francisco, California -It was first and only time that he couldn’t get along with his boss -He worked there for a year as a staff officer -In charge of inspecting the division and evaluating them -Wound up failing them -There were politics involved and he was told to reassess and pass them -He refused which hurt his career (00:51:47) Volunteering for Vietnam -He volunteered to go to Vietnam -He was initially assigned to be a staff officer in Vietnam -Once he arrived he requested a change of assignment and was granted it -Became a Ranger Commander for a South Vietnamese Ranger unit -Went to the Military Assistance Training Advisors Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina -Learned about the culture, language, and climate of Vietnam -Also learned about the organization of the South Vietnamese military -The MATA Course only lasted one month -He was sent to the Army Language School -Learned at least enough Vietnamese to be able to give orders in Vietnamese -It was a six week rudimentary course (00:54:40) Arrival in Vietnam -He landed at Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Saigon, South Vietnam -Tried to talk to the Vietnamese bus driver in Vietnamese -Bus driver told him, in perfect English, that he had a Hanoi accent -Hanoi being the capitol of communist North Vietnam -He flew over to Vietnam on a military aircraft -Arrived in Vietnam in early January 1966 -Kept in a hotel while he was being processed -His initial assignment was as a staff officer in Saigon before becoming the Ranger Commander -Assignment lasted three weeks -He was sent up to Pleiku to join a South Vietnamese Ranger unit there -Flew up there via helicopter -In Pleiku his job was to serve as an American advisor -This gave him access to artillery and aerial support (00:58:30) Working with the South Vietnamese and Going on Raids -They normally didn’t have time to prepare for an operation -They would just have to get up and go -The South Vietnamese officers were generally incompetent -Used their authority to abuse their power -Conducted raids against the Viet Cong -Mostly targeted Viet Cong supply depots -Also went out on missions to kill Viet Cong soldiers, or take prisoners -Operated in mountainous terrain and in some of the lowland areas -Preferred to work in the mountains and not in the swampy lowlands -Enlisted (non-officer) South Vietnamese soldiers had to provide their own food -Even in hospitals their families had to come to take care of them �-Remembers seeing in one hospital two Vietnamese soldiers in one bed -Went on raids about once a month -Spent a lot of his time trying to convince officers that they needed to constantly train -Sometimes they would be helicoptered into the mission area, other times they had to walk -Vietnamese helicopter pilots would take breaks -Even if there was a wounded man needing evacuation they wouldn’t go -American helicopter pilots would react immediately if the situation presented itself -He saw more combat than he thought he would -Remembers once during a village clearing mission they ran into an ambush -Ultimately able to maneuver out of the situation -Some of the South Vietnamese were excellent soldiers, while others weren’t -There was always the suspicion that they were Viet Cong -If you got to know South Vietnamese soldiers they were ultimately trustworthy -He wasn’t close, but was at least cordial, with the South Vietnamese Ranger Commander -There were a few close calls while he was in Vietnam -Once was during the village clearing mission -Another time was when the enemy attacked their position at Pleiku -The enemy ran out of ammunition and he had access to heavier firepower -There was resentment between the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops -The South Vietnamese wanted better equipment -Americans wanted the South Vietnamese to be better soldiers -He spent the majority of his time on the base at Pleiku -The South Vietnamese soldiers were allowed to bring their families to the base -They were also allowed to bring them with them on patrols -The Viet Cong would use that to their advantage and attack through the civilians -Prevented the South Vietnamese from returning fire (01:10:13) Opinion of War during Deployment -Felt that the American media’s portrayal of the war was grossly inaccurate -There were allegations that U.S. troops were wantonly killing civilians -Civilians did die, but they were not being specifically targeted by U.S. troops -At the time he honestly thought that the U.S. was winning the war -Didn’t know when it would end, but knew it would eventually come to an end -He feels that the politics involved is what caused the war to be lost -On the ground it seemed like the U.S. was going to push through to absolute victory (01:11:52) R&R to Hawaii -During his time in Vietnam he was given an R&R to Hawaii -Spent five days with his wife in Hawaii -Going back to Vietnam after that R&R was terrible for him -Remembers on the return trip flying across Vietnam when the airplane began to have trouble -Eventually made it back to the base at Pleiku without incident (01:13:34) Assignment to Command General Staff College -After Vietnam he was initially given a new assignment to the 11th Brigade in Hawaii -His orders were changed and he became a staff member at Command General Staff College -His specialization was to advise on how to fight in Vietnam -Three year assignment -Trained officers on how to fight in Vietnam �-Most had already been to Vietnam and offered their own input as well -At the time he was frustrated by the leadership and the country as a whole during the war -No one knew exactly what they wanted to do; fight the war, or don’t fight the war -Wondered why we stopped the bombing campaign when it was weakening North Vietnam -He wound up speaking out against the indecisiveness of the American leadership -He was promptly advised not to do that -Thought that Nixon was a good leader, but was a dishonest man -Felt that one of his redeeming qualities was his expertise of foreign policy -Felt that Abrams replacing Westmoreland was a good move -Felt that Westmoreland’s competence was deteriorating along with the war -It was interesting to discuss Vietnam with the men who had also served there -Especially those who had seen the worst years of the war -Offered different perspectives (01:20:23) Working with a Volunteer Army -There was always the expectation that he’d go back to Vietnam for a second tour -Before returning he was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina -Working as a trainer for a Special Forces Battalion -Stayed at Fort Bragg for one year -Felt that a volunteer based Army was going to have lesser quality - The Army was trying to make itself appealing for volunteers thus lowering standards -Felt that high standards should be maintained no matter what -The reason the Army lowered its standards was because volunteering was unpopular -The soldiers he worked with at Fort Bragg were more motivated than the average soldier -Felt that if anything was going to keep high standards it was the Special Forces (01:24:30) Redeployment to Vietnam -He was on the list to become a colonel -He hadn’t received an assignment when he should have -This led to him going to graduate school at Washington State University -Went into guidance counseling and graduated from that course -After finishing graduate school he was selected to be a logistician in Vienam -Assigned to be the Army Airbase Commander at Can Tho in the Mekong Delta -As the logistician he handled all the supplies for the base (gas, food, clothing, etc.) -Also oversaw the transportation of supplies and troops -On the base had access to propeller aircraft, helicopters, and classified recon aircraft -He got most of his information about the war from the recon pilots -Base was located on the edge of the city of Can Tho -The base had perimeter lights which he felt was a strategically bad idea -Allowed for the enemy to know exactly where they were -There was one incident where South Vietnamese Rangers hacked into the American generators -They were drawing electricity from the generators to feed Can Tho -He (Bill) invited the provincial chief to the base and brought him to a rooftop -Showed him that the U.S. still controlled the electricity -Did this by completely powering down, then restarting, Can Tho -Arrived in Vietnam in August 1972 -At the time of his arrival had an Air Cavalry Squadron and a South Vietnamese Division �(01:32:25) End of Vietnam War -By January 1973 more U.S. troops left as part of the drawdown -By February 1973 most of the base’s barracks were empty -One problem was that there weren’t enough troops to patrol the perimeter -Had to hire local people to maintain security -Didn’t even have South Vietnamese troops to protect the base -Troops had stripped the base of its electrical and plumbing components -As a result the South Vietnamese commander refused to take over the base -Said that the U.S. was trying to give him an incomplete base -Bill threatened to burn down the base if the commander wouldn’t take it -The commander eventually cooperated -Remembers when the Four Powers Peace Commission came in for negotiations -There were Canadians and Indonesians representing the U.S. and South Vietnam -There were Hungarians and Poles representing North Vietnam -One of his jobs was to set up housing for the officers from those countries -The Hungarians and Poles had to get approval from the Soviet Union -Remembers arm wrestling with the communist Hungarian colonel -At the end of the war there was very little enemy activity -They would receive a mortar round from time to time -The last mortar fired on their base was a dud -The Air Cavalry would still go out on missions to support U.S. troops in the field (01:37:24) Discipline and Morale Problems -He didn’t see any drug problems during his second tour in Vietnam -Knew that it was more of a problem for support units, not for combat units -Combat units just simply didn’t have the time to get high -The soldiers knew that the end was near which caused some problems -The primary focus became getting home and not so much the war -Only had to court martial one officer for dereliction of duty though -Soldiers still followed the orders they were given (01:39:35) Ceasefire Incident -During the ceasefire a U.S. helicopter was shot down -Resulted in seventeen U.S. servicemen being killed in action -He was responsible for getting a team together to go out and recover the bodies -He had trouble getting the necessary personnel organized -Simply didn’t have enough of the right people to do the job -Once they were out there they started receiving fire from an enemy ground force -Led to having to send out troops to protect the recovery personnel -Ran into a reporter on the base that had written a false article about the incident -Said that U.S. troops were refusing to follow orders and recover dead soldiers -Had the reporter thrown off the base (01:42:52) Race Relations in the Army -In Can Tho there was a mixed population on the base -Never saw any major race problems -Knew that if there were issues they were on a small level and dealt with -One of the finest soldiers he served with was a black soldier in Korea -Most men just wanted to work with each other to have the war end on a decent note �(01:45:10) Leaving Vietnam -When it came time to leave he had to make sure that all U.S. personnel were accounted for -Had a head count every day -By the last day there were only thirty three U.S. troops left on the base -They all flew up together to Saigon -When they arrived Saigon was chaotic as U.S. troops collected in the city -He still has the last U.S. flag to fly over the base at Can Tho -The evacuation went smoother than he thought it would -Left Vietnam in 1973 (01:47:04) End of Army Career -Stayed in the Army for five more years -During those last five years he was promoted to the rank of colonel -He was offered three assignments: -Work at the Pentagon, command Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, or ROTC duty -He chose the ROTC duty -He wanted to have a positive effect on young, new officers -Sent to Pocatello, Idaho to serve at Idaho State University -There was a large anti-war movement there -Resulted in not having enough ROTC volunteers -There were good junior officers that had a great work ethic in the ROTC there -While at Idaho State University had a run-in with a hippie -He was accused of killing civilians and words were exchanged -Always embarrassed for having even engaged the protestor -The ROTC cadets did face some harassment from protestors -It was an overall enjoyable assignment though -After completing his duty at Idaho State University he retired from the Army (01:50:57) Life after the Army -He drove a school bus -First time that someone talked back to him which was a surprise after being a colonel -Sold light airplanes for a while -Worked for a credit company based out of Denver, Colorado -Helped establish credit collection bureaus in small towns -Became a team chief and worked with his wife -He was eventually placed in charge of maintenance for a school district in Olympia, WA -One of his sons got married to a girl in Michigan, had two children, then retired -Bill and his wife moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to be closer to the grandchildren (01:53:15) Reflections on Service -Feels that his service in the Army made him more conservative than when he began -Made him appreciate some of the problems that politicians have to deal with -In a way it made him a more tolerant person -Taught him how to work with people, especially young people � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_AlversonW1675V Title A name given to the resource Alverson, Willard (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-10-02 Description An account of the resource Bill Alverson was born in 1929 in Olympia, Washington and grew up there. He completed ROTC training in college and was commissioned in the Army in 1951. He went to Japan in January, 1952 and trained for service in Korea. He served as a platoon leader in E Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in Korea during the last year of the war. He left Korea on May 1, 1953 and began a career in the Army serving at Fort Lewis, Washington Fort Benning, Georgia completing paratrooper training, being a trainer for the ROTC at Washington State University, and completing Army Ranger School in the fall of 1960. He served in Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile crises and studied at the Command General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1965 he volunteered to go to Vietnam and was sent over in January 1966 to be an Army Ranger advisor for the South Vietnamese Rangers in Pleiku, South Vietnam. He helped carry out raids against the Viet Cong during his time there. After his deployment to Vietnam he returned to the United States and served at the Command General Staff College and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina helping train Special Forces. In 1972 he was redeployed to Vietnam and arrived there in August 1972. He was assigned to the Army Airbase near Can Tho in the Mekong Delta commanding the Air Cavalry Squadron and South Vietnamese Division there. The second tour ended in March 1973. He returned to the U.S. and served as an ROTC instructor at Idaho State University until his retirement in 1978 retiring with the rank of colonel. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alverson, Willard Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b46df14b4b13d4523402b92406294764.mp4 2d13c540054f3cdd7e2d00df9f75eced https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/08818f8aa62e7ae9d3f6d1a82b774eb4.pdf 0a91e2a98ca64eb36da350fb9bf780f9 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Title: Ambrose, Thomas (Interview outline and video), 2010 Subject: Korean War, 1950-1953-–Personal narratives, American; United States. Marine Corps Description: Thomas Ambrose joined the Navy in 1948. He trained for the Medical Corps, and initially did hospital duty, but then transferred to the Marines and was sent to Korea to serve as a corpsman with a line company. His unit fought a series of engagements on the Imjin River and in the Punchbowl. He learned to use field radios and transferred to a signal company, and at the end of his tour he served near Panmunjom. Creator: Ambrose, Thomas Contributor (Interviewer/Affiliation): Montney, Bobby (Interviewer); Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Date: 2010-06-05 Digital Identification: TAmbrose � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Ambrose, Thomas (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ambrose, Thomas Description An account of the resource Thomas Ambrose joined the Navy in 1948. He trained for the Medical Corps, and initially did hospital duty, but then transferred to the Marines and was sent to Korea to serve as a corpsman with a line company. His unit fought a series of engagements on the Imjin River and in the Punchbowl. He learned to use field radios and transferred to a signal company, and at the end of his tour he served near Panmunjom. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Montney, Bobby (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-06-05 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AmbroseT Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9791825c9f4d33c809d504735184521a.mp4 4f33d3a87181a932d68234f4a43553de https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6312dfd72f5f38d472a64189b9922835.pdf e85d2fdc3d683db146c22b8ce957b222 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Name of Interviewee: Mitch Amlotte Name of War: Vietnam Length of Interview: (00:39:18) (00:21) Alpena Michigan  Born July 13 1950  Hillman is his hometown. His grandfather settled the town  He played in the woods as a kid. He remembers as a kid, stripping a girl naked and painting her red with barn paint  (2:22) His first day at school his teacher was a large lady and she spent most of the day pulling his ears. It was a one room school that use to be a garage. There was about 18-19 kindergarteners in the building.  Mitch says he was the class clown. He was in trouble a lot. He used to sneak critters into school. One time he fell backwards and hit his head on a chair and got stitches.  He went to a new school built for K-12th grade.  He walked to school  (5:30) Remembers having a crush on his teacher  Figures he didn’t ask for studies so he didn’t care for them  He was the first person in his family to graduate from high school  (7:30) Mitch started playing percussion in sixth grade thru high school  Was involved in sports during school. Baseball, Basketball, and football  Went to U of M for games and played there  His father worked for Besser’s in a factory and mother was a homemaker and eventually went to work in a factory when Mitch was in fifth grade  He has two older brother, younger brother and a sister  (10:13) Mitch had no plans after school so since other guys were getting drafted he figured he would too so he volunteered for the Army  Visited a recruiter with his cousin on the buddy plan. Wanted to join the military police and was told they qualified. Signed up for 4 year hitches (11:17) Fort Wayne Michigan to Fort Knox Kentucky  Basic training  When it came time to get their AIT orders he went to Fort Polk, Louisiana, which was the gateway to Vietnam. A military personnel seen he was guaranteed MP upon entry into the military so instead of sending him to Fort Polk, they sent him to Fort Benjamin Harrison Indiana to postal school. Graduated and was sent to Germany �    During training he was hit with a Pugal stick and blew his eardrum out. Pugal sticks look like big Q-tips used to practice for bayonet training Went to Louisville on a weekend pass and slept in a hotel for two days and two nights. It was his first contact with black people and he was scared and tired. (14:50) Said he could never live in a big city. He said his company was not happy that he was back and looked at him as a coward. He said he had no problems going but send him to MP school first and then send him to Vietnam (16:40) Germany-Rheine-Main Airbase  He flew over there. It was his first time on an airplane. He was brave at one point and looked out over Ireland and said it was beautiful. Flew over to Rhein-Main Airbase  Two guys met him there in the middle of the night and took him to Heidelberg to the 4th Base Post Office Heidelberg 4th Base Post Office  Was here for a year  He sorted mail and payroll checks for all of the European theatre  On off time he bar hopped  Went to Frankfurt and was offered a chance to go to Rome, Italy. Went to the Catholic Chaplain and got administrative leave and nobody could countermand it except for the Attorney General of the Military. Mitch took 120 days of administrative leave. He would take children of military personnel on field trips.  (20:00) He got to travel quite a bit and two weeks at a time. Went to Czechoslovakia, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland  Met two girls while in Czechoslovakia who were in an AFC club and wanted to go home and see their parents. The guys took them to the border and hid the car and walked 4 ½ miles to her home town. On the way back they were being tracked and ran 1 mile and outran their pursuers.  Mitch said he didn’t chase women too much. He likes history so he spent time at Museums and seeing castles while he was overseas.  He went to Neuschwanstein Castle. Walt Disney designed his castle after this. He went to Hindenburg Castle  (22:45) Went to France trying to do a family tree. Found names but never met any of the people  Mitch said civilians were very standoffish. The men he found hated them and he lost rank a few times for getting into physical fights with them. He ended up in German jails for fighting  Mitch said Commanding Officers just wanted to know if he won or not. Took a stripe �  away and told him he would get it back shortly that it was just a formality. (24:40) Mitch spent a little over 2 years in Germany His enlistment was cut from 4 years to 3 years since they didn’t get to go into MP’s (25:00)Came Home  Mitch thought about re-enlisting in the military but Dad talked him out of it seeing that his next tour of duty would be Vietnam  His father promised to get him a job at the factory he worked at and since it was the best paying job in the town he thought that was a good idea  His dad never got him the job  Mitch went on a drunk binge for a few months  His dad died at 93 and his mom at 76. They died one year apart from each other.  (28:00) He married an old friend. Went from job to job. He had two kids and Divorced in 1988  Married a new girl. Had custody of his kids at this time. Married for 12 years this time.  January last year he talked to a friend and was asked how he was handling the news of getting divorced. He had no idea he was getting divorce. Both his kids were grown at this time.  He found out he was suffering from severe depression dating back to his first marriage  He packed up and headed to Philadelphia where his daughter lived. She eventually kicked her husband out and separated so in May he headed back up to Michigan to live with his sister  (33:09) Moved to Farwell to live with sister  Mitch had nowhere to go when he sister told him his time was up and nobody else would let him live with them.  August he moved to the Veterans Home in Grand Rapids. He does not like being there and feels they don’t treat him well but with his medical problems he can’t get a job  He says that the military made a man out of him but it was thrown away when he got out and couldn’t get a job. He states in the interview that his second biggest regret was not staying in the military.  He is being treated for depression and says he rarely sees his family � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Amlotte, Mitch (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Amlotte, Mitch Description An account of the resource Mitch Amlotte volunteered for the Army in 1968 to escape a bad home life. He was sent to postal school and then to Germany. He volunteered to travel with the children of military men on field trips and spent much of his time seeing different countries. He was released from the military after 3 years would have re-enlisted except that he did not want to go to Vietnam. He encountered an assortment of personal and medical problems after his discharge, which he discusses at some length. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-05-22 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AmlotteM Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/500d3eb5307224fe8950a824bb9ad373.mp4 eaed1cca096c3ae173c090db7f0c68af https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f3051aa91efc605e250c63dc615d12fd.pdf 07be9bf523fee507ecbd049b15b63eed PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Vietnam War Bob Anderson Interview Length: (02:41:51:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:08:00)  Anderson was born in August 1948 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where his family lived for a few years before Anderson’s father decided to go back into the Air Force; Anderson’s father had served as a pilot during World War II and had grown tired of civilian life, so he applied for, and the Air Force granted, re-entry into the service (00:00:08:00) o When Anderson’s father re-enlisted, it was towards the end of the Korean War, and he served not a combat pilot but a personnel transport pilot (00:00:59:00) o Anderson’s family ended up living in several different places, including Charleston, South Carolina, and Florida as Anderson’s father trained with different types of aircraft (00:01:21:00) o For the majority of the time before Anderson himself joined the service, his father was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where Anderson received the majority of his schooling and graduated from high school (00:01:32:00)  Anderson graduated in 1966 and proceeded to attend junior college; during that time, Anderson ended up living with his uncle in the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi, where the uncle was a professor at one of the local colleges (00:01:46:00) o After a year, Anderson transferred from the junior college to Michigan State University in Fall 1967 (00:02:12:00) o While in college, Anderson felt that he did not know how to study properly; he would read the necessary texts for hours but he could not translate the reading to re-gurgitation on tests and as a result, Anderson ended up being academically dismissed from the university in Spring 1968 (00:02:23:00) o While at Michigan State, if there were protest movements on the campus, Anderson was unaware of them; he was insulated growing up and although his parents allowed him to do what he wanted, Anderson grew up oblivious to world events (00:03:07:00)  After Anderson was forced out of Michigan State, he packed all his belongings up and moved back to Maryland to live with his parents, while feeling like he had failed something because he had done well in the junior college (00:03:38:00) o Although he could have gone to junior college again in Maryland, something in the back of Anderson’s mind told him that he was not ready to try again yet; he talked with his father and his father thought it might be a good idea for Anderson to join the service (00:03:57:00)  If he joined the service, Anderson would receive free training and when he got out of the service, if Anderson did not want to go back to college, then he would at least have training for a trade (00:04:18:00) �  o Anderson’s father suggested refrigeration equipment repair because people used air conditioners and everybody had a refrigerator, so Anderson enlisted in the Army to be a refrigeration equipment repairman (00:04:36:00) Anderson ended up enlisting in the Army on his mother’s birthday: May 6th, 1968 (00:05:12:00) o When he enlisted, Anderson had a guaranteed enlistment for the school that he wanted, which happened to be at Fort Belvoir, an Army base just over the Potomac River and ten miles away from Anderson’s home (00:05:32:00) Anderson did his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia; had he gone to the refrigeration repair school, Anderson would have then gone to Fort Belvoir but during the reception period, Anderson scored high enough on the tests to be considered for Officer Candidate School (OCS) (00:06:04:00) o For two years before he enlisted, the Vietnam War was an un-event for Anderson; even though the division he would serve with, the 1st Air Cavalry, had fought in the Ia Drang valley, that was Anderson’s senior year in high school and he was still oblivious (00:06:48:00) o Anderson had the choice of going to OCS because he qualified and once he said yes, his waive his guaranteed right to go to refrigeration equipment repairman school (00:07:10:00)  Therefore, after completing his basic training, Anderson went to Fort Dix, New Jersey (00:07:20:00) o Anderson feels that the basic premise behind basic training was the instructors wanted to tear the men down and expunge any thoughts of the civilian word so they could re-make the men as soldiers (00:07:33:00)  Therefore, there was a lot of physical torment by the instructors, who were allowed to yell profusely at the soldiers; although the instructors are still allowed to yell today, they have a limit on what they are allowed to call the soldiers (00:07:50:00)  During Anderson’s training, the soldiers had no recourse but to say “yes drill sergeant” and do whatever the instructor wanted (00:08:03:00) o The soldiers learned how to drill and march, as well as the manual of arms for the M-14 and rifle marksmanship (00:08:16:00) o Not everyone who went through basic training ended up with a combat unit; there were many soldiers ended up going to specialized schools, such as refrigeration equipment repair or welding (00:08:32:00)  That being said, the training was oriented towards infantry tactics, such as target detection, night division, escape & evasion, etc. (00:09:15:00) o For the most part, Anderson’s adjustment to military life was fairly easy, primarily because his father was career Air Force and from afar, Anderson had some understand of what he had to do, mainly not arguing with everybody and doing whatever he was ordered to do (00:09:34:00) o In basic training, if someone told you to get down and do a bunch of push-ups, then you got down and did as many as you could (00:10:04:00)  There was no debate with the drill sergeants; if they said stand on one foot in the corner, the soldiers said “yes drill sergeant” then went and stood on one foot in the corner (00:10:21:00) �   Nevertheless, there were a few soldiers who could not be broken or did not want to be broken and Anderson suspects that most of those soldiers were draftees; they had been doing whatever they were doing when Uncle Sam knocked on their door and said they would report (00:10:41:00)  Anderson suspects the draftees were rebellious because they did not want to be there, whereas his situation was different because he had enlisted; although his feelings might be similar to theirs, Anderson kept his head down and his mouth shut (00:11:05:00) o When he enlisted, Anderson was in better physical shape, so the physical aspects of the training, such as running, were not an issue; the only thing Anderson really had trouble with were the monkey bars, which the soldiers had to do every day before they could eat breakfast (00:11:34:00)  Anderson was not very good at first because he did not have much upper body strength but eventually, he learned how to do them (00:12:01:00) o Anderson’s basic training lasted for eight or nine weeks, after which he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey for his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) (00:12:13:00) In a lot of ways, AIT was similar to basic training, although the training was much more geared towards the infantry, including more weapons training, radio procedure, field exercises, tactical training and less drill and ceremony; by this time, most of the soldiers knew where they were going (00:12:26:00) o While in basic training, the drill sergeants for the most part had served in Vietnam but in AIT, some of the instructors, such as the training company commander, had not served a tour; Anderson vaguely recalls the platoon sergeant in AIT had served in Vietnam but he cannot be sure (00:13:07:00) o During AIT, the instructors tried to simulate what the soldiers would experience in Vietnam as best they could, although they could not replicate the physical aspects, such as the terrain, humidity, and monsoons or the jungle (00:13:54:00) o As part of the overall training, the soldiers went through two or three days of training in how to interact with the civilian population, although Anderson does not remember it taking place in a mock Vietnamese village; he knows some of the other AIT locations, such as Fort Polk, had them (00:14:24:00) After completing AIT, Anderson had a couple of days before he had to report back to Fort Benning for OCS, which he did in the middle of September 1968 (00:15:14:00) o There were about one hundred and twenty other soldiers who started the course with Anderson, which was designed to turn them all into the lieutenants for the infantry (00:15:34:00) o The class days were long and although the academics were hard for some, Anderson did not have any trouble with that nor with the physicality of the training (00:15:51:00) o In his platoon of twenty soldiers, Anderson figures that around half were college graduates and the other half were like Anderson, with a couple of years college schooling (00:16:43:00)  A large number of the soldiers in Anderson’s platoon were also married, around thirty percent; any of the soldiers who had a degree and were married were draftees because they would not willingly enlist if they already had a four-year degree and a family (00:17:28:00) �  Many of the soldiers brought their wives with them and Anderson assumes it was difficult for the soldiers to have their wives five miles off-post but have to be stuck with one hundred other guys (00:17:58:00) o The training the soldiers received tended to be similar to what they had already received, only more intense; there was a lot of map reading, artillery firing and learning how to adjust fire, etc. (00:18:26:00)  There was also a lot of classroom work, such as a film which the instructors would stop suddenly, say the company commander had been killed and ask Anderson what he would do; when this happened, hopefully Anderson was awake enough to give a good answer and after he did so, the instructors analyzed his decision-making before continuing the film to see if what Anderson had said was correct (00:18:53:00)  It was always “go, go, go” from reveille until the end of the day, the soldiers ran everywhere, it was hot, etc. and when the soldiers got into an air conditioned building, it seemed like as soon as they sat down, they went to sleep (00:19:42:00)  The instructors had ways to deal with the sleeping soldiers and sometimes, they were humorous; the instructors would tell everyone who was awake to ignore the next command, then they would yell out, “on your feet” (00:20:16:00) o The soldiers were conditioned to respond to that command even if they were half asleep, so when half the class stood up, they were chastised by the instructor (00:20:35:00) o OCS lasted for twenty-three weeks; although it was not like the World War II model of the “ninety-dya wonder”, the soldiers who completed the course still received that moniker (00:20:52:00) After the soldiers completed the OCS course and their orders came down, some stayed at Fort Benning to go into the tactical unit, while others, like Anderson, stayed to go into a basic training unit; however, each soldiers received a furlough for about a week or two before they had to report to their new assignment (00:21:14:00) o Anderson graduated from OCS on March 29th, 1970 and reported back to Fort Benning in mid-April, where he stayed for three months before receiving his orders to go to Vietnam (00:21:38:00) o The role of a 2nd Lieutenant in a basic training company was “to be seen and not heard”; they were “gentlemen” by an act of Congress but many new lieutenants were unsure of themselves and since the drill sergeant cadre knew what they were doing, if a 2nd Lieutenant was smart, he got out of their way to let them do their thing while watching to learn, which Anderson tried to do (00:22:04:00)  They had a good training company commander who had served with the 101st Airborne Division while the company first sergeant was a two-tour Vietnam veteran, as well as Korea (00:22:51:00)  All of the other drill sergeants had been to Vietnam, they knew what they were doing, and they did not need Anderson telling them what to do, so he tried to stay out of their way (00:23:05:00) �  All that being said, the lieutenants still received a lot of responsibilities, such as being the mess officer, the Army emergency relief officer, the blood-drive officer, etc. (00:23:26:00)  They were trying to give the lieutenants some responsibility, not necessarily to build up their self-esteem but to make them feel comfortable with the idea of giving orders; unless they had worked in a previous job as a supervisor, most of the lieutenants had never told people to do things (00:24:02:00)  They tried to make break the lieutenants in and make them feel comfortable in a uniform that said eighty percent of the people on the base had to salute them (00:24:38:00) o Once he said that he was not going to go to be a refrigeration repairman, Anderson knew his path was chosen and there was not question in his mind that he would ultimately end up in Vietnam (00:25:14:00)  However, Anderson did not dwell on that fact; it was what it was, he had raised his hand to volunteer and if the Army kept him at Fort Benning for two years, then so be it (00:25:32:00)  The senior lieutenant in the training company had gone through that; when he graduated from Armor OCS, he stayed at Fort Benning for two years, but Anderson did not have any grand illusions that the same thing would happen to him (00:25:50:00)  Anderson did the best he could as a 2nd Lieutenant and if the time came, then he would go on to the next step and do as best he could then too (00:26:12:00) When his orders finally did come down, Anderson was naturally apprehensive; unlike being a civilian, Anderson received news from the Army every week about the war and he was able to see who had been killed and how many were officers (00:26:30:00) o In some ways, Anderson was glad; he was almost certain he would eventually go, he had been at Fort Benning long enough to get the assignments down pat, so it was time to go do what Anderson had been trained to do (00:26:53:00) Deployment (00:27:20:00)  Once the orders finally arrived, Anderson had to report to Travis Air Force Base in California, although he does not remember how exactly he got to Vietnam itself (00:27:20:00)  Anderson does remember arriving in Vietnam and while most soldiers remember it being smelly or hot, Anderson does not recall the smell; the soldiers arrived in Vietnam at night, meaning it was dark, and Anderson does remember the bus ride to the 90th Replacement Battalion (00:28:01:00) o On the bus ride, all the windows on the bus were open but were covered in a wire mesh and when one of the soldiers asked what the mesh was for, the bus driver said it was to keep the VC or somebody else from throwing a hand grenade into the bus (00:28:20:00) o That was the first indication that the soldiers were in a real situation; they were riding in screened-in buses so people could not throw grenades inside and kill them (00:28:44:00) �   The soldiers arrived in Bien Hoa and went to the 90th Replacement Battalion, which was the unit that every newly-arrived soldier went to and from there, the soldiers were assigned to different units throughout the country (00:28:57:00) o Anderson spent three days at the replacement battalion, received his uniforms, although he did not know where he would be assigned, and after a couple of days, orders came down that he was assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry Division (00:29:16:00)  While in OCS, the officers listed the three locations where they would like the serve and Anderson ended up listing Vietnam number three and maybe Germany as number one (00:29:42:00)  However, when he arrived at the First Team Academy (FTA), they asked Anderson which unit in particular he would like to join, although he did not know units from anything (00:29:59:00)  Some officers who had been indoctrinated longer, mainly West Pointers, chose specific units, such as Custer’s regiment or another unit, to go to (00:30:34:00)  They had a map of the area and Anderson remembers looking at the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry regimental area and seeing that their headquarters was surrounded by a bunch of firebases, figured it would be a safe location, so his first choice was to join the 2nd of the 7th (00:30:50:00)  However, the Army had already decided where Anderson would go and instead of going to the 2nd of the 7th, he went to the 1st of the 7th, but that was not big deal to him (00:31:11:00)  The soldiers were at the First Team Academy for about three days, where they received a weapons familiarization course, did some repelling, etc.; more than anything, Anderson believes the academy was designed to get the soldiers acclimated to the heat (00:31:34:00) o After the three or four days at the FTA, Anderson received orders for the 1st of the 7th; the Army led him by hand because “there is nothing dumber than a 2nd Lieutenant”, so when Anderson asked how to get to the 1st of the 7th, the Army said they would take him back to Bien Hoa and tell him right where he needed to go (00:31:54:00) At the time, the 1st of the 7th was stationed in III Corps, to the north and west of Saigon, fifteen miles from the Cambodian border (00:32:37:00) o Immediately around the base camp, it was in the middle of a rubber plantation but the further out the soldiers got, to the individual fire bases, it was double and triple canopy jungle with bamboo and clearings interspersed and for the most part, the terrain was flat (00:32:58:00) Initially, Anderson took a C-7 Caribou ride to Quan Loi, where someone knew he was coming because when he got off the C-7, a sergeant was waiting for him (00:33:32:00) o When he first arrived in Quan Loi, it seemed like Anderson had been transported to the moon; there was not anybody he knew and Anderson had orders to get on the C-7 and when he arrived in Quan Loi, there would be someone there to meet him (00:33:56:00) � o When he arrived, Anderson was walking around with his eyes wide, wondering what he had gotten himself into, and someone called to him, asked if was going to the 1st of the 7th and told him to jump in the jeep, which took him to the battalion headquarters (00:34:15:00) o After Anderson reported to the headquarters, the other officers told him to go through a set of doors so that he could talk with the colonel commanding the battalion (00:34:42:00)  The sequence of Anderson meeting the colonel was similar to the scene in film Apocalypse Now when Martin Sheen’s character first meets Marlon Brando’s character (00:35:05:00)  Anderson and the colonel talked for a few minutes, during which the colonel gave Anderson a Garreyowen crest, which was the regimental crest for the 7th Cavalry, and told Anderson he was being assigned to Alpha Company and who the company commander was (00:35:40:00) o When he arrived at Alpha Company’s rear area, the first sergeant was there and he knew Anderson was coming; Anderson spent no more than two days getting his equipment, including his rifle, helmet, poncho, pack, etc. (00:36:31:00) o Then, on either the second or third day, the company in the field was being resupplied, so they told Anderson the day before that when they went out to resupply, Anderson could go and join the company (00:36:57:00) The next morning, Anderson gathered all his equipment and boarded the Command and Control helicopter flying out to the company on Firebase Wescott (00:37:15:00) o When Anderson jumped off the helicopter with the rest of the soldiers, he asked what he had to do and was told to wait until the re-supply helicopter arrived; the company was in the field and they would be moving to a re-supply site where Anderson would go an meet them (00:37:44:00) o It seemed like a couple of hours passed before the re-supply helicopter arrived at the firebase and when it did arrive, Anderson hopped aboard and the helicopter took him to where the company was (00:38:18:00) o It was an interesting helicopter ride to the company; Anderson believes the helicopter crew chief saw he was a newly-arrive lieutenant, so he radioed the pilot that information and suggested giving Anderson a ride to see if they could make him throw up (00:38:47:00)  As the helicopter flew out to the company, the pilot made the helicopter bob and weave, flew along the knap of the earth, etc. but Anderson thought the flight was great and similar to a roller coaster (00:39:12:00)  During the flight, Anderson sat on a crate with his feet spread apart so he would not fall out and after awhile, the helicopter crew tired of the erratic flying, figuring they could to make Anderson vomit (00:39:26:00)  On the other hand, every other helicopter ride that Anderson had was not as erratic and wild as that first flight (00:39:40:00) o They eventually dropped Anderson off with the company and when he asked to speak with the company commander, the other soldiers pointed him out, so Anderson when to talk with him, who welcomed him to Alpha Company and assigned Anderson to be the mortar platoon leader, which Anderson did not think was a good idea (00:39:55:00) �   Although he had familiarization and knew about mortars, being mortar platoon leader was not exactly what Anderson wanted to do; still, he held his tongue and asked where the mortars were (00:40:51:00)  At that time, the soldiers in the platoon were carrying the 81 mm mortars in the field; the base plate alone weighed eighty-one pounds and the soldiers also had to carry to launch tube, tripod, aiming sticks, as well as two rounds of ammunition apiece (00:41:06:00)  Anderson stayed the mortar platoon leader until the next re-supply and believes the company commander placed him in charge of the mortar platoon as part of his acclimation; Anderson was wearing his rucksack, carrying his equipment, and was far enough away from the fighting that he could see what was going on but not be involved in it (00:41:25:00) o At the next re-supply, the 2nd platoon lieutenant moved up to be the company executive officer and Anderson was his replacement (00:42:04:00) o In the time Anderson was the mortar platoon leader, the soldiers fired the mortars a couple of times, if only to get ride of some of the weight, although they never fired them with permission from the company commander (00:42:22:00)  On some occasions, other soldiers in the platoon would go into an area but before they did, the mortar platoon would launch several rounds into the area; the soldiers in the platoon knew what they had to do and Anderson never had to check to make sure everything was ready (00:42:39:00)  When Anderson joined the company, they stayed in that location overnight and the next morning, a patrol was going out and the captain wanted some mortar rounds into that vicinity (00:43:52:00) When Anderson joined the platoon, he had two E-6s, the platoon sergeant and the man training to be the platoon sergeant; the lieutenant Anderson was replacing moved right out of the platoon when Anderson arrived (00:44:26:00) On the first morning Anderson was in charge of the platoon, the captain told him he was going to be leading a thousand meter patrol and the soldiers were going light, meaning they were only taking their weapons and ammunition while they left their rucksacks stayed behind with the company (00:45:21:00) o The company had a scout dog with them and the captain told Anderson to take the dog with him; Anderson gathered his sergeants and told them the platoon had to do a thousand meter patrol and then return to the company (00:45:42:00) o The sergeants said okay and after tell them the platoon would leave in ten minutes, Anderson talked with the dog handler to explain what the plan was, who said okay as well because the handler knew why he was the there and what the dog’s job was (00:46:12:00) o Anderson does not recall if this was the patrol where he started walking where he normally would but if not, then it was shortly thereafter (00:47:09:00)  During a normal patrol, the column would have a point man, a slack man to cover the point man, then a squad leader and then Anderson himself; Anderson could not run anything if he was at the rear of the column and he could not know exactly what was going on (00:47:24:00)  Anderson also had a radio operator and he ended up walking directly behind Anderson in the column (00:47:58:00) �  o The patrol had gone around seven hundred meters when the point dog alerted; although Anderson did not know what was going on, soldiers who had worked with dogs before did and they told Anderson that the dog had sensed something near the patrol (00:48:08:00) o Anderson began to ask in his mind what he had to do next because it was not like OCS when they would stop the film and ask him; Anderson called one of his sergeants, asking him to come to the front of the column and when the sergeant asked why, Anderson said the point dog had alerted, which was a none event for the sergeant because he had been in-country for six months (00:49:06:00)  When Anderson asked the sergeant what he should do, the sergeant said they would normally recon by fire, a term Anderson was not familiar with; the sergeant explained what to do but suggested Anderson radio back to the company beforehand and tell them what they were planning to do, otherwise, the men back at the company would hear the gunfire and assume the patrol had made contact with the enemy (00:49:39:00) o Anderson radioed back to the company, saying the point dog was alerted and they were planning to recon by fire; the soldiers did the recon by fire but received no enemy return fire, so they continued the patrol, performed their sweep and returned to the company (00:50:16:00) o Years later, other soldiers in platoon said they could not believe Anderson made them go through the entire patrol; whenever they went before on a long patrol, the lieutenant before Anderson would lead the soldiers out about five hundred meters, where they would sit and relax before going back to the company (00:50:45:00) o Nothing happened on the first patrol and Anderson is thankful for that because he was still a green lieutenant (00:51:19:00) After about three weeks, the company moved from Firebase Wescott to Firebase Jerry in the middle of November (00:51:42:00) o The company was picked up in the field and then air assaulted into a new area of operations, Firebase Jerry; it was late in the day and Anderson’s platoon was the last platoon into the area (00:52:18:00) o Just as the platoon was dropped off outside the firebase, they came under mortar attack; all of the mortar rounds hit up front, wounding several soldiers severely (00:52:33:00)  The attack was only a few mortar rounds, after which the platoon made it inside the firebase, where a doctor tended to their wounded (00:53:12:00) o In the field, the company had around one hundred and ten soldiers and Anderson had around twenty-five soldiers in his platoon; the most soldiers Anderson had in the field at one time was twenty-five and the fewest was seventeen (00:53:43:00) o After the soldiers left the firebase, they set up for the night, although nothing happened that night (00:54:12:00) The next morning, the entire company was moving; Anderson’s platoon was not on point when a couple of NVA ran along a little trail coming from the right and although the point element fired towards them, the soldiers did not hit anyone (00:54:28:00) o The captain wanted to see where the NVA had come from, so the point element walked up the trail for about thirty or forty meters before someone ordered them to get further away from the trail (00:54:42:00) � o The soldiers had just seen an enemy on the trail and the enemy most certainly knew the soldiers were there because the soldiers had fired on them, so the company moved off the trail (00:55:05:00) o When his platoon reached the trail, Anderson looked at the trail itself, which was hard packed from numerous people walking on it; then, as he looked up the trail, Anderson figured it would be a good spot for the enemy to fire on them and no sooner had he said that then the enemy started firing (00:55:24:00)  As quite often happened, there was gunfire but the bullets were going everywhere because the enemy was not taking the time to aim properly; the initial firing might be aimed but the response was not (00:56:06:00) o Again, it was late in the day and the captain said the company was going to set up a defensive position for the night; as the soldiers began preparing the position, the captain called Anderson over and said he wanted Anderson to go parallel to the trail for four or five hundred meters so he could ambush the enemy (00:56:28:00) o Anderson said okay, so he and his men found the trail, set up their claymore mines and then backed off to wait for somebody to stumble down the trail; it rained that night and the mosquitoes came out but fortunately, nobody came down the trail but the soldiers could hear chopping in the distance as the enemy chopped down trees to make bunkers (00:57:01:00)  The soldiers could also hear laughter, which makes Anderson believe the soldiers on the ambush were within a couple of hundred meters of the enemy’s position (00:57:58:00)  In the morning, the soldiers picked up their equipment and back tracked to the company (00:58:15:00) o Trails crisscrossed the whole area and the soldiers could see where the enemy had rested in the daytime and nighttime from the debris of cooking fires (00:58:22:00) o Every two or three days, the soldiers either would be fired on or would fire on the enemy, although they did not take many casualties (00:58:52:00) After about a week in the new area of operation, the company got involved in a large firefight lasting for about five or six hours (00:59:06:00) o Again, Anderson was somewhat lucky because his platoon was walking last that particular day and it was mostly the front of the column that received the brunt of the attack (00:59:17:00) o Two platoons really got into it with the enemy and although there was nobody killed, there were sixteen or seventeen wounded soldiers who needed to be medivaced out (00:59:26:00) o It was a longer day for Anderson because he was not under the direct fire; he and his men were merely sitting guard, acting as a company reserve, although Anderson did have to send his machine guns up because the other platoon’s machine guns malfunctioned (00:59:41:00)  Anderson’s machine gunners were not happy about having to go into the fight because they had already been in the field for six or seven months and had seen a lot of action, but they still went up and Anderson believes the two machine gunners were a key piece of the battle (01:00:17:00)  Both gunners were meticulous about keeping not only their machine guns but their ammunition clean, while other gunners were not (01:00:42:00) �  o The soldiers also had to pass ammunition from Anderson’s platoon to the other platoons because they were in the jungle and the platoons could not be re-supplied with ammunition from the air (01:00:58:00)  It eventually became nerve-wracking because not only did the two platoons in the fight not have much ammunition, but neither did Anderson’s platoon (01:01:08:00) o The fight continued until late in the afternoon before the soldiers had to set up a base camp (01:01:24:00) o The next morning, Anderson’s platoon was the least beat up, so they had to lead the company back to the firebase, which was nerve-wracking as well because the area had been so well worked over by artillery and air strikes that it looked like a tornado had moved through; intermixed with the destroyed jungle were human body parts and bloody bandages (01:01:38:00)  Although the soldiers were hit bad, Anderson believes the enemy was hit worse and they were now gone, of course (01:02:49:00) The purpose of that particular mission was to move into the area and assess what the attacks had done and they ended up getting ambushed (01:03:24:00) o Overall, the company’s mission was to aggressively and actively patrol to find the enemy, and if successful, destroy him (01:03:56:00) o When they were in the area, the company was fortunate because there was not a system of enemy tunnels; there were bunkers and the major battle was against a small series of bunkers (01:04:21:00) o The North Vietnamese were excellent soldiers and had been fighting for twenty years, meaning their camouflaging ability was excellent; there were times the soldiers would step, look down, and they would be standing directly in front of a bunker, which happened to Anderson a couple of different times (01:04:57:00)  Anderson would be fourth in the column when he found the bunker, which meant three other soldiers did not see it and in those situations, the bunker was not occupied (01:05:19:00) o By the time of the six hour fight, Anderson had been in country for three weeks and he had a much better understanding of what was going on (01:05:43:00)  Eventually, another new lieutenant joined the company and Anderson was happy to see him because it meant Anderson was no longer the dumbest lieutenant in the company (01:05:53:00)  However, the lieutenant had only been in the company for a couple of weeks before the fight began but he still did a marvelous job in handling the situation; Anderson wonders what would have happened if the roles were reversed and he had been in the fight (01:06:07:00)  The lieutenant’s point man spotted the NVA claymore and was able to alert the lieutenant, who in turn alerted the captain so that by the time the enemy detonated the claymore, there was no one around to be seriously wounded in the explosion (01:06:19:00) The most powerful weapons in the platoon were the M-60 machine guns and when the soldiers found an enemy bunker, if it was occupied, then they tried to get as much firepower against it was they could (01:06:58:00) � o Once the soldiers managed the suppress whatever the enemy was trying to do to them, if they could, then they wanted to pull back so they could use explosives against the bunker (01:07:18:00) o If they were using artillery against a bunker, under normal circumstances, the soldiers were working with another group of soldiers, normally a forward observer for the artillery unit, and as Anderson recalls, the soldiers could not get artillery fire closer than six hundred meters unless they were in direct contact; then, the fire had to be danger close rules (01:07:38:00)  However, the vast majority of engagements were twenty-five meters or less and although he had great confidence in the artillery, Anderson would never call artillery fire that close unless it was a last resort (01:08:10:00)  There were situations that called for fire that close but only as the last resort for the soldiers (01:08:43:00) Anderson was a platoon leader from October 1969 until the middle of February 1970, after which he was removed from the field and given a rear job as a reward for doing good work in the field (01:08:51:00) o The rear job Anderson received out the be the most miserable job Anderson ever had in his life; while in the base camp, Anderson was in charge of one quarter of the base camp’s defense (01:09:29:00)  At the time, Anderson was still as lieutenant while the three other men in charge of the other sections were all captains (01:09:42:00)  They gave Anderson two other soldiers to work with and all three ended up working what seemed twenty-one hours a day; the three had to make sure the trip flares were out, all the defenses were set, etc. and they did not have any help (01:09:50:00)  To make it worse, Anderson had to report to the most obnoxious lieutenant colonel that ever wore a silver oak leaf (01:10:13:00)  Anderson and his men had to report to the lieutenant colonel every day and he wanted to know all the minute details of what the defenses were and it eventually reached the point that it was too much for Anderson (01:10:26:00)  Anderson worked extremely hard every day but the work did not seem to make any large contribution; if he needed supplies, Anderson did not know where to go or what to do while the captains, who had many more years of service, knew what to do and where to go (01:10:40:00) o The job lasted for about three weeks before Anderson was called to the battalion headquarters to talk with the battalion XO, a major, who said he had both good news and bad news for Anderson (01:11:07:00)  The major said that he knew Anderson and the lieutenant colonel were not getting along although Anderson was working hard, so Anderson was going back into the field (01:11:42:00)  Anderson said that he only had one question and when the major asked what it was, Anderson asked if this was going to negatively affect his officer efficiency report and the major said no (01:12:18:00)  The major also said Anderson was not going back to Alpha Company but was going to Charlie Company, something Anderson was not enthused � about; when Anderson asked if he had to go to Charlie Company, the major said he did (01:12:38:00) o When he received the news, part of Anderson felt good he was out of the job in the rear but part felt bad because he had to go to Charlie Company and begin the process of training soldiers all over again (01:13:27:00) The next day, Anderson reported to the firebase where Charlie Company was stationed and when he arrived, the company CO was in the medical bunker being worked on by a visiting dentist (01:13:52:00) o Anderson went into the bunker to report and the CO asked if Anderson had ever been in the field before; Anderson replied that he had been in the field with Alpha Company for four months (01:14:11:00)  The CO assigned Anderson to lead the 3rd Platoon and after the CO told him where the platoon was located on the fire base, Anderson went to the platoon and introduced himself (01:14:30:00) o When Anderson arrived, the old 3rd Platoon leader left and went back to the battalion rear area to take over Anderson’s old job (01:15:16:00) o After a couple of days in the field, it became clear that the CO did not fully understand what he was doing; although he was an armor officer, he was not from the same mold as Anderson’s CO in Alpha Company but Anderson did the best that he could with the cards he had been dealt (01:15:43:00) o The terrain Charlie Company operated in was similar to the terrain that Alpha Company had operated in, with a lot of bamboo and things like that (01:16:10:00) o There were only two times when Anderson took his boots off in the jungle, with the first time was the night before Alpha Company had the large contact with the enemy in November (01:16:21:00)  Firebases had what where labeled “mad minutes”, although they seldom lasted a minute, and their purpose was to not only use up any bad ammunition, but to also just fire around the base to try and hit anyone trying to sneak up on the base (01:16:36:00)  That night, the company was so close to Jerry that the bullets were flying past the men; Anderson jumped into a foxhole that happened to be full of termites and within a matter of seconds, they were biting his feet, causing him to jump out of the hole (01:17:10:00) o The second time Anderson took his boots off was when he was with Charlie Company; it was pitch black outside, Anderson took his boots off and around ten or eleven o’clock, he heard one of his M-60s start firing (01:17:41:00)  Anderson stumbled around trying to find his boots and his glasses before eventually making his way over the foxhole where the M-60 machine gunner was located (01:18:15:00)  When Anderson asked what was going on, the gunner said he thought he saw something, which caused Anderson to berate the gunner for firing the M-60 and giving away the heavy-firepower position (01:18:22:00)  Then, a voice in the darkness said he had ordered the machine gunner to fire and that turned out to be the company CO; Anderson told him it was a bad idea because they were going to have to move the gun in the dark, which was going to make a lot of noise (01:18:46:00) �  The CO countered that there had been something, and Anderson looked out and asked where, the CO fired his pistol, with tracer rounds, where he thought there was a dead NVA (01:19:05:00)  Anderson could not see the body but he suggested shooting an M79 round out, so Anderson got his platoon’s M-79 grenadier, fired a round out and said that if there was anything there, it was either gone completely or dead from the M-79 round (01:19:43:00)  However, the CO said someone needed to go out to check, although Anderson questioned the order because the soldiers did not know what was out there; there might actually be someone out there, he might only be wounded, and the CO wanted them to crawl out there (01:20:10:00)  The 1st Platoon leader, who was a friend of Anderson, eventually came up and asked what was going on, so Anderson explained that the CO believed there were NVA outside the perimeter, which was why the machine gun fired, the CO wanted to go out and check if there were any bodies, and Anderson was going to go with the CO (01:21:03:00)  The 1st Platoon leader said he would go out as well, so it was the CO and two lieutenants who should have known better crawling outside the perimeter, although they had let the perimeter know not to shoot if the soldiers heard anything (01:21:45:00)  From where the gunner was to where the CO thought the enemy soldier was located was about thirty meters but being in front of a rifle company, there was always the possibility somebody did not receive the message and when they heard movement outside the perimeter, they fired; moreover, all it took was one guy shooting before the entire company began shooting (01:22:26:00)  Eventually, Anderson told the CO it was a bad idea for the three men to be outside the perimeter; they should return to the perimeter and check the location in the morning (01:22:52:00)  The CO must have agreed with Anderson because the three officers crawled back to the perimeter and when they checked the next morning, there was no evidence of any NVA being where the CO thought he was (01:23:28:00) The incident with the M-60 gunner occurred in early April and on April 26th, the company became involved in a hugely horrific firefight (01:23:54:00) o The 1st Platoon was performing a “cloverleaf” patrol while Anderson’s third platoon had been left behind as an ambush; however, while performing the patrol, the 1st platoon was ambushed themselves (01:24:14:00) o As Anderson was moving through the company’s position, the CO hurried past him, told Anderson to take command of the perimeter because he, the CO, was going out to kill an enemy with his knife, and Anderson said okay (01:24:23:00)  Anderson did not question what the CO was going to do because the bravado was part of his persona and that was the last time Anderson saw the CO alive (01:24:49:00) �o The CO went out with the 2nd Platoon while Anderson sat in the perimeter listening to the sounds of the enemy firing their weapons, intermittently mixed the sounds of the 1st Platoon firing back (01:25:16:00) o While he was commanding the perimeter, Anderson was able to hear with the CO and the 2nd Platoon were doing but not the 1st Platoon because both their radios had been shot (01:26:04:00) o Eventually, there was a call from the CO and 2nd Platoon telling Anderson to bring the 3rd Platoon out because the 2nd Platoon was pinned down; Anderson acknowledged, saying the platoon would be out there momentarily (01:26:22:00)  Anderson yelled over to his platoon sergeant, a newly-arrived E-5, to get the soldiers ready to move out to do what they could do (01:26:40:00) o When the 3rd Platoon left, the final platoon in the company, 4th Platoon, stayed behind to guard the perimeter; however, at the time, they were not a complete rifle platoon, which was why they were staying back to guard the perimeter and they were only to assist the rest of the company as a last resort (01:27:14:00) o As Anderson stood up to get ready to move out, an enemy B-40 or RPG round hit near the platoon, knocking down three or four of Anderson’s soldiers; although the round did not knock Anderson down, a piece still hit him (01:27:41:00)  Looking around, everyone in the platoon except for five soldiers stood up, so they got the medics over to the wounded soldiers, then proceeded to move out and assist the other platoons, although there were then only around fifteen soldiers in the platoon; Anderson was wounded as well but it was a miniscule wound compared to regular wounds (01:28:01:00) o It was easy to follow the trail the CO and the 2nd Platoon had made, although the soldiers did not know where anyone, friendly or enemy was; however, following the trail was the most expedient way Anderson had of finding the friendly forces that were under attack (01:28:27:00) o The platoon did not go very far, only around one hundred meters, and as always happened, there was a lot of firing and then there was nothing; by the time Anderson made it up to where the headquarters section was, the firing had somewhat stopped (01:28:45:00)  Anderson remembers the company’s forward observer, a large man nicknamed “Bull”, hugging the ground and looking up at Anderson, telling him to get down; although Anderson had heard all the firing, there was nothing happening at the moment (01:29:18:00) o Off to Anderson’s left was a large termite mound, behind which was the radio operator talking with the battalion, who was screaming into the radio that all the soldiers were going to be killed; meanwhile, off to Anderson’s right, he could see medics working on a soldier (01:29:50:00) o Anderson then went over to the termite mound and grabbed the radio away from the hysterical soldier; Anderson reported that he had just arrived and would update the battalion when he figured out what was going on (01:30:29:00)  The battalion commander eventually got onto the radio and told Anderson to update him as soon as Anderson knew anything; Anderson handed the radio back to the soldier and ordered him to not talk on the radio or answer any calls (01:31:10:00) �o Then, Anderson asked the soldier where the CO was, but the soldier did not know; Anderson thought it was weird that both the radio operator for the battalion and the company radio operator, who was nearby, were not with the company CO, although it was not the time to berate them (01:31:41:00)  Anderson then asked if they had any communication with the 1st Platoon and by the amount of firing that had gone on, Anderson figured the platoon had been wiped out (01:32:07:00) o Anderson placed a gun team on the other side of where the medics were working, kept the other team close to him, and told his radio operator to wait nearby while he, Anderson, went up to find out what was going on, although in retrospect, it was dumb because he did not take the radio operator with him (01:32:23:00) o Anderson began crawling but he had not gotten more than ten feet when the fighting started up again and it was more personal for Anderson because it seemed like everyone was shooting at him (01:32:53:00)  Although he realized it was not a good situation, Anderson kept crawling, even though he might be the only soldier out there and the enemy all might be able to see him, as they were all shooting at him (01:33:20:00) o Eventually, the 2nd Platoon leader low-crawled past Anderson as fast as he could; the 2nd Platoon leader said the company CO was dead and when Anderson asked where his platoon was, said that he did not have any idea (01:33:50:00)  When Anderson asked if he was sure the CO was dead, the platoon leader said he had crawled right past the body (01:34:10:00) o The platoon leader had not stopped crawling past Anderson as he told him the news and Anderson, realizing he could not leave the platoon leader to get back and get on the radios to report, turned around, crawled back to the termite mound and called the battalion commander, saying they had a situation and Anderson did not really know what was going on (01:34:26:00)  Anderson reported that the company CO was dead and as he made the report, Anderson watched the medics work on a soldier with a sucking chest wound, who, despite the effort of the medics, ended up dying while Anderson was watching (01:34:38:00)  The battalion commander continued question Anderson for information about the fight that Anderson did not know because by then, the brigade commander had become involved (01:35:07:00)  Finally, Anderson heard the brigade commander come over the radio and order the battalion commander to stop pressuring Anderson and allow him to develop an understanding of the situation; the battalion commander acknowledged and Anderson never had any more trouble from him after that (01:35:34:00) o As they were sitting there, one of Anderson’s machine gun teams asks if they had any people out there; Anderson said that he did not think so and the gunner said there was somebody running away (01:36:16:00)  Not knowing if they were friendlies or not, Anderson told the machine gunner to watch them; then, they heard sound off to the left and it turned out to be the remnants of the 1st Platoon, which had somehow managed to disengage the enemy and retreat (01:36:41:00) � o o o o o o o Anderson asked the platoon leader if he had all his soldiers with him and if there were any from the 2nd Platoon; when the platoon leader said he had all his soldiers and the soldiers from 2nd Platoon were behind him, Anderson told him machine gunners to fire at anything outside the perimeter because they were the enemy (01:37:00:00) Anderson called the battalion commander back, saying the 1st and 2nd platoons had made it back, they had a large number of casualties, and he still did not know the status of the company CO but he would find out (01:37:22:00) The 1st Platoon leader was sitting behind the termite mound, huffing and puffing because he had taken over one of his M-60 machine guns when the gunner was wounded until the gun was destroyed (01:37:49:00)  Anderson went up and said the 2nd Platoon leader had said the CO was dead; the platoon leader agreed and when Anderson said that they could not leave the body out there, the platoon leader said he was not going to go back out there (01:38:11:00)  Anderson could recover the body but the platoon leader said he was not going out there, so Anderson said okay (01:38:42:00) By then, the firing had stopped because what Anderson’s M-60 gunner had seen was the enemy having enough and retreating back because by then, Anderson had been calling in air strikes and additional support (01:38:52:00)  The 11th Armored Cavalry had been moving through the area with their APCs and tanks and the NVA had built bunkers near to where the armor had moved, thinking that if the soldiers went through once, then maybe they would go through again and they could attack them (01:39:18:00) Anderson grabbed another soldier and said they were going to check things out; the soldier was new enough that he said okay as opposed to asking if Anderson was nuts (01:39:47:00)  Anderson and the soldier went out about twenty-five meters and found the body of the CO, who had been shot in the forehead; there was not any horror to seeing the dead body but Anderson questioned where the CO’s glasses were (01:40:03:00)  The other soldier grabbed the CO’s arms while Anderson grabbed his legs and they carried the body back to the termite mound, where Anderson radioed the battalion commander that they had recovered the CO’s body and everyone was moving back to the original perimeter (01:40:43:00) The CO had weighed around one hundred and fifty pounds, so Anderson ordered one of the M-60 teams to give him their gun while they carried the body back to the perimeter (01:41:24:00)  Although there was no incoming fire, there already having been lulls in the fighting and the soldiers did not know for sure that the fighting was over (01:42:00:00) All the soldiers eventually made it back to the perimeter and they started the process of medevacing the wounded out (01:42:22:00) After the battle, the “B” Company commander had heard Anderson’s company commander had been killed, so he grabbed his rucksack and led the company for the rest of time the company was in Cambodia (01:43:19:00) �  o Anderson remembers telling one of the other officers who was there that he would never see another day like that and it was the worst day he would ever see, although when the company arrived in Cambodia, that day would be a good day compared to what they experienced in Cambodia (01:43:53:00) Three days after the major firefight, when Charlie Company was back on the firebase, Anderson’s former company, Alpha Company, got involved in similar fight, probably with the same group of enemies, and had a lieutenant and sergeant killed (01:44:25:00) o Typically, when a company was be beat-up, they would come back to the fire base to “decompress” and Charlie Company was in the middle of “decompressing” when Alpha Company got beat-up (01:44:53:00) o They could not leave Alpha Company in the field, so they brought them back to the firebase and told Anderson he was transferring back to Alpha Company to be the executive officer (XO) (01:45:07:00) The Alpha Company commander who had led the company while Anderson was there had left in March and moved up to the battalion S-4 (01:45:30:00) Alpha Company XO / Into Cambodia (01:46:17:00)  The job of an XO was really to just take over command of the company in a situation where the company commander has been killed (01:46:17:00) o The XO also had to sign to property book accounting for all the weapons and equipment in the company; whenever Stateside, the company commander signed for it but in a combat environment, the XO signed for it (01:46:30:00)  Whenever the company was on a firebase, Anderson would travel out to the company every day then return to the battalion headquarters at night; it was mostly administrative work because the company 1st Sergeant really ran the rear area and if they had a good 1st Sergeant, then they let him do his job (01:47:06:00) o Anderson would not necessarily call the job a promotion for good work but someone could be a bad XO, so long as they had a good 1st Sergeant; however, if someone was a bad XO and the had a bad 1st Sergeant, then the soldiers in the field did not get what they needed (01:47:43:00) o It was Anderson’s job to run interference if the 1st Sergeant ever had any issues, although he rarely did because even lieutenants would defer to a 1st Sergeant until the lieutenant found out if the 1st Sergeant was good or not (01:48:12:00)  The company eventually moved into Cambodia but Anderson would only go into field in Cambodia every three days, when the company was being re-supplied (01:48:43:00) o When the company moved into Cambodia, the brigade headquarters stayed at their original base camp and the battalion had a tactical operations center at a firebase in Cambodia, which was where the battalion commander would be stationed (01:48:55:00) o Similar to when Anderson first arrived, he would wait at the firebase until a resupply helicopter showed up, fly with it out to the company, take care of any business he had with the company commander, then fly out when the last resupply helicopter left (01:49:25:00)  Anderson is not aware of any times a helicopter was shot at while flying either to or from the company’s location; still, the only way to know was if they heard a round impact or the door gunner saw tracers (01:50:02:00) �  Anderson was fortunate because he never had to land in a “hot LZ”, when the helicopter flew to the landing zone like an assault and the enemy was at the LZ and engaging the soldiers (01:50:23:00)  It happened to the XOs after Anderson and the XOs before Anderson, but never to Anderson (01:50:39:00) o Like most people at the time, Anderson believed the discussions about the domino theory of Communism and part of the reason the Americans went into Cambodia was along those lines, to help the South Vietnamese in their fight against the Communist North Vietnamese (01:51:08:00) o All the soldiers had heard both the president and individual stories of how the enemy would engage American soldiers then retreat across the Cambodian border, where the Americans could, theoretically, not follow them (01:52:09:00)  After the April 26th engagement but before he rejoined Alpha Company, Anderson was in a briefing where the officers were informed they would be going into Cambodia, although no more than thirty miles, would stay there for sixty days in an effort to find enemy supplies and disrupt enemy activities and they did not know what the soldiers would find once in Cambodia, only that they could get the soldiers on the ground and get them out (01:52:41:00)  Charlie Company was actually supposed to be the first company to go in, but the fight involving Alpha Company occurred and Anderson joined them, so going into Cambodia did not affect him (01:53:22:00) o The plan originally called to load the ARVN (South Vietnamese) forces, fly them out to a firebase, then pick-up the American forces to flying into Cambodia; however, someone figured the ARVN forces would run away after they reached the firebase, so the plan was scrapped (01:53:38:00)  Instead, they took the ARVN forces into Cambodia first and the Americans in second (01:54:01:00) o The 1st of the 7th ended up taking a large number of casualties when they went into Cambodia; they were definitely the hardest hit battalion in the Air Cav. and possibly the hardest hit battalion out of all the units (01:54:11:00)  There were one hundred and fifty American soldiers killed over all the units and Charlie Company alone lost sixteen soldiers, in just forty-five days of combat (01:54:32:00) o Anderson stayed as Alpha Company XO the entire time the company deployed into Cambodia, working on administrative aspects for the company (01:54:53:00) o The fighting the soldiers encountered in Cambodia was brutal; as determined as the NVA forces were in South Vietnam, it seemed like they were more serious when fighting in Cambodia because they had more to defend (01:55:09:00)  Nevertheless, while the Americans took casualties, the NVA were beaten up pretty well in Cambodia as well (01:55:34:00) In the years since he served, Anderson has read books about the war which have made him more disenchanted with the war, such as a book about a former National Security Advisor suggesting President Kennedy was considering the removal of the military advisors from Vietnam when he was assassinated in 1963s (01:55:39:00) � o There was a group of soldiers that Anderson knew who died in Vietnam and it leaves him with a sense of sadness, not only for the American soldiers who died but also for the North Vietnamese who died; somewhere among the dead might have been the cure for cancer and Anderson is not naïve enough to believe it would only be an American who could come up with a cure (01:56:31:00) Before leaving Vietnam, Anderson spent two weeks as the acting company commander because the company commander had gone on R&R (01:57:15:00) o A new company commander took over following the end of the Cambodian campaign and by that time, Anderson was short time, with only about a month left in Vietnam until he could go home (01:57:35:00) o One time when he was out at the firebase, the company CO told Anderson that the next time he brought supplies, bring all his equipment as well and when Anderson asked what he meant, the company CO said he was going on R&R (01:57:50:00) o The CO went on his R&R, Anderson was back in the field for two weeks and within those two weeks, the company was involved in three different firefights, although they did not have anyone wounded (01:58:01:00) o By this time, the colonel who Anderson had had trouble with while working base defense was now the battalion commander (01:58:21:00)  Anderson recalls doing an aerial recon with the colonel, who pointed out where Anderson’s company would go, what they would do, and where he wanted them to end up when they were finished (01:58:44:00)  The company operated in the field for the two weeks and on the day they were supposed to be extracted, Anderson had the company at the spot the colonel had drawn on his map (01:59:06:00)  The colonel eventually called Anderson to say he was circling the location in a helicopter and to tell Anderson to pop smoke; Anderson said the company was where the colonel had drawn on the map and they did not hear any helicopters (01:59:13:00)  The exchange between the two went back and forth before the colonel told Anderson to cut an LZ where he was and report to the colonel when he got back to the base (01:59:31:00)  The company cut the LZ, extracted everyone a single helicopter at a time and once Anderson got back to the base, he reported, expecting the colonel to rip his head off (01:59:50:00)  However, the colonel commended Anderson on doing what the colonel described as a perfect extraction of a rifle team from the field (02:00:07:00)  It turned out the colonel had drawn the wrong location on Anderson’s map but apart from saying he was at the location on his map, there was not much Anderson could do (02:00:31:00)  A similar situation happened when Anderson had served with Alpha Company the first time; the company CO said Anderson was in one place, when in truth, he was in another and the two officers debated for awhile before the CO said he would shoot a marking round (02:00:54:00) �   The round went off right over Anderson’s head and when the CO asked if Anderson was able to get a reading from it, Anderson said his compass did not work when pointed straight up (02:01:14:00) For Anderson, the jungle school he went through in Panama was useful only in that he knew what jungle was like; the school consisted of mostly classroom training, with some field exercises, including a night course (02:01:51:00) o There were four lieutenants in the night course, Anderson including, and he maintains he had neither the compass or the map but the four got horribly lost and were out all night with mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds (02:02:12:00)  One of the lieutenants ended up losing his watch and the entire situation was like the Four Stooges (02:02:31:00)  The next day, it seemed like the instructors had a helicopter flying overhead calling out for the lieutenants and finally, the lieutenants managed to make it back (02:02:40:00) o The school helped Anderson because the weather was extremely hot, which helped prepare him for the weather in Vietnam, although Vietnam was hotter than Panama, and see what the terrain was like (02:02:54:00) o The other great thing about the school was it counted against the soldiers time in the service, so Anderson did not have to spend a full year in Vietnam, only around eleven months (02:03:16:00) While in-country, Anderson had very little contact with the Vietnamese (02:03:52:00) o They did have some former North Vietnamese soldiers who had surrendered, gone through an indoctrination program, then returned various units to serve as Kit Carson scouts or interpreters (02:03:56:00)  Early on, when Anderson was with Alpha Company, they had one Kit Carson scout, who ended up being wounded in the major firefight in November, after which the company received another (02:04:32:00)  The rehabilitated scouts could have been either officers or enlisted personnel and served in either the Viet Cong infrastructure or in the regular NVA (02:04:51:00) o When Anderson was the Alpha Company XO and serving in the rear, they had Vietnamese who worked on the base, such as cleaning hooches (02:05:01:00) o However, while Anderson was out in the field, anyone they ran across was either trying to avoid bullets or was firing at the soldiers (02:05:16:00)  At the time, Anderson’s unit was not in a populated area but before he got there, the company was operating in an area with a large number of indigenous people and there was more interaction then (02:05:29:00) o Anderson did not have much of an opinion regarding the Kit Carson scouts but it was not so much a matter of trust (02:06:01:00)  Anderson and a scout could look at the same trail and although Anderson would see nothing, the scout would see some indication of a large amount of NVA movement (02:06:13:00)  Anderson did not speak Vietnamese and the soldiers did not speak fluently English but they managed to let their feelings about the different soldiers come through clearly (02:06:34:00) �    The scouts were not part of the ARVNs, so he does not want to characterize them, except to say the scouts were there and when the soldiers found a trail, they were able to interpret how many enemy had passed, although that told the soldiers nothing (02:06:46:00) o On occasion, the soldiers would capture enemy intelligence and if the scout was Vietnamese, he could generally read the documents (02:07:18:00) On occasion, it was not always ugly for the soldiers (02:08:05:00) o The soldiers would come back from a mission into the firebase and their 1st Sergeant, who had been a major during the Korean War but was caught in a force reduction following the war, have steaks for them (02:08:09:00)  One time, the company CO said Anderson was in charge of cooking the potatoes Anderson had no idea how to cook the potatoes, other than remembering that on occasion, his mother would boil potatoes in water (02:08:31:00)  Anderson got a big metal canister from the artillery soldiers, cleaned it out, filled it with water, and boiled the potatoes; it worked and Anderson did not get yelled at by the CO (02:08:54:00) Whenever Anderson was with Alpha Company, the morale was good throughout all three platoons (02:09:41:00) o Anderson believes a company’s moral was a function of several different things: if the company had a good commander, good platoon leaders, good squad leaders and good platoon sergeants (02:09:53:00)  If any of those were out of whack, then Anderson believes that a company’s morale will suffer (02:10:10:00) o When he initially got to Charlie Company, Anderson already had a preconceived notion about the company CO and he had to try hard to keep his guard up and only let his true emotions be know to a very small group of people, namely the leader of the 1st Platoon (02:10:21:00)  Both men had to be careful because if the men saw that the lieutenants did not have any respect for the company commander, then that would upset the situation (02:10:48:00) Another humorous incident occurred when Anderson was stationed on Firebase Compton with Charlie Company and one day, when he was having bad bowel issues, the company CO ordered Anderson to take his platoon on a recon patrol (02:11:11:00) o The firebase was located at the end of an old airfield in the middle of a rubber plantation and the soldiers could see six hundred meters in almost every direction, so Anderson thought it would be a good opportunity to let one of his squad leaders take the platoon out and receive some training (02:11:30:00)  The soldiers never knew when a fight might occur in which the lieutenant and platoon sergeant were killed and one of the squad leaders would have to take over command (02:12:09:00) o Anderson did not receive any argument from the soldiers, although if he had, he would have figured something else out, because they were not necessarily concerned about the area (02:12:22:00) o The platoon started going out and began calling in situation reports, which Anderson monitored; the next thing Anderson knew, the CO called, asking where � Anderson was and when he told him, the CO said to wait and he would be right there (02:12:37:00) o The CO showed up a couple of minutes later and began berating Anderson, who was trying not to throw up; when Anderson tried to explain himself, the CO said he had ordered Anderson to lead the patrol and to get out there, so Anderson threw the radio over his back, slung two bandoliers of ammunition over his shoulders and began walking to where the platoon was, who he had ordered to sit tight and set up security (02:13:04:00) o As Anderson was walking, the platoon sergeant ran up, asking what Anderson was doing, and when Anderson explained it, the sergeant said Anderson could not go out there by himself (02:13:37:00)  Anderson as the platoon sergeant if he was coming with him and the platoon sergeant said yes, so Anderson told him to get his equipment because he was leaving (02:13:56:00) o The two men walked out of the firebase to the platoon and when he got there, Anderson radioed back that he had joined the platoon; the CO radioed back to have Anderson let him know how the patrol went but the platoon ended up staying where they were for the rest of the day (02:14:03:00) While Anderson was in Vietnam, his father’s duty station was at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, so Anderson took the R&R he received in the Philippines (02:14:52:00) o Anderson’s father was then a lieutenant colonel and in charge of scheduling all planes into and out of the base; he flew over on the R&R plane to Vietnam, where Anderson and seven or eight other soldiers got on (02:15:05:00) o The plane landed at an airfield in Manila where the other soldiers got off but Anderson stayed on while he and his father continued to Clark, where he re-united with his mother and sister (02:15:36:00)  Everyone else going to the Philippines did their R&R in Manila while Clark stayed at Clark with his family (02:15:58:00)  While at the base, Anderson played golf a couple of times and went to Subic Bay with his family (02:16:04:00) o The R&R flight back to Vietnam from the Philippines originated at Clark, so Anderson was able to get on there (02:16:12:00) Post-Vietnam Service / Post-Military Life / Reflections (02:16:37:00)  Anderson left Vietnam in the middle of September 1970 and his enlist ran until March of the following year; however, there was a slight problem in the orders he received when he left Vietnam (02:16:37:00) o Anderson was assigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky and the report date was Sept. 31st but he knew he would miss that date, so he mailed a copy of the orders to his father; his father mailed back, saying there was no Sept. 31st, so Anderson went down to the personnel office, who changed the date to Oct. 31st (02:16:54:00)  After leaving Vietnam, Anderson went back to Kalamazoo, where his grandparents were living, and stayed there until renting a car and driving down to Fort Knox, where he was sent to the reception station (02:17:53:00) o Anderson felt like a fish out of water from the beginning because he was an infantryman at an armor base and on top of that, Anderson viewed it as they had �  the audacity to send him to the reception station; he was at least hoping to go to a basic training unit to teach someone else the lessons he had learned (02:18:18:00) o Nevertheless, Anderson reported to the lieutenant colonel in charge while wearing his uniform and all the medals he had earned, including his CIB (Combat Infantryman Badge); however, Anderson did not have the armor school insignia on the uniform (02:18:51:00)  Anderson stood at attention as the lieutenant colonel looked him over before he began berating Anderson for being out of uniform and having neither an armor or cavalry patch; the lieutenant colonel told Anderson to have them the following Monday and be ready to work (02:19:33:00) o Anderson saluted him and ended up driving back home to Kalamazoo; he had gotten a hat when he was coming that had the cavalry patch on it and when he got home, asked his grandmother if she would sew that patch and the armor insignia on his dress uniform (02:20:11:00)  Anderson’s grandmother sewed both patches on so when Anderson reported on Monday morning, he was in the proper uniform (02:20:46:00) o They made Anderson a training and operations officer and a friend from OCS was also stationed on the base, so Anderson was living with him (02:21:06:00) o Anderson’s friend kept asking if Anderson was going to go back to school when he got out of the service and when Anderson said he was, the friend asked if he was not going to stay in the Army; when Anderson said he was not, the friend suggested Anderson apply for an early out from the service so he could start his schooling again in January (02:21:35:00) o Anderson filled out all the necessary paperwork to get an early out from the military, which the Army accepted; once they realized Anderson would be leaving at the end of December, they sent him to headquarters company, where he worked as XO, counting paper clips for the last two weeks of his enlistment (02:22:05:00) When Anderson had graduated from OCS, he received a letter from a colonel in the Department of the Army saying the colonel had talked with Anderson’s battalion commander, Anderson was the type of person the Army needed, they would send him anywhere he wanted to go etc.; all of which sounded great to Anderson because he had only been an officer for a couple of months (02:22:50:00) o All Anderson needed to do was say “yes” to an interview with the brigade commander, which he did; however, the commander was busy that day, so Anderson interviewed with the brigade XO (02:23:26:00) o However, Anderson had not given much thought to re-enlisting until the time for him to get out of the Army, at which point he figured that he still did not have a college education and staying in the Army might not work for him (02:23:53:00) Once Anderson left the military, he went right back to his education; his official last day in the Army was Dec. 31st and they allowed him two days to travel from Fort Knox to Kalamazoo (02:24:24:00) o Anderson signed out of the military and went to his grandparents, while school started either the next week or the week after, at which point Anderson went back to Michigan State (02:24:40:00)  To get an early out, Anderson had to be accepted to some university, so he re-applied to Michigan State while he was still in the Army (02:25:01:00) �   o When he returned to school, Anderson had a different outlook on the idea of studying; prior to his service, Anderson would put in the time but he was not able to express what he had learned on test and although he did not fail any tests, he had two consecutive terms of a 1.0 GPA (02:25:09:00) o Anderson was re-accepted to the university unconditionally but he still had the 1.0 GPA and it took him some time to bring the GPA up to a better level (02:25:57:00)  Going back to school for Anderson was a lot easier, partially because he was much more mature (02:26:47:00) o Anderson remembers there being protests in the 1970s, although Anderson does not remember what they were protesting; Anderson remembers he and some other students going to watch and he remembers that he and his roommate told the cops to roll up to windows of the police cruisers where the protesters were held to make them sweat (02:27:21:00) o Anderson assumes people knew he was in the service because he continued wearing his old fatigues, although he did not receive any trouble from people about his time in the service (02:28:39:00) o Anderson’s undergraduate degree was in General Business with an emphasis in Management, while his masters degree was in Personnel Management (02:29:01:00) When he graduated with his masters degree, it was 1976, which was not a great year to try and find a job (02:29:22:00) o Anderson had been married for a couple of years by then and it even got to the point that Anderson considered doing what his father had done and re-enlisting in the military; Anderson had stayed in the IRR (Individual Readiness Reserve), although he never had to go to meetings (02:29:37:00) o Anderson eventually wrote to a general, saying he was ready to go back onto active duty but he never heard back from him (02:30:10:00) Finally, Anderson got a job with Continental Can Company; he spent a year in New Jersey before transferring back to Grand Rapids, Michigan when the company opened a factory there (02:30:36:00) o Anderson stayed with the company before eventually being laid off, after which he joined another small company in Grand Rapids, then another small company in Zeeland, Michigan (02:30:42:00) o Finally, Anderson joined a packaging company in Holland, Michigan but was eventually let go from there as well (02:31:12:00) Following his time in the service, Anderson had a lot of anger issues but until he got into therapy, he did not know why; he always seemed to have trouble with bosses who he viewed as incompetent and it did not take too long for a therapist to say that Anderson was dragging around his experiences from the war and was looking at his bosses, who may or may not have been incompetent, and comparing him to the officers Anderson had served under (02:31:26:00) o However, by the time he learned this, Anderson had stopped work but he wishes he had known it long before (02:32:28:00) �      o Many of the people who were diagnosed with PTSD were able to function because they stuffed the PTSD down; however, the symptoms tended to rear their heads at inopportune times (02:32:41:00) o Anderson has been married for over thirty years, he and his wife have one child, he never did drugs, drank, or any of the typical things associated with people who had PTSD, although he did have the symptom of being a workaholic; as well, the idea of telling his child what to do was imprinted on the child and that caused some drama (02:33:14:00) o A new concept that Anderson recently heard of in his therapy group is the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth (02:34:27:00) o Anderson thinks that all of the training and exposure made him a good supervisor, although it did not make him a great employee (02:34:50:00)  Anderson was tough on his subordinates and he when has run into several during his therapy, Anderson has apologized to them; however, almost universally, they have said the Anderson was not as hard as Anderson believed he was and once the soldiers figured out he had been in the situation before, they tended to see that he was right (02:35:13:00) Ultimately, Anderson would not trade the experience (02:36:31:00) Anderson has been able to go to the Walter Reed Medical Center on several occasions to see veterans of the current wars and although on some levels it makes Anderson angry that they are putting the kids through that but it makes him sometimes feel that he is unworthy of the benefits he is receiving from the government because not only are those veterans going to have PTSD but they are also going to have to continue their life with a disability (02:36:36:00) Anderson avoided the idea of therapy for a long time because he knew there were people who went to therapy who faked the experiences that they had; however, one day, it dawned on him that he not only had to do the therapy for himself but he could not help anyone else if he was only sitting on the sidelines (02:37:42:00) o Anderson jokingly says he decided to do therapy because he wanted to stop being a jackass and over the six years, he has seen some changes from therapy (02:38:29:00) Anderson is involved in a chapter for the 1st Air Cav. Association; the members meet every month, do work out of the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, including running bingo on every fifth Sunday in a month (02:39:12:00) o If the members see a veteran on the street, they stop and thank them because in a lot of ways, the current group of veterans has it much harder because they continue having to go back to fight (02:40:03:00) Because Anderson has been through the benefit system and he is able to help other veterans with the system, including men from his old company (02:40:33:00) Anderson would not change anything from the military experience and the only thing he would change if he could would be to understand what PTSD was thirty-five years before (02:41:24:00) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Anderson, Bob (Interview transcript and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Robert Description An account of the resource Bob Anderson was born in August 1948 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. While growing up, his father re-enlisted in the military, meaning Anderson and his family moved constantly, although Anderson's father stayed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland long enough for Anderson to attend school and graduate. After graduating, Anderson attended a junior college in Mississippi and went to Michigan State University for a year before the university kicked him out for low grades. Once he left Michigan State, Anderson received his draft notice and following completion of basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia and AIT at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Anderson went back to Fort Benning to attend OCS. After completing OCS, Anderson deployed to Vietnam and joined the 1st Air Cavalry Division as a platoon leader. During his tour, Anderson served as a platoon leader, worked as part of base defense for a position and as a company executive officer. Once his tour in Vietnam ended, Anderson returned to the United States and went back to Michigan State. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.) WKTV WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-02-17 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AndersonB Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cd711cb60f7e8157cd7b380938aa9a34.mp4 0bbd396564ad211c58d437df9308775c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3d175a673b21fdfe5c871f5b7613ff19.pdf 4e585cc78507f74a13ae3c29edd41f95 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Doug Anderson Length: 26:55 (00:25) Naval Training • Doug was in high school when WWII started and the Navy had been offering a special officer training program • He enlisted in the Navy and began training one month after graduating from high school in July of 1943 • Doug was sent to Oakland College in Ohio for an accelerated college program • He was then sent to midshipman school at Long Island Sound in New York • Doug was later transferred to a supply corps school in Boston • The war ended while he was still in school • He went through further training in salvage and preservation; there had been a lot of equipment left over in the Pacific after the war and it needed to go into storage (4:30) Salvage and Preservation • Doug was sent to Guam in the Pacific where he worked at the spare parts distribution center • They set up a sort of assembly line where they would dip parts in a conservative compound and then pack them away for storage • He stayed there working in Guam for the extent of his service • The crew he worked with continued to shrink every month or so while he was there and he was discharged in August of 1946 (6:20) Navy • Doug had chosen the Navy because he said he had always been intrigued with the ocean and wanted to serve his time on a ship • He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and went to Union High School �• During his time in the service Doug traveled to Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Guam • While training he did a lot of marching and drilling while also working on signaling, gunnery, and seamanship • Midshipman school was the hardest because they had a lot of classes and went on cruises in small naval craft (10:20) Guam • On the island they lived in Quonset huts and had decent food; Doug did not have any “horror stories” • He got along well with everyone and had an enjoyable experience • There had still been a few Japanese soldiers hiding out in the jungle and mountains that did not know the war was over • They would sometimes come out at night and raid the garbage dumps • Doug also helped with orders from ships that were in need of new equipment • He served under a regular Navy Commander in charge of the base and Doug was the Executive Officer � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Anderson, Doug (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Doug Description An account of the resource Doug Anderson was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Union High School in 1943. He enlisted in the Navy and began training one month after graduation. Doug went through accelerated college courses at Oakland College in Ohio and was then sent to mid-shipman school in New York. After going through training, the war was already over and Doug was sent to work in salvage and preservation in Guam. Doug spent the extent of his service in Guam and eventually became an Executive Officer when he was only 19 years old. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mangione, Nathaniel (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-05-03 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AndersonD Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b24cf9936319b54edaab6f1a108ce48c.mp4 eb4f271493fa0c374a3715f2729bd38a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abae5647a61b7899dfde087dd6a49fc4.pdf 6c8312bf28a791ab08916bf6413b7389 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project George Anderson (00:25:37) Background • George Anderson • Born February 5, 1931 • Coopersville, Michigan (00:09) • He enlisted into the navy (00:29) • Grew up on Garfield Street not to far from where he lives now (00:44) • Wanted to do something for his country to help out in the Korean War (01:00) Enlistment/Training • Signed up in Muskegon • Sent to Chicago for training o Great Lakes training camp � Spent three months learning to be a sailor (01:16) • Sent to Newport, Rhode Island, for four months o For torpedo school (01:42) • Went to San Francisco, California and set out on the USS Curtis in November (01:56) • First day of service he was 20 years old scared o They cut all of his hair off, which he didn’t like at all (02:20) • Enjoyed his time in the service (03:34) • Officer in charge of boot camp was bitter about being called back to duty from retirement o Did a lot of marching, inspections, firefighting drills • Took his training a day at a time to get by (03:29) • Set sail from San Francisco • Went up and down the coast • Target drills, last from one hour to several days (04:50) • Was a telephone operator for a gunnery officer (05:36) • Shore patrol around Pearl Harbor Acapulco, Mexico • Acapulco Mexico, good will tour basically • All along the west coast o Training and having fun (06:24) • Worked in the armory of the ship, because they didn’t use the torpedoes • Kept things up o Worked for a first class aviation ordinance man (07:03) • Did not see any combat (07:56) • Watched a Hydrogen bomb go off �• o Cant look directly at it for the first three seconds Brighter then the sun when it explodes o Very beautiful (08:08) Reflections on Service • Got a Korean war medal, because he served during that time period, and he received a good conduct medal (09:25) • Wrote letters home to family o Wrote letters every week, as the months went on he started to write only once a month � His family wrote to him a lot (09:53) • Lots of good food, good rations masters, and good cooks. o Plenty of supplies (10:43) • Got a package of cigarettes for eighteen cents (11:26) • Never felt pressured or stress while in the army (11:43) • Was a mail delivery person from ship to ship o Motor whale boat � Hard to get in and out of it � Didn’t want to fall into the ocean (12:50) � Had recreation: beers, swimming, nap for entertainment (13:58) � In Pearl Harbor hula girls came onto the ships to entertain the men � Had movies sometimes(14:38) � On leave he would go home and see his family (15:33) � Doesn’t recall taking part in any pranks (16:00) � Shows a series of photos (16:24) Post Service Life � Discharged honorably April 4, 1955 (17:09) � Still showing pictures, cant see them very well, explains some of them (18:34) � Given papers of dis charge in San Diego (20:05) � Mother and sister came to visit him when he was discharged, they drove home to Michigan cross country (20:31) � He got a job in construction that October did it the rest of his life (21:03) � Never took advantage of the G.I. bill (21:17) � Part of a convention with people from his ship (21:51) � Forced to retire, he didn’t want to retire (22:36) � Military experience shaped him and his thought process towards life o He keeps up with world affairs (22:48) � Part of a war organization, doesn’t participate in them very much now (23:20) � You have to get along with people, associate with different things, lots of travel (23:36) � Wanted to see combat (24:40) � Sad to leave the service, happy to see his family and be back home (24:48) � Brothers were in various branches of the war in the military (25:16) � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Anderson, George (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, George Description An account of the resource George Anderson was born on February 5, 1931 in Coopersville, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy in 1951. He was sent to the Great Lakes training center in Chicago, and then transferred to Newport, Rhode Island, where he took torpedo training. He was sent to San Francisco and assigned to the USS Curtis. He did not see any combat, but he went through patrols that took him all across the country and to Pearl Harbor. He worked in the armory of the ship. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-02-01 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AndersonG Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0a0bf0abf7bf128b8986c63856896b3a.mp4 7709e5cec0d9b3da8c0a486c812651a2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a4eb2cafbe1f9e5d18c5e1acec928f02.pdf 56751491af6bc460ef0bddb84a5aca05 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Afghanistan Nick Anderson Total Time – (01:16:38) Background          He was born in Minnesota in 1989 (00:25) o He lived there for a year until his family moved to Grand Haven, Michigan (00:30) His father is an automotive engineer and his mother stayed at home with the kids o There are four kids in the family (00:43) He went to Freedom Baptist High School in Hudsonville, Michigan He remembers being in 8th grade band class when he heard about 9/11 (01:01) The news came over the loudspeakers – everyone was shocked o There was a TV in his science class and they all gathered around and watched it there (01:25) The event stayed with him and was part of the reason he joined the military Before 9/11 he had given thought to the service (01:49) Movies helped make him want to join the military He graduated high school in 2007 (02:14) Enlistment/Training – (02:18)      He had decided midway through his senior year of high school that he wanted to be a Marine (02:24) o He chose the Marine Corps because he believed that they were the best  He based that on word of mouth and old veterans (02:41) After signing up there were optional work-outs and class sessions on Wednesdays at the recruiting station (03:12) o The military expected the soldiers to know a lot of different acronyms and general orders He did not have any sense of what he was getting into before he was sent to Boot Camp (04:03) He was sent to San Diego, California for Boot Camp (04:12) Before getting to California, he was sent to Lansing, Michigan to swear in (04:26) o He is then sent to the airport to fly out o Before they get on the plane, the soldiers were greeted by an angry guy (Drill Instructor) o He landed late at night (04:56) �                On the bus ride to the recruiting depot, the recruits had to look down the entire time (05:14) When he got off the bus he was made to stand on yellow footprints, they yell at you, shave your head, make them put their possessions in a box, give them all the same things (05:29) It took roughly a day or two for them to get put into their Boot Camp platoons (05:52) The only aptitude test he had to take was the ASVAB (Army Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) (06:16) o He had done it in high school He was offered a variety of jobs but he only wanted to be infantry Boot Camp was meant to break the soldiers down to nothing and then build them back up (07:23) o After that, he had to go to the School of Infantry where he learned all of the basic infantry skills  Patrolling, shooting, etc. (07:38) He was then sent to the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines (07:45) o He went through little mandatory classes such as suicide prevention He was able to call himself a Marine as soon as he was done with Boot Camp (08:02) Boot Camp was thirteen weeks long (08:07) When they break the soldiers down, there are three phases that the they do it by o The first phase is when “everybody is just like garbage” (08:21)  They are just learning the basic things – they could not do basic things that Marines could  They could not roll up their sleeves, blouse military boots, etc. (08:28)  The soldiers learn how to march o They start of simple and then get more difficult (08:52) It was not that difficult to adjust to the military life – he was used to get yelled at – “I got yelled at a lot because I was stupid in high school.” (09:14) It was all mind games There were “a lot of stupid people that wanted to be Marines. If they’re getting yelled at and I’m not, it’s fine with me.” (09:37) Boot Camp has all kinds of recruits in it o Some are fat, skinny, goofy looking, some say stupid things and get yelled at, etc. (09:55) o For some people, the military was an easy job  Some did it for school as well (10:21) o One of the major reasons that many of the men were in the military was to serve the country (10:44)  There are other perks that are factors as well o There were men from all over the country (10:59) When people messed up in Boot Camp they get yelled at in front of everyone They had pre-pressed camis and boots that do not need to be shined (11:48) �           There were a lot of Irish pendants that needed to be clipped on The Drill Instructors came from all over the place o To be a Drill Instructor you have to be crazy (12:36) He was normally associated with a platoon with three instructors associated to it (12:50) o There was a senior, one that was specialized in drills, and one specialized in knowledge o The Senior Drill Instructor was like a father figure (13:19)  If they had problems they could go to him and he would not usually scream at them as much (13:23) After Boot Camp he was sent to Camp Pendleton, California for Infantry Training (13:32) Camp Pendleton was basically an addition to Boot Camp o They soldiers are still getting yelled at but technically they are all Marines (13:47) o They give you more responsibility  They trained on the M16, M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), explosive rounds, etc. o They did not train on many heavy weapons (14:40) o He did a lot of patrolling training (14:54) When he first arrived to the fleet, he was joining a battalion that had already been in Iraq (15:17) At Camp Pendleton, some of the soldiers had already been to Iraq – they picked on the new guys After Camp Pendleton, his job was to join the unit and join their training schedule (16:00) o He got to his unit in March of 2008 and they went on their first deployment in January of 2009 (16:17) The environment was a lot more relaxed o He had some more time to himself (16:40) o When they were in the rear or stateside, unless they are on duty or training, they have normal working hours (16:45) o He did not got off the base very much because he did not have a car and the base is in the middle of nowhere He had a cell phone while he was there that allowed him to stay in contact with others back home (17:14) o There was a building in each part of the base that had free internet In Boot Camp they tried to disconnect the soldiers from the world (17:31) o He received one phone call in Boot Camp Active Duty – Part I - MEU/Pacific Cruise – (17:49)  His first deployment was on a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) (17:54) o It is virtually a show of strength to the world if something happens they are right there to take care of it (17:58) �         o He went to Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and Australia  They took unit transports to the different locations  They flew on a 747 to Okinawa (18:29) o The ship that he took was an LPD-9 (18:37)  The backs open up and they let the amphibious vehicles out He started out of South Korea In most of the countries that they went to they trained with the actual armies of those countries (19:00) o They did house room clearing o He got he impression that the South Koreans had tight restrictions on what they could and could not do (19:23)  They had nets on their guns that collected the brass after they shot  He heard that they had a high suicide rate (19:36) The Marines are fed by eating MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) (20:01) o They come in little brown bags o Some of them are good but some of them are nasty (20:06) o When they were on the ships they ate very well – they ate Navy food After Korea, he went to the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand (20:24) o They did not get a good reception when they went to Australia (20:33) o There were girls there that were trying to make fun of the Americans accents  It was funny to the soldiers even though the girls did not mean for it to be funny (20:44) o The Philippines was the most receptive of the countries they went to When they go to shore they are given the normal rules – “if you’re gonna drink, don’t get stupid.” (21:07) o Incidents in other countries are difficult to deal with o Alcohol was usually involved in the misbehaving of soldiers (21:23)  Usually the soldiers did alright o He stayed away from the drinking for the most part (21:37) Having gone to a Baptist school helped him in the military (21:42) o It gave him a good foundation to stick to o He met a couple of married men in the service that wanted to remain faithful so he hung out with them (21:48) They usually got a couple of days in each country to go and hang out (22:12) o They had to stay in groups of no less than four in case they got in trouble or got lost The cruising lasts for about eight months (22:37) Day to day life on ship did not have much for Marines to do o The higher-ups would get made at them for being lazy and sleeping all day (22:56)  They made it mandatory that they got out of bed  The Navy men had to work and the Marines were in there way (23:10)  They then stayed in their beds all day to stay out of the Navy’s way �        The Senior Battalion Commander and Sergeant Major were probably in their 50’s (23:38) o The Company Commander was probably 30 years old and the Platoon Commander was probably 24 or 25 years old (23:52) o All of the Officers had college degrees (24:04) He had a sense that promotion was fairly slow o It was dependent on what job the soldier has o The military did not need a lot of promotions for infantry soldiers (24:33) The soldiers that had been in Iraq did not talk about it very much (24:47) o By that time Iraq had slowed down quite a bit There were some of his seniors that had been in Fallujah, Iraq in the deployment before the major deployments (25:12) At this point he never expected his military experience to get bad o He figured that he may have to go to Afghanistan but never thought it would get too bad (25:43) He then returned to the United States from his cruise in August of 2009 At this stage he was figuring that a four year stint would probably make him go on two different deployments (26:43) o He was thinking that he would not reenlist o He had been open to the idea of staying in for longer (27:01) When he was in his return, he was in the middle of seniority – he was more senior than the new guys but less senior than the higher ups Active Duty – Part II – Camp Leatherneck/Sangin/IED – (28:00)        He stayed at Camp Pendleton for roughly one year (28:03) In January of 2010, they went to Bridgeport, California for mountain warfare training (28:10) o The first week they were there it snowed 6-10 feet They would train in different extremes – they would go to the dessert in the summer for training (28:20) In the process of all of his training he received amphibious landing training (28:37) o They would get on an amphibious assault vehicle and would shoot off of the back of a ship He learned that he was going to go to Afghanistan three months before they were going to leave (29:17) o They were all thinking that it was not going to be fun but more exciting than what they had been doing (29:30) o Once it gets closer to it they hear about what is going on where they are going They did not receive much specialized training for Afghanistan before they left (29:51) Most of the training they did before they went they did not use because they did not know what to expect in Afghanistan o The training they had was based more on Iraq than Afghanistan (30:12) �              o Where they were in Afghanistan they had to walk in single file lines because of IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device) (30:25)  Typically soldiers will not walk in single file line in case the enemy has a machine gun – they could mow down all of the soldiers When the time comes to leave, they flew on a plane to Maine and then to Kurdistan (30:51) o They stayed at an Air Force Base in Kurdistan for a couple of nights before flying in to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan They stayed in Camp Leatherneck for a week while they were briefed (31:13) o They then flew in to Sangin, Afghanistan where they took over (31:19) They were in the Helmand Province (31:32) His first impression is that everything is made of dirt and the people are dirty There was a river that ran right next to the town that was green on both sides – there were pomegranate trees and other vegetation (32:01) Across from the main road there was just a desert where nothing grew o They were in the desert part for the majority of the time (32:25) The guys that they were taking over for told them that they should not go for the Taliban flags, do not go in to abandoned compounds, and follow in the footsteps of the soldier in front of you (32:40) The properties in Sangin had twelve foot high mud walls surrounding their land with a compound on the inside (33:17) o They had outhouses o Their own property was enclosed in the walls (33:36) o The compounds often shared the same walls There were narrow streets and allies (33:58) He was a part of Lima Company (34:16) o Their area of operations was to the south of the city o The different companies split up to the different parts of the town (34:26)  It was a big town Their basic mission was to cut off supply routes and kill the Taliban (34:39) He was not sure how the Taliban moved supplies around o They would do vehicle and personnel checks o They had rules of engagement that were pretty relaxed at the beginning (35:03)  Anyone that had a walkie talkie or a cell phone could be shot (35:09) The local population was scared of the American soldiers (35:15) o They were once told that they believed they were going to kidnap the women and children and cut their heads off o One lady told them that the Taliban was only in her town because the Americans were. If the Americans would leave, the Taliban would leave as well (35:31) o Little kids would throw rocks at them when they would drive by Each company was broken down into four platoons (35:59) o There were three patrol bases where the platoons would split up �           o From each patrol base, one squad would be sent out each day (36:13) o There were typically 12-15 men in each squad  They would typically go out and patrol – they found a lot of IED’s (36:31)  They found a lot of weapons caches (36:37) The IED’s were found by either seeing them with their eyes or by metal detectors (36:50) o IED’s are made of plastic jugs with chemicals, a lamp cord, 3 9 volt batteries to complete the circuit, and a pressure plate made of wood o The metal detectors could only pick up on the batteries (37:18) They were very careful with any unsettled dirt Each patrol was led by an engineer with a valence (metal detector) (37:53) There was one day when they only moved 50 feet and it took them two hours to clear the area (37:58) Clearing out IED’s was very slow When they find the IED they call up the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) (38:10) o They drive up in their truck and dig at the IED to see if it is – if it is they blow it up (38:20) o The EOD were awesome at their job o There was one patrol where the EOD helped them with sixteen IED’s (38:52) The patrol bases were typically abandoned buildings o Their patrol base was a cement building – they would joke that a drug lord had owned it (39:14) o They would put sandbags all around the top of the building He started to run into trouble about a week after he was there (39:56) o The first day there was a three hour long gun fight  It was kind of fun because no one got hit (40:06)  It was like “all guns blazin” o They were up on a hill being shot at (40:32) o They were only 200 feet away from their patrol base o They called in an A10 Warthog to go in and unload their main firepower (40:50)  The A10 Warthog worked  They wanted to hide after that (41:11) After the first firefight, the enemy got the idea that it was not a good idea to fight them (41:19) o The Americans had way more firepower than the enemy could imagine o The enemy would sometimes take a couple of pot shots but that was about all (41:31) The biggest threat was the IED’s (41:39) The IED’s were typically just the pressure plates o There were sometimes some manually triggered IED’s (41:59)  They came across a lot of the abandoned manual IED’s �   The next day after the first firefight was when they discovered an IED that was very close to them o An Afghani soldier stepped on an IED and blew it up (43:07) o The dust from the IED takes roughly 2-3 minutes before it clears o They could hear screaming in English (43:27)  Their lieutenant had been hit as well o They saw the Afghani soldier rolling around and yelling (43:37)  He bled out in front of them (43:44) After the IED exploded, no one really wanted to walk around anymore o They had to get to the body and take care of it o It took a while because they were all trying to be very careful (44:03) o A helicopter came and took the body and the American to a hospital (44:17) They were supposed to take the Afghans on every patrol so that they could train and learn how to do everything on their own (44:30) o He does not see that every happening  They would never lead the patrol and would wait for the Americans to lead (44:36) o The Afghans were not any better than the Americans at spotting IED’s  Typically, when an IED would be spotted, the Afghan soldiers would sit on the ground with their gun over their laps (44:51) Active Duty – Part III – Patrols/Taliban Flags/ Weapon Caches – (45:01)         There was at least one interpreter on every patrol (45:07) o The interpreters were Afghans o The Americans liked the interpreters because they spoke English and would go out without guns (45:31) Most of the interpreters wanted to eventually go to America (44:44)  They were primarily recruited by the government to work as interpreters It was very dangerous working with the Afghan soldiers (46:26) o One of his best friends was blown up when they were going down an alley way and one of the Afghani soldiers went off on his own and stepped on an IED o The enemy typically fires at the Americans when the bombs go off because it is very hard to see anything (47:08) He was deployed in Afghanistan for seven months o In that time he carried an M249 saw when he was there (47:46) He kept a diary for a large portion of the time that he was there (47:52) Usually the rooftops of the compounds did not have walls – everyone was able to see them but they could hardly see anything (48:18) When they were on the ground they could only see 15-20 feet away because of the walls When they were patrolling and had to go into a compound they would typically have the interpreter knock on the door and ask to let the Americans in (48:53) �         o If the compound was not occupied, they would rarely go through the doorway  One of his other best friends was blown up and killed because he walked in an empty doorway that had an IED on the other side (49:14) o They would take ladders and go over the wall o They eventually just started blowing holes in the sides of walls (49:29)  It made a lot of the Afghans upset About three months in, his unit moved farther into the country so that they could secure the whole area (50:04) o They had to make their own new patrol base (50:16)  There were a lot of sandbags to be filled The men in his squad were mostly kids (50:35) He has one friend from Hawaii that he still talks to One of his friends that stepped on an IED was from Minnesota (51:03) He also maintains contact with many of the guys out in California (51:11) They were not supposed to get “buddy buddy” with the sergeants because they were higher ups (51:30) o He liked most of them and did not agree with the decisions of some of them o One of the sergeants was a short guy and felt like he owed someone something  His mindset was that since he had been in Iraq he wanted to do a lot of the things that were not supposed to be done in Afghanistan (52:12)  He wanted to get the Taliban flags, find IED’s, etc.  He was only put in charge of them because he was a higher rank than them (52:27)  He was the squad leader The Taliban flags were typically in abandoned compounds that have IED’s planted inside (52:46) o Their mindset is that the Americans will want to go get the flags. That is why they booby trap the building that they are in (52:59) o They eventually learned to not go and get the flags (53:08) The weapons caches were also in abandoned compounds (53:27) o They would sometimes get tipped off on where to look for them o There was a big tower with a camera on top where they could look for hostile movement o One time they saw a man with a long barreled weapon that he should not have  They called it in and had him “blown to pieces” (53:59) o Sometimes they would see people moving in and out of abandoned compounds – they would then have to go and check it out (54:08) The rules of engagement changed over time o When they arrived there was hardly anyone traveling the streets (54:27)  Near the end there were families going down the streets �   o On some level, the American presence was working (54:45)  The Afghani’s probably felt safe because there were Americans everywhere with guns o Toward the end there was a lot less gunfights (55:03) The trucks and mine rollers that they would use were essentially big trucks (55:30) o Most of them have a v-shaped hole o The humvees are being used less because of their flat bottoms (55:44) o They would sometimes use an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) truck (55:55) o The mine plows were extensions of the truck that had solid rubber tires with weights on top that will set off the IED before it gets under the truck (56:28) When driving around on the mine plow he had a lot of problems with the tires A typical day when not on patrol was being put on post (57:45) o If he was not on post he would be on an unloading party – they would unload water bottles, food, or filling sandbags Active Duty – Part IV – Miscellaneous Info./Last Experiences in Afghanistan – (58:13)         He had more down time at the beginning than at the end (58:19) When someone in the unit would get hit and taken out, the rest of the men stayed back and continued fighting (58:36) o They would always have to push through it In the beginning they did not patrol as much because of the IED threat (58:55) o The would have spades tournaments It was typically too cold to take showers – they would sometimes take solar showers but it was still often too cold (59:32) o It was three months before he got his first running water shower o The soldiers would have to put the same dirty clothes back on (59:51) They were expected to shave and keep their hair short (01:00:00) o They had generators that were brought in  At first they could only shave o The generators had outlets where they could plug in and shave their hair (01:00:22) The seven months that he was in Afghanistan was spent with the same group o After guys were killed or hurt they would receive combat replacements (01:00:45) For a while they liked to believe that they were the best squad o There was not much of a difference between the units (01:01:44) The night vision goggles were sometimes beneficial o He had a pair that was blurry and he could not fix it (01:02:06) o He had another pair that would randomly shut off  If a soldier received a good pair, he could see fine (01:02:17) o There has to be a little bit of light for them to work well �        The larger strategy against the Taliban was working to some degree (01:03:01) Once the Americans got into the trucks, they would sometimes still have the Afghans alongside them o When they were on the patrols, the Afghani soldiers would remain with them (01:03:22)  They were not really able to see improvement with the Afghani soldiers when they were on patrols  He rarely had to deal with the Afghani soldiers o One of his friends had a Star of David tattoo – when he took his shirt off an Afghani soldier pointed his rifle at him (01:03:55)  There were only eight Americans and twenty Afghani soldiers o Two of his friends were murdered by Afghanis (01:04:17) He never saw any suicide bombers o He would see them set off bombs and then run away (01:04:36) o They never wanted to become complacent and believe that there were not suicide bombers so they still checked everyone (01:04:52) When they had the generator with electrical outlets they would charge their iPods or other devices o One time they all gathered around an iPod and watched Aladdin (01:05:32) o There was one guy that had a laptop and care packages would sometimes have DVDs in them (01:05:44) He was able to stay in communication with his family roughly once every month o The married men usually had first dibs o There was a seventeen hour time difference between Afghanistan and Michigan (01:06:13)  The best time to call was in the middle of the night in Afghanistan because it was the middle of the day in Michigan (01:06:23) o He got care packages – he had requested Monster drinks and Swedish Fish (01:07:02) o They would get so much candy that they did not know what to do with it  They would give some out to the kids when they would go out on patrol (01:07:25)  The kids would like the soldiers when they were giving them things When he went into Afghanistan he did not think about how long his deployment was going to last (01:08:03) o He was more worried about knowing if he was going to die, etc. When he was in Afghanistan he knew a month or two ahead of time that he was going to be leaving o They would do something called Ripping (Relieving In Place) (01:08:43) o They would train the replacements by going on patrols with them o The Afghanis knew that they were sending replacements and that “new blood was coming in” (01:08:53) The second patrol that they were on with the new guys an engineer stepped on a bomb and lost both of his legs �           o He later found out later that one of the other engineers in the unit was killed and the other had his leg blown off (01:09:19) Over the course of his time there, there were twenty-five that were killed and almost two hundred wounded – there were only eight hundred soldiers there on patrols The most that any soldier ever had to use was a tourniquet (01:10:16) o The doctors would use IVs to keep the soldiers out of shock There were times when soldiers would step on bombs that were only a couple feet away from him (01:10:37) o There were a couple of times where he was almost shot o After one explosion his nose started bleeding (01:11:06) o He was never hit by shrapnel o One time he had to pick flesh of other soldiers off of his neck (01:11:20) He had, by that time, decided that four years in the military was enough He returned to America in April or May and was discharged in August (01:11:47) Once he was back from Afghanistan he had to turn in his gear, make sure his medical information is up to date, took classes, etc. The military gave TAP (Transition Assistance Program) classes to soldiers that were about to head home (01:12:39) o He cannot remember if anything that they taught him was useful o The courses were extremely boring He believes that if he would have gone straight to college he would not have done nearly as well as he is (01:13:27) o He probably would not have gone very far because he was a horrible student o Problems in America are not as big as they seemed before his military experience His first class was three days after returning from the Marine Corps. (01:14:19) o It was nice because no one was yelling at him and no one was in his face about anything o Whenever he walks across the GVSU bridge he imagines someone grabbing a kid and throwing them off (01:15:02) He studies Criminal Justice at Grand Valley State University All of his checkups at the VA (Veteran’s Association) are free � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Anderson, Nicholas "Nick" (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Nicholas Description An account of the resource Nick Anderson was born in Minnesota in 1989 and moved to Grand Haven, Michigan three years later. He had given thought to joining the military before 9/11 and, during his senior year of high school, decided that he wanted to be a Marine. Nick swore into the military in Lansing, Michigan and then went to San Diego, California for Basic Training. He was then sent to Camp Pendleton, California for Infantry Training. His first deployment was on an MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) until he returned to America for Mountain Warfare Training. Nick was then deployed to Afghanistan and landed at Camp Leatherneck. His unit served in Sangin where there was a constant threat of IED's. He remembers his experiences on patrols and the routines of finding abandoned compounds. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-01-18 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AndersonN1473V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d26c7988d1d574dc0f9cfda7794ccac7.mp4 4ab41cc1e8d4dd8139a730c648e8ea7d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/266fbcd8d0b1a3746e8efe92614dba79.pdf 6f77bc3a976428e7d6d9bf3cdc4668d2 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW BOB ANDERSON Born: August 1948, Kalamazoo, Michigan Resides: Ada, Michigan Interviewed by: James Smither PhD, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, August 24, 2012 Interviewer: Bob, can you start us off with some background on yourself? To begin with, where and when were you born? I was born in August of 1948, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Interviewer: Did you grow up in Kalamazoo? Probably for three or four years, and then my father went back into the Air Force, he was a veteran of WWII, and he was tired of the rigmarole of civilian life. He was a pilot so he applied for and the air force granted him a return to duty, so he went back in the service and ended up retiring from the Air Force. Interviewer: Did he rejoin while the Korean War was going on? I think it was—of course I was little, so I didn‟t—I think towards the tail end maybe of Korea. Although he was a pilot, he was not a combat pilot. He was a personnel and transport pilot. 1:13 Interviewer: They needed a fair number of those while the Korean War was going on probably. Yeah, and we lived in a lot of different places, you know, we were in Charleston, South Carolina, we were in Florida for a few months while he was transitioning into other types of aircraft. The majority of the time, before I went in the service, he was stationed at 1 �Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. That‟s where I went to high school and graduated, in Maryland. Interviewer: What year did you graduate from high school? I graduated in 1966 and proceeded to go to junior college for a year, and I lived with my uncle, believe it or not, down on the gulf coast in Mississippi. He was a professor at one of the colleges in the gulf coast junior college district and I loved living with him and that was quite an experience. 2:11 Interviewer: Where did you go from there? Then I transferred and I went to Michigan State and started there in the fall of 1967. I really didn‟t know how to study, so I spent a lot of time doing book work, actually counting the hours and things like that, but I didn‟t know how to translate the studying into regurgitation on the tests, so as a result I ended up getting academically dismissed from Michigan State in the spring of 1968. Interviewer: While you were on the Michigan State campus, was there much going on by way of peace movement stuff or protest activities or things like that that you were aware of? 3:08 If there was I was really unaware of it. I was pretty insulated as a kid growing up. I mean, my parents didn‟t keep me from anything and I was free to do what I wanted to do, but I just was kind of oblivious to world events, I guess if you will. Interviewer: Did you think of the possibility that somebody might draft you or anything like that? Well, when I came—my parents, again, were living in Maryland, so after I got dismissed I packed my stuff up and came back to Maryland feeling kind of like a failed something 2 �because I had done so well in the junior college. I could have gone to junior college again in Maryland, but there was something in the back of my mind that said, “No, you‟re really not ready for this yet”. 4:07 So, I talked to my dad quite a bit and he thought it may be good if I went in the service to get some free training, and when I got out of the service and was no longer interested in going to college, I would at least have a trade to go to. So, we kind of talked it over and my father‟s very handy, so he suggested that maybe refrigeration equipment repair, you know. People always need—air conditioners were kind of just coming into vogue in 1968 I guess, and, of course, everybody has a refrigerator and so maybe that might be something good. I didn‟t know anything about any of that, but it sounded good. So I enlisted in the Army to be a refrigeration equipment repairman. 5:08 Interviewer: When did you enlist? I enlisted on my brother‟s birthday, May 6th 1968. Interviewer: Now this is a point when the army needed people pretty badly, the Tet Offensive had just gone on and all that kind of stuff. Were you able to actually dictate the specific type of training you received? I was, I actually had a guaranteed, I have that at home in my paperwork, still, it was a guaranteed enlistment for that particular school, which was to be held at Fort Belvoir, which was just across the Potomac River about ten miles from my home, so I thought that would be kind of interesting too, so yeah, the army guaranteed me that I would go to refrigeration equipment repair school. 6:01 Interviewer: All right now, where in fact did they—what did you do for basic training? 3 �I took basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the infantry. Then I took—had I gone to the refrigeration equipment repair program, I would have then gone to Fort Belvoir, but during the reception, reception station period, many of us take tests and I had scored high enough on the testing to be considered for Officer Candidate School, so I thought, “Well, if I‟ve got to “—by then Vietnam was, you know, two years ago Vietnam was a nonevent for me, even though my division, the 1st Cav, had fought bravely and honorably in the Ia Drang Valley, but that was my senior year in high school and that was still oblivious to me. 7:06 But, I had my choice to go to OCS, because I qualified, and once I said, “Yes, I‟ll do that”, then I gave up my right to go to refrigeration equipment repair school, so after basic training I went to Fort Dix, New Jersey. Interviewer: Now, back up a little bit and describe what your version of basic training was like. Well, the basic premise behind basic training, I think, is they want to tear you down and expunge all your thoughts of the civilian world and turn you into a soldier, so there‟s a lot of physical—back in those days they could really yell at you and everything. Now, I guess they do, but it‟s more on the QT. 8:01 They could call you whatever they wanted to call you and you really had no recourse to it other than say, “Yes drill sergeant”, and then do whatever pushups they wanted you to do or what have you. It was first aid training and drill and ceremonies, how to march, teach you how to do the manual of arms with your M14, and rifle marksmanship, of course, was a big thing. But, not everyone that goes through basic training ends up in a combat arm, or infantry or what have you, you know. Many of them did not sign off and some went to refrigeration equipment repair school, some of them went to welding, wherever the regular army folks, whatever 4 �they had signed up to do they went to those various posts and did there thing. How to find mines in the ground, we shot 3.5 rocket launchers and M72 LAWs, and pistol familiarization. 9:13 It was orientated toward infantry tactics, target detection, night evasion, escape evasion and things like that. Interviewer: How easy, or hard, was it for you to adjust to military life? I think for the most part my adjustment was fairly easy, primarily because my father was career Air Force and I had, even though from afar, I had some knowledge of what you‟re supposed to do, you know, you don‟t argue with everybody if somebody tells you to do something. Of course in basic training they‟re not going to give you anything illegal. 10:02 That may or may not have come later, but basic training, if they told you to get down and do a bunch of pushups, you got down and did as many as you could, you know. If they told you to run around the building five times, you ran around the building, there were no debates with the drill sergeants, you know. If the drill sergeant said, “Stand over in the corner on one foot”, and went away, that‟s what you did. If you were smart you did what they told you to do. Interviewer: Did they have people who kind of just did get it, or put up a fight? There were a few that I guess couldn‟t be broken, or didn‟t want to be broken, and I would suspect that probably most of those were draftees. They were doing whatever they were doing and then Uncle Sam knocked on their door and said, you know, "You will report to wherever”, and they did. 11:05 They were rebellious, I suspect, because they didn‟t want to be there in the first place. I—my situation was a little bit different in that I enlisted, so even though my basic feeling might have been similar to theirs, I basically just kept my mouth shut because I signed up. 5 �Interviewer: Were you in pretty good physical shape at that point? Could you do all the PT stuff? I would say yes, I was much different than I am now days, but running was kind of a nonevent thing, and the pushups, you know, eventually I got pretty good with that. The only thing I really had trouble with is the overhead, we called them monkey bars, you had to do that every day before you went to chow and I wasn‟t very good at that at first because I didn‟t have good upper body strength, but eventually you learn how to do it. 12:09 Interviewer: How long was the basic training? It was about nine weeks, I think, eight or nine. Interviewer: Did you go straight from there into OCS? No, I went straight from there to Fort Dix for advanced training and in a lot of ways it was similar to basic. Of course, this is geared toward infantry now because I backed out of the other. It‟s more weapons, it‟s more radio procedure, it‟s not as much drill and ceremony, but, you know, more field exercises and more kind of tactical types of things and kind of gearing you up to—pretty much most of the people knew where they were going, if they were in that infantry AIT company they were going to Vietnam. 13:03 Interviewer: Now were you trained by people who had already served there? In basic training yes, and in a little lesser degree in AIT, and the company commander had not been there, either of my company commanders, basic or AIT had not been there, but all of the drill sergeants in basic training had been to Vietnam, and I‟ve got a pretty good memory of all of the names except for AIT and I don‟t remember many of their 6 �names. I think our platoon sergeant had been to Vietnam, but I can‟t be a hundred percent sure of that because it‟s just kind of a vague memory. Interviewer: Did they make much of an effort to simulate the physical conditions in situations you may encounter in Vietnam? Probably as much as they could, I mean the physical situation, you know, the terrain or the humidity, or the monsoons, or those types of things, they couldn‟t replicate. 14:09 Of course the jungle, they could replicate, but barring all of that I think they did a pretty good job. Interviewer: Did they prepare you to function in civilian areas and thing like that? We actually did two or three days of training on crowd control, or something, I forget what they called them, but yes, there was a class on dealing with civilians. Interviewer: Did they have like a simulated Vietnamese village set up, because some of the training places did? Not that I remember, I don‟t think so, but I know some of the other posts, like Fort Polk, I think they did. Interviewer: That would be harder to do in New Jersey for some reason. Well yeah 15:07 Interviewer: Once you complete AIT then, what’s the next stage? Then it seemed like I had a couple three days before I had to report to Fort Benning, and I reported there in middle of September, I think it was, or the first week of September, something like that, for infantry officer candidate school. There were about a hundred and twenty of us that started, and of course their focus was to turn all of you into lieutenants of infantry. The class day was long; the academics were hard for some. 7 �Really, I didn‟t have any trouble with the academics. 16:02 I didn‟t have any trouble, really, with the physicality of it, and some folks did, but it was geared strictly to take, probably by now, take a sixteen, seventeen week Army kid and make him a rifle platoon leader. Interviewer: Were most of the people you were with college graduates, or were they like you and maybe had some college or a little bit of that? I would say that in my platoon, and I would guess there were maybe twenty of us, probably half were college graduates and then the other half were probably like me with one to two years of schooling. Interviewer: Traditionally OCS has been, in a lot of situations, primarily college graduates, but they adjust the standards depending on how many people they need in part. 17:09 Well, I suspect that‟s true, you know OCS, military academies, and ROTC were primarily very, and still are, primarily commissioning sources for all branches of the service, but a lot of the guys were married, too. In my platoon probably thirty percent of the guys were married and then again if they were college graduates and they were married, they were in there because they got drafted. They didn‟t raise their hand with a four year degree and working in a good job, and say, “Well, I think I‟ll go in the Army that sounds good”, so Uncle Sam came and knocked on their door too. Many of them brought their wives down and I‟m sure it was quite difficult to have your wife, you know, five miles away, just off post, and here you are stuck with a hundred other guys, you know. 18:13 8 �Interviewer: In what ways were they giving you specific training, towards Vietnam? What kinds of things were they trying to prepare you for? Well, it was kind of more of the same, but it was more intense. Being more of the same infantry oriented, and there was a lot of map reading, there was artillery firing, and we had to learn how to adjust fire with an 81mm mortar, and tactical situations. You know a lot of it was classroom too, you know. They‟re showing a film on TV or something and all of a sudden it would stop and they would call out, “Company commander Anderson has now been killed, what do you do next?” 19:05 Hopefully I was awake when they called my name and I was able to give them something and then they would dissect what I had given them and then roll the film to see if what I had given them was what was supposed to have been done. The few times he called on me I was A, awake, and able to give him the proper result, but when you‟re, you being a professor know this too, I‟m sure you can look up from the lectern and see some students dozing off. And it was go, go, go, from the time that reveille started at 0500, or what have you, until lights out at 2100 or 2200, whatever it was. You run to wherever you‟re going, and it‟s hot in the fall in Georgia. 20:06 Then you get in an air conditioned building and it seemed like sometimes your fanny hit the seat and you were conked out, and they had ways to deal with that too, it was humorous in some regards sometimes. He would just speak out, “Ok, for all of you who are awake ignore my next command”, and then he would yell out, “On your feet”, you know and of course only the ones—you were conditioned to that, but if you were half asleep you didn‟t hear the previous command, so half of the class stood up, and then they got chastised a little bit, but it was humorous in some instances. Interviewer: How long did OCS last? 9 �OCS was twenty three weeks, I believe it was. Interviewer: So, it was not quite like the WWII model of the ninety day wonder. No, we still receive that moniker, so I guess we were twice as good. 21:07 Interviewer: There you go. All right, now once you get to the end of that do they give you a furlough or anything before they assign you? What happens? They did, order came down and some guys stayed right at Fort Benning to go to the tactical department or something. I stayed right at Fort Benning to go to a basic training unit to be a training officer, but there was a week or two in between. Interviewer: How long did you stay on as a training officer? I graduated on the 29th of March and I probably reported there in mid-April, so I was probably there about four months when I came down on orders for Vietnam. Interviewer: Now, what was life like on the other side of it? Now you’re training other people. 22:01 Well, the role of a 2nd Lieutenant in a basic training company is kind of like what you use to say about children you know, be seen and not heard, because we were gentlemen by an act of congress, but many of us were unsure of ourselves and, of course, you had the drill sergeant cadre there that really knew what they were doing, so if you were smart you kind of got out of their way and let them do what they were supposed to do, and you just watched and learned from that, and that‟s really what I tried to do. There was—we had a good company commander, he was—he had served with the 101st Airborne and our first sergeant was a two tour Vietnam guy and had been in Korea as well. 23:04 All of the other drill sergeants had been to Vietnam, so they knew what they were doing and they didn‟t need me to tell them what to do, so I tried to stay out of their way. 10 �Interviewer: Did you actually have any responsibilities then? You got a ton of responsibilities, you know, you‟re the mess officer, and you‟re the army emergency relief officer, and you‟re the, I can‟t even remember, the blood drive officer, and I mean there‟s a whole host of things that you have to do and those are just three. I can‟t even begin to list all of the extra duties that you have to do. Interviewer: There’s a lot of administrative and bureaucratic work, and that kind of thing, and in a way, that may be you’re best suited to do, at that point, because you haven’t been anywhere yet. 24:01 Right, and they‟re trying to give you some responsibility just to—not necessarily to build up your self-esteem or anything like that, but to make you feel comfortable with the fact, “Ok Jim, I need you to go over here and take three guys and do this”, and unless you had been in a working environment and had been a supervisor, most of us had never asked or told, or cajoled, people to do things. They tried to kind of break you in easy and just make you feel comfortable inside your uniform that says eighty percent of the people on this base have to salute you now. Interviewer: Now, you’re in sort of an odd situation in a way I would think, because you’re aware that sooner or later you’re going to go to Vietnam, and instead of being packed up right away you’re sort of cooling your heels at Fort Benning. Did you think about that much, one way or another, or did you just take things as they came? 25:10 You know, once you became an infantry—once I said I wasn‟t going to be a refrigeration equipment repairman, then my path was chosen and there was no question in my mind that I was ultimately going to end up in Vietnam. And again, I didn‟t dwell on that at all 11 �you know, it is what it is. I raised my hand and here I am, and if they keep me here for two years then that„s what I would have done. In fact, the senior lieutenant in our company had been there exactly that, when he graduated from Armor OCS, he stayed right at Fort Benning. He was in that company the whole two years and never went anywhere. 26:04 But, I didn‟t have any grand illusion that was going to happen to me. I was doing the best I could as a 2nd lieutenant and if it came then I would go on to the next step and do the best that I could there. Interviewer: So, what was your reaction when the call actually did come? I was apprehensive, of course, you know-- by then you‟re a whole lot different than you were a civilian, you know. Now you‟re getting the Army Times every week and you open up to the middle and “ninety killed” or whatever, and four of those were officers. I guess I was—I don‟t know if I was glad, I guess I knew that I was going to have to go there eventually, or pretty sure I was going to go there. 27:04 “I‟ve been here long enough, I‟ve got this duty assignment down pat, so let‟s go do what I was really trained to do and see what happens”. Interviewer: How do they physically get you out to Vietnam? Well, you came down on orders and you had to report to, or I had to report to, Travis Air Force Base in California and I guess I flew out there, I don‟t even remember how I got out there to be honest, I didn‟t drive, of course, I had a car, but I didn‟t drive out there, and I didn‟t take the train, so I must have flown. Interviewer: But you don’t have any particular recollection of flying? I don‟t have any particular recollection. Interviewer: Do you remember actually arriving in Vietnam? 12 �I do remember that. 28:03 A lot of folks remember that it was smelly and that it was hot and everything and I don‟t remember the smell. It was night, it was dark, I do remember the bus ride to the 90th Replacement Battalion and all of the bus, and many people will say this and the windows were open of course, but there was heavy mesh screening over the windows. I think one of us asked the bus driver, “What‟s up with that?” He said, “That‟s to keep the VC, or somebody from throwing a grenade inside the bus”. “Oh, I guess this is a real situation now, they got screened in buses so they can‟t throw grenades in and kill us”. Interviewer: Now, were you in the Saigon area at this point? Bien Hoa, 90th Replacement Battalion was where everybody newly arriving in the country went to, and from there you went to wherever you went. 29:12 Interviewer: How much time did you spend with the replacement battalion before they shipped you out? Probably three days, as I recall three days. We‟re getting uniforms and, of course, none of us knew where we were going initially. A couple of days later you came down on orders and I was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. Interviewer: In some situations, some replacement officers were actually asked to kind of list what their preferred assignments would be and pick three units. Did they have that for you or not? Well, that was in OCS where you listed your top three and I don‟t remember, but I don‟t think Vietnam maybe was number three, I guess Germany or something. Interviewer: But, within Vietnam you weren’t picking what divisions to go to or anything like that? 13 �Well, only when we went to what they called the First Team Academy. 30:05 Soldiers reduced that to FTA, which was the moniker of “screw the army”, basically. When I got there they asked us what unit we wanted to go to and I didn‟t know units from anything, you know. Some guys actually enlisted, West Pointers, they‟re sort of indoctrinated, you know for a lot longer than we were. I want to go to Custer‟s unit, or I want to go to the 5th Regiment or what have you, but I had a—they had kind of a map of the area and I remember looking at the 2nd Battalion, 7th Calvary regimental area, and I thought, “Well, their headquarters is surrounded by a whole bunch of fire bases”, and I thought, “Well that might be—what do I know, that might be a safe place to pick”. 31:08 So, my first choice was the 2nd of the 7th. They had already decided where I was going, that was actually embedded in code in the order I got. If I could ever find the key to that code it would be kind of interesting, but I didn‟t go to the 2nd of the 7th, I went to the 1st of the 7th, but that was no big deal either. And we were at the First Team Academy probably about three days , and they gave us weapons familiarization, and we shot a M79, and we did some rappelling, and I think, more than anything, it was just to get us acclimated to the heat. Then after that three or four days they said, “Ok, you‟re going to the 1st of the 7th”, “Ok”, you know. 32:07 I got on a C7 Caribou, you know, they led us by hand because there‟s nothing dumber than a 2nd lieutenant, you know, especially in a combat environment. “You‟re going to the 1st of the 7th”, “How do I get there?” “Oh, we‟ll take you down back to Bien Hoa and we‟ll take you right where you need to go, and then eventually there‟ll be a plane going to Quan Loi, and make damn sure you‟re on it”, “Ok”. Interviewer: What region of Vietnam was your unit based in? 14 �I was in III Corps, down south, probably northwest of Saigon. Interviewer: Between Saigon and the Cambodian border sort of? Yeah, probably fifteen miles from the Cambodian border Interviewer: What was the physical terrain like in that area? Immediately around the brigade base camp it was right in the middle of a rubber plantation. 33:03 The farther out you got to the individual firebases were single and triple canopy bamboo, trees and bamboo interspersed, and big clearings here and there. Interviewer: Was it fairly flat in that area? For the most part, yeah Interviewer: So, you go out to the brigade headquarters, and do you stay there initially or do you go out to your battalion? No, they took me to—again, I took that Caribou ride to Quan Loi and somebody knew I was coming. I jumped off the helicopter and walked up to the little hut there and there was an E4 or E5 just sitting there just—you know you—It‟s like you‟ve been transported to the moon, you know. You don‟t have anybody that you know, it‟s just, “Anderson you‟re going there, and I‟ll take you down, and you get on this plane and when you get off somebody will be there”. 34:09 Somebody was there, you‟re just kind of walking around, your eyes are this big, and you‟re thinking, “What the hell have I got myself into?” Then a guy says, “Lieutenant, or LT?”, and I go, “Yeah”, and he says, “You‟re going to the 1st of the 7th?” “Yeah”, and he says, “Well, jump in the Jeep”, and a quarter mile down the road they took me to battalion headquarters and I signed in, I guess. They know I was there, so I don‟t physically recall signing in, but then they said, “Go through this door and Colonel Drudick will—he‟s in a little enclosure back here and he‟ll talk to 15 �you”, so I said, “Ok”. 35:06 If you‟d seen the movie Apocalypse Now, I don‟t know if you have, but when Martin Sheen finally finds Marlin Brando, he‟s kind of talking and then Brando kind of leans forward out of the shadows, that was kind of—of course that movie came out after that experience, now that was kind of, looking back on it, that was kind of the experience I had. I‟m in there and Colonel Drudick is kind of in the shadow and then he kind of leans forward. We talked a little bit, you know, similar to what we‟re doing now, and he gave me a Garry Owen crest, which is the regimental crest for the 7th Cavalry, and he gave me a crossed saber similar to the 1 , and it had a 1, 7 because he was the 1st of the 7th commander. 36:01 he said, “I‟m assigning you to Alpha Company and Captain Keen is the CO and good luck”, and he shook my hand, I walked back out front and I said, “I guess I‟m going to Alpha Company”, and, of course, they knew that, and I said, “Duh, somebody lead me away again”. I didn‟t have a clue where Alpha Company was, fifty yards away or whatever. First sergeant was in the rear, they knew I was coming, and I spent no more than two days there getting a helmet and a rifle, getting a poncho liner, getting a pack, and getting some food, and then the company was being resupplied on the second or the third day, I don‟t remember now. 37:01 They said, “Tomorrow morning we‟ll take you out to company”, and I can‟t even remember now where I slept. The next morning I gathered up all my stuff and we went out and took the Charlie, Charlie, the commanding control helicopter, that‟s usually the first one that‟s going to the field, and jumped on that, it took us out to fire support base Westcott, that‟s where we were operating out of at the time, and I jumped off with the other guys and I said, “Now what?” He said, “Now we kind of wait until the log bird, the resupply helicopter, shows up and then the company will be moving to what we call a log site”, 16 �which is a supply site, and he said, “Then we‟ll take out the mail and all of the stuff that had been requested the night before, plus you”. 38:10 I said, “Ok”, so it seemed like it was a couple of hours before the log bird showed up ad they said, “Ok, LT”, we‟re going now‟, so I got on the helicopter and they took me out to where the company was. Interviewer: So, what happens when you get out there? Well, a couple of things. It was an interesting helicopter ride. I think the crew chief saw that I was new and he probably radioed to the pilot and he said, „We got a brand new f*%#ing Lieutenant here, let‟s give him a ride, maybe we can make him toss his cookies or something”. 39:06 That‟s the only thing I can think of because we backed out of the revetment and he pulled pitch and we went down the runway and then he was doing this, and flying map of the earth, and I thought it was great, like a rollercoaster ride. I was sitting on a box in the center of the thing with my feet sticking out, so I don‟t go tumbling out the door. I guess they finally got tired of that and figured, “We‟re not going to make him barf”, and that‟s the only thing I can think of because every other helicopter ride I had was never up, down, or sideways and banking, that‟s the only thing I can think of. They dropped me off and, of course, I knew Captain Keen was the company commander, and I said, “Where‟s Captain Keen?” 40:04 They said, “He‟s over there, the guy kind of standing up without a shirt on”, so I went over there and reported to Patrick J. Keen. A Captain, a farmer born in Garryowen, Ireland, actually he was, but I didn‟t find that out until later. He said, Welcome to Alpha Company”. Interviewer: Did you have a job with Alpha Company? I did, he assigned me as the mortar platoon leader, and I thought, “This is not going to be good for me or for anybody else”. That wasn‟t my—I mean we had familiarization and 17 �everything. I knew about it, but that wasn‟t really what I wanted to be, so I said, “Ok, where are they?” 41:00 He showed me where they were and at that time we were humping the 81mm mortar in the field, and base plate was eighty pounds, or something and the tube, and the tripod and the aiming stakes, and everybody in the platoon had to carry two mortar rounds it seemed like. I was mortar platoon leader for about—until the next resupply, and again, I think it was more—and we did fire it a couple of times, but it was acclimation to being in the field. Now you got all your rucksack stuff on, now it‟s kinda real. If something happens you‟ll be, you‟ll not be up front necessarily, you‟ll be back enough where you can see what‟s going on, and then again, like I said, that only lasted like until the next resupply. 42:03 The 2nd Platoon leader was sent back to become the executive officer and I moved up to be his replacement as the 2nd Platoon leader. Interviewer: Now, the time you were with the mortar platoon did much happen? Did they get in any fights or anything? We fired it more just for primarily, to get rid of some of the weight. I mean, you didn‟t fire it without the company commander's permission, of course, but I think it was more of an act, we‟re going to be moving out there 4,000 meters away, so let‟s drop three or four rounds out in there and announce that we‟re coming, I guess, but—of course, the guys that were in the mortar platoon, they just said, “Ok, we‟re going to shoot here”, and we knew where we were and they knew what to do. 43:05 And again, I didn‟t have to double check the FDC or any of that stuff. Here‟s the deal and charge two, or whatever, and shoot the mortar round 4,000 meters, or whatever it was, and so they did their thing. 18 �Interviewer: So, you get orders from someplace else if you use the mortars, or request, and then they okay it? Yeah, that would have been all kind of unknown to me. We weren‟t on the move when that was happening, we were—it seems like we got resupplied when I joined the company and we stayed there that night, and then the next morning a patrol was going out and Captain Keen wanted to shoot some 81mm and high explosive out into that vicinity and it seems like that‟s what we did. 44:07 It wasn‟t an actual in contact firing mission or anything like that. Interviewer: So, it was relatively quiet at the point when you join them? Yes Interviewer: So, what was it like leading a platoon then when you go take over there? Well, I had—I had two E6‟s, one was the platoon sergeant and one was the guy that was kind of training, I guess, to be a platoon sergeant. Then there was the dumbest lieutenant on the planet and that would have been me. Here I am a, say 4 [?] or something. Interviewer: Did the fellow you were replacing stay a little to get you oriented or just move right out? He moved right out Interviewer: Did anybody explain to you what you were supposed to be doing? Well, you‟re the platoon leader and now you have five months of commissioned service and you know that you‟re the guy that‟s now in charge, but nobody said, “This is the deal”. 45:11 Again, I was, I like to think smart enough as opposed to dumb enough, to just—you know, that first morning when I‟m really in charge, Captain Keen said, “Ok, 19 �you‟re going to go out and you‟re going to do a thousand meter patrol out and back”, and blah, blah, blah, “and you‟re going to go light”, which means you‟re just going to go out with your weapons and your ammo and your pack and all that is going to stay behind. We had a scout dog with us at that time, or with the company. “Take the dog with you”, and I said, “Ok”, so I got Sergeant Ikely and Sergeant Spencer and I said, “Ok, here we are and we‟ve got to go out a 1,000 meters and then go over a 1,000 meters and then come back”. 46:10 They said, “Ok”, and I said, “We leave in ten minutes”, or whatever, and they said, “Ok”, and then the dog handler was there and I said, “This is what we‟re going to do”, I guess, and he said, “Ok”. He knew why he was there; he walks around up front, up close, so the dog can smell. When the dog smelled something he, or she, went into what they call an alert status and freeze or what have you, so, away we went. Interviewer: Now, did the sergeant sort of tell you where to go in a line, or anything like that, or did you just kind of all start going out? 47:02 I don‟t know if they did, I don‟t remember if that was the patrol, the 1st patrol, where I started walking where I did, but if it wasn‟t, it was shortly after that. We‟d have a “point man” and we‟d have what we call a “slack man”. The slack man‟s basic job was to kind of cover and keep track of the route you‟re walking and then the squad leader and then me, so it either started with that patrol, or shortly after, that I walked fourth because you can‟t run anything if you‟re at the rear and you don‟t know what the hell‟s going on if you‟re at the rear. Sometimes you don‟t know what the hell‟s going on when you‟re fourth, but you have a better chance of knowing what‟s going on the closer you are to the front. 20 �Interviewer: Now, did you have a radio operator with you? 48:01 I did, and Gary May was my radio operator and he was right behind me, so we had gone maybe 700 meters and the dog alerted. Probably at that time I was probably sixth and the dog would have been in front of me, and we didn‟t always operate with dogs. In fact, as I recall, that was probably the only time. So, the dog freezes up and locks, and I thought, “What the heck is going on with this?” The people that had worked with dogs before knew what was going on and I said, “Well the dog‟s alerted, what does that mean?” He smells, or senses, or sees something, and my mind says, “Oh goodie, now what do I do?” 49:08 It‟s like the film is running and it‟s like they stop it. Ok, it‟s not now candidate Anderson it‟s Lieutenant Anderson, “Ok Lt. what are you going to do?” So, I called Ike, Sergeant Ikely, and I said, “Can you come up here?” And he did, and he said, “What‟s going on?” I said, “Well, the dog alerted”, and this was a nonevent to him because he had six months in the field, or something, and I said, „what do I do?” He said, “Well, normally what we would do is recon by fire. I go, “What the hell does that mean?” We didn‟t do any recons by fire in OCS or anything like that, you know, this is OJT for the most part. He told me what to do and he said, “But, before we do that you should radio back to the company commander and tell him what you‟re going to do, otherwise they‟ll hear the M60 go off and they‟ll think we‟re in contact or something”. 50:14 I said, “Ok”, and radioed Captain keen and said, “The dog alerted and we‟re going to recon by fire”, and he said, “Ok”. We did and we got no return fire or anything, so, okay, we keep driving on, so we another--whatever it was, and then made a right turn and made a big sweep. Years later guys were telling me that they couldn‟t believe that the first patrol that they ever went on with me they thought, “Oh, crap”, because, I guess 21 �the previous guy, Lieutenant Fowler, if they were going to do one of these things; they‟d go out 500 meters and sit down and yuck it up. 51:06 Here I am. You know, it‟s a thousand degrees and we‟re doing what I was told we were going to do. They were all cranky, nobody ever said anything, but nothing happened, which I‟m thankful for, because I was just brand new and I didn‟t know anybody‟s names or anything. Interviewer: How long did it take before things got a little more interesting? It was about three weeks. We moved from firebase Westcott to firebase Jerry, and this was in the middle of November, maybe. 52:02 I forgot to say that I‟d gone to jungle school down in Panama, so I didn‟t actually get to Vietnam until the first ten days of October. We were picked up in the field and air assaulted to a new area of operation at a firebase called Jerry, and it was late in the day and as we were—my platoon was the last one in and they just dropped us off and we got mortared, the front of the—because we‟re outside the wire and trying to figure out which way we‟re going to go. As we found out later, they mortared Jerry pretty much regularly, but with a helicopter—they‟re always trying to hit the firebase or hit the helicopter and what have you, but all of the rounds hit up front and we had four or five guys very seriously wounded. 53:06 One guy was blinded, I guess for life, but three or four rounds and that‟s the end of it and then we get them inside the firebase to the doctor, medical doctor. Then we go on our way and they get treated and sent back to wherever. Interviewer: How many men do you have in your platoon at this point? I probably had—again this was the whole company that was hit. These weren‟t any of my guys, so the company, in the field, probably had about a hundred and ten, maybe, and I , maybe, twenty five. I think the most I ever had in the field was twenty five. The 22 �fewest I had was about seventeen. 54:00 So, we marched off the firebase and then there just sign [?] everywhere and then we set up and, you know, and nothing happened that night and then next day, late, we were walking and I didn‟t have point, my platoon didn‟t have point, but a couple of NVA ran up a little trail to the right and the point element fired on them and didn‟t hit them or anything then. So, we were going to see where they went, so the point element got up to that trail, got off the trail and walked up 30 or 40 meters and somebody finally said to Captain Keen, you know, “Get farther away from this trail”. 55:02 First of all, we just saw somebody there and we know that they know we‟re here because we fired on them, so it‟s not a good idea to be this close to a trail because you could, essentially, be walking into an ambush, so I‟m assuming he realized that, or somebody told him that, whatever, we got off the trail. Then my platoon got right up to that little trail and I was just kind of standing there looking up the trail like—this trail was like this floor here, I mean it was that hard packed, you know, a thousand people could have walked on it and you would have never known it, it was just beat solid. I was looking up that trail wondering, well, I‟m glad they got off the trail because you could see it just kind of disappear. 56:00 I think, “That would be a good place for them to fire on us”, and I no sooner said that and they fired on us, but as quite often happens in those kinds of fleet meeting engagements, bullets are going everywhere, but It‟s not an aimed response. The initial firing might be aimed, but the response, usually isn‟t, you just, aaah! So, we moved off, and again, it was late in the day and Keen said, “We‟re going to set up here”, and we did, and then he called me, he started to, and then he called me over and he said, “I want you to go out and up that trail, not on the trail, but up parallel to the trail, three or four hundred meters and ambush the thing”, and I thought, “Oh, great, I 23 �know that there‟s at least two of them up there, somewhere”. But I said, “Ok”. 57:06 We went up and we found the trail and we set up claymore mines and we backed off, you know, a hundred feet, or whatever that wire was on the claymore, and we just laid down and waited for somebody to tumble down the trail. I guess, fortunately, nobody did, but we could hear, and it rained that night too and the mosquitoes—the whole episode was miserable. We could hear, off in the distance, chopping, so they were chopping trees and making bunkers, or doing something with the trees, and we could hear laughing. 58:00 I suspect we were probably within a couple of hundred meters of where they were. Like I said, nobody came down the trail and the next morning we picked up out stuff and back tracked to the company and then we went on our way, but that whole place was just criss crossed with trails and you could see where they had rested in the night, or in the daytime because they had their little cooking fires that—they weren‟t warm, they were all done, but you could see all along that trail where, probably, a whole company, or more, of NVA had been in that area. It was like every two days, two or three days, we‟d get fired on or we‟d fire on them. 59:00 We didn‟t have any casualties, or anything like that, until about a week into this new area of operation we got into a horrendous fire fight for about five or six hours. Again, I guess I was lucky because my platoon was walking last that day and it was mostly the front two platoons that really got into it. We didn‟t have anybody killed, we had sixteen or seventeen wounded that had to be medevac‟d and it was a long—it was a lot longer day for me because I wasn‟t really under the direct fire, just kind of sit back—you‟re on guard, of course, you‟re looking left and right and behind you and everything, in fact I never left the—where we slept the night before. 00:03 Interviewer: So, were you, essentially, sort of the company reserve at that point? 24 �Yeah. I did have to send my machine guns up because the other two guns malfunctioned, and my gunners weren‟t happy at all because they were both six, almost seven, months in the field and they had seen a lot of action, but they went up, they didn‟t squawk. Our guns, I think, were the telling tale. The gunners were meticulous about keeping, not only their guns clean, but their ammunition clean and other gunners weren‟t that meticulous. But, we had to pass ammunition up from my platoon at one time because you were in the jungle and you couldn‟t get ammunition down to you. 1:09 That got to be a little nervous, nerve wracking when, “Oh, not only did they not have much ammunition up here, and now we don‟t have much ammunition back here”, but that went on until late in the afternoon and then we set up right—we didn‟t move very far, and set up basically. The next morning, because the 2nd platoon, my platoon, it was the one that was least beat up, you know, we had to go back—we had to lead the company back into the area, and that was pretty nerve wracking because the area had been worked over so heavily with air strikes, and Cobras, and artillery. 2:06 We were real close to Firebase Jerry, we were only about three clicks away from Gerry. I mean, we had all the battalion organic fire really close by. The place was just beat silly with trees—it‟s like a tornado goes through these places because if you‟ve ever seen that kind of damage to trees, they—there‟s no logic to how they go, they‟re all inter—they‟re like pick-up sticks when you drop them. And, of course, interspersed in all that are pieces of enemy soldiers, and bloody bandages, you know. We got hit badly, but they got hit worse, I think. They were gone, of course, so other than the-- I don‟t want to say scared, other than the unnerving part of the whole thing; it was pretty routine, I guess. 3:14 what we had to do. 25 We had to go in there and this is �Interviewer: Now, did you have any kind of understanding as to what the larger purpose of your mission was at that point? The larger purpose of that particular mission was to just go in there and evaluate what we got into, but, I mean, essentially we got ambushed. The 1st platoon leader, George Atkins, his platoon was walking point and he did a marvelous job, and the 3rd platoon leader, which was walking second, Freddy Davis, and he actually got wounded and never came back with the company. But, our missions, really, were to aggressively and actively patrol and find the bad guys if you could and raise hobs on them. 4:14 Interviewer: Was this an area where there were a lot of underground tunnels or booby traps, or things like that? No, we were fortunate that there were bunkers, and that‟s what was happening that day, it was a small bunker complex, but no tunnels that we ever found. I mean, most of the tunnels, I think, were down Lai Khe or around Cu Chi, in that area, but primarily bunkers, fortified fighting positions, you know. The North Vietnamese, you know, they‟re excellent soldiers, they‟ve been doing this for twenty years, you know. 5:03 Their camouflage was excellent and there were times when you‟d just walk up, you‟d step and you‟d look down and you‟re standing right in front of a bunker aperture, and that happened to me a couple of different times. I‟m fourth and the three other guys that walked by never saw it. Interviewer: In those situations, was the bunker not occupied? The bunker was not occupied, but as far as I know it was not occupied. It was—and of course now, I‟ve been the platoon leader for three weeks, so now I‟ve got more familiarity with what‟s going on. I know the guys' names and—but, George Atkins, he‟d 26 �been—I remember, I was so happy to see him join the company because that meant that I wasn‟t the bottom—I wasn‟t the dumbest lieutenant anymore, now it was him. 6:07 But, he‟s only been there two week when this happened, and he did a marvelous job in the company. I always wonder, you know what would have happened it that had been me out there. But his point man actually spotted the NVA claymore and was able to tell George and George was actually radioing Captain Keen when they detonated it, but at least by then they knew it was there and they‟re not just staring at it when it went off, so they had—some of them were wounded, but not as bad as if they had just stumbled onto it and then it had detonated right away. He did a marvelous job. Interviewer: Once you locate a bunker, or a place where they’re actually fighting from, can you call in, sort of, the heavy weapons to blow it up? 7:00 Of course the heaviest weapon you have in a rile platoon, unless you‟re carrying heavy mortar, is your M60 machine gun, and if they‟re occupied you want to get as much fire on them as you can, and at least to suppress what they‟re trying to do to you. If you can, you want to pull back and then you use your Cobras, you know, with the 2.75 folding fin rockets and the mini guns and things like that, but if you‟re trying to use artillery, the Cav, under normal circumstances—I know you‟re working another veteran, Mike McGregor, he was an artillery forward observer sergeant, he would know, but as I recall, generally you couldn‟t shoot artillery closer than 600 meters unless you were in contact and then it had to be danger close and there were all kinds of rules and things like that. 8:07 Again, most of these engagements were—the vast majority were 25 meters, or less. I had a lot of confidence in our artillery, but I never would have tried to call artillery that close unless it was a last resort and you were completely pinned down and you couldn‟t 27 �get Cobras or if you were about out of ammunition. There are situations where you have to do that, but being that close that would have been about the last resort. Interviewer: How long did you spend as a platoon leader? I was the platoon leader from about October until the middle of February, October of 1969, until the middle of February of 1970. 9:10 Then I was taken out of the field, you know, to confirm what they call a rear job. “You did a good job out in the field, and now we‟re going to reward you by giving you one that‟s a little less dangerous”. It was the most miserable job I have ever had in my like, I think. It was—I was in charge of, at the brigade base camp, of one quarter of the base defense. Now again, I was still a 2nd lieutenant, all the other guys in charge of this were captains. They gave me two other guys to work with me, and so really, there were three of us and we worked twenty-one hours a day. 10:05 We had to make sure the trip flares were on, we had to do this—and we didn‟t have any help, just—and to make it worse, I was reporting to the most obnoxious Lieutenant Colonel that ever wore a silver oak leaf, and we had to report to him every day. He wanted to know how many trip flares were put out and how many feet of this, and how many—and frankly, it just got to be too much. I was working my fanny off and making no, seeming, contribution, because if I needed anything I didn‟t know where to go or what to do, and these captains with many years of service, they knew and they probably even knew guys from previous tours or whatever, so if they needed something, they—and it just wasn‟t working. 11:07 That lasted for about three weeks and then—I was still assigned to headquarters company of 1sr of 7th, but—so, I got called up to battalion headquarters, Major Stillman, who was the XO at the time, said, “Well, I got, I guess, good news and bad news for you”, “You can‟t send me to Vietnam because 28 �I‟m already here, so what‟s the good news?” He said, “Well, this job obviously isn‟t working. Colonel LaBrose‟s not happy with you”, and I said, “Major, I‟m not happy with Colonel LaBrose, and I‟m breaking my fanny here and nothing is happening”, and Stillman said, “I know you are, you‟re working hard, but it just isn‟t working”. 12:01 “Ok”, and he said, “I‟m going to send you back to the field”, and inside I go, “Yes”, because I was good at that, so I said, “Well I got, I really only got one question”, and he said, “What‟s that?” “Am I going to get smashed on my officer efficiency report?” He said, “No, this will show it casual, or we‟ll do something, but this will be a learning experience for you and you won‟t get hammered on your OER”, and I said, “Ok, good”. He said, “Oh, and you‟re not going back to Alpha Company, you‟re going to Charlie Company”, and I go, “Oh, Charlie Company?” He said, “Yes, you know when you left Alpha Company we backfilled you, and you‟re going to go to Charlie Company and then were going to pull that Lieutenant out and he‟s going to do your job”. 13:05 I said, “Do I have to go to Charlie Company?” I knew their company commander because he‟d been the headquarters CO and he was pretty not with the program. He said, “That‟s where you‟re going”, and I sad, “Ok, thanks”, and part of me felt good, and I thought, “Gosh, at least I‟m out of this base defense gig, but golly, now I got to go to Charlie Company and I have to start over training guys and everything”, so I went there and, I guess, the next day I went out to the firebase and the CO was in, he was in the medical bunker, and the battalion or brigade dentist was out there working on him. 14:06 I remember him sitting in the chair looking back. I went in to report to him and he said, “Oh, ok, have you ever been in the field before?” I said, “Yes sir, I was with Alpha Company in the field for over four months”, and he said, “You‟re going to be the 3rd platoon leader”, and I said, 29 �“Ok, where might I find the 3rd platoon?” he gave me a general idea, and of course I‟d been on and off that firebase with Alpha Company a dozen times, so I knew right where they were. I said, “Who‟s the 3rd platoon sergeant?” “Pat Hansen” and I said, “Ok”, so I shuffled over to 3rd platoon and introduced myself to Pat Hansen and their platoon leader, I forget what his name is now, but I‟ll remember it afterwards. 15:08 He probably took me around and introduced me to the guys, or maybe it was Pat, I don‟t remember now. He left and he went back to the rear and took over my job and he lasted until he rotated, so I guess he did ok, he was drunk most of the time, but maybe that‟s what it took to do well in that job, I don‟t know. So, now I‟m back with a different company and the company commander that I had seen in the rear area, and it didn‟t take too long for a couple three or four days out in the field and, you know, he didn‟t know what he was doing, he was armor officer too, but he was not cut from the same bolt of cloth as Captain Keen, my previous CO, but you do the best you can with the cards you‟re dealt. 16:05 Interviewer: What kind of situation were you in at that time? Were you still patrolling jungle? Yeah, but the terrain was similar, there was a lot of bamboo and things like that. We— there were only two times out in the field that I ever took my boots off. The first was the night before we had that big contact in November, and firebases would have what they call mad minutes where it wasn‟t the same time all the time, rarely did, they last a minute, but the purpose of the thing, they had to shoot up bad ammunition, but really that was purpose number two. Purpose number one was to just shoot fire out everywhere in case anybody was trying to sneak up on you and if they were, and you were firing them up, maybe that would trigger early, their attack, or what have you. 17:05 We were so close, 30 �like I indicated before, to Jerry, that when they were shooting that night bullets were coming into our perimeter. I jumped in the foxhole and the thing was full of termites, in the bottom , and their little pinchers, you know, they like to bite, so I jumped in the hole and in a matter of seconds, you know, their biting my feet. I didn‟t know what it was until the next morning, so I jumped back out of the hole and that was the first time I had my boots off. The second time was with Charlie Company and its pitch dark, which you never know how dark it is in a situation like this until it is dark and you literally can‟t see your hand in front of your face. 18:00 so, I took my boots off and, I don‟t know, ten or eleven o‟clock I hear a M60 fire and it is one of my guns, so I stumble around, try to find my glasses to try to find my boots, and I make my was over to the foxhole where my gunner was and I said, “What‟s going on?” And he said, “Well, I thought I saw something out there”, and I said, “Why the hell did you shoot the machine gun? You never give away your heavy firepower position unless you‟re really under attack”, and then I hear this voice off to the side, “Because I told him to do it 3-6”, it was Captain Bouyev, and I kind of looked, and again, it‟s really dark and you can‟t see, and I said, “Well sir, that was a bad idea, now we‟re going to have to move this gun in the dark and that‟s going to make a lot of noise and everything”. 19:07 He said, “But there was something out there”, and I‟m kind of looking and I can‟t see anything, and I said, “Where?” He said, “Well, watch”, and he shoots with his 45 and he carries tracers in his 45. Of course you can see them going out, and he says, “Right there, there‟s a dead NVA”, and I wasn‟t there, so I don‟t know, but I said, “Let‟s do something a little different here, let‟s shoot a M79 out there”, “Oh, ok”, so I got my thumper guy over there and I actually did it, I shot a M79 over there. 20:06 If there was something there it was 31 �either, A. gone, or it‟s dead from the M79 rounds. “We got to go out and check”, he said, and I said, “What? We don‟t know what‟s out there, maybe there is somebody there, and maybe he‟s just wounded. Are we going to go crawling out there?” He said, “Yup, come with me”, and by now-- my guy that became one of my best friends in the service was the 1st platoon leader, he shows up. Interviewer: We were a spot in the story where you and your company commander are there is the perimeter and you fire off etc., and then the Lieutenant from the first platoon comes up. Phil Zook, the 1st platoon leader comes over and he became, and still is, one of my best friends from my army days. 21:06 He says, “what‟s going on Andy?” I said, “Well, Captain Bouyev thinks”, Phil and I were having a conversation like you are and Captain Bouyev is right there, but we‟re just ignoring him, and I said, “Captain Bouyev thinks there‟s—there was an NVA out there, that‟s why he had the gun open up”, and Phil probably said something grumbly about, “You never shoot an M60 at night unless you‟re in contact”. „So, Captain Bouyev‟s going out there and I‟m going to go with him”, I said. “I can‟t let him go out there”, so Zook says, “Well, I‟ll go with you”. So, here‟s the company commander, he‟s crawling, here‟s me, the “should have known better” Lieutenant, crawling, and here‟s Phil Zook, who should have known better, he‟s crawling. 22:07 Of course, we had left the perimeter now, “So if you hear something, please don‟t shoot, or throw grenades or something because we got three lunatic officers out here crawling around outside the perimeter”, and again, from where the gunner was to where Captain Bouyev thought this enemy soldier was thirty meters maybe, I mean, it wasn‟t a long way, but when you‟re out in front, in the dark, in front of a rifle company, 32 �there‟s always the chance that somebody doesn‟t get the word, or something. All it takes is one guy shooting and the whole company opens up, you know. So, we‟re crawling, I guess about as slow as you could possibly crawl, and finally, I think I said to Bouyev, I said, “Six, this is a bad idea, we‟re out here in front of “. 23:11 Of course, I‟m probably whispering it, not knowing if there‟s anything out there or not. I said, “We‟re out here exposed, we need to get back in the perimeter and we‟ll check it out in the morning”, and I guess he finally decided, “Boy, this is a dumb idea, all of us out here in front of everybody”, and we kind of turned around and crawled back and then the next morning there was nothing there. No evidence of any blood or anything, so was there somebody there? I don‟t know, but probably not, we found no evidence. This was early April, probably, when all this is going on. And then a big event on the 26th of April, we got in a big, horrific, fire fight again. 24:13 Phil was out doing a clover leaf and I‟d been left behind as an ambush, and then Phil got ambushed, and then I was hurrying back to the company, and Captain Bouyev was, as I was coming to the perimeter he was just going out, and he said, “Take charge of the perimeter, I‟m going out and I‟m going to get one with my knife”, and I said, “Ok”. That was just the guy's persona; he was just full of himself. He was a lousy—maybe he was a good tank officer, I don‟t know, because that was his branch. 25:03 In my opinion, a crappy infantry company commander, but—so, that was the last time I ever saw him alive, you know. He went out with part of the 2nd platoon, or with the 2nd platoon, and then I kind of came in and just was listening to the sounds of, at that time, Phil shooting, and they were shooting B40‟s at them or RPG‟s, RPD‟s if machine guns, and AK‟s and SK‟s and the whole nine yards, you know. Intermittent in all that is Phil shooting back, his platoon shooting back. 33 �Interviewer: Now were you in a position to hear whatever he was saying on the radio? Well, I was able to hear what Captain Bouyev was saying, and at some point in all of this, Phil‟s radio and then his platoon sergeant‟s radio had been shot out. 26:18 So, I had no communication with them at all, and then there was a hasty call from Bouyev that we needed to come out there, “We‟re pinned down”, and I reply, “Roger, we‟ll be out there momentarily”, and so I yelled over to—I‟d gotten a new E5, and Pat Hansen had gotten a rear job, so he left as platoon sergeant, and Lasco, I think his name was. So, I said, “Get our guys ready, we‟re going to go out there and do what we can do”. 27:08 Interviewer: Would you be leaving anybody still at the perimeter when you do that? Just the 4th platoon stayed behind and they were a small, they weren‟t a complete rifle platoon, so they stayed back to guard the—to make their own little perimeter, and they had a radio, and that, really, was going to be our last—that worked out really, was the last reserves. So, as I‟m standing up, and we‟re just getting ready to go out, a B40 or RPG, or something, hit close by where we were standing and knocked down three or four of my guys and it didn‟t knock me down, but a piece hit me, and then I look and everybody gets up, but like five guys. “Oh shit”, so we get the medics over there and we went out. 28:09 maybe there were fifteen of us, because the other guys were wounded. I was wounded too, but it was a miniscule wound compared to what most people get. It was easy to follow the trail that Captain Bouyev and the other guys went, not knowing where anybody was, that was the most expedient, it might not have been the safest, but at least I could find out where they were by following their trail. So, we, and we didn‟t go very 34 �far, you know, 100 meters, because this all happened very close to our perimeter, and quite often happens, there‟s a lot of firing and then all of a sudden there‟s nothing, and about the time I got up to where the headquarters group was, the firing kind of stopped. 29:14 I remember our forward observer, we called him “Bull”, his last name was Durham, and he was a huge fellow, and he was as close to the ground as he could get, and he was probably still two feet off the ground, he was just a bull of a man. He looked up at me and he said, “Andy, you better get down, it‟s really bad up here”, and of course, I‟d heard all this bad firing, but there wasn‟t anything happening right then. Then I hear off to my left, was a Termite mound, a huge Termite mound, and behind that was the battalion commander‟s radio operator, the guy who had the radio on the battalion end, and he was just screaming, “Were all going to be killed, the 1st platoon is wiped out”. 30:13 Of course, by now the battalion commander‟s on that radio and this kid is just going nuts. Off to my right, on the other side of Bull, I could see the medics working on one of guys and they were yelling at him, “Stay with us, stay with us, you‟ll be ok, you‟ll be ok”, so I went over to the Termite mound and grabbed the radio away from this kid. I said, “This is “Cool killer 3-6”, I‟m up here now and I‟ll let you know what‟s going on when I know what‟s going on. I just got here and I don‟t know who‟s a line one, who‟s a line two, there‟s no radio commo between 1st platoon and me, or 1st platoon and anybody, six is not here”. 31:07 That was probably a sergeant that I was telling that to on the radio, and then the Colonel got on the radio and he wanted to know, “What‟s going on? Have I just lost a company?” I said, “I just got here, leave me alone and let me develop what the hell‟s going on”, and he said, “Tell me what‟s going on as soon as you know”, and I said, “Loco”, and I gave the radio back to the kid, and said, “Do not talk in that 35 �radio, and do not answer. If they call you don‟t do anything”, and I said, “Where‟s Bouyev?” The kid said, “I don‟t know”, and I; thinking, “Well, this is nuts, you‟re supposed to be with the company commander and the other was on the company net and he was just sitting there, but now‟s not the time to tell somebody what they‟re supposed to be doing, you know. 32:01 I‟m going through my mind, “What?” Then I asked him, “Do you have any contact with the 1st platoon?” He said, “No, we haven‟t”, and by the amount of firing that had been going on, I thought, “Well, they‟re wiped out”, you know. So, I put a gun team over on the other side of where the medics were working on a guy, and then I had one kind of close by me, and I said, I told my radio operator, “Just sit here”, and I don‟t know why I didn‟t say, “Follow me”. I said, “I‟m going to go up there and find out what the hell‟s going on, really”, which I think in retrospect was kind of dumb because I didn‟t take the radio operator with me. So, I started crawling up and I hadn‟t gotten in the prone position and crawled ten feet when it all started up again. 33:00 It was real personal at that time because it seemed like everybody was shooting at me. The bullets, they weren‟t going by six inches away from me, they were going right over the top of my head, and I‟m thinking, “This is not a good thing, but “follow me” is the motto of the infantry”, so I‟m still crawling out there and then I was kind of thinking, “This is a real bad idea, as far as I know I‟m the only one out here, and as far as I know, all the bad guys can see me because they‟re shooting at me”, and then I saw the 2nd platoon leader, Danny Clark, he came low crawling past me as fast as he could low crawl, and he said, “ Bouyev‟s dead”. 34:01 I said, “Where‟s your platoon?” he said, “I don‟t have any idea, “Bouyev‟s dead”, and I said, “Are you sure?” He said, “Yeah, I crawled right by him, he‟s dead”, and of course, he‟s by now—he never stopped when he told me 36 �all this, he‟s just going. I said to myself, “This is—I can‟t let him get back there and get on the radios”, so then I turned around and I crawled back and got behind the Termite mound and called the colonel back and I said, “You know, we got a situation here. I don‟t know what‟s going on. One of the guys says six is a line one”, and as I‟m talking on the radio I‟m watching Manny Torrez, you know, the—he had a second chest wound and the medics did everything they could, but he died while I was watching. 35:03 Colonel Jahn, he was just questions, questions, and questions, “What‟s going on? You got to find out what‟s going on. You got to tell me what‟s happening with one six”, and I said, “I don‟t know what‟s happening with one six, it may be just five of us here, I have no idea, you just have to give me time”, and he said, “I don‟t have time, you know the Colonel”— you know the brigade—see it‟s the echelon, so here‟s the Colonel Jahn, and here‟s Colonel Kingston up here, and finally I hear, “ break, break, break, this is Gary Owen Six”, or whatever, and I knew that was the brigade commander. He said, “Red Baron Six”, which was Jahn, and Jahn comes on and he says, “This is Gary Own Six, get off his back and let him develop the situation, he‟ll tell you what the hell‟s going on when he knows what‟s going on, leave him alone and let him fight the battle”. 36:06 “Roger”, and I never had any more trouble from Jahn after that. So, we‟re just sitting there and then my machine gun team, all if a sudden, yells at me and he says, “Do we have presits?” I was close enough so we could see each other, and he said, “Do we have people out there?” I said, “I don‟t think so”, and he said, “”somebody‟s running, somebody‟s running away”, and, of course, I didn‟t know if that was our guys or what, so I said, “Well, just keep a steady eye”, and then all of a sudden I heard kind of movement off to the left, and here comes Zook, somehow, disengaged and got his people back. 37 �37:01 I said, “Do you have all of your people?” he said, “Yes”, and I said, “Well, where‟s Clark‟s people?” He said, “They‟re coming, they‟re behind me”, so then I told both gunners, “If you see any movement out there now, fire it up because it‟s enemy. All of our guys are back”, so then I called Jahn back and I said, “Ok, I‟ve got, essentially I‟ve got good news, 1st platoon is disengaged, the 2nd platoon is behind them. I know we got one line one and we probably got fifteen or twenty line two‟s, wounded. I still don‟t know the status of six, but I‟ll, hopefully know something about that soon”, so Zook was sitting right there behind the Termite mound kind of panting, because he had taken over one of his machine guns when the gunner got wounded, and he was firing and then that gun got shot up and then his radio operator had also been shot. 38:10 I said, “Well, Clark said the Bouyev is dead and he‟s out there”, and Phil said, “Yeah, he probably is “, and I said, “We can‟t leave him out there”, and he said, “I am not going back out there”, Phil said. I said, “Well, we can‟t leave him out there”, and Phil said, “You can go out there, but I‟m not going back out there”, so I said, “Ok”, and by then the firing had kind of stopped because what my gunner had seen, they had enough. 39:02 Of course by then I‟d been calling in Cobras and stuff like that . Interviewer: So there had been some kind of air strike? They were in bunkers and they were—the 11th Armored—this was a lot of bamboo around this area and the 11th Armored Cav had been going through this area with their APCs and their tanks and everything, and the NVA had built bunkers real close to this, thinking, “Well, if they went through here once, maybe they‟ll come through here again, and we‟ll be right on top of them and we‟ll blast them with our RPGs or whatever and take them out”, so I grabbed Locko and I said, “Let‟s go out there and see what we see”, 38 �and I guess that he was new enough that he said, “Ok”, rather than, “Are you nuts?” 40:02 So we went out there 25 meters, maybe not even that, and there Captain Bouyev was, dead as a door nail, he‟d been shot through the forehead. We rolled him over to make sure he was dead. There wasn‟t any horror to it. The thing that was so bizarre that I remember was that he didn‟t have his glasses. I thought, “Where the heck were his glasses?” Then so, I guess, Kerry grabbed an arm, or two arms, and I grabbed his feet, or one of each, and we kind of carried him back to the Termite mound and then I radioed to Jahn and I said, “Well, six is a line one and we‟ve recovered his body, and everybody‟s moving back to the perimeter”. 41:12 So there‟s nothing—you know you hear the term “dead weight”, you know a hundred—he was a stocky man and he weighed, maybe, a hundred and fifty pounds, you know, but that‟s a lot of weight when you‟re getting no help, no movement. I had the gun team, I said, “Give me your gun and you two guys carry him back and we‟ll just back our way right back the thing and I‟ll be the guy with the gun covering as we move back”. So, I took the M60 and there was no incoming fire there, but having been once where heavy identifire and then it stopped heavy identifire [?] and then it stopped, you know you don‟t know, so I just fired them up as we went backwards. 42:18 Then we got back to the perimeter and by now they‟re starting the medevac‟s. They had to use the jungle penetrator because there wasn‟t a place for them to land, so everybody was going up on the jungle penetrator. Bloody bandages everywhere and it was a real mess. Interviewer: What happened to the company at that point? Well, what I thought was going to happen was, of course it‟s kind of the last thing on your mind, essentially I‟d taken over the company for a couple hours, or whatever. 43:06 39 �All of this happened a lot—you know I talked about it in twenty minutes, but it was a number of hours over the course of this thing. One of the other company commanders had been—the B company commander was an S1 and when he heard that all this was going on and that Bouyev had been killed, he grabbed his rucksack and came out and got on a helicopter and he came out, and he had already served four or five months as company commander, and he came out and served for two months for the rest of the time in Cambodia. I remember telling one of the guys that was there, Lieutenant Smith, after it was all over I said, “This is—you‟ll never see another day like this. This is the worst day you‟ll ever see”. 44:10 When the company got to Cambodia, that April 26th would have been a good day compared to what happened to them in Cambodia. They just got decimated in Cambodia. Three days after that action, Charlie Company was back on the firebase, my former company, Alpha Company, got into a similar heavy, ugly contest , probably with the same group of people, and they had a Lieutenant killed and a buck sergeant killed. Typically when a company got beat up like that you come to the firebase just to decompress a little bit, so we were kind of in the middle of decompressing when Alpha Company got beat up. 45:03 So, they couldn‟t leave them out in the field, so they brought Alpha Company in, but they told me that, “Well, you‟re going to go back to Alpha Company and be the executive officer”, because they were about ready to make that switch and then Lou Favoussa got killed, so then I became the senior Lieutenant, so they sent me back to Alpha Company. Interviewer: Is Captain Keen still there? Captain Keen had derosed about the middle of March, and he was, actually, the S4 at that time, so he was making sure everything was—the battalion was supplied and everything. 40 �He was a career officer too, Patrick Keen, and retired as a full Colonel. The guy that took over the company after Bouyev killed, Dana Dillon, he was a career officer too, and also retired as a full Colonel. 46:01 Interviewer: So, who did you have then as a captain in Alpha Company when you got there? Captain Bowen had taken over from Captain Keen and I was his executive officer. The job of a XO, there‟s really one job, and that‟s to go out and take over the company if something happens to the company commander, that‟s really it. You also have to sign for the property book, all of the weapons, all of the typewriters, all of the starlight scopes, all of that minutia called TA50, all of the—in the stateside the company commander signs for it, but in a combat environment, or at least in the Cav, in that environment the XO will sign for it. 47:00 I would go out to the field every day, if the company was on the firebase, I‟d go out there every day and come back and sleep at Quan Loi, the brigade headquarters, where our company was, and then the next day go back out. It was administrative, the first sergeant really ran the rear and if you had a good first sergeant, you know, you just let him do his job and we had an excellent first sergeant, and there was no need for me to look over his shoulder. It‟s—I wouldn‟t necessarily say it‟s a reward for good service, or what have you, because you need slots filled, but you can be a crummy XO and it would have no effect on your—if you‟ve got a good first sergeant you could be a crummy XO, but if you‟re a crummy XO and you got a crappy first sergeant then the guys in the field didn‟t get what they needed. 48:08 that was really my job, to run interference if the top ever had any issues and he never really did because, you know, most people defer to first sergeants anyway. A good lieutenant will defer to a first 41 �sergeant until he finds out if the top is good or bad. If he‟s bad then he‟s got to get involved, but that‟s kind of what I did. We went to Cambodia and even though I went into Cambodia, essentially, every three days as the company was being resupplied. Interviewer: Did the brigade headquarters go to Cambodia, or did they stay back? They stayed at Quan Loi. 49:01 The battalion, of course the battalion had a huge presence at Quan Loi, but they had a tactical operation center at the firebase in Cambodia, that‟s where the Colonel would be. Interviewer: Now, would you go out to the firebase? Out to the firebase and then again, similar to what it was the previous October you know, wait until the log bird, the resupply bird would show up, and then I‟d jump on there with any—you know, the mail was the first thing to go out and then any business I had with the company commander. I‟d get out there and eat lunch with him and when the last bird was done for the day, you know, I‟d get back on and go back to whatever firebase we were at. Interviewer: Now, if they’re actively campaigning, did you get shot at when you few back and forth? Was it a dangerous thing to do? I‟m not aware that we ever got shot at, but you only know if they hit your helicopter, I guess, or if the door gunner sees the tracers or what have you. 50:13 I am, I can‟t say a hundred percent sure, because I don‟t know, but I never recall being shot at, I was fortunate that I was never called into what they call a “hot LZ”. When you‟re doing your combat assaults you‟re going in and the enemy is there and they‟re engaging you, which never happened to me. It happened to guys after and it happened to guys before, but it 42 �never happened on any combat assaults that I made, that I‟m aware of, at least we never had a “hot LZ”, whether they shot at us when we were going or coming, I have no idea. Interviewer: Now, because of your position, did you now have a little bit more of an understanding of what was going on in the larger operation etc.? 51:00 As you saw it, at the time, what was the purpose of going into Cambodia? Well, I was probably like a lot of people, again my father was a career Air Force, but, you know, I believed all that palaver about the domino theory, if we don‟t stop them over there, then we‟ll be fighting them in Kalamazoo. Interviewer: On a military level, I guess, is what I was asking. Why were you going in at that point, what were you trying to accomplish? Well again, I think it‟s along those lines. You‟re just trying to stop the production of communism; you‟re trying to help a South Vietnamese country that is trying to be taken over by North Vietnam. Interviewer: Did you have a sense of what the actual military objective of the operation was, or were you going to Cambodia because they sent you? In Cambodia, oh, oh, oh, I‟m sorry. 52:01 No, the—well, we heard the President say what he said and, of course, we were operating close enough to Cambodia that I don‟t recall that it ever happened again to any engagements that I was in, you know, people that I was serving with, it happened to them earlier where they‟d run across the border and you couldn‟t chase them. Sometimes you did, and sometimes you didn‟t, and a lot of guys would say that we were actually in Cambodia, but whether you were or you weren‟t you don‟t know. When we got the briefing, again this was before—this was after April 26th, but before I got sent back to Alpha Company. The briefing in Nha Trang was, you 43 �know, “Were going into Cambodia on the 1st of May, and we‟re going to go in no more than thirty Kilometers or thirty miles”, or whatever it was. 53:00 “We‟re going to be there sixty days and we‟re going to try to find as much supply stuff as we can find, disrupt what they‟re doing and the only thing we know for sure is we can get you on the ground, but we don‟t know if we can get you out”. So, Charlie Company was actually supposed to be the first company to go in, and then of course Phil Favoussa got killed and then I went to Alpha Company, so that part didn‟t affect me. They were originally going to load ARVN‟s, South Vietnamese Army soldiers at Quan Loi and bring them out to Frances, unload them, put Americans on and then go in. I guess somebody decided that if we do that, as soon as we let them off the helicopters they‟re going to run away and we‟re never going to get them into Cambodia. 54:00 So, they decided they‟re on there, and they took the ARVN‟s in first. It was, you know, strike the sanctuaries and I—our battalion had a lot of people killed in Cambodia. We were probably the heaviest hit battalion of all the—certainly of all the Cav that went into Cambodia and maybe of all of the soldiers, I think there were a hundred and fifty five, or something, killed in Cambodia. Charlie Company alone had sixteen or seventeen in just forty five days of combat. Interviewer: Now, were you with, in that position, through the whole Cambodian phase, or did you leave before that? No, I was there the whole time, I again, my job as XO was to do the administrative thing, and it was just brutal. 55:10 I mean, there was serious, as serious as the NVA were in South Vietnam and in the old April 26th and what have you. They were a heck of a lot more serious, it seems like in Cambodia because, like I say, a mortar battalion, and they 44 �were beaten up pretty bad, the enemy soldiers. You know now, forty years after the fact, I‟ve done a lot of reading, and I‟ve done a lot of research, and the more you read the more disenchanted you get, you know, and I forget the name of the book now, I just read it about a year ago, but—it was [Mc]George Bundy, I think, it was a book about him as National Security Advisor. 56:06 The premise of that book was essentially that Kennedy was about to withdraw all the advisors at the time he was assassinated and had happened, you know, we most likely never would have been in there. It‟s a—I know a lot of people that—you know in a very small circle and then you expand it a little that you know of that were killed there, and it just leaves me, and it still does, with a sense of sadness, you know that—not only for the American side, but for the North Vietnamese side, you know. They had well over a million, I guess, by all accounts, and somewhere in there maybe there was the cure for Cancer or something, you know. 57:02 We can‟t be so foolish as to think it can just be an American that can come up with a cure. Interviewer: Now, was the XO assignment the last one you had while you were in Vietnam? No, I served for about two weeks as the acting company commander. George Loveless went on R&R, Captain Bowen left about the first of July, right after Cambodia, and George Loveless came in and I thought, “Well, this is good, he seems like a pretty good guy”, George Loveless, and then, I was short, I was down to about, well, certainly within my last month and I went out to the firebase one day and he said, “Well, the next time you log, bring all of your stuff with you”, and I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, I‟m going on R&R”, and I said, “Huh?” 58:00 So, he went on R&R and I was back out in the field for two weeks and we had, in those two weeks we had three different 45 �fire fights and we didn‟t have anybody wounded, fortunately, but the interesting thing, the Colonel that I had so much trouble with when I was the base defense guy at Quan Loi, he was now our battalion commander. So, I thought, “This is lovely, how can that little cloud, the pig pen cloud, keep following me around?” But, I remember doing an aerial recon with Colonel LaBrose and he said, “You‟re going to go here and you‟re going to go here and do this, and when you‟re all said and done I want you right here”. And he drew this little place on my map. So, George went on R&R and I was out in the field and we did our thing. 59:07 The day we‟re supposed to be extracted, I was right where he drew on my map. He calls me up and he said, “I‟m circling that place, pop smoke or something”, so, I said, “Well we‟re right where you drew on my map”, and we don‟t hear any helicopter. This went back and forth, back and forth, “You‟ve got to go to this location”, and I said, “I‟m at that location”, “You got to go to this location”, “I‟m at that location”, and finally he said, “Well, just cut an LZ where you are and then I want you to report to me when you get back”, and I said, “Ok”, so we made out like a one ship LZ and got out one helicopter at a time. I was the last one on the helicopter and I went in and reported to the TOC and I expected him to just rip my head off, you know. 00:07 He said, “I want you to know Lieutenant Anderson, that was the best extraction of a rifle company from the field that I have ever seen in my life. It was just marvelous, it was just wonderful”, and blah, blah, blah, and I said, “Ok, yes sir”, “Carry on”. I left and George came back in and that was it. Interviewer: So, you never had any idea what had gone on, you figured out that he had the wrong location? 46 �He drew it wrong on my map, but I wasn‟t—and I‟m not going to say anything other than saying I‟m at that location, but what more can I do? He can‟t say, “go to that location on the map that I drew. “I‟m at that location”. “Shoot artillery, do whatever you want to do”. I had that happen one time too with captain Keen. He professed that I was at the wrong place on the map, and this went back and forth, back and forth, and finally he said, “Ok, I‟ll shoot a marking round”. 1:06 They shoot white phosphorous with a grid coordinate 400 meters over your head, and that thing went off right over the top of my head, and he said, “Did you get an azimuth to it?” I said, “Well, my compass doesn‟t work when it‟s pointed straight up”. “Er, we‟ll come to you”, and it took them four hours to get to where we were, and he was not happy. But, I learned that in jungle school. We got lost, horribly lost, in the map reading course. Interviewer: That was, if you follow the questions, and the first one actually was, what did jungle school consist of and how useful was it? For me, it was useful only from the standpoint, you knew, kind of, what the jungle was like. It was a bunch of—and there were classrooms, and there were a couple of field exercises, one of which was the night compass course, and there were four of us dumb lieutenants. 2:13 I always maintained that I didn‟t A, have the compass, or B, have the map, I was just one of the guys. We got horribly lost and we were out all night with mosquitoes the size of Humming Birds and one guy lost his watch and we were all—it was like the Four Stooges, you know, and finally the next day it seems like they had a helicopter flying over us and yelling, “Where are you dummies?” Finally they found us and we found them, but it was useful to me, from my standpoint, more A, the weather was beastly hot, so again you got somewhat acclimated to the weather, although Vietnam 47 �was hotter, and seeing what the terrain was like. 3:14 Other than that is was—and the other thing that was great, they counted it for your time, so from the time you reported to the time the school was over, until the time that you got to Vietnam, all of that time counted, so actually, I was somewhat lucky, I was only there not quite eleven months, in country. Interviewer: We were kind of talking about jungle school and you were pointing out that because that time counted overseas, that it shortened, a little bit, the time you had to be in Vietnam. The next question at that point was how much contact you had with the Vietnamese themselves. Actually, very little, I mean we had Hoi Chans, which were enemy soldiers that had gone into the Chieu Hoi program, you know they raise there hand, Chieu Hoi, that means don‟t shoot me basically, and they surrender. 4:10 Then they go through an indoctrination program and once they graduate, or what have you, or deem to no longer be communists, and then they become what they call Hoi Chans and then some of them get sent back to companies, Kit Carson Scouts, or what have you, so early on with Alpha Company we had one, I think, a Kit Carson Scout, and one of them got wounded in that big fire fight in November and then we got another one. Some of them were just enlisted guys and some had been officers and in either the Vietcong infrastructure or actual NVA folks. Then we had people that would come in the rear, when I was XO, you know, hooch cleaners, or what have you. 5:12 But, out in the field, while I was out in the field, anybody we ran across usually was trying to elude bullets or shooting at us first. Interviewer: You weren’t really in a populated area? 48 �I wasn‟t, but before I got there the company was operating up around Bao Loc and there were a lot of Montagnard and indigenous folks up there, so they had a lot of interaction, but that was prior to me getting there. Interviewer: What opinion did you have, if any, of the Kit Carson Scouts or the Vietnamese soldiers that were assigned to you? You know they—I guess I didn‟t have much opinion. It wasn‟t a trust factor, it just seemed like, you know, he could look at a trail and I could look at the same trail and again, if it was like this concrete, and he would say something like, ”Boo Coo, NVA”, you know, or something. 6:18 Boo Coo [corruption of the French "beaucoup"] was a big word for them and if you were Dinky Dow, you know, you were nuts, and if you were Number 1 you were good, and if you were Number 10, you weren‟t good. I couldn‟t speak Vietnamese. Interviewer: Did they seem to be reasonably good soldiers? Well again, they're not part of the army. I heard so many bad things about that, that I wouldn‟t want to characterize except say, „Well, they were there with us and if we saw some muddy foot prints, you know, “How many went by?” “Boo Coo, Boo Coo”, and that told you inessentially, a bunch of them. 7:09 It could have been one or it could have been fifty, so I guess the—and sometimes you would capture documents. If it was a Vietnamese as opposed to a Montagnard, then they can generally read the documents and glean some information from it, but I wouldn‟t day they were bad and I wouldn‟t say they were good, they were just there. Interviewer: From, particularly the time you spent out in the field in one capacity, are there other kind of individual incidence or things that kind of stick out in your 49 �mind that you haven’t brought into the story yet, or did you kind of hit the main events? I think we touched on the main things. You know, it wasn‟t always ugly. 8:06 One time we came back from mission, came into the firebase and our first sergeant had been a major in Korea and he‟d been caught up in a reduction of force and he was our top sergeant and he use to have steaks for us when we came back. Where he got those I have no idea. Captain Keen told me, “You‟re going to be in charge of the potatoes. “What do I know about cooking potatoes?” I remembered when I was a kid, my mother on occasion, use to boil potatoes in water, so I got a, probably a 155 canister, you know a big metal canister from the artillery guys and cleaned it out, so there wasn‟t any gun powder residue or what have you in it. 9:07 I filled it halfway through with water, threw the potatoes in there and boiled the potatoes, and it worked, and I didn‟t get yelled at my Captain Keen, so it was just an off thing. Interviewer: How would you characterize morale in the units you were with when you were, particularly, in the field? I would say the morale in Alpha Company was real good through all the platoons. Morale is a function, I think of a couple different things. One, if you got a good company commander, and you‟ve got a good platoon leader, and you‟ve got good squad leaders, and platoon sergeants, then I think you‟re going to have good morale. 10:08 If any of those are out of whack the morale‟s going to be crappy, I think. Initially, when I got to Charlie Company, because I already had a preconceived notion of Captain Bouyev, and I had to do my best to only let that guard down and the only person I ever let that down with was Phil. We were very careful about that because if the men saw that the 50 �Lieutenants didn‟t have any respect for the company commander, then that could not be so good either. 11:06 There was one other, kind of in retrospect, humorous incident. We were on Firebase Compton and I had bad bowel issues that day and Captain Bouyev wanted our platoon to go out on a recon, and this firebase was in the middle of a big—at the end of an old airfield in the middle of a rubber plantation, and you see for 600 meters in almost every direction. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity, A, because I felt lousy, to let one of my squad leaders take the platoon out on a—they could read maps, so it wasn‟t that, and give them some training. 12:09 You never know when the film is going to stop and the lieutenant's dead and the platoon sergeant‟s dead, and Sergeant McGregor, you‟re now in charge of this platoon. I got no static from the guys that were going to do that, and if it had I probably would have figured out something else. But they said, “Sure, that‟s”. You know, we weren‟t necessarily concerned about the area, or anything like that, so they started going out and they were calling in situation reports and I was monitoring it, and just trying to get my bowels under control. The next thing I hear on the radio is, “3-6 where are you?” Captain Bouyev was calling, and I said, “Well, I‟m in bunker 15”, or whatever, and he said, “You wait right there”. 13:05 So, he shows up about two minutes later and he‟s just chewing me up one side and down the other, “I sent you out to do this patrol”, and blah, blah, blah. I was trying to keep from throwing up and doing everything, and I said, “Well, here‟s what I‟m trying to do”, and he said, “I don‟t care what you‟re trying to do, you‟re supposed to lead that platoon, you get out there and lead that platoon. When I tell you to do something you‟re supposed to do it”, and I said, “Ok”. I grabbed the radio and I threw it up on my back, I threw two bandoliers of ammo over my—and I started walking. Pat 51 �Hansen comes running and says, “Where you going?‟ I said, “I‟m going out there”, and he said, “You‟re going out there by yourself?” And I said, “Yeah, I‟m going to go”, so I radioed the guys and I said, “Set up and butt up security”. I could darn near see them, you know. “You can‟t go out there by yourself”, and I said, “Are you coming with me?” He said, “Well, yeah”, “So, get your stuff because I‟m leaving”. 14:03 We walked out through the gate and we walked right down the airfield and we turned west and walked 500 meters and just like two guys on a stroll in the woods. Probably if there had been any VC, or anybody, around they would have looked at that and thought, “this has got to be a trap, that can‟t be two guys dumb enough to be walking out here all by themselves”. So, we walked out and sat down and I radioed back and said, “Ok, I‟ve joined the platoon”, and he said, “Let me know how the rest of that patrol goes”, and I said, “Ok”, and we sat right there for the rest of the day, to hell with him, you know. So, I tried to do some training and it didn‟t work out. Interviewer: You mentioned other people going off on R&R and that kind of thing, did you get a break in anyway? I did—my father, by now his last duty station was Clark Air Base in the Philippines and I took my R&R in the Philippines. 15:01 He actually—his job was—he was a lieutenant colonel then, and he was in charge of scheduling all the planes into and out of Clark. He flew over on the R&R, the Air Force R&R plane, and I got on the plane along with seven or eight other people that were going to Manila, which was the R&R center. They landed at whatever the Manila airfield is and those guys got off and I stayed on the plane and we went to Clark airbase and was reunited with my mother and my sister, so I did my R&R, and everybody that went to the Philippines went to Manila, and I went to Clark Air Base. 52 �16:02 We played golf a couple of times at the airbase thing and we went down to Subic Bay and then it was over. Of course that R&R flight was originating from Clark, you know, so he took me down and I got on the plane and he said, “Obviously, stay on the plane until you get back to Tan Son Nhut, or Bien Hoa” , or wherever it was going, and I said, “Ok”. Interviewer: When you r tour in Vietnam came to an end, how much time did you have on your enlistment at that point? I left Vietnam about the middle of September and I was supposed to go to the twenty eighth of March the following year. There was a little snafu with my orders. I was being assigned to Fort Knox and the report date was the thirty first of September, and I missed that part. 17:08 I mailed it to my father, because I got that early on in July or the first of August. I mailed him a copy and he mailed me back and said “There‟s no such date as the 31st of July”, which he caught on right away, and I thought,”Yeah”, so I went down to the personnel office at battalion headquarters and said, “They got the wrong date here” and they said, “Oh”, and then they changed it to the 31st of October. So, I went back to, went home, and went to Kalamazoo, my grandparents were living in Kalamazoo and stayed there for forty-five days, or whatever it was. 18:07 I bought a car and drove down to Fort Knox and reported in and they sent me to the reception station. First of all I didn‟t want to—I felt like a fish out of water anyway, an infantryman in an Armor School. Then they—to my way of thinking, they had the audacity to send me to the reception station, you know. I was hoping that I would go to a basic training unit, or something that—you know, I‟d survived, I‟d learned a few things, and maybe I can teach somebody one thing that they will remember that will save them. Well, you‟re not going 53 �to teach anybody anything at the reception station. I reported in to the Lieutenant Colonel that was the commanding officer at the time, Lieutenant Colonel Pew. 19:01 And I had on, you know, my medals, my CIB, and what have you, and I was in my green uniform, but I didn‟t have the Armor School tag, on my—or insignia on my uniform. Of course, I‟m standing at attention and he‟s looking me up and down and I forget what he was, he was a Signal Corps Officer or something like that. He starts busting my chops about—I‟m essentially out of uniform and he said, “Weren‟t you in the Cav or something?” No, he probably asked me and I didn‟t have the Cav patch on my uniform either. He said, and this was probably a Friday, he said, “When you get back here Monday, you better have the Armor School thing on your shoulder, you better have your Cav patch on, and you better be ready to go to work”. 20:09 I saluted him, went out and got in my car and thought, “Jeepers, now what?” So I drove back home to Kalamazoo, and I‟d gotten a boony hat that the 90th replacement-- when I was coming home, and it had a big yellow Cav patch on the top of it, and I asked my grandmother, I‟d stopped at the PX and gotten my Armor School things, “Can you rip this off my boony hat and sew it on my dress green uniform?, and she said, “Of course”, so she sewed my Cav patch on and then my other and I got back there Monday morning and showed up in the proper uniform. 21:03 They made me a training and operations officer, or something. You know, they had so many 1st lieutenants running around. There was a captain running the section and a couple of sergeants and a friend of mine from OCS was also stationed there, and I was living in his—and sleeping on his couch, actually in the BOQ. I‟d signed in to the BOQ, but I was staying with Mike, and Mike kept asking me, he said, “Are you going back to school when you get out, are you going back to school when you get out?” I said, 54 �“Well, yeah”. He says, “Well, you‟re not going to stay in the army?” I said, “No, there‟s too many guys like LaBrose and Pew”. And he said, “Well apply for an early out, you know, and then you can start in January”, “Oh, ok”, so I forget who I talked to about that, and I filled out all the paper work and sent it in. 22:08 Of course, the army—“Hey, no problem”. Interviewer: Were they downsizing a little at this point? Yes, so that came through and then once they knew I was going to be getting out at the end of December, and there again, I reported on the 31st of October, so by all of this—it‟s the middle of November, so they send me down to Headquarter Company and I was the XO counting paper clips, or something, for the last two weeks I was in the service. Interviewer: Now, had they made any effort to encourage you to re-enlist? I had—when I was in—as a training officer, after I graduated from OCS I got this letter from the Department of the Army. 23:01 Some full Colonel in the Department of the Army, and he said all these lovely things, you know, “I‟ve been talking to your battalion commander about you, and you‟re the kind of guy the army needs and we‟ll send you”, you know, and blah, blah, blah. I was only four months commissioned and it sounded really great to me. So, all I had to do was say, “Yes, I‟ll go and be interviewed by the Brigade Commander”, and, of course, you‟re not going to say, “No”. So, I went up and saw-- he was busy that day, so I saw his XO, I guess, but---you know, we talked, just like we‟re talking now and I only said, “Yes sir‟, about a thousand times. I hadn‟t really given it much thought, but—until it came time to get out, and then I thought,”You know, eleven months”, and I still didn‟t have a college education, “this might not work”, so I 55 �decided to get out. 24:10 But yeah, they were kind of after me. You had to go indefinite and maybe you‟d get a regular army commission or something. Interviewer: Now, once you do get out, did you go right back to school? I did, yeah; my official last day in the service on active duty was December 31st, so they gave me, like two days to travel from Fort Knox to Kalamazoo, so I signed out, went home, to my grandparents‟ house. My parents were still in the Philippines, and then school started either that next week, or the week after, the first full week, probably, in January. Interviewer: Did you go back to Michigan State at that point? Yes Interviewer: So, they had kicked you out and they let you back in now? Yes, I‟d been out and I‟d—of course to get the early out you have to be reaccepted somewhere. 25:03 So, I‟d already done that and they had reaccepted me and I had a little different outlook on studying. Prior, I was putting in the time, but I wasn‟t getting anything out of it, or at least I wasn‟t able to translate what I did or didn‟t get out of it into exams. I never flunked anything, but two consecutive terms of straight one points, you know, and then they had what they call a step scale at that time and I was below the step scale for two consecutive terms and as a transfer student they exhaust me. But, I was reaccepted unconditionally, they had changed the step scale and it was something else. 26:05 Of course, I had a one point average that I had to—and that took, probably, a couple semesters to get that above a two point, because you got to get A‟s to bring a one to a two point five, but you know, you eventually got it worked up and then I—it was just easier, I guess, then, I was older, I was in the dorm, and there was another guy who 56 �became a very good friend of mine and he was a sergeant, he had been a sergeant in Vietnam with the 9th Infantry. I was a lot easier, and I was a heck of a lot more mature. Interviewer: Did you feel at all out of place as a veteran, at this point, on campus, or being older than most of the students? 27:02 No, not really, I mean our hair was still shorter and we all wore field jackets in the winter, not all, but the three or four of us that were veterans on the floor, and no, not really. I remember there was some rioting and I want to say in 1971 or 1972, or protesting. I forget what they were—they were protesting, you know, and all the long haired “Hippies‟ were down there and the state police were there. We went down to watch and they arrested a couple guys and threw them in the back seat of the state cruisers. My roommate and I—he was in the Air Force reserves, and we were saying, “Roll up those windows, make them sweat to death”, and the cops were all laughing at us. 28:06 “We can‟t do that”, and we said, “Oh yes you can, those pot lickers”. I forget what they were protesting, but it was a big deal and Grand River Avenue was all jammed full of pedestrians and cars were going real slow. The cops were beating on the cars to get them to speed up, but I can‟t remember what it was all about now. We just went to school and studied. Interviewer: Did people generally know that you were a veteran and had been in Vietnam? Probably, because my uniform was my—my fatigue shirts, basically, and cut off fatigue pants, that‟s what I wore to school. Interviewer: But you didn’t get particular flak, or anything, from anybody because of that? 57 �No Interviewer: What did you take your degree in? My undergraduate was in general business with a major, or what have you, in management. 29:13 Then my masters was in personnel administration. Interviewer: What kind of a career did you go into? Well, I graduated with my masters, MBA, in 1976 and 1976 wasn‟t a great time for the country either, as far as getting jobs, and it even got to a point where—I was married by then, I‟d been married for a couple of years, and I thought, “Maybe I‟ll try to do what my father did”. I‟d stayed in the IRR, the Individual Ready Reserve, and I didn‟t go to meetings or anything like that, it was just a paperwork shuffle that every three years, “Do you want to stay in? And if the balloon goes up, maybe we‟ll call you and maybe we won‟t”. 30:07 I forget who I wrote, some General somewhere and I said, “I‟m ready to go back onto active duty, I‟ve got my MBA and I‟ve got all this stuff. I was regular army at one time”, but I never heard from him, of course, but then finally I got a job with Continental Can Company. I spent a year out in New Jersey and then they transferred me back here to Grand Rapids when we built the plant out here. I stayed there and then got reduced out of there and then I went to a small company over on 32nd Street call Aloff‟s and they‟re out of business now, and from there to another company called Batts Incorporated, they use to make hangers out in Zeeland, and they‟re defunct now. 31:02 So, all of the places I went to work for became defunct , and then to the packaging company out in Holland, Bradford Company. Interviewer: Do they still exist? 58 �They do, and I got downsized out of there. I had a lot of anger issues until I got into therapy I really didn‟t know why. I always seemed to have, which isn‟t a good thing, trouble with bosses that I always felt were kind of incompetent. It didn‟t take a lot for the therapist to say, “Well, you‟re dragging around all of your lieutenant stuff, and you‟re probably viewing guys, who may or may not be incompetent, you‟re looking at them as like the LaBroses or the Bouyevs, or the Pews, or what have you, of the world”. 32:23 “Oh”, and of course by then I wasn‟t working any place, so it really makes a---I wish I‟d known that thirty five years ago. Many of us who have been diagnoses with PTSD, we‟re able to function in—and, you know, we just stuff it, and then sometimes, at an inopportune time it pops out and then you‟ve got a lot of fence building to take care of and sometimes you‟re not able to mend the fences and then you‟re left with, “I guess it‟s time to move on”. 33:09 But, I‟ve been married for thirty eight years now, almost, and I have one child, so I didn‟t—I never did drugs, or never was a drunk or somewhat the stereotype, you know, you‟re a womanizer, I never did that, or you‟re a doper, I never did any of that, never smoked, ever. Another part of the characteristic is you‟re alcoholic, and I was that, you know, I was always at work, and then some of that, do this, this and this, gets imprinted on your children, or child in my case, and that causes heartbreak, and drama sometimes, so I wasn‟t immune to any of that. 34:11 Interviewer: Do you see positive aspects in ways which your time in the service affected you that one way or another turned out to be positive? Oh yeah, I do think so, I mean it—we just learned something new a couple, or I did anyway, a few weeks ago in our group. I go once a week to group, “post traumatic growth”. Apparently that term and concept has been around for a while, but just got 59 �introduced to us a couple of weeks ago, but I mean, I think all of the training and all of the exposure made me a good supervisor. It didn‟t necessarily make me a great employee from this level down, but from this level down through my subordinates it helped immensely. 35:11 And I was tough on suborinates too and I run into five or six of them since I‟ve gotten into this therapy business, and I‟ve apologized to them and say, “I was tough, I was a bastard sometimes, you know”, and universally they have said, “You weren‟t as bad as you think you were, and we‟re always harder on ourselves anyway, usually, but you weren‟t as hard as you think you were and once we came to realize you‟d spent some time in that situation, we kind of understood a little better” 36:02 Almost universally they all turned around and said, “You never—sometimes maybe you were over the top with your criticism, or how to do this or that, but you never did it just to be—to just prove that you were the boss, you were always trying to make us better”, and a lot of those folks have been successful too, but—so I wouldn‟t trade any of it. I‟ve had the occasion to go Walter Reed a number of times and see our, see our kids that are fighting the war now, and that‟s brutal stuff, to go there and see that. 37:00 It makes me; on a number of levels it makes me angry that we‟re putting them through that. It makes me, sometimes, feel like I‟m not deserving of the benefits that I‟m getting from the government, because not only are they going to have PTSD, but they‟re going to be going through life, in many case, you know, with no arms and one limb, one eye and what have you. Of course my therapist can always turn that around and say, “Well, they‟re getting their compensation too and yours is not obviously visible to everybody because yours is a different kind of a what have you”, and you know, I resisted this for years too, this business because I knew some people that I thought were fakers and 60 �charlatans and what have you. 38:00 I didn‟t want to be involved in that, and finally one day it just dawned on me that, “You need to A, do this for yourself, and get some help, but you can‟t fix anything, or help anybody else if you‟re just going to be on the sidelines looking in”. The government doesn‟t care if Bob Anderson shows up and raises his hand for benefits, at all, the government could care less because there‟s a thousand other people right behind me. So, I did this to, I always say this kind of jokingly, I started this because I was tired of being a jackass all the time, and I see some changes. I‟ve been doing this for almost six years now, the therapy part, but it does allow me to help other veterans because I think I‟m conversant enough in it that I can help other veterans, and I‟ve been fairly successful with the ones that I‟ve helped. 39:02 Interviewer: So, are you involved with any kind of local support organizations in the area? Well, we have, maybe it‟s showing up here. We have a local chapter of the 1st Cav, it‟s been renamed to honor our President Emeritus who just passed away, James Mason, he was an armor officer, but he was also, a career officer, and he fought in Korea and was wounded badly as a tank platoon leader and he was also in WWII. So, we get together once a month, in fact we have a meeting tonight. We do some social service out at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. Every month that has a fifth Sunday in it we go out there and we run Bingo, so that‟s kind of a way to give back. If we see veterans on the street, most of us, we will thank them for their service. 40:09 In a lot of ways they have it a lot rougher than we do because they keep going back, and back, and back, and back, It‟s just brutal from this chair, just brutal. Interviewer: Well, you’re certainly in a position to know something about that. 61 �Like I say, it‟s been, because I‟ve been through the benefit tunnel, I guess if you will, and sometimes the government is not willing to help people get their benefits. It‟s not that they‟re unwilling; it‟s just that they‟re not willing to, if that makes any sense. I mean, they‟re not hunting them down and telling them what the benefits are, you have to kind of stumble into it, and I‟ve been lucky enough to understand, I guess, how the system works, so I‟ve been able to help guys from my own company, my Alpha company group. 41:07 We pushed a couple of guys in the group, our chapter group, to seek benefits, and some of them have. Interviewer: Well, as a whole, you seem to have come out of things pretty well in the end. Well, I wouldn‟t change the whole military experience at all. The only thing, if I was able to change, with a magic wand, is to have understood what PTSD was thirty five years ago, and then I might have had a—worked at one place for thirty five years, I don‟t know. Interviewer: Well, thank you very much for coming in and talking to me today, I appreciate your story. 62 � 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 A name given to the resource 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 The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource 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 An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <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/. Title A name given to the resource Anderson, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Douglas Anderson, born near Grand Rapids, Michigan. in 1926, was drafted into the Army in 1945 after the war had already ended. After training at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and Fort Meade, Maryland, he was sent to Yokohama, Japan to identify and sort war materiel. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Andrews, Greg (Interviewer) Otten, Andrew (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-05-26 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AndersonR1081V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives