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• Description: Louis Armstrong due to his work helping the USO entertain servicemembers and enjoyed the time he spent living in the theater. Afterwards Low was required to requalify at the rifle range, and shot at an expert level, gaining him a position on a Marine
• Text: into Camp Lejeune - and I was a projectionist, when I was back in Wayland, there was a theater in Wayland and of course I had to work because my dad had passed away, and I got a job in the theater as an usher, cause I was tall and I could look – look older

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• Text: thought well foreign service sounds pretty good and I saw- I pursued that at the end of high school, as far as careers go that’s the main thing I was setting my sights on so when I got to college I chose a major in- I wanted to major in theater

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• Text: newsreels at the movie theater? That kind of thing? Veteran: Yes. Right. Newsreels and newspapers and so forth. Interviewer: Okay. So, you had some awareness of it. Okay, now, you were still pretty young when the war started? Veteran: Yes. Interviewer: You

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• Text: happened?” I was coming out of Fox Theater [in] downtown Detroit and they were selling extras: “Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.” So that was–– I knew I would eventually be on. By the way, I was very proud to serve my country–– very proud. Interviewer: “Before

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• Text: with the locals driving those. So, we'd kind of depend on those to get up to the flight line to go to work and everything but we had movie theater, they had a lot of amenities there that you know most people don't have. (19:23) Interviewer: Yeah, I mean were

Chester Johnson was born in South Haven, Michigan, in 1949. He attended high school in Benton Harbor and graduated in 1967. Chester was drafted into the Army in January 1969. He completed basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He did his advanced individual training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Chester then went to non-commissioned officer (NCO) school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was sent to Vietnam in early 1970, where he was assigned to B company, 1st battalion, 196th regiment of the light infantry brigade. During his time in Vietnam, Chester was involved in various skirmishes. He was part of a group that was sent into Laos on a patrol mission. He went on R and R in Australia in November 1970. He returned home from Vietnam in December 1970. Chester is currently involved with a veterans’ group in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Lee Widjeskog was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey and grew up in that area, finishing high school in 1964. He attended Colorado State University and took ROTC training, and received his commission in the Army in 1969. He took infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia and jungle training in Panama, and went to Vietnam in April, 1970. He became a platoon leader in A Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. His unit patrolled the area near Firebase Ripcord, and was involved in heavy fighting on July 22, when Widjeskog's platoon was separated from the rest of the company for several hours, and the company then had to spend the night in the field behind before being evacuated. For the rest of the summer he operated in the field around Firebase Katherine and Firebase Rakkasan until he was reassigned to the rear in mid-September 1970. He served as the supply officer for Headquarters Company of the 3rd Brigade until he left Vietnam on March 15, 1971. He has been an active member of the Ripcord Association for over twenty years, and he and his wife currently organize the annual reunions.