James Perry Cook
Could you describe a typical day when you where growing up?
Yeah, the day Troy and Johnny gave me those chilie patines
and blistered my mouth, I remember that very well , ok, and
they got a spanking, and I got my mouth full of butter.
Do I remember that day? Yes I do!
Did you and your brothers always get along?
Sometimes, not all the time,
most of the time yes, sometime no, depends on how you look at it.
We got along as far as staying away from one from one another,
but if one of us got in trouble, we would always come together.
You know blood is thicker than water.
How did you find out what was going on in the world as a child and as an adult?
Mainly by radio when I was growing up,
we had black and white TV’s when I got a little older, ok,
mainly it was radio, urgh… we only listen to the news.
When Vietnam started in 1964, where were you and what were you doing?
I was still in school, um…I went in Vietnam in 1968, I mean,
yeah because I got out of school and went into the military,
and went over to Vietnam in 1968, and I was there from 68-69.
Where you drafted or did you enlist?
No, I enlisted. I joined.
Could you describe your time in basic training?
Miserable! Um…I went in as to be a line man,
and I cam down with spinal meningitis in Fort Bliss, Military BaseFort Bliss
on the hill, they put me in the hospital for about a month.
I came out they put me in infantry so it was miserable. Airborne,
something I didn’t want to be, you know once you in there they got
you, ok. My basic training was rough.
Could you describe you trip to Vietnam?
Scary! Um…I came back here from California from my advance
training. Uh.. they gave me two or three weeks furlough, to say
goodbye to my family and all that, and then they shipped me from here
to Oakland, and when they shipped me to Oakland, California they had
big fences with barb wire, they flew me into what looked like a prison,
ok, bunch of barracks and big high fences, I think it was to keep us
in there, ok. Once they got in there on the airplane it was scary,
I’m telling you, from there they flew from there straight on over to Vietnam.
And when I got there the first thing happened, they rocketed the airport, with rockets and mortars,
so it was really scary. Ok, that’s all I can say about that.
What was your job description in the war?
Kill and destroy. Um…mainly we were um…to find the enemy,
destroy the enemy, or capture the enemy, or find out information.
That was my main mission to find enemy weapons, hidden cached, find
where the enemies at, detect them, call in air strikes, if engaged,
kill them. That was my job.
What kind of food did ya’ll eat over in Vietnam?
Well if we were on a fire base we ate um…regular food, what they
called hot chow. But out in the jungle, what we called the boonies,
we had lerpes, which were long range patrol; it was dehydrated food
that you had to poor hot water in…chili and beans, soup and stuff. Then
we had can deseed rations from ww2, ok (I make a funny face) um…yeah,
lima beans was one of the worlds worst besides ham and egg. Spaghetti
wasn’t so bad was long as you put cheese with it, mix it, and heat it
up with c-4. We carried our own kitchen on out backs, ok. Another
words everything we, we lived out in the jungle at months at a time,
so we had to carry everything with us, dry clothes, our ammunition,
our food, our bedding, everything had to go with us.
Could you describe how you were injured in the war? And who paid the medical bills?
I guess the military paid the medical bills ok, because you know
I got wounded by a landmine. At Ashshaw Valley, we were in conflict
with the enemy, so we come against the enemy, and we were cutting there
phone communications, ok, so that’s how I got my wounded on the way
back up, when we went down the hill we didn’t see nothing, but on the
way back we engaged, and I stepped on a landmine that’s how I got wounded.
I was helicopter out within about an hour. The reason it took an hour
cause it started raining, and when it’s raining on you they can’t bring
the helicopters in, so in about an hour I was helicopter to an offshore
hospital ship, where they did the work, and then sent me from there
inland Air force into Japan. The military paid all the expenses.
Was the V.A. active?
The V.A. came later. The V.A. was after I got, was retiring from
the military they gave me a choice either go V.A. or go with the
military. And actually I kept the military benefits which means.
I get commissary rights, hospital rights, PX rights, I can still shop
on base, go bowling, do all that cause I have, all those rights, thing
is they don’t pay me, who pays me is the V.A. ok.V.A.
What was your reaction when you found out that you only had half a leg?
Stunned! When I woke up out of the surgery and that was in Camp
Drake, Japan, ok. No that was at the air force base after they shipped
from the off shore hospital…all I know is I woke up and I was missing
a foot, and some of my leg um…I was shocked because when I went in there
you know I didn’t realize I was that bad injured, because the numbness
feels, when you get wounded the numbness feel you don’t know how bad
you hurt laying on your back, well when I woke up in a body cast, I
looked down there and saw my leg, my foot missing it was shocking.
But we never and there were two other guys, on guy on my left side and
one guy on the right side, they were missing legs too, and arms, the
first thing we said to one another was we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.
I f you feel sorry for yourself, you’ll never survive, you gotta survive.
Shocked is the word.
How did you feel when you could not return to the war?
Happy in one way. Sad in another. Because remember those troops
that were still in those fields were my friends, and we took care of
one another. They guarded my back, and I guarded their backs, I took
care of them and they took care of me, so sad in that point of view ok
that I couldn’t help them out, like when we ran out of food and we had
to go fishing with grenades, we almost got court marshelled, to get
food to eat because we ran out of food cause it was cut off. Um…and
happy that I wasn’t getting shot at (laugh) and blown up so yeah I had
mixed emotions, happy and sad.
How were you treated after your injury?
The first part was good, but they left me in Japan Drake for
three days, with out medicine. They pushed me over into a corner, of
course the person in charge got court-martialed, and at least I think
he did. I setup gangrene on the count of it, um, so I would say that
was pretty poorly, ok. And I ran a high fever. It was a medic that
found me, ok, a medic is a person like a gut in the field, he came by,
he found me over in the corner and he saw my leg all green, yellow,
and all pussy, and he asked how long I had been there, and I told him
I guess two or three days. I was delirious, out of my mind, so they
rushed me into the operating room and had to take that off while I was
sedated. I can say that part was poorly but when I got out to
Fort Sam Houston they treated me a little better.
Did you plan on marrying so many times and having so many children?
Not really! No I really didn’t but you know I just don’t like to be alone, I guess.
(I said: I guess that’s where I get it from) Yeah, I don’t like to be alone, but sometimes being
alone is better. When I married the first time I never thought about getting a divorce. It never
did enter my brain, ok; I never thought she would cheat on me either, ok. The second time, and
the third time, I mean you know you never think that they are going to that to you. But it
happens.
Did getting your leg blown off change a lot of your dreams?
Yes, it did! Yes it did, because I wanted to be a pilot. Um, and I changed the fact that I
can’t run even though I tried because on leg is shorter than the other. Um, yeah it changed some
of my dreams, some of the things I had dreamed of doing before I came back from Vietnam. Yeah,
it changed my whole prospective, Not that I can not do them cause you can do anything you set
you set your mind to, just I lost all will to do it that’s how it changed ok, my mind I guess,
what would you say my will was broken, my spirits got knocked down, I was in high spirits before
I got wounded. All kinds of things I was going to do when I go back. And it changed all that.
How did your life change when you got out of the hospital from being injured?
Better, because I had more freedom. I started to stay in the military, until they told me
they could only give me three more years. So, when they said that I only had three more years,
then they were going to retire me anyway. So, I decided to go ahead and get out. So, actually
it was better.
If you could give some advice to the soldiers in today’s war, what would you say?
Take care one another. Watch out for one another. Keep your spirits up even if you get a
Dear John letter don’t concentrate on that, concentrate on what you are doing. Cause a clear
head keeps a clear body. Um…look for the future, don’t look for the past.
If you could go back and change anything, would you and what would it be?
I don’t think I would change anything, because changing something in my past would mean
changing something in my future. If I changed any of my marriages, I wouldn’t have the children,
I love so well, I love every one of them by the way. I f I changed any of my past, it would change
my future, so I wouldn’t do it.
Who was your best friend in the War?
Best friend in the war was Kumar and I met him by accident. At first there was a guy by the
name of Kentucka, he was from Tennessee; I don’t know his real name. His wife sent him some chewing
tobacco, looked like a bonnet, he called it bonnet, ok. He said Cook try some of this chewing
tobacco that my wife sent me. He didn’t tell me how to chew it so I put it in my mouth; I chewed
a couple and swallowed a whole plug. Turned green, yellow, and purple, and puked out my guts.
I said I didn’t want anymore of that stuff, so I remember him for that. The next one was Kumar,
he was one of my best friends, and he was my second man. We learned to fight together, other
words we learned to work together as a team. Kumar took care of me, and I took care of him and
that’s about it.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Well, not really um…that is just about solves everything. Um…I don’t regret getting
married. I don’t regret having children. If they asked me to serve my country again, I would
do so, because I am American.
Some of the benefits about learning through
the interview process were that you could ask questions that you would want to learn about. I do
not think that there are any drawbacks of the interview process, except maybe one reason, that
would be that when a question is asked the interviewer could leave something out that is very
important. I do think that the interview process is an effective process because you learn a lot if you
ask the right questions.
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V.A.. Tells everyone what the V.A. offers in healthcare.
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