TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
That's, uh, hard to say. Uh, I don't really remember a whole bunch from when I was real young. People say they remember stuff from when they were four years old, I don't. So I don't know. I guess, I can't really remember anything until I started going to school. I remember walking down the lane to catch the school bus, my first grade teacher, Mrs. Carr, some of the friends I met back then, I guess just the usual childhood memories.
What made you decide to wear what you're wearing?
I was looking for pictures, I was looking for pictures and I still haven't found the pictures I was looking for but I found this. This is a fatigue jacket from Vietnam. It still has the nametag on it. It still has the insignia on it. It's what I wore.
Before enlisting what was your life like?
I guess like anybody else's. College student. Didn't know what I wanted to do. Probably pretty much like the college students that will see this interview. Probably.
What were you majoring in?
I majored in History at Southwest State University.
What were you planning to do with the degree?
I really had no idea. Probably like most young people now. I had no idea.
How did you feel when you were drafted into the army? What were some thoughts that went through your mind?
I said, "Well they got my number, might as well make the best of it." It actually gave me something to do and I figured, "Well, probably be a rough road but go for it."
Did you enjoy your experience overall?
Initially, I had my doubts about it, but as time went by, as I look back at it, I enjoyed it very much.
How was basic training?
Basic training made you realize what you could do. With basic training, you never realize that you can do as much as you can do with yourself. It made you realize the ability that you had to get things done. I had no problems with the academic or the written parts of basic training because they did go over questions with you and you answered questions and you had to pass. I had no problems with that. The physical part of it, physical tests, I had difficulty with those. I thought, "I might not pass at the end," but I did.
Other than basic training, did you have to undergo any other types of training?
Everyone in the army goes through some type of training beyond the basic training. I went to Fort Lee Virginia for two months, ten weeks of advanced training after basic training.
How was your trip on the way to Vietnam? What were you thinking?
On the way to Vietnam, we were put on an airplane, a jet plane. I think back about jet planes now and jet planes then and there really isn't, 45 years later, planes really haven't changed all that much. There are still jet planes, there's still, the same as always. You were put on a charter jet plane; it went to Acreage, Alaska. Went to Tokyo, Japan just for refueling stops and then 30 hours after you departed Seattle, you were in Vietnam. And I thought to myself when we landing in Vietnam, "There was going to be shells falling all around us," but we landed at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam and really it was like landing at Kelly Air Force Base. It wasn't really any different from a normal military airfield. Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.
What were some of your duties?
I was in the Quartermaster Core. My job in Vietnam was as an escort of human remains. A solider who falls, never, never travels back alone. Every step of the way he has someone that goes along with him to make sure that nothing goes amiss. That was my job. It involved spending nights in airports, endless airplane trips, endless connections, truck rides. I simply went along as the escort because a solider never travels alone. I don't talk much about this… But that is what I did.
Do you have any good memories while you were stationed in Vietnam?
Vietnam was a beautiful country. The people of Vietnam were wonderful people. They were good people. I have nothing but fond memories of the people and the beauty of the country. It was a good place to be.
Did you ever think about what you were going to do when you got home?
I really didn't think that much about it. I guess I was like every other young person, get home and find something, whatever comes along. But no, I never really considered what I would do. Didn't really have any plans for the future, probably like most young people nowadays.
Did you keep in touch with family and friends?
Oh, you bet! You bet. We did it the old fashioned way. We did it the old fashioned way, letters. We didn't have cell phones, we didn't have internet connection, we didn't have anything. We had U.S. Postal Service. A soldier from Vietnam wrote the word "Free" were the stamp would go and he could mail as many letters as he wished without any cost whatsoever. Those that wrote to you of course they had to put a stamp on, but we did it by U.S. Postal Service. Stamps, letters, envelopes, we wrote letters. People don't really do that anymore nowadays.
What was one of the first things you did when you got back to the United States?
Well, we landed in San Francisco and spent two or three days in Army Depo there being discharged out. I guess if you wait until I got home to where I was going, one of the first things I did was eat cornbread and beans. I had a hunger for cornbread and beans. Didn't get any homemade cornbread in Vietnam. But I wanted cornbread and beans, I guess that's what my answer is.
What did you all have to eat over there?
We had food like any other military base. It was really good food. They served three meals a day, all you could eat. Very well prepared food. It was good food. They had a policy on Saturday night every solider was served a steak. IT was sort of a moral builder, but every meal was good food. The chow halls were a variety of food and you could pick whatever you wished and eat as much as you wanted. Very good food.
Did you get to take showers daily?
Yes. I was going to say, if you waiting too long, at the end of the day, the hot water would run out or if you waiting too long whenever, the hot water would run out and you'd have to take a cold shower. But showers were sometimes mobile, mobile outbuildings. The tin was around the sides and the showers were inside.
How did you and Janie meet?
We were working for the Texas Employment Commission and they discovered they were over staffed and they were either going to transfer 30 people to somewhere else or lay them off until they could get some openings back and they had a meeting of the 30 people that were being affected by the reduction and force and we were two of them. So we sat around the table and I sat over on one side and she sat over on the far end. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. I eventually asked her out. Eventually. I noticed her way before she noticed me. So that's how we met.
Did you make any friends while you were in Vietnam?
Ohh, a bunch of them, a bunch of them. We haven't really kept in touch I haven't had any contact with any of them really in years and years. I met some characters in Vietnam. Interesting people. Probably a bunch of them have passed on by now. I haven't kept in touch with them over the years though. I regret that.
What was the biggest change you noticed from when you left to go to Vietnam to when you came back?
I cant really… I didn't really notice it was that different. The difference was when I went there, they still had the draft and they were still drafting people to go. I came back that was all done and over.
So the war over in Vietnam had no real affect here in the United States?
I can't say that it did. I cannot understand why soldiers who went to Vietnam were so despised while they were over there and really when they came back. I mean we got drafted and sent over there and we had people who thought we were evil for, I guess, not going to Canada or something. Never have figured that out. Why they felt that way about us. But that was before I went and that was after I went too so… Can't really say there was any change other than that the draft ended for all practical purposes it was over when I came back. I mean they might have drafter 100 people a month or something but within a year it was over and done.
You said you feel you either won or lost the lottery, can you elaborate on that?
Umm… The uh… I don't know if I lost the lottery or won the lottery. In 1969 those that were coming out for eligibility for the draft in 1970, they knew that they would not need them all. So they drew out each birthdate of the year. Um… My birthday was October 6 and I think it came out like number 69 or 66 or something. They said at eh time that numbers 1 to 100 would be drafted. They said from 101 to 200, maybe, maybe not. If you were 200 or above, they weren't going to take you. You were out. I guess you won or you lost, depending on how you look at it. So I was number whatever, 60 something. They sent me a notice in March and said we need to take a look at you. It took them until July to actually call me in. Bu tin March they told me you were physically fit and we'll be in touch with you. July 27th, 1970. Boarded a Greyhound bus in Karnes City early in the morning and went to a processing center in San Antonio and they put me on an airplane and that night I was in Seatlle and off to Fort Lewis Washington for basic training. The bus driver, when he uh, the Seattle bus driver, when he picked us up at the airport in Seattle and he took us to Fort Lewis, he opened the bus door and he said, "Boys, this is where heaven ends and hell begins." It was quite an experience. I guess he said that to every busload that he took out there. But I guess that's what I mean about the lottery, I think that was the first year they had it because years before that, they were taking everybody and than they decided they didn't need to many and I don't know I guess by '71 they probably took 1 to 40, I don't know. The draw down for Vietnam when I went there, I think there were 400,000 over there and when I came out, there were like 50,000 or something. I mean it was really, there was a pull out.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Vietnam, I have no adverse memories. Good people over there, I worked with good people. There were soldiers over there that had been there for years and years that kept volunteering to go back, they realized that it wasn't a bad place.
You know we are doing this interview on April 25, this additional interview. I heard on the radio that Sygon eventually fell 40 years ago on April, end of April sometime, might have been April 25. Today 40 years ago. I left there in '72 and they hung on for 3 more years I guess. We didn't lose it while we were there, the Vietnamese lost it after we left.
