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INTRODUCTION
My father James Weaver was born on Febuary 21, 1947 at the Robert Green
Hospital to John and
Pauline Weaver. He and his family of five at the time moved to Fritch Texas
in 1962 due to fathers job as head technician of crane operators for
construction sites.My father there attended San
Ford Fritch Highschool where he played football he
was an offensive lineman. In 1966 he moved back to San Antonio by himself to finish highschool he attended and graduated from Harlandale highschool in 1966.
After graduation he was called in for the military in down town San Antonio where they told him that he was not eligible
to go to Vietnam
due to his shoulder injury he had due to football. As he sidetracked Vietnam he decided to attend San Antonio College.
There he went for business administration. After attending San Antonio
College he decided to open up a Texaco gas station where he also was a
mechanic in 1967.Two years he operated the gas station when he decided to go
to Ft. Worth Texas with his father where they worked on heavy equipment for
construction sites in 1969 after a year he decided to go move to Dallas where
he worked as a car mechanic for Sears In 1970-1974. After that he moved back
to San Antonio
where he worked at Holt Heavy Equipment as a Forklift mechanic after a brief
time there he went to work for another forklift company Stewart and Stevenson
in 1978 there for about eight years, later he decided to open up his own
company of fixing forklifts in 1986. For about four years he kept his
business then I was born in 1989 when he started working for Briggs Weaver
another forklift company in Dallas
Texas for two years. In 1992 my
brother Jonathan was born and he and my mother moved back to San Antonio he
then decided to work for Equipment Maintenance another company for four years
till he decided to open up his own company again in San Antonio fixing
forklifts and painting them in 1996. In 1998 he decided to work for Equipment
Depot a Forklift company where he has been working for eleven years.
TRANSCRIPTION
Were you drafted in the Vietnam War?
No I wasn’t.
Why didn’t you get drafted?
Because my senior year I lacked credits to graduate so I ended up
moving back to San Antonio From Fritch Texas which was up in the Pan Handle
up north by Amarillo because my parents moved to New Mexico because my dad
got a job offer so I came to live with an aunt here to complete my high
school education.
Do you remember how they gathered everyone who was going to get drafted?
You got your draft notice which was a lottery back then and you went
down to the , uh they called it the Arsenal back then we went over there me
and a friend of mine, at the time I was going to San Antonio College. We had
to go over there for a physical and so they found out I had an injured knee
that is one of the reasons I didn’t qualify to go, it was due to football
injury.
How did it feel to see people you knew like friends and family get
drafted?
Not good because I knew they were going directly to Vietnam and the
Possibility that they weren’t going to come back , because the majority were
Mexicans, and later there was a few that didn’t come back the majority that I
went to Harlandale High School with sixty percent
didn’t come back, they named a junior high after a guy that died in Vietnam,
It was Leal Middle school.
Did you know Leal?
Yeah his name was Armando Leal, I knew his father he worked in Kelly
Air Force base.
What would’ve happened if you would have gotten drafted?
There was no decision you had to go because it was a draft that was
mandatory it was volunteer work, it was either the Air Force or Marines .
How could you choose what you wanted to get in?
You would’ve had to volunteer right out of high school before they
drafted you. Sometimes the Air Force was the best one, my friend Louie became
a dog handler when he got to Vietnam .
If you had education like a degree would it have been drafted in Vietnam?
It would’ve been better you
would have been a officer or if you had been in college the military couldn’t
draft you or if you were married or had a kid, other than the ones that went
to Canada Ha!Ha!
People who were against the war were called?
Yeah conscience objector that’s either you were Buddhist or a Jehovah
witness.
How did it feel that none of your brothers got drafted?
Good because we didn’t go, the coincidence was that every one of us had
an injury , my brother Henry was injured in football and also had a kid, my
brother Johnny got his hand cut while working a crane in construction it’s
not luck it’s just the way it happened because they wouldn’t take you if had
injuries.
Your dad being a Veteran and having an idea what war was , did he ever
tell you what he thought of the Vietnam war?
No, he knew what war was you know he killed but he never said anything
because it happened so fast.
So everything was fast it happened so fast?
The
sixties were fast like you say they had that Woodstock and all that stuff and protests
against the war but you didn’t notice it here.
Was there protest’s here in San
Antonio?
No you didn’t hear of any only on the news else where.
What would happen if you didn’t go when they called you to War?
They would give you a draft dodger which would mean you were arrested
for not going to Vietnam.
Were you optimistic that you weren’t going to get drafted?
You didn’t think about that back then you were in high school and the
war was ending when I began to notice it.
Did you remember of friends that came back different after Vietnam?
A friend of mine went and used drugs in Vietnam and came back different,
I also heard that a guy I knew say that they would spray that chemical for the
fields called agent orange who had kids that were born deformed due to that
stuff.
If you would’ve gotten graduated from San Ford Fritch would you have
gotten drafted?
Yeah because at that time I wasn’t thinking about college but then
again I was still injured from my knee.
How did you know if you didn’t get drafted when they called you?
If
you got a 1A on your draft card that meant you were ready to leave to Vietnam If
you got a 1Y that meant you were ineligible to get drafted.
What would’ve you of thought of a draft for Iraq?
I’m not for it… because those people in Iraq have been fighting for
years.
So education is major factor in avoiding War or getting drafted in a War?
Education is a key source in being above and out of being rounded up
for War.
So seeing a guy Like Leal get recognized for fighting and dying in Vietnam how
does it feel?
That’s good that they were able to recognize a Hispanic one of many who
died in Vietnam
… Because most who were drafted were either Mexican or African American.
Did you gain experience seeing what the War in Vietnam was and how it affected
many people who were part of your life?
You enjoy that you are still here and that did not get killed in the
Vietnam War…It was not a right War it was more of a political war and you got
to see that you being here you had the choice of doing something productive.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
I’d like to see the percentage of how Many Mexicans died in Vietnam
because I feel they were not recognized as they should have.
ANALYSIS
The notion of having what my
father went through during the time of the War in Vietnam has been an interesting
subject I had always knew and wanted to explore. The peculiar thing is that
my father did not get drafted due to a shoulder injury along with his two
brothers who also did not get drafted. My father’s brother Johnny Weaver did
not get drafted due to his hand being cut while he was working at a
construction site, while his other brother Henry also did not get drafted due
his son being on the way of getting born. My father would’ve graduated from
High school in Fritch Texas
yet he decided to move back and live with his aunt for a whole year until he
finished High school. My father spending a whole year with other family
members other than his mother, father and brothers had always been brought up
yet its until now that he described it in detail how it felt to be away from
his family. The times were changing as the 60’s roared through the century
and while all my fathers’ friends and cousins were being drafted in the
Vietnam War and some never to be seen ever again. As my father experienced
all this he was able to get through school and build a good foundation for
his life and for his own family he would soon have.
TIMELINE
1947- James Weaver is born
on February 21st to John and Pauline Weaver at the Robert Green
hospital in San Antonio Texas.
1962- Family moves to Fritch
Texas due
to father’s crane operating job.
1962- James Weaver starts
to attend San Ford Fritch High school.
1964- Vietnam War starts
as the U.S government decides to take necessary steps to invade Vietnam.
1966- James Weaver moves
back to San Antonio
to finish High School.
1966- He graduates from Harlandale
High School and is
called in by the military which in fact he does not get drafted due to
shoulder injury.
1967- He decides to attend
San Antonio College for business administration.
1967- After a year in
College he decides to open a gas station and operates it by himself.
1969 - He decides to move
to Fort Worth
with his dad to work on Cranes and to also operate them.
1970/1974- He decides to
move to Dallas Texas and starts to work at Sears as a
Mechanic and stays there for four years.
1974/1978- He moves to San
Antonio and decides to work for the forklift company Stewart and Stevenson he
is employed there for about eight years.
1986- He decides to open
his own forklift company.
1989- I am born his first
son and he decides to move to Dallas
Texas and starts to work at
Briggs Weaver another forklift company for three years.
1992- My brother Jonathan
is born my father decides to move back to San Antonio and decides to work for
Equipment Maintenance a Forklift company for four years.
1996- He decides to manage
his own forklift shop were he paints and repairs forklifts he manages the
shop for two years.
1998/2009-He goes to work for
Equipment Depot a forklift company he has worked for eleven years.
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
*LealMiddleSchool.com
* http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/FF/hjf8.html
*http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/conscientious_objectors.htm
*http://www.harlandale.k12.tx.us/campuses/high/harlandale_high/index.html
*http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/commanderhis.asp?res=1024&ver=true
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