David Jonathan Perkins
Adkins, Texas
June 14, 2005
Ashley Nicole Perkins
Palo Alto College
History 1302 - Summer 2005
INTRODUCTION
My father, David Jonathan Perkins, was born on November 20, 1954 in South Bend, Indiana to Paul and Mary Perkins. My father had six younger brothers and sisters. He was forced to take care of them because he was much older and his mother and father had to work. His family eventually moved to Seagoville, Texas where my father spent the rest of his childhood.
My father dropped out of High School so that he could go into the Army. He got his G.E.D. so that he could serve his country. My dad performed many jobs. At the age of 13 he worked as a stock boy at a grocery store making .50 an hour. He then worked as a gas station attendant at 15 making 1.50 an hour. Next he went into the Army for a little less than 18 months. He went to basic training in January of 1972 at Fort Polk, Louisiana. In April of 1972 he then went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for more training. After he completed his training at Fort Bragg he then went to Vietnam. He spent a short 17 days there until he was wounded in the arm. After spending nine months in rehabilitation at Fort Sam Houston he received a honorable medical discharge. During his time in Fort Sam Houston he both met and married Shirley Ann Dylla. After he married Shirley and completed his rehabilitation at Fort Sam, my father moved to Adkins, Texas. My mother and father had three daughters. At the beginning of their marriage my father worked as a construction worker and a mechanic. He then decided to go into the heating and air-conditioning field. My father is now retired from the heating and air-conditioning business and resides in Adkins, Texas. His hobbies are fishing, hunting, gardening, and cooking.
TRANSCRIPTION
What made you want to join the Army?
I was stupid. A friend of ours, (him and his two friends), was a good football player, fullback, and got killed in the Vietnam. I was a sophomore and he was a senior. Me and a couple of my friends just wanted to go in.
How did you go upon enlisting?
We went to the recruiting officer there in Dallas, me and the two of my friends. We sat down and talk to him a let him know that we did not want to stay in long. He said that he had just the thing for us, an 18-month, Vietnam option, Airborne. He then started asking question about us I was the only one that was 17 and the other two were 18. He said that I could not go in without my parent’s permission. I told him that would never happen, my mother would never give it. He said we will worry about that later. But he then said that we had to have a high school education, so you got to go get your G.E.D.s. So he sent us to Mesquite. He said that he had a friend at Mesquite High School that will give us the test. And then I said what if we don’t pass. He said don’t worry about it you will pass. So we passed that, with flying colors then came back to him the next day. Then he told me that we were going to lie about my age, and it would be just between the two of us and I said O.K. We then told him that we wanted to stay together, which never did work out. We were broke up in basic training for different reasons.
What was your typical day like in basic training?
Hard! Up before daylight. A lot of marching and going to shooting ranges. Uh, just a lot of marching (laughs). A lot of double timing. I remember there was a rifle range, rifle rage 16. It was 16 miles out to that bugger. And Fort Polk, Louisiana was hot. It was hot during the days. But when I first got there on January 26 it was cold as hell but then it got hot. But all I remember is that you went in it thinking that there were some things that you couldn’t do but boy did that prove that you could do 'em.
Did you pick up any bad habits in the army?
Yeah. Probably quite a few. But I guess the worst one that was long term was smoking. I still smoke. And drinking (laughs).
Around the time that you went into Vietnam what kind of music, movies, and hobbies did you like?
Oh. Country music. But it really didn’t matter, I mean there was a lot of rock at the time but you really didn’t have a lot of time for songs.
What did you and your buddies do with spare time?
I hate to admit it but we mostly drank.
What were your duties in Vietnam?
Well I was only there for three weeks. We went in as reinforcements in Qang Nam. My duties were to go in as reinforcement in Qang Nam right of the Songka River.
What exactly occurred the day that you were wounded?
Well the day I was wounded, I was not in a combat situation. We were in a bar and we received a pass. There was gun fire and I was hit in the shoulder. I had nerve damage. I couldn’t use my arm for about a year. But any how…
How long did take you to get back to the states after you were wounded?
About a week. No, I think it was about three or four days. They had me so hopped up on morphine Ashley that there is a lot of that stuff that I don’t even remember and I mean a lot of the times I didn’t even need morphine but I got it every time that I would ask for it.
Can you describe your time in the hospital?
Yeah. Just to make it short and sweet- at first I was on a ward doing physical therapy because I had all of that nerve damage. I couldn’t use my arm. They wanted to hack it off but I was determined not to let them cut it off. And I was not a very subordinate soldier. I got myself in trouble whenever I could, I don’t know why but I just did. But any how, I was in there for nine months. I was in a help yourself ward in the last five months and there was a lot of booze in the pitcher and any kind of drug in the ward.
What did you do for fun when you were in Fort Sam Houston?
Well there was not much to do. I went to see the Alamo with a couple of nurses. I went to the N.C.O., in fact that is where I meant your mother. You went to the N.C.O club (Non-Commissioned Officers) and you got to drink and sometimes they would have a band on the weekends but usually it was just music and drinking.
Did your arm ever completely heal?
Not completely. Once you get nerve damage your body shrinks. So that arm has always been smaller then my right arm. During the winter it gives me problems. It is slower to take orders you might say.
What were the reasons for your medical discharge?
Well on my medical discharge it says gun shot wound to the shoulder and it states the exact medical terms of my injury.
Do you see a difference in patriotism today compared to patriotism around Vietnam?
The war went on too long; people were fed up with it. There was a lot of the hippies which were anti-war. Soldiers were just not looked good upon. There were just so many atrocities in Vietnam. The My Lai Massacre and different things where soldiers had been caught killing civilians. There was also a lot of drugs. Another reason was in '69 and '70 all the older N.C.O.s started being pulled out and they started shipping 2nd Lieutenants in there to run squads and nobody had any respect for them. There were a lot of 2nd Lieutenants killed. When I was in the hospital there was a guy in there with me who caught fragging a 2nd Lieutenant. But it was just a dirty war; I mean all wars are dirty but...
Did you acquire any friendships in the Army?
Not any that I maintained. Captain Gerald Gray was my best man in my wedding. Most of us were from different states so we didn't stay in touch.
Did your experience in the Army teach you anything?
Yeah, to never go into anything like that again unless it for the right reasons. I told myself along time ago that if I had any sons that I would want my sons to go in. Now I can see why my parents didn't want me to go in. I just had watched too many John Wayne movies at that time; that was my biggest downfall. (laughs)
ANALYSIS
This oral history that I conducted with my father made me realize that there are many things that I still do not know about my father’s life. It also gave me the opportunity to uncover some important information about my father that I probably would have not discovered. I did not know anything about his time in the service. I did not know how my father was wounded, how old he was when he went into the Army, and many other things. The reason that I did not know any of this is because he, like most Vietnam veterans, does not like talking about the war. I am happy that my father did let loose a little because his information taught me many new things. It was interesting to me that there was so much scandal in this war. I did not know that some of the war protest was because of mistreatment of civilians. To confirm the dates and information in my father’s interview I gathered some important documents like my parents marriage certificate and my fathers GED, just to name a few. After I confirmed his story and compared the dates I found out an interesting fact that my dad did not want me to know. My father and mother were married in February of '72 and had my sister that October. I did not know that my mother’s pregnancy was one of the reasons for my parents’ marriage. This interview opened my eyes. I now want to ask my dad more about his life. It is sad to me that I knew so little about my father. This project is an effective learning experience because it revealed to me important facts about my loved one, while teaching me more about this era in history.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yahoo! Maps Copyright 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
.Yahoo! Maps is an website especially for maps and directions.
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&&csz=South+Bend+IN+&Get%A0Map=Get+Map/ 2005. Quang Nam Province . Quang Nam Province is an informative website that covers many espects of Quang Nam such as, its location, economy, tourism, ect. http://www.vnn.vn/province/quangnam/map.html/
TSHA Online Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association Last Updated: May 13, 2005. . The TSHA Online is a "handbook" which provides a history of every town, city, county, ect., in Texas. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/hfs5.html
American Institute for Economic Research American Institute for Economic Research, P.O. Box 1000, Great Barrington, Mass 01230 . The American Institute for Economic Research gives a usefull "cost-of-living calulator" Whichcan convert money amounts from then to today. http://www.aier.org/colcalc.html
Fort Polk History and Facts Fort Polk History and Facts is a site that is designed to provide the history, news, units, ect., about Fort Polk http://www.jrtc-polk.army.mil/ABOUT-POLK.ASP
Fort Bragg History Last Updated: Thursday, August 7, 2003 . This site provides, the history, links, photos, ect., of Fort Bragg http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/fortbragghistoryshort.htm
My Lai Massacre Last Updated: June 28, 2005 . Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia, written collaboratively by people from around the world. The site is a wiki, which means that anyone can edit articles, simply by clicking on the edit this page link. It runs on MediaWiki software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre