Jose Ybarra
|
|
My uncle Jose Ybarra was born on November 26, 1948 in San Antonio, Texas.
He was the youngest of eleven children.
His family were migrant workers and traveled all around the United States.
He attended many different schools throughout his educational career; but luckily that did not distract him in any way. He received a bachelor's degree at
Our Lady of the Lake University and then Texas Southern Law School where he graduated in 1980.
He now practices personal injury defense and works for
City Public Service.
He has also been married to my aunt, Eloisa, for over thirty years and they have two children.
I decided to interview my uncle on the Vietnam Era. Although he did not serve in the military during the
Vietnam War, I wanted to know more about how life was during that particular time.
What was your opinion of the war and what were your beliefs?
I really did not know too much about the war for the first part of the war. You have to
understand that back then there was no cable there was no Internet there was none of that
like there is today. You get the news instantly as it is happening today that was not the case
back then. We had three major television stations or networks- ABC, NBC, and CBS.
The news was limited not like today so we only got information sporadically and many times
much later after the events had occurred. But I do remember this that I was in high school
and we did what high school kids did back then go to football games, go to dances, hang out
and one year this was during my senior year one of my history teachers Mr. Fray brought in a
former student of his into one of our classes. That student explained to us that he had just
come back from
Vietnam and he was telling the class what was going on in Vietnam. And the
clear message to all of us was you guys out there wake up learn what is going on around the
world cause you may be going tomorrow or the day after so understand what's going on. Needless to say all of us were in shock we had no idea what was going on and I, think on that day we all got a little older.
Did you know why the American soldiers were at Vietnam and what they fighting for?
After that presentation by that individual in that history class I think we all took an
interest in the war and what was going on. Mostly what we saw were reports of the escalation of
the war and we would see the reports coming in on a day, to day basis. They would talk
about the fighting and where it was mostly taking place whether if it was in the border of
Cambodia,
Laos or wherever. They would also mention the casualties for the day how many were dead in the United States, how many Vietnamese were dead, how many were injured and it became a regular thing but never did we ever hear, why we were there. Never did we hear what the crime was and so many times we didn't know. We knew we were fighting, we knew we were fighting because the general concept we were fighting was communism. But what that meant we didn't know, did it mean that we were being faced with the possibilities of communism spreading to the United States, we didn't know we just knew that the general concept and idea was that we were fighting communism.
Do you think the war could of been prevented?
I think that going into the war there was no definite plan of action. I don't think that the people the leaders in charge of the war actually had a set plan of when we were going to go in, what we were going to do and when we were going to come out. Instead I think it went from advisers as they call them supposedly just advisers and then we had actual troops and doing the fighting. But in essence, in reference to your question, I think had we had better planning certainly I think the war should not have gone as long as it did. I think if there were people who would have taken a more diplomatic approach, summit conferences perhaps, getting the two or three or four countries however many countries there were together. I would think if we have used more diplomacy and less power authority to rule over others perhaps, it could have been prevented. But nobody knows, certainly I think we didn't do enough to try to avoid the war. But I think nobody envision the war escalating the way it did, started as advisers went into a full fledge war. I think that probably had we had more dialogue with the different countries and even with ourselves wanting to know what exactly it was that we wanted and the purpose was, we may have been able to avoid it.
What was your opinion of the draft?
Well because I was an individual who faced the draft certainly we all had our opinions because of the nature of the war. Since the need for soldiers to go and fight was so great probably that was the most equitable way of doing it. What they did they had a lottery 365 days of the year and whatever the day that you pick excuse me let me back track, it was a lottery and they would pick a number one number that came out was a certain day of the year. Number two another day of the year and so they when through all the days of the year whatever day came first those were the first that were drafted. Whatever day, and after they had drafted all those of that particular day the next day would come up. Mine was 311 so I was pretty far down and I knew when I got my number that chances are that I would not be drafted. At that time I was in college and that I think everybody was looking to see what our status was going to be whether it was going to change will we go to the war or wouldn't we go to the war.
But to answer your question, what I thought of the draft because of what we were doing it was necessary and the way they did it I think it was the most equitable way of doing it, the fairest way of doing it.
Did you having any siblings going to the war?
I was the youngest brother of seven brothers. None of them went to the Vietnam War. I had two brothers that went to the Korean War and that's about it.
Did you have any friends go?
I sure did. I had a very, very good friend of mine Frank Taboda is his name. We were very close friends. He was a very good athlete. As a freshman in high school, he made all district team at Tech High School just a magnificent individual a magnificent player. He too had a large family and I think in his way he wanted to number one serve his country and number two not be a bigger burden to his family having so that they wouldn't have one more mouth to feed. He joined the military went to Vietnam. After joining the Armed forces, he became a Green Beret Special Forces. He was there approximately a year and I was already in college when this happen. One day some of my friends got me and took me to one of the houses that had several friends gather and I did not know what was going on. I knew that something was up but I didn't know what and then they said to me that they had to break some bad new to me. Then they told me that he had died in combat. I was just devastated, just devastated because he was such a good friend, such a good individual we all admired him respected him and here one of us died all of a sudden. It was a tremendous loss and I remember being very sad for a very long period of time it was just overwhelming.
If you were chosen to go to the war would you go?
That was the question of the day. We had many conversations about that I remember that this very theme split many families apart. I think in ways like the civil war split families apart as well. In my situation I was the seventh son and all my brothers before me had served in the military. When it was getting time my father approached me and said to me it was going to be a tough decision and we were going to have to make that decision when the time came and if it came we would make it together
What did you think about the
draft dodgers?
I think that the war back then, the war in Vietnam was much different than the war
currently with Iraq. I think now with 9/11 in the back of the minds of many Americans are
saying they struck us they hit are homeland and we need to do something about it. We need to
show them that they cannot do that and we need to protect our own. Back then I am not to
sure many thought are homeland was being threaten so many individuals honestly felt that it
was an unjust war and that they would not fight. They would much rather flee out of the country
some to Mexico some to Canada. There were those who said I will not go and they would burn
up their draft cards. You take other individuals like
Muhammad Ali who instead of going to the
war said I rather go to prison. They took his titles and everything away from him but he
said he was strongly opposed to the war and that he would not go and many individuals felt that
way. I think its not an easy thing because you have all of those individuals who do go and do
fight and come back either killed or injured is it fair to them I don't know. But is it fair
to those who say that it is an unjust war you can take me to prison so it's not an easy thing.
I think you find arguments on both sides those who are avoiding the draft and those who are
wanted and demand that everybody go so I think there are arguments on both sides.
Lastly what did you think of that era?
I think reflecting back on that era it was a time of much turmoil in the United States. There was much social unrest I think that college students and young people led the march toward a consciousness of the country to say to the country in general what are we doing why are we there should we not stop put a end to the war. There were protest marches you saw them all over the country. The country was divided again I say much social unrest they were not happy times. The music the literature the music would talk about the need to stop the war the need for peace, the need for people to come together. So it was a hard time to be young at any age really but I was young at the time and it was a difficult time.
Do you have anything else to add?
I think that the Vietnam War divided the country and I think it took a long time for the country to heal. One of the things I feel truly badly about is if you remember the Vietnam veterans when they would come back as they would come back there was no sympathy for them. As a matter of fact there was a lot of distaste for them. They would come back maimed or dead there were no parades for them there were no programs of assistance for them, there was nowhere for them to go. And truly I think that was sad because I think we as a country we forced them to go to war that many perhaps did not want to go to and then when they came back we had nothing here. I think that we as a country should have done a lot more for them. In years that followed after that I think there was a realization that something had to be done and there were programs to help them out in different ways. But nonetheless might have been too little too late. I think we learned hard lessons and hopefully we won't repeat are mistakes.
After conducting my interview with my uncle Jose Ybarra I had a better perspective of how life was like for a young male during the Vietnam era. I also learned that a lottery had been held to determine who would serve in the war. The lottery was conducted by putting 366 numbers in a bowel each number representing a person's birthday including leap years. The first day that was drawn would be the birthday of the first people to be drafted to serve in the war and so on, until the military had enough people. Luckily my uncle's number was 311 and was not called on to serve in the war. I also learned that the term draft dodgers, was often used in a negative way referring to the people who refused to serve in the war. While others who viewed the Vietnam War as an unjust war and refused to serve saw themselves as
conscientious objectors. I look at the Vietnam War differently because I realized many people did not know why we were in Vietnam and what we were fighting for. Some of the benefits of learning about the past through interviewing my uncle is that I was able to see how life was like from a person's point of view that did not go to the war. I also got to hear some of his stories that he heard first hand, from people who were in Vietnam. Some of the drawbacks of learning about the past through the interview process is that you cannot always rely on one person to give you the history of the past. Overall I think this is an effective way about learning about the past because you get to uncover other people's experiences in that particular era.
City Public Service.
A Tradition of Service (2002-2003) .
Gives a brief history of City Public Service in San. Antonio. City Public Service has provided heat, light and power to San. Antonio for over sixty years.
CNN. Would you have been drafted? The site gives history of the Vietnam lottery. The site states how the lottery was conducted by having each day of the year printed on a piece of paper representing a birthday all thrown into a jar. Chances are if you got a high number you probably would not be called on. Anyone who received a number lower than 196 was eventually called to serve in the war. Infopile.Conscientious Objector and Draft Dodger.Gives a definition of a conscientious objector.
Gives a definition of a draft dodger.
Lonely Planet Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos The site gives you recent maps of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. McCullough, David American Experience, Vietnam Online Gives a brief history of the Vietnam War. The site also states the financial cost of the war and the roots of the war.
Thurgood Marshall School of Law. (2003).
Gives a brief history of Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Thurgood Marshall School of Law was established in 1947, and the school's name was changed in 1951 to Texas Southern University.
Our Lady of the Lake University (2003) .
This site gives a brief history of Our Lady of the Lake University. Our Lady of the Lake first college program began in 1911 and did not become fully coeducational until 1969.
US News and World Report
Muhammad Ali, (2003).
The site gives a brief history about how after refusing to serve in the army Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title, sentenced to prison, and fined $10,000.