T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: David F. Hull, Jr. #
4700.0956
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: John Davis
PROJECT: Americans in Southeast Asia
DATES: March 11, 197?
FOCUS DATES: May 30, 1969-June 30, 1973, Aug.
30, 1970- July 28, 1971
ABSTRACT:
T 1393, Side A
Born and raised in western Maryland; attended LSU for
undergraduate work in political science; early education; offered
golf scholarships; involvement with ROTC; got Army scholarship
junior and senior years; father worked as aeronautical engineer
in space program; Hull also interested in flight; graduated in
1969, sent to Fort Bliss, Texas; assigned to missile site in San
Francisco; protected San Francisco from enemy aircraft; learning
tactics on missile site; high caliber of enlisted men and
officers on site; rigorous qualifying exams; security clearance,
background investigations; Russian MIG landed in Miami during
presidential visit, causing international security alert;
practice alerts, staged surprise attacks to keep you in shape;
threats of radical students and communist plots; everyone had to
follow security procedures; size of battery; three areas: radar,
launcher and administrative; on-site accommodations for men; got
orders for Vietnam after six months in San Francisco; special
training in El Paso, summer, 1970; training to be duster platoon
leader; description of duster, a WWII armored tank; thought his
talents could have been better used than riding around on a tank,
shooting at people; how Army decided Hull should go to Vietnam;
went back to Maryland for a month of visiting and golf before
shipping out to Vietnam; wanted to get a position in Vietnam that
would help people, not be destructive; flight to Vietnam via
Hawaii; visiting Waikiki Beach in fatigues; arriving in Vietnam;
processing; Hull called friends in-country, one came to pick uim
up to go for drive; quieter than he expected in that area;
visiting friend's barracks in area; became interested in civil
affairs unit; dispersion of civil affairs units; work was similar
to Peace Corps; top notch people in civil affairs unit;
specialties of members of civil affairs teams; working in
conjunction with civilians; weapons carried by members of civil
affairs unit; size of units; helping villagers start a
pillow-making business; starting fishery for village; ingenious
people who could turn nothing into something beautiful; Hull was
administrative officer for the entire unit; influencing what
projects got done; some soldiers became part of the community;
many soldiers in civil affairs wore civilian clothes; feels that
these were very worthwhile programs, devoid of political aspects;
worked to better Vietnamese people's basic human needs;
interference from other American units that didn't understand
civil affairs work.
T 1393, Side B
Description of an average day; overseeing 19 different teams in
19 areas; worked six or 6 ½ days per week; played volleyball and
basketball for recreation; preparing reports; amenities of
headquarters; few security problems in area; headquarters at Long
Binh had 30,000-40,000 Americans, pizza parlor, golf driving
range; base camps less comfortable; his people seldom carried
weapons; visiting remote areas; believes that VC in area left
them alone because they helped community, would be bad press for
VC if hurt the villagers' helpers; friction between combat units
and civil affairs units; building pipe for montagnards; building
bridge; building TB ward; impressions of Saigon; barbed wire,
security precautions in Saigon; differences between city and
country people in Vietnam; rich and poor dwellings; comparison of
dwellings to those in the provinces; prostitution on Tu Do
Street; 1970 general election in Vietnam; Vietnamese nation
politics; civil affairs unit worked fine with Vietnam government;
visit to Hong Kong; found Hong Kong a beautiful and modern
international city; travel within Vietnam; mountainous landmarks
in region; opinions on if America could win war, what we were
doing there; war was beneficial to high ranking military people;
access to information about what was happening in the US; worked
as postal officer; accuracy of reporting in US on Vietnam; visits
from high ranking government officials who were only shown what
the military wanted them to see; opinions on ARVNs; was in
sympathy with questions of anti-war movement; supports rights of
demonstrators to dissent; opinion on bombing in Cambodia and
Laos; lack of emotional involvement when dropping bombs or
shooting missiles; easier emotionally to attack from air than
face someone on the ground; mismanagement of Army personnel, Hull
trained for missiles, but no missile units there; found his
experience extremely worthwhile on a personal level.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 ½ hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 40
RESTRICTIONS: none