T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Edward T.C. Lewis #
4700.0961
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Robert Talley
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 3/14/74
FOCUS DATES: Dec. 3, 1969-Dec. 2, 1971, Aug 1970-May, 1971
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1403, Side A
Lewis was drafted into Marine Corp during his junior year at LSU;
had neutral attitude toward war; boot camp in San Diego, then
Camp Pendleton for infantry training as machine gunner; air base
at El Toro, CA; orders to go to Vietnam; served in Vietnam August
1970-May 1971; rank, training; was a good machine gunner; family
background, grew up in small town Louisiana; extracurricular
activities during high school; attended LSU; feelings regarding
military, anti-war protests; likes to believe US follows sane,
responsive policies; strong military tradition in his family;
many of his relatives involved in WWII; shock at being drafted;
was disenchanted with college life anyway; honor and duty of
military service; expected to go into Army, but Marines had a
shortage of men; expected Marines to choose larger guys than him;
wasn't eager to go to Vietnam; shocked he survived Marine Corps
boot camp; Lewis is quiet and unassertive, prefers to stay in
background; lots of individual attention in boot camp, was new
experience for him; verbal abuse at boot camp; changes that took
place in boot camp; allowed to keep no personal possessions
except religious reading materials; arrived at boot camp very
tired; drill sergeant who looked just like Lee Marvin; not
allowed to sleep first night; boot camp is closest approximation
to hell on earth; infantry training; shocked and surprised to get
MOS in infantry after getting high score on intelligence test;
they don't give good jobs to people who will only be there for
two years; didn't particularly care for machine gun training;
training involved statistics in aircraft maintenance; involved in
an off-base Christian organization called the Navigators, who
influenced his subsequent life; former attitudes toward
Christianity; El Toro was an environment hostile to Christianity;
got orders to Vietnam, first had another month of training in
infantry weapons; Vietnam-specific instruction; had no particular
expectations about Marine Corps; had low hopes of finding meaning
in life; had no expectations at all, expected only to live and
die; since he didn't consider himself important, other people
weren't, either; looked on military as easy way out; people in
the military that influenced him re: Jesus Christ; Jesus is alive
today and has an influence, Lewis was changed by Bible; faith in
Jesus made him a more conscientious Marine; travel to Vietnam via
Okinawa, arrived in Danang; worked as rifleman for 5th
Marines; went on patrols; night missions outside Danang, setting
up night ambushes; became platoon radio man for 3rd
platoon Bravo company; also served as squad and platoon leader
for Hotel company, 1st platoon; spent two weeks in a
Vietnamese culture school in Vietnam learning Vietnamese
language, learned about 200 words; searching for POW camp near
Laotian border; secret operation in Laos, resistance was lighter
than expected; didn't find POWs; extreme heat, ran out of water;
another operation where they landed a helicopter on top of a
mountain, helicopter hovering eight feet off ground, people all
fell out; found cave inside mountain, enemy supplies hidden
inside; impressed by the way the cave was well-furnished with
natural materials; guy who thought he saw an NVA, threw a
grenade, forgot to pull pin; relations with ARVNs, ARVNs tried to
get them to buy stuff at the PX; weapons, booby traps; guy who
pounded his tent stake right into a booby trap; soldiers hurt by
booby traps; conduct of US servicemen varied; saw American
soldiers knock civilians off motorcycles with their rifle butts,
just for laughs; prevalence of drug use, prostitution.
Tape 1403, Side B
Prostitution in Vietnam; setting up ambushes outside villages;
squad leader securing services of local prostitute for his squad;
marijuana cigarettes laced with opium; drug user squad called
"heads," another squad of "straights"; leader
of squad couldn't stop guys from using drugs; few penalties for
drug use; most people at least experimented with marijuana; hand
grenade thrown into hooch of guy who informed on someone else for
smoking marijuana; marijuana as easily available in Vietnam as
candy bars in the US; Vietnamese wanted American money and goods,
had drugs and sex to exchange; Vietnamese stole Coca Cola, sold
to soldiers in the field at a huge mark up; people would be so
hot and miserable they'd pay exorbitant price for cold Coke;
smart Vietnamese kid he met who spoke three languages; this kid
had conception of spirits, but not God, talked about seeing
ghosts; US policy re: black market; black market goods sometimes
benefitted the NVA; prices for drugs and prostitutes; economics
of villages depended on black market; trading currency, American
money, Vietnamese, military payment currency; what $5 could buy
in Vietnam; what prostitutes would take for their services;
Vietnamese prostitutes who were skilled pickpockets; kids who
picked pockets; hypocrisy in the war on parts of both US and
Vietnam; unsure of US motivations for fighting Vietnam war; wants
to believe US stands for what it's supposed to stand for; NVA
threw satchel charges at a Catholic orphanage, killed lots of
people; instances where Americans killed civilians for no
apparent reason; how Christianity influenced Lewis' perceptions
of Vietnam; people often did what was easy rather than what was
right in Vietnam; how different people reflect American values;
thoughts on anti-war movement; bombing North Vietnam; at height
of war, US couldn't stay in, couldn't get out; opinion of draft
evaders; admiration for Mohammed Ali's stand on war; moral
implications of going against majority opinion; people who dodged
draft for convenience rather than moral reasons; story of friend
in Vietnam who got killed in the name of duty; Vietnam Veterans
Against the War; wasn't so much the U.S. at fault in Vietnam,
just whole general situation of mankind; guy from Tennessee that
he met in Vietnam and really admired; admirable and not so
admirable Americans and Vietnamese; admiration for the NVA; still
in contact with some war buddies; impoverished Vietnamese
children, babies; Vietnamese people who managed to be clean and
proud and somewhat happy despite poverty; Lewis didn't see much
of the horrors of war, fighting was almost over; people need
values; no real solution to the Vietnam problem; for Lewis,
humanity has a derived value from being created by God; lots of
Vietnam veterans around, doesn't feel unique; variety of
experiences men had in Vietnam; race relations in Vietnam;
tremendous degree of segregation in US society; Lewis has a hard
time remembering his Vietnam experiences, hardly ever talks about
it; a lot of his friends now probably don't even know he was in
Vietnam.
Tape 1404, Side A
Vietnamese language training in Danang; other schools people
could attend in Vietnam; going to some of these schools was
almost like R&R; instructors in schools; his classmates in
school; learning Vietnamese phrases, grammar; recreational
activities in spare time; Red Cross girls; tour of Danang on last
day of school, stopped at orphanages, Buddhist temple; Vietnamese
civilians tried to get you to buy them stuff they could sell on
black market; Marine civil action group that lived in Vietnamese
villages; many Vietnamese spoke good English; landmine workers
school; chaplains in Vietnam; denominations of Christians, from
liberal to conservative, in Vietnam; regular Protestant and
Catholic services held in rear; attendance at services was very
low; chaplain came out to village to conduct service, no one
showed up; chaplain who particularly impressed Lewis; function of
military chaplains; only met one chaplain in Vietnam who wanted
to preach about Jesus; many younger chaplains more interested in
their military roles; excuses to go to rear; soldiers'
indifference to religion; amazed by the lack of knowledge that
soldiers had about basic tenets of Christianity; people's lack of
commitment to moral values; black people know more about the
bible; close calls in Danang, sniper fire; confusion of shots in
the dark; soldiers who accidentally discharged their rifles;
finding enemy's regimental headquarters; majority of people in
the headquarters somehow escaped; enemy had good military
intelligence, moved out in time, eluded ambushes; found lots of
records, documents, materials left behind, a few weapons;
description of enemy latrines; Lewis admired most of his
officers; effects of drugs on armies; people who smoke marijuana
begin to lose ambition and motivation; demo man who used drugs;
drug problem was out of control, but mostly overlooked; making
prostitution deals with village chief; soldiers' treatment of
civilians; people bragged about atrocities they committed;
soldiers bragging about raping Vietnamese civilians, shooting
them and throwing them down wells; many Vietnamese had good
reason to hate Americans; Americans defeating their aims by
mistreating Vietnamese; lots of good soldiers, too; lack of moral
commitment of American soldiers to cause.
TAPES: 2
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 2 hrs
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 6 page index
RESTRICTIONS: none