T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Mr. X #
4700.0950
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: John Davis
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 5/6/74
FOCUS DATES: April 1970-April 1972
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1369
School of engineers; most military men sent to Vietnam;
special schooling didn't protect you from infantry; Mr. X was
never in any fighting, never shot at; basic training is hell;
describes typical day in basic training; getting harassed by
officers about little things; hated the haircuts; not enough time
to eat; calisthenics in the morning; resisting orders from
commanding officer; platoon leaders could get away with more;
drill instructor was professional football player; Mr. X wasn't a
good runner; trouble with drill sergeants; hand to hand combat
training; clubbing other soldiers for practice; learning to hate;
grass drill in sawdust pits; worries about spinal meningitis;
precautions against spinal meningitis; AIT in Virginia;
refrigeration training; assisting refrigeration instructor
because Mr. X had more refrigeration experience; cleaning
barracks; foreign diplomats visited fort; parade duty on Sundays;
denied weekend passes if barracks looked dirty; hard to play army
and go to school at the same time; one week in the holding
companies; grass cutting duty; trying to get on a good detail; CQ
duty; getting orders for Vietnam; travel money; Mr. X didn't get
promotion he expected; became bitter; ways to maximize travel
pay; receiving orders to Vietnam; paperwork hassle of processing
out; Army screwed Mr. X out of chance to become teacher; MUST
systems, portable hospitals; Mr. X lacked courage to run off to
Canada; believes it takes more courage to buck the system; flew
to naval base in Japan first at base of Mt. Fuji; different
routes to Vietnam, via Alaska, Hawaii or Guam; holding center at
Cam Ranh Bay; how people get assigned to battalions and brigades;
stayed in Cam Ranh Bay for about four days; confusion re:
international date line; first day in holding center; first time
he saw people smoking marijuana; lots of liquor, lots of dope;
soldiers hassling new guys; sent to Nha Trang, to a unit that was
closing down; whore house in Nha Trang; assigned to 362nd signal
unit, sent back to Cam Ranh Bay; stationed at Hawk Hill,
communications school for Vietnamese located there; rivalry on
hill between 518th and 362nd; description
of hooches soldiers lived in; Mr. X's roommates and neighbors;
Mr. X lived with a prostitute for five months; Vietnamese
friends; tried to respect the Vietnamese; Vietnamese are very
friendly people, extremely poor by American standards; reasons
girls became prostitutes; amount of money prostitutes made; rates
for prostitutes; water truck drivers smuggled the girls onto the
base; girls stayed a few days, working; other females who worked
on base, doing laundry, working in mess hall; higher echelon of
military also involved with prostitution; description of massage
parlors, known as "steam and creams," located on base,
and services offered; differences between girlfriends and
prostitutes; Vietnamese knew how to manipulate Americans to get
money; limited vocabulary of Vietnamese girls; older people spoke
French, younger people learned English; tried to explain snow to
his girlfriend; Vietnamese attitudes toward Americans; most
Vietnamese he met had some connection to military; met a couple
of Vietnamese farmers when out buying charcoal; heroin use in
Vietnam, saw two guys OD; boredom led to drug use; excellent
marijuana available; just as many alcoholics as drug addicts;
black market linked to prostitution; money changing for
Vietnamese girlfriends; prostitutes gave money to their mamasan,
or pimp; changing money and the black market; pushers, source of
heroin; limited number of money orders a soldier could buy;
friend who got caught selling PX goods; setting up signal site in
Nha Trang; visiting off-limits places in Nha Trang; Korean
soldiers in Nha Trang whore houses; ranks of men in whore houses;
danger of being caught by MPs; kids stole things off trucks; Coca
Cola houses, built out of cardboard boxes; mamasans brought
heroin onto base; bar girls; drugs and high-ranking officers;
best marijuana came from montagnards; definition of a
"lid" of marijuana; explains "ready rolls"
and "ojs"; soldier who grew his own marijuana under his
hooch; hill where authorities stuck all the trouble makers,
deviants, drug addicts; thinks Vietnam war was a very bad
mistake; Vietnamese function better under a dictator than
democracy; total bombardment of North Vietnam would not have
solved the problem; admiration for anti-war protestors;
identified with anti-war radicals; cousin who was conscientious
objector, family kicked him out of his house; proud of his cousin
for having guts to stand up for what he believed.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 hour, 20 minutes
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 4 page index
RESTRICTIONS: anonymity of narrator, may only be
referred to as "Mr. X"