T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Mike Perrett #
4700.0974
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Murphy Duplechien
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 5/3/74
FOCUS DATES: 1969-1971
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1423
Joining the Marine Corps; being sent to Vietnam in 1969; attached
to Third Infantry Division; stationed near Danang; sent to the 2nd
Battalion, 7th Marines; describes his duties as a
radio operator; describes the make-up of a company and duties of
its members; dangers of being a radio operator; feeling of joy at
being wounded; describes being hit by shrapnel from a booby trap
-- Viet Cong wanted to kill a sniper in his company; demoralizing
effect of the booby trap on his company; booby trap also enraged
the company and made them want to kill some VC; VC knowledge of
American tactics; describes the duties and dangers of being a
point man; racial tensions within the company between blacks and
whites and a near race riot; removing an officer because black
soldiers threatened to kill him; black soldiers trying to bring
the Black Power Movement to Vietnam; receiving news of racial
unrest at home spurring on conflict within the ranks; describes
his duties as a radio operator; length of time taken to get air
support -- the more frantic the call, the quicker the support;
Forward and Observer flying a Piper Club directing air attacks;
helping to direct air attacks; discusses favorite pilots;
informal relationship between officers and enlisted men in
combat; lieutenants not wearing their bars because feared they
would be killed; by-the-book officers didn't last long; unit
stationed near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); describes the
terrain; crossing the DMZ; fire fights in rice paddies;
preference for fighting in the jungle; lists equipment, weapons,
supplies, and personal belongings that he carried in the field;
M-79 grenade launcher; Vietcong using things Americans left
behind (garbage) in booby traps; Vietcong making booby traps out
of C-ration cans and grenades; crushing and burying C-ration cans
to keep them out of VC hands; cans and grenades; describes other
types of booby traps; points out distinctions between VC and
North Vietnamese Army; battles with NVA; setting up nighttime
ambushes; difference in combat between Vietnam War and other
wars; inaccuracies in the body count; American troops carrying
the bodies of slain soldiers off the battlefield; discusses
different levels of Medevac; directing a Medevac chopper into
camp; four helicopters in each Medevac mission; US helicopters
being shot down; attempts to rescue crews of downed helicopters;
removing or destroying downed helicopters to keep VC from
stripping them and using the materials against the US troops;
cryptographic messages; length of missions'; search and destroy
missions; discusses the incompetence of the South Vietnamese
Army; Vietnamese interpreters; ROK forces; describes the
Vietnamese population; anti-Communist indoctrination of US
soldiers; anger and resentment of Vietnamese masses toward United
States; Danang; discusses his bouts of malaria; hospitalization
for illness and wounds; lack of personal hygiene while in the
field; discusses the Marine Infantry -- the ones doing the
fighting; contrasts conditions for members of the Air Force and
of the Marines in Vietnam; importance of having fresh socks in
the field; taking quinine tablets to prevent malaria; becoming
cautious as time to return home approached; describes the joy he
experienced when he left Vietnam; drug use by soldiers in
Vietnam; describes the fear he experienced in Vietnam.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1.5 hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 46
RESTRICTIONS: none