T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: David K. Smith #
4700.0984
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Samuel Magruder, Jr.
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 2/4/74, 2/21/74
FOCUS DATES: Jan.1961-present; May 1968-May
1969
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1437, 1438
Father was Army officer, David raised on military bases in South;
father's military service; David's education and ROTC; worked in
field artillery and chemical corp; has masters degree in
management; siblings; felt that going to Vietnam was a good move
for his military career; Vietnam-specific training; his jobs
within the First Infantry Division; rubber plantations in
Vietnam; mission was to prevent NVA takeover of three provinces
north of Saigon; impeded supply lines; worked with ARVNs; felt
the ARVNs were dedicated and professional soldiers; differences
in motivation between ARVN, NVA and US soldiers; ARVNs often left
each other in the field; NVA saved their wounded, and tried to
claim bodies of their dead; US soldiers worked hard; working in
isolated area; montagnards; friction between montagnards and
Vietnamese; description of typical day in the field; planning
nighttime mortar attacks; logistical problems of the war, e.g.
lack of port facilities; was never opposed to the Vietnam war;
Army performed its mission well; ARVNs were well equipped; why US
brough weapons home instead of leaving with ARVNs; served in
Korea; his unit suffered high casualties; body counts;
frustration of seeing enemy massed for attack just across border
in Cambodia; got warm welcome when he returned from war; people
in South weren't opposed to the war; bothered by the way war
covered by television; inaccuracy of body counts; procedures for
body counts; choosing bombing targets; the 1st
Division's effectiveness at maintaining defense perimeters; his
own motivation; comparative corruption of various Asian
governments; unlikeliness of Vietnam ever having free elections;
disillusioning to find a more current issue of Playboy in the
enemy's bunker than was available in the PX; problems of low
morale; rubber plantations owned by France and Belgium; beer and
radios prohibited on fire bases; Stars and Stripes newspaper;
apathy about the rest of the world; letters from home; fond of
the Western Pacific countries; lived in Korea, Japan,
Philippines; flora of Vietnam; defoliants; used base camp of
rubber plantation; rubber plantation was still operating, run by
young German man; tried not to shoot rubber trees, which would
bleed rubber to death; specified strike zones; Vietnam broken
into areas of operation; relations with manager of rubber
plantation; rubber plantation had to pay taxes to VC and NVA;
role of First Division in area; trying to overrun COSVN
headquarters; working in sparsely populated area; found the
combat troops professional and highly motivated, but guys in rear
more slovenly and likelier to use drugs; high opinion of most
young officers; combat divisions engaged with the NVA had fewer
personnel problems because they were too busy; combat units who
tracked VC were more frustrated; problems of half-American
children left behind; military waste; computer-assisted supply
system cut down on waste and theft; views on religious morality
and warfare; ideas about future of Asia; problems of splitting
countries into north and south, e.g. Korea, Vietnam; predicts
that Vietnam will not unify under communists; worked with ARVN
and Air Force, but not Navy or Marines; government of larger
villages; villages protected at night like armed camps; villagers
forced to play all sides; programs designed to help South
Vietnamese with education, agriculture; US should have backed
Buddhists better; religious friction between Buddhists and
Catholics; Vietnam government could do little to protect
villagers from communists; rumors of Communist conspiracy to get
American soldiers hooked on drugs; enjoyed Vietnam because he
felt like it was his big chance to perform as a professional in
his chosen profession; plans to stay in military for 20 years;
why he didn't attend more advanced training; officers now more
likely to question their superiors; could have used more soldiers
in Vietnam; military needs to motivate good people to join;
military equipment left in Vietnam.
TAPES: 2
TOTAL PLAYING TIME:
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 45
RESTRICTIONS: none