T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Robert J. Theriot #
4700.0986
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Robert Talley
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 12/4/74
FOCUS DATES: 2/69-10/72
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1440
From New Iberia, LA; from family of eight children; attended
Catholic schools, graduated high school in 1968; always
fascinated by war, especially Civil War and WWII; interest in
Vietnam; planned to enlist in Navy; spent summer after graduation
in Florida, working for construction company; entered USL,
studied to be math teacher; lost interest in math, wanted to join
Navy; military service in family; basic training in San Diego;
difficulty of boot camp; naval air facility in New Iberia; jet
that was donated to city of New Iberia; declining popularity of
military in New Iberia; Theriot's decision to join military;
feelings on going to Vietnam; expectations when joining Navy,
anticipated lots of travel; spent most of his time on west coast;
meeting with recruiter in New Iberia, induction in New Orleans;
being a new recruit; recruit training, primary and advanced;
doing laundry by Navy regulations, tying up laundry to dry with
correct knots; punishments for knots tied incorrectly;
corrections center, also known as "4050 Camp"; Marine
recruits who jumped fence, tried to escape at night; four
departments on Navy ship; preparing for graduation from boot
camp; mess cooking; going to destroyer in Long Beach, California;
schools his classmates attended; maintenance work on ship;
keeping watch while at sea; other chores on ship; plotting other
ships on radar; maneuvers off shore from San Diego; Theriot
seasick at first; short maneuvers; journey to Vietnam via Hawaii;
trouble with ship, almost ran into memorial; 35 days in Gulf of
Tonkin; stayed on ship along California coast for six or seven
months; in early 1971, requested transfer; escort ships; ceremony
for ship when commissioned; "plank owners," people on
ship when first built; Navy continues tradition of plank owners.
Tape 1440, Side B
Spent six months in Gulf of Tonkin, mostly on destroyer escort;
primary duty was to protect aircraft carrier; sent to Sea of
Japan, near Korea; Russian MIGs passed over frequently; drills
aboard ship; winning awards, medals, certificates for various
expeditions in Southeast Asia; decided to volunteer for service
on the ground in Vietnam; military needed people with aptitude
for foreign languages, Theriot had high score on aptitude test;
two groups of Navy personnel in Vietnam: support and advisory,
roles of each; Theriot sent to Cam Ranh Bay; booby traps; could
swim in bay, but suspected booby traps in rocks; security usually
tight; riding jeep or pickup truck around surrounding areas;
couldn't distinguish between North and South Vietnamese;
Vietnamese civilians who cared for barracks, did laundry;
Catholic Vietnamese woman who cleaned his barracks; impressions
of Vietnamese people; availability of television, radio;
Vietnamese astounded by amenities Americans brought, often stole
them; money changing; prevalence of drugs; Vietnamization
process; spacious quarters in barracks; cleaning woman delivered
marijuana to men in barracks; intermittent drug testing; people
sent to drug rehabilitation center; prostitution at Cam Ranh
Ville; soldiers brought "dates" to club on base;
venereal disease; prevalence of prostitution; Vietnamization;
Naval communications station; returning to US, flew back to San
Francisco; returned to New Iberia, traveled through Texas selling
plastic plants; enrolled in LSU in Spring, 1973; legacy of his
Vietnam experience; remembers Vietnamese as thieves; cutting
trees back from road so VC couldn't hide; worries about spread of
communism; Theriot's uncle and aunt in California who worked at
Naval Weapons Center.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 ½ hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 3 page index
RESTRICTIONS: none