T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Fleet Trahan #
4700.0988
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Donald Pierce
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 5/14/75
FOCUS DATES: May 28, 1968-Dec. 30, 1979
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1442, Side A
Birthplaces of parents; Trahan born in Baton Rouge; siblings;
parents' occupations; childhood illnesses; active in sports
later; attended Trinity Christian college in Zachary; got
drafted, inducted in New Orleans; most of his fellow recruits
were Yankees; training at Fort Polk; ignorance about the Army
before he was drafted; testing at boot camp reception center;
drill sergeants very mean, crude, abusive; definition of a
"gig line"; not allowed to leave for funeral of close
friend; counting down days till end of basic training; Trahan hit
a drill sergeant with a shovel, got in big trouble; cleaning the
barracks; basic training made him tough; graduation day at Fort
Polk; "TTA", a.k.a. Treetop Airways; confusion upon his
arrival at combat engineer training; yard work on base;
Waynesville, MO, closest town to base; milk shortage at base,
Trahan had to spend a day guarding the milk supply; assigned to F
Troop.
Tape 1442, Side B
Prized piece of jewelry he got appraised at $4,000; Vietnamese
houses; simple diet of Vietnamese; Buddhist religious observances
in the home; 20 days R&R in Thailand; first experience
smoking marijuana; effects from getting high the first time;
continued use of marijuana; buying marijuana, prices and amounts;
other MPs who smoked marijuana; ease of growing marijuana in that
area; mountain that caught fire, making everyone terribly high
from the marijuana growing on its side; terrible headache from
using water pipe that had been used for smoking opium; prevalence
of heroin; Vietnamese replaced tobacco in cigarettes with
marijuana, sold packs to soldiers; busting soldiers for
possession of marijuana; seldom smoked marijuana while on duty;
applying for a promotion; following suspected dope dealers.
Tape 1443, Side A
Following suspected dope dealer, continued; found 85 pounds of
red rock heroin hidden in his trunk; suspects organized crime
rings put people into the military to work for them there;
military determined to put an end to the drug use; fairly low
crime rate in Vietnam; prostitution; similarities between Vietnam
and Thailand; Bangkok, a modern and cosmopolitan city; traffic in
Bangkok; prevalence of English speakers in Asia; joyriding in
jeeps on Sundays through rice fields; basket makers in the
countryside; village that makes crafts from coconut shells; got
man to make him an AK-47 in Thailand; village housing; snakes;
interiors of houses, furnishings; house girl who worked for
$8/month; holidays celebrated in Vietnam; un-cheery Christmas on
the base; understaffed in Trahan's area, overworked; investigated
a death while on TDY temporary duty in Thailand; narcotic busts;
penalties for drug use; believes there are still American POWs in
Vietnam; soldiers should have been given freer hand to do what
needed to be done; people got rich off war; small countries
shouldn't trust US for help.
TAPES: 2
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 hour
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 3 page index
SRESTRICTIONS: none