T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Patrick L. Villars #
4700.0991
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Dudley R. Meier, Jr.
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 5/10/75
FOCUS DATES: Feb. 1971-Jan. 6, 1975
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1447, Side A
Father's military service; early experience with military;
comparison of Air Force and Marines; going from college
environment to military; reasons for joining Marines; severity of
training, disciplinary aspects of training; expectations of
commanding officers; boot camp; use of cursing to wear recruits
down; term "unauthorized absence"; no advance warning
of what they'd do next; Vietnam-specific training; ten days leave
after boot camp; infantry training regiment at Camp Pendleton;
aviation electronics training; psychology used on Marines; rocket
attack; first impressions of Thailand; American sense of
entitlement; arrival in Nam Phong, Thailand; description of base
in jungle; worked on electronics test equipment; description of
Nam Phong airport; few amenities besides electricity; primitive
toilets, bathing facilities; fungus from water there; worked
seven days a week; bombing missions; sophisticated planes and
electronic equipment used; racial problems; reactionary squads to
quell race riots; mess duty.
Tape 1447, Side B
Low morale; unpopularity of mess duty; R&R on Air Force base
in Thailand; bombing Cambodia; morale better in Vietnam than in
Thailand; heroin addiction; how military changed people; fear of
black soldiers; addicts; how leaders are chosen; public's pity
for Vietnam veterans; American soldiers' loss of innocence;
helpfulness of religion; watching addicts suffer from withdrawal;
confusion about patriotism; happy to leave Thailand; Japanese
standard of living; the regimented life of Marine Corp; rebellion
when Marines tried to regiment their hooches; animosity between
troops and leaders; no reason to be in Vietnam; fragging;
communications with home; Thai prostitutes; living this existence
changes a man into someone hard and callous; poor leadership led
to animosity; drug addiction; bugs in the food; separation of
officers and troops in mess hall; jail at Nam Phong; pilots;
privileges of officers denied to enlisted men; differences
between pilots and enlisted men; prostitution in Thailand;
availability of drugs; corruption; Stars and Stripes newspaper;
military equipment left behind in Vietnam; contact with Thai
people; favorable impressions of Southeast Asians; Filipinos;
Vietnamese struggle for nationalism, independence; Thai love of
independence and freedom; correspondence with Senator Fullbright
about Thai revolution; Thai student riots against military;
communism in Thailand; uselessness of US involvement in Vietnam;
opinions about military; volunteering for Vietnam for adventure;
voted for McGovern; Villars is Catholic, believes in respecting
human beings.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 ½ hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 4 page index
RESTRICTIONS: none