1 100 5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Vietnam War Collection Alternative Title Vietnam Collection Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict." The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, 77 days later. While the military conflict ended in April of 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. Contributor <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Vietnam Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida External Reference "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Lanza, Ettore M. Interviewee Friedman, Paul H. Location Coral Springs, Florida Original Format 1 audio/video digital recording Duration 28 minutes and 40 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency 127kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral History of Paul H. Friedman Alternative Title Oral History, Friedman Subject Navy Veterans--Florida Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Gulf of Tonkin USS Forrestal (Aircraft carrier) Description Oral history of Paul H. Friedman's military service in Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1961-1975). Friedman was born on August 28, 1946 in Rockway Beach, New York. In 1966, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the U.S.S. Forrestal G Division, which engaged in combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin. Friedman achieved the rank of Petty Officer, 3rd Class. He was injured in the 1967 fire that devastated the Forrestal and killed 134 of his shipmates. Friedman ended his service on November 19, 1967. During his service, he received the National Defense Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal. This oral history interview was conducted by Ettore M. Lanza in Coral Springs, Florida on March 21, 2011. The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict". The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The official date of the military conflict is November 1, 1955 and ending in April 1975. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, seventy-seven days later. While the military conflict ended in 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. While the U.S. military was fighting overseas, Many American citizens protested the war at home. Demonstrations took place across the country with the most famous one being at Kent State University in Ohio. While this is the most well known demonstration it was not the first. Americans questioned the U.S. involvement in the war throughout. Abstract Oral history interview of Paul H. Friedman. Interview conducted by Ettore M. Lanza in Coral Springs, Florida. Table Of Contents 00:00 Intro 1:00 Where/when he was born 2:10 Parents/relatives/friends in military? 5:35 Reason he joined Navy/boot camp 8:15 USS Forrestal 8:45 Ship details 9:55 Destinations 11:45 His onboard occupation 13:15 Fire begin 17:35 Shrap metal in his foot 21:10 Fire subside 22:35 Trip back home 25:20 Reflections/book 27:00 Outro Creator Lanza, Ettore M. Source <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/52" target="_blank">Friedman, Paul H.</a> Interviewed by Ettore M. Lanza. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0011885. March 21, 2011. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. Publisher <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries Date Created 2011-03-21 Date Copyrighted 2011-03-21 Contributor <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Conforms To Standards established by the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/">http://www.loc.gov/vets/</a>. Format video/mp4 Extent 87.4 MB Medium 28-minute and 40-second digital audio/video recording Language eng Type Moving Image Coverage Rockway Beach, New York Gulf of Tonkin Coral Springs, Florida Spatial Coverage 40.586736, -73.81157 19.151389, 107.384722 26.2667, -80.2667 Temporal Coverage 1946-08-28/1966-07-19 1966-07-19/1967-11-19 1967-11-19/2011-03-21 Accrual Method Deposit Rights Holder All rights are held by the respective holding institution. This material is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. For permission to reproduce and/or for copyright information contact <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries, (407) 823-2576. http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/. Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Morris, Alisha Digital Collection <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalCollections/" target="_blank">UCF Digital Collections</a> <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">University of Central Florida, Special Collections and University Archives</a> External Reference "American Experience." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Burlage, John D. "The Forrestal Fire." America's Navy. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=73. "USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59)." The Virtual Wall: Vietnam Veterans Memorial. http://www.virtualwall.org/units/forrestal.htm. Moïse, Edwin E. Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. Freeman, Gregory A. Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It. New York: William Morrow, 2002. Herring, George C. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. New York: Wiley, 1979. External Reference Title "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>" "<a href="http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=73" target="_blank">The Forrestal Fire</a>" "<a href="http://www.virtualwall.org/units/forrestal.htm" target="_blank">USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59)</a>" <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34477141" target="_blank">Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War</a> <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48014770" target="_blank">Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It</a> <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a> Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/52" target="_blank">Friedman, Paul H.</a> Is Part Of <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/92" target="_blank">Vietnam War Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank">QuickTime</a>. Audience Education Level SS.K.A.1.2; SS.K.A.2.4; SS.K.C.2.1; SS.1.A.1.1; SS.1.A.2.1; SS.1.A.2.2; SS.1.A.2.4; SS.1.C.3.2; SS.1.C.2.1; SS.1.C.2.2; SS.1.C.2.3; SS.1.C.2.4; SS.2.A.1.1; SS.2.C.2.2; SS.2.C.2.4; SS.2.C.2.5; SS.2.C.3.2; SS.3.A.1.1; SS.3.C.2.1; SS.4.A.1.1; SS.4.C.2.2; SS.4.C.2.3; SS.5.A.1.1; SS.5.C.2.5; SS.6.W.1.3; SS.7.C.2.2; SS.7.C.2.3; SS.7.C.4.1; SS.7.C.4.2; SS.8.A.1.1; SS.8.A.1.5; SS.8.A.1.7; SS.912.A.1.1; SS.912.A.1.6; SS.912.A.6.10; SS.912.A.6.13; SS.912.A.6.14; SSS.912.A.6.15; SS.912.A.7.10; SS.912.A.7.11; SS.912.A.7.17; SS.912.C.2.3; SS.912.C.4.2; SS.912.W.1.3; SS.912.W.1.6; SS.912.W.8.4; SS.912.W.9.4 Mediator History Teacher Civics/Government Teacher Provenance Originally created by Ettore M. Lanza and published by the University of Central Florida Libraries, <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>. Date Issued 2012-03 boot camp enlist fire Friedman, Paul H. G Division Lanza, Ettore M. National Defense Medal Petty Officer Petty Officer 3rd Class Petty Officer Third Class survivor third class Vietnam Service Medal West Pac Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Vietnam War Collection Alternative Title Vietnam Collection Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict." The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, 77 days later. While the military conflict ended in April of 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. Contributor <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Vietnam Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida External Reference "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Kallina, Edmund Interviewee Hite, Charles Lewis Location UCF Research Parkway, Orlando, Florida Original Format 1 mini-DV audio/video recording Duration 57 minutes and 21 seconds Time Summary 0:25 Basic bio 0:50 Family 2:40 Enlistment 4:06 Basic training 7:25 Navigator training 11:25 Advanced training 14:15 Planes flown 16:15 Bliville 19:30 Simulations/alerts 21:00 Macabre sense of humor 23:00 Thailand 27:20 Cambodian planes landing at Thailand base 29:30 After Thailandâ€”back to Bliville 30:20 Job promotionâ€”to Louisiana (4/5 years) 33:00 2 years in Nebraska/ SAC HQ 36:00 7th Air Division in Germany 38:00 Travel in Europe 42:08 post-Vietnam morale Air Force 45:24 length in Germany 46:00 Return to Floridaâ€”flew around world still 49:52 General Schwarzkopf 51:00 General Hoar 52:28 Duties during Desert Storm 56:00 Working at UCF Bit Rate/Frequency 1197kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral History of Charles Lewis Hite Alternative Title Oral History, Hite Subject Air Force Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Persian Gulf War, 1991 Veterans--Florida Operation Desert Storm, 1991 Description Oral History of Charles Lewis Hite's military service during the Vietnam War (1961-1975) and the Persian Gulf War (1991). Hite was born on March 23, 1947 in Centralia, Illinois. In 1972, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and trained at Blyheville Air Force Base in Blyheville, Arkansas. He served in Thailand during the Vietnam War and then returned back to Blyheville to work as First 2nd LT Radar Navigator. After being promoted to Standardization/Evaluation Radar Navigator, Hite was stationed in various locations: Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, Louisiana; Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue, Nebraska; Ramstein Air Force Base near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany; and MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. He also was assigned duties during Operation Desert Storm (1991). Throughout his service, Hite served in various units, including 97th Bomb Wine, 340th Bomb Squadron, 1st Combat Evaluation Group, HQ Strategic Air Command, 7th Air Division, and DET 1 8th Air Force (SAC) Central Command. He achieved the rank of Major and received both the Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. Hite left the military on May 31, 1992 and began working at the University of Central Florida. This oral history interview was conducted by Edmund Kallina at the UCF Research Parkway in Orlando, Florida on October 12, 2012. The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict". The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The official date of the military conflict is November 1, 1955 and ending in April 1975. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, seventy-seven days later. While the military conflict ended in 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. While the U.S. military was fighting overseas, Many American citizens protested the war at home. Demonstrations took place across the country with the most famous one being at Kent State University in Ohio. While this is the most well known demonstration it was not the first. Americans questioned the U.S. involvement in the war throughout. Abstract Oral history interview of Charles Lewis Hite. Interview conducted by Edmund Kallina at UCF Research Parkway in Orlando, Florida. Table Of Contents 0:25 Basic bio 0:50 Family 2:40 Enlistment 4:06 Basic training 7:25 Navigator training 11:25 Advanced training 14:15 Planes flown 16:15 Bliville 19:30 Simulations/alerts 21:00 Macabre sense of humor 23:00 Thailand 27:20 Cambodian planes landing at Thailand base 29:30 After Thailand back to Bliville 30:20 Job promotion to Louisiana (4/5 years) 33:00 2 years in Nebraska/ SAC HQ 36:00 7th Air Division in Germany 38:00 Travel in Europe 42:08 post-Vietnam morale Air Force 45:24 length in Germany 46:00 Return to Florida flew around world still 49:52 General Schwarzkopf 51:00 General Hoar 52:28 Duties during Desert Storm 56:00 Working at UCF Creator Kallina, Edmund Source <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/11" target="_blank">Hite, Charles Lewis</a>. Interviewed by Edmund Kallina. UCF Community Veterans History Project, D0010465. October 12, 2010. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. Publisher <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries Date Created 2010-10-12 Date Copyrighted 2010-10-12 Contributor <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Conforms To Standards established by the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/">http://www.loc.gov/vets/</a>. Format video/mp4 Extent 493 MB Medium 57-minute and 21-second mini-DV audio/video recording Language eng Type Moving Image Spatial Coverage 38.529099, -89.131794 35.927425, -89.918346 15.411319, 101.070556 32.501863, -93.657139 41.133587, -95.917674 49.436721, 7.596048 27.849246, -82.521087 28.586371, -81.195931 Temporal Coverage 1947-03-23/2010-10-12 Accrual Method Deposit Rights Holder All rights are held by the respective holding institution. This material is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. For permission to reproduce and or for copyright information contact Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, (407) 823-2576. <a href="http://library.ucf.edu.specialcollections/">http://library.ucf.edu.specialcollections/</a>. Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Morris, Alisha Digital Collection <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalCollections/" target="_blank">UCF Digital Collections</a> <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">University of Central Florida, Special Collections and University Archives</a> External Reference "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Glasser, Jeffrey D. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32310932" target="_blank">The Secret Vietnam War: The United States Air Force in Thailand, 1961-1975</a>. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co, 1995. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. Rosenau, William. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50851067" target="_blank">Special Operations Forces and Elusive Enemy Ground Targets Lessons from Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War</a>. Santa Monica, CA: Project Air Force/Rand, 2001. Matthews, Eamonn, Ben Loeterman, and Will Lyman. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34145115" target="_blank">The Gulf War</a>. Alexandria, VA: PBS Video, 1996. Anderson, Michael G. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27694401" target="_blank">The Air Force Rapid Response Process: Streamlined Acquisition During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm: Project Air Force Analysis of the Air War in the Gulf</a>. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corp, 1992. Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/11" target="_blank">Hite, Charles Lewis</a> Date Submitted 2011-05 Is Part Of <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/92" target="_blank">Vietnam War Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank">QuickTime</a>. Coverage Centralia, Illinois Blyheville, Arkansas Thailand Bossier City, Louisiana Bellevue, Nebraska Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany Tampa, Florida Orlando, Florida Audience Education Level SS.K.A.1.2; SS.K.A.2.4; SS.K.C.2.1; SS.1.A.1.1; SS.1.A.2.1; SS.1.A.2.2; SS.1.A.2.4; SS.1.C.3.2; SS.1.C.2.1; SS.1.C.2.2; SS.1.C.2.3; SS.1.C.2.4; SS.2.A.1.1; SS.2.C.2.2; SS.2.C.2.4; SS.2.C.2.5; SS.2.C.3.2; SS.3.A.1.1; SS.3.C.2.1; SS.4.A.1.1; SS.4.C.2.2; SS.4.C.2.3; SS.5.A.1.1; SS.5.C.2.5; SS.6.W.1.3; SS.7.C.2.2; SS.7.C.2.3; SS.7.C.4.1; SS.7.C.4.2; SS.8.A.1.1; SS.8.A.1.5; SS.8.A.1.7; SS.912.A.1.1; SS.912.A.1.6; SS.912.A.6.10; SS.912.A.6.13; SS.912.A.6.14; SSS.912.A.6.15; SS.912.A.7.10; SS.912.A.7.11; SS.912.A.7.17; SS.912.C.2.3; SS.912.C.4.2; SS.912.W.1.3; SS.912.W.1.6; SS.912.W.8.4; SS.912.W.8.10; SS.912.W.9.4; SS.912.W.9.7 Mediator History Teacher Civics/Government Teacher Provenance Originally created by Edmund Kallina and owned by <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries. 1st Combat Evaluation Group 340th Bomb Squadron 7th Air Division 97th Bomb Wine 97th Bomb Wine- 340th Bomb Squadron Barksdale AFB Barksdale Air Force Base Blyheville AFB Blyheville Air Force Base Cambodia Commendation Medal Desert Storm DET 1 8th Air Force (SAC) Central Command Europe First 2nd LT Radar Navigator Germany Hite, Charles Lewis Hoar HQ Strategic Air Command Kallina, Edmund MacDill AFB MacDill Air Force Base Meritorious Service Medal Offutt AFB Offutt Air Force Base radar navigator Ramstein AFB Ramstein Air Force Base SAC HQ Schwarzkopf Standardization/Evaluation Radar Navigator Thailand U.S. Air Force UCF University of Central Florida Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Vietnam War Collection Alternative Title Vietnam Collection Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict." The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, 77 days later. While the military conflict ended in April of 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. Contributor <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Vietnam Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida External Reference "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Carroquino, Carmen Interviewee Martin, Henry A. Location Veterans of Foreign Affair in Winter Springs, Florida Original Format 1 audio DVD recording Duration 40 minutes and 59 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency 1437kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral History of Henry A. Martin Alternative Title Oral History, Martin Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description Oral history of Henry A. Martin's military service during the Vietnam War (1961-1975). Martin was born on July 8, 1941 in Sayre, Pennsylvania. In 1960, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as an Ordinary Engineer. Throughout his military career, Martin served in Italy, Germany, Vietnam, and Korea and achieved the rank of Sergeant First Class. He received the Good Conduct Medal and the Instructor of the Month award. Martin completed his service on July 1, 1981. This oral history interview was conducted by Carmen Carroquino on November 18, 2010 The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict". The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The official date of the military conflict is November 1, 1955 and ending in April 1975. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, seventy-seven days later. While the military conflict ended in 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. While the U.S. military was fighting overseas, Many American citizens protested the war at home. Demonstrations took place across the country with the most famous one being at Kent State University in Ohio. While this is the most well known demonstration it was not the first. Americans questioned the U.S. involvement in the war throughout. Abstract Oral history interview of Henry A. Martin. Interview conducted by Carmen Carroquino at Veterans of Foreign Wars in Winter Springs, Florida. Table Of Contents 00:00 Beginning Enlist questions/basic training (boot camp) 11:09 Vietnam experience/duties/home for (RR) rest 20:00 Family, life in the military, travel, culture 33:20 Left the military-life after 39:30 Afterthoughts on military career and how he feels about young veterans Creator Carroquino, Carmen Source <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/10" target="_blank">Martin, Henry A.</a>. Interviewed by Carmen Carroquino. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0010472 November 18, 2010. Audio record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. Publisher <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries Date Created 2010-11-18 Contributor <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Conforms To Standards established by the Veterans History Projects, Library of Congress, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/">http://www.loc.gov/vets/</a>. Format audio/mp4 Extent 423 MB Medium 40-minute and 59-second audio DVD recording Language eng Type Moving Image Spatial Coverage 41.979337, -76.514812 44.449468, 11.334228 50.861444, 10.235595 13.645987, 108.343505 36.615528, 128.087768 28.70513, -81.307455 Temporal Coverage 1941-07-08/2010-11-18 Accrual Method Deposit Rights Holder All rights are held by the respective holding institution. This material is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. For permission to reproduce and or for copyright information contact Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, (407) 823-2576. <a href="http://library.ucf.edu.specialcollections/">http://library.ucf.edu.specialcollections/</a>. Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Morris, Alisha Digital Collection <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalCollections/" target="_blank">UCF Digital Collections</a> <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">University of Central Florida, Special Collections and University Archives</a> External Reference "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. Rottman, Gordon L., and Duncan Anderson. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/190967872" target="_blank">The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73</a>. Oxford: Osprey, 2008. Rosenau, William. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50851067" target="_blank">Special Operations Forces and Elusive Enemy Ground Targets Lessons from Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War</a>. Santa Monica, CA: Project Air Force/Rand, 2001. External Reference Title <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/190967872" target="_blank">The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73</a> Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/10" target="_blank">Martin, Henry A.</a> Is Part Of <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida. <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/92" target="_blank">Vietnam War Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank">QuickTime</a>. Coverage Sayre, Pennsylvania Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy Rohrgraben, Moorgrund, Germany Gia Lai, Vietnam Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea Winter Springs, Florida Audience Education Level SS.K.A.1.2; SS.K.A.2.4; SS.K.C.2.1; SS.1.A.1.1; SS.1.A.2.1; SS.1.A.2.2; SS.1.A.2.4; SS.1.C.3.2; SS.1.C.2.1; SS.1.C.2.2; SS.1.C.2.3; SS.1.C.2.4; SS.2.A.1.1; SS.2.C.2.2; SS.2.C.2.4; SS.2.C.2.5; SS.2.C.3.2; SS.3.A.1.1; SS.3.C.2.1; SS.4.A.1.1; SS.4.C.2.2; SS.4.C.2.3; SS.5.A.1.1; SS.5.C.2.5; SS.6.W.1.3; SS.7.C.2.2; SS.7.C.2.3; SS.7.C.4.1; SS.7.C.4.2; SS.8.A.1.1; SS.8.A.1.5; SS.8.A.1.7; SS.912.A.1.1; SS.912.A.1.6; SS.912.A.6.10; SS.912.A.6.13; SS.912.A.6.14; SSS.912.A.6.15; SS.912.A.7.10; SS.912.A.7.11; SS.912.A.7.17; SS.912.C.2.3; SS.912.C.4.2; SS.912.W.1.3; SS.912.W.1.6; SS.912.W.8.1; SS.912.W.8.4; SS.912.W.9.4 Mediator History Teacher Civics/Government Teacher Provenance Originally created by Carmen Carroquino and owned by <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries. Date Copyrighted 2010-11-18 Date Issued 2011-05 basic training Bologna boot camp Carroquino Emilia-Romagna Germany Gia Lai Good Conduct Medal Gyeongsangbuk-do Instructor of the Month Italy Martin, Henry A. Moorgrund Mungyeong ORD. ENG. Ordinary Engineer Pennsylvania Rhgraben Sayre Sergeant 1st Class Sergeant First Class Sgt. 1st Class Sgt. First Class South Korea U.S. Army Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW Vietnam https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/96ef7c2cbd663cfba7044fdc015e951d.pdf 3ce052d3842e4f16e2ff28def70d7638 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Vietnam War Collection Alternative Title Vietnam Collection Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict." The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, 77 days later. While the military conflict ended in April of 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. Contributor <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Vietnam Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida External Reference "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Hanke, Gabrielle Interviewee Blank, William "Bill" Location Orlando, Florida Original Format Digital (DAT) Duration 45 minutes and 8 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency 157kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral History of Dr. William "Bill" Blank Alternative Title Oral History, Blank Subject Veterans--Florida Army Persian Gulf War, 1991 Cold War Global War on Terror, 2001-2009 Yom Kippur War, 1973 Iraq War, 2003-2011 World War II--United States Description An oral history of Dr. William Blank, who served in the U.S. Army (USA) from 1971 until 1974. Dr. Blank ultimately reached the rank of Specialist 4 and was stationed in Mannheim, Germany. Now the Director of Career Development at the University of Central Florida (UCF), Dr. Blank discusses his experiences during and after his military service. Some of the topics include the Yom Kippur War and the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, benefits of being in the military, personal experiences in Europe, the evolution of the military and public opinion of veterans, working with international students, and opinions of the military today and modern conflicts. Table Of Contents 0:00:01 Introduction 0:00:32 Entering the Military 0:03:32 Training and assignment 0:04:59 Feelings on the Vietnam War 0:07:17 First experience in Germany 0:08:41 1972 Summer Olympics 0:10:28 The Yom Kippur War 0:12:42 Personal benefits of being in the military 0:14:06 Post-military experiences 0:17:13 Preparation and thought process in the Army 0:18:52 Personal time in Germany 0:20:58 Destruction of the Berlin Wall 0:22:17 Evolution of the military and public opinion of veterans 0:26:09 Issues with government 0:27:43 Homecoming 0:28:22 Family feelings on enlistment and war 0:29:07 Feelings on assignment 0:29:47 Relationships in the Army 0:31:39 Fun in the Army 0:33:00 Travel experiences and relationship with host family 0:34:43 Working with international students 0:35:12 Summary of international experience 0:35:32 Stand-out memories 0:37:13 Opinion of entering military today 0:41:16 Opinion of recent wars 0:43:37 Admiration for evolution of military and public opinion Abstract Oral history interview of Dr. William Blank. Interview conducted by Gabrielle Hanke. Type Moving Image Source <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/264/" target="_blank">Blank, Bill</a>. Interviewed by Gabrielle Hank. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>. <a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a> Is Part Of <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/92" target="_blank">Vietnam War Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Has Format Digital transcript of original 45-minute and 8-second oral history: <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/264/" target="_blank">Blank, Bill</a>. Interviewed by Gabrielle Hanke. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. Conforms To Standards established by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/" target="_blank">Veterans History Projects</a>, Library of Congress. Coverage Mannheim, Germany University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida Kent State University, Kent, Ohio Munich, Germany Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, Wyoming Marine Corps Base Quantico, Triangle, Virginia Vietnam Watergate Office Complex, Washington, D.C. Bad Tölz, Germany Bastogne, Belgium Kehlsteinhaus, Germany Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France Creator Hanke, Gabrielle Blank, William Publisher <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Date Created 2014-11-21 Date Copyrighted 2014-11-21 Format video/mp4 application/pdf Medium 45-minute and 8-second oral history 21-page digital transcript Language eng Mediator History Teacher Civics/Government Teacher Geography Teacher Provenance Originally created by Gabrielle Hanke and William Blank and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>. Rights Holder <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Accrual Method Item Creation Contributing Project <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cravero, Geoffrey Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> External Reference "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. Rottman, Gordon L., and Duncan Anderson. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/190967872" target="_blank">The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73</a>. Oxford: Osprey, 2008. Rabinovich, Abraham. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52464595" target="_blank">The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East</a>. New York: Schocken Books, 2004. Herzog, Chaim. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1500167" target="_blank">The War of Atonement: October, 1973</a>. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975. Transcript Hanke Okay. Today is the 21st of November, 2014. My name is Gabrielle Hanke and I am here interviewing Dr. William "Bill" Blank. He served in the Army from 1971 until 1974. He ultimately reached the rank of Specialist 4 and was stationed in Mannheim, [Baden-Württemberg,] Germany. I am interviewing him as part of the University of Central Florida’s [Community] Veterans History Project and this interview is being conducted in Orlando, Florida. Alright, so let’s start off with your early years. Blank Okay. Um, well as with most military vets, I would guess they would say a couple of words that might define their experience would be “conflict” and “adventure.” I think, you know, traditionally, that the military definitely offered both of those, and when I think of the conflict, I actually think of conflict here at home rather than abroad. Um, that was a—a pretty tumultuous time, um, in our society regarding world events, world affairs, and the military’s involvement in those events, um, specifically looking at the Vietnam War. And uh—it—it really began after I had already begun college. I was a—a college student. I’d been going to school for several months and, uh, back in 1971. In the fall of 1971, they had the lottery, and it’s not like you think of the lottery today where you can win a million dollars, but rather, the lottery was determining who was going to be getting a draft notice. And, uh, my number happened to be 31. And up until about 100, those individuals could be expecting to get a draft notice. And so, uh, we—we had a—an opportunity—I guess I’m going to call it, uh—if you knew you that you were going to be getting a draft notice, you had several months typically to enlist as a—a prelude to getting that draft notice or—or in lieu of getting that draft notice. What were the advantages of that? One was that we—we had—we were actually kind of transitioning into what they called the “all-volunteer Army,” which began a year later. So this was really a year to sort of field test some of the constructs of that all-volunteer Army. And by enlisting prior to getting the draft notice, we were able to go in under something they called the “buddy system.” And so my best friend from high school—who was coincidentally my college roommate—who also had a very low number for that lottery, we decided together to go ahead and enlist in the Army and that would give us the opportunity of going in under the buddy system. And what that really meant is that we were able to go through basic training together. And if you can imagine a couple of kids from a small industrial town, uh, in North Central Wisconsin, who had not previously ventured far from their backyard, were going to be going somewhere around the world, um, experiencing this major adventure. And so by at least starting off by having that kind of security blanket, that—that familiar face going through basic was really important and, um—and it actually meant a lot, I think, to many people, um, who had that opportunity. So we went in, we volunteered, uh—enlisted. Uh, we—we went to basic training together. And then the second benefit of enlisting rather than actually getting the draft notice was we had the ability to have input in terms of what we would be doing in the military. And since I had taken electronics classes in high school, uh, they had determined to send me to a—a communications technician program—electronics training basically—which worked well for me. And then the third benefit of enlisting was that—although it was not a guarantee—it—it really came down to the demand of the military at that time, but, um, you could at least give preferences for where you wanted to be stationed. um, and one of mine was to—to be able to go to Germany and, uh—actually, when we finished our training, I—I started off with orders for Vietnam, but because they were starting to pull back on the numbers of people they were sending to Vietnam, uh—they backed down on the Vietnam, uh, orders and transitioned them to Germany, and so I did get to go to Germany for three years. So I thought that was going to be a pretty positive experience for me. And—and, um, to—to maybe give just a little bit more background, it was—it was a really difficult time actually, um, for young men primarily—although there were some women that were also going in—but men were the ones that were getting drafted, because of the societal views on the Vietnam War. It was not a righteous war. Um, America had not been threatened. Our interests abroad had not been threatened. And so for many people in the country, um, there was resistance to the war and—and that was especially evident, um, on college campuses. Uh, having been a college student, you know, we all—we all had kind of a common perception of the war and, um, and that probably peaked in 1970, when at Kent State [University], the [Ohio] National Guard killed—I believe it was four or five students and then many others were injured as well, when the Ohio National Guard opened up on—on a group of protesters at that institution. Um, and so, going into the military, going from student to—to soldier literally in a couple of short months created, I guess, a great deal of, um, cognitive dissonance, or at least it made me really question my values and philosophies about living and learning versus, um, you know, doing my duty and, um, you know, agreeing to uh, protect, and pr—um, protect society, uh, which—which was something that, um—in my family, you know—it was pretty conservative. That was kind of a—a passed down value, um, or—or philosophy, I guess, on life. You do what you’re told to do by the authorities and—and you do it gladly. And uh, my grandfather had been in World War I and I—I remembered talking to him frequently and seeing all of his photographs. And so there was kind of that sense that, um, I need to pick up the torch in my family system and—and do my job for the military. So, two—two conflicting, um, life views really. Um—and—and I was not alone. That was pretty common I think for many young people at that time. But nevertheless, I ended up going to Germany. And, um, one of my very first experiences in Germany, ironically, was being the point person, um, in a riot squad. When you think of a riot squad as a “V” and—and they ask for somebody, or they told somebody, “You’re going to be the point person.” And that was developed because of some of the international protests to the Vietnam War. Uh, [President Richard Milhous] Nixon had been doing quite a lot of carpet-bombing, where he would just saturate the country with explosives and—and so European students were protesting, as well. So I’m a student one day and a few months later, I’m actually wearing a uniform with an M-16, with a bayonet on it, and I’m the point person with students from Germany, um, attempting to infiltrate our base or—or surge our fences—and—and that put me in a really awkward position as well. Fortunately, um, nothing happened to the extent that we had to make contact with them, um, but—but nevertheless, it—it really made me question what I was doing and—and whether or not it was a valid, um, experience. Uh, so—so that was my introduction to Germany. And then, um, just about a year later, I was actually going to teletype school, which was just outside of Munich[, Bavaria, Germany] in a small town called Bad Tölz [, Bavaria, Germany]. Teletype was sort of the prelude or the precursor to, um, e-mail. And, uh, just a—a few weeks into that training, uh, there was an attack at Olympic Village.<a title="">[1]</a> the—the 1972 Summer Olympics were going in Munich, by, um, a group of, um—uh, I guess for a lack of a better word, I would call them “terrorists”—the Black September [Organization] group—the—they were known as, attacked Israeli athletes and ended up—they kidnapped them initially in exchange for, um, over 200 prisoners that were in Israeli jails, uh—Arab prisoners. And, um, when Israel did not negotiate with them, they—they actually ended up killing all of the athletes, along with a German police officer. And, being in Munich at that time, all of the American soldiers were put on alert and, um, it was a pretty tense few days not knowing if that terror would—would, um, transition into some of the American facilities. Um, Mark Spitz was a—a—like a five—I think he won five golds that year for swimming. Uh, they—they rushed him out of Germany and—and flew him back to the United States being a—a Jewish athlete. So again, political, um, unrest and violence across the world, um, was starting to really boil. I think that was probably a, uh, maybe a—an omen of what was to come for America up the road, um, with the Middle East. And—and we got through it and things seemed to settle down a bit and then, literally a year later, um, my armor unit, we had about 30 to 40 tanks in—in the unit that I was stationed with in Germany, um—80-ton tanks—60-ton tanks, I guess they were. And each year, we would go up to Northern Germany to qualify those tank crews on the firing ranges. And in 1973—in the fall of ‘73—we were up there doing just that, when, um, a number of Arab countries, um, attacked Israel, um, and—and that that was led, um, primarily by, um, let me see. I need to—to—to kind of just refresh my memory. The coalition of Arab states<a title="">[2]</a> was led by Syria. Egypt and Syria were the two countries that were really kind of spearheading that attack. Um, they were trying to win back, uh, land that was lost years earlier in the Three Day War. This was called the Yom Kippur Wer[sic]—Wer[sic]—War, because it was occurring during that holiday—that Jewish holiday<a title="">[3]</a>—um, and also the Arab<a title="">[4]</a> holiday of Ramadan. And so, um, it was kind of ironic that we’re celebrating these two religious holidays, and in the midst of them, they—they create another war. At any rate, um, literally overnight, all of our tanks were, um, repainted in desert camouflage to—to make us ready to, um, be transported to the Middle East to intervene. Both Russia and the U.S., uh, really mustered their forces in terms of supplies and armament to their respective allies in the Middle East. And—and—and we came this close to, um, a world war with Russia at this point—the two superpowers colliding. Um, fortunately after three weeks, a—a ceasefire though occurred and, uh, that was, uh, the beginning of, um, a series of peace talks that helped to create a little bit more harmony in the Middle East. Uh, so at any rate, I—I had a number of conflicts that were right on the edge of reality, in terms of drawing my unit into all of them. And so, probably not unlike with most soldiers, there’s always that, um, impeding war or that impending, um, “police action”—as Vietnam and Korea were called—uh, on the cusp of—of every morning. Um, but—but in spite of all of that, I would say that I—I got a great deal out of the experience that I had in the military. I think when—when I look at, um, what that did for me, in terms of just the confidence and the self-responsibility, um, just the—the, um, I—I think ability to—to live my life more independently and autonomously. Um, the military was truly responsible for that. I think, in addition to that, there were relationships that were forged while in the military that were like no other relationships since, in terms of being very authentic and—and really, um, having that sense of cohesion that common bond or shared reality with other soldiers. Um, those relationships really truly turned out to be lifelong relationships. And then, in addition to, um, being able to benefit from the GI Bill [Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944], as a first generation college student, I was able to—to get my education—undergraduate and graduate education—um, at least partially funded by the military. um, gave me the opportunity to really get back to the, uh, goal of—of living and learning life, helping other people, uh, develop academically as a—an educational counselor and—and educational teacher. I think ultimately, all of that cumulatively allowed me to give back to the military in that, after getting my—my graduate degree in counseling, I was able to, um, develop a course for chronically unemployed Vietnam vet[eran]s, and—and, um, administer that six-week course throughout the state of Wisconsin, resulting in a national award with an over 80 percent placement rate at the end of that year for—for these, uh, participants. And then, beyond that at other institutions, um, at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne[, Wyoming], I—I taught ongoing workshops for military, who are retiring after 20 or 30 years, to help them more easily transition into civilian life and the civilian workforce. And then even here at—at UCF [University of Central Florida], I have the opportunity to work closely with veterans. When we had the war with Iraq, and many of our UCF students were called out who were National Guard or Reservists, I actually created a—a long distance career counseling service for those veterans and extended it to all of their cohorts. um, and—and helped them to really, um, evaluate their life experiences in—in the face of being a warrior and how that was influencing changing career goals and helping them to adjust their academic programs, and then also to help assist them with the transition once they came back to college. Um, so, and—and then more recently, with the—the veterans academic resource grant that we got, I’m one of the committee members for that grant, and I’ve been able to really help infuse some professional development programing for veterans with job fairs and things of that nature. So ultimately, you know, I—I can go back 40 years and I can see how the military really shaped me and—and how that military thread has consistently woven through my life, um, to, you know, my—my early 60s, where I am now, and—and how that’s been such a—a, I guess a pivotal experience in my life. It shaped me truly more than any other experience I’ve had thus far. So, that’s—that’s the summary of my story and, um, I stand by it. Hanke Well, that was very good. Um, if we could go into some more details such as, uh, how were you trained during this time of there was conflict, but then there wasn’t almost. Like, it was a very iffy time. Could you tell me a little more about that? Blank Well, I—I think with—with anyone in the military at any time, you’re—you’re on constant alert and you’re involved in continuous training and we were always prepared for the worst. Um, we were ready to be mobilized as with, uh, the war, uh, in the Middle East. Literally in a few days, our entire, uh, battalion would be ready to transition over to the Middle East from Germany. Um, constant training. And I think, uh, there was also, um, quite a lot of educational programming, um, helping us to—I—I think, understand where we fit with all of the world events that were going on. Um, I don’t think we were discouraged from challenging ideas and beliefs, but I think because we were the military, there was always that, um, underlying focus on it’s our job to—to go in the event that we’re called out and do what we’ve been trained to do. It was our duty—our responsibility. So no matter where one might have been, um, in terms of their political ideologies, they were ready to do their job. And I am absolutely confident that—that we all would have done what we would have been asked to do as—as were soldiers in every war before ours. HankeOkay. And then, um, I know there was, um, the issue of the Warsaw Pact<a title="">[5]</a> coming around. Um, what was it like uh—I mean like the air? The aura almost of being in Germany—being so close? Blank Well I—I did, because I was in Germany and—and because I so much enjoy and appreciate history, I did spend a—a great deal of my personal time while there learning about the history of, um, all of the events of World War II and how Europe had transformed as a result of the war. And then with the Berlin Wall going up around, um, the time of my birth, uh, it was interesting to learn more about that and—and experience what it was like behind the Curtain—the Iron Curtain. And while I was there, I spent all of my—my vacation time, uh, travelling throughout Europe, um, going actually to Southern Europe to, um, the—the Third Reich headquarters, um, and Bavaria[, Germany], and seeing some of the—the facilities—the Eagle’s Nest<a title="">[6]</a> that [Martin] Bormann had built for [Adolf] Hitler. And, um, and then also going to some of the countries that had been, um, uh, freed as a result of American intervention in the war. Um, France, and going up to Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, seeing where the Battle of the Bulge occurred in Bastogne[, Belgium]. Um, and talking to people up there and actually living with a German family for the three years. I was there and hearing their stories. They were terrified of the Nazis,<a title="">[7]</a> I think, as any European may have been at that time. Um, it—it was really interesting to get that personal perspective from people and—and talk to people who had actually been there during those wars—during that war—and, uh, hearing their, um, personal life histories. Hanke Yeah. That’s very interesting. And then, um, let’s see. How did you feel—I know you weren’t there at the time—but when the Berlin Wall finally came down? Blank Um, it—it was amazing to me. and—and I—I guess what—what I guess the personal connection for me—it went up the year I was born and it was torn down the year my sons were born.<a title="">[8]</a> And—and so I look at, within that lifetime, what a dramatic change. And that was certainly an indication of, uh, what was to come with some of the, um, eastern countries, and now the Middle Eastern countries as well, um, as far as that goes—in terms of democracy and in terms of people having freedom of choice. So when I thought about that, it helped to legitimize my involvement during the Vietnam period, again which was pretty tumultuous, um, politically- and society-wise, um, especially as a—an 18 year old not very knowledgeable about much in life at that point. Um, every experience I had, uh, was sort of a first time exposure for me. I didn’t have the—I guess the cognitive ability to—to maybe put it all in perspective early on, it really evolved over time. Hanke And then, um—how do you feel? Has the military changed in its attitudes? As you were saying, um, your generation—you did your duty. Do you feel that that has carried over to this generation? Blank It—it—it has, um, to my amazement and to my pleasure. I have seen amazing, amazing, changes. Colonel [Richard] Toliver talked about that even from, uh, pre-Vietnam era and World War II era—how things have changed. And I think for veterans, in particular—during the Vietnam era, we were either openly discriminated against, um, chastised, or we were politely tolerated at best, but we were never, never celebrated. I can honestly say that in 40 years, not one person ever even acknowledged my time in the service, much less thank me for it, until a couple years ago, um, here at UCF when—when the veterans’ memorial was—was opened up, about two years ago, I guess it was. And now, it’s totally amazing, is that anytime people realize that—that I had been a veteran, if I have my—my flag on or if I go to a—a veteran program here, um, they all say “Bill, thank you for your service.” I came into work on Veterans’ Day and—and there was a—a card taped to my door and all my staff had signed it, uh, thanking me for my service. And that’s like something I never ever would have expected to happen. I mean, you can’t imagine, unless you lived through it, um, you know, returning war veterans being spit upon and—and criticized and—and yelled at—to—to being thanked. I mean, that is a true, positive transition. I think it speaks volumes about how the American military is viewed in this country, at least today. Um, I had an opportunity to go to the, um, the Marine officer training school in [Marine Corps Base] Quantico[, Triangle, Virginia], and, uh, it was amazing how—how they were so excited about the opportunity to—to put themselves in harm’s way to protect their country. Um, a real different attitude, not just by society, but by soldiers as well. Hanke Do you have an opinion on what caused this? Blank Well, you know the concept of nationalism. During World War II, there was this wave of nationalism. We were attacked and we were going to defend our country. We were going to do what we needed to—to protect our families and our way of life. And, um, now again, with the attack on the World Trade Centers[sic] and—and the terrorist attacks coming from the Middle East, we have been threatened. And, um, our—our interests abroad have been threatened. Um, our—our homeland has been threatened and, indeed, attacked. And so, that’s what it requires, I think, for that wave of nationalism to occur. During Vietnam, again as—as I said earlier, none of that was threatened, and there were so many questions about why are we there, what we were doing. Um, are we causing more harm than good? And so, when—when the war’s not a righteous war, you’re not going to get that support. When the war is righteous, that support with be there. Hopefully, um, our s—our government, our politicians, you know, learn something from that and they—they won’t be too eager to go to war un—unless there’s just cause. Hanke Yeah, and, um, speaking of politicians, I know it was around the Vietnam War where things were really—people were starting to question it and especially with Watergate [Scandal] —what do you remember of that? Blank Yeah. Watergate actually happened when I was still in Germany, but I remember coming back and, um, you know—how that—that was the—I guess you could call it the—the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak for Nixon. Um, as early as the—the late 60s, he was—Nixon was—was being viewed as the person who was escalating the Vietnam War. Um, I think already there was a—a tide of resistance about him and then Watergate pretty much cinched it for him. Um, but it—it—it didn’t help to sort of regain confidence in government. I think it helped to further, um, support the concept that the government doesn’t always make good decisions and—and they’re not always, um, principled and ethical people who are running government. And so I think for—for Vietnam era veterans, you know, it—it sort of justified the views that they may have held about government. And—and we were separating military from government. A lot of people in the military didn’t necessarily support what heads of government—heads of state were—were doing and—and the kinds of decisions that they were making. Hanke And then, um, what was your homecoming like? Did people distinguish between you were in Vietnam or you were in Germany? Or did they… Blank No. If you had a uniform on, you weren’t seen in in a positive light. And so veterans quickly learned to not present themselves as returning veterans. Um, as soon as we got back, um, I can vividly recall my duffel bag with all my uniforms and gear went into a Goodwill bin. Um, the first thing I did was grow my hair out so I wouldn’t look like a veteran. Um, I didn’t want to be, um, targeted and—and truly they—they were. We were. Hanke And, um, how did your family feel about you going into the military at this time and… Blank They didn’t really want me to, quite honestly. But again with—with the draft, there wasn’t really an option. I—I think they were probably ambivalent about the war as well. and when literally every single night for a—at least a full hour on the national news, we were seeing clips of Vietnam with—with people’s sons and husbands and fathers being killed left and right and in large numbers. Um, there—there wasn’t a lot of support from family members for their sons to go into that situation. Hanke So, now you said you were initially, um, listed as going to Vietnam, correct? How did… BlankRight. Right. Hanke How did you feel about that? Blank I—I was concerned about it, but, you know, if—if that’s where they needed me to be, uh—just like every other individual who went through basic training or advanced individual training, you went where they told you to go. The military was very effective at, um, kind of creating that—that cohesion and that common bond where you go and support your fellow veteran—your fellow, um, soldiers, rather. Hanke And then, um, you said uh, it was thr—through the military you made these very unique relationships. Do you still keep in contact with people? Blank Um, not—not so much anymore at this point in in my life, um, but for the first decade or so after getting out, um, there—there was ongoing contact. Unfortunately, um, probably of the—the two or three people that I really bonded tightly with in my unit, uh, one of them was killed, um, in Germany, um, through—through an accident. And, uh, the other one relocated back to Pennsylvania, which was on the other side of the country as me. I was, um, in Wisconsin and then ultimately Colorado. So we—we sort of lost touch as well. But, um, one of my coworkers picked up grandparents the other day from the airport, and took them to Lakeland, where her grandfather was reconnecting with a—a military cohort from his time during World War II. And she was sharing with me how rewarding it was when she saw them, um, connect, um, for the first time. and—and they embraced each other and literally, uh, began crying because, I—I think when—when you see those people after so many years, it’s that whole flood of emotions that that come to the surface. Colonel [Richard] Toliver talked about that when he wrote his book,<a title="">[9]</a> um—how it’s a bit difficult, because so many of the emotions from wartime resurface. But—but I think they can be positive emotions too. It’s not just all negative memory. It’s—it’s the relationships that were so crucial, I think, to that lifelong, I guess, association with the military. Hanke And, um, I know it was a very serious time, but what did you guys do for fun? Blank Well, that’s the, uh, the other side I talked about, you know, for everybody going in the military. It’s conflict and adventure. And—and it’s kind of a strange combination, because sometimes they may be one and the same. But, um, being in an armored unit, um, as an 18 year old kid and we have these 60-ton tanks, uh, it was pretty amazing to be able to play with them. We—we had some areas where we would practice, um, driving them. And—and Americans would discard cars in that area that they couldn’t take back to the States, because they didn’t have seatbelts, safety glass, all of that. So imagine a Volkswagen with—with 60-ton tanks driving over it, one after another. Um, those—that was the kind of activity that made it pretty exciting. But then beyond what we did in the military, um, uh, you know, beyond when—when we’d go on maneuvers, I would be driving our operations major, scouting a place to camp out with—with you know 30 tanks and all the crews and support peoples. So I had a four-wheel drive Jeep and we’d—we would be going through the hillsides and having quite an adventure of it. But, in addition to all of that, when I wasn’t working, um, I traveled a lot. I got my international driver’s license as soon as I could, bought a car, and every single weekend I was gone. I was visiting all parts of Western Europe. In a weekend, you could go just about anywhere, because Europe is such a small landmass. Took all my vacations over there. Um, my parents came over, um, for a couple weeks to—to visit, and we traveled all over Western Europe to—to help them experience it, as well. Um, and then the German family I lived with, they—they sort of adopted me as a—a[sic] international, um, son—I guess for lack of a better term. And they—they took me everywhere with them when they would go off on weekends. They helped me to really experience the culture and the diversity of Germany and really learn to appreciate what Germany is today. And I think as a result of that, um, you know, knowing what it felt like to be a stranger in a foreign land and then to have people befriend me and kind of help me. Whether it was, you know, teaching me how to, um—say “vergaser,” which is German for carburetor, which I needed to know when I went to the auto-mechanic to tell him I needed a—a “neu vergaser.” Um, to—to, you know, teaching me how they celebrated, um, the holidays and—and what Christmas meant to them, taking me to church with them on Christmas Eve. Uh, all of that was really eye opening. As a result of that, I became an international student mentor here, um, for our international students, where each year I take one on and, um, have that mentor-mentee relationship to help them adapt and adjust to the United States and to UCF, and just guide them through the everyday issues that—that one faces when—when one is in a foreign land. Hanke That’s very good. Blank So a lot of adventure, um, and—and again, I think it’s that combination of coming into adulthood and experiencing, um, all of those new challenges and—and adventures that, um, people in the military never ever, ever forget. Hanke Is there, uh, any specific moments that stand out to you? That you can still see? Blank Um, well, one time, when—when we were on a maneuver—in terms of a memorable experience—the German forests are pretty dense and—and pretty rugged still. They have wild boars which—which have large, razor-like teeth, and—and—and, um, horns, and they can be literally deadly, if you’re caught out in the open with them—if they do attack you. And I recall one night—this may seem a bit bizarre—but having to relieve myself, I left the safety of the 60-ton tank and walked out into the woods, and I heard something snorting. And it didn’t take me but about two and a half seconds to get back on top of that tank. And sure enough, a herd of razorback came running by me, and, um, I felt fortunate I wasn’t out there. Um, and—and then—and then maybe, um, another time I—I guess I remember well—was actually a trip to Paris[, France] to do some sight-seeing. And—and I was able to really experience Paris and [the Palace of] Versailles and all the history, and—and I didn’t fully appreciate what I was witness to until I got back to the States and began college. And I was in a world history class where the professor was talking about the French Revolution, and, um, Queen [Marie] Antoinette, and—and the guil—guillotines, and Versailles and—and all the other students had kind of a blank look on their face. And I’m thinking Oh, yeah, I—I know that, I was actually there. When he talked about the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, I was there. Um, when they got into the World War II history and—and talked about some of the early meetings between, um, the different diplomats at, uh, the Eagle’s Nest, or Hitler’s tea house, I was there. Um, everything that was being discussed, I had actually been there in person and had experienced personally. Um, and so, it, I think it made me fully, at that point, understand what a treasure that was for me to have had that opportunity for travel and just seeing parts of the world unknown that I never would have been able to experience had I not been in the military. Hanke So, what would you say to someone who is considering enlisting in the military today? Blank It—it’s a—it’s a dangerous time to go in the military right now, uh, but I would never discourage it. Um, I actually teach a course—a graduate career counseling course—for, uh, graduate students who are preparing to go into school counseling. And every semester, I bring in, uh, representatives from the military to teach them about opportunities in the military, so that they at least are aware of them when they work with their high school students up the road. And—and I share with them, you know—it’s a personal decision for individuals, but we need to be letting young people know this is an opportunity. Um, war—war can certainly be dangerous, but there are so many benefits in the military and—and especially in terms of helping to, um, complete one’s education. The military is so supportive of that financially and otherwise. Um, and so, I wouldn’t discourage anyone. um, it—it’s awkward though, because I—I know there’s a good chance today that people could absolutely be, um, in a combat situation and, um, knowing what can happen in combat it—it creates a bit of dissonance with me. But I—I regret that young people today don’t have the same opportunity I did. They—they—young men, in particular—we—we needed that kind of safe haven to—to mature and develop. At 18, most young men are not ready for college and they’re not ready for life. And so to have that three year period where they—they have the protection of the military. Someone to feed and clothe and house you, but yet challenge you to mature and become responsible. I—I regret that young men don’t have that today. I regret that my own sons, who are 25, have never had that experience. Ironically, I’ve got a 29 year old, young man who works for me now—a new staff member—and, um, he’s never ironed his shirt. And in the military, we learn to press and starch all of our uniforms to great precision. And, um, this is probably my experience of the year—for me this year. He brought his ironing board, his iron, and a can of starch along with a shirt and a pair of pants and he asked me to teach him how to iron based on my knowledge of how to do that from the military. We—we took pride in our appearance and we were called on it if we weren’t attentive to it. And I—I try to encourage young men today to do the same. One—one of many, many, um, benefits or—or attributes to being in the military. Hanke Yeah. Um, uh, speaking of the recent conflicts in the Middle East, you said the conflicts that you experienced personally—you feel they were ominous almost? Blank Absolutely. Hanke So, um, how did you feel about first [Operation] Desert Storm<a title="">[10]</a> and then the recent [Iraq] War?<a title="">[11]</a> Blank Supportive of it, because their sovereign country had been attacked—Kuwait had been attacked. And—and, uh, I—I—I think, as—as, I believe, every past veteran would have seen, that was a—a just action. And, um, I think the difference though there versus in Vietnam, um—they put the full military behind it. In Vietnam, uh, there—there were so many restrictions about how that war was approached. And—and as a result of that, it went on. It actually started in in 1954 with [President Dwight David] Eisenhower, when—when he showed political and financial support for South Vietnam.<a title="">[12]</a> Um, but then, as it continued, uh, into the 60s—with the advisors and over war, and then escalated numbers of U.S. soldiers going there, um, it was never looked at as, “Here’s a war. Let’s put the full force of the military behind it.” But it was rather a trickle of U.S. soldiers going, um, for an extended period of time, not getting the kind of support that that they needed to—to do it right. And—and I was proud—proud of—of the military for the way they handled the first Iraq War. Hanke Now with, um, these most recent wars, they’ve been going on for quite a while. Blank Yeah, the—the face of war has really changed. Starting with Vietnam, you didn’t know who your enemy was and—and same today with terrorism. But, because terrorism directly threatens the United States and all of us who live here, um, it has to be addressed. You know, I—I don’t see other options than to continue to be involved in in what we’re doing. Hanke And then, um—I think you’ve answered almost everything. Um, so, is there anything else you’d like to talk about? Blank Um, I—I think just my—my delight at how things have changed with the military. Um, when we—we saw, um—we hosted the film Red Tails in our office. The Tuskegee Airmen, and—and it was during [National] Veterans [Awareness] Week. Um, it was really amazing to see the pioneers for, um, bringing equality into the military, which, in my era, then continued with women coming into the military. And then I think the second major thing that I’m really pleased to see is that not only has the military, um, really come to a point where they honor diversity and recruit for diversity, but I think they—they also now are being valued more. All—all veterans of every war are being so much more highly valued than was ever the case, from my perspective. And that brings me great joy to—to just know, even after having waited four decades to—to see that, finally, you know, people are supportive. The—the general public is supportive of what the military is doing and—and honoring those past veterans as well. Hanke We’re good? Time is good? Okay. Alright. Well, that concludes the interview, and I would like to personally thank you for both your time and your service. Blank You’re welcome. Hanke Thank you very much. Blank Thank you. <div> <div> <a title="">[1]</a> Munich Massacre. </div> <div> <a title="">[2]</a> The coalition also included Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, as well as Cuba. </div> <div> <a title="">[3]</a> Yom Kippur. </div> <div> <a title="">[4]</a> Correction: Muslim holiday. </div> <div> <a title="">[5]</a> Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance. </div> <div> <a title="">[6]</a> Kehlsteinhaus. </div> <div> <a title="">[7]</a> National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). </div> <div> <a title="">[8]</a> 1961. </div> <div> <a title="">[9]</a> An Uncaged Eagle: True Freedom. </div> <div> <a title="">[10]</a> There is only one Operation Desert Storm. </div> <div> <a title="">[11]</a> Operation Iraqi Freedom. </div> <div> <a title="">[12]</a> Republic of Vietnam. </div> </div> Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/264/" target="_blank">Blank, Bill</a> Date Issued 2015-01 Extent 387 MB 203 KB 1972 Summer Olympics 9/11 Attacks Adolf Hitler all-volunteer military An Uncaged Eagle: True Freedom anti-war protest anti-war protests Arab-Israeli War of 1973 Bad Tölz, Germany basic training Bastogne, Belgium Battle of the Bulge Bavaria, Germany Berlin Wall Bill Blank Black September Organization BSO buddy system carpet bombing carpet bombs Cheyenne, Wyoming Christmas civilian civilians cognitive dissonance cold war college colleges conscription Desert Shield Desert Storm diversity draft lotteries draft lottery draft notices drafting Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David Eisenhower Eagle's Nest educator educators Egypt enlistment Europe Francis E. Warren AFB Francis E. Warren Air Force Base French Revolution Gabrielle Hanke Games of the XX Olympiad gender segregation Germans Germany GI Bill Global War on Terror guidance counseling GWOT Hall of Mirrors Halloween Massacre homecoming Ike Eisenhower international students Iraq Iraq War Iron Curtain Israel Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Kehlsteinhaus Kent State Massacre Kent State Shooting Kent State University KSU Kuwait Mannheim, Germany Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen Marie Antoinette Marine Corps Base Quantico Mark Spitz Martin Bormann May 4 Massacre MCB Quantico mentors Middle East military military assignments military drafts military training Munich Massacre Munich, Germany National Guard National Socialist German Workers' Party National Veterans Awareness Week nationalism Nazi Germany Nazi Party Nazis Nixon, Richard, Milhous North Central Wisconsin NSDAP October War Ohio National Guard Olympic Village Olympics Operation Desert Shield Operation Desert Storm Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Wrath of God Palestine Persian Gulf War police actions protesters Ramadan Ramadan War razorbacks Red Tails Republic of Vietnam Richard Milhous Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Toliver riot squads riots Russia segregation September 11 Attacks Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 South Vietnam student protests Summer Olympics Syria tanks teachers terrorism terrorists Third Reich Three Day War Treaty of Friendship, co-operation, and Mutual Assistance Tuskegee Airmen U.S. Army UCF universities university University of Central Florida veterans Veterans' Day Vietnam Vietnam War volunteer military volunteers war protests WarPac Warren AFB Warren Air Force Base Warsaw Pact Watergate Watergate Scandal wild boars William Blank Wisconsin woman women World Trade Center World War II WWII Yom Kippur Yom Kippur War https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/8484ca00e529b1952c08d4ac340f7380.pdf 890d365fab807170fe38306cbad1935f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Vietnam War Collection Alternative Title Vietnam Collection Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans--Florida Description The Vietnam War was a Cold War Era "military conflict." The war was originally waged between Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. The United States became involved as a preventive measure to combat communism. The date of the war has been disputed, but a study in 1998 by the Department of Defense definitively put the start of the Vietnam War as November 1, 1955. The first combat military troops 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade didn't arrive until 1965. With the arrival of the combat troops came the first traditional battles of combat fighting in the war. During the Vietnam War, not only did American military go into battle with and for South Vietnam, the military also trained members of South Vietnam to fight alongside during the war. Peace talks were attempted, with France moderating, beginning on May 10, 1968. These talks were unsuccessful and lasted over three years. The longest battle of the Vietnam War began on January 21, 1968 and didn't end until the U.S. reclaimed Route 9 on April 8, 1968, 77 days later. While the military conflict ended in April of 1975, it was a long process towards reunification and redevelopment as a country. The conflict left Vietnam in both political and economical ruins. Contributor <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Vietnam Contributing Project <a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida External Reference "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/. Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. "<a title="American Experience" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html" target="_blank">American Experience</a>." Public Broadcasting Company. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/tl3.html. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Scherer, Rose Marie "Judy" Interviewee McGuire, George G. Location University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida Original Format 1 audio/video DVD/CD Duration 43 minutes and 22 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency 157kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral History of George G. McGuire Alternative Title Oral History, McGuire Subject Veterans--Florida Orlando (Fla.) Vietnam War, 1961-1985 Air Force Army Description An oral history interview of George G. McGuire, who joined the U.S. Air Force in 1963 and served until 1983. He was born on Summit, New Jersey, on October 17, 1941. A veteran of the Vietnam War era, McGuire achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This interview was conducted by Judy Scherer on April 1, 2014. Interview topics include McGuire's background and family, his college education, join the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), Whiteman Air Force Base, McCoy Air Force Base, duties as a procurement officer and a contract administrator, the Defense Contract Administration Services, serving in Bangkok during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (USAFOSI), the Rock Island Arsenal, military retirement, U.S.-Thailand relations, and his many travel experiences. Table Of Contents 0:00:00 Introduction 0:02:33 College years 0:03:06 Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps and Whiteman Air Force Base 0:04:42 McCoy Air Force Base 0:05:42 George Washington University, Defense Contract Administration Services, and Bangkok, Thailand 0:07:05 U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations 0:14:55 Assignments in the United States 0:15:33 Bangkok and Mom Rajawongse Seni Promoj 0:21:45 Duties as a Contract Administrator 0:23:24 Interesting people and stories from Thailand 0:28:06 Communicating with family 0:30:23 Communicating with Thais 0:35:50 Visiting South Korea with his wife 0:39:42 Closing remarks Abstract Oral history interview of George G. McGuire. Interview conducted by Judy Scherer at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Type Moving Image Source <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/269/" target="_blank">McGuire, George G.</a> Interviewed by Judy Scherer, April 1, 2014. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. Requires <a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player</a> <a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a> <a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a> Is Part Of <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Orlando, Florida. <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/92" target="_blank">Vietnam War Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Has Format Digital transcript of original 43-minute and 22-second oral history: <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/269/" target="_blank">McGuire, George G.</a> Interviewed by Judy Scherer, April 1, 2014. Conforms To Standards established by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/" target="_blank">Veterans History Projects</a>, Library of Congress. Coverage Summit, New Jersey Baton Rouge, Louisiana Fawley, England Durban, South Africa Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island, New York City, New York University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri McCoy Air Force Base, Orlando, Florida George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Defense Contract Administration Services Management Office, Naval Air Station Sand Point, Seattle, Washington Chokchai Building, Bangkok, Thailand Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia Washington, D.C. Yokota Air Base, Fussa, Japan Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island-Moline, Illinois Warsaw, Missouri Osan Air Base, Pyeongtaek-si, South Korea Seoul, South Korea Creator McGuire, George G. Scherer, Judy Publisher <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Date Created 2014-02-22 Date Issued 2014-09 Date Copyrighted 2014-02-22 Format video/mp4 application/pdf Extent 358 MB 257 MB Medium 43-minute and 22-second audio/video DVD/CD 27-page digital transcript Language eng Mediator History Teacher Civics/Government Teacher Geography Teacher Provenance Originally created by Judy Scherer and George G. McGuire and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>. Rights Holder <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Accrual Method Item Creation Contributing Project <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> External Reference Herring, George C. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5126110" target="_blank">America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975</a>. New York: Wiley, 1979. Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/269/" target="_blank">McGuire, George G.</a> Transcript Unidentified We’re ready. McGuire Are you saying go? Scherer [laughs] Today is April the 1st, 2014. I am interviewing, uh, Lieutenant Colonel George G. McGuire. My name is [Rose Marie] “Judy” Scherer. Uh, please call me Judy. Um, his interview is being conducted at UCF [University of Central Florida] in Orlando, Florida. It is part of the UCF, um—the whole title is—is Community History Project—[Community] Veterans History Project. Um, so we are going to start with, um, the early days. I would like to ask you where you were born and grew up. McGuire Alright. Well, I was born in New Jersey—Summit, New Jersey. And When I was, uh, a few weeks old, my family moved on to Baton Rouge[, Louisiana]. Scherer Wow [laughs]. McGuire Where my father worked in the oil refinery at Baton Rouge during World War II, and where I managed to acquire twin brothers and a sister. Scherer Oh [laughs]. McGuire Um, Shortly—well, not shortly. When I was about eight years old—eight or nine years old—we moved to England. Scherer Oh. McGuire Where my father was building an oil refinery at Fawley, near South Hampton, for Esso in England. After we had been there about three years, we moved to Durban, South Africa. Scherer Wow. McGuire Where he was again a resident engineer for construction of an oil refinery—first one on the continent of Africa—and where I acquired a brother. I had acquired another sister in England, and now I had a brother in South Africa, so there are six children. We sailed back to the United States. This is now approximately 1954 on a ship called the African Enterprise, which was a, um, freighter—combination freighter and passenger ship that carried a few passengers. And we were the only children, so we had the run of the ship. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And that was great fun. We got back to, uh, New York in the middle of the wintertime. And my memory says it was in February, but that may not be right. And of course, being good loyal little Americans who had been out of the country for so many years, we had to stand up on the ship and watch Miss [the Statue of] Liberty as we came into New York Harbor. Uh, following that, we lived in New Jersey for a number of years. And then I went off to college at the University of Notre Dame. And shortly afterwards, my father quit his job and moved to Massachusetts. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And, uh, the bane of my life was that when I would go home for vacation to a place in Massachusetts surrounded by girls’ colleges, they all had vacation break at the same time as we did. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire So there was nobody there. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And of course, Notre Dame at that time was all men, and there were no women there, unless we found some in the local community, which was a very difficult thing to do. Uh, At Notre Dame, they had three R—all three ROTC [Reserve Officers' Training Corps] programs. This is 1959 when I started there. There’s a shooting [Vietnam] War going on in Asia. People are being drafted. I had no interest in being drafted and being given a rifle and go shoot people, so I said Okay. I’d rather be an officer. And no, I don’t want to walk around in the mud, and I don’t want to sit on a boat bobbing up and down in the ocean. And since you have Air Force, I will go Air Force. Um, so I did. And when I was graduating Notre Dame, I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force and promptly sent to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. So one of the first things I did was I bought myself a car. I didn’t have a car at that point, so I brought a brand new, shiny red Valiant convertible. And that was a neat looking car. I shaw—showed up on base, and went into my first assignment, and the people I’m working with—one of them takes one look at that car and says, “I give you one year.” Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Uh huh. And, uh, he turned out to be right. Because a few months later, I met a young lady, and less than a year later, we were married. All fault is directed at that shiny red convertible, I suppose. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire About a year or so after we were married, I got orders to transfer to McCoy Air Force Base, which, of course that’s a hardship tour to come to McCoy Air Force Base, which is now Orlando International Airport, where I was the base procurement officer here. Now, they had assigned me to procurement when I went to Whiteman, and I didn’t know what “procurement” was. I only knew one meaning for the term, and it had more to do with what you did after hours than it did with buying anything the Air Force wanted. Anyway, I became procurement officer. “Procurement” just simply means that you’re the guy in charge of going out and buying stuff. So I was stationed here in McCoy, and, um, about that time, is when what was then called “Orlando Air Force Base” is transitioning to the Navy. And the last Air Force unit to transition out from Orlando Air Force Base was the hospital. So my two sons have the distinction of having been born in an Air Force hospital on a Navy base. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire From here, the, uh, Air Force sent me up to Washington, D.C., to go to George Washington University for a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, as my assignment for a year and a half. And then from there, to go to Seattle, Washington, to the, uh, Defense Contract Administration Services management area Office, otherwise known as DCAS. Scherer Excuse me. What was it known as? McGuire DCAS. D-C-A-S. Scherer S. McGuire Judy had a problem with this one earlier. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Which was at, um, Sand Point Naval Air Station, which was a little pimple on the side of the wealthiest area of ci—city of Seattle, a few blocks away from the University of Washington. Not very far from it. It no longer is a military installation. It’s now high-cost residential. Um, let’s see. from there, the next assignment was to Bangkok, Thailand, to be the, uh—one of the officers assigned to the Air Force’s Procurement Center in Downtown Bangkok, which was supporting all of the Air Force and some of the Army units, uh, throughout Thailand and, uh, Vietnam. And this is at the tail end of the Vietnam War. From there, I went back to the United St—came back to the United States to go to uh, Norfolk, Virginia, to the Armed Forces Staff College. And then from there, to the, uh, Air Force OSI—Air Force Office of Special Investigations—in Washington, D.C., to act as an in-house consultant on procurement matters. Air Force OSI had been founded la—years before, in the very early days of the Air Force, because of scandal having to do with contracting. And then they had gotten away from that and they had forgotten had to spell “contracting.” Scherer [laughs]. McGuire As they got mostly inter—interested in chasing drugs. But in, um—somewhere around 1970, there was another big scandal that came up that didn’t have anything to do with the Air Force, but it did with the Navy. And the Air Force decided that it would be smart to get back into that business and pay attention, because we are spending just huge sums of money. We ought to be paying attention to it. And the first thing they needed to do was to find somebody who knew something about the procurement system and could come in and act as an in-house consultant to them, and so they chose me. Scherer Really? McGuire So for two years, I taught OSI agents how to spell “procurement” and the kinds of things to look for. The big thing coming out of it was to find out just how honest the system really is at that level. There may be corruption at other levels, but at the level of the working people doing the job, it is a very, very honest system. Um, now what did I skip? Somewhere in here, I skipped something. No. I guess not. When that was finished, they sent me to Japan to be the Deputy Director of the Air Force’s Procurement Center in Tokyo—actually, at Yokota Air Force Base,<a title="">[1]</a> which is just in the western suburbs of Tokyo—in which I had the responsibility for all of the, um, in-country support for Air Force and Army, and staff responsibilities towards the, uh, Army Center—similar to it in Korea, that took care of Air Force and Army in Korea. And, uh, let me think for a moment. Oh, yes. One of the, um, cases that I had run in the OSI had been an accusation made against the Lieutenant Colonel who commanded the Air Force Procurement Center at Yokota Air Base—that he was corrupt, and that he was accepting bribes from, uh, one of the car companies , which the, uh, U.S had a contract with for small engines. Well, the truth of the story—it turned out, that the man was an elder of the Mormon Church,<a title="">[2]</a> as well, as being a[sic] Air Force officer. And he had led a church group on a visit to the plant. Just a visit to go see what the plant looks like. And his big mistake: when he got back to his office was he had written the thank you note on Air Force letterhead, rather than on Mormon Church letterhead. And that had kicked off all of these accusations that he was, uh, a corrupt and on the take from this car company, which of course, he was not. But we had spent a bunch of time going and checking it out, so I knew all about it [laughs] before I got there. Um, then that was followed by an assignment back in the United States to go to Rock Island Arsenal [in Rock Island-Moline, Illinois] to be the Deputy Director of the ammunition procurement division for U.S. Army Armament Material and [the U.S. Army Military Intelligence] Readiness Command, functioning as something called “Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition.” Army buys all the ammunition used by the military—all production ammunition, not development, but production—ammunition used by the military, of whom the Air Force was the second largest consumer. And therefore, the Air Force, to help with that mission, sent six officers to Rock Island to participate. And at th—this point, I am a Lieutenant Colonel. And so I became the Deputy Director of that division. We spent in that one division—and this is 1980—one and a half billion… Scherer [gasps]. McGuire Dollars a year. This is peacetime. One and a half billion. Buying bits and pieces of little things, most of which costs less than one dollar a unit, and the most expensive one was ten dollars a unit. All over the country. And then, the things we bought would flow to the Army load plants to be made up into rounds of ammunition—most of them. And they spent another billion and a half or so putting the stuff together as ammunition. Okay. So I’m making decisions every day about how am I spending one and a half billion dollar budget. I’ve got a hundred people literally working for me. Uh, we are loading plants all over the country. We are making decisions about which factories we keep in business and which ones we don’t, and which communities stay in business because the factory’s there, and which ones don’t. And then I go home, and I have to be concerned if there was enough money in the checking account for my wife to go grocery shopping. Scherer Whoa. A great[?] contrast. McGuire This got a little bit mind-bending at times. Scherer Quite a contrast. McGuire Hm? Scherer Quite a contrast. McGuire Quite a contrast. Yeah. And then, uh, I retired. Scherer Yes. McGuire At this point. I had been in the Air Force for 20 years and three weeks Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And I decided it was time to go. I had three kids that needed to go to college, and they weren’t going to do it on Lieutenant Colonel’s pay, so I had to go do something else. And another interesting thing, to me at least, was that I had joined Air Force ROTC back there in college, because I had no desire to be anywhere near the Army or the Navy, but especially the Army. And so for my final tour of duty, I am winding up serving with the Army Scherer Oh. McGuire As one of their officers [laughs]. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Anyway, so that’s it. Scherer What—when were you serving for the Army? Was that duty procur—procure—procurement, or was that when you [inaudible]? McGuire No. That was with the Army. I was Deputy Director… Scherer Yeah. McGuire For Ammunition Procurement. Scherer Yeah. McGuire Deputy Directory of Ammunition Procurement Division of that Army command. Scherer Well, it all is very impressive, and I’m sure it was most important, but it sounds to me like your career was drug[?] running and buying guns [laughs]. McGuire Uh, no. actually… Scherer Just joking. McGuire I might have bought some drugs along the way. Scherer To find out where [inaudible]. McGuire But they would have been legal ones. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Um, Never bought any guns. Never bought an airplane, but I bought just about everything else. Scherer Well, when you were doing procurement, the rifles—what were you actually… McGuire Oh, I didn’t buy the rifles. I bought the ammunition that went in the rifles. Scherer Oh, you bought the ammunition. Sorry. Yeah. McGuire Somebody else bought the rifles. Scherer Oh, you [inaudible]. McGuire There was another group doing that. Scherer Yes. McGuire And there was another officer. Scherer Mmhmm. McGuire Other officers assigned to that. SchererSo you said you were in Bang—so—so you said you were in Bangkok McGuire Mmhmm. Scherer And then you were in Thailand—I mean, Thailand is Bangkok. McGuire Yes. Scherer And other places, but um, did you—did you do anything in the states? How long were you in the states at the end of the career? McGuire Well, it was three years in, uh, Rock Island. Scherer Yes. McGuire It was three years at McCoy Air Force Base. Scherer Yes. McGuire So two years in Whiteman’s. So that’s at least eight years of doing procurement there. And it was two years in the OSI, advising the OSI people about procurement—participating in, uh—in their actions. Scherer Could you enlarge a little about your stay in Bangkok, and tell us more about what you did, and how difficult or easy it was? Because of the place, of course, it is always very hot there. [inaudible]. McGuire Yes. As we were talking earlier, if you got a, um, weather report for Orlando and a weather report for Bangkok, for the months of July, August, and September, you could not tell the difference as to which city you’re reading the report on. It’s the same. Scherer Interesting. McGuire The difference is, of course, that Orlando does cool down—some. Bangkok doesn’t. The, uh—Bangkok only has, um, three temperatures—hot, hotter, and hellatious. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Uh, Bangkok was a very interesting and very, very different, uh, type of assignment. At that time, the Air Force’s procurement office was in a building in the center of Bangkok. It was called the “Chokchai Building,” and it, uh—it wasn’t terribly tall. My memory says seven floors, but it might’ve been more. Uh, the city was built on swamp, so the building was constructed such that it floated. And its basement was a big concrete barge, and it was floating. Now, the technology has progressed, and you go to Bangkok, and there are skyscrapers all over the place. It’s a fairly modern city, but at that time it was not. And, uh, so I was there as one of the officers assigned to that position. My memory says there were four of us, at that point, and I was the fifth one kind of detached. And, um, we just bought all the goods and services that the U.S. Air Force required in Thailand. And at that time, we had several bases scattered all over Thailand. And we had, um, people working for us—enlisted, uh, men—working for us at each base, also during procurement, but they were doing it as our subordinates for the stuff that had to come really from the local community. But otherwise, uh, we would buy the stuff in Bangkok—things in Bangkok. And this would be stuff—oh, it would be food, it would be entertainment, it would be the gas for the propane heaters, uh.—you name it. We would be buying it in Bangkok. Um, We lived in a, uh compound, which was very much like a park, that was a little ways away from the, uh—from the office. And, uh, you walked in there and it was a beautiful little park-like area. It was lined with houses, all of which are rented to, uh, foreigners, like ourselves. Either American or Australian or somebody else, or the, uh, members of the diplomatic corps. And at the front of the—of the property, there was a very old, interesting Thai gentleman, and at the back of the property was his son and his family. And the fellow at the front—named [Mom Rajawongse] Seni Pramoj. Scherer Seni Pramoj? [laughs]. McGuire Seni Pramoj. Now Seni Pramoj is rather important in Thai-American relations. In World War II, the Japanese moved into Thailand, and Thailand declared war on the United States. Scherer I never [inaudible]. McGuire Seni Pramoj was the ambassador in Washington, D.C. He refused to deliver the declaration of war. United States chose to ignore it. When WWII ended, the United States chose—says, “Thailand was not an enemy combatant. They were an occupied country.” Other Allies had different opinions, and there’s[sic] arguments about it. And so the United States agreed, “Okay. We would take a little, tiny bit of reparations. We ‘ll take one house.” And it became the residence of the American Ambassador. Scherer That’s a fascinating story. McGuire Seni Pramoj later was president of Thailand… Scherer Oh, really? McGuire At one time or another.<a title="">[3]</a> Scherer Oh. McGuire But at the time we met him, he is the landlord, sitting up at the front of the compound. Scherer Oh[?]. McGuire And we didn’t see him very often, but we did—knew who he was. But, um… Scherer I thought you were going to say he was the watchman. You know, because [inaudible]. McGuire No. We figured that the—there was very little obvious security in that compound. There was no real guard at the gate or noth—but there were gardeners all over the place, and we figured they were all Thai CID [Criminal Investigator's Department]. Scherer [laughs]Well, one of them was very important. McGuire And, uh… Scherer And I—I think that’s a story that is well worth recording, because it shows how a war was, uh—was, um, avoided by simple, you know… McGuire Yeah, um… Scherer Simple contacts. McGuire So, America has been—had a treaty of friendship with Thailand since 1835, or something like that. It was the first one we signed with anybody in Asia. Scherer Oh, that’s interesting. [inaudible]. McGuire ‘Course, at that time, I think Thailand was probably about the only independent Asian country that we could get into. Japan was closed. China was, uh, occupied by several people. The—the British had Burma<a title="">[4]</a> and Malaya, And Dutch had Indonesia, and the French had Cambodia and Vietnam. And Thailand was in the middle. And we signed a treaty of friendship with those folks. Scherer Yeah. McGuire which I think has paid off very handsomely for us. Scherer Too bad it’s so unique. McGuire And it’s very unique. Scherer Yeah. McGuire During the, um, Vietnam War, Thailand actively participated in the war. And Thailand provided us with access to their facilities, and that’s the only time they have ever done that for anybody that’s not Thai. Scherer Yes[?]. [inaudible]. McGuire So, um, [inaudible]. Scherer I wish—wish they had done the same thing in Vietnam. McGuire Well… Scherer You know, after [Ngô Đình] Diệm [inaudible]. But I’m supposed to ask you questions, and you answer at length McGuire Yeah. So… Scherer And I ask very short questions, but you’re asking at length very well [laughs]. McGuire One of the… Scherer So I don’t have to ask you many questions. McGuire One of the jobs I had, while I was there in Thailand, was to be the Contract Administrator for the Thai security guard contract. We employed… Scherer That sounds like a Chinese title. It’s so long. McGuire Almost. Scherer Can you say it again? McGuire Thai security guard contract. To be the contract administrator. We had a contract, and it was written as a regular Air Force Procurement contract, between ourselves and the [Thai] Ministry of Defense, whereby they provided, uh, Thai military reserves to act as the security guards for all of our forces—our locations, rather—all over the country of Thailand. Scherer Interesting. McGuire Every little—every U.S… Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire Space. Now, some of those were big. They’re big air bases. There’re lots of people. And some of them were little tiny listening posts… Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Out in the jungle… Scherer Wow. McGuire With maybe one or two Americans—well, usually more than that—maybe four Americans, and four or five Thai security guardsman to take care of them, to keep them safe, and literally keep the tigers from coming into the, uh… Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire Into the post. Scherer Mmhmm. That’s unusual. McGuire Yeah, and part of my duties were[sic] to go and inspect every one of those installations all over that country to make sure people are doing the job right. Scherer Well… McGuire Which I did. Scherer Yes. I’m sure you… McGuire Which was a very interesting [inaudible]. Scherer I’m sure you did it very arduously, but it sounds very interesting. McGuire It was. It was very interesting. Scherer Yeah. McGuire Uh, so where do we go next? Scherer I want to ask you if you, in all—in all these different places you’ve been, if you met any characters that stay—stayed in your mind as being particularly interesting, either, you know, um, good, bad, or eccentric, or whatever? McGuire Hm. Strange… Scherer Because your experiences are so different from other people’s in the military. McGuire Yeah. Scherer Usually[?], they’re in a unit, or they’re on some ship, and so on. But you were all over the place with all kinds of people, from the important ones to the not-so important ones. McGuire Yeah, but some of them were just ordinary folk. Uh, like[?] I was. [inaudible]. Scherer But you had to find people who spoke English, I presume. McGuire Yes. And in most of the world, you can get by on English. Scherer That’s true. McGuire Most educated Thais could speak some English. Scherer Mmhmm. McGuire The, uh, officers on the Thai side, with whom I interfaced—one was an Admiral, the other was an Army Major, uh—spoke—spoke beautiful English. Scherer Yes[?]. McGuire Um… Scherer That was—your stories are so interesting. McGuire That… Scherer Can you tell another story that—of interest… McGuire From that… Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire Well, there is one other one of interest from that. I went to one of the bases, and the, uh—the guardsmen work on the base. They work for the American, uh, military police chief, whoever he is. And so, I was talking to him one day, and he was telling me about a young airman who wanted to get married. Now, before a serviceman can get married overseas, especially in a warzone, his, uh, bride has to be vetted through the American Embassy. Scherer Mmhmm. McGuire And most Americans, when they look at a Thai woman, cannot tell how old she is… Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Until she is elderly, and then it’s obvious that she’s elderly. But as long as she is fairly young up through middle age, you’ve got no idea how old she is, when you look at her. So there was this, uh, one young fellow, who wanted to get married and this—this is, um—now, this is 1974 time period—to, uh, his Thai honey. And when they started checking on her, they found out that she had been a prostitute for the Japanese forces, when the Japanese had occupied this particular base 30 years earlier. Unidentified [laughs]. Scherer Very interesting turnaround[?]. Unidentified [laughs]. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire [laughs] So our 18 year old—18 year old… Scherer Yeah. McGuire American G.I. couldn’t tell she was probably 45. All [laughs]. Scherer Interesting. That’s interesting story. McGuire Yeah. Scherer Do you have friends around the world that you made at that time? McGuire We did have for a long time, but then, um, over the years… Scherer Yeah. McGuire They’re gone. The Admiral that[sic], uh, had been in charge from the Thai side—I kept in touch with for a long time, but then he died. Scherer I’m not supposed to add anything to this, but I have to say that a prostitute who was a prostitute for the Japanese was[?]—was, uh—was quite often recruited and kept as a slave for soldiers. McGuire Oh, more than likely. Scherer What did they call them? There’s a name for them. But anyway… McGuire Uh, comfort girls. Scherer Comfort girls. McGuire Or comfort women, rather. Scherer She—that could have happened to her. I mean, but still, she was old. McGuire It might have been. Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire But the point of the story wasn’t so much that she’d been a prostitute. Scherer That she was old. McGuire It was that she was at least 45 years old… Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And our 18 year old airman couldn’t tell. Scherer [laughs] That would’ve been an interesting—or a—have made a rather easy decision for the superior to make [laughs]. McGuire Yes. I don’t think she got her clearance. Scherer [laughs] So do you—yeah. Do you keep in touch with anyone that[sic] was posted in those places with you? McGuire No. By now, I have lost—well, with all, except one. I still keep in touch with the man I worked for when I was in Japan. Scherer Oh, yes. McGuire But, uh… Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire The rest of them, time has gone by. Scherer Tell us about more colorful characters you’ve met. McGuire ike, I don’t, uh—Well, one of the most colorful characters was a fellow out there when I was a Thailand—American officer, who had lost the, um, first two joints of[?] one of his fingers, through some kind of accident. He cut it off with a saw or something. It wasn’t—it wasn’t particularly interesting. But the thing was he only had that much. Now in Thailand, you bargained at that time. You bargain for everything, and—but the currency is baht. So we would go and we would say, “Four baht,” and “Five baht,” “Ten baht.” whatever. Well, he could bargain in half baht. Unidentified [laughs]. Scherer [laughs] I see why you remember him. McGuire That’s my main memory of him, is he could bargain in half bahts. Scherer I’m going to ask you a two-step question. Number one: did you ever keep a diary or make notes of what you were doing? Um… McGuire No. Scherer Oh, that’s [inaudible]—that’s more or less the answer then. Because, uh, it would be interesting, and you probably would have forgotten by now some of the things. Some of the [inaudible]. McGuire Oh, I’m sure I’ve forgotten probably most of it by now. Scherer Yeah. McGuire But no. I did—never kept any diary. I got movies and slides and stuff like that, but… Scherer So what about your family, that were in the states whilst you were doing all this? Did you keep in touch with them fairly well? McGuire Well, my family was with me. Scherer No. Not your immediate family. I mean, your… McGuire Oh. Scherer Parents and siblings[?]. McGuire My parents, and my brothers and sisters and siblings? Scherer Yeah. McGuire Oh, yeah. Scherer Yeah. McGuire I still do keep in touch with them. Scherer Yeah. McGuire Now, my parents are long gone, but yeah. My brothers and sisters and I still keep in touch. Scherer Well, of course, we didn’t have email or anything, so what did you do? Write to them? McGuire Yeah. We write—wrote letters. And every time you circulated that through the country, you would, um, go and see people. Um, yeah. My wife’s, uh, parents lived in War—in Warsaw, Missouri, which, uh, is kind of south and west of Kansas City[, Missouri]—a couple hundred miles out in the country at the head waters of the Lake of the Ozarks in the Missouri countryside—hill towns. And it was amazing how Warsaw became on the way to everything. Scherer Oh [laughs]. Via Warsaw [laughs]. McGuire Yeah. It didn’t matter where we were going. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire It was always by way of Warsaw… Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Missouri. It could have been—it was Washing—Florida to Washington, D.C., is by way of Warsaw, Missouri. Uh… Scherer [laughs] Oh, that’s good. McGuire Seattle to Alabama for Squadron Officer School is by way of Warsaw, of course. That’s not too bad. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire But, uh, everything was by way of Warsaw. Scherer Wow[?]. That’s funny. McGuire And then… Scherer Does your wife like traveling? McGuire Did she—yeah. She did. Scherer Oh, I [inaudible]. McGuire She’s now passed, but, uh, yeah. Scherer Oh, I’m sorry. McGuire She did. Scherer I didn’t know. Um… McGuire Yeah. Scherer Well, you’ve had a very interesting life. McGuire Yeah, ‘cause that particular—That first wife died about six years ago, but then she sent along a replacement, who ordered me up off of Match.com as her souvenir of her visit to America—the United States. And, uh, she’s Thai. Scherer Oh, really? Scherer Well, how is your Thai? [laughs]. McGuire My Thai is good enough… Scherer [inaudible] mai tai [laughs]. McGuire My Thai—Yeah. I can order one of those. Um… Scherer Mai tai [inaudible] [laughs]. McGuire My Thai is probably good enough to tell you “Hello” and “Goodbye.” Scherer [laughs]. McGuire All of which is the same word: sà-wàt-dee. And to ask, “Hông náam yòo têe năi?” “Where’s the toilet?” in Thai. Scherer [laughs] Good one[?]. Good phrase [laughs]. McGuire And I could say thank you: kòp kun mâak. And that’s about it. Uh, fortunately… Scherer [inaudible] If you were in procurement, people must have been saying, “Thank you” to you often. McGuire Oh, they were. Scherer Okay[?]. Were you bribed at any time? Or tempted to be bribed? McGuire No. No. Though, uh, some people had trouble with the U.S. standards on that. And in one particular instance in Thailand, uh, the contractors just could not understand when we said, “No. We cannot take anything.” So one Thanksgiving or Christmas or something, they showed up with a lot of turkeys and stuff. “No. we cannot take it.” “But I can’t take it.” “Well, okay.” we gave it to the orphanage. Scherer Oh, that was a good idea. McGuire But no. Scherer You must have come across a lot of interesting situations like that. That’s a—that’s… McGuire We came across a lot of things that were cultural differences. Scherer Yes, but I mean in the actual process of what you were doing. First of all, you had to find out who to start with to ask for what you needed. And then you had to choose between them. McGuire You had to choose between—yes. You have to define what you need. You have to find the people that can fill your need. And then you have to make a choice as to which one is going to fill it, and you have to pay attention to a whole long list of social things, as to which person can have this particular contract. Um… Scherer So you had to do a lot of hard work? McGuire Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is all goes with part of the job. Scherer The job. Yeah. McGuire Government procurement and commercial are not the same. Scherer Oh. McGuire And the big difference is the rules that, uh, the government person has to follow. And people that[sic] I was—when I was teaching at OSI, one of their frequently raised complaints was: “Well, it would be so much cheaper if we did this, or if we did it that way.” And I would have to explain to them that the, um, military procurement regulations, which fill a space like this, were not designed for the efficient and economic acquisition of goods and services for the military. They were designed to fill the social aims of Congress first. And after you fill the social aims of Congress, then we do things to make sure we get stuff. But we have things like—you have Buy American Act [of 1933]. You have a, um, law that governs the amount of money that must be paid to the contractors on the job, which often is very different than the local prevailing wages. You have to procure from minority-owned businesses. You want to procure from women- owned businesses. Scherer They did that then? Back that far? McGuire Oh, yeah. They’ve done this for a long time. And it goes on and on and on. On certain type of business would be set aside, to be filled by only people who meet these social constraints. Whatever they were. Scherer Yeah. McGuire To fill the social aims of Congress. Um, I [inaudible]… Scherer Tell me what was your biggest disappointment during this time? McGuire Uh… Scherer Something… McGuire I can’t think of one at the moment. Scherer Go wrong after you went half way into it, or something like that? McGuire Pardon? Scherer Did anything go wrong after you went half way into it? McGuire No. The only interesting thing was I never intended to stay there. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire I intended to do my first tour of duty, and then get out. Scherer Yes. McGuire But by the time that, uh, point came up, Air Force requirement is four years of service after commissioning. And the point I had four years of service, and I had three little children. And I knew I needed a Master’s Degree, and there wasn’t any way that I was going to be able to support four little children and a wife and go get a Master’s Degree on my own. And the Air Force says, “We will send you to, uh, George Washington University for your MBA [Master’s of Business Administration], if you would like. All you have to accept is an extended service commitment of three times the length of that year and a half of school.” And then every time I did that, or I got promoted, or I got sent somewhere, there was always a service commitment attached to it. It wasn’t until I had 18 years of service in, that I could’ve get out if I wanted to. At that point, I stopped accepting any offers for anything that had a commitment on it. Scherer I see. That’s understandable. And I think you [inaudible]… McGuire But by then, I was at Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. Scherer I think—I think you’ve your judgments in order. McGuire Hm. Scherer Because I—I admire what you put first[?]. McGuire [laughs]. Scherer But you certainly had an intering—interesting career. McGuire Yeah. Scherer Tell me about something that—funny that happened whence you—when—when you were in one of these places. McGuire Well, alright. Well, uh, the one we were talking about at lunchtime. Military people on active duty, and as a retiree, are entitled to fly space available on military aircraft from one point to another. ‘Course you have last priority. So we were in Japan, and my wife wanted to go to [South] Korea, which there were frequent flights between Yokota Air Base in Japan and Osan Air Base in Korea. So we went over to Korea, and on the way over we rode on a chartered airliner. And this just like riding in any other airliner, except this one is under charter with the [U.S.] DOD [Department of Defense]. And we went shopping in Seoul[, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea]. She bought all kinds of stuff. We got back down to Osan Air Base with the—almost a pick-up truck full of, um, things that she wanted to take, and found out there was no space available going back to Japan. There were lots of people like us and no space going back. And furthermore, there were no hotel rooms available in this little town outside Osan to spend the night. So I called up my friend, who was the OSI boss in Osan, because this was shortly after my—my OSI tour, so I still knew the people. And he called around, and he called me back, and says, “Okay. Go down to this hotel,” [clears throat] “and they’ll take care of you and put you up for the night.” We did. And the next morning, I informed her that she had just spent the night in a whorehouse. All [laughs]. Scherer And how… McGuire That’s what it was. Scherer And how did you get back? [inaudible]. McGuire So we went back to the base to wait along with all of these other people, and the, uh, wing at Yokota sent a training flight over to Osan. The Air Force flies training flights all the time. They have to. To train the people. Keep their skills up. So they said, “Okay. Well, we got all these people waiting over there. We’ll send this flight over today to Osan to, uh—to pick these folks up.” And they did, in a [Lockheed] C-130 [Hercules]. The C-130 is a flying truck. You sit in the back end of this, and it’s like sitting in the back end of a big truck, on a canvas seat with very little in the way of heat or any sort of comforts whatsoever. So we all filed in there, put all of our luggage in there in front of us, and then… Scherer In front of you? McGuire Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a… Scherer All down the middle of the plane? McGuire Down the middle. This is the bay of a cargo airplane. This is not an airliner. Scherer Oh. McGuire You—you’ve seen pictures though Scherer Yeah. McGuire Now, they’re—they’re… Scherer In the movies. McGuire There—they’re about as—about like sitting in the back of a dump truck. Now, you load over the rear of that airplane. That’s how its tailgate goes down. And they can drive tanks, and trucks… Scherer Oh, I’ve seen McGuire And things like that. So everybody’s in there. We’re all sitting down, and the loadmaster goes to life the tailgate, and it won’t shut. Can’t get the door of the airplane shut. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire So he takes a piece of wire, wraps it around the door, holds it in place… Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Take off to go back to Japan. Scherer All wired up [laughs]. McGuire And my brother-in-law, who is a—at that time, a paratrooper in the Army—uh, standard joke people ask him, “Why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” And his answer is “Because the Air Force doesn’t have any.” Scherer [laughs] Oh, really? McGuire This was… Scherer Very interesting. McGuire A perfectly good airplane by Air Force standards. You could wire the door shut and fly. Scherer Is there anything else you would like to tell us before we end? McGuire Oh, I guess that’s probably about it. Scherer Well, you’ve been an easy person, because I was supposed to tell you at the beginning, that this is for you to tell your stories, and I’m just… McGuire Okay[?]. Scherer Just there to ask the questions. But it was, uh—I didn’t have to do that, because you had so many stories, and you told them so well, and it was really interesting, and I’m sure everyone who reads veterans’ stories will like this story. McGuire If we’ve got time for one more quick[sic] one… Scherer Yes. We do. McGuire This is a funny one—to me, a funny one. Seattle is bordered on the eastern side of the city by a 20-mile long fresh water lake called Lake Washington. And One particular day, one of my friends up[?] there and I decided to check out some sailboats, because we had a—a sailboat, rather—as the Navy base had sailboats, and do sailing on Lake Washington. And we did. And we promptly knocked the sailboat down. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire And we got it back up, and then we promptly knocked it down again. Now, the big lesson that I learned about doing that was that a can of beer, if it has not been opened, will float. Scherer [laughs]. McGuire Because the beer we had, we can’t—that hadn’t been opened yet—all of it just floated every time we knocked the sailboat over, and so we got it back up, and we got out beer back on board. Scherer Oh, really? That’s interesting. Is it because there’s air in the can? McGuire Sure. Scherer Or because there’s not very much in it? [laughs]. McGuire There’s air in the can, and a can of beer is sealed. It can’t get out, and it floats. And I… Scherer [inaudible]. McGuire Didn’t know until then that a can of beer will float. Scherer Is there anything else you’d like to tell us… McGuire No. Scherer We conclude? McGuire Now that I’m thinking about it, I could go all afternoon. Scherer Yes[?]. Well, you were the easiest person to interview, I must say. Um, let’s see there was something I wanted to say to you, as well. Well, we—we thank you very much for being part of this program, McGuire Sure. Scherer And, um, I certainly enjoyed listening to your story, so I think you’ll be a great contributor. And… McGuire I hope so. Scherer So thank you very much. McGuire You’re welcome. Scherer Good luck. McGuire Thank you. <div> <div> <a title="">[1]</a> Correction: Yokota Air Base. </div> <div> <a title="">[2]</a> Officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). </div> <div> <a title="">[3]</a> September 17, 1945-January 31, 1946. </div> <div> <a title="">[4]</a> Also known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. </div> </div> 2nd Lieutenant African Enterprise AFROTC Air Force Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps aircraft airplanes Ambassador AMC ammunition procurement division Armed Forces Staff College Army Materiel Command Army Military Intelligence Readiness Command BAA baht Bangkok, Thailand bargains Baton Rouge, Louisiana bribery bribes business administration Buy American Act of 1933 C-130 cargo Chokchai Building Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints CID comfort girls Community Veterans History Project Congress conscription construction consultants contract administrators contracting contractors corruption Criminal Investigator's Department CVHP DCAS declaration of war Defense Contract Administration Services deputy directors DOD Downtown Bangkok drafts Durban, South Africa engineering engineers Fawley, England Fussa, Japan George C. McGuire George Washington University GWU hospitals Judy Scherer Korea Lake Washington LDS Church legislation lieutenant colonel Lockheed C-130 Hercules McCoy AFB McCoy Air Force Base Ministry of Defense MIRC Missouri Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj Mormonism Mormons NAS Sand Point Naval Air Station Sand Point New Jersey New York City, New York New York Harbor Norfolk, Virginia Notre Dame, Indiana OIA oil oil refineries oil refinery orlando Orlando AFB Orlando Air Force Base Orlando International Airport Osan AB Osan Air Base OSI planes President of Thailand presidents procurement centers procurement officers prostitutes prostitution Pyeongtaek-si,South Korea regulations Reserve Officers' Training Corps retirement Rock Island Arsenal Rose Marie Scherer ROTC sailboats sailing scandals Seattle, Washington Second Lieutenant Seni Pramoj Seni Pramoj, Mom Rajawongse Seoul, South Korea sex workers Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition Squadron Officer School Statue of Liberty Summit, New Jersey Thai Thai Ministry of Defense Thailand tour of duty U.S. Air Force U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations U.S. ambassador U.S. Army U.S. Army Materiel Command U.S. Army Military Intelligence Readiness Command U.S. Department of Defense U.S. Navy UND University of Notre Dame University of Notre Dame du La USAF USAFOSI veterans Vietnam Vietnam War Warsaw, Missouri Washington, D.C. Whiteman AFB Whiteman Air Force Base World War II WWII Yokota AB Yokota Air Base