1 100 2 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/e8a26e74724981cfa15583e0812b03ec.mp3 19a079928d14ad551d93167f12df0077 https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/a54351957504fd4193ab5d7421ba1114.pdf 79e25fd5559a428ff09744265f759e0a 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 Oviedo Historical Society Collection Alternative Title Oviedo Historical Society Collection Subject Oviedo (Fla). Description The Oviedo Historical Society Collection encompasses historical artifacts donated for digitization at the Oviedo Historical Society's History Harvest in the Spring semester of 2015. The Oviedo Historical Society was organized in November 1973 by a group of citizens. The society is a 501(3) non-profit organization. Its purpose is to help preserve the community identity of Oviedo by collecting and disseminating knowledge about local history, serve as a repository for documents and artifacts relating to Oviedo history, promote the preservation and marking of historic sites and buildings in the Oviedo area and foster interest in local, state, national, and world history. Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/128" target="_blank">Oviedo Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Language eng Type Collection Coverage Oviedo, Florida Contributing Project <a href="http://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a> <a href="http://history.cah.ucf.edu/staff.php?id=304" target="_blank">Dr. Connie L. Lester</a>'s Introduction to Public History course, Spring 2015 Digital Collection <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a> External Reference "<a href="http://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a>." Oviedo Historical Society, Inc. http://oviedohs.com/. Adicks, Richard, and Donna M. Neely. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5890131" target="_blank">Oviedo, Biography of a Town</a>. S.l: s.n.], 1979. Robison, Jim. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/796757419" target="_blank">Around Oviedo</a>. 2012. "<a href="http://www.cityofoviedo.net/node/68" target="_blank">History</a>." City of Oviedo, Florida. http://www.cityofoviedo.net/node/68. "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/audio/Ep41-Oviedo.mp3" target="_blank">RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Episode 41: Oviedo, with Dr. Richard Adicks</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/audio/Ep41-Oviedo.mp3. Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer Dobson, Alexandra Interviewee Blackwood, Bernie Location <a href="http://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a>, Oviedo, Florida Original Format 1 audio recording Duration 30 minutes and 21 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency 128kbps 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 Bernie Blackwood Alternative Title Oral History, Blackwood Subject Oviedo (Fla.) St. Petersburg (Fla.) Real estate--United States City planning--Florida Construction Description An oral history interview of Bernard O. Blackwood, conducted by Alexandra Dobson on March 19, 2015. Blackwood was born on April 9, 1933, and attended the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Florida. After graduating from college, Blackwood migrated to St. Petersburg with his wife, Suzanne A. Blackwood, to work as a city planner. In the 1970s, the couple moved to Oviedo with their children. There, Blackwood helped plan several residential subdivisions alongside Ben Ward, Jr. Interview topics include land development, the effects of Florida Technological University (present-day University of Central Florida), Blackwood's wife and children, Ben Ward's contributions to the community, desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement in St. Petersburg, and his career as a city planner. Table Of Contents 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:48 Land development 0:04:07 Florida Technological University and the Oviedo Land Group 0:07:51 Migration to Oviedo and working with Ben Ward, Jr. 0:13:30 Wife and children 0:14:29 Population growth and Florida Technological University 0:18:39 Ben Ward’s contributions to the community 0:19:24 Blackwood Construction Corporation and Lutheran Haven 0:20:25 Schools and desegregation in St. Petersburg 0:21:57 St. Petersburg and career as a city planner Abstract Oral history interview of Bernard “Bernie” O. Blackwood. Interview conducted by Alexandra Dobson at Blackwood's home in Mead Manor in Oviedo, Florida, on March 19, 2015. Type Sound Source Blackwood, Bernie Interviewed by Alexandra Dobson, March 19, 2015. Audio record available. Oviedo History Harvest, <a href="http://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a>, Oviedo, 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="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/147" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society Collection</a>, History Harvest Collection, RICHES of Central Florida. Has Format 20-page digital transcript of original 30-minute and 21-second oral history: Blackwood, Bernie Interviewed by Alexandra Dobson, March 19, 2015. Audio record available. Oviedo History Harvest, <a href="http://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a>, Oviedo, Florida. Coverage Mead Manor, Oviedo, Florida St. Petersburg, Florida Creator Blackwood, Bernie Dobson, Alexandra Publisher <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> Date Created 2015-03-19 Date Modified 2016-01-05 Date Copyrighted 2015-03-19 Format audio/mp3 application/pdf Extent 27.7 MB 198 KB Medium 30-minute and 21-second audio recording 20-page digital transcript Language eng Mediator History Teacher Economics Teacher Provenance Originally created by Bernard “Bernie” O. Blackwood and Alexandra Dobson, 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://oviedohs.com/" target="_blank">Oviedo Historical Society</a> Curator Cepero, Laura Digital Collection <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 "<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/5278" target="_blank">Mead Manor Brings New Lifestyle to Oviedo</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/5278. "<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/audio/Ep41-Oviedo.mp3" target="_blank">RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Episode 41: Oviedo, with Dr. Richard Adicks</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/audio/Ep41-Oviedo.mp3. Transcript Dobson This is an oral history interview of Bernie<a title="">[1]</a> [O.] Blackwood. Interview is conducted by Alexandra Dobson at the Blackwood home in Oviedo, Florida, on the 19th of March, 2015. Inter—interview topics include Oviedo, Mead Manor, and that’s it. Blackwood Well, my name’s Bernie Blackwood, and my association with Oviedo began in the early [19]50s. I was a student at Gainesville,<a title="">[2]</a> and I had a roommate named Bob Ward, who was a native of Oviedo, and I came to Oviedo on occasions on weekend with Bob, and got to know a little bit about the area. It was so different from my, uh, little home town in North Florida. I saw orange groves and celery fields and stuff, to—tobacco fields, uh—shade[?] tobacco fields it was up there, but, um, when I finished at Gainesville, I went right to work. I had a job waiting in Saint Petersburg[, Florida], and, uh, Bob and I kept in contact over the years, and through Bob I had met his brother, Ben Ward—Ben Ward, Jr., and, uh, we’d been in St. Pete four or five years. I—I guess it was around 1963 when Ben called me—Ben Ward, Bob’s brother—and said he was developing a subdivision. He and a group of, uh, investors and businesspeople here in O—Oviedo were developing a subdivision, and they had started, but they’d ran into a few troubles, and he knew I—through Bob—knew had a little—had—I had a little experience in land planning. So he asked me if I’d come up, take a look at what he had, and I was glad to do it, because it gave me a chance to visit Bob, and Ben brought me out. it’s a 40-acre site in— northeast, uh, Oviedo—beautiful piece of land—and made it clear to me to—to begin with they wanted large lots, nice home sites, and the group of, uh, investors and businesspeople, who, uh, put their money up for this project, wanted the same thing. They wanted to grow Oviedo and they knew there was nothing in Oviedo, at that time. No lots available, really. I don’t think there’d been any residential lots added in Oviedo since probably the early 1900s, and—so I went to work on the plan, and, uh, came up with something that they agreed with. Oh, I’m getting a little ahead of myself maybe, because they had actually started—they had, uh, put the group together, and they had paved a little section of Mead Drive, which is the entrance off of Division Street into Mead Manor, at that time, Three or four hundred—two or three hundred feet, I’d say, and then it made a right turn into a little cul-de-sac, and they had, uh—[laughs] they didn’t know quite where to go from there, because they had three—three swampy areas—little ponds in the 40 acres. So we developed a plan, uh, around those ponds, uh, with nice size lots and streets running around, and, uh, they approved the plan and, [clears throat] I came up one weekend—one Saturday with an engineer friend of my from St. Pete, and, uh, the streets had been, uh, cleared, and we shot grades, went back to St. Pete, and did a cut-and-fill plan, and presented that to the group, and they went from there and started developing the subdivision. And the—they paved the streets, they put in paved streets with gutters, and they had a water system in Oviedo at that time, so it was on a water system, and the, uh, next, uh—next thing we knew, uh—I should say that before they started this project, there was no kno—knowledge of FTU<a title="">[4]</a> locating five miles south of Oviedo. It, eh—I asked Ben later, and he said “No,” uh, “We didn’t know it,” and I thought they were crazy, at the time, for—for footing this kind of subdivision and—and—[laughs] out in Oviedo with just a little crossroads farm community, and I didn’t know where the people were going to come from, and Ben said, “Oh, they’ll come.” He was an eternal optimist, and the next thing I knew, I read—read in The St. Pete[rsburg] Times where FTU was locating five miles south of Oviedo. So I began to be a little more interested in what was going on, and they began selling the lots. First lot they sold in here—or maybe the second one—uh, I know it was the first person from the university—was a man named Phil Gorey[sp] and he was a, um—one of the administrative people under Millican—Dr. [Charles Norman] Millican, and the, uh—the subdivision took off rather slowly, but they were selling lots. A lot across the street there was, uh—was, uh, [Joe] Gomez, uh… Suzanne He was a professor out there. Blackwood Yeah, What’s the first, uh… Suzanne Joe. Blackwood Uh… Suzanne Joe. Blackwood Joe. Yeah, Joe Gomez. He was a comptroller out at the university, and, uh, there were three or four, five, six—I mean, there half a dozen, at least, uh, different professors that started buying lots out, and some of them still here, like me [laughs]. I’m not a professor [laughs], um, and as the lots started selling, the land group—Oviedo Land Group was the name of the, uh—of the, corpora—or the company that Ben Ward put together, and the investors in it—I could—I can recall most of ‘em, I think. There was, uh, Frank Wheeler, John Evans, uh, I think Mr. Roy Clonts, probably, um… Suzanne Beleren[sp]? Blackwood Who? Suzanne Bob[?] Beleren? Was he one of ‘em? Blackwood No, no, not, uh, not, uh… Suzanne Okay. Blackwood Uh, uh… Suzanne Martin? Blackwood Yeah. Suzanne Bill… Blackwood Bill… Suzanne Martin? Blackwood Yeah, Bill Martin and John Evans. I might have… Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood Said him before, but anyway, it was a group of local businessmen and there were five or six of ‘em. I met with them a couple times, and, uh, didn’t really know them at—at all. I have since gotten to know them all, one time or another, and, uh—so they decided to buy another 40 acres just, uh, to the north of the first unit, and, uh I—again, I did a layout for them, and Ben developed it, and so it made a total of 80 acres here in Oviedo, and I—I’d be glad to drive you around and show you if you’d like to see it. Some of the developers’ve[sic] been dead, but during this time, Ben was still planning ahead and the next thing—he had a project. Another, uh—I think it was another 40 acres, and—and they—we worked up a subdivision for him on that—a layout, and it’s called [inaudible] Garden Grove. It’s right near here. And, [clears throat] by that time, Ben, eh—he was originally—he had an insurance business, and, uh, uh—and a real estate brokerage business, and he was getting interested into building and construction. He said, “I’ve got all these lots. I might as well build some houses.” So he offered—gave me—he said, “Why don’t you come up and join me, and we’ll form a corporation and build—build a few houses,” and the idea appealed to me, but leaving my secure place in St. Pete—position I had and so forth—uh, it took a lot of soul searching, and I guess it—I probably thought about it for two or three years ‘fore—and, in the meantime, Ben and I were still working together on—on the projects up here, and, uh, I finally made the decision. I’ve gotta do it. I want to do it. I’d always been interested in construction and had some experience in that, and my[?]—my family wasn’t too eager about it at first. Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood The kids—I had a, uh, son<a title="">[5]</a> that was in the third grade and going—would be going into the fourth grade, and a daughter in the sixth grade, I believe, but they finally came around, and we moved up here, uh, second day of September, 1972. Went to work about the very next day and… [phone rings] Blackwood The kids start… [phone rings] Blackwood The kids started school the very next day after we got here, I think, and my family adjusted. They just loved Oviedo, and Sue<a title="">[6]</a> was a city girl. Sue was from Jacksonville. Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood And she didn’t think she wanted to move to Oviedo from St. Petersburg. We all loved St. Petersburg. I did too, but, um, we found Oviedo to be—the people here were the most gracious, welcoming. we never felt like a stranger, and part of that maybe was, because I came here with Ben Ward, who—his dad was a celery grower, and, uh, had—had groves here in town, and Ben had some land, and—quite a bit of land in and around Oviedo, and, uh, so we—we went from there. We started building houses, and, uh, Ben and I were together, uh, for four years, I think, and his interests were—was on development—land development, and mine… [phone beeps] Blackwood Was more in construction, and I didn’t have the deep pockets to go into land development [laughs], but Ben, uh—he had a vision for this—for this little town, and he—he wanted to—nothing but quality development, and he was the only one developing land in Oviedo, and he was always, I thought, a little ahead of the market, and it was, uh—it cost him financially, but he did it, and after we, uh—we split, we remained friends, and met on a weekly basis and compared what each of us was doin’, until he passed away in—I think he passed away in ‘99, and [coughs] I never—I feel he never deserved the credit he did—he deserved—for what he did for this little town, because you can look around he—he’s re—responsible for Mead Manor, Garden Grove, Whispering Oaks…. Suzanne Mmhmm. Blackwood Uh, Hill—Hillcrest, uh, Farms—I think was the name of it. Suzanne Uh, Windmilll… Blackwood Windmill Farms. Suzanne Farms. Blackwood Those were residential, uh, develops here. Suzanne How about Oviedo Oaks? Blackwood No, no, he didn’t—he didn’t develop that. Suzanne Hm. Blackwood Uh, and he also started—he did some commer—a couple of commercial projects. one of ‘em was, uh, Westwood Square. It was a commercial/industrial, uh, zoning area, and, uh, it’s completely built out now. Uh, do you know where, uh, Toucan—what—no, it’s—what’s the Spanish… Suzanne Habanero’s [Mexican Grill]. Blackwood Habanero’s. Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood You know where that is? Dobson I drove by it. Blackwood That was part of Westwood Square. All of those b—back in there was developed, and there was nothing out there at the time—nothing, and nothing between there and Oviedo [laughs], and… Suzanne One little gas station. Blackwood Yeah, the—the, uh, Tiger—Tiger Station. Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood We called it, and, uh, then there’s another, uh, I believe it’s called Oviedo Office Park up to your—on [Florida State Road] 426 between Westwood Square and the city limits—what was the city limits then—or the high school, say—and it’s a very nice commercial development, and it had doctor’s offices, uh, and that—that type of commu—uh, development, and, like I say, we—we came here—we’ve been here for 43 years now, and I could never move Sue from—get her out of this house or out of this city. Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood She loves it and the kids love it. My daughter lives in Tallahassee, and, uh, she—she’s down here quite often. My son works with me, or did work with me. He runs the business now. I’m just—I’m retired. I go in and aggravate him every day a little bit [laughs]. Uh, I don’t know. Do you have any questions from there? I’d be glad to drive you around a little Oviedo and show you some of these projects if you have the time… Dobson Okay. Blackwood Or the inclination. Dobson Sure, thank you. Suzanne Take her to, um, Whispering Oaks, ‘cuz that’s… Blackwood Yeah. Suzanne Really… Blackwood Well, they’re all nice. Suzanne Really, pretty, yes, Whispering Oaks has beautiful trees, but… Dobson Um… Blackwood Have I missed anything Sue? Suzanne I don’t’ think so. I think—I was amazed at how well you [laughs]… Blackwood Uh… Suzanne Covered everything. Blackwood Well, you know, that’s—that’s about it with, uh, my—my interests in Oviedo. It was… Suzanne I… Blackwood Was primarily building. I built all these years and… Suzanne Do you know what the population was when we moved here? Blackwood I should’ve… Suzanne [inaudible]. Blackwood Gone into that. It was about 2000, and, uh, it was about the same when I visited 10 years earlier. It hadn’t grown a bit. I don’t think it grew a bit from—I should’ve included this in it—from the ‘30s and on up to the ‘60s, and this development right here<a title="">[7]</a> was what started the growth in Oviedo, uh, after—after, um—no. I guess it was the edges[?] of [inaudible], uh, track builders started coming into Oviedo. The, uh, uh, Jacobs brothers owned two thousand acres of land where O—where Alafaya Woods is now and that area over there, uh—Twin Rivers and that area. They sold it to a group in Atlanta in the early [19]70s, and Bob pretty well fell out of construction for a while there, and nothin’, eh—I don’t know if that company went bankrupt or what, but they sold it to the Anden Group, and the Anden Group is a group that developed Alafaya Woods [clears throat], and it was a little bit, uh—it was, uh, a different type development than what Ben had been developing. I think he’d be surprised today if he knew how, um—he felt that—that Oviedo never had, uh—be, uh, anything but small, rural community [inaudible] with good home sites. ‘Course he knew, and I knew too, that when the university located there, sooner or later it was gonna affect Oviedo in a big way [coughs], and it did, but, uh… Suzanne Is—is Tom Phillips next door still teaching? Blackwood Yeah, he’s a professor over—no. he’s not teaching, but he’s retired. Suzanne He’s retired? Okay. Blackwood Yeah. Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood That’s—that’s probably… Suzanne We were surrounded by them. Blackwood Yeah, when we first moved here, the—‘course, this was, you know—all the professors had kids and we had kids, and it’s, uh, changed a couple times since then. You’ve got, uh, uh, older families that moved out, newer families with kids that moved in, and, uh, and, uh, and we’ve stuck—stuck here [laughs] all those years, but, um, we’ve seen the growth in Oviedo from two thousand to… Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood What? 35,000 now, probably. Dobson Do you think it was just the university that did that, or… Suzanne Pretty… Blackwood Well… Suzanne Pretty much. Blackwood It, uh—pretty much, I think. The [Central Florida] Research Park out there—and of course, it—it—Oviedo [clears throat]—it grew to be a—it had a very good school system.<a title="">[8]</a> I should’ve mentioned that. When—when we moved here, my son was going into the fourth grade, and we—he went to a school right across from where we lived, practically, in St Pete. He could walk to school, and they had gotten into the new, uh—let the kid reach his potential, don’t push him, don’t push him. Suzanne Mmhmm. Blackwood And… Unidentified [clears throat]. Blackwood I went and talked with the teacher about it, and—“Oh, Scott’s doin’ fine,” And it didn’t… Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood Seem to me that he was doin’ fine, and she said, “Oh, no, no. he’s fine.” Well, when we got here, he had teachers like Ms. [Margeurite] Partin. Suzanne Partin Elementary [School] was named after her, and she was a wonderful teacher. Blackwood And Ms. Gore, and s—same teachers that taught Ben Ward, and Bob Ward—that group. They were still there, and she went to work on Scott and brought him up to speed. He didn’t—he didn’t even know his multiplication tables, and [laughs]… Suzanne Does now [laughs]. Blackwood And all of the kids here did, but she—she put him to work on ‘em and you[?]—he learned real quick[sic], and caught up, and did alright, But it—it was just a great place to raise your kids, and, uh, I—I just can’t say enough about the—the town and about—about the guy that really got it goin’. Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood Ben Ward. Suzanne I think so too. Blackwood You get the chance to give him a plug—he’s long gone. his wife still lives here in Ovi—in, uh, Mead Manor, and his kids—he has one—one kid that lives in Tuscawilla and the rest of ‘em are scattered around. Suzanne Tuscawilla was not here at all when we moved here. Blackwood Well, it was too. It was one road… Suzanne [inaudible]. Blackwood Called Dyson Road<a title="">[9]</a> comin’ off of, uh, Tuskawilla Road—Dyson—and they had… Suzanne Dyson, yeah. Blackwood They—they just started developing a few lots there. That’s a beautiful sub—one of my favorite subdivisions. The area is Tuscawilla. Dobson Mm, what kinds of things has Blackwood Construction [Corporation] done? Blackwood We did primarily single-family and, uh, small commercial. We did, uh, dental office for Bob Beleren over in Winter Springs[, Florida], and that sort of thing, but we built over 500—we’ve got—I think we got… Suzanne 563 [laughs]. Blackwood Well, some of ‘em weren’t—some of ‘em in the recent years have just been small jobs… Suzanne And Lutheran Haven. mention Lutheran Haven. Blackwood Yeah, we did—we built most of Lutheran Haven projects out of, uh—duplexes. Suzanne You’ve probably passed Lutheran Haven on your way in. Yeah. Dobson Could be… Suzanne Hm. Dobson I’m not sure. Suzanne [inaudible]. Dobson I’m really not that familiar [laughs]… Suzanne It’s a big Lutheran church, and they—it has a retirement for us—little du—duplexes. Dobson Okay. Blackwood Its’ a… Suzanne Its’ a… Blackwood And a—and a, uh, nursing home now. Uh, we could even—if you’ve got time, I’ll drive you all over. show you—show you a little bit of Oviedo. Dobson Okay [laughs], Thank you. Suzanne Don’t want to live here? [laughs]. Dobson Yeah [laughs]. Um, I actually moved to Orlando from St. Pete for the same reasons. Suzanne Oh, my goodness. Dobson [laughs]. Blackwood Oh, really? Suzanne [laughs]. Dobson To get my son in a better school. Suzanne Aww. Blackwood Aw, really? Dobson Yeah, I don’t… Suzanne Well, you know, we thought the schools there were just great, ‘til we moved here. Blackwood Well, I didn’t think they were great, because I didn’t think our—our boy was learning anything. Suzanne Yeah, well… Blackwood And—and another thing, uh, we got caught up right in the Civil Rights [Movement]—we—you know where Bay Vista Elementary [School] is? Dobson Mmhmm. Blackwood We lived within a block of Bay Vista, at that time, and the kids walked to school, and it was a fairly new school then, and, uh, eh, I think, 11 or—yeah, she was in the fifth grade when all the civil rights—and they started bussing kids, and she got bussed to the school right in the middle of St.—black school in the middle of St. Pete. Suzanne I don’t remember what the school was—the— the name of the school. Blackwood I don’t remember. Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood But [laughs] it—it, uh—it was only for that one year, and she got along fine. Suzanne Yeah, she did. Blackwood She didn’t have any problems, but… Suzanne She—she made some good friends there. Blackwood It just didn’t make sense to take kids that [laughs] could walk to school and pay a bus to drive them somewhere else. Suzanne [laughs] It was probably a good experience. Blackwood Well, you [inaudible]—how—how long did you live in St. Pete? Dobson Uh, five or six years. Suzanne You weren’t born there then? Dobson No. Blackwood From when to when? Dobson Uh, it was recent. I’ve been in Orlando for three years. Blackwood Three years? Dobson Yes. Blackwood Oh, well, you saw—you’ve seen the downtown area really change. Dobson Yes, it has [laughs]. Blackwood We—we—I graduated on Saturday night, and we packed up everything, and we had. I met Sue at [the University of] Florida her—her senior year [laughs], and… Suzanne Just about. Blackwood And, uh, we packed up everything. We—we got married, uh, my last semester there. we got married, and she’d graduated the semester ‘fore I did. She’s smarter than I am. Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood And we moved to St. Pete on Sunday, and I started work Monday. I was, uh—I worked as a city planner for 14 years ‘fore I came here. Dobson Wow. What kind of things did you do? Blackwood What kind of work? Suzanne Yeah. Blackwood Well, uh, we—are—are you—if you’re familiar with the parks system in Oviedo—just to give you an example—uh, in, uh, St. Pete, um—Southside Park—you know the 40-acre park down Lakewood Elementary [School]? Suzanne Mmhmm. Blackwood And all of that? That was a plan that we came up with. Oh, oh—we developed a five-year pl—plan. We had a great city manager named Lynn [H.] Andrews, from about the time I went there until he left in ‘69, and he had a—a capital improvement program—a five-year, capital improvement program, and every year, they would, uh, budget certain projects, and at the end of the year, you’d see if the money was spent right on those projects [inaudible]. He—he’d project the five years another year, but he adjusted every year during that five years, and, uh, he built the, uh—had the, uh—Bayfront Center was built, the museum downtown, the waterfront—the city park of the waterfront, Northeast Park, there was all developed while he was there. The pier—inverted pier—was built, and I was all part of all that, and it was just interesting and fun, until he left, and we got another manager, and I just did not enjoy working anymore. Suzanne Oh. Blackwood That’s how I happened to come here. Suzanne I think that was the time to come here. Dobson What was civil rights like in St. Pete? What was your experience with it? Blackwood Well, uh, my main experience—it was no problem. 16th Street was kind of, uh—they[?] had their riots and things during the time. Dobson They still do [laughs]. Blackwood [laughs] And my main memory of it—and this was why Lynn Andrews left St. Petersburg. I’m sure. In ‘68 or ‘69 when they, um, allowed public employees to be unionized—the garbage department became unionized, and they went on strike one year, and Mr. Andrews, uh, negotiated with ‘em and got ‘em back—not a big break in service. The very next year, they went on strike again, and he—on Monday morning, they didn’t show up for work. the whole garbage department didn’t show up for work, and he gave them an ultimatum. He said that “Anyone that’s not back on the job by Thursday of this week will be permanently terminated—all benefits and everything.” Well, they—the union didn’t believe him, I guess, because a big percent—some did come back. Within a week he had completely re-staffed that from people from Georgia—different people looking for jobs. He completely re-staffed the garbage department, and a lot of employees lost their jobs, and from that point on, The St. Pete Times took up the position of the strikers. They marched on city hall every day, and he didn’t yield. It’s kinda like Ronald Reagan and, uh—and the, uh, uh, air [traffic] controller strike. You’re probably too young to even remember that. All [laughs]. Blackwood But he did the same thing, and, um, from that day on, anything that, that Lynn Andrews did—and I was privy to what was going on there, he would be lambasted in The St. Pete Times for it, and after about, uh, a year of that he, uh—he went back to Tex—he came to St. Pete from San Antonio, Texas, as the city manager, and he went back as the city manager of, uh, Austin, Texas. When he came to St. Pete, he brought his finance director, um, his assistant city manager, and the budget director—was, uh—that group came. When he left, they all went with him, except one, and he left the city and went to work for First Federal [Bank of Florida]. Dobson Wow, That’s impressive. Keeping your staff with you. Suzanne And they were good, good men, weren’t they? Blackwood Good men, all of ‘em. yeah, Smart men. I often said. If he’d of run for president. I woulda… Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood I woulda—he—he was firm, but he was fair, But, uh, no. We—we love St. Pete. We go back every now and then, when we get a chance. [inaudible]… Suzanne How many people weren’t up there anymore? Blackwood Yeah, most of my old buddies are gone. [laughs]. Yeah. Dobson It’s still a lovely place to visit. Suzanne Yeah, and the downtown is so—with the waterfront—is so nice now. Blackwood You know, I went down for a job interview, and Sue went with me, and that was before we were married. I went—I got a summer job there, and, uh [laughs], we drove into St Pete from—came down 30—34th Street, turned left on Central [Avenue] and got downtown, and I—we—this was in April. Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood We saw nothin’ but green benches and gray heads, and that’s quite a shock comin’ from Gainesville. Suzanne From Gainesville, yeah, where everybody’s young to… Blackwood Where everybody’s young. Suzanne To where everybody’s old. Blackwood [laughs]. Suzanne [laughs] but it was a good place to live. Blackwood It—yeah. Suzanne [inaudible]. Blackwood It—it—it had something for everybody then, but the majority—I think 25 percent of the population then was 65 or older. It had, uh—I knew at the time, the population was 180 thousand when, uh, we moved there, and I think it was about 22 5[thousand] when we left. I don’t know what it is now, but it had pretty well built out. There wasn’t much developable land in St. Pete, other than up and around Whedon’s[sic] Island area. Suzanne What part of St. Pete did you live in? Dobson Um, I lived on First Avenue North and 25th Street. So… Blackwood 25th Street? [inaudible]. Dobson Almost downtown. Blackwood Uh huh, al—yeah. Suzanne We lived almost downtown when we first moved there. Blackwood We had a little garage apartment, uh… Suzanne Right near the hos—near Mound[?] Park Hospital. Blackwood No, no. our garage apartment was, uh, up on the Northside. Suzanne Oh, that one? Blackwood About 26th Avenue North, and then we—we bought a, um—an old, 50-year-old apartment building down on 11th Avenue South, and I could walk to work from there—to City Hall, and we—we moved in— fixed up one unit and moved in it, and as a tenant left, we’d remodel that tenant[sic]—that unit and fix it up. Made a nice place. Suzanne Was your son… Blackwood Oh. Suzanne Born there? Dobson Uh, he was born in Clearwater. I lived in Clearwater, Largo, Dunedin [laughs]. Suzanne Oh. Blackwood You ever heard of Fred Marquis? Dobson I don’t think so. Blackwood He was county manager there in Pinellas County for 25 years, I guess. I think he set a record for it, but he… Suzanne [laughs]. Blackwood He—he was a planner, uh, with, uh—in St. Pete with me [coughs]. He came there right out of graduate school, and, uh, worked there, and we became good friends, but I hadn’t been in touch with him for years. Uh, he’s—he’s—he’s since retired. <div> <div> <a title="">[1]</a> Bernard. </div> <div> <a title="">[2]</a> University of Florida. </div> <div> <a title="">[3]</a> Present-day University of Central Florida. </div> <div> <a title="">[4]</a> Florida Technological University. </div> <div> <a title="">[5]</a> Scott Blackwood. </div> <div> <a title="">[6]</a> Suzanne A. Blackwood. </div> <div> <a title="">[7]</a> Mead Manor. </div> <div> <a title="">[8]</a> Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS). </div> <div> <a title="">[9]</a> Correction: Dyson Drive. </div> </div> 11th Avenue 16th Street 1st Avenue 25th Street 34th Street Alafaya Woods Anden Group Bay Vista Elementary School Bayfront Center Ben Ward, Jr. Bernard O. Blackwood Bernie Blackwood Bill Martin Blackwood Construction Corporation Bob Beleren Bob Ward bussing Central Avenue Central Florida Research Park Charles N. Millican Charles Norman Millican city managers city planners civil rights Civil Rights Movement colleges construction demonstrations desegregation Division Street Downtown St. Petersburg Dyson Drive educators Eleventh Avenue First Avenue Florida State Road 426 Florida Technological University Frank Wheeler Fred Marquis FTU Garden Grove Gore Habanero's Mexican Grill integration Joe Gomez John Evans labor labor rights land development Lutheran Haven Lynn H. Andrews Marguerite Partin Mead Drive Mead Manor neighborhoods Northeast Park Oviedo Oviedo Land Group Oviedo Oaks Oviedo Office Park Partin Elementary School Phil Gorey Pinellas County professors protesters protests public employees race relations real estate residential developments riots Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan Roy Clontz Saint Petersburg school bus school buses schools Scott Blackwood SCPS Seminole County Public Schools Sixteenth Street Southside Park SR 426 St. Pete St. Petersburg strikers strikes subdivisions Sue Blackwood Suzanne A. Blackwood teachers The St. Petersburg Times Tiger Station Tom Phillips Tuscawilla Tuskawilla Road Twin Rivers UCF unionization unions universities university University of Central Florida Westwood Square Whispering Oaks Windmill Farms