Interview with David E. Tazzara, Vietnam veteran. CCSU Veterans History Project

draft can you explain that to me volunteering for the draft saved the draft board from from drafting us but it also gave us first choice and getting getting on the list so that we could actually go to Vietnam together with there was two other fellows with me that that went so we had that opportunity to do that by enlist my volunteering for the dress so what other two fellows signed up with you when you recall the date the actual date I don't recall but Paula Kerry and Jogja densey were the other two fellows and we buy a volunteering for the draft they we all went in together served together and basic training and advanced training and then to Vietnam together and then split up in Vietnam yes so how did you well it was kind of surprised to me I wasn't anticipating it I was anticipating the draft but Paul and Joe had previously during that day gone and signed up for the draft and then I was in the pool hall and winstead biding my time and and they came in and told me what they had done and asked me if I wanted to go in with them so I says well might as well I'm just gonna get drafted anyway so I they took me back to Torrington with them and I signed up with them right on the same list so we all went through everything together that was 1968 I believe yeah after you've signed up how long before you were actually inducted not too long because I believe I enlisted my official time was in February 1968 so it was in 68 so I had to be just a couple of months actually where did you go for your basic training Fort Dix New Jersey how long did you stay there our basic tour was I think three months or 90 days something like that what was your basic training like well it was rather difficult for me being a heavy individual I was 220 pounds and out of high school and not a very active individual so at the the physical part was difficult but the training of course was not exceedingly difficult it was I was with thousands of other troops going through the same thing which made the task a little bit easier no did you stay with your two friends Paul and Joe strong basic training yes yeah we see you're in the same barracks right across rooms across from each other oh that was that was like just being in town except we were in the army you know being harassed at the same time you know did you have a graduation from basic training yes and what did you do after the graduation we had a period of leave time and before we were to report to our next duty station which was Fort Polk Louisiana for advanced infantry training so did you have to go home to Winsted Connecticut yes I'm gonna guess approximately a month something like that dude the three of you report together to Fort Polk yes we did yeah well actually the three of you came home on leave together yep so what did you do with that month of leave at home you want let's see we were 21 and we just basically enjoyed our lives together and our family of course another 90-day period there well advanced infantry training getting into previews of Vietnam and more weapon weaponry training and like that basically like that in advanced so you knew you're going in as an infantryman you knew you were going to be a blunt did you at that time realize that you're probably going to Vietnam we were very optimistic about that yeah we probably knew we were definitely gonna go to that yeah Fort Polk was a training base for Vietnam soldiers do you recall any of your instructors not by name you know not by their real names anyways you recall anything about any of them uh just there's a drill drill instructors are you know rather abrupt and callous you know it's just difficult their job was difficult than and they were just part of the training you know I think it was just to make it it's difficult for you as a test you know to see your endurance and if you could go through the whole thing you know do you have any memorable experiences from either basic training or your advanced infantry training memorable experiences in what way any incidents that happened or anything unusual or any funny things well as far as funny things going or always try to make the best of all occasions Joe and Paul love to pick on me for whatever reason so I became their object to their their their games that many times but you know I would manage to get even with them but nothing out of the ordinary you know just typical friends doing things to friends then we came home for another period of leave which I believe was about a month and and then we flew to Fort Lewis Washington to our flight when next would be Vietnam so you knew it and had you received orders to go to the we did yeah we knew we weren't going to be enough what were your feelings did you know what exactly what you're going into it Vietnam not really you know we spent a week in Fort Lewis or Fort Polk in what they call Tigerland which was a pre Vietnam training week and in my particular case I had the opportunity to pull KP our first day there which lasted the entire week so I literally had no training in Tigerland except in KP and I got my certificate of completion in tag line and went to Vietnam without that experience of Tiger landing in Fort Polk although the good thing was it rained for five days in Louisiana so I didn't really miss anything anyway so when you left Fort Lewis Vietnam how did you go what was it was a I see that was a military transport but it was a it was a big big plane like a c-141 did you go as a member of a whole unit or were you all going individually as replacements all individuals although there was many guys that did come from our company in Louisiana but they also came from other areas you know other companies too so what Paul Joe and I all were on the same plane together you know we went directly well we actually stopped in Alaska on our way over and then to Vietnam where did you land in Vietnam we landed in Cam Ranh Bay you recall your first impression of being in the country yeah was as we were flying over Cam Ranh Bay there was a small lake with a sunken plane at the bottom which was plainly visible from the air and once we landed the initial blast of heat from Vietnam was our first signal of the oncoming endurance that we had to go through but basically just the temperature was the shock and when we got there yes it was July 20 when I was maybe 28th 1968 after landing where did you go we were processed into Cam Ranh Bay and given a place to drop our duffel bags and and get jungle fatigues and and and basically a holding area for troops to be dispersed throughout the country so we basically waited until our name was called to be dispersed into whatever we're berry we're going so all three of you got called to go to a different place yep and where were you called to go I was called to go to the LZ Bronco which was in duck fall was the brigade headquarters for 11th and 11th infantry brigade did you three friends know that probably when you got to Vietnam II would be split up or we hoping they're gonna stay together well we were hoping obviously to stay together but it really didn't stop us too much from being split up because we always mailed each other so no we know you were in three different places in country you kept in touch yeah once we we wrote at home initially and got the addresses of where the other our other buddies were of course then we started writing them and and wrote to them obviously quite quite often so I'd duck foe what were your duties well I was there for approximately three days waiting to go into the field because the company that I was assigned to which was a recon platoon was out in the field so I was there approximately three days before I had actually got to go out with these guys so and when you're there you get issued your weapon and and kind of oriented a little bit to the area you know we observed enemy troop movements and sometimes we would spend nights on top of mountains observing North Vietnamese Army or Vietcong moving carrying supplies and calling artillery and try to disrupt their movements and obviously eliminate the enemy and when we weren't doing that we'd be pulling night ambushes obviously finding these troop movements and and calculating spots to pull an ambush but it would be at night and and then we'd also assist line companies on different maneuvers sometimes to where there'd be a big battalion movement and line companies would sweep an area and we'd be up into a hillside observing and trying to you know make judgment on what's going on or any troops coming into the area enemy troops coming to the area it varied up to 20 guys we were 16 to 20 men on any given mission where were you located I Corps yeah we would you stay right around 4 will you take into other areas we would be flown into different landing zones for a resupply or work from different landing zones for observation purposes intelligence would would come back to us and and get reports of troop movement in certain areas and then they would fly us three helicopters would pick us up and fly us into areas that were close to this designated place they'll be observed and we would land there and go into the areas and try to make reports on troop movement and holy ambushes things like that I was a basic rifleman I carry an m16 what can you tell me about the m16 well I was uh basically my friend you know I loved it it was although I hadn't fired it for three months when I first got it and I was brand new and it jammed on me but fortunately a Chandani went to water Buffalo came towards me and a little little Vietnamese kid like that what it was whip beat off the water buffalo was ten times the size of he was which saved me you know but that was my first experience with my m16 was a water buffalo approximately seven months can you describe a couple of the missions that operations most of them were high anxiety type things we being a small group of troops we didn't take a lot of chances working the lowlands so we we walked mountains a lot and pulling night ambushes were we're really basically scary you know you worked at night and and then it was the anticipation of the enemy coming towards you you know and you going ahead and and performing this ambush which became quite frightening huh so and chaotic you know with all the noise and explosions and so was uh yes yeah I do but it was pretty difficult to go through yes were there any casualties in your unit yes do we go home any no because when we'd lose one or two fellows then we'd be we get resupplied or with new troops so the time that I was there there was we probably lost half a dozen guys probably so actually when you went there you were a replacement for somebody that they had lost possibly yeah actually leaving leaving Vietnam down so because it was constantly a turnover of people in your platoon did you were there any of you that were staying there pretty much as a group from the start to the finish no was it all new faces I know there was uh I was of course I was I was there for seven months with recon and got to know guys for seven months because we there was a bunch of us that did come from Louisiana right into the same platoon so it worked out good that way at least I knew a few guys there for seven months you know but there was a constant change of faces yes we were in the middle of a firefight and there was two fellows that were killed and we had called in for a a medevac chopper to come to pick up the men that were killed and along with that it was common for them the medevac choppers to drop off necessary supplies or ammunition or or new replacements and this this particular incident we were under heavy fire and the helicopter hovered over the ground three or four feet and we threw the bodies on and and Melvin a friend of mine Melvin done he was a new troop in country and he had been literally kicked off the the helicopter and fell down on the ground and the helicopter took off and only not knowing what to do he started running in the wrong direction and I happen to be the closest guy to him so I ran over and tackled him and brought him back to the good side and and since then since that event Melvin was very close to me all the time you know he considered me being his Savior well I don't know it was certainly an experience for him you know you unlike me I had a few days in country I never got to fire my rifle for three months and and he comes into country for two days and is dropped in the middle of chaos so I don't know how common it was but that was the way he came in was there a typical day was there you know did you get up and do an eight-hour shift er a 12-hour shift or did you sleep in the day long at night but was it always so different the days weren't really too too bad and that affects some quite enjoyable because we walking the mountains we basically sleep out in the jungle or in the highlands somewhere in our hammocks tied from tree to tree and and have our morning breakfast or whatever we could get up and then go for our objective for the day which whatever distance we had to travel we would do that and report on whatever we saw during that period of time and most of the time is pretty quiet we just pick up evidence of troop movements here there or on occasion we run into a sniper but we of course always on the lookout for booby traps and and typical hazards that you had to avoid you know but for the most part it was kind of a walk in the park so to speak being in the in the highlands in the woods but at the same time you're you know following your training you know being careful observing yourself and then we get special missions that we get involved with pulling ambushes or being requested to observe troop movements so well we probably maybe every maybe every couple of weeks something like that we'd be doing something like that yeah we we would go out for our average we would go out for three to five days and come back for two or three days and if there was a heavy truth movement then we'd actually be spending more time out and being resupplied in the field rather than get resupplied back at a base camp somewhere but there happened to be one time and we're off for 47 days with without change of clothes or which was quite difficult but do you know where you were no it was just before monsoon season was coming in and we just happened to get reassigned and reassigned and go here go there go there and we ended up staying out in the boonies for 47 days now I know you stayed in Vietnam longer than than the seven months Don where did you go after you left the recon platoon well I by luck my friend Melvin done who I had met by accident actually had gotten out of the field himself because his parents were both very ill and he was assigned to the hhc Division of intelligence and he was constantly in touch with me and he got a job for me as a driver for this intelligence section and so I was happy to do that I had to go over the chain of command to do it but of course I supposed to go through my captain first and to let him know that or basing my company commander let him know that I was being requested by another company commander to go over for an interview and chose not to do that I just went over there on my own and was accepted by the commander of intelligence and he notified my regular commander who basically read me up and down for doing that but he had no choice but to let me go and told me in short words to not to come back which was okay too but anyways I spent my last five months as a driver and assistant actually with the intelligence commander it was the opposite side of the base camp LZ Bronco was a very very large yes so what was LZ Bracco like I was a a support fire support base that held the whole division Americal division 196 198 gerbig AIDS 196 197 scuse me 96 197th several thousand oh mmm so once you went over to the intelligence that did you ever get back to see your reformer unit I did go over there one time but they were had been out in the field and and I never really had the time to get over there so but I used to keep him touch with him through mailing and I actually sent him letters what were your duties with the Military Intelligence Unit well I basically delivery man I would take the major and all over the base camp or in through town and he would be working with village VIPs and and drive him around or we had to go keep the Jeep clean and and do other duties so they keep me busy up like building bunkers or or um this other miscellaneous jobs you know but but you were you were the designated driver for just this one particular major recall his name no I don't know you said you also had their duties like building a bunker now I know you were describing to me earlier can you tell me about the bunker the bunker building yeah yes this one particular project I had was to to build a bunker between two large tents that we slept in and the tents were typical sized army tents large tents with wooden sides to them that came up approximately four feet and the bunker building project I would go every morning down to the village with it with my jeep and pick up several workers at the gate and of course we paid them like a dial or add a dollar or two a day and and we dug a hole to build this bunker in holes approximately ten to twelve by eight to ten feet wide and about seven or eight feet deep and we supported that with huge Timbers that were brought in by the engineering department and the size of the Timbers were eight by eight six by six uprights with the roofing material is four by twelve creosote did wood and we reinforced that with four for air foot stripping panels on top of that with six layers of sandbags and that was basically our bunker oh yeah this is shovels and and wheelbarrows and buckets yeah of course it took probably a month to dig the hole yeah the the bunker actually eventually got hit with direct took a direct hit with a a rocket that was one particular evening we were getting rocketed but the as the story goes was a friend of or say another worker that was in the brigade his name is rocky he was a reporter for the the battalion he was in the tent sleeping with us and this one night he had he come up to me and he had this half a Culver which is a big steel part of a drain or a pipe but like a half of a steel pipe if you will corrugated structure and approximately four feet long and two feet high maybe three feet high and very very heavy thick material and he wanted to put it on top of the roof of the bunker so jokingly he was asking me where I should put the where he should actually locate this bunk this piece of material this culver sliding it to the left or to the right or back or ford and and looking over the mountains we decided that welfare gonna rocket was to come in it would come in at a certain angle and hit-the hit-the the culver from where we're looking out into the mountains well that particular evening a rocket did come in happen to be a time-delayed rocket that hit the Culver which started the fuse on the the rocket and the rocket penetrated six layers of sandbags and and cracked the Timbers that were above our heads and saved our lives actually because the if it wasn't for the culver the rocket would have penetrated right through the bags and destroyed us inside the bunker so that little jostling around with the Culver who saved our lives no rocky was actually sleeping in the bunker with you yeah well actually I was sleeping outside when we started getting rocketed I would being out in the from coming out from the field I was used to combat and the noise and the chaos of everything I would sleep through that and when we would get rocketed on-base usually the Rockets came in and the other side of the base towards a helicopter pass because they would try to knock out the helicopters and whether this was a short round or they were trying to change their direction of attack at least started coming in around us and I was sleeping and everybody else was in the bunker and rocky actually came up and dragged me out of bed and woke me up and said we're getting hit so I ran into the bunker and I wasn't in the bunker for a minute and the rocket hit yeah I was one of those times you know it wasn't your time you know where did you go after you did you're five months at LZ Bronco as a driver well after I did my five months I came home for a month did you go anyplace also did you spend the rest of that time as a driver I stayed there as a driver so then you came home what was it like leaving country you went in as an individual replacement did you come out individually or military transport or commercial yeah well I was given my DeRose papers and which was a date of return papers and I had to get from duck fo which was or LZ Bronco was inductor to camera and Bay which is the area where we flew into country by myself somehow and so I the day that I was to leave the base camp I had I actually had two days to get to camera on Bay and I had just gone to the chopper pad and we had a small airstrip on LZ Bronco to where c-130s would come in and I just gave him my orders that I had to get the camera on Bane there's any planes going that way that I could get a lift and I ended up getting two rides basically hitchhiking by planes to get to camera Bay and made it in one day actually since you would head in Vietnam the same day as your friend Joe and Paul do you know if they were leaving the same day you were leaving not really I was always hoping that I would see them there but Joe unfortunately was was wounded after about 85 days in country so he was in Japan at that time healing and and Paul I was hoping to meet him at Cam Ranh Bay and when he actually did me and but he had gotten there I think a day before me and unfortunately left the day my fact he left two days before me so I was actually in Vietnam a year in two days but I was there at a holding area waiting to catch a plane talk to him oh yeah mm-hmm yeah we did we spent you've probably spent the day together before he gotten he called his name first so what was the feeling of leaving Vietnam uh well it's probably like you having a three-day weekend you know working and having that extra day you know that good feeling this is a good feeling I'm leaving Vietnam we flew into Fort Lewis Washington that was where we landed and and flew out of Fort Lewis Washington right - I got a plane out of there - Kennedy Airport and then Louis short tripper to Bradley and I was home at six o'clock in the morning but on the same day actually I left Vietnam on a Friday and got on a Friday at noon time and got to United States on a Friday at noon time and but caught the midnight flight the home but landed in Bradley at six o'clock next morning but from there I was assigned to Fort Benning Georgia I did we had a month off of leave well the home company homecoming was basically me walking down the aisle terminal and Bradley field meeting my parents and at 6 o'clock in the morning which was wonderful obviously but that was that was my homecoming which was good not gonna be wrong but that's all it was and then you did that beat Nepal was also home only at the same time yes he was well I was pretty much wreck mentally I had a very difficult time getting back into society it's been a great deal that time drinking heavily and that about sums up the first two weeks home and then that was just you know trying to make the best of time I had you know with the family and friends you know the world had changed quite a bit in that year that you were overseas that in Vietnam so what was your impression when you came back to the United States well Winston was kind of unique in its own sense because there wasn't so much of the anti sentiments that was going on say compared to the west coast so we really didn't have that you know that don't you call it disrespect if you will and Winstead was very welcoming open arms and you know thankful so there was no problem here really what was your reaction to that returning home well it was kind of sad your again I wasn't really involved with it directly as far as it people objecting to me personally and I just basically was having my own problems getting back into society so I wasn't really too concerned and I wasn't really worried about anybody challenging me for any reason because I was pretty much in a mill he reminded at that time anyway so I was prepared to deal with whatever I had to deal with you know I had five months to do in my tour with the army so did you do those final five months at Fort Benning I did I was assigned to a training unit that trained officers to go to Vietnam I was sergeant e5 having been in country for a year you were well qualified what kinds of things did you train these officers to do well a neat thing happened on the way to the base I became very very ill my first day there and because of my own abuse of alcohol and and also I had unknowingly picked up bloodworms in Vietnam and became very ill my first day that I had come into the Fort Benning which has happened to be a Sunday and I was in the hospital that evening were actually two o'clock in the morning Monday morning with very high fever and I was in there for two weeks at Martin Army Hospital so with they treated me for worms and mono mono Park came from alcohol abuse yeah after two weeks in the hospital what did you do well then I then I actually was offered a week I'm home on leave a sick leave and which I took that eagerly and then came back and I came back with a what they call the permanent profile which limited me to any type of heavy activity which included heavy walking running jumping crawling basically exercise in general I had to take it easy so which was a good thing because it was kind of an answer to my prayers because I didn't want to be there the training unit was was actually a bivouac unit that spent their time out in a training area in the field in rain and the weather and mud and whatever which I just came out of so I didn't want to be there so having that permanent profile limited me to to that so I ended up getting a job luckily as a CQ CQ clerk quarterly clerk and I had to report for duty one night on and three nights off and I might the night was from 4:30 in the evening afternoon until 7 o'clock in the morning and basically I patrol the building three-story building and made reports every hour and worked with it with a helper was with me and that's what I did for five months did you receive any medals or citations I received the the kind of the generic Vietnam medals that you receive Vietnam campaign ribbons combat imagery badge two Purple Hearts and a couple others I can't remember really Unit Citations things like that what were they get incident she receives a purple urge for well one in particular I was working with our ARPA tuned and we were chasing some Vietcong through an area and one Vietcong who had been shot several times by the helicopter that was observing the whole operation above us this Vietcong had gone into a cluster of racks and there was a tunnel under these cluster of rocks and I didn't know he was there and I was and I had climbed up on these two rocks and observing around the area and I didn't know he was under this this formation if you will and he had detonated a hand grenade underneath the rocks and which fortunately I was straddling two huge boulders that came together in the center and I was directly over the center and the hand grenade was directly underneath the two rocks and when they exploded or when it exploded part of a hand grenade wanted me in the arm just actually cut my arm a little bit but it definitely saved other parts of my body at the same time but once that happened I jumped off the rock fortunately and went around to the other side and found the entranceway and and to carry him but and the other one was I was working in an area it was a search-and-destroy mission that we were going through a village and basically burning the village down and sweeping the people out and destroying any type of materials are storage areas that contain food etc that would be for enemy usage and I had a hand grenade that was of a Apple they called him apples they were round a newer style that they had claimed had defective fuses and to be careful they normal hang grain would have up to I think five-second delay and these had up to zero to three second delay but they still issued us the hang grenades anyways we had loaded ourselves up with all these hand grenades and and there was a bunker that I was going to throw a hand grenade in and I did so but before you yell you yell fire in a hole and you you throw your hand grenade into the to the area that's going and I just threw the hand grenade and I turned my back to run and it exploded and a piece of the hanger nade went through the bunker and it hit me in the back but my first experience of that was I didn't realize I got hit by the hand grenade I thought a rock came out and hit me because it felt just like someone to throw a rock and hit me right in the middle of the back and it turned out that this knocked the wind out of me and I put my hand in my back feeling this pain and my hand was caught with blood so they called in a helicopter for me and dusted me off and brought me into a place and aid station and they took an x-ray and I had a piece of a hand grenade that was next to my spine it was in my back yeah well they said the good thing I think so she got a good thing a bad thing going here while they x-rayed me they saw the piece of hanger nade in my back pardon me and they said that they would probably not attempt to take it because it was so close to my spine and they said it they were going to give us some time to see if it would work it's way out and they says but the bad thing is they think I had TB which Isis no that's a good thing because TB was my ticket out of there and so they tested me for TB unfortunately I didn't have TB so I had to spend the rest of my tour there you did yeah and I never had any you know any ill effects from it so that fact I've had obviously several x-rays throughout my life after that and always asked him if they saw metal back there but now it apparently did Dave no I'm going to ask you some questions about daily life how did you stay in touch with your family when you were over in Vietnam just by letters and I had one opportunity to make a phone call and I'm trying to think I can't remember exactly what they call that but I had to uh it was all done through RTO as a radio operators way up on the hilltop and you had like three minutes to talk and they would and the phone transmit first bike I actually wrote them a letter and told him I was gonna call at a specific time and I believe it was like four o'clock in the morning back ended up four o'clock in the morning here and your phone call was bounced if you will from from ham radio operators throughout the United States till it got to your house but it was all done by CBS if you will CB radio type things so you had while you were there oh yeah yeah effect I have every letter that I sent it you know I have them and you still have my whole tour Dodie was saying what was the food like especially like when you were in recon platoon well we were resupply door issued C rations for most of the time that I was in the field in the C rations work and rations that were dated back to 1947 well the your main course would be slices of ham in a can or slices of roast beef or C the add ham roast beef Thanks spaghetti macaroni and cheese and then they had some like a small can of like cheddar cheese cans of fruit pineapple apples pears things like that and a small candy bar and Sun little salt and peppers and things like that you know so when you were in the field you'd have sea rations for three meals a day you could carry what you wanted to carry I carry I like to eat so I carried three meals yeah which case of C rations weight about 25 pounds which is last you four days I think 12 meals yeah was 12 meals in a case that was four days when you were back at base what what did you do for food well they had a regular cafeteria or mess tent and and there was hot food there wasn't much good but it was hot food so obviously we took care of it and a also had milk and now with the same mess tap or a similar one when you move to be the driver for the Intelligence Unit I know totally different different side of the camp a whole different mess tent but it would be a mess tent you'd have three hot meals a day yep yeah did you always have enough supplies ammunition clothing that kind of thing well yeah the the the supplying system was called a DX supply system where or a direct exchange in other words is you would come in from a I maneuver and to get a fresh change of clothes you would go to a supply tent or building and make a direct exchange you would change your clothes the dirty ones so they give you a fresh clothes you change and then bring the dirty ones back and that's how you worked it or if you needed new boots you'd tell them what size you go up there they'd give you new pair of boots you just give them your old pair of boots so you're just basically swapping old for new so there was really no problem as far as that goes I mean anytime you need is something you could get it did you feel pressure or stress I'm sure you did how did you cope with the pressure and the stress on being in country well I cried for the first three days being homesick and out of fear and anxiety and then kind of did some soul-searching and made my mind up what direction I was going and what I was going to do and kind of went that way you know it was it was a difficult first few days especially the evenings daytime we were always in training they're training us for what to watch out for booby traps whatever area you're going into whatever type of work you're going to be doing you know the hazards of the the you know the country you know so but the nights you'd be in your tent sleeping or thinking about home and it was it was difficult well I actually read the Bible a hand a hand sized Bible you know a small one I never read the whole thing but did a lot of praying it was about the most special thing I did cuz I wasn't really into religion that much but it made a believer out of me we played a lot of cards basically we on a stand down what what it was called when you come back from an operation you're going to stand down you're in first shower get clean clothes get a hot meal and start writing letters to home or friends and then as the day progressed you'd either you could play basketball or you know they had little courts set there you could bounce the ball around or play throw a ball or or play cards or you know socialize tell stories or if you could find a beer somewhere you get a beer or soda or whatever you know I did they had a couple of shows come around Elzy Bronco wasn't a really big spot for for bringing in troops or a shows like that because we were an AI Corps which was close to heavy enemy concentration so there wasn't a lot of that there but I did get to see a couple shows on our tour of duty if you will I never saw any I never saw any actually the only entertainment I saw was actually like Japanese singing there would be Japanese bands playing Beatles music and things like that you know but I never saw any celebrities no now I know you had said that you had a couple leaves while you were over in Vietnam where did you go on leave and one of the places did you see I went to Singapore which is my first R&R and basically stated a a u.s. supervised hotel or recommended hotel and saw the sights of Singapore or Bangkok should I say then I say Singapore banking okay it was actually Bangkok was my first one and you know toward the city of Bangkok as much as I could in five days and then came back to we did go a whole plane load of guys went to Bangkok and and a lot of us stayed at the same hotel as there was a fact I have the pamphlet the hotel pamphlet I'll show you later but you know so I made friends immediate friends on the plane there and and also there's that we you know we'd go dine together somewhere or whatever in Singapore yeah there's another five day one when I had gotten back out of the field there was an opportunity for me to take a second RNR which I was very happy to do so I chose to go to Singapore on that and basically the same thing I was taking in the country sites and what was available there did you travel anywhere else while you were in the service mmm not really no no just the basis that I was stationed at well offhand that really basic training probably had most of the fun with Joe and Paul but the rest got more intense as your time went on although we still did manage to party some but nothing nothing out of the ordinary that I could really talk to you on an interview basis what did you think of officers and what did you think of your fellow soldiers it was the fella so well the officers were I was in awe of these these guys is that their leadership capabilities were were impressive our basic training drill sergeant was was just this superior individual in training with us and we all became almost like part of his family I mean the way he trained you and and the way he shouted commands and and and drilling instructions was so we all got into it really good I mean we were all part of the band if you will I actually enjoyed it all that part of it you know the camera ride isn't was really very tight did you stay in touch with any of the friends that you met in Vietnam no I've I haven't other than Paul and Joe that obviously are still here there was only well if one other fella that I visited that was in Vietnam with meek was in Westham and I did go to visit him one time when he had gotten back and and then this other fella Melvin Dunn who I had saved him running in the wrong direction when he got into country there on that firefight I tried looking him up but didn't have much luck and so I haven't really contacted anyone else I haven't gone to an ER I'm a member of the miracle Division Association and they do have periodic reunions throughout the United States but I haven't gone to one yes what did you do in the immediate days and weeks after you were discharged well I had hopes of taking a few months off and enjoying life but ran into some family problems and a lack of money that I had thought was being put in the bank but wasn't and ended up having to go to work immediately so approximately two weeks after I was home from Fort Benning I was working for an elevator company now is that the elevator company you stayed was for your entire career oh yeah I started with Westinghouse elevator company and March 10th 1970 and [Music] basically stayed with the same company but Schindler elevator company bought out Westinghouse after probably halfway through my my tenure with in the business but the work was the same like the st. the area was the same it's just a different company we spent 36 years in the business no did you join any veterans organizations presently I'm with the VFW and Winstead post 296 I'm a the service officer of the the post right now and we just our intent is to keep the post running you know and and maintaining the building and and trying to do fundraisers and recruit new props and and a place that anybody can go actually but primarily to to make it Veterans of Foreign Wars you know community you know raising funds and the vision for the Vietnam Memorial that's right here in Winstead yes you know that was quite an anique privilege to be on the committee that was Paul and me and several other fellows and actually another woman that were on the committee a veteran all veterans and we established a monument in town and was called the Vietnam Memorial and the whole project basically was raising funds to establish this memorial and quite a rewarding thing to go through you know working with the town and putting on fundraisers and and establishing the monument for over the town to in the park so it was good yeah well we we had actually contacted a couple of architects to give us their rendition of what a monument or what their monument would be and we chose one you know and and went there and went through this the process of getting it done you know so so when was they mind you it oh god I'm thinking 1990 somewhere around there located at the East End Park and Winstead Dave how would you say that your military service affected your life well it's a complicated question but I think it it's strengthened me as an individual I think it's also created some problems in the process but overall I think it's made a better person out of me well it sums it up getting too technical did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general I would say yes yeah yeah having participated in combat it gives you a real hands-on experience if you will and what war is really about you know so yes definitely is there anything that we haven't talked about that you can recall that you'd like to add to this interview ah as a if I could just say one thing with as far as the media goes and exposure to to combat I think it's I don't think they should be doing what they're doing as far as exposing personal lives and and of individuals in combat I think a battleground is a is more like a holy thing if you will where the objective is to kill one another and I don't think it should be exposed as it is it's kind of a very private thing among soldiers neither either person who wants to die but yet it's either that or get survivor or be killed so it's basically something that's very sacred to me so now are you talking about the embedded reporters they have in the present conflict yeah I don't with all this filming of raw filming if you will of men being shot or wounded a severely wounded or you know all this it's or just showing bodies of GIS laying around or even our other enemies it's just I don't think it's right so would you serve is actually the first war that brought the war into people's living rooms and and made that possible did you ever experience having any of the media people either with your unit or in your face or anywhere around any of the operations you want not with us no they we worked the pre kind that I was in worked as a very isolated unit we were by ourselves most of the time and moved very rapidly and never had any cameramen or media with us at all do you have any other memorable experiences that I haven't asked you about no I don't think so really okay I would like to thank you for your service to our country thank you for this interview well I thank you for interviewing me it's been a privilege

Channel: ccsuvhp

Views: 32,854

Rating: 4.5775576 out of 5

Keywords: Central Connecticut State University (Organization), Vietnam War (Event), Veterans History Project Of The Library Of Congress American Folklife Center, Interview, Veteran

Id: _MO7HnzMzzo

Length: 73min 24sec (4404 seconds)

Published: Fri May 25 2012