Oral History Interview with Donald Cohon
Title
Oral History Interview with Donald Cohon
Narrator (written)
J. Donald Cohon
Narrator First Name
J. Donald
Narrator Last Name
Cohon
Interviewer
Hannah Solomon
Abstract
J. Donald Cohon. Class of 1965. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Cohon describes his childhood in Hartford, CT, and later being sent to the Taft School. He shares his challenges as a Jewish student at an Episcopalian boarding school. Cohon also describes the challenges he experienced growing up with an alcoholic father. He describes his Dartmouth experience to be that of the “traditional Dartmouth man.” Cohon describes his many activities as a Dartmouth student. He was an English major, was president of the fraternity Chi Phi (later named Chi Heorot), was a member of the Dragon Society, and played lacrosse under coach Aiden H. “Whitey” Burnham. Cohon describes his experience teaching English to students in White River Junction as a practicum for his English major. Cohon discusses applying to the Peace Corps and the International Voluntary Services (IVS). He chose to go to Vietnam to teach English with IVS. Cohon describes becoming very interested in learning Vietnamese and was placed in a town called Vũng Tàu. Cohon shares that after Vietnam he moved to the High Hope Farm in Plainfield, NH. He explains how he lived there for a few months and then received his draft notice. Cohon discusses enlisting in the U.S. Army Security Agency where he learned Mandarin and was then sent to Taiwan. He shares that after the Army he attended University of Southern California for his graduate and Ph.D. work in clinical psychology. His post-doc work was completed at California Pacific Medical Center where he began his Vietnamese speaking psychology work. Cohon discusses the various work he has done in his career to support Vietnamese refugees and other refugees with settlement.
Date of Interview
January 26, 2016
Subject
Dartmouth Alumni
Dartmouth History
Military Service (Army)
Vietnam Era Veteran
Volunteer/Aid Work
Language
English
Rauner ID
DOH-487
Rights
Interview Audio Source (MP3)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/cohon_donald/cohon_donald.mp3
Interview Transcript Source (PDF)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/cohon_donald/cohon_donald_transcript_final.pdf
HTML
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/cohon_donald/cohon_donald_transcript_final.html