Oral History Interview with Richard (Rick) Crabtree
Title
Oral History Interview with Richard (Rick) Crabtree
Narrator (written)
Richard Crabtree
Narrator First Name
Richard
Narrator Last Name
Crabtree
Interviewer
Matt Libre
Abstract
Richard (Rick) Crabtree was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on November 12th, 1946. His father was a WWII veteran and Tuck student, and Richard’s first home was Middle Fayerweather dorm. Crabtree has three younger brothers. Crabtree graduated from Staples High School in Westport, CT in 1965 and continued on to Pierce College in Southern California. He was soon drafted by the Bridgeport, CT draft board and signed up to be a two-year naval reservist in late 1965. After completing basic training at the San Diego Naval Recruit Training Center (class 669), Crabtree then continued on to Balboa Naval Hospital for Class A Navy Corpsmen training. From there, Crabtree went to Oakland Naval Hospital to work on a neurosurgery ward, before being transferred to Camp Delmar Field Medical Service School at Pendleton Base Camp. In March 1967, Crabtree flew from Travis Air Force Base to Da Nang, Vietnam, where he joined Kilo Company 3rd battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, as part of Operation Desoto in Duc Pho working as a corpsman. Moving to Dai Loc a few months later, Crabtree sustained a severe injury on September 7th, 1967, with permanent spinal damage. Returning after 6 weeks, Crabtree remained in Vietnam for much of the Tet Offensive before returning home in March of 1968. After working briefly as a corpsman in Guyana in 1968-1969, Crabtree then returned to Colorado to work as a police officer. Crabtree has suffered serious PTSD and has been on full VA disability compensation since 1999 for effects stemming from his injuries incurred while in Vietnam.
Date of Interview
May 10, 2020
Subject
Dartmouth Family Member
Military Service (Navy)
Vietnam Era Veteran
Language
English
Rights
Interview Audio Source (MP3)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/crabtree_richard/crabtree_richard.mp3
Interview Transcript Source (PDF)
//rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/crabtree_richard/crabtree_richard_transcript_final.pdf
HTML
https://rcweb.dartmouth.edu/DDHI/histories/crabtree_richard/crabtree_richard_transcript_final.html