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Riggs, William Interview Abstract:
1. Childhood and Memories of the Cold War
2. Time at Dartmouth
3. Getting Drafted into the Training Aids Division
4. Support of the Antiwar Movement
5. Completing Service and Final Thoughts
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Arnold E. Resnicoff. Class of 1968. Oral history interview documenting his career at Dartmouth, his experience in the Vietnam War, and his 25 years of service as a Rabbi in the Navy. Resnicoff was a drama major, was in Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and participated in the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) on campus. He spent his junior year abroad in Israel on a kibbutz and participated in a language immersion exchange program in France during his senior year. While in Vietnam Resnicoff was assigned as the Jewish lay leader to his unit and befriended the Episcopal chaplain who encouraged him to pursue a career as a rabbi. Resnicoff attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and reentered the Navy as a Rabbi where he worked for 25 years. One of his assignments was to the U.S. 6th Fleet during the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. He gave the opening prayer for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, November 13, 1982.
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Joseph C. Picken III. Dartmouth College Class of 1965 and Tuck Class of 1966. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Picken describes growing up in Ames, Iowa. He explains how he discovered Dartmouth and his arrival to campus. Picken describes wearing a freshman beanie, playing freshman lacrosse, rowing for the crew team, and road trips to other colleges. Picken discusses what the Navy Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) program was like on campus and during his summer trainings. He describes how he would find ways to skirt the rules during his NROTC trainings. Picken describes Dartmouth campus culture and the climate on campus as the war was building up. He discusses flight training school in Corpus Christie, Texas. Picken describes his experience with the Tuck School of Business 3-2 program, and how different it was than his undergraduate experience. He describes how he paid for his second year of Tuck by working as a computer programmer for Chase Manhattan Bank, writing software on the time-sharing system. Picken explains being assigned to the USS Arneb out of Norfolk, Virginia. He describes his time spent on the USS Goldsborough in the Philippines as an auxiliary engineer. He discusses how the ship was given a Navy Unit Commendation award because of their involvement in the war. Picken shares a memory of his fraternity brother David L. Nicholas, Class of 1966, who was on the Goldsborough with him and was later killed in action. Picken describes life on the ship and the details of his position. He discusses his later post as a commanding officer and the amount of responsibility he had in that role. He describes the difficulty of communicating with his family and friends while on board the ship. Picken discusses his return to Hanover in a position at Creare LLC, his work as a “turnaround” guy, and his return to a Ph.D. program and work as a professor. Picken shares his belief that everyone should be required to serve in the military or a public service position and how much he gained from his experience in the Navy.
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Richard J. Parker, Class of 1968. Oral history interview documenting his experiences as an activist during the Vietnam War. Parker discusses his early interactions with national politics, his religious background, and his experiences with the civil rights movement. In particular, he describes his firsthand observations of the Watts riots in 1965, his work with the Dartmouth-Talladega Upward Bound program in Alabama in 1966, and his participation in campus protests. Parker discusses his time as a student at Dartmouth, including his involvement in Bones Gate, the crew team, Casque and Gauntlet, and the Dartmouth Christian Union (DCU). He recounts his initial attempts to obtain Conscientious Objector status with the Selective Service and his later decision to submit his draft card. Parker describes his participation in anti-war protests and his experiences campaigning for Eugene J. McCarthy during the 1968 presidential campaign.
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Michael W. Parker. Class of 1964. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Parker describes his time at Dartmouth and his involvement with the Navy ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps]. He discusses how he participated in the Navy ROTC program throughout the summer. Parker describes how he was able to walk on to the Dartmouth ski team. He discusses his decision to postpone dental school to join the Navy and his experience being sent to Vietnam. Parker describes working on the staff of Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. Parker discusses Admiral Zumwalt’s leadership and the ways in which he believed Zumwalt had transformed the Navy. He discusses his work to control the Mekong Delta in Vietnam while aboard the USS Frigate Bird, performing mine countermeasures and swimmer defense operations. Parker details how the Navy developed riverine warfare during Vietnam. After his time in Vietnam, Parker explains how he attended dental school at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and remained in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He describes being offended by the antiwar acts that his fellow classmates participated in rather than attending class while a student at Tufts. Parker shares how he was sent back to the USS Frigate Bird after he completed dental school. He discusses his career after dental school which included teaching for three years with the Navy Officer Candidate School, four years in Scotland, and 11 years teaching for the Naval Postgraduate Dental School.
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V. Bruce Pacht, Class of 1967. Oral history interview documenting Pacht’s time as an anti-war protester, as well as his participation in the take-over of Parkhurst Hall. Pacht details his journey from Dartmouth College to Stanford University, the protest at Parkhurst, and life in the Wooden Shoe commune in Canaan, New Hampshire.
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Francis X. Oscadal, Librarian at Dartmouth College Library, 1982-2016. Oral history interview documenting his experience as a conscientious objector (CO) during the Vietnam War. Oscadal describes the process of becoming recognized as a CO, his reasoning for pursuing CO status, and his work as a military draft counselor. He discusses the educational and career paths that led him to his position at Dartmouth.
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Denis R. O’Neill, Dartmouth College Class of 1970. He played baseball, soccer, and hockey varsity sports at Dartmouth, until senior year during which he only played varsity Hockey. O’Neill discusses political climate at time in Westport, Connecticut and his father’s political engagement and anti-war activism with friends such as Theodore Geisel [“Dr. Seuss”]. He pledged Chi Phi Heorot [now Chi Heorot], was a member of Casque and Gauntlet senior society. He discusses how being in a fraternity shaped his views of the war, something which Billy Smoyer’s (Class of 1967) death did as well: as a catalyst for more war protests. O’Neill talks about the accuracy of reporting by journalists versus the government and various perceptions on campus. He describes the Parkhurst Protest of the war, led by the SDS [Students for a Democratic Society]. O’Neill discusses the campus climate during the lottery and his exemption. After graduating, he served as a seaman aboard the S.S. Mobil Fuel, then became a folk singer. Then, O’Neill attended Boston University’s School of Journalism and wrote a memoire titled WHIPLASH: When the Vietnam War Rolled a Hand Grenade into the Animal House.
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Daniel D. Nixon. Class of 1955. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Nixon describes his childhood growing up during the Depression in California and Pennsylvania. He shares how his family physician was a Dartmouth graduate and encouraged and sponsored him to attend Dartmouth. Nixon discusses his academic transition to Dartmouth as a difficult one. He shares his feelings about the college and his continued close relationships with his fraternity brothers from Tau Epsilon Phi, a Jewish fraternity during him time. He discusses his time in medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and various residencies and internships in oncology and hematology. He describes his time in Vietnam as a participant in the Berry Plan. He discusses basic training at Fort Sam in Texas, and Fort Ord in California. He describes his path to how he eventually ended up in Vietnam in August 1966. He shares how he was sent to Cam Ranh Bay to work at the 6th Convalescent Center. Nixon describes his experience as a military doctor while in Vietnam. He shares how he was later sent to setup the 12th Evacuation Hospital at Củ Chi Base Camp. Nixon discusses why he was sent home early on compassionate leave. His wife, Tamara Nixon, briefly speaks to the interviewer about her experience corresponding to her husband while he was serving in Vietnam. Nixon describes how he was sent to work at Valley Forge Army Hospital outside of Philadelphia, when he returned from Vietnam. Nixon shares his feelings about antiwar protestors and his sense of duty and pride to have served his country. Nixon returns for a second interview to discuss his experience with the VA hospital, exposure to Agent Orange and diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.
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John M. Morton, Head Coach, Dartmouth Skiing, 1978-1989. Oral history interview documenting his athletic career and his military service during the Vietnam War. Morton describes his years as an undergraduate at Middlebury College, including participation in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and the ski team. He discusses infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, after graduation, as well as the two years he spent stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska, while training to compete in the biathlon in the Olympics. Morton describes how his Olympic training was interrupted by orders to deploy to Vietnam, and details his service leading a Mobile Advisory Team (MAT) in the Mekong Delta, and later working as an instructor at a school for Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) advisers. He discusses returning to the United States after his tour in Vietnam and resuming his Olympic training at the Biathlon Training Center. Morton details his career as an Olympic biathlete and his time as head coach of Dartmouth Skiing.
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Thomas L. Miller. Class of 1965. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Miller describes his involvement with the Boy Scouts as a child. He shares how he was actively involved in various extra curriculars. Miller discusses his time a coxswain on the crew team, his participation in the Dartmouth Outing Club, and Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. Miller joined the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He describes being sent to Germany after he enlisted in the Army. Miller recounts his time in Germany as being a very social and enjoyable experience. He met his wife there and married her shortly before being sent to Vietnam. During Vietnam Miller describes being involved in the cavalry. He shares that he did not experience many casualties during him time and had a rather different experience than many other soldiers in the Army during the war. Miller describes how the first time he met his son was in Hawaii while on Rest and Relaxation (R&R) because his wife was pregnant when he was deployed. When he returned from Vietnam Miller describes feeling lucky that he did not experience many anti-war protestors aside from his sister. Miller was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey and focused on military law while completing his service to the Army. When Miller left the Army he worked for the Continental Illinois National Bank while completing his MBA at Northwestern University. He shares how he was sent to London to work for the bank for six years, was sent and back to the States for 12 years, moved to Japan, and back to the United Kingdom, and has been in the U.K. for over 20 years.
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Ray A. Meyer. Class of 1965. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Meyer describes his childhood in Ridgewood, New Jersey as a son of immigrant parents from the Netherlands. Meyer explains how his family was working-class living in a wealthy suburb of New York City. He describes how being a Boy Scout might have contributed to his decision to join the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at Dartmouth. Meyer describes how Dartmouth’s Air Force ROTC experienced a reorganization and all members has to re-enroll at which point Meyer chose to not sign up again. Meyer describes participating in the Glee Club. Upon graduation from Dartmouth Meyer discusses his time in law school at Boston University (BU). Meyer shares his experience working in the Office of Legislative Services in New Hampshire. While working in New Hampshire he learned that he was accepted into the Foreign Service Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) program. Meyer shares his experience in Vietnam with CORDS. He describes his experience as very different than most people involved in the Vietnam War. In between his time spent in Vietnam he was sent to Brussels to the U.S. Mission to the European Union. Meyer shares his experience working in Bonn, Germany with the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1989 and his involvement in lawyering the reunification of Germany. After his work in Germany Meyer discusses his involvement with nuclear nonproliferation law and civil liability for nuclear damage.
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Kenneth McGruther Interview Abstract:
1. Childhood and Adolescence
2. Experience in Dartmouth’s Navy ROTC Program
3. Campus Political Culture
4. Post-Grad Naval Training
5. Service on the USS Loyalty and USS Hissem
6. Service on the USS Roark
7. Naval War College
8. Civilian Career and Final Thoughts
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Francis C. “Bud” McGrath. Class of 1964. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. McGrath shares details about his childhood in Massachusetts. He describes his transition to Dartmouth. He explains how he began as an engineering major and quickly began looking for a new major and became an English major. He discusses his participation in Alpha Theta fraternity, the Newman Club, and playing on the hockey team. He describes his involvement with the Army ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps]. McGrath explains how he went directly into the Army after graduation. McGrath discusses why he selected to take a regular commission and his time spent in the Army. He explains how he began in Germany for two years, went to Fort Huachuca in Arizona to train soldiers going to Vietnam, and finally was sent to Vietnam for one year beyond his initial commitment to the military. He discusses his job as a company commander and his experience in Vietnam. McGrath shares how he became disillusioned and untrusting of the Army during his year in Vietnam. He describes his transition back to the United States after his tour in Vietnam. He describes how he became involved in antiwar activities as a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin. McGrath describes his career path after graduate school. McGrath describes his involvement with Professor Edward Miller’s course at Dartmouth.
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Peter E. Luitwieler. Class of 1964. Son of Clarence Seward Luitwieler, Class of 1924. Oral history for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Luitwieler describes his experience as a Dartmouth student participating in the 3-2 program with the Tuck School of Business. Luitwieler shares his experience participating in freshman hockey and football, playing on the rugby team, joining Phi Delta Alpha, and majoring in Spanish. He describes his experience with the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and being classified as 4-F, not fit for service. He describes how his classification was changed and how he was later drafted. Luitwieler discusses his time in Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. He describes how he wanted to go to language school to learn Vietnamese but was instead selected for Army intelligence and was sent to Fort Holabird, Maryland. Luitwieler describes being sent to the northernmost part of Vietnam, the Quảng Trj Province. He describes his participation in the Phoenix Program and his job doing military intelligence during the Vietnam War.
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F. Beirne Lovely. Class of 1968. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Lovely discusses his time as a student at Dartmouth, his experience during the Vietnam War, and briefly about his career as a lawyer. While at Dartmouth Lovely participated in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), joined crew his freshman year, and joined rugby and Chi Heorot his sophomore year. Lovely switched from the Army to the Marine Corps upon graduating from Dartmouth. Lovely attended a six-month training at The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia before being deployed to Vietnam. He was a second lieutenant and requested to go into the infantry and was assigned to Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 0302. He was first stationed at Khe Sanh and was tasked with expanding the perimeter and describes a particularly deadly attack on his unit. Lovely frequently describes the men in the Marine Corps as having done a remarkable job.
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Long, Thomas Interview Abstract
1. Childhood and Political Consciousness in Colorado
2. Time at Dartmouth and Navy ROTC
3. USS Springfield
4. Law Education at Harvard
5. Civilian Career and Final Thoughts
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William P. Link. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Link discusses his childhood, growing up in Laredo Texas in a family of eleven children. He shares his experience as a white child in a majority Mexican American community. He describes the transition from Texas to the Naval Academy where he attended college. Link shares what was expected of him as a student at the Naval Academy and an experience marching in JFK’s funeral as a midshipman. He describes his semester spent in Peru at the Peruvian Naval Academy. He describes his first assignment on the USS Nicholas, a destroyer out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Link was a communications officer. He describes life on ship, his duties, and where the ship traveled. Link discusses command duty officer school in Newport, Rhode Island, prior to his assignment as chief engineer on the anti-submarine destroyer, the USS Brownson. He describes his time at Vietnamese language and counterinsurgency school in Coronado, California. Link discusses his time as an American advisor on a Vietnamese riverboat, Vietnamese ship 229, on the Mekong Delta. He shares his medals and service ribbons from combat. He discusses his experience at Northeastern University working on his master’s degree in business. Link describes his career post graduate school working in computer companies.
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James Laughlin III, Class of 1964. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States (US) Army during the Vietnam War. Laughlin recalls his experience in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at Dartmouth College; his commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve; and his active duty service at the Officers Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia as a combat intelligence officer in the Military Intelligence Corps of the U.S. Army. He describes taking an intelligence crash course at Fort Holabird and arriving in Vietnam to serve in the II Field Force, near Bien Hoa Air Base. Laughlin discusses his experience during the Tet Offensive and his later assignment to the Military Assistance Command in the Mekong Delta. He recalls missions completed, including aerial reconnaissance operations in the IV Corps. Laughlin shares his views of the Vietnam War, his thoughts on government and the role of the soldier in that war as compared to more current wars (Afghanistan and Iraq). He also describes the effect of Agent Orange on him, and the treatment of veterans with other war-related disabilities by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
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David H. Kruger, Dartmouth Class of 1964. Oral history interview documenting his experience as a Dartmouth College student and his military service during the Vietnam War. Kruger attended Phillips Exeter Academy for high school, and spent four years at Dartmouth in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and trained in Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Kruger entered into the Military Intelligence branch (MI) and worked in the United States for the first two years safeguarding information. He then spent one year in An Khê, Vietnam, collecting, synthesizing, and delivering information as the liaison officer to the commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division (1st Cav). Kruger left Vietnam in January of 1967. He was registered as a disabled veteran at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and then spent a fourth year in the army at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Kruger left the army and went into the private insurance sector, working for the same company for 30 years and retiring at age 55. He discusses his travels, his return (multiple times) to Vietnam, and his retirement. He published a family history, winning the Donald Lines Jacobus Award (National prize for genealogy), and joined the boards of Wentworth Institute of Technology and New England Historic Genealogical Society. He has since published other family histories. Kruger also discusses his geopolitical views of current events, and of the Vietnam War.
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Glen R. Kendall, Dartmouth College Class of 1964, Tuck School of Business Class of 1971. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States (US) Army during the Vietnam War. Kendall discusses his experience at Dartmouth studying economics and participating in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He describes his time in an Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) at Fort Benning, Georgia, and his assignment to an infantry position in Europe, as Captain of the Airborne Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Mainz, Germany. In Vietnam, he was in the 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Chu Lai. He then became battalion staff (battalion logistics officer) near Tam Ky. Kendall returned to the US after sustaining injuries in a firefight and was subsequently awarded a Purple Heart. He discusses his opinion of war, the Iraq War, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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Allen L. Keiswetter. Class of 1966. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Keiswetter describes growing up in various towns in Kansas and Oklahoma and his transition to Dartmouth. He shares that athletics were not of particular interest and that he was more focused on academics as a child and in college. His interest in politics began during John F. Kennedy’s election. Keiswetter retells the story of his first encounter with his freshman year roommate, Landon [B.] Jeffers, Class of 1966. Keiswetter describes his freshman English class with Professor [Arthur] Dewing, as being very influential. He describes being exposed to Robert Frost, who gave his last lecture to Keiswetter’s class before his death. Keiswetter discusses his work as a student with Robert J. “Bob” Dole & Nelson A. Rockefeller. While at Dartmouth he describes himself as being a “Green Weenie” rather than a “Big Greenie”, more studious versus more athletic. He discusses his year spent at the European Studies Center in Bologna, Italy after graduation. From there, Keiswetter describes his transition into the Foreign Service Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) program and his time spent in Vietnam through that program. He shares his experience in Vietnam and explains how different his time was versus those who were serving in the military. He describes being able to move freely without much disruption or fear. Keiswetter describes himself as a Europeanist even though the bulk of his career focused on the Middle East. Keiswetter describes his career as a scholar at the Middle East Institute, a professor at the National War College, the National Defense Intelligence College, and at the University of Maryland.
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Alan C. Keiller. Dartmouth Class of 1966 and Tuck School of Business Class of 1967. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Keiller discusses being one of three boys in his family who attended Dartmouth. Keiller describes his participation in the Navy Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) while at Dartmouth. He discusses his participation in freshman football. Keiller describes the summer trainings for the NROTC spent in Norfolk, Virginia at the Norfolk Naval Station and Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Virginia. He shares his experience as a student in the 3-2 program at Tuck. Keiller describes getting married upon graduation and being sent to nuclear power school for six months. He describes many technical challenges and advantages of nuclear reactors that powered the Naval ships he worked on. He tells stories about his time on the USS Truxtun. He discusses the difference between the men who operate the nuclear reactors and the enlisted men. Keiller shares stories about his time as an instructor for the Navy in Saratoga Springs, New York. He discusses Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, known as the “father of the nuclear Navy.”
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Keane, John Interview Abstract
1. Childhood and Political Awareness in Huntington, NY
2. Time at Dartmouth
3. Peace Corps Experience in Colombia
4. Time in Vietnam with the Foreign Service
5. Post-War Career and Final Thoughts
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Calvin C. Jones Jr., Class of 1973. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States (US) Army during the Vietnam War. Jones describes his upbringing as son of radio operator in the Navy Reserves who served in World War Two [WWII] and Korea. He details his history at Dartmouth College, attending on a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship, entering in 1965, receiving suspension in 1966, and returning to Dartmouth in 1971. Jones discusses his induction into the Army in October 1966; basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina; training in enlisted ranks as combat engineer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and service at Bien Hoa Air Base, Vietnam, in the 1st Cavalry Division (1st Cav, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade), where he was promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain. After returning to US, Jones taught at the engineering school at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and continued his studies. Jones shares anecdotes of his time in Vietnam, as well as his perspective on the current government and party system, and the early 21st century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.