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Cooper, Douglas Interview Abstract:
1. Childhood in Ohio and Time at Dartmouth
2. Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI
3. First Tour on the USS Morton and the “Third” Gulf of Tonkin Incident
4. Second Tour
5. Law School and Civilian Life
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Peter H. Zastrow. Class of 1961. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Zastrow documents his time in the Army during the Vietnam War. He describes his childhood moving across the United States. Zastrow discusses his time as an undergraduate student at Dartmouth, and his involvement in the Glee Club and the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Zastrow shares how he received a deferment from the Army to attend graduate school, studying English at Indiana University. He describes being sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas after graduate school to write and proof-read field manuals for the Vietnam War. Zastrow shares how he was sent to Vietnam to write stories about the 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division to be publishes in Army newsletters. After the Vietnam War, Zastrow describes how he participated in anti-war activities with Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).
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Kent Yrchik-Shoemaker, Assistant Dean of the College. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Yrchik-Shoemaker describes his experience growing up in Minnesota, Washington D.C., and London, England. He discusses his experience attending Michigan State University as an undergraduate student and participating in the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He describes racial tensions on campus and why he chose to participate in the ROTC. Yrchik-Shoemaker describes his internal conflict with not believing in the Vietnam War and his sense of duty to serve his country. He shares why his friends called him the “ROTC Hippie” and his involvement with anti-war protests. Yrchik-Shoemaker discusses race relations in the military, his feelings of paranoia, and decision to leave flight training school through a process called self-initiated elimination. He explains why and how he had a mental health note in his military file. He describes his transfer to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where he was trained as a satellite operations controller and his job as crew chief. Yrchik-Shoemaker discusses how he stayed an extra two years in the service and attended classes for counseling. He describes how the Vietnam War was coming to a close and how it impacted his time in the Air Force. He shares his growing mistrust of the military the longer he worked for them. Yrchik-Shoemaker discusses his role as an Assistant Dean at Dartmouth and his involvement with the undergraduate veterans and the challenges returning to school presented for them. He shares his feelings on the current challenges veterans face when they were active military.
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Curtis R. Welling. Class of 1971. Oral history interview documenting his childhood, career at Dartmouth, six years spent in the National Guard, his return to campus as a student at the Tuck School of Business, and as a Senior Fellow at the Tuck School of Business from 2013-2017. Welling lived in French Hall his freshman year and played on the freshman football team. Welling joined the college radio station, WDCR, as a sports broadcaster. While most of his time with WDCR was spent on sports, he was sent to broadcast the Parkhurst takeover in 1969. He joined Phi Delta Alpha and was an English major and a government minor. Welling describes the cultural climate in the United States and at Dartmouth leading up to the Vietnam War, postwar, and contemporary political and economic challenges. Welling describes not wanting to go to Vietnam and had anticipated being exempt because of respiratory allergies but was not given the exemption and therefore joined the National Guard.
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Marshall F. Wallach. Class of 1965. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Wallach describes his childhood growing up in a military family. He discusses the impact 36 moves in 30 years had on him. He shares how moving made him able to adapt to new situations and have a broader perspective on the world but also made it difficult to make lasting friendships from childhood. Wallach discusses his experience attending The Hill School, a boys residential school in Pennsylvania. He describes his transition to Dartmouth and discusses his involvement in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Kappa Sigma Fraternity [now Chi Gamma Epsilon], the Tennis team, Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, the Interfraternity Council Judicial Committee, and Cask and Gauntlet. Wallach explains how he graduated as a distinguished military graduate and was able to decide between three years of service in a regular commission or two years of service as a reserve officer. He explains why he selected the reserve officer commission and was sent to Fort Knox in Kentucky for Army Officer Basic School.
He explains how he decided to defer from business school and volunteered for an additional year in Vietnam. Wallach discusses his position as the executive officer for the 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment. He describes the unique situation that his entire unit was sent as a group to Pleiku in Vietnam in August of 1967. Wallach describes his time in Vietnam as being mostly hot, dirty, dusty, rainy, and filled with long stretches of boredom. Wallach discusses the second part of his tour as the squadron intelligence officer for the squadron commander’s staff responsible for intelligence, located at Kon Tum, Vietnam. He shares his experience flying dawn patrols and a story when he was shot down. He also describes his other task of leading long-range patrols. In addition, he describes how he was moved from Pleiku to Kon Tum, the night before the Tet Offensive. Wallach shares that it did not take him long to realize he had made a mistake to volunteer to go to Vietnam and chose to discontinue his service after one additional year. Wallach discusses his return from Vietnam and transition to the Harvard Business School. He describes the climate on campus during his graduate studies.
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Daniel J. Walden, Class of 1965. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Walden describes his time as a student at Dartmouth College, including his involvement with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) mountain and winter warfare unit. He discusses his Army training at Fort Gordon, Fort Sill, and Fort Benning jump school; his assignment as a signal officer in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg and his participation in the suppression of the 1967 Detroit riot; and his assignment to the 101st Airborne Divison in Vietnam, including his service during the Tet Offensive and a severe typhoon. Walden shares his experience with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcoholism after the war, and his perspectives on Dartmouth, his education, and his military service.
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G. Theodore Talbot Jr., Class of 1965. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Talbot describes growing up in New Jersey and his experience attending Peddie School for his junior and senior years of high school. He describes himself as being a good student and finished third in his graduating class from high school. Talbot discusses his arrival to Dartmouth, his participation in the Outing Club, joining Phi Kappa Psi, and joining the Army ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps]. He discusses his social life as mostly revolving around Outing Club activities. Talbot describes his time after Dartmouth as a graduate student at Princeton prior to receiving his orders for Vietnam. Talbot discusses his transition from school into the Army in January of 1969. He shares that most of his work was administrative/project management desk work. Talbot describes his time in an ARPA [Advanced Research Projects Agency] field unit in Vietnam. He shares his perspective on the Army’s phrase, “win their hearts and their minds will follow” as having not been successful. Talbot describes being pro-war prior to arriving in Vietnam and very quickly became disillusioned which lead to a sense of mistrust in governments. He recounts his time after the Vietnam War and his career in market research and how he returned to a career in counseling.
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Nicholas J. Steffen, Dartmouth College Class of 1966. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. Steffen discusses his experience at Dartmouth, including participation in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) and campus radio. He describes his military service, including service on the USS Lexington; flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola; assignment to the naval aviation squadron VXN-8 (initially known as VX-8); deployment to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam; service during the fall of Saigon; service as a designated instructor pilot, head instructor, standardization officer, and operations officer at the Naval Air Facility in Detroit, Michigan; deployment to Naval Air Station Cubi Point, the Philippines; and service at the Naval Air Facility at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. Steffen discusses his retirement from the Navy and his later work for Henson Airlines.
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David M. Stearns, Class of 1968. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Stearns describes his experiences as a student at Dartmouth College, including his observations of the anti-war movement on campus. He discusses the military service draft and his decision to enlist in the Army. Stearns recalls training at Fort Ord; working at the Fort Hood computer center; being stationed in Long Binh, Vietnam; and maintaining a relationship with his wife and newborn child during his service. Stearns also shares his opinions on the war, the socioeconomic elements of the draft, current politics, and the treatment of veterans.
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Steven L. Sloca. Class of 1966. Oral history for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Sloca describes his childhood moving across the United States, being the son of a WWII POW and losing his mother at the age of eight. Sloca shares that his father remarried, had more children and became a born-again Christian which strained their relationship. He describes his experience at Dartmouth and his participation in the Army ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps], specifically in the Mountain and Winter Warfare Unit. Sloca shares that he joined the Army ROTC because of financial reasons, his belief that it was his duty to serve in the military, and that his draft number was in the top 10. Sloca also describes his involvement with the newspaper, The Dartmouth, as being a large part of his time spent as a student. After Dartmouth, Sloca discusses his time at Yale Law School on a deferment from the Army. Sloca details his transition to military police officer’s basic training in Fort Gordon, Georgia. He shares a story about his arrival in Vietnam and his assignment as an Executive Officer of Headquarters in Headquarters Company, Saigon Support Command, in Long Binh Post. Sloca describes his experience as a Military Police Officer and how easily he was able to move about Saigon. Sloca shares his perceptions of the drug use, specifically heroin, in Vietnam. He discusses the story of how he met his wife and how he managed to get her out of Vietnam back into the United States. Sloca shares details about his return home from Vietnam and his new job in Los Angeles where he practiced law until his retirement.
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Jeremy B. Rutter. Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies, Sherman Fairchild Professor Emeritus in the Humanities. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Rutter describes his experience as the son of a foreign service member who lived in many places throughout the world. He describes his high school experience at Philips Exeter Academy. Rutter discusses his time as a student at Haverford College. He shares his experience being drafted for the Army. Rutter describes how he was sent to language school and then it was cancelled so he instead had to learn how to become a radio operator. Rutter shares how he was placed in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and never saw direct combat in Vietnam. He describes his transition back to the United States and completing his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. Rutter describes how he began working at Dartmouth in 1976 until 2012.
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Gary M. Rubus. Class of 1967. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Rubus describes his childhood and family connections to the military. He describes spending his summers in high school working on a farm in Nebraska. Rubus describes joining the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, participating in the Psi Upsilon fraternity, playing lacrosse, and studying Russian language and literature while a student at Dartmouth. Rubus discusses his pilot training at Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring, Texas and his F-4 qualification program at George Air Force Base in Victorville, California. Rubus discusses his desire to become to best fighter pilot he possibly could during his time in training and during the Vietnam War. He describes his arrival to Thailand at the Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in February of 1969. He shares how his first tour was focused on attacking ground targets in Laos, southern North Vietnam, and occasionally South Vietnam and Cambodia. Rubus describes the psychological difference between a ground combat fighter versus an aerial combat fighter. He shares that the closest he got to hand to hand combat was when he was the last U.S. Air Force pilot to have an aerial fighter-on-fighter victory of with a cannon. Rubus describes a time when he was shot down on a combat mission. He describes returning to Dartmouth while on rest and recovery and feeling very unwelcome. He details what it was like to attend the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course and his experience becoming a flight instructor. He describes being deployed to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. He shares his experience during the Vietnam War as being highly focused on the work rather than why or how the country was involved in the war. He explains how this focus had an impact on his personal life, and began questioning his involvement in the Air Force. Rubus describes how he ended up working as the Air Force attaché for four years at the Embassy of the United States, Moscow. He shares his role in establishing relations between the US Air Force and the Russian Air Force. Rubus discusses his retirement from the Air Force in 1998 and his work with Lockheed Martin.
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Jeffrey L. Rogers, Dartmouth College Class of 1966. Rogers’ father was friend to Richard M. Nixon and secretary of state under his administration. At Dartmouth he played intramural sports, was the president of his fraternity, majored in History, and was a Senior Fellow. He talks about the spirit of activism surrounding the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war while at Dartmouth. Rogers attended Harvard Medical School but dropped out after the first year. He applied to Officer Candidate School [OCS] in the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army while still serving. Rogers did well in OCS and trained in navigation. In Vietnam, he served as a navigator, an officer of the deck, and a landing signals officer aboard the USS Repose, a hospital ship. Rogers describes the ship and the operations aboard. For his second year of active duty he was stationed in the Pentagon. Afterwards he attended Yale Law School, a part of the class of 1973, where he befriended the Clintons. He then became a manager of an office in Portland, Oregon and retired as a lawyer in 2004. Rogers obtained a master’s degree in counseling, becoming a mental health counselor. He currently works as a counselor with combat vets, specifically focusing on PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. Rogers discusses Watergate, government, recent wars, and returning to Vietnam in 2004, with his son.
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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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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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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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C. James Martel, resident of the Upper Valley. Oral history interview documenting his military service during the Vietnam War. Martel discusses his early life and his undergraduate education at the University of Detroit, where he was a member of the class of 1965, studied aeronautical engineering, and joined the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Martel recounts his military experience, including pilot training at Moody Air Force Base, service at Castle Air Force Base in California, service in the 337th Bombardment Squadron and 96th Strategic Aerospace Wing, and missions flown to Vietnam between 1968 and 1971. Martel describes his graduate studies in environmental engineering at the University of Massachusetts, his work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), and his doctoral studies at Colorado State University.
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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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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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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.