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Cross, Lon Interview Abstract:
1. Growing Up in Independence, MO
2. Time at Dartmouth
3. Joining the Army and Basic Training
4. Choosing to be a Ranger
5. Serving in Korea
6. Later Posts, Teaching, and Retirement
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Lenehan, Michael Interview Abstract
1. Early Childhood
2. Time at Dartmouth
3. Basic Army Training and AIT
4. Artillery Service in I Corps
5. Post-War Life and Final Thoughts
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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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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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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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Hugh P. Savage. Class of 1964. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Savage discusses his childhood in Scarsdale, New York and his participation in Boy Scouts. He describes his experience as an engineering student at Dartmouth and his involvement with the Army ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps]. He discusses his involvement in Kappa Kappa Kappa and how his Christian values were important throughout his time at Dartmouth. Savage describes how the Army was his third choice branch when enlisting in the military. He discusses how he knew he would be drafted so instead he went directly into active duty, and not Officer Candidate School, after graduating from Dartmouth. Savage describes his job as an Army Executive Officer and later platoon leader while in Vietnam. He mentions his job as involving a lot of manual labor and was tasked with enforcing the perimeter. Savage describes the relationships he had with his subordinate soldiers. He explains his difficult transition back from Vietnam and his time spent getting his master’s in engineering at Northeastern University. Savage discusses his relationship with his fiancé after the war. He explains how he returned to the Army Reserves and was exempted from active duty.
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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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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 Anti-War Movement
5. Completing Service and Final Thoughts
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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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"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 played 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 year, 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 what his experience was 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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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 aero 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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Bruce D. Jolly, Class of 1965. Oral history interview documenting his service in the United States (US) Army during the Vietnam War. Jolly describes joining the Ordnance Corps in January 1968, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant, serving in Bien Hoa at the Long Binh Depot, and working as Chief of Computer Operations. Discusses living in Vietnam, the interactions between US officers and Vietnamese citizens, and the US societal perceptions shifting during his time in college, graduate school, and after the war. As a student at Dartmouth College, member of Dartmouth Society of Engineers, Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Attended Darned School of Business at University of Virginia and worked at IBM prior to serving in Vietnam.
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Hinman, Jeffrey H. Dartmouth College Class of ’68. Oral history interview documenting his experiences growing up in Rome, New York, near Fort Stanwix; living among military personnel; the ROTC protests in Dartmouth; getting drafted into the US Army; his time at Fort Dix; rejecting military pressure to buy Savings Bonds; his service as an infantryman in the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam, then as an photographer/correspondent in the 25th Infantry Division; his receipt of a "Congressional Inquiry" regarding his suitability for infantry service; racial relations within his infantry company, and the predominantly African-American mortar platoon; interactions with local Vietnamese in villages; experiencing little war action but learning about U.S. soldiers hurting themselves through their own military mistakes; watching the interrogation and waterboarding of a NVA/VC soldier; being ordered to photograph dead enemy soldiers; service as an assistant battalion legal clerk at Fort Carson; coming home from the war and his experiences with the Veterans Reading Group.
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Feltner, Jonathan Interview Abstract
1. Growing Up in Rochester and ROTC at Dartmouth
2. Post-Grad Training at Quantico
3. First Months in I Corps
4. Time as 3rd Platoon Commander and Guarding the Cua Viet
5. Post-War Return to Vietnam
6. Boat People and the S.S. Mayaguez
7. Political Views and Final Thoughts
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Couser, William Interview Abstract:
1. Growing Up in New England
2. Time at Harvard and Dartmouth Medical School
3. Tour in Vietnam
4. Civilian Training and Career
5. Final Thoughts
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William L. Cooper, Dartmouth Class of 1966. Cooper discusses to what extent religion and academic rigor held his attention in college. Drafted after college, he was told to report to duty in March 1967. Cooper was stationed and trained in Fort Knox, and instead of becoming a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, he became a chaplain’s assistant. He went to Germany in 1967 and was on a base of the 3rd Armored Division, and then transferred to the joint command base. Cooper remained in Germany for one year, and once released from service, Cooper went to law school. He began at Wayne State University, and then transferred to University of Michigan Law School and graduated in 1972. Cooper then attended library school at the University of Pennsylvania. Cooper discuses his successive jobs and retirement to Virginia.
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Calhoun, John Interview Abstract
1. Early Childhood
2. Experience at Dartmouth and ROTC
3. Attending Stanford Business School
4. Training and Social Dynamics in the Military
5. Highlights from Arrival in Vietnam
6. Transfers: Fire Direction Officer and Executive Officer
7. Returning Home