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William “Bill” Jevne. Class of 1966 and Tuck 1967. Oral history of his time spent at Dartmouth College, his experience in Vietnam, and the lasting impact the war had on him. Jevne describes making the varsity hockey team his sophomore year under coach Edward “Eddie” Jeremiah, Class of 1930. Jevne describes his experience on the hockey team as very enjoyable. He discusses wearing the freshman beanies. Jevne joined Theta Pi, later named Beta Alpha Omega, his sophomore year. Jevne discusses his participation in the Two-three program with Tuck and what it was like as a young Tuck student. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and attended Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. He describes his relationship with and subsequent death of William “Bill” S. Smoyer, Class of 1967. After learning about Smoyer’s death shortly after arriving in Vietnam, Jevne explains how his mindset shifted regarding the war. Jevne details various difficult incidents and losses of members of his unit throughout his time in Vietnam. He highlights how these events lead to his PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] which he struggled with throughout his life. Jevne discusses how Agent Orange caused his prostate cancer.
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David C Johnston, Dartmouth Class of 1966. Johnston shares home of his family: his parents background and his various siblings. He considered attending a military academy, but eventually settled on Dartmouth and was recruited for football, but quit shortly after joining. He also joined a fraternity, and majored in Government. He founded the Negro College Exchange Fund at Tucker Foundation (now The Tucker Center). Joined the U.S. Air Force ROTC [Reserve Officers Training Corps]. Attended University of Madison Wisconsin at Madison for a Masters in Urban Planning. He was part of the Dow Chemical riot of 1966. Discusses the trend of war in U.S. history, and international politics. He then describes his later life: meeting his wife and working for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Johnston describes his retirement and creation of his own organization, the Center for Higher Education Retention Excellence. He also teaches college at Eastern Connecticut State University.
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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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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.
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Vietnam veteran and alumn Stephen E. Katz ‘56
describes his experience in Vietnam and his perception of the socio-political climate of the time. Katz further discusses his stance on the conflict as well as his perception of the Vietnamese while on-ground.
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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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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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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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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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James T. Kloppenberg ’73 discusses his experience as a Dartmouth Professor during the Vietnam War era, as well as his perception of the socio-political climate of the time. In this interview, Kloppenberg also explores how America's post-World War II belief in its global dominance and the purging of experts during the McCarthy era contributed to a simplified understanding of the struggle against global communism and a lack of understanding of the situation in Asia, especially in Vietnam.
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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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Vietnam veteran Ron Laliberte describes his experience in Vietnam and his perception of the socio-political climate of the time. Laliberte further discusses his stance on the conflict as well as his perception of the Vietnamese while on-ground.
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Vietnam veteran and Dartmouth alumn Stephen Landa ‘67 describes his experience in Vietnam and his perception of the socio-political climate of the time. Landa further discusses his stance on the conflict as well as his perception of the Vietnamese while on-ground.
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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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Phuoc Le discusses his experiences in Vietnam, his perception of the war, as well as the process of assimilating into the United States as a refugee from the war.
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Stephen Le was born in 1974 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Through the Amerasian Homecoming Act, Stephen moved to Burlington, VT, in 1992 with his Amerasian sister, two younger brothers, and mother. His family left Vietnam because of Stephen’s Amerasian sister, his mother’s former support for the Americans, and the opportunity available in the US. Six months after arriving in the US, Stephen moved to Boston, MA, where he attended school for English and received his license to work in the nails business. In Boston, he went from working in a nail salon to owning his own nail business. At age 21, he married his first wife, Hien Tran, with whom he had three daughters. After owning his business in Boston for 15 years, Stephen moved to Hanover, NH, where he took over Nefertiti Nails, a local nail salon. He married his second wife, Thuy “Mary” Hong, whom he met in Saigon on his way to visit Nha Trang. After their marriage, in 2013, Mary immigrated to the US and joined Stephen at Nefertiti Nails. Mary and Stephen have two daughters together and currently live in Lebanon, NH.
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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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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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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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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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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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In this Oral History Interview, Lai Maccarone discusses his experiences in Vietnam, his perception of the war, and assimilating into the United States as a war refugee.
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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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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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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