- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of Wilson T. Dreger
- Creator:
- Lowance, David
Dreger, Wilson T., 1931- - Date of Original:
- 2005-07-18
- Subject:
- Korean War, 1950-1953
Jeffcoat, Ollie Marlin, 1911-1997
Mason, Jesse W.
Taylor, Harry
Gillem, Alvan Cullom, Jr., 1888-1973
Dornbush, Kirk
DeLong (Destroyer escort : DE-684)
United States. Army. Junior ROTC
Georgia Institute of Technology
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 24th
United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 21st (1866-1958)
United States. Army. Counterintelligence Command
United States. Army. Army Reserve Command, 81st
Army War College (U.S.)
Mason, Jesse W., (Dean, Georgia Institute of Technology)
Taylor, Harry (instructor at North Fulton High School.)
United States. Army Commanding General Staff College - Location:
- Korea, Kimpo-si
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Fort McPherson, 33.70733, -84.43354
United States, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Leavenworth, Fort Leavenworth, 39.345184, -94.921703
United States, Pennsylvania, Cumberland County, North Middleton, Carlisle Barracks, 40.21037, -77.17368 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, Wilson Dreger describes his career in the U.S. Army. He was ten years old when World War II broke out and he has memories of air raid drills, rationing and victory gardens, as well as the circumstances of the Great Depression. He recalls Peachtree street being a corridor for military convoys as well as buses full of wounded soldiers and sailors headed for the Army hospital at what is now Peachtree DeKalb Airport. He attended North Fulton High School, where Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) was required for boys unless they were in the band or physically disabled. JROTC was staffed by combat veterans, and he describes one teacher vividly. He attended college, but had an "academic disagreement" and dropped out, mowing lawns for Fulton County. One of his high school teachers talked him into enlisting in his reserve unit, so he enlisted as a private, but the unit was not called up. He and his brother graduated the same year, and his brother went into the Navy. Wilson spent two weeks on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic with his brother. After finishing Officer Candidate School, he went to Korea, where he found his JROTC instructor from high school. After his return from Korea he resigned his commission but remained in the reserves. He worked with his father in a real estate business. After he sold the business and retired, he returned to the reserves. He attained the rank of Brigadier General. The remainder of the interview features his opinion on war-related topics such as North and South Korea, the dropping of the atomic bomb, Truman's firing of MacArthur, Japanese interment camps, and John F. Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs incident. Of particular note are the descriptions of how Forts Benning and Stewart were on high alert during the Cuban missile crisis. He also discusses at length Lyndon Johnson's policies on the war in Vietnam and the funerals he attended of two different soldiers and how different they were because of the parents' attitudes toward the war.
Wilson Dreger was an Army officer during the Korean War. - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/154
- Additional Rights Information:
- This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Extent:
- 46:24
- Original Collection:
- Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center - Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
