- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of Robert W. Lehrfeld
- Creator:
- Tozzer, Newell Bryant
Lehrfeld, Robert W., 1944- - Date of Original:
- 2004-12-15
- Subject:
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
M-16 rifle
Tet Offensive, 1968
Agent Orange
Lehrfeld, William, 1905-1970
Westmoreland, William C. (William Childs), 1914-2005
Hope, Bob, 1903-2003
United States. Army. Signal Company, 593rd
United States. Army. Signal Battalion, 69th
United States. Marine Corps. Marine Division, 1st
United States. Army. Airborne Brigade, 173rd
Oakland Army Terminal Base (Calif.) - Location:
- Japan, Okinawa, 26.53806, 127.96778
Thailand, 15.870032, 100.992541
United States, California, Oakland Army Base
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, New Jersey, Burlington County, Fort Dix, 40.02984, -74.61849
Vietnam, Ð?ng Nai, Long Bình, 10.9431631, 106.8792045
Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, 10.7758439, 106.7017555 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, Robert Lehrfeld recalls his time in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1969. He relates that his father owned a munitions plant that built bazookas and rocket launchers, so he always thought about the military. After graduating from high school, he chose the Army and says that it would not have made a difference if he had known about Vietnam beforehand. He remembers hearing about President Kennedy's assassination. He feels that he adjusted well to military life and was sent for advanced infantry training. His job was to run communications systems in and out of Saigon to all branches of the U.S. military throughout Vietnam, such as telephone, microwave, radio and Morse code. He recalls bombings and kidnappings in Saigon. He describes shore patrols in PT boats and compares it to the movie "We Were Soldiers." He states that what was featured in the news was not a true picture and recalls being spat on and called a baby killer on his return home. He describes Vietnam as a country ravaged by corruption. He remembers having Christmas parties, talent shows and USO shows for entertainment and also describes his homecoming to Penn station. He also recalls his time in Alaska, the Al-Can Highway and his family life.
Robert Lehrfeld was in the U.S. Army before and during the war in Vietnam.
ROBERT LEHRFELD VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER Interview Date: December 16, 2004 Interviewer: Newell Tozzer and Brent Tozzer Transcribed by: Stephanie McKinnell TAPE 1 SIDE A NEWELL TOZZER: This is December 16, 2004. My name is Newell Tozzer. We're at the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia. I'm going to interview Mr. Robert W. Lehrfeld who was in the US Army, 69th Signal Battalion, 593rd Signal Company, from July '63 to July '69. He served in Vietnam, and we're going to hear about that. But Mr. Lehrfeld, do tell me how you happened to join the Army. Your father, you say. ROBERT LEHRFELD: My father worked for a munitions, he owned his own plant that, they made the bazooka. So he didn't really serve in the war but he was in the hush-hush secret part of the war because it was a secret weapon that the United States had. It was a handheld rocket launcher. So he made the actual weaponry of the, not the thing that shot it, he made the bazooka ammunition. NT: What they shot? RL: What they shot, yeah. So growing up, I always thought about going into the military or something like that, getting an education. I really wasn't that good in school yet I did have passing grades. NT: You were in school in New York? RL: In New York on Long Island, where my parents had a home. I had a brother and sister. We grew up, and I went through the Korean War in the ‘50s as a child. NT: Your father was still working. RL: Still working in the factory. You know, he owned the factory. So we had a good home life. Mom was a housewife. So we went off into high school and were doing our thing. NT: Are your parents still alive? RL: My mother is. My mother is 89 years old; she's still alive. My father passed away in 1970. So when it came time to graduate high school, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know if I wanted to go to college. I didn't know if I wanted to go in the military or whatever. I chose the military. At the time, Vietnam was not an issue. I don't think that would have made a difference. NT: This was '63. RL: 1963. Soon after… NT: You were about 19? RL: I was 19. And soon after, in the, being in the military, President Kennedy was assassinated. NT: November 1963. RL: Yeah, I was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. NT: You had joined the military, the army. RL: I had joined the army and I was going through basic training. NT: Did any of your friends join the army at this time? RL: No. Everybody, I don't know, I just decided to go in myself. Other friends later on went in under the buddy system where they served together and that type of thing, but I went in on my own. I made some very good friends, went through basic training. My problem is that I don't remember their names. NT: That's too bad. RL: I don't remember their names. I very vaguely remember faces. NT: Don't come back. RL: Don't come back. NT: Where did you go through basic training? RL: In Fort Dix, New Jersey. I was fairly close to home. After Fort Dix . . . NT: Did you go home some weekends? RL: Went home, yes, in my fifth week of basic training I went home and visited the family. Very happy to see them. Military life to me, I accepted it very easily. I liked being away from home. I liked being on my own. [Brent Tozzer joins interview.] NT: This is Brent Tozzer, this is Mr. Lehrfeld, Mr. Robert Lehrfeld. Brent is going to help me talk to you. Mr. Lehrfeld was in the army in the Signal Corps and was in Vietnam. This is the first Vietnam veteran that I've interviewed. Help me, please. So he enlisted after high school in the army. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, and considered his options. That was in July '63, and in November, Kennedy was murdered. He went immediately to Fort Dix for basic training. RL: Basic training. Went through basic training and AIT, Advanced Infantry Training, which was really the job I basically wanted to do which was field communications. So from there I went to Okinawa and was stationed in Okinawa. NT: Fort Dix. RL: Fort Dix to Okinawa. I was stationed in Okinawa for 18 months. I re-enlisted to go back to school. I didn't want to be in the field anymore. I wanted to be in the rear. But yet war was not anything mentioned. Vietnam had not come in the picture. You heard little bits and pieces of Vietnam but nothing really major. In fact I was stationed in Okinawa when President Johnson sent the 1st Marine Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade to Vietnam. They were the first combat troops to be sent to Vietnam. This was in 1964 he sent them over there. Vietnam was now a battlefield. Everybody wanted to go. NT: Really? RL: Everybody wanted to go; we wanted to participate. Scared, had no idea what we were getting into. War was something the military induced in you. They talked about it. Everything on the training field was, you know, gung ho, you know, kill the enemy, protect yourself at all times, don't let your guard down. These were all things that were drilled into you. So when you were sent off to war, when the time came, that you were ready, at least combat ready to a point where you could survive until you got a little more training underneath you to be. . . . So I went back and I re-enlisted in the army in communications. I stayed in communications. Soon after, on graduation, which was almost 20 months worth . . . NT: From when you had originally enlisted? RL: Yeah, in '63. After about 20 months of schooling, I was guaranteed to be back in the United States. I was stationed near home, in Jersey to be home. I was home on regular weekends, this type of thing. Once upon graduation, the sky was the limit; they could send you anywhere. Vietnam was in the number one priority. They needed people, they wanted people. So in April of 1966, I went over to Vietnam. Landing in Saigon from Fort Dix to, well first I went to California and was processed out of Oakland army terminal and then flown over to Vietnam from Oakland army terminal. Landed at one o'clock in the morning. NT: Who were you with? RL: Other military guys that, some were with my unit in communications section. Other people were just going to other various units throughout Vietnam. This was in the beginning. Because in the beginning, you didn't come over as a group; you came over as individuals. Going to certain different units. You weren't going over as one unit. You were going over as individuals to refill or to replace people in other units. So that was basically my job. There were about five to six of us that were going to one specific unit. We had no idea what the unit was; all we knew was it was communications. Who knew? No one knew. You know, the minute we got there, there's, there's military police with M-16's machine guns with bandoliers of ammunition hanging off their neck, with rifles loaded ready. Here we are in complete military uniform, no combat gear, no nothing, in country, and I'm scared. I'm really scared. Having no idea what I'm facing. Off we go. We were put on a bus and taken to Linh Trung, Vietnam, which was a processing center to be reprocessed to the individual units that we were going to be sent to. This was where I ended up with the 69th signal battalion, 593rd signal company, that was stationed in Tan Son Nhut Air Force base in Saigon, which turned out to be General Westmoreland's headquarters at the time. BT: Just to back up, Linh Trung, was that a Vietnamese name? RL: Yeah, they're all Vietnamese names. They're all Vietnamese names. We knew that was our base camp and where we worked. Basically I would tell anybody who asked where I'm working, I'd say Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base. Where I actually lived was in a villa out the back gate. It was a compound that the military had taken over. We had made rooms out of, for individuals and bunks you know, set us up in this company. Supposedly at the time, in 1966, we were the largest single company of its kinds. Normally a company is two or three hundred men. We were over 500. BT: All in communications? RL: All in communications. We ran, we basically, our job was to run the communications boat in and out of Saigon to all branches of the service up and down Vietnam, Da Nang to the north, Chu Lai. These were all names that rang a bell. I remembered saying we have a microwave shot to Da Nang or something to that effect. It might going down, so we'd have to work on that specific telecommunications line to them out of Saigon. BT: So it was all kinds of communications, telephone, microwave, radio, anything I'm leaving out? RL: At the time, that's all basically we had. Voice, landline, telephone, microwave, which was telephone but yet it went long distances, Morse code, units keep sending Morse code back and forth from units in the field, you know, come back into us and be filtered for intelligence operations or whatever. We never saw what the information was; we just had to make sure the equipment was working. Each day, it was a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, didn't get a break. It was all business. There was time to have fun. I admit, you did get a chance to relax. We had an EM club in our compound at the, they served alcoholic beverages or beer. NT: This is enlisted men's club? RL: Enlisted men's club. You could go in, if you weren't on duty or anything to that effect. It was basically the only real means of enjoyment because you couldn't go downtown into Saigon. If you wanted to you could because at the time there was no curfew. I didn't. I didn't want to go downtown. I was too afraid. Because you'd hear of bombings going on or anything else like that. I remember one instance when I did have to go downtown. We went down in a truck, ¾ ton pickup truck. We had business to take care of. We passed this intersection, and it was completely roped off. There was a military truck, all Vietnamese soldiers, we found out that at the other end of the block, there was a blockage there too. This is how they recruited Vietnamese people. They stopped, checked you for papers. If your papers weren't up to order, you were told to get on the truck, you were now enlisted in the army. BT: Army of? RL: South Vietnamese. The military of the South Vietnamese. That's how they recruited. Of course they had people come in that wanted to be in there. But a lot of them didn't want to. This is how they recruited. If your paperwork was not up to date… NT: They kidnapped you. RL: You were not told your family or anything, only if someone was there with you who might be able to tell your parents that you were inducted in the army, well they didn't know where you were. But other than that, you didn't know. I always thought that was a heck of a way to run a country if you're looking for people to defend your country. But again, we were there. We had a job to do. I loved my job. I really did. Communications. I loved the military. The idea of not, you earned your rank, and you went through the chain of command, you were, obviously I thought I always was a sharp soldier. I always had a pressed uniform. I wanted to look the part. I was proud. I was proud of the uniform and proud of the job that I was doing. Even though you look at it as a tiny little job, it was my job. That's the way I looked at it. I met General Westmoreland on different occasions because he'd ask questions about his communications, all over Vietnam. He had at the time, twenty one generals working for him, underneath him. NT: That many? RL: Yes. They were all air force, marines, navy, army, coast guard. They were all branches. BT: I guess that leads me to a question. Was your work with in communications for the army, the other services as well, navy, or did they use the same infrastructure or different? RL: Certain infrastructures. You know, like they would request a line to come in from a certain area direct to that, and we'd have to get that line in for them. Their total communications did not run through us. They had their own communications section also to deal with the lower echelon of the chain of command. I know in one section, this was a little ironic, we were working out of what we called Saigon Fort. It was a, we had a switch point that generated all of the communications in and out of the fort itself like shipping, transportation, what was coming in, what was going out to be shipped to the different units. We had a section that was to the navy boats, navy PT boats, the shore patrol boats that they used. It was 13 miles through actual VC country . . . they would let us go, travel that 13 miles, 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. There was a gate that we had to pass through. In the morning, the gate would be up. That means it was OK for us to pass. At night the gate would be down; you don't go past here because that was VC country. And you could see them walk by the sides, sunning themselves or in the shade, in the fields, in the rice paddies, that type of stuff. They didn't bother us. At night time, that was their time, we didn't bother them, and they didn't bother us. NT: Really? BT: This is still early? RL: This is still early. This is 1965. This is before Tet, Tet offensive where the North Vietnamese sent troops down. This was before the bombing of the B-52's over North Vietnam and everything. We were basically just fighting in South Vietnam. I think one of the true military movies that came out of all this was “We Were Soldiers.” It was a movie of the actual 1st Cavalry that they first used helicopters in 1960 and late 1960's when they developed helicopter assaults. That was one of the truest movies I've ever seen, that I can sit through. There are a few that I can't sit through, and I don't want to go into because it brings back just too many memories. I didn't see any harsh combat, but I did see combat. Flashbacks are a big part, they can trigger, they can be triggered anytime, can be triggered anywhere, traffic accident on the side of the road can trigger one because you didn't know if that was a dummy accident that would make you stop your convoy and help Vietnamese and find out it was an ambush. Because that went on a lot. We traveled, you traveled very quickly. You let nothing stop you. You kept your weapons cleaned and well oiled because this was your life. NT: What sort of weapons did you carry? RL: I carried an M-14 and an M-16. I started off with an M-14 and then went to an M-16. I'd go to sleep with it because never know what might happen, when you might get raided, you know this type of thing. There were things on Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base from where our compound was, our communications compound was situated in the back gate of Tan Son Nhut. there were these Quonset huts off to the distance, but you could see they were Quonset huts if you . . . a Quonset hut was just a building, temporary, quick, thrown together building that was like a half moon. NT: I've been in them. RL: OK. You saw these, all these trucks backing up to these Quonset huts. One day I went over and found out what it was. It was a body count. It was the morgue, bodies being brought in from all over Vietnam to be flown out of Tan Son Nhut to be sent home for the burial. If you know the count, there were over 59,000 people killed in Vietnam. To see this go on a daily basis, began to wonder. I know for a fact that when I came home, after I came home from Vietnam, that I found out that what we were hearing on the news was not the true picture that was being painted of actually what was happening because of the fact that I felt, or I was told that it would have been too much for the American people to hold on to. When they said light casualties, there were heavy casualties. Heavy casualties meant that maybe everybody was wiped out or close to it. To hear this and to fight the protests that were going on back home, pretty scary. When I came home from Vietnam, I was spit upon. I was treated as a baby killer. I more or less went back inside into not, be proud that I served in Vietnam and be quiet about it. NT: This is because the American public had turned against it? RL: Yes, the American public had turned against it. Yet I believe that I was doing what my country wanted me to do. I didn't mind serving. I was doing a job, that was basically it. It was a job that I knew eventually would be over with. But the memories live on. I mean I came home in 1967. NT: You were there from '64? RL: '66 through '67. A little over a year and a half. Because of the fact of being individual communications to get a relief was very hard because by now, in 1969 or 1967 because the Tet offensive was beginning the end of 1967, in 1968 everybody basically was coming over as an infantry, whether you were marines or army. You would be handed a rifle and sent to the field. So to get a replacement was very hard. That's why I spent, actually April of '66 to December of '67 in country because I couldn't get a replacement to bring me home. When I did, I jumped the first chance I could because I didn't know if I would make it home. NT: You were responsible for getting a replacement? RL: Yes, I was responsible for getting a replacement. I found them. You know, we were always listening or watching the airplanes coming in to the replacement center, and watching for people. Because I was not the only person, there were other people involved in trying to get home the same time when we did get ready to come home. It was the true experience. You know, people were wracked; the country was wracked, corruption. We were there trying to put some stabilization to Vietnam along with fighting the Vietcong or the North Vietnamese trained soldiers. It was a 360 degree battlefield. It wasn't something that you looked from south to north or east to west or vice versa, you didn't know who you were fighting. There were children that they used as booby traps. They used anything and everything to help their cause, whatever it took. It's just a hard thing to sometimes talk about. I endured it. I missed my buddies that didn't come home. BT: I was just wondering if you could tell us about some of the personalities you recall. RL: See that's my problem. My problem is that I cannot truly remember names. NT: But you may remember personalities. RL: Personalities, yeah, ok. There were always guys that were always kidding around, horsing around. I don't know how to really fully describe it, pranksters. NT: Did you ever watch M.A.S.H.? RL: Oh, yes. M.A.S.H., you know. Some jokes like that. Guys would, chameleons or whatever in their tents because you always slept with mosquito nets because you had no idea what you were going to get bitten by, carrying all types of disease. Diseases that were over there, malaria and that type of stuff. I did get a chance to go to Thailand to see another part of a war while . . . Thailand was a country that was in support of Vietnam. We had bases in Thailand that we flew out of to help bomb positions in Vietnam. We did some training over there in Thailand for communications, certain aspects of it, certain switching equipment that needed to be trained on. So we could send people over there to learn. Always beyond the newness of it. Things were changing so quickly. BT: Technology? RL: Technology. The technology. We were always getting new equipment and would look at it and say what do we do with this. You know, new microwave equipment that would speed up the communications. I remember one time we did have a big problem with our generators. No one knew how to align the generators to the communications to balance it out. But basically the term was to bring it on the line. Basically what was, generators were running at one level, communications were running at another. All of the sudden they tweaked one and it would go like this. They could never get it balanced until one day someone came up and knew how to do it. They brought everything online and everything just started working. Again, it was the training aspect of it. We had to teach ourselves. We had to teach each other. It wasn't just you come over, I take over your job, and I know exactly what you are doing. You had to show me because a lot of this was never taught in school, in the army schools of communications that they taught. They only taught you a certain way, the rest of it was learn as you go, and you did. It was a survival you know. When these commanders asked for answers, they wanted answers. You know, why isn't my communications working. They wanted answers. We had to give it to them. Demanded it. We had to think right there with the answers to make everybody happy. It wasn't an easy job. No one really liked it because of the living habits, the rainy seasons. Six months of rain was nothing. Everything was wet, everything was damp, everything was mildewed, everything was rotten. Your clothes would rot, would sometimes rot on you because it was washed so many times. So you were constantly renewing. It was rainy season, the monsoon season didn't help with everything staying damp and mildewy. NT: What was the food like? RL: Well, to tell you the truth. I must say the food, we ate in a hotel. We ate chow in a hotel because we were stationed just outside Saigon. So we ate in a converted military hotel. They fed us decently. The food was good. You never really laid down hungry. It wasn't just a meal set in front of you. If you wanted more, you could get more. It was more like a smorgasbord type of thing, buffet style. It was run by the military. They had Vietnamese cooks and helpers and that, but the military ran it. NT: It was American food? RL: American food. NT: Decent food, fresh vegetables? RL: Fresh vegetables, decent food, fresh produce as much as possible. They could bring in. Again, the food was not bad. It wasn't the greatest but it was decent. It wasn't field rations. Although every now and then we had to eat field rations because we were issued them. They would just stop by. A lot of times, our C-rations were World War II vintage. So a lot of it was left over from World War II and the Korean War. But some of the food was good. See, if you've ever eaten C-rations, that's all you can say about them, period. It was nothing that you could definitely write home and say, Mom, it's delicious, or it reminds me so much of your cooking. NT: Mr. Lehrfeld, when we were first talking, before we turned on the camera, you were talking that you have diabetes, and you got it from Agent Orange. You say that you, of course, don't know if you were told that Agent Orange was dangerous. You say you put it all over yourself. RL: Well, we were sprayed. We were sprayed with different aspects of it because we might call in a section that needed to be, the foliage needed to be turned back. That's basically what it was, a deterrent to kill the foliage that you could have a burm there. You could see what's happening instead of the jungle coming in and taking over everything around you. Some of us were sprayed. The fumes of it, the tankers were being filled with this stuff was nearby. They, I applied when I first was, well let me back up. I really didn't know that I was affected by Agent Orange until I applied for veteran's administration benefits through the VA, benefits to claim that I had authorization to apply for. Because I had diabetes, I had hypertension, I had triple bypass surgery. This all transpired from the time I got out of the service, up to and including now, today's date, we, I had to go and fight to the military and say this is what happened to me. They said OK, yes you were in country in 1967, and we used Agent Orange all over Vietnam, so yes you were involved in it. Now, 20 or 30 years later you've been diagnosed with diabetes, which is a common factor with Agent Orange, of people who are affected with Agent Orange. So they said OK, we'll agree to that. They gave me that. Then on the rest of it, my hypertension, the loss of my right leg, I lost the right leg during diabetes, that this was all contributing factors to bring me to 100 percent disability through the VA which now gives me my hospitalization. But it was something I had to fight for. That was very tragic. Even though they knew I was in Vietnam in those dates because I had proof of it through my discharge papers, that I had to fight for this right to be given medical treatment. I just thought this was something that I didn't want to do, but if I wanted to get help, I had to do it. I've been fighting for it. I've gone to the VA hospital in Decatur for treatment and of all my ailments. A lot of this hasn't come into being until after 25, 35 years of, after being in country, being in Vietnam. So many people have lost their lives too after coming home and dying of cancer and this type of thing. Even though they knew that Agent Orange was a deterrent, they still don't recognize it as a thing that they used over there. They still find it, lawsuits coming on right now to help, to try to help some Vietnamese, or Vietnam vets, win their cases that they've been affected with Agent Orange and stuff like this. But yes, it was all over country in the late or middle 1960's. They used it constantly. There were, you know… TAPE 1 SIDE B RL: I think between that and seeing the body count was really a significant tragedy to witness. Vietnamese people suffered the most. The children, you know, the families. They suffered the most because this was their country. We were there _ them. We came out nonvictorious. BT: Did you learn any Vietnamese? Did you speak any? RL: Very little, very little. I was not really interested in their, I don't know, I guess culture. I just wanted to be there to do my job and to go home. BT: What equipment was more reliable than other equipment, what was the most reliable machine, reliable source of communication? RL: Of communication? I would say their microwave was, as it progressed through the years. The microwave because you could make a long shot. You could go from Saigon to Da Nang or Camron Bay and have a decent conversation without static or interference or being cut off or something like that. I think the influence of the up and coming communications that was produced in the United States and brought over there very quickly. The training part of it lacked but the, you know, but the new stuff came out very quickly. BT: Was it cutting edge for the day or was it behind? RL: I'd say it was cutting edge, it was just on the cutting edges, just on the borderline, but it was a lot better than it was when I first got there. BT: You were there in the holidays of '66, '67? Were there any images from being away in the holiday season, being in country at that time? RL: No, I always missed home. I get sick now. We had a Christmas party at the M-club, you know, they would get a talent show to come in and put on a show, that type of thing. I remember, now in, I forget what year it was, I think it was in '65, I got to see Bob Hope in Tan Son Nhut. He flew in with his talent show, Christmas show. I thought that was really intriguing. Again, you know, you heard so much of Bob Hope going here, going there, World War II, Korea. Now you get a chance to see him in Vietnam and bring these people who were willing to spend their Christmases over there with you. Couldn't get close to the stars, I mean you're talking 20 to 30,000 GIs that were screaming to see a beautiful pair of legs or something like that or good looking face, and you know, everybody wanted to be right up front. I thought the USO was a great thing, brought a lot of happiness to an awful lot of people during the Christmas seasons, Thanksgiving and seasons. I always thought that was a cherished memory. I do remember that. I needed to be prodded I guess you'd say because some of this, I just, it just doesn't come to me as quick as I would like to remember things. I think my, when I first got home from Vietnam, and I arrived home at my front door, that was the greatest feeling in the world. BT: How did you travel? RL: I flew, I flew from California to New York, and then New York by train out to Long Island where I lived. I didn't like the idea that I was spit upon. But again . . . NT: Where did that happen? RL: That happened in Penn Station, Pennsylvania, railroad station waiting for a train to go home out to Long Island, you know, where my folks lived. BT: Were you in uniform? RL: Yes. I was proud of that uniform so I wore it proudly. A lot of people would change as soon as they got into a place where they could get out of their uniform. I wore it proudly. I wanted to go after the people that spit at me, and there were other people around me that more or less said they're a bunch of jerks, let them be. So I did, but, I wiped it off and just stood tall. I was very proud. If I had it to do all over again, I'd do it in a second. It would not faze me in the least. NT: When was it that you got home? RL: From Vietnam, it was early December 1967. And I was able to spend Christmas at home before I was sent to Alaska. NT: Then the army sent you to Alaska? RL: The army sent me to Alaska. I went through the fire into the frozen. It was another job. I did not want to go back to Vietnam. So they told me basically when I got to California that if I did not want to go back to Vietnam, because I only, I had a year and a half left on this enlistment, and that if I did not want to go back to country, I had to stay out of country. Country was United States. There were plenty of places to go in the United States. But a lot of, all their people were being sent over to Vietnam. So you'd just be thrown into the group and sent back over. I didn't want to so that's why I chose Alaska. I couldn't go to Germany because I needed 24 months time to go to Germany and I only had 18. So I figured ok, I picked a place that would take me at 18 months left in my enlistment. That was Alaska, so I spent my last 18 months in the service in Alaska. NT: Where were you sent? RL: I was sent to Fairbanks, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Deep in the heart of the tundra. But the summers were nice. We had one or two months of warm weather, but the rest of it was cold and chilly and the land of the midnight sun, they did not lie about that, you know where the sun never set. I guess what it was too was a chance to just unwind from the pressures of war. I was able to relax. I got married in Alaska. My wife was from the United States but she was not Indian, not from Alaska. Elaborate. Tell us more, how did you meet? RL: Well we met when I was on leave. I told her I said I didn't really want to get involved because I still had time left in the service. We'll go to Alaska and we'll converse while we're up there, and one thing lead to another, and I guess we both couldn't wait. We didn't want to wait for any length of time, 18 months or whatever. So I put in for a leave, and I came home. I flew home. We got married on June 9, 1968. We returned, we drove back to Alaska. We, my wife and I, we drove up the Alcan Highway, up to Alaska and started at Mile Post No. 1 in Dawson Creek and went all the way to the end in Fairbanks, Alaska, in the summertime. We saw wild horses. We saw bears. We saw mountain goats. We saw a little of everything, you know. But it was an experience. Our first child was born in Fairbanks, a daughter who is now 35 years old and living in New York on her own. She's a young woman now and in business and whatever. I ended up having three children all together, a daughter like I said who is 35, I have a son who is 30, and another son who is 28. They're all off on their own dealing with life today. My first wife passed away. She had an aneurism. I got married again in 1997 to my present wife. She is in a master's degree, master's program trying to get her degree in social work. We've been married . . . NT: '67 was shortly after you came home. RL: Yeah, got married in '68 to my first one, married for 23 years and then she passed away. But we, everything was, I've had two great wives. I've had the fortune of having two great wives, first 23 years and then the second. I'm quite happy today. I'm dealing with a handicap, but I can get around. I can walk due to the VA and their out programs to help you get through things. NT: Were you able to continue working once you left the army? RL: Yes, I worked for the phone company for 24 years. I was able to retire. This was before anything really transpired. I mean, you know, with anything referring back to Vietnam. I worked as a telephone lineman and as a telephone test man. So I was an installer, repairman. I was in my health years. I'll tell you that I'm not now, that I just turned 60. I feel great. NT: You have a daughter who lives here now. RL: I have a daughter who lives here in Atlanta, just had her first child. NT: Congratulations. RL: She's almost eight weeks old now. She is a darling. My wife takes care of her, helps out with the, sharing of the duties because my daughter had to go back to work and whatever. I think all and all, I'm quite pleased with my life up to this point. NT: Good. So after you finished your tour of duty in Alaska, you said goodbye to the army. RL: I said goodbye to the army in July 1969, got out, went to work with the phone company for the next 23, 25 years, and then retired from them and was able to do what I wanted to do. I'm quite pleased with everything that's turned out. Sometimes it's a little slow, sometimes it's a little quick, but it all comes about in its fair share. NT: How did you hear about this project, the Veteran's History Project? RL: I heard it through a friend by the name of S____ Gray who put me in touch with some gentleman, Jim Tanner, through the Disabled American Vets. He put me in touch with Mrs. Westbrook who set up this interview. I told her I was very, you know, looked forward to doing this. I, its great. I think it's a great idea. NT: We are so very grateful to you for coming, for your interview. We're so grateful for him telling you about it. My son, Brent Tozzer, helped with the interview. Is there anything, I think the film is going to be over in a little bit, is there anything that you especially want to say, to add? RL: I'd just like to add that if anybody uses and who can remember Vietnam and was over there in Vietnam and was with the 69th Signal Battalion, 593rd Signal Company, which I have not been able to contact anybody who was over there at this time, and in that company and battalion, I can't find anybody, although I'm still looking. Probably through the Internet and things like that. I just got a book from Washington on everybody who served in Vietnam, an alphabetical list of all people who served in Vietnam and the companies and places they were assigned to. So I'm steadily going through page by page looking for people that I can contact who might remember certain names or gel something in my mind, like I said, names I can't remember, faces I vaguely, you know, but all in all, it's a blank. I remember serving there. NT: Probably because you tried to block it out? RL: I think so. I think I've wanted to block it out. The terror of war. I feel for these gentleman who are in Iraq now, what I went through, I hope they don't have to go through, they can come home . . . - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/244
- 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:
- 1:02:23
- 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:
-
