November is Aviation Month! To celebrate this occasion we have created a new exhibit that explores the duties and lives of the Dustoff crews. This exhibit is available online and is accessable from this blog post or the home page.
Enjoy!
Vietnam Center & Archive News and Updates
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Veterans Day!
To all the Veterans and their families, friends and loved ones, the Vietnam Archive staff wishes to offer you a heartfelt thank you for your service. Happy Veterans Day!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Happy Birthday Marines!
Happy Birthday United States Marines!
On November 10th, 1775 the US Continental Congress created the Continental Marines to fight in the American Revolution and today the Marines celebrate their 234th birthday. Congratulations!
The Vietnam Archive wishes to honor all Marines on their special day today. Here are a few Marine related items from our collection. Semper Fidelis.
First wave-- Leatherneck helicopter of Marine Medium helicopter of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164 and infantryman of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, are the first elements into the zine, November 20 during Operation Mead River, about eight miles southwest of Danang. More than 75 helicopters of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing lifted some 3,500 leathernecks into pre-designed zones in approximately two hours.
Operation Prairie III-- Marines of "A" Company, 1st Battalion, Ninth Marines, move through a stream in search of North Vietnamese soldiers during Operation Prairie III approximately three miles west of Cam Lo.
Marine Attack Squadron 311, Marine Air Group 12, Chu Lai, I Corps, Vietnam
Mine Sweep-- A Marine mine sweep team of "A" Company, 3rd Engineer Battalion, checks a road west of Ca Lu for enemy Mines or dud rounds. This sweep, like many others in the Northern I Corps, is conducted each morning before traffic is permitted to use the road.
A US Marine carries a seriously wounded Vietnamese child from the ruins of a home in Hue. The provincial capital city was the target of violent VC attacks following the start of the Tet (Lunar new year).
1st Marine Division patch
2nd Marine Division patch
1st Marine Division shorts
Moving Images
Film shot by R. J. Del Vecchio during his service as a Marine cameraman in Vietnam documents his own service and various aspects of the broader context of the war. Footage includes: Marine patrols, soldiers shaving and cleaning weapons, travel with sentry dogs, airlifted supplies.
R. J. Del Vecchio Collection
Oral Histories
John C. Arick, originally from Washington, D.C., served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1962 until 1992 and retired a Brigadier General. He is a 1962 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. John served two tours in Southeast Asia. During the first, from 1966 to 1967, he was stationed at the Ky Ha helicopter base north of Chu Lai with the Marine Observation Squadron (VMO) 6, Marine Air Group (MAG) 36, 1st Marine Air Wing (MAW) and was a UH-1E pilot flying fire support, escort, MedEvac, utility, and tactical air control missions. He took part in Operations HASTINGS, BEAVER CAGE, among others. During his second tour, from 1970 to 1971, John was first stationed near Marble Mountain Air Facility with the III Marine Amphibious Force (MAF) headquarters in the G-3 section, then with the 1st MAW at Danang in the G-3 section, and finally with the Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron (HML) 367 at Marble Mountain Air Facility. During his entire second tour, he flew the AH-1G Cobra with HML 367. In total, John flew in excess of 1,540 hours in Southeast Asia.
John Thomas “Tom” Esslinger, originally from Ephrata, Pennsylvannia served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1966 until 1970. Tom went to Vietnam in September 1967 and served with India Company and Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, and operated out of Camp Evans. In December 1967, his unit was sent to Khe Sanh where it eventually occuppied Hill 881 South during the 77-day seige. After Khe Sanh, from April to July 1968, Tom, as CO of India Co., operated out of Quang Tri City and then west of Da Nang running various missions. In early August, he was made Assistant S-3 with the 3/26 Marines and served in that capacity until completing his 13-month tour in October 1968.
Coporal Walter Rupp recounts his experiences in Vietnam, including being wounded in a helicopter crash and by Viet Cong fire. Rupp received two Purpple Hearts and the Bronze Star.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Please Join Us for a Public lecture by Joe Galloway
Public lecture by Joe Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once… And Young
Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11th at 3:00 pm
Mass Communications Building, Room 101, Texas Tech campus
Sponsored by the Vietnam Center
Mr. Joe Galloway’s career as a journalist has spanned nearly five decades and he is best known for his combat reporting from the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam, made popular by the book he co-authored with General Hal Moore, We Were Soldiers Once… and Young, and made even more popular by the movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. Mr. Galloway also has the distinction as being the only civilian to have been awarded the US Army Bronze Star for Valor during the Vietnam War for his actions in support of the wounded during that battle. In addition to Vietnam, Mr. Galloway has reported from the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Mr. Galloway received the 1991 National Magazine Award for an Oct. 29, 1990 U.S. News cover story marking the 25th anniversary of the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and the 1992 News Media Award of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War.
A book signing will take place at the end of the lecture. Copies of Mr. Galloway’s book will be available for sale.
For more information, please call the Vietnam Center at 742-3742.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Public Lecture and Book Signing
Ron Milam, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at Texas Tech University, will deliver a public lecture on his new book Not a Gentleman’s War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2009, at 6:30 pm in the Senate Room of the Student Union Building on the Texas Tech campus. The Veteran’s Association at Texas Tech will sponsor a reception just prior to the lecture at 5:30 at the same location. A book signing will be held at 7:30 directly after the lecture. An additional book signing will be held from 11am-1pm at the campus bookstore. All authors’ proceeds will be donated to the Veterans Association at Texas Tech.
Dr. Milam is a Vietnam Veteran and a strong supporter of the Vietnam Center and Archive. He serves on the Vietnam Center Advisory Board, serves as a faculty advisor on the Vietnam Center Summer Study Abroad program in Southeast Asia, and has contributed his oral history and personal collection to the Vietnam Archive.
For more information about this event, please contact Michael Flores, President of the Veterans Association at Texas Tech, at (806) 787-1203.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How are you using our resources?
Are you a scholar, student, researcher, journalist, filmmaker, or patron who has used our resources for your book, scholarly or mainstream publication, documentary, or other produced work? If so, we want to hear from you! Please send us your citations! Compiling this information will help us secure funding, promote our project, and allow us to continue to provide excellent reference services. Send your citations to vietnamarchive@ttu.edu with “Vietnam Archive Citation” in the subject line. Thank you for your assistance!
Amy Hooker is now Amy Mondt
Amy Mondt
Many of our patrons and researchers know our helpful reference archivist, Amy Hooker. She handles phone and e-mail reference questions, assists researchers onsite, completes duplication orders, and shares our resources with the public through subject guides and online exhibits. This summer, Amy married David Mondt, a staff member of the TTU School of Art. She recently completed the name changing process and is now officially Amy Mondt. Her new email address is amy.k.mondt@ttu.edu. Please join me in congratulating her!
Happy Birthday U S Navy
Happy Birthday United States Navy
The United States Navy was created on October 13, 1775 during the American Revolution. Today the Navy celebrates its 234th birthday. In order to celebrate this wonderful occasion the Vietnam Archive would like to present a few Navy items from our collections.
Please enjoy the materials and help us to congratulate all of the Navy personnel past and present on their big day.
- Commander U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam, A U.S. Navy River Patrol Boat Cruises slowly down a canal in the Mekong Delta of S. Vietnam. The 31 Foot craft Patrol the Waterways of the Mekong Delta and rung Sat Special Zone to prevent the Viet Cong from moving supplies by water. The PBRs are propelled by water jets and can travel in water less than a foot deep.
Aircraft carrier: F-4 Phantom, A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, and others.
Four Navy F-4 Phantoms over a volcano.
United States Navy VF-32 Tomcat Fighter Squadron patch.
U.S. Navy summer flying coveralls with U.S. Naval Aviator identification patch that says CDR B.C. Rudy, Air Boss
U.S. Navy flight helmet with boom mike, and oxygen mask attached. Commander B.C. Rudy marked on back of helmet. Red carrying bag also included
Moving Images
Biggest Ship in the U. S. Army is one of a Kind (Official Department of Defense motion picture film by the U. S. Army under the direction of the MACV Office of Information. Photography by SP5’s Sylvia, Morgan and Watson: Sound by Lt. Sheets.) The largest ship in the Army is the 4800 ton cargo vessel, John U. D. Page. The Page is 338 feet long, 65 feet in beam, and can carry up to 2000 tons of cargo. The Page’s official designation is BDL 1-X, which stands for Beach Discharge Lighter, Number One, Experimental. She’s one of a kind, and her ability to transport huge loads of ammunition and rolling stock on intra-coastal missions up and down the coast of Vietnam makes her an important part of the military effort there. For all her size, the Page can take on cargo or off-load on the beach. Currently, she loads at Cam Ranh Bay and sails from there to Phan Thiet, Phan Rang or Nha Trang, averaging one run every two days. Her eight warrant officers and 36 enlisted men live in the toadstool-like superstructure rising from her cargo deck. The quarters are roomy and air-conditioned, and assignments on the Page are coveted by all Army “sailors”. One of the more noteworthey characteristics of the big flat-bottomed ship is her maneuverability. She is powered by two giant “eggbeater” blades which can be set at various angles. They’re positioned side-by-side just aft of mid-ship. The resulting ability to thrust in any direction allows the ship to make a full circle within her own length. This design has been applied to some European vessels, but has never been used in the American Merchant Marine or the U. S. Navy.
Michael Sheets Collection
Oral History Interviews
Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Frances T. Shea Buckley served in the Nurse Corps, U.S. Navy during the Vietnam Conflict. With the ranking of Rear Admiral, she has achieved the highest rank held by women of the U.S. Uniformed Services.
Dr. Robert Ordonez discusses his experiences as a Navy Corpsman in Vietnam.
(USN) Captain Frick was present aboard the USS Maddox during the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. He served as a Lieutenant, Junior Grade and acted as Division Operations Officer. His duty station put Frick on the bridge, in CIC (Command Information Center) and the radio room. In his lengthy interview, Frick recounts his experience during the North Vietnamese attack on 2 August and the controversial events of 4 August in the Gulf of Tonkin. Frick discusses the role of the ships involved in the incident, orders received by the Maddox and speculates on the significance of the incident. The interview also involves the consequences of 34A ops (operations by the South Vietnamese Navy and Marines against North Vietnamese shore defenses, logistically supported by the US) and rebuts the accounts of others that claim the events of 4 August did not include an attack by the North Vietnamese Navy. Finally, Frick describes the effects the Tonkin incident had on his commanding officer’s career and comments on the “Rules of Engagement.”
Friday, October 2, 2009
Happy Mid Autumn Moon Festival
Mooncake
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 marks the Mid Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon or Full Moon Festival. Traditionally celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon appears larger than it does on any other night of the year, the Mid Autumn Moon Festival (Tet Trung Thu) is the second biggest holiday in Vietnam and is widely celebrated throughout Asia. It is a time for family and to celebrate life, prosperity, and the harvest. During the Mid Autumn festival, parents prepare their children’s favorite dishes and buy them new toys. Children hear the story of Chu Cuoi (the man in the moon) and other fairytales. Hanging and floating lanterns are set out to decorate and people dance the lion and dragon dances. Mooncakes (made from lotus seed, ground beans, and containing a bright salted egg yolk in the center) are given to family and friends. Pomelo fruit and watermelon seeds are a special treat. At night children parade through the streets to the beat of drums wearing Paper Mache masks and carrying lanterns in the shapes of stars, rabbit heads, fish (carpe), butterflies, or lanterns with a lit candle inside that makes shapes spin representing the seasonal spinning of the earth.
Picture provided by wikimedia commons
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A Day in the Life of an American Soldier in Vietnam
As part of the ongoing 20th Anniversary celebration of the Vietnam Center and Archive, a photograph and artifact exhibit entitled “A Day in the Life of an American Soldier in Vietnam” is currently on display until mid December of this year. Please visit the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building on the Texas Tech University campus to experience elements of a typical day in the life of a US soldier during the Vietnam War. Consisting of over 25 black and white photographs and a selected number of artifacts, this exhibit will provide the visitor with stimulating and descriptive highlights of our highly unique collection materials. The exhibit is self guided and open to the public, free of charge, Monday through Friday from 8:00am until 5:00pm. All of the staff at the Vietnam Center and Archive hope that you will join us in celebrating 20 years of success by stopping by to view this exhibit!
