Interview Outline- Vietnam War

Introductory Information: State the following at the beginning of the interview:

  • Your name (as interviewer)
  • Date and place of the interview
  • Name of the person being interviewed
  • “This interview is part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Veterans Remember Oral History project”

Interviewee Background:

  • When & where were you born?
    • Tell us about your parents.
    • Did you have any siblings?
  • Where you grew up?
    • Schools?
    • What else do you remember about growing up during the 1950s & 60s?
    • Extra-curricular activities?
    • Plans following high school?
    • Any interest in the military at the time? Your thoughts about the draft?
    • Jobs or school following high school graduation?
      • Were you following the war in Vietnam at the time? Your thoughts about that?   
    • Do you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?
    • Building of the Berlin Wall?
    • Do you remember the JFK assassination on Friday, Nov. 22nd, 1963?
    • 1968:
      • Tet Offensive in late January – February?
      • Do you remember the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4?
      • Assassination of Robert Kennedy on June 6?
      • Democratic National Convention (Chicago) in August?

Military Experiences:

  • Circumstances of being drafted/enlisting in ______?
  • Where were you living at the time of draft?
    • What were you doing at the time?
  • Tell us about being drafted/inducted?
    • The mood of the country at the time about the war?
    • Why did you pick the ________?
    • Were you married at the time? Girlfriend?
    • Your parents’ reaction?
    • Your thoughts about the war at that time?
  • 1968:
    • Tet Offensive in late January – February?
    • Do you remember the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4?
    • Assassination of Robert Kennedy on June 6?
  • Democratic National Convention (Chicago) in August?

Initial Service & Training:

  • Tell me about your boot camp/training experience(s).
    • Do you remember your instructors?
    • How thorough and effective was your training?
    • What helped you cope with the experience?
  • What was your military specialty & special training you received?
  • Did you get leave before shipping to Vietnam?

Wartime Experiences:

  • When did you deploy to Vietnam, and how were you shipped overseas?
  • Do you remember arriving in theater, where you debarked, and what it was like?
    • Initial impression of Vietnam? Visually, sounds & smells?
    • What were your personal concerns, going into combat for the first time?
  • What was your unit of assignment? When did you find out?
    • Your specific job/assignment/MOS?
  • Impressions of your first day on the line?
    • Do you remember your first time under fire?
    • The first casualty you saw, inflicted?
  • (Questions specific to veteran’s own experiences, developed after the pre-interview session)

Reflections:

  • The experience of COMBAT:
    • Were you afraid when going into combat? Can you describe your emotions at that moment?
    • How did you deal with your fear?
    • What motivated you to keep going?
  • Are there any other memorable combat experiences we’ve not already covered?
  • Were you injured? When, Where & How of injury?
  • Were you awarded any medals or citations? If so, for what?
  • [Higher ranking personnel may be asked about tactics & battle planning, etc.]
  • The toughest part about your service in Vietnam?
  • Morale and discipline issues?
    • How was the morale for your unit? It’s fighting ability & effectiveness?
    • What did you know about what was going on back in the states?
      • The protests against the war?
        • Draft dodgers and draft card burners?
        • The ease in which many were able to get deferments?
      • Hippies & the counter-culture back home?
      • Shootings at Kent State in May, 1970?
      • Jane Fonda’s trip to North Vietnam in 1972?
    • Impressions of the integrated military?
    • Was there any drug use among the soldiers that you observed?
    • Counting the days to the end of your tour?
    • Treatment of the new arrivals?
  • What do you think about your fellow soldiers/sailors/airmen?
  • What was your impression of the NCOs and officers over you?
  • Opinions about the enemy you faced?
  • Opinions/comments about civilians you encountered?

Military Life: Ask questions about life in the service and/or at the front or under fire.

  • How did you stay in touch with your family?
  • Did you know about the growing protests against the war at home?
    • What was your reaction to that?
  • What was the food like? What was your favorite C or K ration?
  • Did you have plenty of supplies?
  • What did you do when you/your unit was not in combat?
    • Were there entertainers?
    • What did you do when on leave?
    • Where did you travel while on leave?
  • Do you recall any particularly humorous or unusual event?
    • What were some of the pranks that you or others would pull?
  • Tell us a little about the friends you made while in the service.
  • Were you on the point system? A rotation policy?
  • Describe your rotation home: When?   How?
    • How were you treated by the public?
    • What did you do in the days and weeks afterward?
    • Did you have any challenges with readjusting to civilian life?
  • Can you describe your reunion with your family when you came back home?
  • What were your thoughts about the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, which gave the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong control of large portions of South Vietnam?
  • What did you think about the way the war ended in 1975, with the collapse of South Vietnam, and the U.S. Congress deciding not to send aid?
    • Did the United States respond appropriately to the plight of the Vietnamese refugees/boat people?
  • Do you have photographs? Letters?  Personal diary?

Life After Service: Appropriateness of questions will vary if the veteran had a military career.

  • Did you have any difficulties adjusting to life in the United States? (PTSD)
  • Did you work or go back to school?
    • Was your education supported by the G.I. Bill?
    • What was your career/professions after the war?
  • Did you continue any of the relationships you formed while in the service?
    • For how long?
    • Did you join a veterans’ organization?
    • Do you attend reunions?

Later Years and Closing:

  • Do you think your sacrifice during the war was justified? If so, why?
  • How did your experience change you / your outlook on life?
  • Did your military experience influence your thinking about life; about our current situation?
  • What life’s lessons did you learn based on your experiences during the war?
  • Why did you agree to do this interview?
    • What do you think people today should know about what you went through? Or “What lessons could we today learn from your experiences?”
  • What do we need to remember about the war & America’s involvement?
  • What advice or wisdom would you pass on to future generations?

This questionnaire is a revision of the Library of Congress’ Veteran’s History Project, dtd 2007.

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