VIETNAM ERA ORAL HISTORY PROJECT:

This Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) Oral History Office project documents the experiences of Minnesotans during the Vietnam War era (c. 1960-1975) through 95 oral history interviews. The duration of the project was August 2017 through June 2019. Interviews take a life history approach, with a focus on the years of the United States war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Narrators (interviewees) include Minnesota veterans who served during the Vietnam War; relatives of service members; Southeast Asian refugees and veterans who came to Minnesota after the war; and those involved in anti-war protests and related social movements in Minnesota. Narrators are diverse in terms of race, gender, class, and political affiliations, with the goal of documenting a wide range of voices and stories from one of the most divisive periods in modern United States history.

Vietnamese translation: Minnesota Historical Social Oral History Service (MNHS) ghi nhận lại những kinh nghiệm của cư dân Minnesota trong thời kỳ chiến tranh Việt Nam (c.1960-1975) qua 95 cuộc phỏng vấn lịch sử truyền khẩu. Lịch trình dự án từ tháng 8 năm 2017 cho đến tháng 6 năm 2019. Những cuộc phỏng vấn về trải nghiệm cuộc sống lịch sử có tiêu điểm vào những năm chiến tranh của Hoa Kỳ tại Việt Nam và Đông Nam Á. Những người tường thuật (người được phỏng vấn) gồm có những cựu quân nhân ở Minnesota đã tham chiến tại Việt Nam, thân nhân của cựu quân nhân, những người tỵ nạn Đông Nam Á và cựu quân nhân của Quân Lực Việt Nam Công Hoà đã định cư ở Minnesota sau chiến tranh, những người tham gia cuộc phản chiến và có liên hệ đến những phong trào xã hội ở Minnesota. Những người tường thuật rất đa dạng từ chủng tộc, giới tính, giai cấp và các liên kết chính trị với mục tiêu ghi lại một loạt các tiếng nói và câu chuyện từ một trong những thời kỳ gây chia rẻ nhất trong thời hiện đại của Hoa Kỳ.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Vietnam Era Oral History Project, Oral history interviews of the Vietnam Era Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2019.70

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 9989762140204294

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Biographical Information: Brooks Anderson was the youngest of four children born into a white, Lutheran family in Cottonwood, Minnesota, described as Republicans in a Democratic town. He grew up in the small town and learned to value personal integrity as modeled by his father. Anderson graduated from high school in 1951, then St. Olaf College in 1955, and then Luther Seminary in 1959. His first assignment with the church was in Mankato, Minnesota.

Anderson heard Martin Luther King, Jr. speak in Florida and absorbed King’s Gandhian principles of non-violent civil disobedience. In 1963, Anderson moved to Duluth to work with University of Minnesota, Duluth's campus ministry where he became increasingly involved in and supportive of the African American civil rights movement, including participating in the march from Selma to Montgomery. He remained active in anti-racism work as well as the antiwar movement, helping organize a march to the Duluth Civic Center and a candlelight vigil as part of the national moratorium activities in the fall of 1969 and was active in CALC (Clergy and Laity Concerned).

After leaving UMD in the 1970s, he continued his social justice work and became an active supporter of Veterans for Peace. Anderson was instrumental in establishing a sister-city relationship for Duluth and Petrozavodsk, Russia, in 1987. In 2006, he also staged a walk to commemorate the Selma-Montgomery march. Anderson is now retired.

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OH 179.1

Oral history interview with Brooks Anderson, May 7, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 29 minutes, 17 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (33 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in Cottonwood; significance of Lutheran church and sense of social justice in his young life; attending seminary; ministry in Mankato, Minnesota; traveling to Miami and hearing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak on Gandhi and nonviolence civil disobedience; assignment to campus ministry at UMD; church constituents’ unhappiness with some of his social justice, civil rights, and antiwar work; commitment to nonviolence; relationship with more radical elements of antiwar movement; Martin Luther King Jr's "Beyond Vietnam" speech and the links between militarism, classism/materialism, and racism; racial dynamics and demographics in Duluth and on campus; work on behalf of open housing in Duluth; 1969 Moratorium events in Duluth; meeting with Duluth Provost about the role of ROTC on campus; hearing John Howard Griffin, author of Black Like Me, speak at UMD in 1964; traveling to Selma in 1965; being warmly received by black families in the South, targets of hostility of whites in the South; Clergy and Laity Concerned and relationship to national CALC (Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam); establishing sister city relationship between Duluth and Petrozavodsk, Russia; arrest and federal prison sentence for protesting at School of the Americas in 1999/2000; commemorative walk in 2006.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Behrens was born in 1950 and was adopted into a German American family at four years old. He was raised in Elgin, Illinois and spent summers on his grandparents’ farm in northern Illinois working and playing with his stepbrother, Pete. Behrens enlisted in the Air Force in March 1967 to be a jet engine mechanic but was selected for Aero-Space Recovery. He completed two tours in Vietnam and finished his service in Germany. Later in life, Behrens joined many veterans’ organizations and still has an active leadership role in many of them.

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OH 179.2

Oral history interview with Robert Behrens, April 6, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 50 minutes, 46 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (76 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in rural and small town Illinois; extensive training and nearly two years of dangerous missions in Vietnam recovering shot down pilots; assignment to the 37th Aero-Space Recovery Squadron; serving in several locations in Central South Vietnam; stepbrother was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam who died in a crash; last year in the military as a classified courier in Bitburg, Germany; returned to Elgin and a negative encounter that made him decide to never talk about Vietnam; being deeply involved in many Vietnam veterans’ and veterans’ organizations on local, state, and federal levels; and return trip to Vietnam and visiting his brother’s crash site.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Irvin O. Brewin, Jr. was born January 17, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Minnesota when he was seven. His father, a Tuskegee Airman, died in a plane crash. Irvin attended Knoxville College, enlisted as a Marine, and served in Vietnam. After an honorable discharge, he became a pipe-fitter and joined the army reserves. He has nine sons.

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OH 179.3

Oral history interview with Irvin O. Brewin, Jr, November 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 41 minutes, 1 second) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (31 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ancestry, family history, Tuskegee Airmen, Rondo, racial prejudice, St. Peter Claver school, St. Bernard and Central high schools, civil rights movement, Knoxville College, joining the Marine Corps, Conquistador Club, Infantry Training Regimen, Da Nang, living conditions, commonality of southern accents, marines’ racial self-segregation, drug use, comparing segregation of Marines in Vietnam vs. in United States, army and navy riots, communication with home, Camp Pendleton, returning from Vietnam due to injury, public’s perception of Vietnam war, respect for soldiers, GI bill, Limon Myers, sons’ military service, quitting drinking and smoking, and the importance of an honorable discharge.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Larry Burda, grew up in the Chicago area and southern Wisconsin. He attended Air Force ROTC and graduated from pilot training in the F-102 Fighter Interceptor. His first assignment was a Cold War mission in Madison, Wisconsin of intercepting Soviet bombers. He was assigned to the 509th Fighter Interceptor Squadron with which he was deployed to Clark Field in the Philippines from 1965-1967. The squadron worked on three week rotations in and out of Saigon, Da Nang and Bangkok, Thailand, and later Bien Hoa, Vietnam and Udorn, Thailand conducting air defense operations. Upon discharge from active duty Burda joined the Minnesota Air National Guard Squadron in Duluth, Minnesota where he served until 1994. From 1988 to 1992 his service included working in the Pentagon as Chief of Safety, Security, Inspections, for the Air National Guard.

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OH 179.4

Oral history interview with Larry Burda, January 25, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 42 minutes, 38 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (57 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Czechoslovakian Ancestry, childhood, education, Chicago suburbia and racial division, television, boy scouts, Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and ROTC, life in 1960s, pilot training, Duluth Air Guard, wages, Cuban Missile Crisis, firing missiles, on alert to protect Midwest from Russian bombers, Philippines, survival training, F102s, Da Nang, B52s, missions to Thailand, stress the war put on marriage, F89s, Ely, Minnesota, air force budget limitations, comparison between National Air Guard and Air Force, F101s, impact of Reagan on air guard, Pentagon, reconnaissance during the First Gulf War, and Chuck Yeager.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Suzanne Constantini was born in 1945 in La Crosse, Wisconsin and has lived in both Minnesota and rural Wisconsin during her life. She attended Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin before joining the convent there. Constantini left the convent to study nursing and enlisted in the Army as a nurse in 1968. She Worked in the ICU and pediatrics at the 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi and then the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. Constantini met her husband, an Army lab technician, while in training at Fort Benning and was deployed at the same time as him and her two male cousins. She returned to the United States in 1971 and continued to work in nursing and hospital administration, particularly in pediatrics and neonatal care, in Minnesota and rural Wisconsin for the next 45 years. Constantini currently resides in Houlton, Wisconsin.

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OH 179.5

Oral history interview with Suzanne Constantini, March 2, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 41 minutes, 46 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (25 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in rural Wisconsin, education in rural setting, childhood games, school sisters of St. Francis, being in the convent, military training as a nurse, experience as nurse in Vietnam, nursing, ICU care, pediatrics, neonatal ICU care, rural healthcare and administration, and her relationship with her husband.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Tiến Thúc Cung was born in Ha Noi in North Vietnam. He worked for the Department of Natural Resources as a mining economist in northern Minnesota. He is also a composer of classical music.

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OH 179.6

Oral history interview with Tien Thuc Cung, September 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (37 minutes, 38 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (16 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life in Vietnam, leaving North Vietnam in 1951 for South Vietnam, Vietnamese education, leaving Vietnam, working for the DNR, mining economics, impressions of Minnesota, composing music, inspiration, and decision to not return to Vietnam.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Alvin Alexsi Currier was born in 1932 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Macalester College and Union Theological Seminary where he trained to be a pastor. Later in life, he returned to Macalester to serve as the assistant chaplain where he experienced Vietnam War protests. Currier split most of his life between the upper Midwest and Europe, traveling and preaching extensively in Germany, Finland, and Romania. Through his travels Currier developed a fascination with natural beauty and the different developments of culture.

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OH 179.7

Oral history interview with Alvin Alexsi Currier, June 15, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 22 minutes, 40 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (20 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include religious and familial name origins, experiences with the Great Depression, seminary school, studying abroad in Scotland, interest in rural church communities, traveling across the Atlantic by ship, after-effects of the Holocaust in Germany, Cold War in Europe, running messages across the Berlin Wall, Vietnam War protests at Macalester College, serving as a pastor in rural Wisconsin, starting a European tour company, history of Finland and Finnish language, and raising money for church construction in Romania.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Richard T. Day was born July 8, 1937 in Washington D.C. He went to high school in Madison, Wisconsin. Day married and had a son. He became a Navy chaplain, reaching the rank of Navy Captain, and served with the destroyer fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea.

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OH 179.8

Oral history interview with Richard T. Day, December 28, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 43 minutes, 32 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (39 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history; growing up in Madison, Wisconsin; faith, conversion experience; pre-seminary education at St. Olaf; time in Canada with Canadian Lutheran Church; military funerals, becoming a navy chaplain; protests; differences between marines and sailors; re-stationing in California; Disneyland; crossing the equator; inner-workings of naval ships; the effect of prayer in morale; "holy helos"; bombing Hai Fong Harbor; taking mortar fire; communication; rest and relaxation; drug and alcohol abuse; Catholic and Protestant missions; stationing in Hong Kong; rehabilitation; overdoses; difficulty re-integrating with the American Lutheran Church in the States.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Mary Dezurik was born in October 1947 in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis. The youngest of three girls, she attended Catholic schools for all of her K-12 education, graduating from St. Margaret’s Academy in 1965. She knew while she was in high school that she wanted to join the military and found the Marine Corps the most appealing. Dezurik was sworn in on her 18th birthday in 1965, then reported to basic training at Parris Island in January 1966. After her three months of basic training, she spent an additional month at Parris Island before being stationed at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington, D.C. When she saw a sign-up sheet for women Marines to go to Vietnam, she signed up and in August 1967 she boarded a flight to Vietnam.

While in Vietnam, she worked at MACV at Tan Son Nhut with the MOS 0141-Admin Man, in the Mail and Distribution Office. Her job was to route all incoming mail, including confidential and secret items, to the proper recipients. She first lived at the Ambassador Hotel, then the Plaza Hotel, then the enlisted quarters in Tan Son Nhut. Dezurik encountered some difficulties her male peers in Washington ranging from unwanted sexual advances to sex discrimination on the job. She was in-country for the 1968 Tet Offensive and planned to extend her stay in Vietnam so she could serve out her tour in-country, but ended up coming home in August due to her father being ill. He died shortly after her return and she completed her service in San Diego.

Dezurik was discharged in December 1968. She married a fellow veteran in 1973, with whom she had four children and nine grandchildren. Her husband died in early 2018. Dezurik retired after working 25 years for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

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OH 179.9

Oral history interview with Mary Dezurik, September 10, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 12 minutes, 22 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (44 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up Catholic and female in the 1950s and 1960s; early interest in military stemming from portrayals of military women in film; graduating from high school and seeking Marine Corps recruiter; reaction of family and friends to her decision to enlist in the Marines; boot camp at Parris Island; relatively easy adjustment to military life thanks to years in Catholic school; brotherhood and camaraderie within Marine Corps; working in Washington, D.C. in Instruction Section of Marine Corps Institute; volunteering for Vietnam; parents’ reaction to her decision to go to Vietnam; flight to and arrival in Vietnam; first day in Vietnam at Ambassador Hotel, awaiting arrival of roommate; typical work day at MACV; sexist behavior of Army sergeant at work; relationship with master sergeant Barbara Dulinsky, the first woman Marine assigned to Vietnam and Mary’s former drill instructor, Captain Jones, and roommate Polly Wilson; having to wear pumps, nylons, and a dress in Vietnam until after the Tet Offensive; adjusting to life in Vietnam; interactions with Vietnamese people and United States GIs; positive morale among troops; mixed feelings about antiwar movement; the Tet Offensive of 1968; R&R on Penang Island; leaving Vietnam and arriving in United States; father’s illness and death; last few months in Marines; work on book about non-nurse Vietnam veterans, Women Vietnam Veterans: Our Untold Stories, by Donna Lowery, 2015.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Augustine Willie Dominguez was born in 1955 in Hennepin County, Minnesota, the eighteenth out of nineteen children. Both of his parents were of Mexican descent, his father immigrating from Chihuahua, Mexico. Several of his brothers were drafted into service during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Dominguez became involved in social justice and the LatinX community. He help found Centro Cultural Chicano, an organization providing services to the Minneapolis LatinX community. He also became a radio host for KFAI Fresh Air Radio. In 2006, Dominguez was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 58B, serving from 2007-2009.

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OH 179.10

Oral history interview with Augustine Willie Dominguez, May 13, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 38 minutes, 47 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (25 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include receiving the nickname "Willie" from older siblings, father’s immigration to Minnesota, growing up in Northside Minneapolis, several of his brothers being drafted, riots in Minneapolis, racial profiling, social justice and LatinX issues, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Community Technical College, brother’s injuries in Vietnam, racial minorities’ perspectives on the war, Chicanos Vencerán, Centro Cultural Chicano, aid to the LatinX community, KFAI Fresh Air Radio, entry into politics, Minnesota State House of Representatives, Mexican-American veterans

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Dean Doyscher was born on January 11, 1945, in Jackson, Minnesota with four siblings. His father ran a trucking company and his mother occasionally worked in retail as needed to contribute to the kids’ college funds. Neither of his parents had attended college so were eager for their boys to serve in the military in order to obtain the GI Bill to earn a college degree. His family attended the Presbyterian church and was lower middle class. His mother was an outspoken Democrat but his father chose to keep his politics to himself, perhaps out of concern that speaking publicly might affect his business. Doyscher’s two older brothers both served in the military, one in World War II and another in Germany some years later. Dean graduated from high school in 1963. He started classes at Mankato State College that fall but transferred to the University of Minnesota a year later, then went back to Mankato State.

Realizing that he would soon be drafted, he enlisted in the Army in September 1966. He did basic training at Fort Bliss, military intelligence training at Fort Huachuca, then was sent to Fort Gordon before being stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. While at Fort Carson he met soldiers returning from the war in Vietnam, combined with their PTSD symptoms and of hearing combat stories he began opposing the war. His personal studies also convinced him of the war’s error.

After he was discharged from the Army in August 1968, he returned to school at Mankato State and majored in urban studies. He had begun his master’s degree by 1970, when he participated in the antiwar activities that took place across campus in the aftermath of the killings at Kent and Jackson State universities. Doyscher was surprised when President James Nickerson shut down the campus for the rest of the quarter as he was trying to complete his degree.

By 1972, more chaotic protests were happening and Doyscher had finished his master’s, married, and begun a full-time job and was involved less with the activities. In the late 1970s, he and his wife informally adopted an eleven year old Vietnamese boy who came to the United States as a refugee. His current wife is state senator Kathy Sheran. He owns and operates a property management firm in Mankato.

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OH 179.11

Oral history interview with Dean Doyscher, June 1, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 56 minutes, 38 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (49 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family life in Jackson, Minnesota; brothers’ military service; growing up in post-World War II United States culture; awareness of the Cold War with duck-and-cover drills in school, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis; mother’s influence as outspoken Democrat interested in egalitarianism; relative lack of awareness of civil rights movement but support of students in Little Rock in 1957; small town life in Minnesota; graduating from high school in 1963 and attending Mankato State College; assassination of John Kennedy; desire to pursue an intellectual lifestyle at college and disappointment that others didn’t share that desire; forming a reading/study group with some of his friends; losing student deferment and deciding to enlist in United States Army in 1966; local draft board headed by World War I one-star general who believed every American boy should serve in military; brothers’ military service; intelligence training in cryptology at Fort Huachuca; working at Fort Carson and coming into contact with returning combat veterans; preparing to be sent to quell riots in Detroit and refusing to use a bayonet against an American boy; developing opposition to the war; returning to Mankato State in the fall of 1968; events of 1968, including the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; urban studies at Mankato State; knowing that the United States was in Cambodia long before Nixon announced the incursion in April 1970; reaction to events at Kent State University in May 1970; participating in and helping to plan antiwar activities on campus; discussing the war in classrooms across campus; relationship between campus and town in Mankato; the memorial to victims at Kent and Jackson State universities on campus in Mankato; goal of disrupting the status quo in antiwar activities; value of being a veteran in the antiwar movement; carrying wooden cross in an antiwar march in 1970; finishing his master’s and moving on with life; end of the war in Vietnam; adopting Vietnamese boy refugee in late 1970s; and long-term impact of antiwar movement on his personal life and on US.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Michael David Drews was born in June 25, 1948 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, growing up in South Minneapolis he graduated from West High School in 1967. Drews attended Mankato State College from 1967 until 1968. He left college and got drafted so he enlisted in the Air Force for four years. Drews served as a jet engine mechanic in Da Nang Vietnam working on F-4 Phantoms, and larger gunships C-123 and C-119. On a second tour, he served in Thailand working on B-52 and KC-135 engines. He was discharged in 1973 and used the GI Bill to attend school. Drews worked at various civilian airlines, volunteered at the Minnesota Air National Guard Museum, and eventually becoming the Executive Operations Director at the museum.

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OH 179.12

Oral history interview with Mike Drews, November 13, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 2 minutes, 59 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (49 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, grandfather's experience in World War I, getting drafted, Air Force training, bunker duty, life on the base, working on planes, Agent Orange, enemy attacks, R& R, Bob Hope show, coming home from Vietnam, and his wife.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

Transcript - Digital version

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Biographical Information: Sara Driscoll was born on April 20, 1947 in St. Paul, the fourth of five children born to Sara Helen O’Brien Driscoll and Albert Bridges Driscoll. Her mother was a politically engaged feminist who ran for county commissioner in 1952 and lost and ran again in 1954 and pulled out. Although her family was not devout, her mother’s family was Catholic and her father Presbyterian. The Driscoll family moved to Los Angeles in 1962 for her father’s job where Sara attended Pacific Palisades High School before the family returned to St. Paul. She graduated from Convent of the Visitation School in 1965, attended the University of Minnesota for a year, and moved between St. Paul and Los Angeles a couple of times. She got pregnant while in Los Angeles, delivered her baby in a Catholic hospital for unwed mothers, and then surrendered her daughter for adoption.

Driscoll moved back to Minnesota in 1968, where she met Marv Davidov after an antiwar poetry reading. He told her about the Honeywell Project, among other things, which started her on a lifetime of activism. She worked nearly full-time for the Honeywell Project from late 1968 to the spring of 1970, when she went to New Haven, Connecticut in support of Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins, who were on trial for murder. She ended up staying on the East Coast and has lived in Boston ever since. She has been a committed activist there, as well, involved in the feminist movement, the tenant rights’ movement, antiwar movement, and other peace and social justice efforts.

Driscoll came out as a lesbian in 1971, was one of the first five women in Boston's Local #103 IBEW to go through the apprenticeship and become a journeyperson electrician in the construction local. She returned to university in her 50s for a bachelor of science degree in exercise physiology and is now retired. Driscoll remains active in climate change and Palestinian rights movements.

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OH 179.13

Oral history interview with Sara Driscoll, April 3, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 40 minutes, 48 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (47 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in St. Paul, attending Catholic schools but as a bit of a rebel; mother’s personality and politics; family’s move to and from Los Angeles / Pacific Palisades; graduating from Visitation and starting University of Minnesota; moving back and forth from Minnesota to Los Angeles; getting pregnant while single in Los Angeles, deciding not to enter and maternity home, but delivering baby in Catholic hospital for unwed mothers; returning to Minnesota; marginal awareness of politics, civil rights movement, war, until she met Marv Davidov in the fall of 1968; working with Davidov on the Honeywell Project; moving to the East Coast in the spring of 1970 to support Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins; making a home in Boston, Massachussetts; involvement in the feminist, peace and justice, and tenant rights movements; supporting the Black Panthers and their support of her at a clinic after she was raped; working as an electrician in Boston; co-founding the Jamaica Plain Tenants Action Group; limitations of strict identity politics; being an activist and its effect on personal relationships; and coming out in 1971.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Thích Hạnh Đức was born in 1970 in Huế, the central of Việt Nam, currently called Thừa Thiên. He grew up practicing Buddhism and was ordained at the age of 11 and then continued his education in Vietnam and India. He came to America in 2005.

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OH 179.14

Oral history interview with Thich Hanh Duc, September 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 56 minutes, 23 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (46 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include his religious name, early childhood, early life in the Bát Nhã temple, Death Anniversary of the Highest Venerable, Fall of Saigon, Great Bell, Buddhist Morning Service, impact of war on his family, childhood schooling, graduate studies, Memories at Long Thơ temple and time in India, Difficulties and challenges in life as a monk, teaching Buddhism in Chicago, applying for United States, first days in America, propagation of Buddhism, Buddhist Association Monastery, choosing to live in Minnesota, difficulties building up Tây Phương Monastery, life in the Monastery, and Ullambana ceremony.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Dung was born in 1950 in Nha Trang. She grew up in Sài Gòn. Her father was in Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam, he trained and lived in America from 1955 until 1957. Her mother was a housewife. Dung was married in 1968 and lost her husband in transit to the United States. She spent time in a Philippines refugee camp before coming to America. Dung Remarried and opened a restaurant in Minnesota. She has ten children.

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OH 179.15

Oral history interview with Nguyen Thi My Dung, September 5, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 40 minutes, 55 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (46 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life in Vietnam, passage to America, loss of her husband, birth of fifth child on airplane coming to America, Philippines Refugee Camp, challenges in starting life in America, cultural differences, Fort Indiana town Gap’s Camp Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, meeting and marriage of second husband, death of her young son, start of restaurant business in 1991, restaurant awards, meaning and design of restaurant, and history of family in United States and where they are now.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Tom Eckhoff was born November 22, 1948 in Red Wing, Minnesota. He enlisted for service and became an Army Ranger, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

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OH 179.16

Oral history interview with Tom Eckhoff, December 22, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (6 hours, 10 minutes, 37 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (117 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include genealogy; family history; veterans in family; growing up south of Red Wing, Minnesota; education; interest in music and theater; music in the sixties; recreational exploring, skydiving; odd jobs; the draft; impressions and excitement regarding soldiers and becoming a soldier; observations of race; basic training; chores on base, morale, and inter-unit relationships; jump school; skin damage from sun; effect of protests on soldiers, regulations; effect of service on family; forming connections with other soldiers; getting into the Rangers; reconnaissance; difficulty of geography; fake insertions; near-death experiences; interactions with wildlife; some soldiers looting bodies, taking trophies; white phosphorous; guilt and shame; artillery; drug abuse; Long Bính jail; hunting; Patrick Tadina; rest and recreation; sex industry and sexually transmitted infections; survivor’s guilt; feelings of alienation; later-life pacifism; job as a federal law enforcement officer; and camaraderie with other veterans post-war.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Michael W. Erkel grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota with his high School years in Minneapolis at West High School as well as in Southern California. He had an upper middle class upbringing. His father was a veterinarian and had battles with alcoholism. His mother was active in Democratic Party politics and was a delegate to the 1968 Chicago Convention. Erkel enlisted as an Army Special Forces Medic and volunteered for Special Forces training while in the military. He served at two Special Forces camps in Vietnam, A231 (Tieu Atar) and A232 (Tan Rai). Erkel became a physician’s assistant and now travels widely with his wife.

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OH 179.17

Oral history interview with Michael W. Erkel, March 26, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 20 minutes, 39 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (57 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, education, riding ice floats and nearly drowning, Episcopalian background, moving around, alcohol, various acts of delinquency, impressions of Cold War events, Community College, Berkeley protests, enlistment to Airborne, morale, training, drill sergeants, relationships with other soldiers, bivouacking, MP school, AIT, pinning ceremony, special forces training, medical training, practicing on cadavers and other students, medical procedures, dog lab, assignment in Vietnam, Kent State, conversations with anti-war friends, Nha Trang, first contact with VC, LLDB, Montagnards, Montagnard tribal affiliations, PTSD, soldiers drinking whiskey and rice wine, water buffalo sacrifice, leaving Vietnam, Anoka Ramsey, Seattle PA program, the war’s effect on medical career, ER work, alcoholism and substance abuse, relationships with other vets, and international relief work.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Bill Frelix was born May 26, 1941 in Wesson, Mississippi. His family moved from New Orleans to St. Paul in 1943. Frelix grew up between St. Anthony and Rondo and attended Mechanic Arts High School. He initially attended University of Minnesota Institute of Technology, then Howard University. He enlisted as a marine to gain discipline and upon his return to civilian life he became a sales marketing specialist for Ecolab. Frelix started a couple of companies with his friend Glen Beecham, married, and had two kids.

Location

OH 179.18

Oral history interview with William Frelix, November 28, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 31 minutes, 15 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (36 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Historic Pilgrim Baptist Church; Pullman Porters unionization; Central and Mechanic Arts high schools; Reverend Harold Frelix; Barbara Ballard; University of Minnesota Institute of Technology; Harold Vander; Congressman Carth; Post Office; Howard University; joining the marines; Camp Pendleton; family’s reaction to his enlistment; ground radar; counter mortars, seismometers, people finders; Chinese and Sayese troops; Australian, New Zealander, Korean, and Canadian allies; Da Nang; racial prejudice among troops; Kennedy assassination; Reality depicted in original footage vs. footage edited post-war; average age of soldiers; division between high ranking officers and corporals/privates; punji sticks; Okinawa; monsoon season; correspondence with home; extending service time; rations; time with Air Force; returning to America; Glen Beecham; J.C. Paul; Ecolab; white privilege; Messenger Service Incorporated; his wife, Willow, and his two kids; Gulf of Tonkin; Iraq; Syria; current geopolitics; Millennials; the value of military service.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Kenneth a. Gates was born October 8, 1946 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Gates enlisted in the Army and served in Pleiku, Vietnam from 1965 until 1966 as a helicopter engine mechanic, crew chief, and door gunner.

Location

OH 179.19

Oral history interview with Kenneth A. Gates, January 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 22 minutes, 24 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (70 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ancestry, family life, impact of Depression on family, father’s experiences in World War II, growing up in St. Cloud, education, enlisting after being given false expectations for service, basic training, recruit diversity, relationships with other soldiers, AIT, varieties of helicopter, chores on base, siege of Plei Me, drugs and alcohol, military payment certificates, driving a garbage truck, mechanical work, unloading dead soldiers, flight equipment, helicopter crashes, Ba Maui Ba beer, conscription, Montagnards, insects, guerrilla warfare, difficulty of helicopter flight, trouble adapting from wartime to peacetime, difficulty re-integrating into American society, bitterness towards Vietnam veterans, PTSD, absence of sufficient support resources for traumatized vets, and effect of the war on Vietnamese communities.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Vance Gellert was born on December 10, 1944, the third of four children. He spent his early years on a small farm in Dakota County before moving to West St. Paul with his family; his father was an immigrant from Germany. In 1962, Gellert graduated from Sibley High School in West St. Paul and began studies at the University of Minnesota. He attended the university until 1966, then went to law school for a short time before quitting, taking a job, then returning to graduate school in January 1970. He taught school for a while before graduate school, during which time he attended antiwar events as part of the October 1969 Moratorium and drove with his then-wife to Washington, D.C., in November 1969 to participate in antiwar demonstrations. Gellert obtained a student deferment then an occupational deferment for the draft. He applied for and was granted conscientious objector status once he was subject to the draft lottery in 1969. In 1970, Gellert attended a demonstration at Honeywell headquarters and participated in the student strike at the University of Minnesota. He also participated in the antiwar protests on campus two years later. After completing his graduate degree in pharmacology and working as a postdoc for two years, he left the field and has since pursued a career as a photographer and yoga teacher with deep interest in healing.

Location

OH 179.20

Oral history interview with Vance Gellert, March 30, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 7 minutes, 21 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (44 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in rural Dakota County as part of a relatively progressive family who supported his antiwar stance, growing up in post-World War II United States, rock music, civil rights movement, anti-communism, relative insularity from war developments, at least until 1967, attending University of Minnesota, student and occupational draft deferments, teaching high school, attending Moratorium events in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., leaving the university, attending law school briefly, returning to graduate school in January 1970, Stop the Draft week in 1967, 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, feelings about Democratic candidates, filing for conscientious objector status, student strike at University of Minnesota 1970, attending antiwar protests on campus 1972, drug use, including marijuana and LSD, end of war, leaving field of pharmacology to pursue photography, ideas about healing and spirituality, and legacy of war and antiwar movement.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Steve Glasper was born in 1949 and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri in a predominately-black neighborhood and school. His parents divorced and his mother married a professional Air Force NCO when Glasper was a teenager. The Air Force sent his stepfather with family to Japan where Glasper discovered an integrated life on the Air Force base. Glasper was drafted into the Army and trained as an infantryman. He served as an armored personnel carrier driver in Vietnam with the 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division. He returned home to St. Joseph, Missouri where he worked in a packing plant and later in a plant in Houston. Glasper used GI Bill money for school and started a clothing business and other businesses. In 1987, he moved to Minneapolis and opened a barber shop, eventually owning four shops.

Location

OH 179.21

Oral history interview with Steve Glasper, April 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 57 minutes, 1 second) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (72 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri; strong family ties; mother’s remarriage to an Air Force NCO; moving to an Air Force base in Misawa, Japan; being drafted into the Army; mechanized infantry operations; R&R in Thailand; return to St. Joseph; working in a meat packing plant; GI Bill; starting clothing business; move to Minneapolis; and opening barber shops.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Lois Glewwe was born in South St. Paul on February 25, 1950. Her family was very involved in the Riverview Baptist Church as well as in various forms of civic engagement; her aunt married Harold Stassen, who became Governor of Minnesota (Republican) in 1938, and her brother and a cousin both were state senators. She graduated from South St. Paul High School in 1968 then attended the University of Minnesota, where she became active in the antiwar movement and a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). She was at Moorhead State during the 1970 student strike and graduated with a degree in art history in the spring of 1972, just after the demonstrations in May of that year. In 1971, she traveled with SDS by bus to Washington, D.C. for a demonstration for black workers’ rights. En route the bus crashed near Menominee, Wisconsin killing one student and injuring others, including Glewwe. In the fall of 1972, she started graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and lived for a time with her aunt and uncle, Harold and Esther Stassen. She spent a year doing post-graduate studies in India focusing on the hill painters of Chandigargh and moved back to the United States in May 1975. Glewwe ran for state senate in 1992 and made a career in the nonprofit world. She has written several books about the history of South St. Paul, is an oral history transcriber, and is now retired.

Location

OH 179.22

Oral history interview with Lois A. Glewwe, April 13, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 30 minutes, 25 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (40 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in South St. Paul; influence of Baptist faith and church; family’s Republican tradition; fostering children awaiting adoption; growing up in post-World War II culture of innocence; assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy; the Democratic National Convention in Chicago 1968; increasing awareness of war in Vietnam and disillusionment with United States government; graduating high school in 1968 and wanting to get out of South St. Paul; attending the University of Minnesota and pursuing an art, then art history degree; joining SDS and becoming involved in antiwar activities on campus; spending summer of 1969 at Baptist Retreat Center in Green Lake, WI; attending SDS meetings and events; women’s role in SDS; the difference between national SDS and University of Minnesota chapter; University of Minnesota SDS commitment to nonviolence; SDS interest in/support of African American workers’ union rights; uncle who was an FBI agent in Minneapolis; spending a quarter at Moorhead State and participating in student strike there; participating in a Tom Hayden-Jane Fonda anti-ABM missile campaign in North Dakota; returning to Twin Cities; SDS bus trip to Washington, D.C., in March 1971; graduating from University of Minnesota and pursuing graduate studies at University of Pennsylvania while living for a time with Harold and Esther Stassen; studying in India; feelings about the end of the war and Nixon’s resignation; antiwar activism as expression of love of country; what it takes to be an activist; impact of antiwar movement on the war and on herself; and balancing activism with daily life activities.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Leo Granos was born February 13, 1950 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, growing up in South Minneapolis. His parents’ divorce caused a difficult economic situation for the family. Granos attended Minneapolis Central High School where he played in a rock band. He was drafted into the Marines shortly after high school in 1968. He married his high school girlfriend in 1968 while home on leave at Christmas. Granos served as an infantryman in D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in battles at Liberty Bridge and Arizona Territory. He extended his tour in Vietnam in order that he would be discharged upon his return to the United States. Granos was divorced after two years of being home. He lost a very good friend in Vietnam and formed a lifelong bond with his friend's mother and family. Granos remarried and had a career with the Post Office and remains a very proud Marine.

Location

OH 179.23

Oral history interview with Leo G. Granos, May 22, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 52 minutes, 1 second) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (59 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history and childhood, enlisting and basic training, getting married, missions with replacements, taking prisoners of war, telling the difference between Viet Cong and civilians, morale after the Tet Offensive, and volunteering for the VA.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Jeffery Grates was born February 24, 1944 in Minneapolis, growing up in South Minneapolis. He left school and joined the Navy at 17 in 1961. Grates was a hydraulics technician and served two tours in Vietnam; first on the aircraft carrier, USS Ranger and later on the Constellation with the aircraft launch team, and briefly served in Da Nang. While still in the Navy he served on the police reserve in Richmond, California. After being discharged from the Navy he joined the Minneapolis Police Department with which he participated in 1969 Police actions in North Minneapolis during race riots and at the University of Minnesota during the 1970 and 1972 Vietnam protests. Grates also served as a NG Military Policeman reacting to the campus protests and disturbances. He retired as an Army Reserve Sergeant Major and as a Minneapolis Police Department Sergeant. He credits the Navy with saving him from a possible life on the wrong side of the law. In retirement Grates remains active in Police and veterans organizations.

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OH 179.24

Oral history interview with Jeff Grates, October 11, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 5 minutes, 49 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (59 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, vocational high school, joining the Navy and basic training, working on airplanes, Gulf of Tonkin, flying missions in Vietnam and sometimes Cambodia, and becoming a Minneapolis Police officer.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Trudel Henry Guerue, Jr., a Lakota Indian, was born July 18, 1947 in Rosebud, South Dakota. His parents divorced when he was two years old and he was raised by his paternal grandmother with tales of his native culture. Guerue was selected to go to Vermont Academy, an East Coast high school prep school. After graduation he chose to follow his warrior heritage and enter the army. At 19 years old he was accepted into officers training. Guerue hoped to be an airborne infantry officer and was disappointed to be sent to artillery officers training. He first served in Germany then Vietnam where he served as an artillery forward observer with the 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade. Guerue was very badly wounded and endured many operations and many months in the hospital. Using the GI Bill he received a degree in Russian from Dartmouth then traveled extensively. He started law school but dropped out. Guerue returned to the Rosebud Reservation and worked in Tribal justice, then was accepted into law School at Notre Dame. He is retired from practicing law and living in Minneapolis.

Location

OH 179.25

Oral history interview with Trudell H. Guerue, Jr., November 30, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 8 minutes, 12 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (39 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Chief Spotted Tail, Siŋté Glešká, Mormon Cow Incident, Dakotas, South Dakota, Lakota, Fort Leavenworth, Carlisle Indian School, Sioux, Rosebud, Burnt Thigh, Pine Ride, Oglala, Red Cloud, Ponca, Iktomi stories, He Dog Day School, Parmelee, WPA, pápa, waštúŋkala, wasná, Dartmouth College, New England Prep School Association, A Better Chance, ABC, Vermont Academy, Todd County High School, Army, Infantry, Mortarman, Fort Gordon, Germany, Officer Candidate School, Fort Sill, Wiesbaden-Biebrich, Taunus Mountains, Hobey Pillsbury, Vietnam, paratrooper, harbinger, Biên Hòa, 173rd Airborne Brigade, An Khê, An Lo Valley, Vance Forepaugh, Tuy Hòa, A Company, 2nd Battalion, Đắk Tô, Bồng Sơn, punji stick, Viet Cong, injured, KIA, near-death experience, casualty, San Francisco, Middlebury College, Notre Dame, Black Hills State College, Tribal judiciary Committee, South Dakota Inter-Tribal Court of Appeals, and Magistrate Bernie Becker.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Gary Guggenberger was born in 1947. He grew up in Cold Spring, Minnesota in a German community. He enlisted in the army in February of 1968 and trained at Fort Campbell and Fort Polk to be a truck driver. In July 1968 Guggenberger was sent to Vietnam and assigned to 352nd Transportation Company, 6th Transportation BN, at Long Binh, Vietnam. He was captured and held in a POW camp for 1,491 days. He returned to the United States in 1973. Guggenberger married in 1974 and moved with his wife to Colorado, but divorced in 1989. He attended college and then worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Location

OH 179.26

Oral history interview with Gary Guggenberger, April 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (4 hours, 29 minutes, 27 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (94 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include various aspects of convoy and transportation in Vietnam; convoy ambush when wounded and taken prisoner; 1,491 days in captivity in South Vietnam; conditions in camp and fellow prisoners; homecoming to United States then to Cold Spring; medical recovery in Army Fitzsimons Medical Facility in Colorado; leaving the Army in August of 1973; attending Colorado Community College; working for the Colorado Division of Wildlife as a Wildlife Technician and Hatchery Supervisor; retiring back to Minnesota in 2002 and buying a home in Bemidji.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Dave Gutknecht was born December 1947 in Winthrop, Minnesota, the youngest of four children. He left high school before graduating and started studies at Augsburg College in 1964. Gutknecht spent one year at Augsburg before transferring to the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1965. He registered with the Selective Service when he turned 18 in December 1965, knowing that he would not serve. By the end of 1967, Gutknecht had quit school to co-found the Twin Cities Draft Information Center and turned in his draft card. His induction refusal case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which in 1970 overturned his conviction and prohibited similar punitive inductions (Gutknecht v. United States). In 1972, he was convicted of failing to perform alternative service and sentenced to three years in federal prison, later reduced to two years. After his release from prison and the end of the war in Vietnam, Gutknecht made a career in the food co-operative movement and is still editor of Cooperative Grocer magazine.

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OH 179.27

Oral history interview with Dave Gutknecht, August 28, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 36 minutes, 42 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (43 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in small town Minnesota; family tradition of military service; growing awareness of and interest in political life, social movements, United States history, and foreign policy; learning about the war in Vietnam; leaving high school before graduating to begin studies at Augsburg College in the fall of 1964 and transfer to the University of Minnesota the next year; attending teach-ins, lectures, rallies, and demonstrations opposing the war in Vietnam; Vietnam Summer 1967; establishing and running the Twin Cities Draft Information Center (TCDIC) in Minneapolis; the various ways to avoid, oppose, resist the draft, including draft board raids; national network of antiwar and draft counseling organizations; TCDIC operations and evolution; the role of women in TCDIC; bombings and relocation of TCDIC offices; his own draft case including taking case all the way to the United States Supreme Court (Gutknecht v. United States 1970); conviction for refusing to perform alternative service as a conscientious objector and sentence of three years in federal prison served in Sandstone, Minnesota; experiences in prison and its effect on him; living in a commune in Minneapolis and career in the food cooperative movement; the intellectual, political, community, and personal underpinnings of his draft and antiwar activism; the practice and purpose of civil disobedience, including the role of violence; the social support of family and friends, solidarity among like-minded activists; resistance among active-duty GIs and the Vietnamese; the legacy of the war in Vietnam, the draft, and the antiwar and –draft movements.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: James Woods Halley was born in Chicago in 1938, one of two boys born to a father who was an engineer and a mother who had a master’s degree in political science and was involved in several civic activities. From age nine and on, he grew up in Indiana, graduating from high school in 1956. Halley attended Principia College for two years, then earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from MIT in 1961. He then earned a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also worked as an assistant professor. Halley was at Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement and attended some of the demonstrations. He opposed the war in Vietnam early on, despite the fact that his younger brother had dropped out of law school at Stanford to fulfill his ROTC obligation to the Army. In 1968, Halley moved to Minnesota to accept a tenured position at the University of Minnesota. His brother Wilson was killed in Vietnam in November of that year which enhanced Halley's opposition to the war. He became involved in some anti-draft work in the Twin Cities at which point he met Marv Davidov who told him about the cluster bombs Honeywell made. Halley was involved in the formation of the Honeywell Project from the outset, along with Davidov, Evan Stark, and others. He met with Honeywell chairman James Binger, attended Honeywell shareholders’ meetings, bought stock in the Proxies for People campaign, spoke to the media, and engaged in other related activities on behalf of the Project. He was also supportive of the 1970 student strike on campus, though less involved. After the war ended and the Honeywell Project activities faded for a while, Halley concentrated on his work, traveled to Vietnam numerous times to meet with fellow physicists, and was active in the Farmer Labor Association, Interchange, and MoveOn. He is still actively engaged in teaching and research at the university.

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OH 179.28

Oral history interview with James Woods Halley, March 14, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (4 hours, 32 minutes, 39 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (43 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family life—discussing politics, parents, brother Wilson; events of the 1960s; increasing awareness of civil rights movement; studying at MIT and Berkeley; interest in bigger picture of physics and science; Free Speech Movement at Berkeley; learning about war and becoming opposed; brother dropping out of school, joining Army, and his subsequent death in Vietnam in November 1968; disagreement in family over war and antiwar movement; moving to take a job at the University of Minnesota; becoming involved in anti-draft activities in Twin Cities; learning from Marv Davidov about cluster bombs being made at Honeywell; forming the Honeywell Project; campus and other colleagues involved in Honeywell Project; meeting with Honeywell Chairman James Binger and Vice President Gerry Morse; demonstrating at shareholders’ meetings in 1969 and 1970; goals and strategies of Honeywell Project; other antiwar groups involved in Honeywell Project or antiwar movement; FBI surveillance of Project; Faculty Action Caucus; Center for Corporate Responsibility; Proxies for People; Science for the People; evolution of the Honeywell Project; attempt to work with and involve labor; allegations of sexism within Honeywell Project; lack of racial diversity in Project and antiwar movement generally; the political spectrum of antiwar activists; media and publicity; balancing activism with other obligations; student strike at University of Minnesota; 1977 ACLU suit against FBI and Honeywell; travel to Vietnam after end of war but before diplomatic relations were restored to work with Vietnamese physicists; and the legacy of antiwar movement, personally and politically.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Mark Halverson was born July 27, 1951 in St. Peter, Minnesota. He and his younger brother grew up there with his parents. His father was a World War II veteran who worked as a psychiatric technician (among other things) at the state hospital and his mother was a part-time librarian. While in high school, Halverson and a friend started publishing an underground newspaper called The Pool Hall News; though it focused primarily on student news, stories, and gossip, it occasionally addressed news of the day. He described himself and his friends as hippies who listened to rock music and were starting to adopt the ways of the counterculture. He graduated in 1969 and would not necessarily have attended college were it not for the draft. He started classes at Mankato State College (MCS) in the fall of 1969 and started becoming more politically aware after the shootings at Kent and Jackson State in the spring of 1970. Halverson became very active in student government on campus in the fall of 1970, eventually devoting almost all of his time to that and antiwar organizing. He was a member of the People’s Party on campus, which was a more militantly progressive group than other liberal factions within the student senate. Although the Student Senate and People’s Party were involved in many issues on campus, they were also the prime movers behind antiwar events and efforts. Mark and some of his friends helped plan, create, and build the campus memorial to Kent and Jackson State, which was dedicated in the spring of 1972. Halverson was actively involved in the protests occurring on campus in the spring of 1972, to protest Nixon’s decision to mine Haiphong harbor. He helped plan the rallies, marches, and occupation of Highway 169, and worked with Mitchell Goodman, who held the Chair of Ideas position at MSC that spring. He graduated from MSC with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in the spring of 1973, worked for a few years on the railroad, then earned a law degree from Hamline University Law School in 1980. He worked for the railroad again for a while, before starting his own law practice, which he still owns and operates in Mankato.

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OH 179.29

Oral history interview with Mark Halverson, October 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 30 minutes, 45 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (40 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in St. Peter; father’s military service; youth/counterculture of 1960s; high school years, including production of underground newspaper; 1968 election; living the hippie lifestyle; rock music of era; deciding to go to college to avoid draft; knowing people who went to and came back from Vietnam; classes at Mankato State College (MSC); Student Senate and People’s Party; demographics of student body; relationship between students and townspeople; Political Science Department at MSC; response to shootings at Kent and Jackson State universities; ideological variations among student senators and antiwar organizers; protest strategies and tactics; use of civil disobedience; growing presence of women’s liberation on campus; hearing about Nixon’s escalation of war while attending a women’s protest at fraternity, one of whose members was accused of raping a disabled woman; protests, marches, and rallies in spring 1972; Mitchell Goodman and Abbas Kessel; city and county law enforcement; protest march route from campus to downtown Mankato; Vietnam veterans on campus; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; conservatives/counter-protesters; graduating from college; law practice; and lessons and legacy.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Robert Clyde Hanson was born in 1937 and grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin and St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Navy ROTC but then was accepted into the Naval Academy from which he graduated in 1961. Hanson attended Navy Flight School and flew WV2 Super Constellation Aircraft in Cold War anti-Soviet radar interception missions in the North Pacific. From 1966 until 1967 he was assigned to the Carrier USS Yorktown in the South China Sea where to his frustration and that of the other carrier pilots, he flew an S-2 Aircraft in missions over Vietnam that were greatly restricted by Pentagon and White House policies. Hanson served on the Carrier USS Constellation off Vietnam where he served as a Catapult and Arresting Gear officer responsible for the safe launch and recovery of the ship’s aircraft from 1969 until 1971. After Vietnam he remained in the navy and then retired to Barnum, Minnesota in 1983.

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OH 179.30

Oral history interview with Robert Clyde Hanson, January 26, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 15 minutes, 6 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (56 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ancestry, family, childhood in Wisconsin and St. Paul, education, television, interacting with Korean War veterans, reactions of family to service, Navy ROTC, experience at Naval Academy, hazing, GI gin, Navy Flight School, wages, T-34, experience in Vietnam, morale hurt by recon missions, experience in Cold War anti-Soviet missions, anti-submarine warfare, working on aircraft carriers, USS Constellation, being a catapult arresting gear officer, North American Defense System, VADM Peter Aurand, alcoholism and drug abuse, and retirement in Barnum.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Warren Hanson was born in 1950 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Augsburg College and while still in school co-founded the progressive, anti-war underground newspaper Hundred Flowers, in publication from 1970 to 1972. Hanson subsequently dropped out of Augsburg and lived in a commune in the Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis where the newspaper was produced. After the newspaper fell out of publication, he became involved in the Twin Cities food co-op movement. His work in the food co-op movement transitioned into community organization and development work focusing on developing small businesses and other cooperative enterprises. Later on, Hanson worked for the City of St. Paul under George Latimer and helped oversee the redevelopment of the downtown and riverfront areas of St. Paul. He is currently the president and CEO of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.

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OH 179.31

Oral history interview with Warren Hanson, March 30, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 45 minutes, 53 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (13 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include anti-war movement, protesting, activism, underground newspaper network, Twin Cities food co-op movement, community organizing, community development corporations, student activist publications, protest songs, Underground Press Syndicate, St. Paul riverfront redevelopment, affordable housing, and the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Both Nguyễn Kiêm Hoa and Võ Thị Hoa were born in Tien Giang, Vietnam. Nguyen was in the 7th Infantry Division of the South Vietnamese Army. He was imprisoned for a year. Võ worked as a teacher while he was imprisoned to support their family.

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OH 179.32

Oral history interview with Nguyen Kiem Hoa and Vo Thi Hoa, March 11, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 10 minutes, 52 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (34 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Kiêm Hoa’s military service and imprisonment, Võ career as a high school math teacher, trying to escape Vietnam, life after 1975 in Vietnam, Kiêm Hoa escaping first leaving Võ behind, coming to St. Cloud, difficulties living in Minnesota, Võ’s life in Vietnam without Kiêm Hoa, re-education camp, escape attempts, why they choose Minnesota, education at St. Cloud State University, working for Frigidaire, first year in St. Cloud, Minnesota weather, returning to Vietnam, and organizing the Central Minnesota Vietnam War Memorial in Eastman Park at Lake George in St. Cloud.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Cecelia Jackson was born in 1953 in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of six siblings in her Mexican-American family. Jackson lived in West St. Paul for most of her life, graduating from Humboldt High School in 1971. Jackson’s two older brothers joined the military in the mid-1960s, one of which served in Vietnam. She graduated from Inver Grove Heights Community College and worked in transportation management. Jackson was one of the first women in her field. She now lives in North Oaks with her husband and is active in her community, particularly her church, and specifically with a women’s association that deals heavily in veteran care packages and support activities.

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OH 179.33

Oral history interview with Cecelia Jackson, May 12, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 3 minutes, 40 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (18 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in the west side neighborhood of St. Paul, Mexican-American community, brothers enlisting, effects of Vietnam War at home, religion, transportation management, divorce, family relations post-divorce, church activities, Guadalupanas women’s association, and church efforts for veteran support.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Dave Jansen was born in 1949 in Bemidji and grew up in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. His father worked in a meat packing plant. Jansen spent summers with his grandparents on farms in Stearns County and near Bemidji. He married his high school sweetheart shortly after graduation. His wife worked for West Publishing and he worked for Whirlpool until he was drafted in October of 1969. Jansen did basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and his Artillery Survey training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was sent to Vietnam and served with the 2nd Field Force, 5th BN, 42nd Artillery surveying gun positions. Jansen returned to the United States, went to college on the GI Bill, and obtained an art degree from Bemidji State University. He went back to school to become an art teacher.

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OH 179.34

Oral history interview with Dave Jansen, April 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 45 minutes, 49 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (67 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include gun positioning missions; bunker duty; attitudes toward Vietnam; extending in Vietnam so he would be discharged as soon as he returned to the United States; meeting his infant daughter when he returned from Vietnam; attending school on the GI Bill; moving to Bemidji area and living with his wife and child in primitive conditions in the woods; working for the Country Surveyor; art business in Bemidji; returning to school to get a teaching certificate; teaching high school art in Bemidji for 20 years; wife’s battle with cancer and death; and his marriage and travels with second wife.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Robert H. Jasperson was born July 18, 1946. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Civil Engineering. In 1969, he married Judy Lukaszewski. Jasperson was an Air Force Navigator, F-4 Phantom, Officer, in Vietnam in 1972. and had an aerial victory over a North Vietnamese MIG Fighter in North VN a few days before the end of his tour. Jasperson moved to Burnsville after the war.

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OH 179.35

Oral history interview with Robert H. Jasperson, December 21, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 37 minutes, 58 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (56 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Danish ancestry; growing up in Hopkins, Minnesota; family dairy business; adolescent impressions of the Cold War; novelty of television; flight lessons; ROTC at the U of M; navigation training; protests; cargo routes; jet lag; becoming a trainer; technical aspects of aerial combat; assignment to Korea; DMZ; diminishing tensions with North Korea and China; jungle survival; deployment to Da Nang; North Vietnamese Easter Offensive; Thailand; bombing missions to North Vietnam; surface-to-air missiles; flak; MIGs; F-4s; decision not to pursue career in military as a result of disillusionment with SAC generals’ use of tactical air; and recreational flying.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Grover Johnson was born in Cass Lake, Minnesota on January 14th, 1947. He was raised by his Dakota grandmother. Johnson fought in the Vietnam War and was awarded a Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He completed five years of service in the military and came back to work in the Twin Cities until retirement when he moved back to Cass Lake.

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OH 179.36

Oral history interview with Grover Johnson, January 24, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 21 minutes, 21 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (68 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Ojibwe and Dakota ancestry, family history, childhood, fighting, getting beat up by father, family’s indigenous wisdom, basic training, chores on base, jump training, AIT, morale, drill sergeants, pride of accomplishment, warrior pride, burning latrine waste with diesel, equipment, white phosphorous, LZ Sharon, LZ Barbara, responding to other soldier’s racism, field missions, training other soldiers how to walk on point, impressions of racial prejudice, Vietnamese wildlife and environment, General Westmoreland, comparing Native American culture with that of the Vietnamese he encountered, booby traps, serving with the Vietnamese ARVNs, relationships with Montagnards, jungle rot, rations, R&R, Viet Cong tunnels, re-integrating into United States, alcohol, relationships with other veterans, difficulty talking about experiences, interactions with police, PTSD, and life after the war.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Jack K. Johnson was born January 12, 1943 in Duluth Minnesota. He grew up in Crosby, Minnesota, a small central Minnesota Iron Range town and knew he wanted to leave. Johnson attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter from 1961 until 1965 and then the University of Minnesota graduate program in late 1960s until early 1970s where he received his PhD. He worked as a senior level college administrator at Hamline University and at the University of Minnesota then joined the National Guard in 1965 wanting to serve but not in Vietnam. Johnson observed major student protests at the University of Minnesota in 1970 and 1972 and participated in some war protest marches. He simultaneously worked in the National State HQ and at one point guarded the state HQ from the threat of protestors. He retired from VP position at the University of Minnesota and briefly left the National Guard but then returned to develop training programs. Johnson received a direct commission and became National Guard State Historian and served nearly 25 years. He was a critical actor in developing the Minnesota Military Museum at Camp Ripley.

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OH 179.37

Oral history interview with Jack K. Johnson, October 10, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 23 minutes, 58 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (43 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, life in Crosby, education, Minnesota Military Academy, basic training, National Guard, antiwar protests, military history museum, and National Guard activities from the Korean War through 9/11.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Maynard Kaderlik was born August 5, 1947 in Northfield, Minnesota. He grew up on a farm southeast of Montgomery, Minnesota in a strong Czech family and community. Kaderlik enlisted in the Navy and served two tours in the Blue Water Navy and a third tour in the Brown Water Navy on the Mekong River. He has become very involved with veterans organizations on a local, state, and federal level.

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OH 179.38

Oral history interview with Maynard G. Kaderlik, April 4, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 26 minutes, 25 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (53 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ancestry, family history, growing up on a farm, veterans in family, television, speaking Czech, education, awareness of Cold War events, enlisting, training, sadistic NCO, Dunwoody Institute, regrets about not having done more in Vietnam, reconciling with his brother, work as an engineman, conditions aboard Navy vessel, family’s thoughts on service, Da Nang, salvaging a shot-up helicopter, jobs aboard, relationships between crew members, becoming a shellback, R&R, long-distance dating, observations on race, racial tensions, Twin Cities mentalities towards the war, refrigeration industry, activism around Agent Orange, Vietnam Veterans of America, ex-wife’s reaction to veterans, My Lai, PTSD, difficulty with feeling good about service, pride, disappointment in VA, and younger veterans.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Carol Kalmbacher was born in 1946 in Pine River, Minnesota and grew up on a farm. She served in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 in the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku, Vietnam and later served at Fort Gordon, Georgia. After her military service Kalmbacher served and continues to serve as a missionary in New Guinea Indonesia.

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OH 179.39

Oral history interview with Carol Kalmbacher, January 23, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 40 minutes, 28 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (63 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Swedish ancestry, dairy, childhood in Northern Minnesota, education, nursing school in St. Paul, training at Fort Carson, family outlook on war, Tet Offensive, malaria, serving in Vietnam in the 71st Evacuation Hospital, Montagnards, relationships with Vietnamese, R&R, G.I. bill, Oak Hills Bible College, missionary work in Indonesia, Indonesian village cuisine, difficulty communicating, and lives of people after the war.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: John Kaul was the first of seven children born to a salesman father and stay-at-home mother. He was born in Minneapolis and until fourth grade moved frequently for his father’s job. After fourth grade, he and his family lived in Bloomington, Minnesota. His parents were both Republicans, his father a Barry Goldwater supporter, his mother a more moderate Republican. His father was Catholic, mother Methodist, and Kaul attended parochial schools for a few years as a child. He graduated from Bloomington High School in 1965 then began classes at Mankato State College that fall. By late 1967, around the time Senator Eugene McCarthy announced his candidacy for president, Kaul became involved in the campaign. He helped organize the 8th precinct caucus in Mankato, was a delegate to the county convention, and worked on the primaries in Wisconsin and Indiana. He took the spring quarter off of school to focus on the campaign work and returned to school in the fall of 1968. In 1969, he received an induction notice while in school and applied for conscientious objector status and pursued it even after his lottery number came up as 306. He was active in antiwar protests on campus in the spring of 1970 in the wake of the incursion into Cambodia and killings at Kent State. Kaul helped organize some demonstrations and keep them peaceful. He graduated that spring, already a husband and father. In 1971, Kaul began work at the Minnesota legislature, where he remained in one capacity or another for more than 40 years. He is now a contract lobbyist, photographer, and filmmaker.

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OH 179.40

Oral history interview with John Kaul, April 20, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (41 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in Bloomington, Minnesota in post-World War II culture; civil rights movement; Cold War culture; family's military service; the impact of the Adolf Eichmann trial; John F. Kennedy presidency and assassination; influence of Arthur Schlesinger’s The Bitter Heritage; influence of high school teacher Medora Perlman; becoming involved in McCarthy campaign; strengths and weaknesses of McCarthy as candidate; McCarthy as a person; having a long lunch with McCarthy in 1981 while working as chief of staff for Nicholas Coleman; feelings about Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and Robert Kennedy; DFL politics in Minnesota; work as member of national staff for McCarthy campaign in Indiana; response to chaos at Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968, while he was in Minnesota; receiving induction notice, applying for conscientious objector status, learning lottery number was 306; lull in antiwar activity 1968-1970 while he was working, studying, and becoming a father; demographics of student body at Mankato State, especially with regard to African Americans and veterans; helping to organize and manage demonstrations on campus and in town in aftermath of Cambodia invasion and killings at Kent State; graduating from Mankato State College with degree in history and political science; working at legislature; Minnesota and national politics; current political affairs; being a lifelong activist; impact of antiwar movement; the difference between electoral politics and street protest in effecting political and social change; and the influence of writers, scholars, politicians, books on his sense of civic duty and identity.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Tim Kirk was born December 13, 1947 in Minneapolis and grew up in Dayton, Minnesota. He enlisted in the army in 1965 and volunteered for airborne training, serving with the 101st Airborne Division as a parachute rigger prior to volunteering for Special Forces training. Kirk served in Phu Bai Vietnam with Special Forces as a member of Reconnaissance Team Idaho, in Command and Control North (CCN) in 1967-68. He returned to Vietnam for a brief second tour from January to March 1969. Kirk is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal for valor, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Purple Heart Medal.

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OH 179.41

Oral history interview with Tim Kirk, January 15, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 47 minutes, 31 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (66 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ancestry, family history, childhood, religious background, enlisting, training, jump school, weapons and equipment, reactions of family to service, reconnaissance missions, non-disclosure agreements, relationships with Nungs and Montagnards, participation in the rescue of American Special Forces personnel in the overrun Special Forces Camp 101 at Lang Vei, incentives for taking prisoners, rest and relaxation, drug and alcohol abuse, painful memories, reconnecting with friends, veteran’s groups, and pride in service and country.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Steve Koehler was born in Mankato, Minnesota. Koehler and his brother Ron served in Vietnam. His brother Ron was killed in action on December 9th, 1965.

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OH 179.42

Oral history interview with Steve Koehler, November 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (55 minutes, 54 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (14 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life, growing up on a farm in a large family, military family, brother Ron and his Vietnam experience, readings from Ron’s letters home, Ron being an amateur photographer, Operation Harvest Moon, family learning about Ron’s passing, personal perspective on the Vietnam War, and memorializing Ron.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Frank Kroncke was born August 6, 1944, in Bayonne, New Jersey. He was one of nine children born to Irish and German Catholic parents. He spent much of his youth in Bayonne, until his family moved to Hastings, Minnesota in 1959. Kroncke returned to the east coast for his junior and senior year of high school in seminary in Staten Island, New York and in Indiana. He left the seminary in 1962 and attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Kroncke graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1966, earned a master’s in theology from the University of San Francisco in 1968, then started doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. He was granted various kinds of draft deferments throughout this period, but filed and received conscientious objector status. As part of his required alternative service, Kroncke worked at the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota, during which time he became active in draft board raids, including the Beaver 55 raids of February 1970 and the Minnesota 8 raids in July 1970. He was arrested for the latter raid, indicted in September 1970, and tried before Judge Philip Neville in January 1971. Kroncke was convicted of interfering with the Selective Service by attempting to destroy draft records, lost his appeal, and sentenced to five years in prison. He served 14 months at the federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota. After his release, he returned to his doctoral studies, ending with an All But Dissertation status (ABD). Kroncke worked in sales for many years, taught at Viterbo University as an adjunct, and has written several articles about the philosophy and theology underlying his actions. Now divorced, he was married for 27 years and has two sons.

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OH 179.43

Oral history interview with Frank Kroncke, February 23, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 14 minutes, 25 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (44 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in Catholic family with expectations to be a priest; illness and death of his younger brother, Joey; attending seminary and monastery, then deciding to leave; relationship with his father, a World War II veteran who died at age 48; studies at St. John’s University, University of San Francisco, and University of Chicago; growing awareness of war, antiwar movement; his changing draft status; becoming a conscientious objector; alternative service at the Newman Center on the University of Minnesota campus where he counseled young men facing the draft as well as returning veterans; being challenged to take some action to try to stop the war; learning about the Milwaukee 14 draft raiders; participating in the successful Beaver 55 draft board raids; experiences as one of the Minnesota 8, from planning to execution, to arrest, to trial and conviction; Catholic teachings and philosophy; the relationship between the masculine and the feminine in the antiwar movement, the war, and general life; trial in front of Judge Neville; serving time at Sandstone prison, during which he taught in the Sandstone elementary school; writing his unpublished memoir Patriotism Means Resistance; the play about the Minnesota 8, Peace Crimes; the effects of prison on him; and long-term personal and political legacy of the war and antiwar movement

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Thomas L. Francis LaBlanc, Sr. was born July 21, 1946, in Minneapolis to a young unmarried Dakota woman. Because his mother was unmarried, he was taken from her as an infant and made a ward of the state and his mother was involuntarily sterilized. LaBlanc moved through more than 100 social placements, ranging from foster families to orphanages to boarding school. Many of his foster families were white, racist, and abusive. The longest placement was from age four until age twelve when he lived with a French Canadian family in Minneapolis. Growing up he did not know much about his racial or ethnic background, his father is presumed to have been a married Japanese American man. LaBlanc was a talented athlete in football, basketball, and boxing, and a decent student. Given his lack of understanding of his own identity and background and the abuses he faced, LaBlanc became something of a rebel while a young person. He left boarding school, Boys Town in Nebraska, before graduating to pursue a personal relationship. The relationship did not work and LaBlanc was to finish high school in Minneapolis. LaBlanc went through difficult times after losing a children at two weeks of age and splitting with the baby’s mother. In 1966 he sought out a Marine Corps recruiter, enlisted, and reported to boot camp on January 3, 1967 in San Diego. He described himself as apolitical at that time, but a "gung ho" Marine who wanted to go to Vietnam. LaBlanc earned considerable "bad time" in the Marine Corps for disciplinary reasons, but was an effective leader as well. He arrived in Vietnam in 1968 and participated in seven combat operations. He would have earned some sort of commendation for one of his missions had he not begun speaking out against the war. He left Vietnam in 1969 and was sent to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. LaBlanc was honorably discharged from the military and, shortly thereafter, found his birth family in Minneapolis. As he learned more about his personal history, he became involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM)as well as Veterans for Peace. He has worked, lived, and spoken on behalf of peace and indigenous people’s rights in countries across the globe and has, as a result, been a target of attack. He is a poet, playwright, actor, and spoken word artist who sees his words as his activism. He is married and has nine children and 50 grand- and great-grandchildren.

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OH 179.44

Oral history interview with Tom LaBlanc, November 8, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 16 minutes, 39 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (37 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include birth parents (Dakota mother and Japanese American father) whom he learned about later in life; forced sterilization of his mother; physical abuse as his first memory; growing up as a ward of the state, cycling through foster homes and orphanages; encountering racism and abuse; lack of understanding about identity as a young person; rebellious behavior; French Canadian foster family; being rejected by prospective adoptive parents then not wanting to be adopted; getting into trouble with kids at school and with law enforcement; social worker who helped him discover basic information about his birth family; learning about racism; developing close relationship with the Rock brothers from Cass Lake; being removed from French Canadian family after conflict; participating in high school sports and the Marine Corps; going to Boys Town instead of juvenile detention facilities; leaving Boys Town in stolen car to be with widow of one of the Rock boys and the failure of that relationship; leaving high school in Minneapolis with a girl and fleeing to Chicago; living under alias because he was on probation; death of infant daughter; difficulties after splitting with woman; reporting to Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisting; life in Marine Corps in San Diego; being called "Ho Chi Minh’s nephew" by Drill Instructor; being sent to Memphis, Tennesee to be trained in avionics; purposely trying to fail aptitude test so he could go to Vietnam instead; dating Navy captain’s daughter and enduring racist rant from the captain; going AWOL and being sent to brig in San Diego; being released from brig in order to play football for Marines; attending AIT, becoming guidon, earning promotion for helping to get troubled unit into shape; wanting to go to Vietnam; arriving in Vietnam during Tet; combat operations in Hue and Central Highlands; being made point after spotting enemy during an operation; other American Indians who had been made squad leaders or point men; carrying more responsibility in battle after success but without accompanying increase in rank; minefields; change from offensive operations to defensive maneuvers; evolution from gung-ho marine to one who openly questioned war; becoming more lax in leading his troops (relaxed standards regarding conduct and appearance, etc.); noticing similarities between himself and Vietnamese; guarding private companies in Vietnam (Coca-Cola, Mobil Oil); taking cover with Vietnamese during typhoon; leaving Vietnam for North Carolina; making up 180 days of "bad time"; race relations in military and being in the middle of whites and blacks; taking an early out from Marines; refusing job offer with Los Angeles Police Department; meeting and learning about mother’s family; adjusting to life in and with a large family; participating in march of Native people in Minneapolis and learning about AIM; police brutality against Indians in Minneapolis; work with International Indian Treaty Council, AIM, and Veterans for Peace; going to Nicaragua with VFP; speaking against nuclear arms and nuclear energy in Switzerland; being target of attacks in media and law enforcement; art, indigenous rights, war, classism, and activism; and Indian culture as a positive alternative to exploitative culture.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Robert Lambert was born in November 12, 1945 in St. Peter, Minnesota. He grew up on the family farm a few miles north of St. Peter and attended Mankato State College from 1963 until 1966. He enlisted in the army in 1966 specifically to fly helicopters. Lambert served in Vietnam in the 129th Assault Helicopter Company, 1st Aviation Brigade in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, supporting the Korean Tiger Division. After Vietnam, he served as an Army helicopter flight instructor and received a master’s degree in recreation and parks management from the University of Oregon. Lambert worked as the head of Parks and Recreation in Cottage Grove, Minnesota for a few years, then in Eden Prairie for about 30 years. He assisted with the St. Peter Veterans Memorial.

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OH 179.45

Oral history interview with Robert Lambert, April 2, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (4 hours, 26 minutes, 15 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (76 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Irish ancestry; tornado destroying family homestead; family military history in Civil War, Spanish American War, and World War II; Lutheran ethnic divisions; brothers’ death in a car crash; farming from a young age; showing animals at the County Fair; going to college to avoid the draft; testing to get into helicopter flight school; joining the Army in September of 1966; Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana; aviation training at Fort Wolters, Texas; being sent to Vietnam; comparisons with Korean Army; air missions; Agent Orange; Tet Offensive; return to the United States; meeting his wife at an American Airlines Stewardess School party; earning a degree in parks and recreation; job as Parks and Recreation Director for Eden Prairie, Minnesota; and the veteran’s memorial in St. Peter.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Lesley Lilligren was born on April 24, 1950, in St. Paul. She was the oldest of seven children born to an Ojibwe/Swedish father and Norwegian mother. Lilligren's paternal grandmother was sent to boarding school and tried very hard to assimilate herself and her children into white culture. She had relatives on the White Earth reservation and visited them occasionally. Her father worked as a truck driver, then got into radio broadcasting and was an on-air radio host for WCCO. The family moved around quite a bit during Lilligren's childhood, but she spent the most time in Hermantown, Minnesota and then graduated from Anoka High School in 1967. In the fall of 1967, she arrived at St. Cloud State College to study Spanish. She opposed the war in Vietnam early on and became active in planning and participating in the Moratorium events of October 1969 and completed training as a draft counselor. She left St. Cloud State in December 1969 and resumed her studies at Moorhead State College in the fall of 1970. She participated in some smaller antiwar events there as well. Lilligren had a four-decade long career in the Upward Bound Vision Quest program at the University of Minnesota.

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OH 179.46

Oral history interview with Lesley Lilligren, May 18, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 19 minutes, 41 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (46 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in a large family of modest means; relative influence of her "mixed" identity; living in Hermantown and attending school with kids from the Air Force base; the town-country divide at her high school in Anoka; having different values than many high school peers; pacifist beliefs; Cold War and post-World War II culture; African American civil rights movement; American Indian Movement; women’s movement; life, culture, and student body at St. Cloud State; becoming active in antiwar movement at St. Cloud State; moratorium events of October 1969; Time Out day; half-hearted attempt by organizers to invite American Indian speaker to campus as part of event; dominance of black civil rights movement and black-white issues; training as a draft counselor; view of Vietnam veterans; moving to Moorhead and leafletting on the bridge between Moorhead, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota; the end of the war; work with young people and first generation college-bound students with Upward Bound Vision Quest; what it means to be an activist; and lessons learned.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Dave Logsdon was born on March 1, 1945, in Chicago. He grew up with in a German/English/Irish Catholic family, the third of four boys born to a working class father and stay-at-home progressive mother. He graduated from Blue Island Eisenhower High School in 1964, attended two years of junior college in Chicago, and received his draft notice. Rather than wait to be drafted into the Army and risk being sent to ground combat, Logsdon enlisted in the Navy in April 1966. His younger brother followed him into the Navy three weeks later and requested assignment on the same ship. After completing basic training at Naval Station Great Lakes, the brothers were assigned to the USS Damato (DD-871), a destroyer based in Norfolk, Virginia. Logsdon finished his service on a destroyer tender in Newport, Rhode Island and was discharged in January 1970. By the time he left the Navy he was firmly opposed to the war. During his time in Newport, he grew out his hair, did drugs, and went to the Newport Jazz Festival. Upon discharge, he traveled the country, attended some antiwar demonstrations, and ended up in Minnesota. Though he came to oppose the war while still in uniform, he did not join the antiwar movement or Vietnam Veterans Against the War in any official way. Logsdon married, had two sons and a daughter, and worked as a Teamsters truck driver delivering produce. In the early 1990s, he became involved in Veterans For Peace (VFP). He was president of VFP Chapter 27 in Minneapolis until 2018 and is running for a seat on the national board. He has been involved in many VFP efforts, including Kyong Juhn’s Walk for Hope and Peace (2018), the Standing Rock protests (2017), and the national VFP convention (2018). Logsdon is retired, divorced, and has one grandchild.

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OH 179.47

Oral history interview with Dave Logsdon, November 28, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 7 minutes, 23 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (36 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in working class south side of Chicago; father’s inability to serve during World War II due to blindness in one eye and resulting shame; mother’s progressivism, especially in regards to race; family’s solid Catholic Democrat identity; mother’s and older brother’s interest in civil rights movement; father as the "Archie Bunker" of the family; John F. Kennedy assassination; demographics of neighborhood and high school; short tenure in junior college; receiving draft notice and deciding to enlist in Navy; dislike for military life; basic training at Great Lakes; assignment to Damato; life on board ship as sociological nightmare; physical layout of ship; being at sea for two weeks at a time and on the firing line (online) for four months; working in ship services/laundry; feeling removed from realities of war until ship was hit; increasing opposition to war; being stationed in Newport, Rhode Island and becoming a hippie; involvement in Veterans For Peace; demographics of VFP members; how being an antiwar veteran straddles the veteran and antiwar camps; the sacrifices and costs of being an activist; and advice on how to become engaged and get others to engage in social justice.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Conrad Lubarski was born in 1951 in Warren, Minnesota. He spent his childhood living in his family’s restaurant and cattle farm where he fostered close relationships with his parents and siblings. While Lubarski was not directly involved with the Vietnam War, he felt its constant presence throughout his late teens and early twenties as his older brother went overseas, only returning after being injured. Lubarski worked as a football coach and later as an insurance agent. He left work to care for his sick wife, since deceased. As of 2018, he lived in Argyle, Minnesota and was still close to his siblings and three sons.

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OH 179.48

Oral history interview with Conrad Lubarski, March 13, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 21 minutes, 49 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (33 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include life in rural northern Minnesota, farm life, bullying, high school sports, brother fighting in the Vietnam War, effects of the Vietnam War on family members, injuries in Vietnam War, coaching football, working construction, preventing bullying, Olivopontocerebellar Atrophy, sickness in the family, and lasting lessons from family.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Don Luna was born in 1949 in St. Paul, Minnesota in a predominantly Mexican-American community. He volunteered for service in 1967. After finishing basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he was sent to Vietnam. Luna claimed good typing ability to get out of combat roles, but his lack of ability was discovered and he was put into a security role. After returning to the United States, he worked for AmeriCorps in St. Paul and the Youth Service Bureau. Luna became a family therapist and eventually worked in the St. Paul Office of Community Services under Mayor Norm Coleman.

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OH 179.49

Oral history interview with Don Luna, July 3, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 17 minutes, 39 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (36 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up on the west side of St. Paul, diverse neighborhood as a child, the Neighborhood House, St. Paul Youth Service Bureau, Mexican music and artists, 1960s fashion and social trends, classmates volunteering for the military, possibility of leaving for Canada to avoid the draft, volunteering in order to go through training with his friend, being sent to Vietnam, guard duty, race in the military, attitude toward military leadership, return to the United States, AmeriCorps, St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, Office of Community Services, changes in policing, and sports and coaching.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Polly Mann was born on November 19, 1919 in Lonoke, Arkansas, but grew up in Hot Springs with her divorced mother and younger sister in her grandfather’s house. She graduated from high school in 1937 and soon took a civilian clerk job for the United States Army at a camp in Little Rock. It was during this time that Mann started forming her pacifist ideas and she met her husband, Walter, a lawyer. After the war ended, they returned to his home state of Minnesota and lived in Windom, where he had a law practice and Mann raised their four children. She became active in state politics, serving as the county chairwoman for the DFL. In 1960, Walter was appointed a district court judge and the family moved to Marshall. Mann worked at the bookstore at Southwest State College where she talked to students about the war in Vietnam. She worked on the McCarthy campaign and went to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. In 1971, she traveled to Paris with the group Citizens Committee to End the War in Vietnam sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, Clergy and Laymen Concerned, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, to talk to representatives from the various sides of the ongoing war in Vietnam. In 1980, she moved to the Twin Cities, while Walter stayed in Marshall. In 1981, she and Marianne Hamilton formed Women Against Military Madness (WAMM). At age 98, Mann still writes columns for the WAMM newsletter and for Southside Pride.

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OH 179.50

Oral history interview with Polly Mann, March 1, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 45 minutes, 26 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (41 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in Arkansas during Depression with a divorced, working mother; working for the Army; doing independent reading, thinking, and working with troops leaving for World War II that led to pacifist convictions; marriage to Walter; travels around the world during and after the war in Vietnam; living in Windom and Marshall, Minnesota; involvement in state DFL politics; views on Humphrey and McCarthy; the Mann house as a haven for black and antiwar students in Marshall; the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968; trip to Paris 1971; founding of WAMM; her run for Senate in 1988; the role of women and non-white people in peace work; feminism; the dominance of white, middle class people in the antiwar movement and of white, middle class women in WAMM; death of daughter to drug and alcohol overdose in 1972; and long-term legacy of antiwar work.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Andrew ("Andy") Marlow was born on February 20, 1944 in Lake City, Minnesota, the oldest of six children. His father was a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate who grew up on the reservation in South Dakota and been harshly educated at the Flandreau Indian boarding school. His mother had been raised by an aunt and uncle on a farm in Oak Center, Minnesota. His dad was a veteran of World War II, as were a number of uncles from his father’s large family, and worked as a heavy equipment operator and then a truck driver. His mother was a student who always worked, including at the University of Minnesota and the state 4H office. Marlow grew up primarily in Newport, Minnesota where his native identity was not emphasized. He graduated from Park High School in 1962 and started studies at St. Cloud State College that fall, originally for math, chemistry, and physics. Marlow later changed his major to speech with an emphasis on television and radio. He had been active in the Young DFL in high school and in his freshman year of college. He transferred to the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1964, but quit school before finishing the quarter. Facing the prospect of the draft and not wanting to go to war, Marlow joined the National Guard and was part of Company B of the 204th Medical Battalion in West St. Paul. Beginning in 1965, he did basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky then went to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for medic training. Marlow was back on campus at St. Cloud State in the fall of 1965, where he became active in getting the student radio station up and running by spring of 1967 and in student government. He was a delegate to the state DFL convention in 1966. By 1967 Marlow had become a firm opponent of the war and participated in a variety of antiwar activities and groups on campus. He graduated from St. Cloud State in early 1970 and so was only distantly involved in the protests that arose in the aftermath of Kent State. He was court-martialed when he and his friends declared that they, as medics, would not carry weapons and refused to do so during a parade as their response to National Guard's involvement in events at Kent State. Marlow was discharged from the National Guard later in 1970, just as he began teaching at Rainy River Community College in International Falls for two years. In 1972, he took a job at KUOM radio at the University of Minnesota and spent the next 37 years of his career there. Marlow also helped found MIGIZI Communications and its First Person Radio as well as other Indian news programming and educational initiatives. MIGIZI honored him with a lifetime achievement award for his work. Marlow is now retired.

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OH 179.51

Oral history interview with Andy Marlow, April 24, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 16 minutes, 54 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (37 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include parents and family life; Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota/Oyate heritage; significance of native identity as a young person in Newport and at St. Cloud State; growing up with value of serving others; regard for John F. Kennedy; father’s and other family members’ experiences at boarding school and in military; Cold War culture and space race against Soviets; becoming active in YDFL; attending St. Cloud State to study math, chemistry, and physics; living in Lawrence Hall on campus; transfer to University of Minnesota, then dropping out and joining National Guard; racial demographics of Newport, St. Cloud State, National Guard, and Fort Sam; awareness of black civil rights movement; interconnectedness of civil rights, student empowerment, and antiwar movements; growing awareness of war in Vietnam, coming to oppose it on political and personal grounds; opposing war while in the Guard; returning to St. Cloud State, changing majors, and helping to establish student radio station; involvement in student government; becoming more politicized in opposition to war through news reports, reading, and talking to others; Johnson, Humphrey, McCarthy, and Robert Kennedy; planning and attempting to execute mock burning of dog with napalm in early 1968; 1968 election; takeover of Whitney House by black students at St. Cloud State; emergence and support of the American Indian Movement; women’s roles in movement, emergence of women’s movement, and mother as a strong female role model; refusing to carry weapons while in National Guard and subsequent court martial in 1970; taking a teaching job at Rainy River Community College in 1970; driving six students from International Falls for antiwar demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1971; relationship to Vietnam veterans; work at KUOM at University of Minnesota; development of MIGIZI communications, First Person Radio; end of war in 1973; impact of the Wall/Vietnam Veterans Memorial; what it takes to be an activist; and the impact of antiwar movement, personally and politically.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Michael Anthony Medina was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1939. Micahel was a child of Mexican immigrants and grew up in a culturally diverse community in West St. Paul. His architectural education was interrupted when he was drafted into the Vietnam War as a construction battalion, or SEABEE.

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OH 179.52

Oral history interview with Michael A. Medina, July 31, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 32 minutes, 21 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (23 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include the Tet Offensive; soldiers’ perception of the Vietnam War; experience returning to civilian life; the effects of PTSD specifically divorce and alcoholism; and the AMVETS Group, Post 5.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Jerome Joseph Miron was born on July 23, 1948 in Hugo, Minnesota. He was born on a farm but after his father died in a farm accident his widowed mother moved to St. Paul with the six kids. Miron served at Fort Benning and did scout dog handler training. He served in Vietnam with the 41st Scout Dog Platoon, returned home, married, and worked as a fund raiser. Miron is active with veteran support activities, including Minnesota Warriors Ice Hockey and talking to kids in schools, but is hesitant to go to unit reunions.

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OH 179.53

Oral history interview with Jerry Miron, October 26, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 20 minutes, 57 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (55 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up poor, attending Catholics schools, childhood activities, being drafted with younger brother with basic training and infantry training together, first impressions of Vietnam, working with dogs, operations with Rebel and difficulties with supported units, life after Vietnam, and Iron Will.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: George Mische was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on July 30, 1937. He was one of six children in a German Catholic family. After graduating from high school, he attended St. Cloud State College for one quarter, then joined the United States Army in 1955. Upon discharge from the military, Mische attended college at St. Peter’s College and Gannon College, graduating in 1963. He worked in Central America with an Alliance for Progress program, but became disillusioned with United States policy and resigned. Convinced by his experiences in Central America that the United States government was subverting democracy, he traveled across the United States for three years delivering lectures on foreign policy and speaking to Catholic bishops. He became acquainted with Catholic priests Daniel and Philip Berrigan, the former in 1959 through work with students at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, the latter in 1962. Dan Berrigan married George and his wife, Helene, in the fall of 1967. When George learned during the trial of the Baltimore 4 in 1968 that duplicate copies of draft files did not exist, he and others started planning an action destroy draft files. On May 17, 1968, Mische and others, all draft-ineligible Catholics, barged into the draft offices in Catonsville, Maryland and successfully destroyed many draft files. He was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to federal prison for destroying government property and interfering with the Selective Service Act. Between his arrest and trial, Mische helped plan, coordinate, and support subsequent draft board raids, most notably the Milwaukee 14 action in September 1968. After being sentenced to three years in prison on November 9, 1968, he went underground until he was captured by the FBI in Chicago in May 1969. He served 25 months at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where he became involved in prison reform efforts. Once released from prison, Mische founded the National Coordinating Committee for Justice under the Law (NCCJL). He, his wife, and their and children returned to St. Cloud in 1975. In 1978, Mische was elected to the St. Cloud City Council and became a delegate to the mid-term national Democratic convention to help President Jimmy Carter prepare for the 1980 election. He spent 13 years working as a labor organizer and speaking across the country about his experiences and social justice. He and his wife have five children and eight grandchildren.

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OH 179.54

Oral history interview with George Mische, September 28, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 33 minutes, 48 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (67 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family background, including his father’s activism with the IWW; Catholic identity in family; life in college, military service, and work in Central America for Alliance for Progress; becoming disillusioned with United States policy in Central America and speaking out against it; attempting to convince Catholic bishops to work against United States counter-democratic policies; working with brother’s Association for International Development; becoming involved in anti-draft efforts; Dan and Phil Berrigan; Baltimore 4 action and trial; planning for Catonsville action; working with other members of the Catonsville 9; the draft office action; necessity of taking more than symbolic action to stop the war and of alerting media to action; arrest, trial, conviction, and prison; subsequent draft board raids, including Milwaukee 14, Harrisburg 8, Chicago 15, and Camden 28; the big personalities involved in actions and conflict among them; going underground; dissatisfaction with portrayals and mythologizing of Catonsville 9 and those involved in it; prison reform and labor organizing work; work with Jimmy Carter and warning against bringing Shah of Iran to United States; the image of the Catholic Left; and the long-term effects and legacy of Catonsville 9 and the many other draft board raids.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: John Murray was born on November 6th, 1940 in Albany New York, the middle of 3 children. His mother was committed to the State Mental Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, and soon after he was sent by his father to live with his great-aunt and uncle who raised him. Murray attended Catholic schools through elementary, high school, and later college. He graduated high school in 1958 in Albany, and then attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a Navy ROTC scholarship. After graduating from Marquette in 1962, Murray began basic school for the marines. He was sent to artillery school at Quantico and in 1963 was assigned to Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines in Okinawa. In 1965 after his first thirteen month tour and being promoted to First Lieutenant, Murray was assigned to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and 1966 he received a set of orders to the Marine Barracks Great Lakes in Chicago. He met his wife Sherri, a navy nurse, in 1965 at the Marine Corps Birthday Ball and they married in November of 1966. Murray worked at the Naval Corrections Facility as Brig Officer from 1966 until 1967, when he was sent to Vietnam. He was assigned to the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade in Okinawa in October of 1967 and in November of 1968 his tour ended and he returned to Minnesota where his wife Sherri and children were staying. Murray was then assigned to the officer selection team in New York City in which he worked to recruit students to the marines at several universities in and around New York and worked there until January of 1970. Murray and his family moved to Monterey California so he could attend post-graduate school in operation research through the marines, which he completed in March of 1972 after which he was assigned to 2nd Marine Division to the management systems at Camp Lejeune, the 3rd Marine Division as a Major, once again in Okinawa, then to the 31st Marines Amphibious Unit, in which he was deployed as the logistics officer, and then to the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, where he became the four of the 4th Marine Regiment on the USS Blue Ridge during Operation Frequent Wind. In 1982, he left the Marine Corps and began looking for work and eventually got a job at FMC. Later John worked for Honeywell in Minnesota and then Wyatt Tech Systems. He also worked for Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon (which merged with Hughes) until his retirement.

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OH 179.55

Oral history interview with John Murray, November 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (4 hours, 10 minutes, 40 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (59 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Albany, New York in the 1950s; parents and family life; genealogy; Catholic school; National Babe Ruth League Baseball; Freihoffer Bakery Albany; New York Central Railroad; Stewarts Ice Cream Shop in Albany; 1950s musi; the Redjackets Albany Band; the Greeks Albany; Navy ROTC; Marquette University, Milwaukee; Vietnam War; USS Macon; Rick Spooner; The Globe and Laurel; Marine Corps; Camp Pendleton; Camp Lejeune; Orange Motors Albany; Quantico; Fort Sill; Okinawa; Camp Fuji; Hong Kong; Walson-Matilda; Royal Marines; Camp Hansen; 1964 Ford Mustang; Marine Corps Birthday Ball; Naval Corrections Facility; For Bragg; Khe Sanh; Huế; Đông Hà; Quảng Trị; Tet Offensive; Cửa Việt; Leatherneck Square; Đà Nẵng; protests; recruitment; Columbia University; Montclair State University; Monterey California; USS Okinawa Helicopter Carrier; Subic Bay; Philippines; Operation Eagle Pull; General Al Gray; MACV Headquarters; Saigon; USS Blue Ridge; Tân Sơn Nhứt; General Carey; South China Sea; NVA; USS Hancock; Jim Livingston; Operation Frequent Wind; Fort Hunter Liggett; Honeywell; Control Data; Sperry; Northern Ordinance Division FMC; Terrier Missile System; Tartar Missile System; Naval Seas Systems Command; Honeywell Project; Wyatt Tech System; Raytheon; Navy Undersea Warfare System; Hughes; Seattle; Prior Lake; St. Michael’s Catholic Church; Marine Corps League; Jay Vargas; Medal of Honor; Fred Freddie Green; John F. Kennedy; Marine Corps Colonel Edward Kerdziel; Robert Erbland; Battle of Chosin; Harold Holmberg; Kagula; Cliff Blosey; Louis DeWolf; Operation Steel Pipe; James Werman; John Schamansky; Joseph Bruce; Peter Brown; Andrew Taylor; PsyOps; Ernie Cheatham; Max McGowan; William Weiss; Johnny Lee Procter; Bobby Kennedy; Richard Saw; Louis Cheriko; Students for a Democratic Society; Colonel Caleen; Gerald Ford; Robert Thompson; Richard Wiles; Michael Mossbrooker; Kenneth Winesapple; Bouza; and Terry Corchran.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Sharon Marie Murray (nee Cress) was born June 25, 1943 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She grew up on her parents’ dairy farm in Credit River, Minnesota. Murray was Princess Kay of the Milky Way for Scott County and a candidate for state. She went to St. Catherine College for nurses training. In order to complete her training she enlisted in the Navy Nurse program for a scholarship. Murray entered the Navy and served in the Navy hospital at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. She married John Murray, a Marine Officer, and left the Navy when she became pregnant.

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OH 179.56

Oral history interview with Sharon Murray, November 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 1 minutes, 27 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (49 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, living in Credit River, dairy farming, St. Catherine University, nurse training, working at a Navy hospital, being a Marine’s wife, and the Navy Nurse Corps Association.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Sĩ Nguyễn was born in 1959 in Saigon. He left Vietnam in 1982. He was involved in the newspaper Little Saigon from 1999 to 2008. Sĩ Nguyễn owns Little Saigon Supermarket, a grocery store in St. Paul.

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OH 179.57

Oral history interview with Si Nguyen, November 14, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 26 minutes, 22 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (36 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life in Saigon, life before 1975, boat journey, living in a refugee camp, coming to Canada, studying English, coming to Minnesota, the Minnesota edition of Little Saigon newspaper, assisting disabled South Vietnamese veterans, grocery store, helping people, fund raising, Vietnam War Memorial for Vietnamese and American soldiers in St. Cloud, and the Vietnamese community in Minnesota.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Huy Thế Trần worked for United States Military Command in Saigon as a translator. His family came to the United States in 1975 and lived in St. Cloud, Minnesota from 1975 until 2011. Their family was among the first Vietnamese families to arrive in St. Cloud. Nhung Trần was a housewife in Vietnam and when they came to Minnesota she worked as a seamstress for Fingerhut.

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OH 179.58

Oral history interview with Tran The Huy and Tran Nhung, December 31, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 21 minutes, 8 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (33 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include life in Minnesota, life in St. Cloud, coming to Minnesota, winter, buying a house, finances, Vietnamese community in Minnesota, helping new arrivals, working for United States Military Command, monitoring Viet Cong, working for the military, life in Vietnam, escape, traveling, help from Catholics in St. Cloud, Catholic faith, and thoughts on life.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Cynthia Orange was born in St. Paul, in 1947. She was in High School when John F. Kennedy was assassinated—the start of her political awakening. She met Michael Orange in 1968 at the top of the Empire State Building before he left as a Marine to Vietnam. They corresponded while he fought in the war and she marched against it. They eventually married, and still share a life of political, social, and environmental activism. They worked as house parents for delinquent Native American boys in Tucson; taken part in anti-war marches throughout the country; and got arrested at a Honeywell Project sit-in. Orange worked as a writer and writing teacher while she worked on her Master’s Degree.

After decades of trying to ignore PTSD symptoms, Michael—like so many Vietnam vets—suffered a PTSD “crash” in 2003, when images of the U.S. bombings in Iraq triggered traumatic memories. Not finding adequate information on how to support him, Orange researched and wrote extensively about the “trickle down” effects of PTSD. This resulted in two award-winning books: Shock Waves and Take Good Care.

In 2008, they covered the Iraq and Afghanistan Winter Soldier hearings in Washington D.C. that were modeled after the 1971 Vietnam Winter Soldier hearings.

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OH 179.59

Oral history interview with Cynthia Orange, September 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 37 minutes, 4 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (26 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed growing up in a moderate Republican household and homogenous neighborhood; transition from fundamentalist Christianity to liberal Unitarianism; political awakening in the 1960s and over 50 years of activism (anti-war; social justice, political and environmental issues) importance of music, hippies, and community of peers in the 1960s and 1970s; experience as a single mother; academic and work experiences; social and political upheaval of 1960s and beyond; marrying a Vietnam combat veteran; PTSD and its effects on family; career as a writer; Winter Soldier hearings of 1971 and 2008; working with spouse on veterans’ issues and commitment to supporting Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan war veterans; importance of participating in various anti-war, sane gun control, and other movements with daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: John Pegg was born December 27, 1941, on Long Island, New York, the second of two children. His family lived in Manhasset, an upper middle class bedroom community of New York City. His father was an attorney who worked for Shell Oil, first in the legal department and then as Vice President. His father died at age 45, when Pegg was 13 years old. His mother was a homemaker and struggled after his father’s death, so Pegg began working at an early age. He describes his parents as Nelson Rockefeller Republicans who celebrated the Brown v. Board decision in 1954. His family belonged to the Congregational Church (later United Church of Christ), which he viewed as a refuge, even when young. Pegg graduated from high school in 1959 and started studying at Colgate University. He joined an open fraternity and rebelled against the brutal hazing that it involved. He dropped out of school in December of 1961 and joined the Marine Corps, attending boot camp at Parris Island in February 1962. After completing engineering training in Advanced Individual Training, Pegg wanted a commission and became a Marine aviation cadet. Shortly afterward, he decided he did not like flying, left the unit, and went to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina where he was part of an engineering battalion. His job entailed working with intelligence reports, so Pegg was granted a Top Secret security clearance. Partly due to the information he was seeing in this capacity, he started transforming from a self-described gung ho Marine to one who opposed United States activities in Vietnam. In 1964, Pegg was discharged from the military after two years and nine months. He had married by this time, and for the next several years, focused his energy on completing his degree and being a husband, father, and worker. Pegg worked in banking for a while and throughout the latter part of the 1960s participated in antiwar rallies and events on the East Coast. After wearying of the world of banking, he quit his job, earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Hartford Seminary, and became an ordained UCC minister. Pegg became active in Vietnam Veterans Against the War while living in upstate New York and supported other social justice, anti-racism, and civil rights efforts. In the late 1970s, he became active in SANE/FREEZE. In 1986, Pegg and his family moved to Duluth as part of his ministry with the UCC. He left parish ministry in 1991 and continued social justice work in the nonprofit world, remaining active in many social justice efforts, including Veterans for Peace.

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OH 179.60

Oral history interview with John Pegg, May 7, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 42 minutes, 59 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (31 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in post-World War II United States culture on Long Island; family dynamics; significance of religion in his life; studying Russian language at Colgate University; resisting fraternity hazing rituals and encouraging fellow pledges to do likewise; joining the Marine Corps; learning to fly then deciding he did not like it; working with intelligence documents in Marines; transformation from gung-ho Marine to war opponent; race and gender in United States culture and military; conforming to societal expectations regarding being a family man and banker; decision to leave banking and pursue ministry; growing opposition to the war in Vietnam; anti-racism work in Hartford, Connecticut; Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace; working for social justice in Duluth; and SANE/FREEZE.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Bruce Peterson born November 25, 1946 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Harding High School. Peterson was drafted and went to basic training and infantry training with a group of Midwestern men, many from his high school class. They were all were assigned to C/12/4th ID and the unit took a troop ship to Vietnam. Peterson participated in the Battle of Soui Tre, as part of the relief force.

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OH 179.61

Oral history interview with Bruce Peterson, October 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 55 minutes, 37 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (68 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, being drafted and training, first impressions of Vietnam, Bearcat camp, mail, the defense of Soui Tre and General Vessey, R&R in Japan, homecoming, GI Bill schooling, eventual career with Post Office, attending Vietnam reunions, monthly breakfast meetings with fellow Harding High graduates, unit Vietnam vets.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: David Phelps was born on February 16, 1950 in Oakland, California, where his father had been stationed with the Navy. His father was a Pearl Harbor survivor and proud member of the American Legion. He and his parents moved to Mankato, Minnesota, which had been his father’s hometown. His father worked for the railroad in Mankato; his mother stayed home with the Phelps and his brother until they were older, when she took office jobs. His family was Lutheran and Democrat. Phelps was the first in his family to attend college. He graduated from high school in 1968 and began classes at Mankato State College where he worked as a reporter, and eventually editor, for the student newspaper. As such, he covered the student strike on campus in the spring of 1970 and the series of antiwar protests that rocked the campus and the town in the spring of 1972. Phelps graduated with a degree in journalism in 1972, then went to work immediately at the Mankato Free Press. He worked there for three years, then went to Washington, D.C., for several years before returning to Minnesota and working as a staff writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 38 years. Phelps is now retired.

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OH 179.62

Oral history interview with David Phelps, October 5, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 10 minutes, 57 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (29 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in Mankato in the post-World War II era; the Cold War, civil rights movement, student movement, consensus, and counterculture of the period; notions of patriotism; father’s and father’s peers’ American Legion memberships; knowing young men going and returning from war; increasing awareness of war in Vietnam; "town and gown" relationship in Mankato; registering for draft and student deferment; Lyndon Johnson; Mankato State College student demographics and faculty; changing atmosphere on campus; studying journalism and working for The Daily Reporter; events of 1968; Kent State and Jackson State; 1970 student strike at Mankato; 1970-1972 atmosphere on campus and when it became known as "Nixon’s war"; protests, marches, and occupation of highway by protesters in May 1972; Mitchell Goodman; Professor Abbas Kessel; Mankato State College President Jim Nickerson; personal thoughts about war and protests vs. covering them as a reporter; tension between Nixon administration and media; graduating from Mankato State College and working at Mankato Free Press; end of war; and the legacy of the war era, personally and politically.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Phan Quang Phuc was born in Phong Thử village, Điện Bàng, Quảng Nam Province, a village that the media and people have branded as the cradle of the revolutions. He grew up in the war zone which disrupted his access to school. He was a lieutenant in the Navy of the Republic of Việt Nam. In 1974 he married Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hoa. From July 1975 until May 1981 Phuc was in a concentration camp, called an education camp. He then he spent one year in the new economic zone until he was arrested and put in prison for illegal escape from March 1983 until May 1985. Phuc came to America with his family in October of 1994 through Humanitarian Operation (HO). They have two kids the oldest is Phan Thị Minh Châu, the youngest Phan Bích Thủy. Phuc and his wife worked at Gold’n Plump Poultry to provide for their family. They are now retired and have three grandchildren.

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OH 179.63

Oral history interview with Phan Quang Phuc, Nguyen Thi Hong Hoa, and Nguyem Quoc Trinh, August 22, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 16 minutes, 4 seconds seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (75 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include war zone and buffer zone; Việt Cộn village occupation; Navy school in Nha Trang; naval operations as Lieutenant Junior; Fall of Saigon; Concentration camp; concentration camps in Long Giao, Hóc Môn, and Kà Tum; hard labor; New Economic Zone; imprisonment in Gia Lai, KàTum; methods or torture and humiliation in prison; Communists; Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam; Humanitarian Operation Program; working in Gold’n Plump Poultry and its challenges; and the Vietnam War Memorial St. Cloud.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Trần Thi Minh Phước was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1954. She was born ninth oute of twelve children in her upper middle-class family. Her mother was at home with the children and her father worked at the railroad station. Phước and her siblings attended Catholic schools and studied a French curriculum, though her family was Buddhist. She spoke French at school but Vietnamese at home. Phước and her family were firmly opposed to the communists and Ho Chi Minh and welcomed the American presence. She was in law school when the communists took over the country in April 1975, at which point she realized her education was done and her future uncertain. After the communist takeover, she and her family were forced to perform manual labor. Phước returned to school, the law school having been converted to a business school, from 1977 until 1979. After the war ended, two of her brothers who had served in the ARVN were detained in concentration/re-education camps and one of her older sisters left with her husband and children for the United States. Phước was the next to go, by a harrowing and dangerous boat trip, in 1982. The man who would become her husband, Thinh, helped arrange their trip, but they were separated during the journey and for months afterward. After five nights and four days on board a small boat on dangerous seas, they landed in Malaysia; she spent the next 11 months in a refugee camp there, where she volunteered to teach French and serve as a French interpreter. These skills served her well in that they allowed her to bypass the otherwise mandatory six month stay at a camp in the Philippines to learn English before resettling in the United States. Phước left the camp in Malaysia and arrived in Los Angeles, where her sister had relocated, in 1983. She took classes to learn English, then, on the advice of a friend, moved to Minnesota in 1984 to continue her education. Thinh arrived in 1985; they married in 1987. Phước earned a bachelor’s degree in French with a minor in linguistics from the University of Minnesota and was beginning work on a master’s degree when their first daughter, Thuy, was born in 1988. She and Thinh had three additional children and Phuoc later earned her Master’s of Library Science degree from St. Kate’s. In 1991, both her and Thinh’s parents relocated to the United States. Phước now works at Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota and for the Hennepin County Library system. She is also a storyteller and successful author. Phước is very involved in the local Vietnamese American community, including Vietnam Culture Camp run by the Catalyst Foundation. One of her brothers still lives in Vietnam. She has not been back to Vietnam since she left in 1982, citing a lack of trust of and comfort with the communist government there.

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OH 179.64

Oral history interview with Tran Thi Minh Phuoc, June 20, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 47 minutes, 10 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (47 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Vietnamese names; coming to the United States first to California then Minnesota after the war; adjusting to life in United States; bus trip from California to Minnesota; studies at University of Minnesota; growing up in Vietnam; relative awareness of political struggles in Vietnam; family’s place in the community; Catholic and French schools; relative safety from war in Saigon; communism, Ho Chi Minh; Ngo Dinh Diem’s troubled relationship with Buddhists; favorable view of Americans in Vietnam; positive, friendly interactions with Americans; 1968 Tet Offensive; awareness of antiwar sentiment in United States and dislike of Jane Fonda; family’s political unity in opposing communists; withdrawal of American troops; communist takeover in April 1975; interruption of education and subsequent work and school under communist regime; atmosphere of fear and paranoia 1975-1982; political classes run by communists; effect on family of brothers’ internment in concentration camps (re-education camps); failed and successful attempts to leave Vietnam; leaving home and family behind; experience on boat at sea; relationship with other refugees; arriving in Malaysia; life in refugee camp; interview with resettlement staff; being allowed to move directly to United States via Kuala Lumpur and Japan from camp in Malaysia; arriving in Los Angeles and reuniting with sister’s family; decision to come to Minnesota; reception from Americans and specifically Minnesotans; instances of racism and hostility; learning American culture and traditions; raising children as Americans and as Vietnamese; involvement in local Vietnamese American community; and retaining Vietnamese identity.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Bob Prentiss was born on March 16, 1943 in Evanston, Illinois. He grew up in an upper middle class home in an affluent North Chicago suburb. Prentiss received a bachelor of arts degree in 1965 and a master of business administration in 1967. He observed various protests while at college but was too busy working and studying to consider involvement. After receiving his draft notice Prentiss enlisted for Officer Candidate School (OCS) and Germany, attended Infantry OCS, received Civil Affairs training, and was assigned to 29th Civil Affairs Company in Da Nang, Vietnam. He worked with Vietnamese to improve their lives, mostly with Vietnam fishing industry. His second wife works with Vietnam Social Services. They visited Vietnam in 2017.

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OH 179.65

Oral history interview with Bob Prentiss, October 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 8 minutes, 31 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (71 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, getting drafted and basic training at Fort Dicks, Officer Candidate School, working relationship with the Vietnamese, learning Vietnamese language, difficult situation with Vietnamese civilians forced to live between the communists and South Vietnam and Americansl, return to United States and move to Minneapolis, working for Metropolitan Life, work with Richfield Bank and Trust, wife being killed in a gas explosion, losing his job, building a highly successful investment company, his second wife and her work with Vietnam Social Services, and visit to Vietnam in 2017.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Larry Pruden was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1948. He enlisted in the Army after high school and served as an infantryman and was enlisted in the 4th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. Pruden's brother, SSG Robert Pruden, was killed in action and received a Medal of Honor. After the war Pruden returned to Minnesota and worked at Northstar Steel for 33 years.

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OH 179.66

Oral history interview with Larry Pruden, December 18, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 47 minutes, 17 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (56 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include childhood in St. Paul, family life, experience in the Vietnam War in the 4th Infantry Division, brother receiving the Medal of Honor, and career at Northstar Steel.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Marsha Qualey was born in 1953 in Austin, Minnesota, the only daughter in a family of five children. A relatively quiet and bookish child, she found her voice after the death of her older brother who was fighting in Vietnam. Qualey began publicly protesting the war and followed this pursuit while attending college in the Twin Cities. After graduating, Qualey married and later stayed home with her four children. She started writing during this time and became an author of young adult fiction. The Vietnam War and the anti-war movement play heavily in her works. As of 2018, she was living in Eau Claire with her husband.

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OH 179.67

Oral history interview with Marsha Qualey, April 4, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 17 minutes, 48 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (24 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include life in rural southern Minnesota, experiencing national events in a small town, brother fighting in Vietnam, summer camp in the Boundary Waters, anti-war and student protests, reproductive rights, activism in the 1960s and 1970s, Macalester College, University of Minnesota, writing young adult fiction, Bahá’í Faith, writing about communes and hippies, leftism in mid-century southern Minnesota, Vietnam casualty family survivor perspective, Native American rights, writing about the Vietnam War, liberalism, and the 2016 elections.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Dan Quillin was born on September 7, 1949, the oldest of two children. At the time, his parents were living in Tracy, Minnesota, but the family moved to South Minneapolis when Quillin was two years old. His father was a World War II veteran, his mother a homemaker until she began working as a substitute teacher. In Minneapolis, his father worked in circulation for the Minneapolis Tribune. Though his family was Catholic, Dan attended public school, graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1967. Quillin attended Minneapolis Community College and received an associate's degree in 1969. He then began studies at Mankato State College (MSC), motivated in part by the chance to play baseball and in part by the the draft looming over him. When he was cut from the team, he became deeply involved in student government, beginning with the Dorm Council in 1969 and then the Student Senate in the spring of 1970, for which he was elected speaker. In 1971, Quillin was elected president of the Minnesota State College Student Association. It was largely through his work in student government that he helped plan and lead antiwar demonstrations on campus, particularly in the spring of 1972 when President Nixon resumed the bombing of North Vietnam and began mining Haiphong Harbor. He was involved in the 19-day vigil outside the Post Office from late April to early May 1972 and helped coordinate and lead the various rallies, marches, and vigils that occurred the week of May 8-12. Quillin also moderated a half-hour local television (KEYC-TV) program that aired later in May and featured a discussion among MSC students, administrators, and townspeople and businessmen. He graduated from MSC in December 1972 and began an internship doing research for the Minnesota House in January 1973. In 1974, he began work for the Minnesota Energy Agency and spent the rest of his 38-year career working in state government. Quillin married and he and his wife adopted two children from Korea. He is now retired but still active in social justice work through ISAIAH, a faith-based organization.

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OH 179.68

Oral history interview with Dan Quillin, May 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 31 minutes, 59 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (36 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family background; growing up in post-World War II American culture in Minneapolis; the traditional, Catholic, mostly Democratic values with which he was raised; John F. Kennedy; family tradition of military service; relative political unawareness during early years and throughout high school; becoming increasingly interested in and aware of social and political issues while at Minneapolis Community College (MCC) due to teachers; influence of Ken Gilchrist, instructor at MCC; gaining self-confidence at MCC; evolving awareness of the civil rights, student, antiwar movements, and the war in Vietnam; feeling conflicted in 1968 over the Humphrey-McCarthy struggle; impact of draft and his low lottery number on his attitudes toward the war and antiwar movement; involvement in student government at Mankato State College (MSC); changing demographics of MSC student body; reasons for opposing the war; events of 1968; various factions of antiwar students on campus; killings at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970 and reaction on MSC campus; presence and influence of veterans on campus; tension between more radical activists and those like Dan who preferred to work through peaceful, elective channels; relationship between campus and Mankato community; relationship with and awareness of activities on other college campuses; student response to 1972 bombings and mining of North Vietnam; relationship between students, faculty, administration, police, and sheriff’s deputies; role of women and non-white people in antiwar movement on campus; link between antiwar movement and other movements; McCarthy-Humphrey 1968; McGovern-Humphrey-Nixon 1972; necessity and purpose of media coverage of events; KEYC-TV program May 24, 1972; graduation from MSC and work as intern at the Minnesota House; end of war; identity as activist; subsequent work in public service and social justice, including work with ISAIAH; and the long-term impact of antiwar movement, personally and politically.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Trần Văn Quý was born in North Vietnam in 1944. He joined the Navy Seals in October of 1965. While on a commando mission in North Vietnam he was captured and spent 16 years in prison.

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OH 179.69

Oral history interview with Tran Van Quy, July 10, 1905. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 26 minutes, 50 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (41 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life, Passenger to Freedom program, joining the Navy, commando training, American training, Hadley unit, coming to the United States and Minnesota, Humanitarian Operation, AVRN Special Forces, being captured, spending time in a communist prison, Hoa Lo prison Ha Noi Hilton, Cong Troi or Heaven Gate camp, Buddhist monks and catholic priests in camps, returning home, decision to move to Minnesota, and not receiving benefits as a United States veteran.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Kirk Ransom was born January 18, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky. His family moved often between Louisville and Minnesota. He graduated high school in 1959, enrolled in ROTC, and graduated from University of Minnesota, Duluth with a degree in biology. Ransom became an Air Force Reconnaissance pilot in an RF-4C Phantom. He served in Vietnam from 1965 until 1966 where he flew 180 missions (including 60 over North Vietnam), was a member of the 16th TAC Recon Squadron, and completed 350 combat hours. Ransom is married with two children.

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OH 179.70

Oral history interview with Kirk Ransom, December 20, 2017. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 31 minutes, 50 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (60 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include genealogy, family history, childhood, education, memories of Korean war, religious background, adolescence in the 1950s, impressions of the Cold War, requirements to be a pilot, ROTC, harassment in college, pilot training, differences between past and present aircraft models, difficult nature of aerial combat, radar, use of infrared, Air Data Annotation System, aerial refueling, physical and mental strain while flying, aerial mapping, missions in North and South Vietnam, anti-aircraft fire, differing soldier mentalities, relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese, black market, and technical considerations of his aircraft and missions, re-assimilation into American culture post-war, and research to improve pilot training.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Duane Keith Reed was born on September 8th, 1948 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Walter and Lily Reed, the middle child of two other brothers. His father was from Mississippi and his parents had moved north to Minnesota in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Reed attended the University of Minnesota and while a student there in 1967, he and several other students founded the first black protest group called Strap, students for racial equality. In 1967 Reed enlisted in the Army, went to basic training, did advance individual training and administrative certification, went to Intelligence school, and then gained top secret clearances. Eventually he was sent to Vietnam as a private, first class in Da Nang. After returning from Vietnam, Reed returned to the University of Minnesota and completed his degree. He worked at Cargill for 30 years and retired an executive at the company. Reed served as the president of the Minneapolis NAACP and for most of his life he has been very involved in his communities in leadership and mentoring the next generations.

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OH 179.71

Oral history interview with Duane Reed, October 15, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 49 minutes, 1 second) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (25 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Cargill Incorporated, Great Migration, Great Northern Migration, Black Migration, St. Peter Claver Catholic School, Marshal Junior High School, Rondo Neighborhood, Ronald Reed, St. Paul College, University of Minnesota, social justice activism, Strap, The Grill Coffman Memorial Union, African American Studies Department, The Way, Aquatennial Parade Arrests 1967, NAACP, Vietnam, Selective Service, Army, Da Nang, My Huong Restaurant, Mark Dayton, Bill Peterson, Billy Collins, Melvin Carter, Debbie Montgomery, Nekima Levy-Pounds, community leadership, and community activism.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: William F. Rouleau was born April 23, 1949 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He grew up in St. Paul until he was twelve years old and then moved to Hudson, Wisconsin with ten siblings. After graduating high school in 1967 Rouleau worked for tuition to attend college in River Falls. He did not maintain enough credits and was going to be drafted so he volunteered in March of 1970.

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OH 179.72

Oral history interview with William F Rouleau, June 16, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 34 minutes, 19 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (61 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, childhood, military academy at Camp Ripley, basic training at Fort Bragg, paratrooper training, Special Forces training, medic training, 46th SF Company in Thailand, training Thai Special Forces and Lao Forces for operations in Laos, training operations and relations between various Asians, return to United States and discharge, completing college, working for Anderson Windows, and last 10 years before retirement as a VA claims officer.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Leah Rutchick was born September 12, 1951, in St. Paul and grew up in Lauderdale, Minnesota. She was the only child of a father who was an attorney and a mother who’d done secretarial work in the same law firm, then became a stay-at-home mother when Leah was born. Leah’s father was Jewish, though did not actively practice the faith but maintained some cultural and family traditions. Her mother was from a Protestant family, but she, too, did not engage in organized religion. Rutchick described her father as a left-leaning politically liberal Eastern European American who was active in the Farmer-Labor/DFL party and had worked on the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. He died when she was 10 years old. Rutchick attended Roseville High School, graduating in 1969. She described herself as an avid reader and independent thinker who loved horses and ideas. In high school she became involved in the Minnesota Student Union, an organization that reflected the 1960s wave of student rights and power. It was through her work there that she acquired organizing skills and a concern about the war in Vietnam. After graduation, Rutchick decided that she wanted to explore life before attending college, so she moved in with a group of like-minded friends at what was called the Harriet House in Prospect Park in Minneapolis. She and her roommates were involved in various antiwar organizing efforts. Rutchick worked for the Twin Cities Draft Information Center (TCDIC)for about a year. She counseled draftees, wrote for the TCDIC newsletter, and participated in other antiwar activities. Rutchick began studies at the University of Minnesota in 1971, at which point she ceased her work at TCDIC. She focused primarily on her coursework while a student, ending up with a degree in theater in 1977. She earned her PhD in Art History, taught at the college level for many years, and now works as the program manager at the Psychoanalytic Center for the Carolinas, among other things.

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OH 179.73

Oral history interview with Leah Rutchick, October 3, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 18 minutes, 58 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (34 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family background; benefits of growing up with older parents; developing political awareness; love of horses and reading; attending Roseville High School; becoming involved in Minnesota Student Union; the draft; increasing awareness of war in Vietnam; moral opposition to the war; studying in London and Paris; taking time off between high school and college to explore the world; living at Harriet House with fellow antiwar and anti-draft activists; working at TCDIC: counseling draftees, leafletting, learning and teaching about draft law, writing for newsletter, being younger than most of her peers, being female; non-hierarchical structure of TCDIC; demographics of TCDIC counselees; relationship with counselees and peers; TCDIC’s place in Twin Cities community; leaving TCDIC and beginning classes at the University of Minnesota in 1971; the life of an activist; and the legacy and impact of her and TCDIC’s work.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Nguyễn Bá Sâm was born October 27, 1935 in Huế, Thừa Thiên, and Việt Nam. He has six brothers. He taught high school in Vietnam from 1950 until 1962. Sâm was married on June 24, 1963 and they had seven children together. He was drafted into the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces and spent thirteen years, four months, and nineteen days in communist concentration camp. Sâm came to Minnesota September 15, 1994.

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OH 179.74

Oral history interview with Nguyen Ba Sam, October 26, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 34 minutes, 34 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (35 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early Childhood, time as a teacher, training and missions for the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, military training in America, experiences in concentration camp, reuniting with family, rebuilding life after prison, application for coming to America, why he chose Minnesota, starting life in Minnesota, and the Law of Karma.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Trương Thị Sang was born in 1935 in Binh Duong. She was born into a Buddhist family with French citizenship. Sang worked for the United States Military Assistance Command as a translator/interpreter during the Vietnam War. She came to the United States in 1992 and worked and studied at the University of Minnesota.

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OH 179.75

Oral history interview with Truong Thi Sang, November 21, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 8 minutes, 37 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (31 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life and family; education at the University of Minnesota; life before the fall of Saigon; working as a translator; working with Vietnamese, American, military, law officers, and civilian police officers; traveling around Saigon to inform people about Buddhist ceremonies; education; benefits of being in Vietnam but having French citizenship; coming to America; working and studying at the University of Minnesota; messages to younger generations.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Tom Schleck was born December 1, 1945 in St. Paul to a German/Irish Catholic family, the oldest of three of his parents’ surviving children (the youngest child, a boy, died at birth). His father, Clemens John Schleck, had been drafted into the United States Army during World War II but received a medical discharge in 1943 and later worked as an accountant for the City of St. Paul. His mother, Margaret Teeples Schleck, was a stay-at-home mother. Schleck grew up in St. Paul and attended Catholic schools, graduating from Cretin High School in 1963. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the College of Education at the University of Minnesota in 1967, minoring in library science. He worked at the public school library in Lindstrom, Minnesota for a year and was considering going to graduate school when he received his draft notice. Schleck voluntarily joined the United States Army in May 1968, by which time his younger brother, John, was already in Vietnam. He did basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and then spent 17 months at Fort Bragg in North Carolina where he worked as a personnel clerk. Schleck took advantage of the Army’s early-out policy to attend graduate school and in March of 1970 began studies at Mankato State College. He had been a longtime supporter of the United States' effort in Vietnam and so was appalled by the protests that erupted on campus after the invasion of Cambodia and shootings at Kent State in May 1970. Instead of participating in the protests, he wrote a series of "peace notes" in support of President Nixon and the war and spread them across campus. Schleck did not return to graduate school after that spring, instead taking a job as social worker for Freeborn County. He retired from that position in 2007. He and his wife have three daughters and nine grandchildren.

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OH 179.76

Oral history interview with Tom Schleck, October 25, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 8 minutes, 53 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (35 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include Schleck and Jansen family history; parents’ work and marriage; father’s work for the City of St. Paul; growing up Catholic in St. Paul; thoughts about Catholicism, Vatican II, changes in Catholic church; graduating from Cretin Derham High School in 1963; attending University of Minnesota 1963-1967; awareness of and views about war in Vietnam; support for Barry Goldwater in 1964; Cold War anticommunism; view of North Vietnam communist aggression in South; previous generation of family supporting Democrats because the family owned and operated saloons; post-World War II conservative values in family; lack of interest in military service; work in public school library in Lindstrom; brother’s service in Air Force and in Vietnam; military life at Fort Bragg; attending graduate school at Mankato State College to get an early-out from Army; antiwar protests; distributing "peace notes" in support of war and President Nixon; leaving grad school to get a job; views on how the war was conducted and how it ended; being part of University of Minnesota Republican Association (UMRA), Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), University Board of Governors (UBOG), and Catholic Alumni Club (CAC); joining various other groups in pursuit of girls; and lack of visible pro-war perspective on campus.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Elroy Schwirtz was born August 17, 1929 in Green Isle Township and grew up in Arlington, Minnesota. His family ran a farm until it was lost during the Depression and moved to Arlington. His father worked in a canning factory and his mother worked in a produce plant. Schwirtz attended Lutheran parochial school earning good grades, but did poorly in high school and left to join the Marine Corps. He was called to serve in Korea in 1950 and married shortly before being shipped out. Schwirtz joined the Army Reserve after returning from Korea and worked in construction for civilian work. He was activated in 1968 for Vietnam. Company Commander for the 452nd General Supply Company from Winthrop and Worthington, Minnesota.

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OH 179.77

Oral history interview with Elroy Schwirtz, May 25, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 22 minutes, 14 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (51 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include duties during service in both Korea and Vietnam, attitudes towards Germans during World War I and II and community’s relationship with strong German heritage, activities during high school, quitting high school to join Marines with parents' permission, USS Princeton as an admiral’s orderly, serving three years as a sea marine, attempt to join Marine Reserve, operating a construction firm, activation for Vietnam, divorce after returning and getting re-married, and helping build war memorial in town.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Mehr ("Jay") Shahidi was born in 1947 in Tehran, Iran, one of four children in a well-educated and well-connected family. His family had Lebanese and northern Iranian/Persian roots. As a child, Shahidi was interested in the west and, in particular, the United States. He read the United States Declaration of Independence and biographies of Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson at a young age. He described Tehran as a very cosmopolitan city where he knew people of many races, ethnicities, and religions. His father planned to pursue a graduate degree in Germany but was drafted into the army during World War II and then worked as an engineer thereafter. His mother was one of the first 14 women to earn a bachelor’s degree in Iran. Shahidi spoke Farsi (or Persian) at home and recalls the various changes in political regime in Iran in the post-World War II period, including the time of great conflict when Mossadegh was overthrown in a United States sponsored coup in 1953. Shahidi developed a critical perspective through which he viewed United States foreign policy. He left Iran in 1965 and studied at a technical school in London for two years, then followed his older sister to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he attended a junior college for two years. Shahidi arrived at Mankato State College in the spring of 1970 where he became involved in student government. He was involved in anti-Vietnam War activities early on, in the U.K., and carried on this work in Mankato. He was part of Mankato State College President James Nickerson’s Crisis Cabinet in 1972, whose goal was to fashion reasonable responses to student unrest on campus by bringing together members of the faculty, student body, and Mankato community. Shahidi was criticized by both the right and the left for his attempts to mediate between the two factions; even questioned his right to speak on United States policy as a foreign student. When he graduated from Mankato State College, he planned to pursue a PhD, but eventually started his own business. He has served as a public speaker, educator, and on many boards of social justice nonprofits. Shahidi is president of the Minnesota chapter of the United Nations Association and a member of the advisory board for Minnesota State University, Mankato’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1980 as well as retains his Iran citizenship.

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OH 179.78

Oral history interview with Mehr Shahidi, May 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 55 minutes, 33 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (69 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include history of Persia/Iran, the Mideast, and Iran’s place in geopolitics over many generations; changes in leadership in Iran in the 20th century; Iran-British-Soviet-United States relations; growing up in Tehran; the importance of education to his family; parents’ education and work experiences; favorable views of the United States and the west as a child; Cold War politics; criticism of colonial politics; oil-focused politics and policies; Mosaddegh’s attempt to nationalize the oil industry in Iran and subsequent coup against him; leaving Iran to study in London, then Iowa, then Minnesota; older sister and differences in political views; studying at Mankato State College; becoming involved in student government on campus, first as senator, then vice president, then president; anti-Vietnam war activities on campus; being criticized and attacked for role in antiwar activities; trying to mediate between radical and liberal antiwar students as well as with Mankato residents and business people; the influence of James Nickerson, Abbas Kessel, and Mitchell Goodman; relationship between his experiences as a young person in Iran and in peace movement in United States; subsequent work in social justice on issues of refugee resettlement, human rights, United Nations, global relations, etc.; life as an activist; views on capitalism, communism, colonialism; and reasons for hope for the future.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: David Sjostrom was born in Minneapolis in 1946. His family moved to Anacortes, Washington when he was five years old. He lived there until he was drafted into the army in January of 1969. Sjostrom did his basic training and infantry advanced individual training at Fort Lewis, Washington. He was sent to Vietnam in June of 1969 and was assigned to C Company, 2nd BN, 47th Mechanized Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, at Dong Tam, Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. Sjostrom returned to the US in 1970 and started attending business classes on the GI Bill. He married in 1972 and lived with his wife in Minneapolis and then Bemidji. Sjostrom became a licensed drug and alcohol counselor and is now retired.

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OH 179.79

Oral history interview with David Sjostrom, April 18, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 5 minutes, 16 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (53 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include ambushes, mechanized infantry operations, helicopter and working with the navy, personalities, rice paddies and being wet much of the time, frustrations over conduct of war, participation in the 1970 invasion of Cambodia, serving as a unit armorer in base camp, safer duty, meeting and serving with the man who would be his brother-in-law while in Vietnam, extending his tour in Vietnam to be discharged when he came home, attending school on the GI Bill for business, meeting his wife at a reunion hosted by his future brother-in-law, move to Bemidji, opening a stationary business, late life problems with alcohol inspiring an interest in drug counseling, returning to school for training then working as an addiction counselor, and unit reunions.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Evan Stark was born on March 10, 1942, in the Bronx, New York City. He was one of two children born to his Jewish parents. His mother was active in the trade union and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, his father a writer and high school teacher. Though both she and her husband were liberal, perhaps socialist, they were also anti-communist, as was Stark in his young years. He graduated from high school in 1959, then attended Brandeis University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He started graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the fall of 1963, then quickly transferred to Washington University in St. Louis for a short time. Stark was back in Madison by the spring of 1964 pursuing a PhD in sociology. He became very active in the anti-Vietnam War movement at Madison, becoming one of the student leaders in the 1967 protests against Dow Chemical. These activities ran him afoul of the law, so he left school and moved to Canada for a short time. Stark got married in January 1968 in Illinois, honeymooned in Wisconsin, then came to the University of Minnesota in February 1968 to continue his graduate work. In Minneapolis, he met Marv Davidov and became centrally involved in the Honeywell Project. Though he played an important role in the Project, it was only one of his activities as a community organizer. Stark earned a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1967, a PhD in sociology from SUNY in 1984, and a master of social work from Fordham University in 1991. He spent most of his academic career at Rutgers University and is well-known for his work in public health and the concept of "coercive control" as the main mechanism of domestic violence. He is married and has four children.

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OH 179.80

Oral history interview with Evan Stark, June 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (4 hours, 20 minutes, 4 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (78 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include life as a community organizer; growing up in a Jewish family in the Bronx; work in public health and on domestic violence against women; involvement in many community organizing efforts and groups, including Committee for Direct Action, Honeywell Project, Domestic Violence Training Project, the OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity) citizens community center, Community Nonviolent Action, SANE, CORE, AIM; peace activism vs. antiwar activism; relationship with Marv Davidov; work with Ann Flitcraft (wife); studies at Brandeis, Washington University, University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota; pacifism, Marxist-feminism; his role in the Honeywell Project; fleeing from police to Canada and working for Canadian government and Alinsky Institute; difficulties encountered as a result of political and social activism; sociology departments and faculty at the above universities; parents’ politics; growing up as a Republican; becoming politically active at Brandeis with lunch counter sit-ins for civil rights movement; intellectual development; starting graduate work at Wisconsin, then going to Washington University, and back to Madison; academic and community work in Minneapolis, including with OEO, Honeywell Project, and Glendale University; and Honeywell Project goals and events.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: David Vassar Taylor was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1945. He grew up in a close-knit, primarily black community where he learned the importance of education. After attending the University of Minnesota, Taylor became the first black graduate in history at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His education was cut short when he was drafted into the Vietnam War. Taylor returned from Vietnam unhappy with how the military was run and spent the rest of his career teaching and advising at institutions of higher education where he strove to improve the lives of minority students.

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OH 179.81

Oral history interview with David Vassar Taylor, May 8, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 31 minutes, 55 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (24 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, life in a black community in St. Paul, community organization, racism in Omaha, experience as a soldier in Vietnam, biased trends in promotions in the military, drugs in Vietnam, protesting the Vietnam War, family perceptions about veterans’ experiences, riots in Omaha, diversity at St. Olaf College and colleges in general, St. Olaf choirs, ans difficulty advancing in academic roles because of race.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Rochne Tibbetts was born in 1949 in Cass Lake and grew up in Bena, Minnesota. He attended high school in Cass Lake and grew up an outdoorsman learning skills from his father who was an outdoor guide. Tibbetts enlisted in the army and volunteered for airborne training, served as an infantryman in the United States with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and deployed to Vietnam with D Company, 1st BN, 501st Infantry Regiment, and 101st Airborne Division. He was wounded three times, received two Bronze Star Medals for valor in combat, and was a sergeant E-5. Tibbetts returned to the United States for duty again with the 82nd Airborne Division and parachuted into Korea with his unit as a show of strength to North Korea. After the military he attended trade school to become a sheet metalworker and participated in the construction of many of Minnesota’s largest building projects.

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OH 179.82

Oral history interview with Rochne Tibbetts, January 24, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 27 minutes, 12 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (65 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family ancestry and history, experiences of veterans in family, childhood in Northern Minnesota, Bena, Cass Lake, being an outdoorsman, Ojibwe, Cold War events, GI bill, observations of race, AIT, long-distance dating, being an infantryman, 101st Airborne Division, experiences in Vietnam, Cu Chi, camp conditions, hospital ship, relationships with Vietnamese civilians, supply systems, wildlife, mail, winning Bronze Star Medals, being a sheet metalworker, VA, and the effect of Vietnam experiences on physiological and psychological health.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: Vương Huy Thuần was born in 1970 in Saigon. His father was placed in a concentration camp for eight years during the Vietnam War. After his release they came to the United States in 1993. He is the first Asian sergeant in the Hennepin County Deputies Office.

Location

OH 179.83

Oral history interview with Vuong Huy Thuan, November 25, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 23 minutes, 12 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (19 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include his name’s meaning, early life and family, the fall of Saigon, life before the fall of Saigon, father being sent to a re-education camp, Tet Offensive, reuniting with his father, coming to America, education, experiences and challenges of coming to the United States, working in law enforcement, advice to people interested in law enforcement, and daily work as a sergeant.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Thủy Thanh Tạ was born in Saigon. She spent a very long time in refugee camps before coming to the United States. She raised three children in St. Cloud as a single mother.

Location

OH 179.84

Oral history interview with Ta Thanh Thuy, January 30, 2019. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 56 minutes, 1 second) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript in Vietnamese and English translation (41 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life in Vietnam, escaping Vietnam, boat journey, living in refugee camps, morale in camp, selling things inside of the camps, going to jail, going back to Vietnam, coming to America, comparing life in Texas to Minnesota, financial struggles, working after a spinal cord injury, the careers of her children, being a single mother, the kindness of Minnesotans, and Minnesota weather.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Bill Tilton was born October 16, 1947, in St. Paul, the third of five children born to a father who worked for Great Northern Railroad and a stay-at-home mother. He was educated in St. Paul’s Catholic schools, graduated from Cretin High School in 1965 then began studies at the University of Minnesota that fall. Tilton became very active in student government on campus, serving as Vice President of the Minnesota Student Association which led to his political awakening and social movement activism. He registered for the draft when he turned 18, as required, and had no plans to resist it personally. Tilton helped organize and execute many antiwar meetings, rallies, and marches while at the University of Minnesota, including the student strike in the spring of 1970 that was held in protest of the invasion of Cambodia and the killings of four students at Kent State. In July 1970, he and two others were arrested after breaking into the Selective Service office in Alexandria, Minnesota, with the intention of destroying draft files. Five other raiders were arrested that same night, in Winona and Little Falls; collectively they became known as the Minnesota 8. With the exception of one, who pleaded guilty, they were all convicted of interfering with the Selective Service and sentenced to five years in federal prison. Tilton served his time in Milan, Michigan, until all seven were paroled in July 1973. He went on to work for the Wounded Knee Legal Defense Committee and then earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1977. Tilton became the first convicted felon to be admitted to the Minnesota bar, and continues to practice law in his firm, Tilton and Dunn.

Location

OH 179.85

Oral history interview with Bill Tilton, February 10, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 55 minutes, 32 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (73 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family and growing up in St. Paul; attending Cretin Derham High School; attending University of Minnesota and becoming involved in student government; student government as entry point to antiwar and other social movements; Morrill Hall bursar’s office occupation by Afro-American Action Committee in January 1969; October 1969 moratorium; November 1969 antiwar rally in Washington, D.C.; turning draft cards in to John Mitchell’s office while in D.C.; Cedar Avenue house; planning student strike at university after invasion of Cambodia; registering for draft without plans to resist, save for body art at induction physical; giving speeches, leafletting, running meetings, and encouraging good behavior at rallies and protests; protests at federal building in Minneapolis and on Nicollet Mall; march from campus to capitol along Summit Avenue; deciding to become involved in draft board raids; being a "soldier" in draft board raids in July 1970; getting to know other members of Minnesota 8; the break-in, arrest, trial, appeal, and conviction; serving time in federal prison in Milan, Michigan; the movement, the revolutions, and sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll; relationship between civil rights and antiwar movements; the roles of non-whites and women in antiwar movement; the role of fun in the movement; the role of violence and civil disobedience and personal thoughts on both; a play about the Minnesota 8; and the long-term personal, social, and political legacy of antiwar activism and Minnesota 8.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Khanh Trần was born in 1973 in Can Tho in south Vietnam. His family escaped Vietnam by boat in 1978 and spent two years in Japan before coming to the United States. He owns an art gallery Dow Art Gallery and Picture Framing in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Location

OH 179.86

Oral history interview with Khanh Tran, October 24, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 7 minutes, 51 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (14 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include early life in Vietnam, his father captaining a boat to escape Vietnam, leaving Vietnam by boat, landing in Japan, coming to Minnesota, parents starting up tailoring business, school, starting a framing business, moving to Montana, lack of diversity in Montana, coming back to Minneapolis, 2008 recession, starting an art gallery and framing store, hard work, running a business like a coop, and the American dream.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Hà Tường was born in 1950 in Saigon. He served in the south Vietnamese Army and left the country after the fall of Saigon. Tường wrote a book about his life called Two Minnows. He earned his doctorate from St. Thomas College in 1998. Tường worked in the Minneapolis Public Schools, retiring as the Principal of South High School in 2006.

Location

OH 179.87

Oral history interview with Ha Tuong, October 14, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (46 minutes, 8 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (8 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include French education in Vietnam, military service and training, escaping to Malaysia, coming to Minnesota, working in education, being active in the Vietnamese community, leaving Vietnam in 1975, being a refugee and a math teacher, perception of South Vietnamese Army, and Strategic Hamlet communities.

Interviewed by: Simon Hoa Phan

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Biographical Information: Mary Vogel was born in 1940 in Red Wing, Minnesota to a father who was a lawyer and a mother who was an art teacher. She describes her parents as very civically engaged. Her family was Catholic, her mother having converted to the faith for the sake of family unity. Vogel was one of four children and the only daughter. She graduated from Red Wing High School in 1958 then attended the University of Minnesota where she earned a bachelor’s degree in intellectual history, English, and humanities. Vogel married Donald Heffernan in 1964 and, through him, became more active in DFL politics, though she had long been a catalyst for change. In the fall of 1967, Vogel was asked by Senator Eugene McCarthy to head his presidential campaign in Minnesota. She put her organizing skills to good use in the campaign at all levels, from precinct caucuses to the state convention. She traveled with her husband, who was part of the Minnesota delegation, to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968. She has a master’s degree in architecture, spent her career doing community-engaged design work in the metro area, and currently works part-time at the Center for Design at the University of Minnesota. Vogel and Heffernan later divorced. She has four children.

Location

OH 179.88

Oral history interview with Mary Vogel, April 12, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 28 minutes, 42 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (24 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up with her civic-minded and active parents; becoming a catalyst for change from age eleven on; influence of her German Catholic heritage; organizing "Students for Guthrie" at the University of Minnesota; growing awareness of war in Vietnam; involvement in antiwar demonstrations; marriage to Don Heffernan and becoming involved in state DFL politics; being asked to manage McCarthy campaign in Minnesota; McCarthy as a person, politician, and antiwar leader; McCarthy’s Catholic-based critique of war that opened a space for people besides draft-susceptible male students to express opposition to the war; involvement of many groups of people in the McCarthy campaign; using the mechanism of the political system to oppose the war; changing attitudes toward President Johnson; Concerned Democrats vs. party regulars; Hubert Humphrey’s role in Minnesota politics and the DFL, the Johnson administration, and 1968 campaign; opposition to war as expression of committed patriotism; difference between antiwar and peace movements; major events in 1968 presidential campaign season: New Hampshire primary, LBJ’s withdrawal, Robert Kennedy’s entry to race and later assassination, Humphrey’s candidacy, Democratic National Convention in Chicago; the impact of McCarthy’s run on the antiwar and peace movements, the 1968 election, politics in Minnesota, and Democratic politics; and the impact of this experience on Vogel’s life.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: Carl and Ruth Weiner are professors emeriti from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where Carl taught history and Ruth taught in the theater and English departments. They are also both the first generation within their respective Jewish Eastern European families to be born in the United States.

Carl was born on March 26, 1934, in Manhattan, but spent most of his young years in Brooklyn. His father was a mathematician whose teaching career got caught up in the anticommunist McCarthy craze, his mother a clerk in the New York City public schools. Carl's parents divorced when he was 14 years old. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School by 1952 and then attended Queens College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree before earning a master’s degree in history from Columbia University. Carl completed coursework for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, but did not write his dissertation so is all but dissertation status.

Ruth Feinglass Weiner was born in 1939 in Chicago and grew up in Evanston, Illinois in a leftist family. Her father, Abe Feinglass, led the AFL-CIO for a number of years and later took an unpopular stance against the war in Vietnam and was at one point subpoenaed to testify which made life difficult for her as a teenager in Evanston. She graduated high school at the age of 16, then began studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

Ruth met Carl at the University of Wisconsin and they married in 1959. They moved to Pittsburgh, where Carl taught for a year, and to Paris for a couple of years, before moving to Northfield, Minnesota so Carl could take a job at Carleton College. Ruth’s plan was to be a faculty wife. Almost immediately after their arrival at Carleton, the United States war in Vietnam started gaining steam and they started speaking out against it. Carl led teach-ins and spoke extensively against the war; Ruth’s role was less visible and vocal, but she was equally opposed to the war. Carl continued his research in French history and they moved back to Paris in 1968 when he received a Fulbright. Ruth began teaching students theater and directing plays at the college, first on a volunteer basis and eventually working her way into a tenured position in the English Department. They were back on campus for the protests about Kent State in 1970 and then returned to Paris that summer. Carl retired from Carleton in 2004 and Ruth in 2014.

Location

OH 179.89

Oral history interview with Carl Weiner and Ruth Weiner, October 26, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 29 minutes, 34 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (57 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up in leftist, Jewish, Eastern European families in post-World War II United States; Old Left vs. New Left; intellectual lineage; high school, college, and graduate studies; meeting at University of Wisconsin, Madison; being evicted from apartment in Madison for subletting it to an African American couple; Cold War anticommunism; gender and race in postwar United States culture; awareness of and opposition to United States war in Vietnam; influence of studies in French history on views of United States war; relative personal immunity to effects of war; impact of war on students; arriving at Carleton College in 1965; demographics of students and faculty at Carleton; change in culture in United States generally and at Carleton in mid-1960s; growth of antiwar movement and sentiment at Carleton during 1960s; reaction to invasion of Cambodia and shootings at Kent and Jackson State; 1968 election and assassinations; living in Paris 1962-1964, 1968, and 1970; relationships with fellow faculty members and students at Carleton; end of war; and lessons and legacy.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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Biographical Information: David Robert Wheat was born December 16, 1939 in Dearborn, Michigan. He entered the Navy on step ahead of the draft and was accepted into the Navy Flight training program as a Radar Intercept Officer on F-4 Phantoms. Wheat was shot down on his 79th mission and spent seven and a half years in various North Vietnamese prisons. He came home in 1973 and continued his carrier in the Navy. Wheat retired to Duluth, Minnesota.

Location

OH 179.90

Oral history interview with David Wheat, November 14, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (3 hours, 26 minutes, 15 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (71 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, growing up in Duluth, working way through University of Minnesota Duluth, pilot training, flying missions in Vietnam, being a Prisoner Of War (POW), Hanoi Hilton, POW veterans organizations, and career after the military.

Interviewed by: Doug Bekke

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Biographical Information: John Samuel Wright II was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1946. He grew up with a strong African American social network but lived in predominantly white town outside of the Twin Cities. While attending the University of Minnesota, Wright was involved in anti-war and civil rights activism. He successfully evaded the draft and pursued graduate studies in English and Black Studies at the University of Minnesota. After earning a self-designed PhD focused on the History of African Peoples, he was hired by Carleton College to establish the Black Studies program. He returned to the University of Minnesota, and spent the rest of his professional career in the English and African American studies departments there.

Location

OH 179.91

Oral history interview with John S. Wright, September 24, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 10 minutes, 27 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (37 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family history, life in rural Minnesota, overcoming discrimination, experiences in largely white community, the black experience in higher education, black activism, University of Minnesota in the 1960s, student activism, protesting the Vietnam War, student protests, draft evasion, inclusion of Black Studies in higher education, Carleton College, and network of black social activism.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Elaine Wynne was born November 16, 1941 in Bemidji, Minnesota. The youngest of four children with three older brothers. Her family spent four years in Alaska as her father worked on the ALCAN Highway. They returned to Minnesota where her father passed away when she was fifteen years old. After graduating high school and beginning college in Bemidji, Wynne married and moved to the Twin Cities in 1962 where she would go on to become a vocal political activist, particularly during the Vietnam War against the use of chemical agents by the United States, but also for various causes local and international. She has spent much of her adult life as a divorced mother of three sons with her experiences of activism and single motherhood often overlapping. Wynne is an accomplished psychotherapist and psychologist in the Twin Cities area specializing in veteran care, a move in large part influenced by her perspective on the war in Vietnam.

Location

OH 179.92

Oral history interview with Elaine Wynne, May 4, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 20 minutes, 37 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (30 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include life and work as a psychotherapist for veterans, EMDR therapy, trauma experienced by veterans, growing up in Bemidji, experiences of immigration, homesteading of immigrant ancestors, Norwegian and Eastern European immigration, gang violence in Chicago, rheumatic fever, farmers’ coops in northern Minnesota, World War II, rationing, Coya Knutson, illness and death in family, Agent Orange, local social work in Minneapolis, housing and community organization, race relations classes on the Northside, working in a law office during the civil rights movement, struggles with alcoholism, veteran affairs, and treatments for PTSD.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Stephen ("Steve") Bonsal Young was born in Washington D.C. He volunteered for a Civil Operation Rural Development Support (C.O.R.D.S.) which took him to rural villages in Vietnam.

Hoa Pham Young was born July 30, 1941 in Hà Nội. She married Steve in Vietnam and had three children. They moved to Minnesota in 1981, where she worked on the Asian Council on Pacific Minnesotans (A.C.P.M).

Location

OH 179.93

Oral history interview with Hoa Pham Young and Stephen Bonsal Young, October 31, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 47 minutes, 55 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (27 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include family naming custom, Hoa Pham’s early life in Vietnam, communism, Steve Young’s family history, United States diplomatic work, Steve volunteering in Vietnam, C.O.R.D.S. learning Vietnamese, their children, Steve’s career, living in Vietnam before and during the communist takeover, the fall of Saigon, Caux round table, American perception of the Vietnam War, A.C.P.M., and coming to Minnesota.

Interviewed by: Tran Phuoc

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Biographical Information: Petronella Janneke Ytsma was born in Harlem, Netherlands in 1948. Due to the devastation from World War II, her family immigrated to a Dutch community in Grand Rapids, Michigan when she was seven. In her adult years, Ytsma was burnt out from her career in social work and moved to Minneapolis to pursue photography. She worked at the Art Institute and as an adjunct professor at Augsburg College before traveling to Vietnam to document the cross-generational effects of Agent Orange. In her first visit to Vietnam Ytsma photographed patients at the Tu Du hospital while during her second visit she visited victims of Agent Orange in their homes, photographing seventy-five families and ten institutions within a six week time period.

Location

OH 179.94

Oral history interview with Petronella Ytsma, October 17, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (1 hour, 29 minutes, 14 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (19 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include post-World War II in Holland, immigrant upbringing, learning English, family perspective of Vietnam War, studying Abroad as a young adult, darkroom photography, Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), processing grief through photography, Tu Du Hospital, freelance photography and artistic research, technical process of photo shoots, cultural differences as a white woman in Vietnam, the effects of Agent Orange, Vietnamese Women as caretakers of the disabled, giving voice to the victims of Agent Orange, Encouraging United States to accept culpability war crimes against the Vietnamese, and learning experiences of Vietnam Veterans.

Interviewed by: Mica Anders

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Biographical Information: Marsha Zimmerman was born in 1948 in Omaha, Nebraska, the oldest of three children in a Jewish American family. Both of her parents’ families had immigrated to the United States prior to World War II. Her father was a World War II veteran, her mother a stay-at-home mother while the kids were young but very active in volunteer and civic organizations such as the NAACP. Zimmerman notes that her mother broke new ground for women in her various activitie and served as a good role model for her own feminist ideas. Her family was involved in their synagogue and other Jewish organizations, mostly at her observant mother’s behest. Zimmerman graduated from Omaha Central High School in 1966 then came to the University of Minnesota to study medical technology. She joined the freshman council at the university and joined the Sigma Delta Tau sorority. Her first experience of social and political activism came during the takeover of the bursar’s office in Morrill Hall by African American students in early 1969; she helped plan and organize a march down Nicollet Mall in support of their efforts. When confronted with the question of white students’ roles in the black student movement, she pulled back, temporarily, from the movement and, in the fall of 1969, was focused on her studies. Zimmerman remained active in the student activist and government community, however, and was part of the occupation of Coffman Union and student strike in the spring of 1970. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in the spring of 1970, having earned some credits through strike classes, with a degree in social work and a minor in sociology. Zimmerman lived on a commune in Wisconsin for a while before returning to school at Minneapolis Community College (now Minneapolis Community and Technical College) for a two-year nursing degree. She worked for more than forty years as a nurse at Hennepin County Medical Center and is now retired. Zimmerman is divorced and has three sons.

Location

OH 179.95

Oral history interview with Marsha Zimmerman, March 9, 2018. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (2 hours, 7 minutes, 32 seconds) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (43 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include growing up Jewish in Omaha; indirect impact of the Holocaust on her and her family’s sense of civic duty; her mother’s volunteer civic work; Omaha Central High School; evolving awareness of social issues such as civil rights, counterculture, and women’s movement; learning about war in Vietnam by attending public lectures while still in high school; attending the University of Minnesota and participating in student government; Sigma Delta Tau sorority; the occupation of Morrill Hall by African American students and her role in supporting their efforts, including helping to plan march on Nicollet Mall and meeting with Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin; working with kids at summer camp; involvement in antiwar activities on campus, including the student strike and occupation of Coffman Union in spring 1970; how her personal attributes contributed to her activism; being more motivated by morality than by political ideology; working with diverse groups of activists, including Socialist Workers Party; her commitment to nonviolent, activities and the importance of attracting media attention to spread awareness of movement; the social identity of student activists; sexism and the role of women in the movement; the Minnesota 8; being questioned by the FBI; the effects of her activism on personal relationships with family; growing weary of the work and tensions of organizing; graduating from the university, moving to commune in Wisconsin, working for Head Start, then returning to school for nursing degree; nursing career at Hennepin County Medical Center as an expression of the values that had informed her antiwar activism; and the impact of the antiwar movement on the war and of her activism on the rest of her life.

Interviewed by: Kim Heikkila

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

African Americans.

Indians of North America.

Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Protest movements.

Racism.

Social movements.

Soldiers.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal narratives.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Campaigns.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Refugees.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Vietnamese.

Persons:

Anders, Mica Lee, interviewer.

Anderson, Brooks, 1933- interviewee.

Behrens, Robert, 1950- interviewee.

Bekke, Douglas, interviewer.

Brewin, Irvin O. Jr,, interviewee.

Burda, Larry, interviewee.

Constantini, Suzanne, interviewee.

Cung, Tien Thuc, interviewee.

Currier, Alvin Alexsi, interviewee.

Day, Richard T., interviewee.

Dezurik, Mary, interviewee.

Dominguez, Augustine Willie, interviewee.

Doyscher, Dean, interviewee.

Drews, Mike, 1948- interviewee.

Driscoll, Sara, 1947- interviewee.

Duc, Thich Hanh, interviewee.

Dung, Nguyen Thi My, interviewee.

Eckhoff, Tom R., 1948- interviewee.

Erkel, Michael W., interviewee.

Frelix, William, interviewee.

Gates, Kenneth A., interviewee.

Gellert, Vance, interviewee.

Glasper, Steve, interviewee.

Glewwe, Lois A., interviewee.

Granos, Leo G., interviewee.

Grates, Jeff, interviewee.

Guerue, Trudell H. Jr., interviewee.

Guggenberger, Gary, interviewee.

Gutknecht, Dave, interviewee.

Halley, J. Woods (James Woods),1938- interviewee.

Halverson, Mark, interviewee.

Hanson, Robert Clyde, interviewee.

Hanson, Warren, 1950- interviewee.

Heikkila, Kim, 1968- interviewer.

Hoa, Nguyen Kiem, interviewee.

Hoa, Nguyen Thi Hong, interviewee.

Hoa, Vo Thi, interviewee.

Huy, Tran The, interviewee.

Jackson, Cecelia, 1953- interviewee.

Jansen, David L., interviewee.

Jasperson, Robert H., interviewee.

Johnson, Grover, interviewee.

Johnson, Jack K., interviewee.

Kaderlik, Maynard G., interviewee.

Kalmbacher, Carol, interviewee.

Kaul, John, interviewee.

Kirk, Tim, interviewee.

Koehler, Steve, interviewee.

Kroncke, Frank, interviewee.

LaBlanc, Thomas Francis, Sr., interviewee.

Lambert, Robert, 1945- interviewee.

Lilligren, Lesley, interviewee.

Logsdon, Dave, interviewee.

Lubarski, Conrad, interviewee.

Luna, Don, interviewee.

Mann, Polly, interviewee.

Marlow, Andrew, interviewee.

Medina, Michael Anthony, interviewee.

Miron, Jerome Joseph, interviewee.

Mische, George, interviewee.

Murray, John, 1940- interviewee.

Murray, Sharon M., interviewee.

Nguyen, Si, 1959- interviewee.

Nhung, Tran, interviewee.

Orange, Cynthia, interviewee.

Pegg, John, 1941- interviewee.

Peterson, Bruce, 1946- interviewee.

Phan, Simon-Hõa, Brother, O.S.B., interviewer.

Phelps, David (David M.), 1950- interviewee.

Phuc, Phan Quang, interviewee.

Prentiss, Bob, interviewee.

Pruden, Larry, 1948- interviewee.

Qualey, Marsha, interviewee.

Quillin, Dan, interviewee.

Quy, Tran Van, interviewee.

Ransom, Kirk, interviewee.

Reed, Duane, interviewee.

Rouleau, William F., interviewee.

Rutchick, Leah, 1951- interviewee.

Sam, Nguyen Ba, interviewee.

Sang, Truong Thi, interviewee.

Schleck, Tom, interviewee.

Schwirtz, Elroy, interviewee.

Shahidi, Mehr, interviewee.

Sjostrom, David, interviewee.

Stark, Evan, interviewee.

Taylor, David Vassar, 1945- interviewee.

Thuan, Vuong Huy, interviewee.

Thuy, Ta Thanh, interviewee.

Tibbetts, Rochne, interviewee.

Tilton, Bill, interviewee.

Tran, Khanh, 1973- interviewee.

Tran, Phuoc Thi Minh, 1954- interviewee and interviewer.

Trinh, Nguyem Quoc, interviewee.

Tuong, Ha H., interviewee.

Vogel, Mary, interviewee.

Weiner, Carl, interviewee.

Weiner, Ruth, interviewee.

Wheat, David R., interviewee.

Wright, John S., (John Samuel), 1946- interviewee.

Wynne, Elaine, interviewee.

Young, Hoa Pham, interviewee.

Young, Stephen B., (Stephen Bonsal), interviewee.

Ystma, Petronella, 1948- interviewee.

Zimmerman, Marsha, interviewee.

Document Types:

Interviews.

Oral histories (document genres)

Sound recordings

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