Vietnam

Stories with interview subjects from our Vietnam collection. Browse all stories to see subjects across all Voces collections.

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Subject Collection Story Interviewed by

German Abadia-Olmeda

Germán Abadia-Olmeda E-4 (Specialist 4). This photo was taken in Vietnam in 1969. German was standing in front of a bunker.\Bunkers used to protect ourselves from any attack; were made of wood and sandbags; at my side some banana trees.\"-German"  

Vietnam

By Ximena Mejorado

Cal State, Fullerton

When he got his draft notice at the age of 18, Germán Abadía’s first thought was to go into hiding.

The Puerto Rican native said he did not understand why he needed to go to Vietnam...

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Manuel Aviles-Santiago

Eugenia González Alemán

Eugenia Aleman  

Vietnam

By Joshua Barajas

As a spouse whose husband was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War, Eugenia “Jennie” González Alemán couldn't just sit at home waiting for him to come back: She wrote letters for mortally wounded American...

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Joshua Barajas

John & Eugenia Aleman

Captain and Mrs. John Aleman, 1967 in the PI 1967. This was a Christmas photo.\I missed the arrival in the USA of the Beatles.\""  

Vietnam

By Haley Dawson

When John Aleman became one of very few Latinos to graduate from Sam Houston State University in 1963, he not only overcame the poverty of his youth, but went on to succeed in his subsequent military service and post-Vietnam...

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Haley Dawson

José Luis Aliseda

José Luis Aliseda  

Vietnam

By: Voces Staff

José Aliseda's family was uprooted by the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, leading them to relocate to Mexico City. He would later move to the U.S., serve in the Army in Vietnam, and become an anesthesiologist in Texas....

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Antonio Flores Alvarado

Antonio Flores Alvarado  

Vietnam

By Kassandra Balli

“I know I pulled him back to the safe area, but I don’t remember how I did it," said Vietnam veteran Tony Alvarado, recalling the day he rescued a fallen comrade during the battles for Hills 861 and 881.

When...

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Kassandra Balli

Daniel Thomas Archuleta

Daniel Archuleta was interviewed by the VOCES Oral History Project in Denver, Colorado at the Servicios de la Raza on August 9, 2010. Photo by Michelle Lojewski  

Vietnam

By Jonathan Woo

War can affect people in ways that no one can anticipate. Daniel Archuleta, a Vietnam War medic and Bronze Star recipient, might understand what Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn meant when he wrote: "Even if we are...

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Henry Velez

Adan Daniel "Dan" Arellano

Adan Daniel "Dan" Arellano - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Jennifer Monsees

Once a migrant worker, Dan Arellano became a realtor; once a struggling student he turned into an author. Arellano had a way of taking life’s difficult lessons and making the most of them.

The Navy veteran used...

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Manuel G. Aviles-Santiago

Uriel Robles Bañuelos

Uriel Robles Bañuelos  

Vietnam

By Stephanie De Luna

At around 1 a.m. on Jan. 10, 1969, gunner Uriel “Ben” Bañuelos and other soldiers were roused from their sleep at Fire Support Base Pershing, 40-50 miles northwest of Saigon.

Bañuelos and the other men were in an...

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Samantha Salazar

Bobby G. Biers

Bobby Biers  

Vietnam

By Emily Macrander

Marine veteran Robert "Bobby" Biers recalls more distress as a drill instructor dodging comments from mothers than when he was on the frontlines in South Vietnam.

"I had these mothers calling me up, asking me, '...

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Marc Hamel

Richard Brito

Richard Brito  

Vietnam

By Priscilla Pelli

Missing the birth of his two daughters was one of the many sacrifices Richard Brito had to make when he saw that a war threatened the national security of the United States in 1965.

While Vietnam spurred controversy...

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Manuel G. Aviles-Santiago

Rita Abeytia Brock-Perini

Rita Brock-Perini attended St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, Arizona. This photograph was taken in 1956 for her senior yearbook.  

Vietnam

By Ben Wermund

As a captain in the U.S. Air Force Nursing Corps, Rita Brock-Perini provided care to thousands of soldiers, as well as guidance to hundreds of nurses in the largest Air Force hospital in the United States during...

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Samantha Salazar

Isaac Camacho

Isaac Camacho  

Vietnam

By Anna Kavich

Army Capt. Isaac Camacho vividly recalled the terrible night when he was captured by Viet Cong. It was the night of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas. He was held for nearly two years until...

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Robert Rivas

Robert L. Cardenas

Robert Cardenas at his home in San Diego, California on July 14, 2008.  

World War II, Korean Conflict, Vietnam

By Rachel Platis

In 1939, National Guard Pvt. Robert Cardenas was in the final stage of obtaining a full scholarship to the California Institute of Technology, having just completed two years of pre-engineering study at San Diego State...

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Marc Hamel

Fred Castaneda

 

Vietnam

By Ednna Solis

“For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know,” reads a flier carefully placed in a Vietnam War photo album.

The album belongs to Fred Castañeda, a Mexican citizen from...

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Manuel G. Aviles-Santiago

Manuel Cavada

Manuel Cavada - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Lena Price

It was an evening like any other in Saigon in April 1968, Manuel Cavada, an Air Force crew chief, was doing the routine maintenance on C-121’s aircraft. His job was to make sure the engines were free of metal debris...

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Olivia Puentes-Reynolds

Juan Espinosa De La Garza

Juan Espinosa de la Garza - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By the Voces Staff

Gunshots peppered the ground around Cpl. Juan De La Garza. The mud of the rice paddies filled his boots. He did not know where the shots were coming from, just that he had to get his men back to Hill 327, a base camp...

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Taylor Peterson

José Antonio Dodier

José Antonio “Tony” Dodier - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Adam Keyrouze

Both his father and his grandfather had served their country proudly during World War I and World War II, respectively. So José Antonio “Tony” Dodier didn't think twice about joining the Army.

Dodier’s first...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Jim Estrada

Jim Estrada  

Vietnam

By Lindsey Craun

Jim Estrada, a 17-year-old high school dropout, showed up for Air Force technical training in Biloxi, Mississippi.

He was surrounded by college students. But within several weeks, Estrada's intelligence emerged,...

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Lindsey Craun

Eduardo Fierro

Eduardo Fierro - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Gilbert Song

“All gave some, some gave all” is an old adage that captures the sense of duty and honor Eduardo M. Fierro felt about his service in Vietnam.

Around noon one Sunday in May 1968, while on a sweep-and-destroy mission,...

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Frank L. Hernandez

Arnold Garcia

Arnold Garcia  

Vietnam

By Jonathan Woo

Arnold Garcia Jr. had never felt more powerful in his life.

The West Texas native sat by himself in the barracks on base in Illesheim, West Germany, when a fellow soldier named Horton -- who never hid his disdain...

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Jonathan Woo

Armando Oscar Garcia

Armando Oscar Garcia  

Vietnam

By Grant Abston

In August 1945, Armando O. Garcia and his family gathered around the radio and listened to the news: The United States had just dropped an atomic bomb on Japan.

Although the destruction took place far away, it was a...

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Frank Hernandez

Servando & Mrs. Garcia

Servando Garcia  

Vietnam

By Mosettee Lorenz

Servando Garcia's 20-year military career allowed him to spend time in numerous countries, including France, Germany, Japan and Vietnam.

Before joining the military, Garcia had only left the United States to visit...

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Mosettee Lorenz

Gabriel Garcia

 

Korean Conflict, Vietnam

By Ruben Espinoza

When Gabriel Garcia left his family’s home in Mercedes for Army basic training in the summer of 1952, it was the first time he had ever been away from South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

California’s Camp Roberts was...

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Cheryl Smith Kemp

Raymond Garcia

Raymond Garcia at the Vietnam fire base Bastonge Ashaw Valley about February of 1970.  

Vietnam

By Andres Salinas

Raymond Garcia, a proud Mexican-American who grew up in a small, segregated Texas town, enlisted in the U.S. Army to help support his family and to help his country. He fought as a heavy machinegun specialist during the...

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Andres Salinas

Eduardo Cavazos Garza

Vietnam Vet, Eduardo Garza, was interviewed in San Antonio, Texas, on April 20, 2011. [Voces Oral History Project/Michelle J Lojewski]  

Vietnam

By Emily Macrander

"I'm a new man."

Eduardo Cavazos Garza was speaking to himself, or out loud. He wasn't sure and didn't really care. He was on a boat, floating down another South Vietnam river. It was the summer of 1969. He...

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Emily Macrander

Richard Geissler

Richard Geissler  

Vietnam

By Joshua Avelar

For Richard Geissler Jr., a U.S. Army veteran who became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, passion for community activism shaped his life despite the many different communities he served and the overbearing...

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Frank Trejo

Juan Carlos Gonzales

Juan Carlos Gonzales  

Vietnam

By Lindsey Craun

As a child, Juan Carlos Gonzales felt destined to fight for his country. He grew up in a home surrounded by a father and four uncles who were World War II veterans, and he remembered feeling that patriotism and strategic...

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Valerie Martinez

Herlinda Gutierrez

2 A/E Nurses at the Tachi\O\"Club in 1967.\"By the order of the base/hosp commander - all officers on base are attending a dinner at the\"O\"Club in\"Dress Mess\"Uniforms.\""  

Vietnam

By Teresita Amaya, California State University, Fullerton

What began as a harmless bet led to the opportunity of a lifetime for U.S. Air Force veteran Herlinda Gutierrez - "I enlisted on a dare," she said.

Gutierrez remembered one day...

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Laura Barberena

Jorge B. Haynes Jr.

Jorge Haynes - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Katherine Heighway

As a student at the community college in his hometown of Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border, Jorge Haynes Jr. was looking for direction in his life.

“I majored in flag football and in going to Nuevo Laredo to...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Alex J. Hernandez

Alex J. Hernandez  

Vietnam

By Tarrah Miller

“Baby killer!” were the words Alex Hernandez heard when he returned to the United States after 19 months in Vietnam, and he remembered it was a small boy, about 4 or 5 years old, who yelled them.

The Army veteran...

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Rudy Padilla

Jesse Herrera

Jesse Herrera - Voces Oral History Project - Vietnam War collection  

Vietnam

By the Voces Staff

Jesse Herrera grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a working-class neighborhood where many of his peers went straight from high school to jobs in the steel mills.

That wasn't the future he wanted for himself....

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Manuel Aviles-Santiago

Daniel M. Hinojosa

Dan Hinojosa was interviewed by Voces Oral History Project on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at the St. Louis Braden Keller Community Center in Castroville, Texas. (Voces Oral History Project/Marc Hamel)  

Vietnam

By Amy Bingham

As the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon, Daniel Hinojosa slowly opened his swollen, mosquito-bitten eyelids. The familiar sight of thick, damp jungle surrounded him. Inside his Army boots, Hinojosa felt the...

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Amy Bingham

Hernan E. Jaso

Hernan E. Jaso  

Vietnam

By Alex Loucel

“You can follow around and ask anyone 50 to 100 miles about Hernan Jaso, and you’ll find that somebody knows the kid,” Jaso said of himself.

After his tour of duty in Vietnam, Jaso turned to public policy and a goal of...

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Tina Hughes

Charles Paul Jones

Charles Paul Urbina Jones - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Catherine Murphy

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, Charles Paul Jones was no stranger to diversity. Jones’ neighborhood on the west side of town included Belgians, Germans, Hispanics, Italians and Lebanese.

“It was a Brooklyn...

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Catherine Murphy

Luis J. Landin

Luis Landin displays a Viet Cong flag at the AT&T Executive and Conference Center, University of Texas, Austin on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Mr. Landin attended our 10th anniversary and was interviewed by Raquel Garza. (Photo: Marc Hamel)  

Korean Conflict, Vietnam

By Brett Alexander

"When you get ambushed, you're supposed to get killed."

That's what the Army tells every soldier during training, Luis Landin said.

"But for me," he added, "my life consisted of events that weren't normal, so...

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Raquel Garza

Rudolph Lopez

Rudy Lopez was interviewed at the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park in Tempe, Arizona, on August 16, 2010. (Photo By: Marc Hamel)  

Vietnam

By Stephanie De Luna

Growing up in Phoenix, Rudolph “Rudy” Lopez knew that he was destined to serve in the military. Born in 1946, Lopez grew up in a close-knit family with a long line of military war heroes.

“We were very...

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Valeria Fernandez

Richard Manriquez

Richard Manriquez  

Vietnam

By Jordan Haeger

Richard Manriquez served one tour in Vietnam, and he came back a changed man. He saw dead Americans, 15-year-old Vietnamese prostitutes and young suicide bombers.

It took him a long time to begin to heal.

"War...

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Jordan Haeger

Ricardo Leon Martinez

Ricardo Martinez (Photo By: Marc Hamel)  

Vietnam

By Mosettee Lorenz

By the time he was 22, Kansas native Ricardo León Martinez had dropped out of high school, gotten married and had four children, and he was at risk of going to prison for fighting and drinking.

But when he...

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Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Frank Martinez

Frank Martinez - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Julia Bunch  

Frank Martinez, a Colorado native, was a family man and a college student in the mid-1960s. Surely, he wouldn’t be sent to Vietnam.

But then he got the letter from the Army.

“I didn’t think I would get...

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Rea Ann Trotter

Guadalupe Martinez

Guadalupe Martinez  

Vietnam

By Andrea Carpena

CSU, Fullerton

For many Hispanics, the Vietnam War era often led to conflicts between their deep loyalty for the United States and the emerging civil rights movement in barrios across the country, even as the...

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Maggie Rodriguez-Rivas

John Edward Martinez

John Edward Martinez - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Tarrah Miller

“It’s a neat experience because you get to meet people from all over the United States, and we are working for the common good and a common goal.”

That’s how John Martinez described his service aboard a submarine....

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Tarrah Miller

Mercurio & Mrs. Martinez

Mercurio Martinez was interviewed on March 6, 2010 at the Laredo Community College library in Laredo, Texas.  

Vietnam

By Vidushi Shrimali

Mercurio Martinez Jr. has never served in the armed forces, but both he and his hometown of Laredo, Texas, have been touched by veterans from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Martinez said his...

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Frank Trejo

Camilo Moreno Medrano

Camilo Medrano  

Vietnam

By Ali Vise

The clock read 4:30 when an explosion shook Camilo Medrano awake and sent him sprinting in the darkness toward the moans and calls for help. He felt around with his hands, he grabbed the limbs of the men scattered on the...

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Ali Vise

Elva Alicia Medrano Rodriguez

Elva Alicia Medrano Rodriguez - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Jazmin Sanchez, California State University, Fullerton

When loved ones go to war, it is not easy for those who are left behind. Religious faith helps some endure the experience.

Elva Alicia Medrano Rodriguez's brother, Camilo,...

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Laura Barberena

Edward Daniel Morin

Edward Daniel Morin  

Vietnam

By Destinee Hodge

In 1965, after two weeks at sea aboard the USS Gordon, Eddie Morin heard the captain declare over the loudspeaker for the first time that he and his fellow soldiers were headed to Vietnam. It was something they already...

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Henry Mendoza

Oscar C. Muñoz

Oscar C. Muñoz was interviewed by the Voces Oral History Project on June 7, 2010 in National City, CA.  

Vietnam

By Jordan Haeger

It's 3 a.m., and Oscar C. Muñoz wakes up to make sure his doors and windows are locked in his Chula Vista, Calif., home. It's been this way every day for more than 40 years.

Muñoz enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on...

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Elida Chavez

Blas Ortiz

Blas Ortiz - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Jordan Haeger

 

Blas Ortiz had served as an adviser in Okinawa for a few months in 1963 when his unit, Co. E, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division, was rounded up, issued live ammo and told they would be...

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Catherine Shepherd

Paz Peña

 

Vietnam

By Wes Hamilton

Paz Peña was a small-town kid in every way. Growing up in Mathis, Texas, he was the oldest of four siblings and always felt destined to leave his town to make an impact in the world.

Peña was born July 5, 1944, in...

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Wes Hamilton

Richard G. Perez

Richard Perez  

Vietnam

By Alexandra Loucel

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Richard Perez, the son of a World War II veteran, was in Vietnam for three months, from December 1966 to February 1967. But those three months altered his life forever and led him to advocate...

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Alex Loucel

Robert Lee Polanco Sr.

Robert Lee Polanco Sr. - Voces Oral History Project  

Vietnam

By Kevin Bradley, St. Bonaventure University

Robert Lee Polanco Sr. sat on the plane, nervously biting his nails. The flight had left Texas nearly three hours earlier. They would be passing over the Pacific Ocean on their way to the other...

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Taylor Peterson