Vietnam War series, c.1960-2011 (bulk 2002-2011)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Arrangement: alphabetical by surname.

Materials housed in the Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Some interviews, beginning in the fall of 2003, were conducted with the assistance of Operation Stand Down, a local non-profit organization that assists veterans who are homeless, or who have been homeless. Interviews conducted through the cooperation of Operation Stand Down are so noted in the finding aid for oral histories.

Disclaimer on Veterans History Project Collection Materials - (Historical Accuracy and Reliability in Personal Accounts): The Library of Congress and the Nashville Public Library does not verify the accuracy of the accounts described herein by participants in the Veterans History Project. Individual stories are voluntarily submitted to the Veterans History Project and are placed in the Library's permanent collections as received. These histories are the personal recollections and perspectives of participating individuals and are not intended as a substitute for an official record of the federal government or of military service.

Individuals documented in this series (as of August 2014) include: Dominick Akins; Eddie Alexander; Carter G. Baker; Clarence Brown; Edward Bruce Baxter; Kathryn L. Bell; Harvey E. Bennett; Howard Boatman; Al Borgman; Tillman William "Bill" Bratton; Harrison Briggs; Tommie Ray Broadwater; Preston E. Bronaugh; John Pope Brown; Rodney R. Burns; Kathy K. Cash (Creager); Albert J. Caston; Alvin Norman Collier; Corina E. Collins; Robert "Bob" "Doc" Crankshaw; Oscar Cullom;

John A. Donofiro; Landson Drummond; Charles Wesley Durrett II; Fred Dusel; David C. Elam; Andrew G. Ezell; Edward R. Finkelstein; Marcus T. Floyd, Jr.; Corinne W. Forbes; Harold Emmett Foster, Jr.; Susan L. Frey; Frederick F. Fritz; John Furgess; Joe Gibson.

James H.; Blanton Hall; William M. Harvey; Thomas Larry "Pappy" Hastings; Horace Benson Hatcher; Julius Charles Hill; James Ronald Holmes; Darrell Linwood Holt; Wallace Wayne Holt; James A. Hoyal; Walt Hunt; Harry Ingle; Oliver Leroy "O.J." Jackson, Jr.; David Leslie Johnson; Michael Hall Johnson; Willie C. Johnson; Willie H. Joy; Ellis Wayne Kelly; Leslie Dorris Kelly; Richard Bert Kline; Walter C. Kurtz; Daniel Eugene Lee; Dean Alan Lemke; John William Lockridge; Arthur Eugene Lomax; Robert V. Longhauser;

Robert Allen Macon; Ray Moore; Thomas B. Nesbit; Silas T. Newsom; John F. Ohlinger; Gene Paladin; Larry R.P. Patterson; Bill R. Phillips; Victor Claude Pirtle; Alfred Lee Powell; Vaughan Pritchett;

Larry Eugene Reid; James Dale Robertson; Keith Baron Robertson; Mary D. (Maynard) Ross; Darryle Glover Rucker; Jerome C. Sanders; Frederick See; John Brent Simpson; Marion "Sonny" Smith; Thomas William Southall; Jack Robert Spence; Sue (Sams) Spence; Enoch Stephenson; James W. Still; Garry Thomas; Jim Thurman; James Knox Trigg; Robert Dudley Tuke;

Orman Eugene "Gene" Waller; Nick Wargo; Malchiga C. Whitworth; Billy Garland Williams; Harold L. Wright.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Materials include oral interviews, occasionally supported by military documents, photographs, or other related materials. Some items are photocopies. The Vietnam War Series of the Veterans History Project Collection includes materials relating to Nashville area residents and veterans who served in the military or supported the war effort as civilians. Contents are also useful for examination of the Cold War era, as not all individuals who participated in this project served in the Vietnam theatre of operations. Many individuals also continued their service after the Vietnam War and their narratives can be useful for study of the armed forces in the decades after Vietnam.

The majority of the materials are interviews conducted with veterans from 2002 to 2010. Some interviews, beginning in the fall of 2003, were conducted with the assistance of Operation Stand Down, a local non-profit organization that assists veterans who are homeless, or who have been homeless. A number of these individuals were veterans from the Vietnam era.

Snapshots donated by Marion F. "Sonny" Smith document jump training and a jungle school operated by the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) in 1966 and 1967 near Bien Hoa, and are described more fully in a separate catalog record. Snapshots of Orman Eugene "Gene" Waller of the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing show mostly airmen at leisure and sight-seeing, but include some photographs of negotiations with the North Vietnamese in Hanoi in November 1974; North Vietnamese prisoners being transported in February 1973; and a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump over Koke Thiem, Thailand in May 1973. His materials also include a DVD about tactical airlift operations featuring the C-130 Hercules aircraft, entitled: "The Way It Is: The Tactical Airlift Story" (approx. 53 min.) followed by a shorter film (approx. 15 min.) entitled: "A-10 Thunderbolt II" about the specialized tank-killing aircraft built by Fairchild Industries. No dates of either film are provided, but they appear to be from the mid-1970s. Other materials in the Vietnam War Series include a videocassette containing footage of unknown provenance which appears to have been shot in Vietnam, possibly at an airbase. Originally shot on color Super8 movie film, and transferred to videotape circa 2000, scenes include soldiers relaxing on base; views of the countryside and villages shot from a moving vehicle; a variety of aircraft arriving and departing; and scenes of children at an orphanage or school, including a dance performance.

Frequent letters from Darrell Holt, who served as a medic in the Air Force, 1966-1969, to his parents and brother, Wayne, reveal a young man who struggled to remain optimistic and resilient while finding boot camp and military life intensely lonely and difficult. After a period stateside, he is sent as a medic to the Philippines. Darrell's letters discuss the daily routine of life on base, and some travel, as well as observations and interactions with local civilians. His letters also reveal him to be a man strongly connected to his Christian faith who is often morally disgusted with the behavior which surrounds him in the military. Darrell's brother, Wallace Wayne Holt (who went by Wayne), also sent letters home to his parents while he served in 1966 in the Navy as a cook aboard the destroyer USS Agerholm. Wayne's letters provide information about various routine matters aboard ship.

Cite as: [name of individual, folder no.], Vietnam War Series, Veterans History Project Collection, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library.

Some items may be protected by copyright or donor restriction.

Negatives,Staff approval required for access.

Numerous donors contributed to this project.

Related materials: The Thomas W. Southall Papers, 1939-1993, are held by the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library and document Southall's experiences building radio transmitters in Germany in the early 1950s, as well as music and entertainment for GIs at the same place and time. The collection also includes audio recordings sent to him from his family and a USO performance in Hue, Vietnam, when he was stationed there during the Vietnam War.

In English.

Finding aid available in repository and online;,Folder level control.,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Main_Vietnam.pdf.

Finding aid: Interview summaries;,item level control.,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Summaries.pdf.

Finding aid: List of persons by special interest categories;,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_Special_Interest.pdf.

Finding aid: Collection at a glance;,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_VHP_At_A_Glance.pdf.

Finding aids: List of unprocessed additions.

Collected by the Nashville Room beginning January 2002.

Forms part of the Veterans History Project collection.

No further accruals are expected.

Book jacket image digital identifier: VHP-Vietnam-Bratton, Tillman-3