Oral history interview with James F. Vincent , [sound recording], 2005.

ArchivalResource

Vincent, James F., 1945-. Oral history interview with James F. Vincent , [sound recording], 2005.

Oral history interview with James F. Vincent , [sound recording], 2005.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/428435451

James "Jim" Vincent, a Madison, Wisconsin native, discusses his service in the Army during the Vietnam War in the F Troop, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. Vincent describes graduating from Madison West High School in 1963 and attending the University of Wisconsin for two years before he was drafted in 1966. He discusses the political climate at UW-Madison: he witnessed one anti-draft protest, but antiwar activities were minimal because it was early in the war. Vincent reveals he was against the Vietnam War from the start. He briefly describes his basic training at Fort Polk (Louisiana). Vincent recalls a strategy to avoid deployment used by some of his friends: they would enroll in Officer Candidate School but turn down the commission, spending their two-year commitment in training instead of Vietnam. This strategy did not work for Vincent, however. He was placed in Noncommissioned Officer School where he had to administer the reception responsibilities to new inductees. Vincent comments that he bonded with the inductees because he felt "it was those guys and me against the Army." He speculates this is why he was turned down for OCS. Vincent touches upon the racial, regional, and socioeconomic make-up of his basic training class, mentioning draftees from Wisconsin weree mixed in with troops from the south side of Chicago (Illinois) and east Houston (Texas). Next, Vincent describes his Advanced Infantry Training on tanks in Fort Knox (Kentucky). In July 1967, Vincent left for Vietnam. He reveals that, by this time, he felt he should not be exempt when all his buddies had to serve in Vietnam. He outlines his voyage on a Braniff commercial jet from Hawaii to the Philippines to Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnam). He explains he was assigned to a scout unit in the 17th Cavalry Regiment, which was attached to a light infantry brigade in Chu Lai (Vietnam). He mentions he was received in Chu Lai "very standoffishly" by veteran troops, but after his first combat experience, they accepted him. Vincent describes his typical missions: he would guard the perimeter of the Chu Lai airbase or would spend three to six days on various observation posts on hills around Chu Lai. Vincent mentions that General Abrams and General Westmoreland stopped by his observation post once to assess vulnerabilities of a Marine base. Vincent expresses amazement that they acted like "just another soldier." Vincent describes the equipment used in his cavalry unit: they drove unarmored jeeps with M-16s, but halfway through his tour, they switched to armored personnel carriers (PCs). Vincent was a PC driver and later a PC commander. Towards the end of his tour in Vietnam, Vincent reports a new, inexperienced lieutenant came into his unit and got six of seven PCs stuck in a rice paddy while under enemy fire. Vincent was the only one who did not drive his track vehicle through the paddies; he implies his experience and ingenuity helped rescue the others. Vincent also talks about his interactions with the Vietnamese people, which were mostly mercantile in nature. He states he found the Vietnamese honorable and trustworthy "on a personal level," but admits he "never had any illusions of participating in anything that was beneficial for the Vietnamese people." He criticizes the Army for making no attempt to educate American soldiers in the Vietnamese language. Vincent provides his views of the Viet Cong as well; he reveals he was intrigued by finding books of poetry on the bodies of dead VC. Vincent describes recreation in Vietnam at length. He remarks he and some fellow soldiers invested in a nightclub just off the Chu Lai airbase and made money with a bar, stereo system, and musical acts. He points out that alcohol and marijuana use was high, and the number of soldiers who smoked marijuana rose from 1% to 95% by the time he left Vietnam. Vincent also outlines his three R&R (rest and relaxation) trips to Bangkok, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur. He explains R&R was traded within units "like a commodity" and used as collateral in poker games. This meant Vincent earned (or won) two extra R&Rs. He mentions he was incountry during the Tet Offensive and describes the changes to the landscape in Tam Ky which "had been devastated." Despite the war, Vincent feels Vietnam is a beautiful country. He criticizes career military people, veterans of the Korean War and World War II, who "had a sense of patriotism that the soldiers in Vietnam didn't share." He characterizes the attitude of most draftees as a sense that "laws forced you to be there...so it was just getting through it anyway you could." In 1968, Vincent was granted an early release from his Army contract to go back to college. He finished his service quickly at Fort Knox. He tells of returning to a supportive family in Madison (Wisconsin) and remarks upon the escalation of protests at the University of Wisconsin. Vincent did not hide his service and enjoyed engaging classmates in debate and explaining his views that the draft "was the last vestige of democracy in the military" because it kept the military honest and accountable to the people. Vincent tells how he supported and advised friends who were drafted in the late 1960s. He felt it was important to correspond with soldiers in Vietnam, and he often made tape recordings of friends at dinner parties and sent them to soldiers overseas. In Madison, Vincent joined Veterans for Peace and was an active member, but he left after a few years because he felt they were "too conservative" for his "slightly more anarchistic" views. Vincent is a member of the VFW post in Middleton (Wisconsin). He calls the Army a "stabilizing experience" and feels that realizing his own mortality was an important life lesson. He also opines that the all-volunteer military today (in 2005) is "less responsive to political decisions and more responsive to the decisions of the administration," which Vincent claims is "a formula for ultimate disaster."

Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 71 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 71 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 32 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center