Oral history interview with Paul Anjeski, 2000.

ArchivalResource

Anjeski, Paul G, 1951-. Oral history interview with Paul Anjeski, 2000.

Oral history interview with Paul Anjeski, 2000.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52966702

Paul Anjeski, a Detroit, Michigan native, discusses his Vietnam War era experiences in the Navy, which include being stationed in the Philippines during social unrest and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Anjeski mentions entering ROTC, getting commissioned in the Navy in 1974, and attending Damage Control Officer School. He discusses assignment to the USS Hull as a surface warfare officer and acting as navigator. Anjeski explains how the Hull was a testing platform for new eight-inch guns that rattled the entire ship. After three and a half years aboard ship, he recalls human resources management school in Millington (Tennessee) and his assignment to a naval base in Rota (Spain). Anjeski describes duty as a human resources officer and his marriage to a female naval officer. He comments on transferring to the Naval Reserve so he could attend graduate school and his work as part of a Personnel Mobilization Team. He speaks of returning to duty in the Medical Service Corps and interning as a psychologist at Bethesda Hospital (Maryland), where his duties included evaluating people for submarine service, trauma training, and disaster assistance. Anjeski recalls transferring to Subic Bay (Philippines) with his family in 1989. He assesses the threat toward Americans from the New People's Army (NPA), a communist insurgency group, and describes the assassination tactics of NPA "Sparrow Teams." Anjeski details the tense situation on base, including base lockdown and having to use convoy transport to and from work at the Subic Hospital every day. He recalls the high school students also having to ride the convoy. Anjeski emphasizes the positive relationships with Filipino staff on the base. He details the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and the evacuation of Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay. After warnings from a volcanologist, he describes the evacuation of Clark personnel to the much smaller Subic Bay base and the crowded housing situation. Anjeski describes the eruptions, lack of food and water, loss of electricity and radio contact, and problems caused by wet volcanic ash. He comments on the "reverse deployment" of dependents to the United States and the logistics of their evacuation. He speaks of clean-up efforts, the repatriation of dependents after three months, and the last high school graduation on the base. Anjeski notes that at least malaria was no longer a problem because the ash killed all the mosquitoes. Anjeski addresses the closing of the Subic Bay base in 1992, his further participation in the Navy Reserve, and settling in Wisconsin.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 84 min.) : analog, 1 7/8 ips.Videorecording : 1 videocassette (ca. 84 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.Master sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 84 min.) : analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript 51 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center