Oral history interview with Steven F. Peckham, [sound recording], 2007.

ArchivalResource

Peckham, Steven F., 1948-. Oral history interview with Steven F. Peckham, [sound recording], 2007.

Oral history interview with Steven F. Peckham, [sound recording], 2007.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/772452286

Steve F. Peckham, a Madison, Wisconsin native, discusses his service in a mortar unit of the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Peckham touches on enlisting in the Marine Corps as a high school senior, boot camp at San Diego, and specialty training with 81 mortars. He comments that they stressed teamwork at boot camp and physical training in infantry training regiment. After a leave at home, he talks about receiving orders for Vietnam and the effects of the war on his high school class. Peckham recalls the festive mood on the commercial flight to Okinawa and a rumor that they might be sent to Korea instead, due to the North Korean seizure of the USS Pueblo. After arriving at Danang a week after the 1968 Tet Offensive started, he recalls his first impressions of Vietnam, assignment to a mortar unit in the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, and going right to work near Phu Bai doing minesweeping. At Hue, Peckham comments on the constant enemy activity and missions in the city. He recalls running across a Vietnamese boy who had been wounded in the stomach and getting him medical treatment. Sent to Quang Tri, Peckham comments on being the new guy, getting stuck in the mud after jumping off a helicopter, his field equipment, and a funny incident during a mission when a new major tried and failed to jump over a creek. He talks about being sent to Hill 558 and Hill 881 to support troops at Khe Sanh, spending a day in Khe Sanh for dental work, being overrun by rats, and celebrating the 4th of July with a free fire zone. Peckham details the chaotic withdrawal from the area by helicopter, retrieving dead from Hill 689, getting air support from Douglas AC-47s, seeing a friend get shot, and nearly being hit by an airdropped supplies pallet. Peckham talks about duty at Con Tien and Phu Loc, food, going in on the buddy system, and his reaction to a letter stating his cousin had died in a car accident. At Phu Loc, Peckham touches on duty at the Fire Direction Center, R&R at Taipei (Taiwan), feeling unwelcome in Vietnam, only staying in touch with one Marine buddy in the States, and lack of debriefing when he was shipped back to the States. He mentions the Marines' stealing equipment from the Army, marijuana use, and an increased racial divide amongst troops in the southern part of Vietnam. Peckham talks about his homecoming experience at the San Francisco airport and at home in Wisconsin. Assigned to Camp Pendleton (California), he states he was so bored that he volunteered to go overseas again and served the rest of his time with the Military Police in Hawaii. He tells of going to a "Welcome Home" march in Chicago and seeing veterans openly smoking marijuana in the parade. Peckham explains why the onset of the Iraq War prompted him to join the Middleton VFW.

Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 75 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 75 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 37 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center