Oral history interview with Harold A. Fritz [sound recording], 2000.

ArchivalResource

Fritz, Harold A., 1944- ,. Oral history interview with Harold A. Fritz [sound recording], 2000.

Oral history interview with Harold A. Fritz [sound recording], 2000.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84901305

Harold Fritz, a Lake Geneva, Wisconsin native, discusses his career with the Army and his Vietnam War service, including the action for which he won a Congressional Medal of Honor. Fritz talks about his decision to enlist after receiving his draft notice, training and attending officer candidate school at Fort Knox (Kentucky), assignment to the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meade (Maryland), and riot control duty in Washington, D.C. in 1967. Sent to Vietnam as a replacement, he was assigned as a tank platoon leader in Company D, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He describes the capabilities of the M48A2C tank, problems carrying enough gasoline to refuel a tank, the organization of the regiment, driving through the terrain in Vietnam, and the ability to surprise the enemy due to the sound-masking effects of thick jungle vegetation. Fritz contrasts diesel and gasoline powered tanks. He comments on the three combat scenarios for his unit in support of infantry: acting as a reactionary force to support units under attack, sweeping a pre-set area to scout for enemy activity, and switching from one unit to reinforce a unit under attack. Fritz talks about the tanks' firepower, rangefinders, and escape hatches. He addresses the problem of enemy forces in villages using friendly civilians as cover, examines the most dangerous enemy weapons, and portrays destroying damaged tanks to keep them out of enemy hands. He relates a tank driver falling asleep on the march and discusses the danger of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Transferred to the reconnaissance troop, Fritz speaks of supporting supply convoys along Highway 13 in M113 Armored Personnel Carriers and their vulnerability to land mines. He details the attack for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor: volunteering for the reconnaissance run even though he was scheduled to leave the troop, his twenty-eight-man team getting ambushed by a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) company of over 200, moving the wounded, trying to contact support and stop the convoy despite damaged radios, and organizing a defense. When the combat started, Fritz states, "It was as if I was a viewer but not a participant. Everything was moving in slow motion." Leaving the tank, he talks about leading forces armed with only a pistol, seeing reinforcements arrive, having difficulty determining which troops were NVA or American because both were covered in red dust, and being wounded by friendly tank fire due to his close proximity to an NVA unit. While being evacuated, he remembers a sergeant joking that they'd had the enemy beat without support. Fritz tells an anecdote about seeing a conscientious-objector medic shoot NVA soldiers to protect his patients. Fritz details the efforts of Samuel Dorsey, an African-American mess officer, to make two transport runs through enemy fire so that the troops could have a real Thanksgiving Day dinner. Fritz recounts some close calls: friendly machine gun fire at the mess tent and having his equipment shot by an enemy soldier. He highlights the valor of the soldiers he served with, and he talks about attending unit reunions and working with artist Jim Dietz to create a print of the ambush firefight from memory. When receiving his Medal of Honor, Fritz mentions meeting General William Westmoreland and President Nixon, and he characterizes John Finn, another Medal of Honor recipient. Fritz comments on highlights of his post-war duties, including a tour in Grafenwöhr (Germany) with the 11th Cavalry, training troops to replicate Soviet tactics with the Opposing Forces Division of Fort Leavenworth, duty as chief of the Communications Counter Measures attachment in Korea, and jungle survival training in Panama. He touches on his position as deputy director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and as a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army for Illinois. Fritz discusses the Army's current efforts to increase enlistment through an employment program with major corporations and emphasizes the role of the military against modern threats. During the war, he talks about giving gifts to a Vietnamese village at Christmas and being led to a stash of enemy mortar rounds by a young Vietnamese boy.

Security sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 100 min.) ; analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master videorecording : 1 videocassette (ca. 100 min.) ; sd., col. ; 1/2 in.Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 100 min.) ; analog, 1 7/8 ips.Sound recording : 2 sound discs (ca. 100 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.Transcript : 49 p.Militay papers : 0.1 linear ft. (1 folder)

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center