Jerry Reese Bohannon

Jerry Reese Bohannon: Vietnam War

Interviewed by Jan Campbell (student interview)

Interview date: December 14, 2003

Q: I really appreciate your time and your willingness to help me with my project. We will take a couple of breaks and stop the recording and let you rest a little bit throughout the interview. If I ask you any questions that you are uncomfortable with, please let me know, or if you’d like to come back to it later. The first question: Where were you born?

A: I was born in Berkeley, California.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: Well, I was raised in San Pablo, California, and went to school at Richmond Union High School until we moved back to Oklahoma in 1965.

Q: OK. How did you end up in Oklahoma?

A: My parents were native Oklahomans and my dad retired in 1965 and, ah, he moved the family back to Oklahoma.

Q: OK, thank you. How did the selective service draft affect you?

A: Well, the draft was like a dark cloud that hung over guys 18 – 19 years old. And couldn’t make any plans. So it was either – either went to college or got married or joined the service.

Q: OK. Next question. Did the Marine Corps live up to your expectations?

A: Well, I guess they did. I didn’t know what to expect. Marine Corps boot camp wasn’t as physical as I thought it would be. It was more of a – more mental training. They wanted us to be mentally tough, and each drill instructor was a Vietnam veteran, so they knew what we’d be facing. So it made life real hard for us. The first few weeks of boot camp, a recruit couldn’t do anything right. Every minute of the day was scheduled. We were told what to eat, when to sleep, what to drink, and when to speak. You’re supposed to have an hour of free time each day, but they told us what to do with our free time – shine our boots, clean our weapons, study Marine Corps history, etc. And the first letter we sent home from boot camp, the content was dictated to us by the drill instructor. He did a pretty good job.

Q: What was the training like?

A: I don’t think the technical training the Corps gave us is any better than any other services. The Corps’ ability to install deep esprit de corps and death before dishonor and Corps before self attitude has made the Marine Corps famous on the battlefield for over 200 years. The Marine Corps’s a family. This philosophy crosses all ethnical, economical, and social barriers. A Marine will fight to the death for another Marine, his brother in arms. Not only does the Corps preach this philosophy, but the live it and practice it. The old saying that there’s no such saying as a former Marine is true. Once a Marine, always a Marine. It’s what separates the Marine Corps from the other services.

Q: Where were you assigned?

A: Well, I went to boot camp at San Diego, California, then went to Camp Pendleton, which is about 40 miles north of San Diego for infantry training. Then I went to the naval air station in New Jersey. Then, ah, from there I went to Cherry Point, North Carolina, and then deployed to Yuma, Arizona for awhile and then, ah, then, ah, my last duty station was El Toro Marine Air Station in Southern California.

Q: Did you go to Vietnam?

A: Yes, I did.

Q: What year did you go?

A: Well, let’s see, I was – I was stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina in 1968-69, so I was in Vietnam from September ’69 to September 1970.

Q: How dangerous was it?

A: Well we received mortar and sniper fire almost every night. Plus, after putting in a 12-hour day, you stood guard duty at night. Between the heat, and lack of sleep, and constant harassment from the Viet Cong, it’s a wonder everyone didn’t go nuts. This is where mental toughness – the toughness our drill instructors tried to prepare us for came into play. I remember the first night in-country, we had a outdoor theater where they showed movies at night?

Q: Ah-huh.

A: In the middle of the movie, a Viet Cong sniper fired a round into the theater. We were assigned bunkers and defensive positions that we were supposed to report to, but I was so scared that I forgot where I was supposed to go. I started following this other Marine that was in front of me. It seemed like we ran for 20 minutes. We stopped running. I got my senses back and I was on the opposite side of the base. I have never been so scared in my life.

Q: Tell me what the country was like?

A: Well, you remove the affects of the war and it’s a beautiful country. I was assigned to I-Corps, which was located in the northern part of South Vietnam. The coastline is flat with rice fields crisscrossing the landscape. The foothills separate the flatlands as the terrain becomes more vegetation until it becomes jungle-like. Large rivers connect the country with small, thatched villages along the bank. Farmers plow their rice fields with single-tree wooden plows pulled by water buffalo. Fishermen in wooden san-pans fish with nets like their forefathers did hundreds of years ago. It was like one of those science fiction movies where you go back in time. It was so surreal.

Near Da Nang was a mountain composed of a single rock that stood over 100 feet high. Rumor was that the mountain had tunnels throughout it’s core. Buddhist monks used the monastery until the Viet Cong ran them out and used it to fire on the troops. It was called Marble Mountain. It was one of five mountains located five miles south of Da Nang. Vietnamese folk lore says that the mountains are named for water, metal, wood, fire and earth. A small village, Nui Kim Son, guards the cave entrance to the Marble Mountain. It’s a beautiful site sitting on the flat lands along the coast of the South China Sea.

Q: OK. Thank you. Next question. What were the Vietnamese people like?

A: Well, the ones that wasn’t trying to kill us were real nice. Seriously, they were a friendly, intelligent, hard-working people. Most of the civilians I came in contact with were very nice and curious about Americans. I remember being on patrol and going through some little village and some eight or ten year old boys shooting marbles. I stopped and asked if I could play. One of the boys loaned me a marble. I shot a few marbles out of the circle, just like I did when I was a kid. I gave the marbles back to them and went on my way. I couldn’t help but think, these kinds aren’t any different than the kids back home. That had a profound affect on how I thought about the Vietnamese people. I no longer thought of them as “gooks,” but as real people.

Q: OK. Next question. What were your political views about the war before you went to Vietnam?

A: Well, I supported the war. I felt we had a just cause to save the people of Vietnam from communism. I joined the Marine Corps and volunteered to go to Vietnam. I despised the people who protested the war and the men who went to Canada, rather than serving their country. I felt like I was a patriot and those who opposed the war were communists – at least communist sympathizers. I remember in boot camp they showed us a film that President Johnson – by President Johnson that said “Why Vietnam?” He explained in his southern drawl the domino theory: if Vietnam was to fall to communism the whole Southeast Asia would fall under communist control, and maybe the rest of the world. Communism had to be stopped here and now.

Q: OK. Next question. Did you political view change about Vietnam?

A: Yes. I became disillusioned very fast. It took about three months for me to realize that everything the politicians were telling us was not true. Politicians were in charge of the war, not the military leaders. We would get people killed taking a hill or a village, just to give it up a few days later. In a few weeks, we’d have to go back and retake the same position, killing more people. This happened time after time. We no longer fought for the ideals, but just to survive. Worse than that was the realization that the average Vietnamese didn’t care who was in charge of the government. They just wanted to plant their rice and be left alone. I decided if I ever had a son, and my country was in a war like Vietnam with no clear military goals or objectives, that not only would I support my son going to Canada, I’d take him.

Q: OK. Next question. Did you understand what you were fighting for?

A: No. I don’t think anyone did. I think the whole war was conceived on a misconceptions and lies and created a generation of men who felt betrayed by their country.

Q: OK. Is there anything positive you remember about Vietnam?

A: The men I served with. I don’t remember any of their names, but I remember the sacrifices they made. I remember the camaraderie we had. I remember the spiritual bond that existed between men who trust their lives with one another. I haven’t experienced that kind of bond since Vietnam and I miss it.

Q: OK. Next question. What was it like when you returned home from Vietnam?

A: Well, it was a strange experience. I felt very detached and isolated. I had trouble relating to people. One day you’re in the jungles of Vietnam and the next day you’re back in the United States. It was too fast of a transition. The military didn’t do anything to prepare us for that return home. I spent a few days in San Francisco with a friend of mine from Vietnam, because I knew I wasn’t ready to face my family.

Q: OK. Thank you. Next question. How did Vietnam affect your relationships with friends and family?

A: I remember riding home and sitting in the kitchen with my mom and dad. We had to travel in uniform in those days. My dad asked me where my medals were. We were given our medals before we left Vietnam, but I hadn’t put them on. I reached into my pocket and threw them on the kitchen table. I said, them and fifty-cents will get you a cup of coffee. I could tell my dad was confused by my attitude, and he told me I should be proud of my medals. I told him I hadn’t done anything to earn them, that they were handed out like candy. I wish had never said that because I think I hurt my dad with my attitude. Anyway, we never discussed it again.

Later I went to Stillwater to visit a friend of mine who was going to school at Oklahoma State. There seemed to be this emotional wall between us. I don’t understand it, but we’d been best of friends in high school, but now we didn’t seem to have anything in common. We went back to his apartment and I met his roommate, Rick, who was a Vietnam veteran. Rick and I stayed up most of the night talking about Vietnam and how difficult it was to relate to people who hadn’t been there. That was probably the best therapy I could have ever received.

Q: OK, thank you. Jerry, let’s take a break right now. (tape stops and restarts). OK, let’s continue the interview. Jerry, I apologize. I accidentally skipped a question here I wanted to ask you. Can you tell me what Vietnam was like on your first day when you landed?

A: Well, I have a lot of vivid memories of the day I landed at Da Nang Airport. As the airplane came to a stop, I remember the stewardess announced over the intercom, “Welcome to Disneyland.” As we existed the airplane I remember the heat hitting you in the face. It was like standing in front of a blast furnace. And the first thing I saw was silver metal coffins – about 20 – being loaded onto the airplane next to us. It was a very sobering sight. We were loaded onto deuce and a half trucks and taken to the processing center, what was called Freedom Hill, because it’s where you leave from. On the way we heard small-arms gunfire. I looked around and everyone seemed unsure of what to do. We were so used to someone shouting orders at us and telling us what to do, and no one shouted orders, we all just sit there like we knew what was going on. We were so stupid – we had – we had no idea what we were in for.

Q: OK, thank you. The next question. Did you have any remorse towards the Vietnamese people?

A: No.

Q: Did the war change your life and, if so, how? (tape stopped and restarted)

A: You asked if the war changed my life? I went over there as a young idealistic kid and – and I came back betrayed – I felt betrayed and confused. I felt like all the values that I knew that I had lost – I lost belief in my country and in my God and just everything that held strong beliefs for. It took me a long time to sort all my emotions and feelings out, and, ah, to get my life back together again.

Q: OK, thank you. I have one last question in the interview. Jerry, is there anything you would like to say in closing?

A: Well, I don’t want this interview to end sounding like I’m not a patriot or loyal to my country. But I think we all need to be cautious of what politicians tell us and to – before we commit our troops to fight in foreign lands, I think we need to understand what we’re fighting for, what our goals and objectives are, and to force the government to make clear our interests. I’ll support any way that our government explains those things to us. But just to blindly follow somebody into something and waste human life is not acceptable. That’s all I’d like to say.

Q: OK. I’d like to thank you Jerry Bohannon for your time and for your interview. I appreciate it very much.

A: Thank you.