Interview with John Zor Click for bio
John Zor
Topics:
John*: Tell me when you're ready. I'm ready. Okay. My name is John* Jacob Zohr. I was born in New York but moved to California when I was 5 years old.
So I'm a California boy, and, I'm 78 years old. And live in presently Artesia, but grew up in Bellflower for 20 years. California. And that's in the Southland (Southern California). Okay.
Zach*: Alright. My name is Zach*. I'm the interviewer. This is my grandpa. So I guess just to start with, you did say your age, but, what year were you born?
John*: 1926, May. 19 sorry. One more time. 1946. 46.
Zach*: Okay. May. Yes. Okay. So in the sixties, you started about 14 years old and until about 25, give or take?
John*: Yep. That's about right. You know? Okay.
Zach*: So I figured we'd start, with culture, just kind of the general, you know, happenings at the time. So, what kind of, television shows or what kind of books and things were popular at the time? What kind of media did you guys like?
John*: I didn't really read much, you know, as far as books, just whatever they required you at school. I went to a Catholic school, started in 7th grade and graduated, you know, in 12th. And, movies, I used to enjoy comedy.
And like I say, such as the Beverly Hillbillies, also, I'm trying to think now, the Addams family Oh, yeah. And the Munsters. And, also, let me think again. I'm trying to think, and she was, I can't think of it right now. But, oh, I did watch, you know, I guess the pressure is putting on me with with Ephraim Simballis junior was in it. I can't think of the name of it. But, yeah, mainly that. And then, you know, once I was 61 or 62, I didn't watch TV that much. You know? We'd go to the show, go to the movies, you know, and stuff like that in the car.
Drive ins were big in my era.
Zach*: Oh, yeah.
Did you go to the movies and things with your friends a lot?
John*: Well, mainly with girls. And, we had a one drive in that that pictures might be a week or two older, and it was only a dollar to get into the drive in. You didn't have to pay for each individual, you know, which made it nice. And, so and and my, I bought a my first car was a 57 Ford. I bought them in 61, and I bought a, 62 Ford in 1963 with bucket seats. I went to the drive in with a girl. It was most comfortable that the having bucket seats, the passenger seat would fold down forward so you could sit in the back seat, a little more comfortable, we'll say, and, have a foot rest too That's pretty nice.
Zach*: Yeah. Do you remember what you paid for the car at the time?
John*: Why, sure. I paid, for my first car, the 57 Ford, I think I paid $450, and that was 61. And for the it was a 4 zero six Ford, which, was a race car, same like a Chevy 409, except it's a Ford that had a 4 speed, 406 cubic inch, 405 horsepower. And I did a trophy at Irwindale Raceway in it.
I think I turned the high fourteens, a speed about 92 or 93.
Zach*: Wow. So I know I know you, enjoy, cars a lot. I know you used to collect them a lot more, especially when you were younger as well.
John*: Yeah.
Zach*: When did you start getting into cars?
John*: Oh, I'd always been into cars. That's why I bought the Ford.
And, when I got out of the service, you see, my brother had a 61 Corvette that I used all the time. He was married, and I'd just go out to his place and, borrow his vet for, you know, Friday night or Saturday night or whatever. It was nice driving around. And when I got out of the service, I decided I was either going to get a Ford, Torino or an old 442. And I said something to my brother. He says, why don't you get a Corvette? You use mine all the time. So I did, and I bought a 66 Corvette. It was 2 years old. I paid $31100 for it, which I think knew they were about 45100, you know, and I still have that car also. And my brother who just passed away last year, December 17th, He still has his 61 Corvette, so we both still have our Vets.
Zach*: That Vette is pretty cool. I've seen it. So I will say that's pretty crazy, the first car for $450. Do you remember generally what the economy is like? I'm not super familiar with it.
John*: Oh, the economy was good and oh, yes. In 61. Yeah. I can't remember any recessions in 61', although we had one, like, in 58' that I recall. My brother worked at, North American. I don't know if Rockwell had bought him yet, but he got laid off, you know, for a small a short period of time. Yeah. And so I'd say the economy was good. And in the Southland where we lived, I mean, it was un unbelievable. We had Douglas Aircraft, and we had North American. Well, Douglas, Douglas had it and then, Douglas, was bought out by, you know, they merged with another company just like
Zach*: Boeing. Right?
John*: No. No. Boeing is a different era. That that is completely different company. You know, McDonnell Douglas is what we were called once McDonnell bought in about 1965.
Zach*: Oh, I see.
John*: North American Rockwell. And the thing about it is where I lived on Lakewood Boulevard in Bellflower, one was only 4 miles away and the other was 5 miles away. It's straight up Lakewood Boulevard. And the one thing about Douglas, they opened up in 1941, the big plant in Long Beach. And during World War 2, they had a 160,000 people employed at that plant.
Zach*: At just that plant?
John*: Just at that plant. Yes.
Zach*: Wow.
John*: I mean, I don't know I don't remember if at that time they were on a 170 acres or whatever, But, you know, it was big, and and that's where the Long Beach Airport was right alongside of it. I don't know if they built that right after or about the same time, but I thought that was a statistic I just read last year in a a paper. We go to this restaurant, then they have a local Long Beach paper, and in it, was, the information that I just gave you, which I was phenomenal. I knew, my wife, Janice, worked there in from 67 to the 1st week of 76. So I can remember when she got laid off. And I think then they employed about 40 or 50,000 people at that one plant. They had other plants, you know, in the south. Wow. The the southland (Southern California) was phenomenal. We had steel making plants. We had aluminum plants. We had tire companies. We had everything. Firestone was here. Goodyear was here. And since then, they've all moved out. Even the auto industry has moved out. Not just the Southland, but all of California. Tesla grew. Yeah. Texas and things of the like.
Zach*: Wow. So that's pretty cool. I believe you worked for (McDonnell) Douglas for a long period of time. Would you describe kind of, I guess, I let's start with, let's say your community. I know you said you went to a Catholic school.
John*: Yes.
Zach*: Were a lot of your friends coming from there? What about people in your neighborhood? Would you kind of describe the financial situation of you guys, your family, and maybe the people around you?
John*: Well, I'd say my family was more the upper middle class as far as financial. And, I live I'd say the area I lived in wasn't quite the upper middle class. My mother owned, property there. She had a bar, and, she, you know, built a television shop for my father, my stepfather, and then she bought some other property there. We had a barber shop and a rental, so we had a little property there. So like I say, I'd say she's more upper middle class. And, yeah.
Zach*: Very cool.
John*: No. I did work at McDonnell Douglas that I was hired in 1969. And I served 31 years at Douglas, and I was fortunate that I never got laid off. But I didn't work in the Long Beach plant. I worked in the Torrance plant, and it only employed about 6,000 people.
Zach*: Wow. That's still a lot of people.
John*: Yeah. And I was a blue collar worker. I wouldn't, they asked me to go to salary a couple times, and I told them I'm sorry, but I'm overqualified.
Zach*: Do you remember what you, your wage was at least to start and maybe?
John*: Oh, sure. I remember. I can tell you exactly what my wage was. I worked second shift, so I got 2.86 an hour, and I got 18¢ more for second shift, which put me at the 304 an hour. And then you went up from there. I think a a top a in my classification was making, let's say, on a day shift, not second, probably 3:40 an hour or in that range, 3:50 an hour. And this is 1969.
Zach*: Is that considered pretty well for the time? Do you know?
John*: Yes. Yes. I'd say that was a decent wage. It's, enough. I don't know. One person working could buy a house. It depends. New houses in 70, 71 in Cerritos were running, we'll say, 25,000 where you could buy an older Lakewood home, and the Lakewood homes were 3 bedroom, 1 bath, maybe 11 or 1200 square feet. And I think maybe you could get that for 15,000 or 16,000. It was that much difference. The Cerritos homes were usually all nicer, newer, and, 4 bedroom, 2 bath. Almost all of all of them had two baths where the Lakewood homes and and what's even funny is, some of the homes in Lakewood, they started maybe Lakewood became a city in 1947. And Long Beach thought that they were going to be able to absorb them because they didn't think they could afford to have a fire department or police. But what they did was, and I can't think of his name, but he was the mayor when the city started. Instead of having their own, they contract labor for fire and police. So they were able to start, and it was the first city formed since, I think, 1939. Interesting. In the nation, not just in California, but in the nation. They, they were the first city formed after World War 2.
Zach*: Very cool. Well, I think I'm going to use this to start segueing into some questions about civil rights in general. So I'll start with a more open ended question, and we can kind of work toward, whatever comes forward. I guess, generally, how did it feel to watch the civil rights movements, unfold throughout the sixties if you didn't see it as much personally? Did you ever hear anything about it or stories, or did you have any interactions with it?
John*: I didn't have in any interaction, with it at all. The blacks, none were around in our area at all. You know? And we'd hear about it. And the civil rights, I think, was mainly in the south. We'll say, you know? But we did have the Watts riots in 1965. It was in August. Yeah. And, the reason why is back then they didn't record. You know, the police didn't have cameras and people weren't recording, but I guess, and the police force I'd say was predominantly Caucasian. Yeah. I don't know if they had any. So they could say they discriminated.
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: I don't know. The circumstance was they pulled somebody over, and I think for drunk driving, And I don't know what they did to them, but, other people must have saw it and been there, and so they started the Watts riots. And, it ruined about 70 homes. And, this was in LA more or less off the Harbor Freeway, which is at 110 now. And, the fire burned for 7 days, a whole weekday. You know? And there was at least 30 people killed you know, during this riot. And, also, I went down and cruised the riots accidentally. I was in the backseat of a car. Yes. It was about midnight. I don't know. I think it was the first 2 or 3 days of it or something. We used to shoot pool or wherever the heck we were, and that was 2 other guys. I don't even quite remember who it was because you're talking back, you know, 60 years. We decided what we're gonna do is just go drive down the freeway and see, what it looks like, the fires. And sure enough, he got off just to see, and it was burning. And I can remember going down one of the streets and even seeing a guy coming out of a TV show or an appliance store carrying a television.
And then you see a 100 people standing on the other corner just watching the buildings burn. It was just sun Unbelievable. And, you know, it was summertime, so we had the windows down. And, a black guy pulled up next to us with his girlfriend or wife. I don't know. But he says, I'm getting out of here. They're even throwing stuff at me and whatever. They were even throwing stuff at his car. So we just got back on the freeway and left. But like I said, you know, I cruised the Watts Riots, which was really, you know, something else. It wasn't voluntary. And thank goodness I was in the back seat. I figured I could knock down and, you know, more so and even get on the floor if necessary if they started. We don't know if I don't know if they shot at people. But I'm saying may have thrown Molotov cocktails or started the fires. And you never know. They might try to pull you out of the car and beat you up. So we didn't know. And, so they were just taking a chance, but we got back on the freeway and got the heck out of there.
Zach*: Wow.
John*: Yep. So like I said and I know that, you know, back then, and the news wasn't on TV like it is today. You might have had a half an hour of news and maybe it was 6 to 6:30 or something like that. You didn't have it where it's on for hours and all these, you know, different stations. And so, you did have we did have a radio station on our AM radio, and it was 24 hour news. The reason why I know, not that I listened to it, I listened to music, but my stepfather, would play it all the time. So whenever we're in the car with him or whatever, he had this news, you know, the news going on. But I remember, you know, Martin Luther King's speech in DC. You know, you just caught some of it on the news where, I guess, a quarter 1000000 people or something like that showed up. And to me and I don't know if we're gonna get into it or another question. Out of all the decades in the 20th century, I consider the sixties the greatest. I believe it.
Zach*: I've heard that be a general consensus from people that lived through the 60s.
John*: A lot of people really enjoyed the sixties. There's a lot going on. I don't know if I should mention this now or later. You figure number 1, we landed on the moon in the sixties. Yep. 69 or 61? I think 69. No. 69. Yeah.
68 or 69, we landed on the moon. And, and, in 1960, Kennedy was running for president, and he's the 1st Catholic ever, president of the United States. Although in 1928, we had, I think a guy named Al Smith or something run for an Erwin against Hoover and, but he lost.
Zach*: So Was your family excited that Kennedy was elected president considering you guys were Catholics?
John*: All the Catholics were excited, you know, that something like that happened, especially since I go to a Catholic school.
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: You know? So, I mean, it was fantastic. And when Kennedy was assassinated, I remember exactly, I was going downstairs. My school was 3 story Catholic school, and the, we had boarders there even. You know, you could stay Monday through Friday or however long. And I was going downstairs. I I forget why I was going by myself, and brother Knowles said the president has just been shot. He didn't he didn't say he was dead, but he said the president had just been shot.
Zach*: Wow. Do you remember any of the, I guess, the dialogue or anything that happened kind of immediately after that?
John*: It was on TV day night day night. That's all they had on was that and showing him in his limousine. And I guess since it was nice weather, they took the top off. And so he was riding, and I think it was in Houston. And he was riding, and that's how they got him. So, you know.
Zach*: Wow. Did they show the the full footage live on TV of him being killed?
John*: Yes. They did as I recall. You know, as much you I don't know if you could actually see him kind of get hit, but, I mean, you know, maybe he went back and stuff like that.
Zach*: But, yeah. Yeah. I know the sixties were, it was kind of a very sudden change. I think it was more in the fifties, but when the average household went from having a TV, I think it was it was very few and far between. And then all of a sudden, like, 75% of households had a TV. So everyone was consuming the this news every day that, know, they weren't used to getting before besides, you know, radio or newspaper.
John*: When you figure and back then, everybody had black and white sets. You didn't have colored sets. There might be a few percentage of color, but not many of the programs were even in color. Even some of these ones that I still watch, you know, on TV, we have color TV, but they were made in black and white. And then later on in that in the sixties, they started making them in color.
Zach*: Okay. Well, I guess stepping back into civil rights for a little bit, I remember you were talking about the Watts riots. Do you remember seeing or hearing about a lot of these demonstrations that were happening around the time, whether it be the boycotts or anything like that?
John*: No. No. But, like I say, the reason for it was, how could you say? In well, up till 68, I think, until Johnson signed it, you didn't have to rent to blacks. You didn't have to, you know, you could discriminate. I think even in the sixties, we didn't have that problem where we live. But, I mean, even going into a restaurant or anything, You, you know, they weren't even allowed to use some bathrooms and stuff. Now that was more in the fifties. We didn't see anything like that where we lived because we didn't have any blacks around. We had a high percentage of Hispanics and some Portuguese because at that time, Bellflower, Paramount, Artesia was farm country, dairy country. And they we even had Dairy Valley here, which in which is Cerritos now. I don't know what they've had, but all the dairies moved to Chino, which is, not far, 30 miles away, we'll say. And, I watched Hugh Howser. I did. He passed away in 12, but they have repeats of him. And he did a special on Chino, and Chino was the largest dairy or the largest, dairy farms in the world. They have 300,000 cows.
Zach*: Oh my gosh, that is a lot.
John*: And since then, you know, Chino has started going down, you know, because residential, the houses are moving in. Like I said, that was it on that. You'd see some on TV, you know, and they they'd show it, but you gotta remember at that time, 65, 66, was what? 7 18, 19 years old.
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: You're not that interested in that. And a lot of that more was happening other than our riots, in the south. So you just the news.
Zach*: That is something more that I hadn't really considered a lot is, you know, at a younger age, you're more con you're kind of concerned with, you know, what you're gonna do to for your job if you're gonna go to school for things like that.
Uh-huh. And, you know, you probably heard of some things, like, in passing, but you're not watching the news every single day.
John*: No. Not at all.
Zach*: Was that ever a topic of conversations with, like, your family, or did you ever you know, what was the dialogue surrounding that, or was it more like,
John*: You mean you mean for, how so?
Zach*: I mean I guess around, like, maybe desegregation or about civil rights. Was there you know, was anyone in your community for it or opposed to it?
John*: No. No. I don't think it was hardly even a topic of conversation Yeah. Other than what you'd hear on the news. Like I said, we didn't have any that live close. And so, you know, it isn't, you know, quite the same. Yeah. But I know, like, when the police pulled him over, that, you know, they were, like I said, predominantly Caucasian, and they discriminated. And, even in housing, you know, that, they couldn't move where they wanted and even if they had the money. Like, in most cases, I mean, you may even hear that about actors. I forget which one they brought up. Nat King Cole or something who bought a house in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood, I think, which was, you know you hear that on the radio or stuff like that. You know?
Zach*: Yeah. No. That makes sense. Especially in an area with not many black people that, you know, it wouldn't really be that much of a topic of concern. That makes sense.
I wanted to segue a little bit into, I know you were, deployed in Vietnam. Will you go into I wanna start with, I guess, the draft. We'll start with, how did you feel about the about the draft? How did, the people around you feel about the draft?
John*: Well, I had 3 good friends, and, I worked at a place a restaurant called the Valley Button. You know, we sold hamburgers and stuff like that. It wasn't an indoor restaurant. It was just an outside, like, a tasty freeze or something like that that Or In N Out Burger or whatever you wanna call it.
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: And, the one I think was in the marines and the other one was in the army, and he told me no matter how shitty it is, 2 years is only 2 years. So he's just and the 2 of my friends went into marines, and that's 3 years. The other one in the air force, and that's 4 years. So I did what he said, and I just let him draft me.
Zach*: Interesting. So it sounds like I guess, correct me if I'm wrong, but more or less, they believed it to be just kind of something that was going to happen, kind of get used to it.
John*: That's right. You know, it's just something you had to accept. I didn't know anybody that went to Canada, but later on, of course, I was drafted in 66. But, you would hear people that went to Canada, and they didn't do anything or try to get them. And I don't remember what president or whatever would finally will say, what could you say, allow them to come back without any prison time or anything? And I don't remember what prison or when that it might have happened in the nineties. I don't know. Maybe even in the eighties. I'm not sure.
Zach*: Interesting. So at least your in your community, there was not so much. But do you remember hearing any, like, anti draft sentiment or any, like, anti war sentiment in in the area?
John*: No. Not really. You know? I mean, you just had to accept it and that was it.
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: You know? And you just got drafted. I was lucky in the school I went to. I think graduating class was only 50, and none of us and I think almost everybody went in to the service of one branch or the other. And none of us died in Vietnam. Very fortunate. One was pretty well injured. I don't know even maybe a little mentally, but, you know, all of us made it back. Unbelievable.
Zach*: That's really cool.
John*: My 60th reunion is tomorrow night, and then the following night is so, you know, my 60th reunion. Yeah. I don't know how many are going to show up. I didn't check with who's in charge. But, because he said a lot of them live in Nevada and, you know, live across the nation. So and for your 60th, who knows how many are going to show up?
Zach*: Yeah. Well, that'll be fun. I hope you enjoy that. I was going to say, I guess, feelings about the war in general. Did they opposed to it more or less or just it sounded like more or less kind of neutral. Were they angry, or was anyone angry about, like, the reasons they were fighting? Did they kind of fully understand? Or?
John*: I think that it was just accepted, and that was it. At least where I am, I know there are there were some protests. Matter of fact, I can remember, it was up in (San Francisco) Frisco, and I don't know which college it was at, but they were protesting. And the Hells Angels, I think down here, volunteered to go up and break it up. No. And they said no. They would let him go up there. They were gonna take care of a protest up there on the war. You know? So and I knew some of the Hells Angels from where I worked. A few of them came in, I would see. Yep. Okay. I'll tell you a good story about one of them. I got to know a lot of the police well too, especially in Bellflower. And, one of them told me they caught a Hells Angel riding around the block, and he just put the engine and the frame together, and he caught them. No license, no nothing. He says, I wrote up stuff on that ticket that didn't even exist. You know, that's what he told me because I was I was in good with quite a few of the police.
Zach*: Interesting. That's a good story.
John*: Mhmm.
Zach*: Okay. I will say, what was kind of the feelings about communism? Was that ever a topic of discussion? I know there was a lot of kind of, like, like, the lavender scare or the red scare, more feelings about communism. Was that ever a topic of discussion?
John*: Not much. In the fifties, it wasn't so much communism, but scared of nuclear attacks and they taught you how you're supposed to go down and cover your head and get under your desk. Like that. No. I don't think communism was discussed too much. Although we did have, I think, in the in the late sixties, the Cuban crisis Yes. You know, which, you know, where we even blocked off, you know, with our, naval ships blocked off. So I guess nothing could get through to Cuba. I don't know if you know about that or not. And so, that was, you know, scary somewhat. But like I said, you know, we just heard about it and then, you know, went from there. And, as far as communism, no. I do remember something about oh, that was Reagan, and that would be in the eighties where he says tear down that wall. Like that.
Zach*: So I do remember hearing a lot about, like, the nuclear drills. They would have kids in school, you know, tell them, get under your desk. You know? But was that, like, a common fear? I guess, you know, the average person, if it happens, there's not much you can do about it anyway. Was that ever like a was that a worry about nuclear war happening a lot?
John*: Believe it or not, just a couple blocks from me at that time, and I think they're doing it again, they were building I don't know what they cost. But in your backyard, they would build you a shelter or whatever you want
Zach*: Oh, really?
John*: Underground where you could get I don't know all the statistics on it back then, how much they cost or what all it consisted of. But I guess they felt since we lived in Southern California and all these aircraft corporations around Yeah. We would definitely be bombed. So probably nuclear. So, I know one place, you know, put it in. I you know, I'm a kid. Yeah. 14, 15 years old. And so, otherwise, I'd love to go over and take a look in it.
Zach*: So Yeah. So some people were very scared of it. It sounds like a lot of people just more or less live with it, you know, thought there's nothing they could do about it anyway.
John*: Exactly.
Zach*: Okay. Well, getting into the draft, so I believe you've told me a story about how if you correct me if I'm wrong. If you volunteer, you get to kind of choose how, like, with the service you perform. Is that incorrect?
John*: I think somewhat you could. Otherwise, if you volunteer for the draft, but you're not talk not draft, not for 2 years. I think you'd have to volunteer for 3.
Zach*: Oh, interesting.
John*: Depending on where you're going to, in order to get that. Not, you know, being drafted, they just do with what they want with you, but I was an exception. And that was and then I gotta tell you this. When I was drafted, they swore us in. There's, I don't know, 20 rows and 6 abreast. And they said the first two rows are going into the marines. Yeah. And I was in the 3rd row. So I got to go to the army instead of the marines.
Zach*: Wow. Lucky you. Because that's an extra year or 2?
John*: Even if you went in the marines, if you're drafted, you only goes 2 years. You know, there's no difference in time. It's just that, you know, the well, you know. It's I'm everybody says "I'm an ex marine". You hear anybody say I'm ex army? No. It's so And so a marine. So, you know, they got more intense. Would say, you know, stuff like that.
Zach*: Mhmm. So can you tell me the process of being drafted? Did you get something in the mail and then have to go somewhere? Yes. Well, when you turn 18, you have to go down and, to the draft board or where
(recording cut) So I'll just get back into it. I'm gonna rephrase, just the last question just in case it got cut off. I think the last thing it got was, you don't hear a lot of people saying I'm ex Army. You hear I'm ex Marine a lot. So I was gonna say the process of getting drafted, how that happened? Can you explain that?
John*: Well, sure. I think it'd be the same no matter what you go into. I went down to LA. You know, I got my draft notice, went down there. They give you a physical and, you know, go through. Some people can, you know, once you pass I can't remember. I think I don't remember if we took the test then or not. No. I think don't think we took it till later. They just check you out physically and stuff like that and make sure, you know, that you're capable and, in good, you know, decent physical condition. When I went that's the first time, then they call you back to go when they take you. And since I went in the army, I went to Fort Ord, which is up close to Frisco along the coast. And I can remember a guy in front of me, and he must have went and got stretched because I think there's, like, a limit of 6 foot 6. They don't want anybody bigger than that. They don't have the clothes and the shoes and the stuff on. You see? And so, they asked them, well, you know, you're above going. Do you still wanna go in? He says, no. That's fine. I go because I didn't hear where you can go get stretched.
Zach*: Really?
John*: Be surprised if yeah. I didn't hear that till the late seventies. And the only reason I heard that is a friend of mine, who was Japanese. His brother wanted to get into police force. He's about a half an inch too short. So he went and got stretched so he could pay to get in. Back then, they had a, let's say, a height limit of 5'9", let's say. I'm not sure.
Zach*: Interesting. I'd never heard of that before. Was there was there a lot of people doing things to get in or at least out of being drafted?
John*: Well, they do what they can. You know?
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: I don't know. Maybe he had a loan problem. You know how people do have, even at that age, have something wrong or something like that.
Zach*: Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess I will say let's get into, so from the time you noticed, would do you remember when you got the notice that you were being drafted?
John*: Oh, I imagine 2 months, 3 months before, something like that. It might be a long time before.
Zach*: Okay.
John*: And, you know, you know, and then I reported in and then went to Fort Ord and, did my basic, and we were restricted there because they had I forget what it was, but there was something going on to where we didn't really get to leave the barracks. And on one side, the windows the bottom windows were open, and on the other side of the barracks, the top windows were open. And it was colder than blazes because we're right on the ocean. And this was to cut down I you'd have to look it up to see what they had, but Ford had something that they had had before. So we were more or less restricted to everything. We couldn't do anything other than, you know, they take us and bring us back to our barracks, and that was it.
Zach*: Interesting. So how long did you spend at the barracks before you were deployed?
John*: Oh oh, No. You first you go to basic.
Zach*: Oh, basic.
John*: Basic. That's 8 weeks. Then they send you home for 2 weeks, I think it is. And then you go to AIT, which is advanced individual training. You know? And when you're in basic, you take all sorts of tests and stuff. And they asked me but they offered me all sorts of jobs, you know, things. And they said something about medic. I said, what I figured working in a hospital, women, this and that. I looked at it the other way and, you know, I went in for medic and they gave me medic. I found out my last couple months in the service why I got everything. I mean, even right down when I finished my events individual training, which was in Texas, that's where they trained medics, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Everybody that I worked was in the service with me, you know, the medics and the doctor. They got me, a letter a form they wanted them to fill out. I was kind of a test individual to see if I would continue. You know, since they let me be what I wanted, this and that.
They even asked me when I finished AIT, advanced individual training, where did I wanna go, Alaska or Hawaii? Now you know I'm gonna say Hawaii. Who wants to go to Alaska? Then they said, in the states, where would you like to go? I said, from California. They said, what part of California would you like to go? I said southern, and they sent me to Fort Irwin, which is, you know, a 120 miles from or a 150 miles from where I live. But that's where the unit formed that I went to Vietnam with was there. So, I mean, they let me have everything, and then at the end, being a medic, they offered me a $6,000 to re up, but you have to join for 6 years to get that money. And I said, although I'm a striped troop, no. I'm a civilian. Alright. You know, you can keep this. I'm going home. So that been joined for 6 years, and I've been the equivalent of sergeant in less than 2 years.
Zach*: Really?
John*: Or you could do 5, which is the same thing as a sergeant. The difference in pay is $1. And another cute thing, when you get drafted, you get $78 a month. And then when you make e 2, it was $89 a month. And when you get e 3, e 3 is when you have a corporal and you have the one stripe on your sleeve, a $121 a month. Now this is someone that's under 2 years. After 2 years, you get more money, but I don't know how much. I could ask a friend of somebody that, you know, that we were in together and we were medics. And he's in Alabama, and I talk to him every couple months. You know?
Zach*: Interesting. Sorry. I was gonna say, I never knew that you were more of a test case. So was that you were the test in the sense that they didn't ask everyone where they wanted to go?
John*: No. No. No. Just me. And I got what I asked for being a medic and where I even went. You know? And, except I did go to NAM. I didn't ask for that, but they, you know, gave me everything else there. And, like I said but, and I could have even been an officer.
Zach*: Do you know why they chose you?
John*: It depends on how you do on your tests. You know, but you have to go I can't remember how long OCS officers training school is. But the only thing, you would have you had to wait I didn't wanna be an officer. Okay? But it's you had to wait almost a year before you didn't get into officer school. And I forget if that was for 6 months or something. And then after you become an officer, you still have to serve your 2 years or whatever. So people, you know, if you wanna make the military your, and a couple lieutenants we have did, you know, they did that. They went to officer training school. I said, no. I just wanna go in and out. You know?
Zach*: Yeah. Interesting. So actually getting to when you were actually deployed in Vietnam, can you describe what that was like?
John*: Well, number 1, I was with the 6th and the 7th, 7th artillery, so it wasn't as bad as being in the infantry. And I went to, they sent a 100 troops in a in an advanced party to Vietnam with them, and then the 400 of us went onboard boat. We went over to Vietnam onboard ship, and I went on the USNS Gordon, which was a World War 2 military transport. It was 1966. I'm going on that to Vietnam, and it took, 23 days. We went through, well, what was nice, we did go through the Philippines, and it was beautiful. You know? I you know? The trip, I can't say I enjoyed it. And every morning, they would kick you out. At 8 in the morning, you had to go topside till noon. Whether it was raining or whatever, you had to go to noon. I'm still outside. Then you get back for lunch and then, I guess, whatever else you could do. You know? But, but, I know for at least 2 weeks going across, they had what we call the JC flick, the Jesus Christ, you know, movie, and it was Protestant. But we go down because you'd sit down below and you'd watch, on Jesus Christ, the whole movie from the beginning on through on Jesus Christ. So that's what we did every morning. I don't know if it was like for an hour, hour and a half. I don't remember for sure, but rather than staying topside Yeah.
Zach*: I'm sure it's better than nothing.
John*: Yeah. Better than getting rained on or something. And they did have a, what was it, a PX will say onboard ship. So if you're tired of that junk, you could go get something to eat. I'm not saying a dinner, but, you know, you could buy, you know, certain things, you know, to help you fill up. You didn't wanna eat that. So and so I was on board ship for, 23 days, and, we go into the Philippines, into Sumic Bay. They let us off base, from, like, 9 in the morning till 10 at night or 9 at night, maybe 12 hours. They didn't let us off base. You could had to stay on base, but at least, you know, you were free to roll in, which was nice.
Zach*: What was, what was kind of the attitude towards, you know, being on a on a boat to Vietnam among everyone there? What was what was it kind of like? Was it-
John*: No. It I played, cards almost every day on topside, and we had one guy who we, playing, and he'd win all the time. And I think, yeah, I mean, I just he was too good. Whatever it was. So but, yeah. And I ran across the guy, you know, because you meet them from all over. There's I forget how many onboard ship. I don't remember how many. Maybe 3000 or 4000. I don't remember. But, he lived in Bellflower. He just lived a mile and a half away from where I was. You know? He was married and lived in an apartment.
Zach*: Interesting. So once you landed, what was it like? What happened next?
John*: We got off just like you see in World War 2. We crawled, on the ship. We came down the net. We then got into a, a boat or a landing craft. Not that there was any fire or anything like that, you know, and went to, and landed on the shore. You know, they took us right up and dropped it. I don't think I don't even know if our peak got wet or not. I don't recall. And, the thing about it is my daughter, Suzanne, has went to Vietnam, and she went to Cu Chi, and that's where they have the museum for Vietnam. Everybody goes to Cu Chi, and her boyfriend found my picture getting off the, you know, the landing small landing craft onto the onto the shore, which is fantastic.
Zach*: That's unbelievable.
John*: 45 years later after that picture, and he found it. And so she sent me that, and that is me. You know? I even sent it to my friend Walker in Alabama. And, he said, yeah. That's you. There's no doubt about it. I mean, and it it's a good picture. But they have different pictures up, and they luckily saw that. I never expected them to even have a picture of that because we were not base camp or anything. We were at, like I said, just a landing grab getting off.
Zach*: Well, I will say, would you describe some of, maybe what your daily routine looked like while you were in Vietnam?
John*: Well, it depends. We were, at base camp, and our base camp was Cu Chi, spelled c u c h I, and, two words. And, there, I was a medic, so anybody had a problem, they would just come in, and we had a doctor. Both doctors that I was with were both drafted just like I was, and they served 2 years. And the one was 26 years old. Can you imagine he became a doctor? 56, and he wanted to be a orthopod. You know? And, they gave him and said, no. We've let you go through and become a doctor. You'll have to wait till after you serve your 2 years to go back and become an ortheopath.
Zach*: So an orthopath?
John*: Orthopedic specialist.
Zach*: Oh. Oh, gotcha.
John*: That's what he wanted to be. So he had the other doctor, and he was 26, the other doctor we had was 31 years old. You know, he was married and had a kid or 2 and what have you. Both nice guys. So in in base camp, which our base camp was a mile by a mile, and I have beautiful pictures of the whole base camp. And, we would just take care of, you know, normal stuff. And if anybody's serious, we'd send them to the hospital in, on base. You know, we'd have regular big hospital. And what was nice being medics and where we were, you know, our, where the 6th and 77th was, we had a bakery across the street. We had an ice plant that we got good with. They made the I don't think no. I think they made the ice in either bakery, made bread, the ice plant, and, oh, a laundry facility right across the street from where we were. So being medics, they come over. If they need a shot, we give them a shot. Anytime we want anything like that in base camp, we get it. And I got pictures of us with a party at the at the at the ice plant, you know, the guy there. And now we would go, then they'd send us out to the field.
Most of the artillery, there was 3 artillery. What did they call it now? It was we had supply headquarters. I was with headquarters. Supply is another battery. Then we have a, b, and c, and that's where the guns are. 6 guns in each one. Okay? And so what they do is take us out to the field, the whole unit. And that's when, we went out to clean a hobo in Lobo Woods. Now we would come back to base camp and, one cute story is since I was also the clerk typist, I could type. Nobody else could, so I got to be the clerk typist. And that's what I do in the morning. I was, at the desk or, you know, when anybody come through. And, and I take care I had to take a report from the doctor that no matter where we were, I would fly into base camp, retype that up, and send it over to the, surgeon general, which was on, you know, on base. I think there was 10,000 on our base.
Zach*: That's a lot of troops.
John*: In Cu Chi. So it just so happens, and no matter I fly in the colonel's helicopter. I fly whatever was going to bait back to base camp. I get the plane, and I have good pic a lot of pictures. And, I mean, we'd fly all the time, but we'd fly in these Chinooks with the twin rotors. You've seen those helicopters?
Zach*: Yeah.
John*: We've in those, you usually they load us up and carry the guns too, you know, underneath. And, the Chinooks would hold 9,000lbs, and they had flying cranes, which was you've seen with just one big chopper. It would it could hold 18,000lbs. Wow. I would fly back and forth. So it just so happens, this one time the doctor had to go back with me to basecamp to do this. The Bob Hope show was on. So we landed. We both went to the Bob Hope show, and that's when they had Raquel Welch. So I got to see Raquel Welch in Vietnam. That would be the 19 67, thing.
Zach*: That's really cool. It was a live show?
John*: Oh, yeah. Bob Hope, you know, he every year, he would go and take people and put the show on for the troops. You didn't know about that?
Zach*: I did not. I think I'd heard of it before that, you know, they would come and have people do live shows for the troops. But that's really cool.
John*: Would tour for, I don't know, a month or something like that and go to different base camps and put out and Raquel Welch was with them. You know? And I have pictures of her on stage and everything. I took my camera, which was great. And, the other thing, like I said, we would treat patients that came in, and most of the time, what the troops would catch was, the urethritis acute gonococcus, better known as gonorrhea. And we had this nice sergeant. He was a little chubby, about 27, 28. And, he came in and he caught he caught gonorrhea. We called it the clap, you know. And so, I love, you know, comedy a little, and I like to joke around. So he, you get 2 penicillin shots, 1 in the morning, 1 at night for 3 days. And, you come in, we cannot we don't have to tell when you're sergeant or anything what you're in for. You just came in for treatment. You know? So he came in and I, a nice guy. So I thought, well, what I did is I got a irrigating syringe and I pulled it down, and I put a big 16 gauge needle on it. You know? And as he's taking his pants down, and he's looking at me, and we all busted up laughing. You know? But he thought we were really gonna give him that. And the other guy was, you know, medic was standing there with with the regular penicillin shot.
Zach*: That's like a giant syringe. Right? The one that you were pretending?
John*: Clean your ear with. Oh, yeah. That's an irrigating syringe. And I put a needle on it. It wasn't even straight. It was leaned over a little because it just wouldn't sit straight. But he thought that was it. He started dropping his pants and looking at it. You know? That's pretty funny. So Uh-huh. Okay. And one time out in the field, we had a problem with somebody, and, the doctor said, you know, take him down, get him going on the next chopper going in. I walked the patient down there, and I said the doc wants to have flown in. Well, this and that, whatever (Officer disagrees). I say, no problem. I went back and got the doctor. The doc all doctors are captains. Okay. Doctor came down. He said, you put this guy on the chopper now. Yes, sir. You know, when I asked him, he wouldn't do it, but the doc came down and said, you put him on now.
Zach*: And they listened?
John*: That's right.
Zach*: So Wow. So did you spend a lot of your time at base or in the field? Would they would you take, like, a vehicle? Would you fly out?
John*: Oh oh, no. When we were in the field, we didn't take vehicles. We you know? And matter of fact, I'm trying to think. What was it? I think we get breakfast from the mess hall, but lunch and dinner was flown in on helicopter.
Zach*: Oh, really?
John*: They would send, at least, containers with the food to feed everybody, you know, on that. No. I spent quite a bit of time in the field, but, you know, 2 or 3 weeks or whatever and go back and then maybe another couple weeks and and stuff like that. You know? But I wasn't in the field constantly, though. Yeah.
Zach*: So what basically, when you were, doing your medic duties, what did that kind of include when you when someone was injured or what was, like, a common thing that you would treat people for?
John*: Usually, we didn't have that much. I mean, we did get a few that were injured and, you know, shot. And, what could I say? We would just do the best we could with them, bandage them up and what have you, give them an IV if it was necessary, and we call them a helicopter and they fly them out. We don't mess with them. You know? They go Yeah. You know? That's what we would do. Mhmm.
Zach*: So just doing mostly the best that you could for them and sending them to a doctor if need be?
John*: Yep. You send them into the hospital, you know, whatever to emergency. They put them on a chopper and, just ship them out. You know, that that's what happened. We didn't have a lot of injuries. You know? So, what ours was up in the field, we would get mortar and rocket attacks. Yeah. We would set up. It wasn't just us. I mean, at one time, we always had 105 howitzers. They had bars. They had 155. (Mortars, guns) We were circled by, you know, a big circle in the jungle. What we were doing was supporting these wrong plows to cut down the jungle is what we were doing. In those cases. And I just got to go to a, because you know the trench were in Vietnam prior to us. 53, I think. The NBN II was where I think they made a I got to go to a, French fort, a small fort, yep, one time. And I didn't take a few pictures of it as best as could. You know? So that's it.
Zach*: You've mentioned a lot about taking pictures. Did you have, like, a lot of free time to take pictures, or was it more in between when you had, like, patients you had.
John*: No. We didn't always have patients. Yeah. Like, we're not busy all the time. Oh, no. Like, if I was in the chopper, I take pictures. Even the other medics would take pictures. We're out in the field. I mean, we get shot at in mortars and stuff, and I can remember one time we got a call and I answered the phone. Be advised we're under attack. Can you imagine that? That's how the guy put it. And what he meant was there was mortars coming in. Yeah.
Zach*: So Was that a pretty common thing? What were the kind of feelings about it? Was everyone very worried?
John*: Well, heck, yeah. You run, now what we would do, the medics and, you know, since we we were individuals that compared to the other groups, we had our group of 6 and whatever. We would build as soon as we got in, we would build cubicles for us. You know, there was 6 of us, so we built 6 little, 3 by 3 out of sandbags. It might take us you know, it doesn't matter. I mean, like, we're going anywhere. We'd have this, and we use that. So in case of an attack, you go and hide in there. And, you know, so that's what you do. You'd have a retreat. And one time and, we were I forget quite remember where we were, but, there was a underground bunker, we'll say, that was already built where we were at. And we gotta think, we're under attack. I said, doc, we're under attack. Yeah. I said, I gotta get over there. You know? He says no, you get under. And right where I was gonna go, the mortar landed.
Zach*: Wow.
John*: I would might have been dead or injured. I kept telling, I have my what the heck did they call it? My otherwise wound where I get to go home and nothing wrong. But, I still have one spot.
Zach*: I was more or less surprised when you said that. You know, you didn't have, like, a lot of injuries.
John*: Were you just talking about the I was in the artillery. We're not in the infantry. The infantry is where you get a lot more, you know, when they're out in the field. Although they did send us out in the field a couple times when we're there, like, some colonel, captain, or something gets the idea, they want us to go through out into the jungle and look for stuff. And everybody said goodbye to me because no one knows if you're coming back. And we were, nothing happened, and we found 25,000lbs of rice or something out there, you know, that they were hiding through the Viet Cong. You know, just traipsing through the jungle. But mainly, we just got dropped in by helicopters, and then our area was secure. Although, one time, the vehicle did try to attack, and these 105 howitzers are good for 8 miles. They have shotgun rounds where they just lower the barrel straight, and they put in these rounds, and it's just like shooting a shotgun.
Zach*: What was, I was gonna say, the rhetoric around you guys knowing that you might have to kill people if it comes down to it and constantly fighting for your life? Were people kind of under the-
John*: Just accept it. That's how it is.
Yeah. You know? So I can hardly ever remember anybody, you know, being the other way. I know sometimes I pull in that bunker and, you know, I'll call, you know, our little cubicle with sandbag. And, I crawled up into a little ball because I think that stuff is coming down so close. And if anybody gets injured, then we have to go, you know, treat them and send them out. Yeah. But the doctor is there also. So, I mean, we do the best we can to bring them back to him. You know, I was mainly with the doctor at all times.
Zach*: That makes sense. One thing I was wondering is, did religion play, any kind of role? I remember you talking about, the movies about Jesus Christ when you were on the transport. Was there was religion a big part of your life or around the community?
John*: Not a big part of my life, but, yeah, you know, when we had it, I would kind of go to church and so would the others or, you know, we had a Catholic priest come out, you know, whatever. I didn't go to church every Sunday at base camp. No. You know, I don't think most of us did. Some of them, you know, you know, like that. But in base camp, we have a church. And, I mean, in base camp, we had everything. We had a pool hall, everything. Just, you know, px's (cafeteria) and, you know, and like I say, our camp is big, a mile by a mile. I'll have to bring my pictures and show you sometime.
Zach*: I would love to see those!
John*: The reason why I have so many printers is, believe it or not, my sergeant that I had, sergeant Pelfrey was from Germany. And he came over and got drafted and came over as a kid. I get I don't remember how old he was, but he, oh, he had worked in the cafeteria or something during World War 2. And he, you know, a little something, whatever, helping. And, he came home with a certificate, you know, they gave him. And when he brought it home, his mother tore it up. She thought if the Americans come through and see something like that, they'll kill us. Yeah. That's what we say. I don't know how I don't remember how old he was when he came to America.
Zach*: Interesting. Just sometime in between World War 2 and Vietnam?
John*: Pardon?
Zach*: Sometime in between World War 2 and Vietnam?
John*: Oh, yeah.
After World War 2. So maybe in the fifties, and then he got drafted. He just stayed in and made his career. You know?
Zach*: That's really cool he got you into taking pictures. I just wanted to ask some more questions, kind of just about your personal life. It doesn't have to be specifically about Vietnam, but a couple things. Around the time, this could be before or after, what was dating like? Were you in a relationship before, after Vietnam?
John*: I was actually in a relationship before I shipped over. I've known her for about 6 months. And sure enough, I got well, you know, what is my name? John*? So what do you think I got all the time? Dear John*.
Zach*: Oh, dear John*.
John*: You never hear of dear John* letters?
Zach*: No.
John*: Oh, dear John* is like, dear John*, you know, we're breaking up and this and that. That's what they call the dear John* letter. I did I did get a dear John* letter after a few months.
Zach*: You did get a breakup letter?
John*: Yes. I did.
Zach*: That's unfortunate.
John*: Believe it or not, 2 months later or something, who do I get a package from? You see, I met Janice in Blenda at 65. And I did see Janice before I went to Nam, though, I, also was seeing and her name was Suzanne. And so I don't know why Janice let me name my daughter Suzanne? But, not that it was that big a breakup. No big deal.
Zach*: Just to clarify, Janice is your wife, and you have a daughter named Suzanne.
John*: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. And Suzanne knows it.
Janice told her a few years back and she said, I hope I never meet her. Too bad, you know.
Zach*: So after you got back from Vietnam, did you start you started dating grandma Janice?
John*: No. Grandma Janice got engaged to my best friend. I'm the one that met her in 65, her and Glenda. Oh, they even sent me, a care package, you know, for Christmas and stuff, and she'd write letters. And, well, she got engaged to George. It was my best friend that was in the marines. Oh, I came then he went to Vietnam. You know? And so she was home, but that that isn't what did it. I, you know, but she eventually broke up. She was gonna send him a dear John* letter. I said, you know, just wait till he gets back and, you know, give it to him. You know? So, so that's what happened there. But now no, I had another girlfriend or 2 in between. There was Jackie. There was Marilyn. And, no. Bellflower was fantastic for cruising and women. I mean, the different girls I met. You know? So I got what if you if you wanna hear a good one. We were, pulled over on Boulevard. This is before we went to service. And, you know, it was heavy cruising. You know?
And, like, you know what I mean by cruising. All the cars going by back and forth. It was about a mile, mile and a half. We had an A and W that you pulled into. And we pulled over with, to talk to a friend and his fiancée. And Jurgen and I got in the back seat. You know, it was a 2 door. We're both sitting there. I got on the driver's side. He got on the passengers. But we're sitting on Bellflower Boulevard. They're just, you know, maybe 50 feet or a 100 feet from the light. And when we're done talking, I said, why don't you go come up here? You know, so y'all can come back and pick up some women, you know, jokingly. And so Jurgen got out the driver the passenger side. I got out the driver side, and there's a girl in a car in a Chrysler by herself. I put out my thumb like a hitchhiker, and she'll unlock the door. I got in the car. This guy sees it and so does Jurgen, and I left him there. But all we did is cruise down, whatever got her number, come back, and then I got Jurgen. But you see what I'm saying? I did this in front of my in front of Jurgen and in front of this guy and his fiancée.
Zach*: Well done. That's pretty smooth. I was gonna say, what were some things you guys did, like, going on dates? I know you mentioned drive ins.
John*: Yeah. We go to the drive in, and I can remember I took a couple girls to oh, you go to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm. At that time, you've been to Knott's. But back in the sixties until up to 65, you could get into Knott's Berry Farm for free, and then you just pay and you just pay for whatever ride you wanna go on. But you can walk around it. And, I don't know if I ever told you, but I I've been married three times.
Zach*: Really?
John*: Yeah. Twice at Knott's Berry Farm by judge Roy Bean, but I got screwed on the honeymoon both times. You know? So once you go in and for a buck or something, he'd give you a marriage certificate and supposedly marry you?
Zach*: Oh, that's very good.
John*: Janice has that. I married her and not married her at Knotts Berry Farm. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah.
Zach*: So 3 marriages, not too bad.
John*: Yeah. (recording cuts)
Zach*: Anything you wanted to mention that you had before I lose you?
John*: Like I said oh, the reason why I have so many pictures is my sergeant is the one that talked me into getting the camera. And I bought a Pentex Spott Matic in Vietnam at the PX, and we're talking it was a $100.
Zach*: Wow. That's expensive.
John*: Yes. And, Stanley (Brother), I got him a camera that was a 100 and a quarter, even better. And and Penntek's Photomatix was the first time you could get a camera where it had the light meter inside. Before, you had to take, you know, get the light meter reading to take the picture. That and that's why I took I took 300 slides in Vietnam. Out in the field and this and that and whatever. He talked me into it and so did. But I gotta tell you another thing. Walker, Richard Wade Walker is from Alabama, and we were in Nam together, you know, all the time. And but he stated he had joined. And our our favorite saying was, we advance to the rear. Advance to the rear. We don't retreat. We advance to the rear. You know?
Zach*: That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
John*: And, we everybody flies back from Vietnam to home, you know, or to Frisco. And, when I came back, Jurgen, who I've known since I was 13 years old, and, was right there where we drove back. And I got his phone number, and so his gave him a day off or 2. They came and picked me up, took me over and showed his barracks and stuff because we're there for a day or 2 until we ship out. Yeah. Oh, and if you really wanna hear something that's freaky, you could not leave base camp unless you had your helmet, your flak vest, your rifle, and everything. Okay? Never they'd let you leave base camp. When they take you down to, Saigon or even Saigon, the other town next to it, they put you on a bus and you don't have nothing. And then you could that bus or do whatever. Oh. Can you imagine that? I couldn't believe it. Here, you have all that and then they put you on a bus. I don't think I've ever heard of a bus being shot at, but I don't know. You know, you don't necessarily hear all the information. You know?
Zach*: Interesting. Did you ever interact with, civilians while you were in Vietnam? Yes. I was in charge of the sandbag dollies for the last month. Okay. Every yeah. Sandbag dollies.
John*: What do you what does that mean? Okay. They were young you know, women, young, some young, middle age, or older, and I would go pick them up rather than going out and being shot out in the any jungle or whatever. They let me be in charge of the sandbag dollies. I got out I got to come home before the rest of them because when I went to, I only had 10 and a half months to do. Army does 12 months, marine do 13 months. And so, I would go pick them up every morning, and I just stay with them, and they would fill sandbags to put all over, you know, whatever they needed and, you know, to for a building or what have you. And they call them sandbag dollies. And I got pictures of the sandbag dollies, and that's what I did every day for, I don't know, 2 or 3 weeks or something like that rather than going out and possibly getting shot.
Zach*: Yeah. That's a pretty good deal. Did they speak any English at all, or were you just kind of there to keep an eye?
John*: Yeah. A little. And matter of fact, come to think of it, the barber we would go to a Vietnamese barber on base. They had brought all these people in on base to do the jobs. You know? And, I'll have to tell you another good one too. I told the lieutenant or captain. But the barber that cut my hair, I swear he smoked marijuana while he's cutting my hair. You know?
Zach*: Well thank you for sitting down and talking to me about this, Grandpa. I Really appreciate it, it was really cool hearing about all of this.
John*: Of course. Of course. Well I love you, I hope you got all the information you needed.
Zach*: I think so! That was great. Have a good one, I love you too.
- Title:
- Interview with John Zor
- Date Created:
- 2024-09-24
- Description:
- This was an interview with my grandfather John. We discussed his personal life, cultural phenomena during the 1960s, his service as a medic in the Vietnam war, and much more. This interview worked to give the give the reader a general understanding of the 1960s,
- Subjects:
- personal civilrights economy media dating culture communism religion draft vietnam
- Location:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Latitude:
- 34.03597139
- Longitude:
- -118.2566141
- Type:
- text
- Format:
- record
- Preferred Citation:
- "Interview with John Zor", The Long 1960s - 2024 Fall, Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL)
- Reference Link:
- /thelong1960s/items/zor.html
- Rights:
- In copyright, educational use permitted. Educational use includes non-commercial reproduction of text and images in materials for teaching and research purposes. For other contexts beyond fair use, including digital reproduction, please contact the University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu. The University of Idaho Library is not liable for any violations of the law by users.
- Standardized Rights:
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/