Luevano, Dora. Interview transcript, November 6, 2025.
United States. Marine Corps
Pacific Bell Telephone Company
Camp Pendleton (Calif.)
Camp Lejeune (N.C.)
California State University, San Bernardino
Palomar College
Dora Luevano served as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. She was stationed at Camp Pendleton during the Vietnam War. Luevano worked in a warehouse and office, processing deceased servicemembers, collecting their personal effects, and writing letters to their family and loved ones. Luevano described her strict upbringing, immigration to the U.S. as a child from El Salvador, and decision to enlist in the Marine Corps. Luevano was forced out of military service for getting married and having a child, and she reflected on the harsh expectations and regulations that affected women in military service. She spoke about her 60-year marriage to her husband, whom she met in the Marine Corps, and their life together after military service. Luevano described how her civilian life was shaped by her upbringing, religion, military service, education, professional career, business ownership, and husband’s recent passing.
Dora Luevano
California State University San Marcos University Library
Jason Beyer
In copyright
English
Vietnam
San Salvador (El Salvador)
El Salvador
United States
San Francisco (Calif.)
South Carolina
New York
Fallbrook (Calif.)
Las Vegas (Nev.)
California
Palm Desert (Calif.)
Indio (Calif.)
Palm Springs (Calif.)
Philippines
Vista (Calif.)
Burke, Gina. Interview transcript, November 13, 2025.
United States. Army Nurse Corps
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Catholics
Tagalog language
Cebuano language
Iloko language
World War, 1939-1945
MacArthur, Douglas, 1880-1964
Leyte, Battle of, Philippines, 1944
Nursing education
Military nursing
Fort Sam Houston (Tex.)
Fort Bliss (Tex.)
William Beaumont Army Medical Center (El Paso, Tex.)
Travis Air Force Base (Calif.)
Vietnam. Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Corps, 1st
United States. Army. 95th Evacuation Hospital
Quonset huts
Scrub nurses
Medical Civic Action Programs
American National Red Cross
Fort Hood (Tex.)
San Marcos Vet Center (Calif.)
San Diego VA Medical Center (San Diego, Calif.)
Agent Orange
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.
American Legion
Palomar College (San Marcos, Calif.)
Cruisin’ Grand (Escondido, Calif.)
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Gina Burke served during the Vietnam War as a First Lieutenant operating room nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Burke spoke about her family background in the Philippines, immigration to the U.S., and father’s military service. She enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps so she could complete nursing school with financial aid. Burke deployed to Vietnam and served mostly as a scrub nurse at a time when operating room nurses were in high demand. Burke reflected on the difficult working conditions and traumatic experiences that characterized her wartime service. She spoke about her social life and experience as a woman in the military. In this oral history, Burke shared how the military shaped her life and worldview. She spoke about her transition to civilian life and struggles with PTSD. Burke reflected on how counseling, community service, and veteran associations helped her feel better about her military service.
Gina Burke
San Marcos (Calif.)
Leyte (Philippines)
Cebu (Philippines)
Luzon (Philippines)
Denver (Colo.)
Escondido (Calif.)
El Paso (Tex.)
Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
Da Nang (Vietnam)
San Diego County (Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.)
San Diego (Calif.)
Chula Vista (Calif.)
Labrado, Ed. Interview transcript, November 17, 2025.
United States. Army
United States. Army—Officers
United States. Army. Signal Corps
Cold War
University of California, Santa Barbara
Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1885-1945
United States. Army. Army, 3rd
United States. Army. Armored Division, 6th
United States. Army. Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (United States)
Camp Roberts (Calif.)
M1 rifle
World War, 1914-1918
Korean War, 1950-1953
M14 rifle
M16 rifle
Fort Gordon (Ga.)
Fort Monmouth (N.J.)
Cryptography
Missiles
Fort Ord (Calif.)
Funeral rites and ceremonies
Noncommissioned officers
Warsaw Pact (1955-1991)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Bank of America, National Association
Nike Hercules missile
Nuclear weapons
Ramstein Air Base (Germany)
Kennedy, John F., 1917-1963—Assassination
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
United States. Army—Deserters
Nuclear warfare
Deterrence (Strategy)
Peace Corps (U.S.)
Edwin Joseph Labrado Jr. was a captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was deployed in Europe during the Vietnam War. Labrado was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where he graduated from UCSB and completed the Army's four-year ROTC program. After graduation, he was assigned to the Army Signal Corps and later deployed to Europe. In Europe, he served as a battalion signal officer for a Nike Hercules missile battalion that had nuclear warheads. Some of his other responsibilities included communications training, military funeral honors, and the inspection of firing batteries. In this oral history interview, Labrado reflected on the Cold War, the US anti-Vietnam War movement, and how Americans treat veterans after military service.
Ed Labrado
Europe
Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Port Hueneme (Calif.)
Ventura (Calif.)
Georgia
New Jersey
Monterey (Calif.)
Oakland (Calif.)
Russia (Federation)
Soviet Union
Germany (East)
Germany (West)
Korea
Isla Vista (Calif.)
France
Germany
Ukraine
Nagasaki (Japan)
Shaffer, David. Interview transcript, November 20, 2025.
United States. Air Force
Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
Convair
Victory over Japan Day
San Diego State University
Keesler Air Force Base (Miss.)
United States. Army Corps of Engineers
Six-Day War
Sinai Peninsula
Lajes Field (Azores)
Strategic Air Command (U.S.)
Hahn Air Base (Germany)
Lackland Air Force Base (Tex.)
United States. Federal Aviation Administration
Tinker Air Force Base (Okla.)
Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung (Germany)
World War, 1939–1945
United States. Air Force—Occupational specialties
Davis–Monthan Air Force Base (Ariz.)
McGuire Air Force Base (N.J.)
Hitler-Jugend
European Recovery Program (1948–1952)
Andrews Air Force Base (Md.)
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
United States. Department of Veterans Affairs
McClellan–Palomar Airport (Calif.)
Germany. Luftwaffe
Mikoyan (Firm)
Sukhoi (Firm)
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908–1973
Fulda Gap (Germany)
Freemasons
Captain David Shaffer served in Europe as an air traffic controller during the 1960s. Shaffer was raised in San Diego County where his father was an engineer for Convair. From a young age, Shaffer aspired to become a military pilot, a goal which his tall height prevented. As an air traffic controller, Shaffer spent most of his deployment in Portugal and West Germany during the Cold War. He designed forward airfields during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, although the conflict was over before they could be used. After leaving military service, Shaffer taught high school industrial arts in North San Diego County. He used the G.I. Bill to gain his master’s degree from San Diego State College and his private pilot license. In this oral history interview, Shaffer tells stories from his military service and reflects on the importance of patriotism.
David Shaffer
Colorado Springs (Colo.)
Colorado
Texas
Pennsylvania
Cortez (Colo.)
Shelter Island (San Diego, Calif.)
Azores (Portugal)
Portugal
San Antonio (Tex.)
Oklahoma City (Okla.)
Tucson (Ariz.)
Arizona
Mississippi
Israel
Middle East
Austria
Bavaria
Kastellaun (Germany)
Koblenz (Germany)
Libya
Africa, North
Winston-Salem (N.C.)
North Carolina
Iowa
Berlin (Germany)
Frankfurt (Germany)
Berlin (Germany : West)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)
Kitzbühel (Austria)
Zweibrücken (Germany)
Moscow (Russia)
Munich (Germany)
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Ohio
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
Carlsbad (Calif.)
Arkansas
Beacham, Dora. Interview Transcript, November 1, 2024.
United States. Marine Corps—Non-commissioned officers
Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001-2014
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
United States. Marine Corps—Military occupational specialties
Victim advocates
United States. Marine Corps. Advanced Infantry Training Battalion
Educational benefits—United States
Women soldiers
Molly Marine (Symbolic figure)
Hispanic Americans
Master Sergeant Dora Beacham served in the U.S. Marine Corps during Operation Enduring Freedom. Beacham was part of Combat Service Support Group 1 and the 11th Marine Regiment. She was deployed to Camp Fallujah, Iraq from January to August of 2004. As a Hispanic woman from a small town, Beacham reflected on how military service shaped her life and provided important opportunities. In this oral history interview, she described her family, education, and life lessons from military service.
Dora Beacham
Adel Bautista
Marilyn Huerta
Hondo (Tex.)
Norfolk (Va.)
Twentynine Palms (Calif.)
Iraq
Idaho
Fallujah (Iraq)
Aguilar, John. Interview transcript, May 21, 2013
Afghan War, 2001-2021
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (U.S.)
United States. Marine Corps -- Recruiting and enlistment
Veterans -- Health aspects -- United States
Veterans -- United States
Veterans' spouses
John Aguilar, Jr. is a Marine Corps veteran who served from 2001-2005. In his interview, Aguilar recounts his motivations for enlisting with the Marine Corps and his experiences at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, California. Aguilar also offers his thoughts and experiences regarding the trauma and changes wrought by combat deployments on veterans and their families, his work in information technology in the Marine Corps, and his perspective on the Iraq and Afghan wars, media manipulation, anti-Arab racism and societal glorification of and prejudice towards veterans. This interview was conducted as part of the CSUSM Veterans Voices project, a collaboration of the California State University San Marcos History Department and CSUSM Student Veterans Center (now the Epstein Family Veterans Center), from 2012-2013. Veterans Voices (originally called War at Home and Abroad) documents, preserves, and makes accessible the experiences of CSUSM's student veterans. This interview was conducted with a "self-interviewing" protocol, a process drawn from a technique known as Digital Storytelling, which invites the narrator to self-author the interview, telling their story from their perspective, in their own words, and in their own manner. Narrators were provided a list of topics and interview guidelines emphasizing that they could use all, some, or none of the topics as they fashioned their stories about military service and related experiences, thus allowing each narrator to decide what they deemed to be historically important.
John Aguilar, Jr.
Cole, Kevin. Interview transcript, November 28, 2012
September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
USS Cole Bombing Incident, Aden, Yemen, 2000
Transcript of oral history interview with Kevin Cole. Cole served with the Marine Corps as a Rifleman from 1998 - 2007. In his interview, Cole recounts his personal motivations for enlisting with the Marines and for enlisting as a Rifleman, as well as his family's civic-minded nature. Cole also discusses his bootcamp and on-the-job training with the Marine Corps, as well as the two-year cycle of Marine life: training, joining a larger joint unit, deployment, and downtime. Cole recounts two deployments, ship life aboard his deployments on Naval vessels, the bombing of the USS Cole, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and how attitudes towards Marines and the armed services shifted in the wake of those attacks. Cole ends his interview by relaying his reasons for reenlistment after 9/11. This interview was conducted as part of the CSUSM Veterans Voices project, a collaboration of the California State University San Marcos History Department and CSUSM Student Veterans Center (now the Epstein Family Veterans Center), from 2012-2013. Veterans Voices (originally called War at Home and Abroad) documents, preserves, and makes accessible the experiences of CSUSM's student veterans. This interview was conducted with a "self-interviewing" protocol, a process drawn from a technique known as Digital Storytelling, which invites the narrator to self-author the interview, telling their story from their perspective, in their own words, and in their own manner. Narrators were provided a list of topics and interview guidelines emphasizing that they could use all, some, or none of the topics as they fashioned their stories about military service and related experiences, thus allowing each narrator to decide what they deemed to be historically important.
Kevin Cole
Lynn (Mass.)
Galyean, Thomas. Interview Transcript, November 12, 2024.
United States. Army—Veterans
Poultry farms
United States. Forest Service
El Cariso Hotshots (Calif.)
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
San Marcos High School (San Marcos, Calif.)
University of California, Los Angeles
Loop Fire, Calif., 1966
Air pilots—Training of
Fort Wolters (Tex.)
Fort Knox (Ky.)
Bell AH-1 Cobra (Attack helicopter)
Napalm
Fort Rucker (Ala.)
Democratic National Convention (1968 : Chicago, Ill.)
Gray Air Force Base (Tex.)
Ground-controlled approach (Aeronautics)
Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
United States. Army. 7th Cavalry Regiment
University of Virginia
My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968
Legal education—United States
Lawyers
Fort Polk (La.)
Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam)
Thomas Earl Galyean was a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He served with the 7-17th CAV as commanding officer of the aero rifle platoon, securing landing zones for aircraft. Galyean then served as an Assistant S3 for the operations section of headquarters, ensuring that aircraft received their assignments. Raised on his family’s chicken hatchery in San Marcos, California, Galyean narrates his family history, his decision to join the U.S. Army, and his interest in helicopter flight. Galyean describes his experience in flight school, including reflections on media representations of military training and the Vietnam War. Galyean describes his unique role while serving stateside, forming a military response team to suppress riots in the wake of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Galyean meditates on the impact of controversial topics, such as the My Lai massacre, civilian casualties, and the rules of engagement. Galyean reflects on religion, comradery, family, and how the military changed his life.
Thomas Galyean
Justin Gans
Kentucky
Tây Nguyên (Vietnam)
Vietnam (Republic : 1954-1975)
Laos
Cambodia
Chicago (Ill.)
Brownsville (Tex.)
Brawley (Calif.)
Imperial County (Calif.)
Sacramento (Calif.)
Louisiana
Alabama
Pleiku (Vietnam)
Phan Rang (Vietnam)
Biên Hòa (Vietnam)
Qui Nhon (Vietnam)
Rafael, Joel. Interview transcript, October 21, 2025.
Songwriters -- United States
Folk music
Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967
Folk music — United States — The Joel Rafael Band
Folk music festivals—United States
Music festivals—Oklahoma
Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
Baez, Joan, 1941–
Communism—United States
United States Merchant Marine
Lynching—United States
Joel Rafael is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician from San Diego County, California. Joel has been making music with his band and solo for over fifty years. He is well known for his writing and performance in the style of Woody Guthrie. In this part three interview, Rafael discusses the activities and dissolution of the Joel Rafael Band and his twenty-seven years performing at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.
Joel Rafael
Jennifer Fabbi
Salinas (Calif.)
Austin (Tex.)
Santa Monica (Calif.)
Okemah (Okla.)
Boley (Okla.)
New York (N.Y.)
Toro, Albert. Interview Transcript, November 15, 2024
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975
Veterans—United States—Chile
United States. Army—Noncommissioned officers
Albert F. Toro is a Chilean American who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, reaching his highest rank of E5 Sergeant. Toro described being drafted and deployed to Vietnam. As a Supply Noncommissioned Officer (NCO), Toro provided artillery units in combat zones with ammunition and food. Toro shared his life story as both an immigrant and veteran, including the ostracization and shame many veterans experienced upon their return from Vietnam. This oral history interview explores topice such as comradery, independence, military training, mentorship, college, recreation, fear, immigration, and veteran recognition.
Albert F. Toro
Chile
Santiago (Chile)
Monterey Peninsula (Calif.)
Tan Son Nhut (Vietnam)
Saigon (Vietnam)
Củ Chi (Vietnam)
Cần Thơ (Vietnam)
South Vietnam
Mekong Delta (Vietnam)
South America
Torrance (Calif.)