1 10 196 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Jason Beyer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Dora Luevano OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LuevanoDora_BeyerJason_2025-11-6.xml OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Luevano, Dora. Interview November 6th, 2025 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veteran U.S. Marine Corps Corporal San Francisco (Calif.) San Salvador (El Salvador) Camp Pendleton (Calif.) Fallbrook (Calif.) Dora Luevano Jason Beyer Moving Image LuevanoDora_BeyerJason_2025-11-6.mp4 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/f521e4bb2ad98141aead0a88138f8bc3.mp4 Other video English 0 Introduction and Military Background Dora Luevano was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. United States Marine Corps ; corporal ; Vietnam 0 54 Childhood and Immigration to the United States Luevano was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, where she lived in poverty and was raised by her grandmother. Her father immigrated to the U.S. and worked on shipyards. At age nine, Luevano was sent to live with her father and later was joined by her grandmother, who continued to help raise her. Luevano became a U.S. citizen and spent the rest of her childhood in San Francisco. She described her father as “extremely strict,” which motivated her to enlist in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school. San Salvador (El Salvador) ; United States ; San Francisco (Calif.) ; mesón ; mesones ; El Salvador ; school ; children ; sister ; grandmother ; father 0 271 Work, School, Family Life, and Military Enlistment Luevano described working multiple jobs after graduating from high school, yet she could not afford college tuition. Her father refused to sign required forms for her enlistment in the Marine Corps, so her grandmother signed the forms as her guardian. high school ; college ; tuition ; job ; Pacific Bell Telephone Company ; long distance operator ; Market Street (San Francisco) ; Marine Corps 0 439 Early Military Experience and Training Unlike most of her peers, Luevano enjoyed bootcamp and adapted to military life easily. She enjoyed marches and military training. Many of her peers went AWOL or struggled to complete tasks. Luevano was proud when she completed her training and believes she “made something” of herself despite the challenges of her upbringing. Her first assignment after basic training was in the 24 Area at Camp Pendleton, where she processed deceased servicemembers, collected their personal effects, and wrote letters to their family and loved ones. Most of the deceased were young Marines serving in the Vietnam War. Luevano met her husband at the warehouse she worked at. Her husband served in the Marines for 16 years, and the two of them were together for 60 years until his recent passing. According to Luevano, she would have happily continued a career in the Marine Corps, but contemporary rules forced her out of military service when she got married and had a child. bootcamp ; AWOL ; Absent Without Leave ; Reveille ; South Carolina ; drill instructor ; commanding officer ; San Salvador ; military ; Camp Pendleton (Calif.) ; 24 Area (Camp Pendleton) ; office ; deceased ; letter ; warehouse ; Vietnam ; husband ; Camp Lejeune (N.C.) ; Marine Corps ; corporal 0 914 Adapting to Military Life and Social Experiences Luevano adapted easily to taking orders in the military because of her strict upbringing. She says she loved her military service and “got along with everyone” at Camp Pendleton. Male Marines flirted with her, and female Marines teased her and called her “Boot.” Luevano says she made lots of friends, and her social skills helped her professional career. strict ; Camp Pendleton (Calif.) ; Navy ; Marine ; New York (United States) ; mess hall ; cancer 0 1137 Military Service During the Vietnam War Luevano described processing deceased servicemembers, many of whom were deployed to Vietnam and younger than 20 years old. She handled the deceased’s personal belongings to ensure that family members and loved ones would not be upset by anything they received. By the time Luevano was forced out of military service, the warehouse she worked in was filled with boxes of the deceased’s belongings. Vietnam ; California (United States) ; letters ; 24 Area ; warehouse ; office ; deceased 0 1266 End of Military Service and Transition to Civilian Life Luevano was forced out of the Marine Corps when she got married and had her first child. Her husband continued his military service, so she always felt close to military life. Her most difficult experience was living with her father and two children in San Francisco while pregnant with her third child and away from her husband, who deployed in Vietnam for 14 months. She was always worried that her husband would not return. Luevano described how she was received by friends and family after her military service. Her father was proud of her accomplishments as a Marine, mother, and business owner. Luevano is grateful to God and her military training for her success. married ; Fallbrook (Calif.) ; Las Vegas (Nev.) ; apartment ; pregnant ; child ; daughter ; Camp Pendleton (Calif.) ; San Francisco (Calif.) ; Vietnam ; husband ; family ; community ; barracks ; business ; Marine Corps ; gunnery sergeant ; gunny ; California (United States) 0 1739 Civilian Education and Work Experience Luevano used her G.I. Bill to graduate from CSU San Bernardino, and her husband graduated from the same university while serving in the Marine Corps. Luevano used her degree to find work as a rehab counselor. She eventually bought the company that she worked for and became financially successful. Later in life, Luevano and her husband sold their real estate and became missionaries in the Philippines for three years. They loved the Philippines but returned back to the U.S. when her husband’s health declined. husband ; college ; G.I. Bill ; Marine Corps ; California State University San Bernardino ; rehab counselor ; Palm Desert (Calif.) ; Indio (Calif.) ; Palm Springs (Calif.) ; real estate ; Philippines ; missionaries ; faith ; Vietnam 0 1956 Military Friendships and the Veteran Community The Luevanos maintained some military friendships. Her husband’s close friend, who was a Vietnam War veteran, recently committed suicide. Luevano says her husband stayed connected with his friends, but she was too busy with other responsibilities. Luevano is not a member of any veterans' organizations, but she is recognized by her church on Veterans Day. Marine Corps ; Vietnam ; suicide ; mental issues ; Las Vegas (Nev.) ; church ; Veterans Day ; Navy ; Army 0 2108 How Military Service Shaped Luevano's Life and Worldview Luevano says that military service disciplined her and taught her to finish any task that she started. She always worked hard to achieve her goals and support her family. Luevano also spoke about her husband who recently passed away, her grief, and how his passing has shaped her life today. Marine Corps ; AWOL ; Camp Lejeune (N.C.) ; training ; college ; waitress ; Navy ; school ; Camp Pendleton (Calif.) ; Starbucks 0 2323 Message for Future Generations Luevano wants future generations to know that they must join the military with good intentions, because the Marine Corps will not be an “escape hatch.” Military service requires discipline and commitment. She shared some experiences she has had mentoring children, including a neighbor and a young girl from her church. Luevano notes that some young people feel academically entitled to excellent grades that they do not merit. She wants to see young people work hard and be successful. apartment ; church ; boy ; girl ; military ; Marine Corps ; college ; Palomar College (Calif.) ; United States ; volunteer 0 2595 Life Lessons from Military Service Luevano reflects on war movies and how servicemembers sacrifice their lives for a cause. She thinks many young people do not know the cost of freedom and what veterans have sacrificed. Luevano says, “And people lay their lives down for what they believe in in order to keep that to the next generation.” Veterans Day ; movie ; Band of Brothers ; World War I ; World War II ; Vietnam ; Vice President ; JD Vance ; Camp Pendleton 0 2824 Experience with the Veterans History Project Luevano connected with the Veterans History Project at CSUSM through a friend who invited her to an event. North San Diego County ; Vista (Calif.) 0 Oral history 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. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:02.544 --> 00:00:33.195 My name is Jason Beyer, and I'm a graduate of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos). Today is Thursday, November 6th, 2025, and we're conducting this interview in Vista, California with veteran Dora Luevano. Also present is photographer Vyanh Vo. This oral history will help preserve the lived experiences of United States military veterans. Please state your full name. 00:00:33.195 --> 00:00:37.353 Dora Lydia Luevano. 00:00:37.353 --> 00:00:39.064 Your branch of service. 00:00:39.064 --> 00:00:41.265 United States Marine Corps. 00:00:41.265 --> 00:00:43.725 The highest rank that you attained. 00:00:43.725 --> 00:00:47.265 Ah, I hate to say this. Corporal (laughs). 00:00:47.265 --> 00:00:52.125 Please state the war that was happening during your time in service. 00:00:52.125 --> 00:00:54.524 Vietnam. 00:00:54.524 --> 00:01:01.645 Alright, so now we're gonna begin with the introduction portion of the interview. Where were you born? 00:01:01.645 --> 00:01:23.155 I was born in San Salvador, Central America. I came to the United States when I was nine years old. My dad worked for the shipyards in San Francisco, and he arranged it legally for me to come and live here and go to school here. 00:01:23.155 --> 00:01:29.004 What was life like for you when you were in El Salvador? 00:01:29.004 --> 00:03:20.405 Oh, goodness. I was extremely poor. I was raised by my grandmother, and we lived in a section of the country that was—they call 'em "el mesón"—mesones—which is like government housing only nothing like a government—they're mud huts and with a little barbecue pit on the outside for her to cook. A lot of times we didn't have any money for food. That's why my father decided to come to the United States was to take care of me. And so it was—I never went back to El Salvador. I made my life here and I became a US citizen. And I am a patriot through and through. I absolutely love, love the United States. It's been so good to me. It's been good to my whole family. I have six children—not six children—I have three daughters, six grandkids. And they know nothing what poverty is. They're very successful. They have careers. They have degrees. Everything that my husband and I wanted for them, they have become. They're awesome children, daughters. And that wouldn't have happened if I would've lived in El Salvador. You know, I had a sister and I'm pretty sure she's dead by now in El Salvador. So—I could go on, but then it's depressing. Let's go to the good stuff (laughs). 00:03:20.405 --> 00:03:27.145 What was it a hard transition for you when you were in El Salvador and then you came to the United States? Was it a really hard transition for you? 00:03:27.145 --> 00:04:31.004 It was, because I left my grandmother behind, and I came to live alone with my dad who had married. And I didn't know—I met my dad for the first time when I came here when I was nine, 'cause he left me when I was one or two years old. And so I—it was difficult. So my dad sent for my grandmother and brought her over so that she could help to continue to raise me. And I lived in San Francisco all my life. So, San Francisco is divided into sections—my dad did well financially, so he had a nice home. But I had to learn how to be his daughter, because I didn't know him, and my dad was extremely strict, which is why eventually I joined the Marine Corps (laughs) because too much strictness. I graduated from high school and it was—I just wanted to fly. 00:04:31.004 --> 00:04:37.000 What were you doing before you joined the Marine Corps? Like, did you have a job in school or— 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:38.264 —Yeah— 00:04:38.264 --> 00:04:41.000 —were you—was it family life or what was your job like in school—high school? 00:04:41.000 --> 00:07:19.144 When I finished high school, my father said that he would pay for me to go to college. He would give me a hundred dollars. A hundred dollars don't pay no tuition. So I decided I would look for a job. So I worked in a jewelry store. I worked as—in the beginning of computers where they used to have cards with punch holes in them—and I did that. But I couldn't find my place in life. I couldn't—I didn't have a mother, and my grandmother was too old. So I didn't know what to do with myself. So my last job was for Pacific Bell (Pacific Bell Telephone Company) as a long distance operator. They hired me and I worked the night shift, and I still was not happy. I kept thinking, I know I can do better than this. So one day I was coming down Market Street, getting off my shift and going home. And I saw the sign that says, "Join the Marines and see the world." So I thought, I'm gonna do that. So I went the next day, and I said, "I wanna join the Marine Corps." And I said, how soon can I leave? (Luevano laughs.) And they laughed and they said, "Well, as soon as you get your papers for permission from—'cause I was 18—not quite 18, but they wanted the signature from my father. So I gave the form to my dad to sign it, and my father took it and tore it up and said, "I will never approve of this." So I said, "Okay." So I went back to the recruiter and I said, "You know, I am sorry, my dad feels this way. Can I have another form?" (Luevano laughs.) And he goes, "Do you have another guardian?" I said, "My grandma." And I had taught my grandmother how to write, because my grandmother was totally illiterate. She didn't know how to write in those days. She came from the 1800s. So she didn't—she died when she was 101. So my grandmother—I explained to her my desire, and I wanna join the military. And my grandmother said, "Whatever makes you happy, mija." So she's—I held her hand while she wrote her name on the form. I took it over there, and within a month I was gone. And I never looked back. It was the most awesome experience for me. I loved bootcamp! (Luevano laughs.) 00:07:19.144 --> 00:07:28.884 So let's talk about that—your early military experience. What do you remember about your first days in the military in bootcamp? 00:07:28.884 --> 00:11:02.595 In bootcamp. Well, I saw a lot of them go AWOL (Absent Without Leave). I would wake up in the morning at four—whatever the bugler he—I can't remember what hour, but it was extremely—it was still dark outside the—and Reveille would start—and I would look to my right or my left sometimes, and the bunk would be empty. And they had told us when we joined, when we went to bootcamp, that a lot of people try to go AWOL. And there was alligators. This is South Carolina, but they'd try to scare me. It didn't scare me—no. I used to love it. I loved the Marine Corps. One time I was marching, I—you know there was—we were out in the field and marching, and I kept smiling the whole time. And the D.I. (drill instructor) got mad at me and said, "Are you making fun of me?" I said, "No, sir. I love this. You know, I love the marching." (Luevano laughs.) I didn't know military talk or whatever. So he made me—I made him so mad that he sent me to the CO (Commanding Officer). And I went before the CO. And he said, "I hear you're always smiling. Why is that? Are you making fun of the military?" I said, "Ma'am, I'm smiling because I'm so happy to be here." She couldn't believe it. She told me, "Get outta here." And I went back and I finished. I was determined that I had found my niche. A lot of them went AWOL. Even when we graduated—a lot of them—I remember it was so hot. South Carolina was very hot. And, I saw a lot of—some of the girls fainted. I could hear them "plop, plop, plop," you know? And I thought, I will never faint. I'm going to get my wings or whatever, you know. I'm gonna officially be in. And I did. I remember when she put my insignia on the—and I was so happy that I had made something of myself when I had no mom, literally no dad, and a old grandma who said, "Do whatever makes you happy." And, I just, I fit. I found out later that my dad had joined the military when he was a young man in San Salvador. So I figured I'd carry the genes in my veins that made me wanna love it. And if the rules, the regulations, and the laws that weren't in effect then, I would've reenlisted. I was doing really good. I was already a corporal and I—but in those days, if you got married and you had a baby, you had to get out. So they forced me out, you know, out of the military. And I often thought I had to go back and knock on the door and say, "I hear your laws have changed. Can I join?" (Luevano laughs.) I called them. I told them I wanted to work as a counselor, and they told me I was too old. So it's a pleasure and honor to tell somebody my life, you know? 'Cause I am getting a little old—(Luevano laughs)—as you can tell. But I don't feel old. I can still do a couple of miles every day, you know. So. 00:11:02.595 --> 00:11:06.725 What was your first assignment after basic training? Where did you go after basic training? 00:11:06.725 --> 00:13:43.683 They sent me to Camp Pendleton in the 24 Area. And it's still there. I went and looked through the window one day. Everything's still the same. They put me to work there in the office. And I processed all the deceased that were the young men that were killed in the war. I did the letters to the parents, to the boyfriends, or whatever the letter needed to go. It was my responsibility along with two other Marines—(unintelligible) Marines—that we handle all that. And we would go in the warehouse and look at the personal effects of all these young men. We would go through them and make sure that everything was well. That the parent or the wife wasn't gonna receive something that was be embarrassing to the soldier. So we would—and make sure that their—the person of their wedding bands and their—whatever they had on them when they were killed—that it would be properly processed so that the parents would not have further grief because of something they received. Yeah. So it was us who were responsible for that. And I did that for the two years that I worked there. And that's—well my husband was coming back from Vietnam. He wasn't my husband then. He was nothing. He was just a young man that was coming to work in the warehouse. He had just come back from Vietnam, and that's where he was assigned. And I looked at him and I thought, what a handsome man. And there's a question in your questionnaire that says, "Did you make any lasting relationships out of your time in the service?" And he was lasting. We lasted 60 years together. He went on to stay in the Marine Corps. He was in for 16 years. So I felt like I was still part of that, because wherever he got orders—we got orders to go to Camp Lejeune—of course, I went with him. So his life—I lived my life through him, and he passed away last year. (Luevano's voice becomes shaky.) My best friend is the army of heaven now. (Luevano pauses and her eyes tear up.) 00:13:43.683 --> 00:13:58.000 Do you recall—like, backing up to your time in bootcamp—do you recall any of your instructors? Or, while you were at Camp Pendleton, do you recall any leaders who had a lasting impact on you? 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:48.565 I loved the instructor in bootcamp. His name is Sergeant Ortiz. Yeah. He had big front teeth. And, I loved marching. And even after we got out, my husband would line up my daughters—our three daughters—and we'd go marching (laughs). And that's stupid. But when you join the military, it's almost like it becomes a part of your life, you know? So Sergeant Ortiz was someone I never forgot. And then there was a sergeant—sergeant—he was a lieutenant—Lieutenant Bowling—at the 24 area. He was very fair, and he was easy and very nice to work with. Yeah, I never forgot his name. Lieutenant Bowling. 00:14:48.565 --> 00:14:54.250 What—so you said you reached the rank of corporal before you got out— 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:55.000 —Yeah. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.225 Was that a big milestone for you? 00:14:59.225 --> 00:15:14.115 For me it was because I knew I was gonna be getting out. And I felt like with each rank that I was proving to myself—yes, you are good at this. You know? 00:15:14.115 --> 00:15:26.424 What part of military life came naturally or felt easiest for you? 00:15:26.424 --> 00:16:14.784 (Luevano pauses for thought.) Taking orders, I guess, because my father was so totalitarian and strict in his mannerism. He never abused me or anything, he just was very cold and he was always trying to make a living so hard. He worked in—the shipyards is hard work. I understand now that he did love me, you know. But he was full of rules and regulations. Never any love, just rules and regulations. And I think it prepared me for the Marine Corps because when they gave me orders, I received them. I took 'em. I didn't see no reason why I shouldn't do that, you know. Because they know what's best. And so that would answer that, I think. (Luevano chuckles.) 00:16:14.784 --> 00:16:25.000 How did you interact with others while stationed stateside? Like either at Camp Pendleton or previous bootcamp. Like how were you—how was your interactions? What were they like? 00:16:25.000 --> 00:17:05.204 I loved it. I love to dance. My grandson yesterday—he was in the Navy—a traitor, he joined the Navy! But he sent me an oldie-but-goodie song on my phone yesterday. And he said, "This is for your birthday, grandma. Your birthday is coming up." And he said—he doesn't let me get depressed because he says, "The Marines don't get depressed." So, yeah—but what was the question? I forgot. 00:17:05.204 --> 00:17:11.164 It was asking how—what were your interactions like when you were at Camp Pendleton? 00:17:11.164 --> 00:18:57.144 Oh! I got along with everyone. I used to love (laughs)—I loved the male Marines, because they had cars and they would let me—and I was—I guess I was kind of cute when I was young (smiles), so a lot of them wanted to get married. One said, "I'll take you to New York. My parents live in New York, let's—" you know. And I said, "I don't wanna get married. I just wanna be where I'm at, you know." But in those days we were a little bit more strict with our morals. So it was always—it was for the—just being a way to laugh. And I would make friends with a cook at the mess hall. And we had a young Marine—a female marine—who discovered she had cancer. And she—they sent her home to die. And there was another—they used to call me "Boot." The women Marines would call me "Boot." And I loved the mess hall. I loved their food (laughs). So they would always ask me, "Bring me something, Boot." And after a while I got tired of doing that. But I made a lot of friends. I love people. And that's why I did very well in my professional career later on in life, because I sincerely love and care for people, you know? And so I never left with anybody being angry with me, or I just assumed you're a human being. You make mistakes like everybody else does, you know? 00:18:57.144 --> 00:19:04.000 So now we're getting on to wartime. I know you said you never deployed and you never went to Vietnam— 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:05.265 —No— 00:19:05.265 --> 00:19:33.404 —But you served in the Marine Corps while the conflict in Vietnam was happening. You said that your role in the Marine Corps was, as service members that had passed away from the war were coming back to California and like in caskets, your role was to make sure that they were received by their family members with nothing that would upset the family. Did that take a toll on you over the long run? 00:19:33.404 --> 00:20:48.904 I think it did, because their personal effects that came in the box represented who that individual was. And by the things that they own—and it also told me how old they were. They were just kids. Now when I look back, they were just 18-year-old boys—or 19, 20—and they were gone, you know? And so I would read their letters to their wives—which we were required to do that—to go through their stuff and make sure that the wife didn't get a letter from a girlfriend somewhere else. So we would read their letters and stuff. And so it is almost like I was reading the life of each individual soldier that came through that office. When I first got stationed there, at the 24 Area, we worked in a huge warehouse. And the warehouse was empty when I started. And by the time I left, within the two years, that warehouse was full to the top with boxes. 00:20:48.904 --> 00:20:50.000 Of deceased? 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:06.983 (Luevano nods affirmatively.) Deceased. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They hadn't yet caught up to ship them to their parents—they were behind. And so the warehouse was packed with boxes. Yeah. 00:21:06.983 --> 00:21:19.664 So let's begin to talk about your transition out of service. Do you remember the day your service ended? And please describe what that was like. 00:21:19.664 --> 00:23:17.644 You know, I don't remember it at all because I was newly married. I was newly married and we had just found our first apartment in Fallbrook. And we found an apartment—a duplex, they were called then. And I moved in there. My husband and I got married in Las Vegas, and we moved to Fallbrook 'cause it was the cheapest place to live. And so I don't remember anything but the fact that I was starting another new life, you know? Which is being—living in an apartment. And then I found out I was pregnant. And I had my first child while we were living in Fallbrook. My daughters were all born—except for the last one—were born in Camp Pendleton at the hospital. My last one was born in San Francisco, 'cause my husband was in Vietnam again, and I was by myself. And so I—that was extremely hard for me. To be pregnant with two other children and my husband being gone. And he drove me to San Francisco at my father's house, and I stayed there and I cried and cried because it was too hard. I felt I couldn't raise my daughters by myself. He was gonna be gone 14 months, and didn't know if he would've come back, you know? So those were difficult years. That's why when people say to me, "Thank you for your service," I receive it because I felt I deserve that. (Luevano's voice gets shaky.) You know, so— 00:23:17.644 --> 00:23:31.000 It's interesting hearing your story as a corporal in the Marine Corps and then the wife's perspective after you got out while your husband was on his second deployment in Vietnam. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:32.000 Yeah. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.000 And you had three kids at that time, you said? 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:34.539 Yeah. 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:37.775 And how long was he deployed for? 00:23:37.775 --> 00:23:39.733 14 months. 00:23:39.733 --> 00:23:42.934 And so you just stayed in San Francisco that whole time? 00:23:42.934 --> 00:23:49.644 The last one, yes, I stayed there. The other two, where was I? 00:23:49.644 --> 00:23:49.962 Camp Pendleton? 00:23:49.962 --> 00:24:25.825 Oh! I stayed with one of his best friends. His wife was also pregnant. And so, I stayed there until I had went into labor, you know? And then the other one—uh, Maria, where was she? Oh, she was born in the hospital in Camp Pendleton. I get my days a little bit mixed up with that, 'cause the three of them are a year apart. He would come home and get me pregnant and then he'd leave. But he told me he planned it that way. (Luevano chuckles.) 00:24:25.825 --> 00:24:35.545 How were you received by your family or your community after you got out? Like, was your dad there to receive you and celebrate with you after getting out? 00:24:35.545 --> 00:27:10.505 My dad regretted it, because he saw me do everything to be good as a Marine. And he was proud of me. He became proud of me. And one day I was—toward the end of my tour—I was at the barracks. And they told me I had a visitor, and it was my dad. And my dad brought me a gift. To this day, I can't figure out what made him do that. He brought me a sewing machine (laughs). And he said, "In case you have to sew your uniforms, I brought you a sewing machine." And he was proud of me that I was able to be a mom, a Marine, and also work—and eventually work and own a business, you know? The Lord—God has been very good to me. I have—at my age have accomplished a lot more than people realize. I've been everywhere. I've done quite a number of things. And I attribute that, first, to God for him being so faithful to me. And second, to the Marine Corps. I think they made me not be a quitter. Their training helped me a lot, you know? Even though Sergeant Ortiz might have thought he wasn't teaching me much by marching, I can still pivot (laughs). So he taught me a lot by the discipline. And when he would yell at me—and he would, 'cause they all—seemed like they all know how to yell and scream at my ear. "Did you hear what I said, Boot?" You know (Luevano chuckles). But they taught me a lot. Taught me things that I want my grandkids to do in their lives. To handle life that way as well. And they've pretty much done that. 'Cause my grandkids have done well, you know? All of them. They've done very well. You know, it takes discipline to do that. I said, "I never wanna see you—visit you in prison. I wanna go to your graduation." And they've done that. They've done— 00:27:10.505 --> 00:27:16.825 Was it—what was it like adjusting back to civilian life for you? Was it a hard transition? 00:27:16.825 --> 00:28:59.625 No, because then my husband was still in the military. He was still a Marine. So I'd never really made that transition. The transition that was hard is when he got out. Because he was a gunny (gunnery sergeant), and now he was—he got a job at General Dynamics sweeping the floors. And he kept his uniform in the closet in case he changed his mind and wanted to go back in. But he had to learn how to mop the floor as good as when he was a gunnery sergeant. He was a good marine. And but it was difficult. That transition, I think, was the hardest for the both of us, because he got out and by the time we reached California we only had $50 between us. And we went to live temporarily with his mom and dad while he figured out, "Where do I find a job?" 'Cause he joined when he was a kid too. He was 18 years old, I think, when he joined the Marine Corps. So he was just a young man. And now he was an older man and had family to support and no assistance from anyone. His parents were not very helpful. And it was hard. Even now, I didn't realize how hard that was, but it was extremely difficult for the two of us to adjust to. Because there was nobody there to cheer you on. Nobody there to help you, you know? And I'm sure they don't do that anymore. They have a lot more to offer the young Marines when they get out. 00:28:59.625 --> 00:29:08.234 Did you go receive a higher education after you got out? Or did you go straight into the workforce? Or did you—were you— 00:29:08.234 --> 00:32:36.744 When my husband—while still in the Marine Corps—he enrolled in a program that the Marine Corps allowed him to go to college, and they would pay for it. And as long as he kept a B average. So while he was there, I decided, well, if he's gonna go to college, I am too. So I got my GI Bill. He was still in the Marine Corps, but I was out so I used my GI Bill to go back, and I graduated from Cal State San Bernardino (California State University San Bernardino). Both of us graduated at the same time. And then he went back into the service because he was still in the service. He just didn't wear a uniform. But, we both got our degrees, and it really—the degree that I received—helped me a lot because it got me to the next step, which is to work. I got a degree in liberal arts and minor in psychology. And so I was able to work as a rehab counselor. And if I didn't have a degree, I wouldn't have gotten that job. Eventually I bought that company, and I changed it from Genesis to New Beginnings. In my office—I had three offices—in Palm Desert, Indio, and Palm Springs. And I loved it. My husband eventually, by that time we were out of the Marine Corps—out of any associations with them at all—just being civilians, you know. And then after that, I worked—sold real estate, and then finally I became a—my husband and I became missionaries, and we went to live in the Philippines. And we lived there for three years, but we had been visiting the Philippines for eight years before that. And we sold everything. And we sold our—we had horses. We had financially done well, But we laid it down because our commitment was to God first and then our own lives. And it was lovely. It was as hard as the Marine Corps. It was hard as bootcamp. And but my faith just said it. This is what I like to do. And my husband loved it. He absolutely—I guess he thought he was in Vietnam again, because Philippines is all jungle. And so I guess it was no difference between that and him being in Vietnam. And he loved it. You know, I have pictures of him going across a river. Just until eventually he got sick—he started getting, not feeling well. And eventually we came back to the States. And then I just saw his life slowly deteriorate. His health—it's been a good life. 00:32:36.744 --> 00:32:43.744 Did you maintain any of your friendships from the time you were in service after you got out of service? 00:32:43.744 --> 00:32:44.785 Did we, what? 00:32:44.785 --> 00:32:47.025 Did you maintain any of the friendships you made? 00:32:47.025 --> 00:34:18.355 We had one. His name was Lieutenant Daniel Boone. That was his real name. And my husband and him were high school buddies. And when Gus joined the Marine Corps, Danny joined the Marine Corps as well and became a lieutenant. Unfortunately, about four years ago, he committed suicide. He started having a lot of mental issues. He was in the Marine Corps in Vietnam as well. So he became depressed. And my husband—I was afraid that that idea that his best friend was now dead would give him ideas. But he said he was too chicken to take his life. So but we had another friend, Larry Talend, and he moved to Las Vegas in that area, and that's why we got married over there. And he was my husband's best man. And we kept those friendships. And Gus used to love—we went—some of them, he went to look 'em up and touch base with them once, but then people get busy with their lives. And I never did. I was too busy being all those other roles that I was playing. So no, that was about it. Yeah. 00:34:18.355 --> 00:34:25.684 Have you joined any veteran organizations or stayed involved in the veteran community? 00:34:25.684 --> 00:35:08.664 Only through church. On Veteran's Day or whatever, they make me stand up (laughs). And I never wanna stand up because I always—I'm embarrassed that I'm—that an old lady—that they would see me as a Marine. But inside I am. I think Marines are gutsy. I think that they're a different type of breed than your regular—no offense if you're in the Navy or Army or whatever—but Marine Corps's different. Yeah. 00:35:08.664 --> 00:35:17.664 So let's move on to reflections. How has your military service shaped who you are today? 00:35:17.664 --> 00:38:43.394 Oh, goodness. I could shout and yell at that question because absolutely! Next to my faith in God, the Marine Corps did what my dad was trying to instill in me without the anger, you know? It disciplined me. It—too many people quit when it gets tough. They either commit suicide or they take the easy way out. And I never did. And I know it was because the Marine Corps taught me that. When I said, "I'm not going AWOL. I'm going to make it through the ceremony." And when they sent me to Camp Lejeune for some further training, I went. And I finished—I was a good—I did what I was supposed to do. And so the Marine Corps shaped me that when I went to college and I was working as a waitress at the same time that I'm going to college to make extra money to raise my family. And I finished it. It taught me to start and finish. And I say that to my grandkids. He couldn't find—my grandson—he was unemployed for almost a year. And I said, "Jeremiah, don't you quit. We don't quit." And that, "You were in the Navy. That's your problem, but you need to finish what you start." And he did. He's in college, but he went back to school. (A dog is whimpering and can be heard in the background.) He got a job. He's computer literate. I mean—he's an awesome—Jeremiah's an awesome kid. But it's that principle. Too many young people, when the going gets tough, they want somebody to give them an A when they haven't earned an A, you know? And I'm not saying everyone's like that, but I believe that (Luevano looks down and speaks to her dog)—no Gunny. He was—don't start, don't throw it (Luevano laughs). Thank you. (Luevano looks back up. The dog stops whimpering.) He wants attention. So it's that—it's that thing. Even now I feel like quitting because now I'm alone and the love of my life is gone. I'll see him again. But sometimes I think, why don't I just go home? Why don't I just die? When I sit here by myself, instead of him being there saying, "Let's go for a drive, honey." You know what his concept of going for a drive was? Go to Camp Pendleton (laughs). He would drive to Camp Pendleton. We used to go to the Camp Pendleton at least once a week to go shopping. We just walk around and go to Starbucks there and have a cup of coffee. And he would park in the handicap section, and he would watch—One day he got mad 'cause the grounds by one of the office buildings was full of weeds. (Dog whimpering starts again, louder.) And he said, "I wish they would let me go in there and trim all those weeds. You know, it doesn't look good for the Marine Corps to have weeds like that." But it affected us. And I really believe that when I get to heaven, I'm gonna wear a uniform (laughs). And I wanna ride a horse (laughs). 00:38:43.394 --> 00:38:54.945 What message would you want to leave for future generations who may watch or hear this interview? 00:38:54.945 --> 00:41:36.594 (Dog barks.) Excuse me. Gunny! Here. (Luevano reaches down, takes a ball from the dog, and puts the ball on the table next to her.) No. Yesterday I had a young man that is getting ready to move out of this apartment. They're, I think, buying a home or they're moving out of the area. He's 12 years old. And I've made an impression on him in some way because he comes to visit. He's as big as you are. He's tall! Young boy. He's got the sweetest heart. And he was telling me he was moving and that he was sorry he wasn't gonna be able to come and see me as often. And I told him, it's perfectly okay. But that I gave him basically what I'm telling you right now, "You're gonna do well in life, son. You're gonna do well because you have such a kind heart." But he wants to lift weights 'cause he said, "I need to lose some weight." I said, "Just be disciplined. Just start something and finish it. You know?" And it's the same thing I told my grandkid. Just finish it. Start something and finish it unless you have something good to replace it with. So it—I think for the next generation, for the way that—I seem to attract them, I guess, 'cause I look like a sweet grandma or something (laughs). I like to—they are so sweet! And I love imparting something of what I know to them. There was a young girl that had run away from home. She was at church and she was thinking of joining the military. I said, "You do that, but you go in with the right motives. If you go into the service with the wrong motive as an escape hatch, it won't work 'cause Marine Corps will not be escape hatch for you in a good way. You can make it a good thing by having the right motives and the right frame of mind. And to be disciplined enough that when it's going gets tough, you get going and you finish it. You know?" And she decided to go back home and not join the military, which I was glad 'cause she wasn't military material. But she needed to go home and make things right with her parents. So I don't know if all that is what you want. 00:41:36.594 --> 00:41:43.105 What do you wish more people understood about veterans? 00:41:43.105 --> 00:43:15.704 You know, there was a—when I took my economics class in college, there's a thing—this is—there's no such thing as free lunch. And I think for a lot of them, they think it's free lunch. I have a very good friend. She's a professor and she teaches at Palomar College. And she was telling me that a lot of her students, when they don't work for it. And they demand an A, but yet they don't show up for class and they don't do their homework. And it scares me for the United States. I love this country. And, with that kinda attitude, I wouldn't want them in my foxhole because they don't wanna work. You know? And I'm not saying all of them, because that's all inclusive. It's not all like that. There's still a lot of people out there that, like you, are being successful in your life with your family, with the things that you volunteer for. You know? So I think that's—if I could impart that to them, finish your homework. You know, that old thing? (Luevano laughs.) "Mommy, I finish my homework." "Did you finish your homework?" "I don't think so." "Go back and finish your homework." 00:43:15.704 --> 00:43:23.554 If you were to reflect on the journey of your service, what themes or life lessons emerge? 00:43:23.554 --> 00:43:24.704 Tell me again. 00:43:24.704 --> 00:43:32.954 If you were to reflect on your journey and your time in the Marine Corps, what themes or life lessons emerge? 00:43:32.954 --> 00:43:33.875 What themes? 00:43:33.875 --> 00:43:50.000 Yeah. Or life lessons. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:47:04.385 You know, I love watching war movies. My husband and I loved when there's Veterans Day and they show around the clock war movies, and we would watch 'em all. And the thing that I liked the best is when they're marching—like the Band of Brothers movies. You know, the series of them? We watch those movies a number of times. And the one thing I saw in the Band of Brothers is that, as they're going through a particular area that's jungle or whatever, and they're on their way to a spot where they will see maybe the end of life or they're gonna see a war episode in their lives that is scary. They're running through the jungle. They're running—they're gonna go and die. And yet they're running to it. They, you know what I mean? They're running to it. They're not afraid of it. They know they have to. Maybe they're gonna give their lives in that destination where they're going, but they're doing it because there's a reason why they're doing it. And it's for our country. It's for the people. It's for what we will stand for. And a lot of young people don't know the—that's the question you asked. They don't know that freedom costs. They have no idea. They don't know what World War I, II is or Vietnam. And they don't even know where Vietnam is. And they don't know that we didn't acquire all of this. My husband used to call it "the Big PX." They don't know that all that we have, people lay their lives for it. You see them—they're without legs or they were—a bomb went off where they were at and they lost their limbs. And you just switch the channel. Like, and they did it for you and I, you know? And people lay their lives down for what they believe in in order to keep that to the next generation. And I wanna leave a legacy to my grandchildren. "My grandmother was a tough marine," they say. I wanna leave that for them because that's what life requires of us, is to put our boots on and run that trail. Or I saw a picture of Vice President Vance (JD Vance) marching with the Marines. I wanted to cut it out and put it in a frame, because he's running with all the Marines up this trail. And Camp Pendleton is known for those hills. And my husband used to say, "See those hills, honey? I ran those hills." Every time we go by there, he would tell me the same thing. I said, "Honey, how many times do you have to tell me you ran those hills." But that's what life is. Isn't it a race to finish? To finish well? Yeah. 00:47:04.385 --> 00:47:11.715 How did you become connected with the North San Diego County community, like here in Vista? 00:47:11.715 --> 00:47:51.295 Through a friend. You and I have a mutual friend that works at the college. And she invited me last year, and I literally lit up when I saw what it was. 'Cause she didn't—she didn't fully understand what it was that we were all all gonna be doing. And so when I went to the event last year, that's the first I ever heard of it, you know? And it thrilled my heart. It was like water to a dying flower, you know? So that's how I knew about it. Otherwise I wouldn't have known. 00:47:51.295 --> 00:47:56.885 Thank you again for sharing your story. It's an honor to help preserve it. 00:47:56.885 --> 00:47:59.000 It's an honor for me to share it. Yeah. 00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:00.000 Thank you. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LuevanoDora_BeyerJason_2025-11-6.xml LuevanoDora_BeyerJason_2025-11-6.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Luevano, Dora. Interview November 6th, 2025 Description An account of the resource 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. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Marine Corps Pacific Bell Telephone Company Camp Pendleton (Calif.) Camp Lejeune (N.C.) California State University, San Bernardino Palomar College Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dora Luevano Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Dora Luevano Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-102 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vietnam San Salvador (El Salvador) El Salvador United States San Francisco (Calif.) South Carolina New York (United States) Fallbrook (Calif.) Las Vegas (Nev.) California Palm Desert (Calif.) Indio (Calif.) Palm Springs (Calif.) Philippines Vista (Calif.) Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative Community history San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience Women's experience Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Jason Beyer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Gina Burke OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=BurkeGina_BeyerJason_2025-11-13.xml OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Burke, Gina. Interview November 13th, 2025 SC027-100 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm U.S. Army Nurse Corps ; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 ; Veteran ; First Lieutenant ; Philippines ; Escondido (Calif.) Gina Burke Jason Beyer Moving Image BurkeGina_BeyerJason_2025-11-13.mp4 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/f7ff35808abcdac1c1144cc25c62378d.mp4 Other video English 0 Interview Introduction and Military Background Virginia Burke describes her military background. She served during the Vietnam War as a First Lieutenant operating room nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. California State University San Marcos ; San Marcos (Calif.) ; U.S. Army Nurse Corps ; First Lieutenant ; Vietnam ; operating room nurse 0 63 Family Background, Childhood in the Philippines, and Immigration to the United States Burke shares her family background, including her upbringing in the Philippines. Her father served during WWII, and Burke lived through the war’s devasting impact on the Philippines. At five years old, her family immigrated to California. Philippines ; World War II ; California ; United States ; orphanage ; Central Philippines ; Catholic ; English ; Tagalog ; Cebuano ; Leyte (Philippines) ; Cebu (Philippines) ; Luzon (Philippines) ; Ilocano 0 258 Family Military Background and Burke’s Decision to Join the Military Burke’s father served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was injured in the Battle of Leyte. Her family’s military background influenced Burke’s decision to join the military. She remembers changing her father’s wound bandages, which she considers the start of her road to becoming a nurse. U.S. Army ; World War II ; General Douglas MacArthur ; Leyte (Philippines) ; Battle of Leyte ; tuberculosis ; Denver (Colo.) ; VA hospital ; Escondido (Calif.) ; nurse ; military 0 428 Working at a Nursing Home and Burke’s Decision to Join the Army Nurse Corps Burke worked at a nursing school during the summers as a high school student, which inspired her to become a nurse. Burke struggled with money to finish nursing school, so she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps and graduated using financial aid. Burke got her commission and went to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. nursing home ; summer ; high school ; nursing school ; military recruiters ; U.S. Army Nurse Corps ; Fort Sam Houston ; Air Force ; financial aid 0 638 Early Military Experience and Training Burke described her early military experience as exciting. She completed basic training in the medical field, including some firearms training with a .45 handgun. She completed military nursing classes and operating room school. After basic training, she transferred to the William Beaumont Hospital at Fort Bliss where she worked in the hospital wards. Burke had to learn much in a short time, because military operating room nurses were in high demand for the war. basic training ; military nursing ; .45 (handgun) ; field hospital ; operating room school ; El Paso (Texas) ; Fort Bliss ; Beaumont Hospital 0 946 Promotions and Adapting to Military Service After she completed operating room school, Burke had orders to go to Vietnam. She received her first promotion when she arrived in Vietnam. The easiest part of adapting to military service for Burke was education, because she had already “been to school so much already.” promotion ; Vietnam ; operating room ; Beaumont Hospital ; ward 0 1081 Social Life in the Military Burke described what it felt like to serve as a woman in the military, which is predominantly male. Most nurses were female, although there were a few male nurses. Burke was initially shy but "opened up a lot” once she adjusted to her new environment. Vietnam ; operating room nursing ; friend ; roommate ; school ; nurse ; shy ; medical field ; social life 0 1219 Deployment to Vietnam Burke’s deployment to Vietnam was very hard on her family. Her WWII-veteran father and uncle both cried on the day she left. Burke says that she only realized later why her family was so concerned, because some nurses were killed in combat in Vietnam. She says that she always thought God would take care of her. Burke landed in Saigon then arrived at the 95th evacuation hospital in Da Nang, which was a permanent field hospital. Burke described some of the work she did at the hospital, mostly as a scrub nurse for neural cases. wartime service ; Vietnam ; Travis Air Force Base ; World War II ; military ; nurse ; combat ; Army ; woman ; Saigon (Vietnam) ; I Corps (ARVN) ; 95th evacuation hospital ; Da Nang (Vietnam) ; field hospital ; Quonset hut ; operating room ; scoping ; scrub nurse 0 1479 Service and Social Life in Vietnam Burke described the immense pressure that she worked under. Nurses were understaffed, worked long hours, and had little downtime because they could not leave a case unless it was finished. The nurses knew to return to the hospital when they heard incoming helicopters with wounded servicemembers. Burke went on some MEDCAP visits, which stands for the Medical Civic Action Program. These visits supported local Vietnamese with medical services. The social life in Vietnam was difficult due to the workload, but on her time off there were occasional gatherings for meals at a nearby Naval Hospital or trips to “China Beach” when the weather was nice. It was hard for Burke to stay connected with many of her military friends because she did not get their contact information before leaving. friend ; work ; nurse ; helicopter ; Da Nang (Vietnam) ; hospital ; operating room ; MEDCAP ; Medical Civic Action Program ; doctor ; village ; surgery ; kid ; cleft palate ; bedside nurse ; ICU ; Intensive Care Unit ; dinner ; food ; China Beach (Da Nang, Vietnam) ; casualty ; downtime ; beach ; recreation area ; weather ; Navy ; Naval Hospital ; anesthesiologist ; Army Hospital ; phone number ; address ; woman ; plane ; West Coast ; California 0 2022 Communication with Friends and Family in the U.S. While Deployed Overseas Burke communicated with her friends and family by mail. Her family once sent her a tape-recorded message. Burke mostly corresponded with her friend stationed at Fort Bliss, who became a close friend throughout her life. Burke described the difficulties with communication today caused by incorrect contact information or new communication technology. mail ; tape recording ; California ; San Diego County (Calif.) ; fair ; Red Cross ; letter ; friend ; Fort Bliss ; contact ; technology ; computer ; answering service ; phone 0 2177 Keepsakes and Lighthearted Memories While Deployed Burke did not bring much with her to Vietnam because she did not know what to expect nor want to lose anything. However, she did have her Catholic rosary and some books. Burke also hinted at a humorously embarrassing moment that took place on the beach. keepsake ; rosary ; Catholic ; book ; read ; superstition ; God ; Vietnam ; memory ; humorous ; beach 0 2304 End of Military Service Burke was glad to return stateside and end her military service, but she was disappointed to lose the contact information of people she formed relationships with. Burke described her military career as traumatic, especially at the beginning of her time in Vietnam. Burke reflected on the “atmosphere of the society in general” and feelings of animosity toward Vietnam veterans. Burke remembers changing out of her military uniform at the airport in order to avoid protest. Burke says she was generally treated better because she was a nurse, but she still “felt sad going to the airports.” Fort Hood ; Fort Sam Houston ; El Paso ; William Beaumont Hospital ; address ; transition ; discharge ; Los Angeles (Calif.) ; California ; atmosphere ; military career ; trauma ; animosity ; airport ; flight attendant ; uniform ; Army ; nurse ; hospital ; civilian 0 2618 Transition to Civilian Life and PTSD When Burke returned to civilian life, she rarely spoke of her military service and never told her family about it. She talked about her military experience only with other veterans, who were usually men. Although Burke married a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy, they never talked about war experiences. She started to realize she was having terrible nightmares and worried she was developing a mental illness like her mother had. Burke felt paranoia, fear, and anger. She struggled with loud noises and would cry often. She went to a psychologist, but he said he could not help her. 14 years after her first husband passed away, her second husband suggested that she may have PTSD. Burke’s husband helped her receive counseling and treatment from the San Marcos Veterans Center and San Diego VA Medical Center. The services she received have helped her feel better about her military service. She now helps other veterans access these services and has joined multiple veterans' associations. family ; community ; military service ; veteran ; women ; woman ; married ; San Diego (Calif.) ; military community ; Vietnam ; Navy ; China Sea ; nightmare ; paranoid ; afraid ; cry ; husband ; California ; counseling ; civilian life ; work ; civilian nurse ; Northern California ; mental illness ; mother ; psychologist ; anger ; doctor ; PTSD ; San Marcos Veterans Center ; VA hospital ; La Jolla (San Diego) ; Agent Orange ; sailor ; war ; overseas ; Chula Vista (Calif.) ; VFW ; Veterans of Foreign Wars ; Vietnam Veterans of America ; American Legion ; military organization 0 3572 How Military Service Shaped Burke’s Life and Worldview Burke thinks that U.S. society did a terrible disservice to Vietnam veterans and that many veterans repressed their trauma as a result. She also reflected on her experience as a female veteran. Burke believes all veterans need to talk about their service and build community. Her military service inspired her to join veteran organizations, volunteer to support the military community, and share what she has learned about the medical field with other veterans. military service ; Vietnam ; veteran ; woman ; military organization ; veteran community ; medical field ; Agent Orange ; medical problem ; drugs 0 3928 Message for Future Generations, What People Should Know About Veterans, and Life Lessons from Military Service Burke urges future generations who join the military to also join a military organization and support the community. She says that, if she would have joined an organization sooner, she would have felt less alone as a woman in the service. Now, Burke makes lunches for veterans at Palomar College and enjoys supporting the veteran community. She wishes more people understood that veterans have sacrificed much for the United States. Burke thinks it is important not to demean veterans’ service or forget what they have sacrificed. military organization ; military community ; woman ; women ; Palomar College ; lunch ; veteran ; sacrifice ; service 0 4185 Involvement with San Diego County Community Burke got connected with the San Diego County community mostly through volunteer work. She has volunteered for her church and other organizations. Much of her recent volunteer work has been supporting the military veteran community. She is satisfied with her volunteer work and the people she has connected with. volunteer ; organization ; church ; community ; veteran ; military ; Cruisin' Grand ; Escondido (Calif.) 0 4314 Conclusion Burke thanks the interviewer and is grateful that veterans are able to share their feelings about military service. She wants people to talk with veterans in their community, many of whom are volunteers. volunteer ; community ; civilian 0 Oral history 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. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:02.705 --> 00:00:32.005 My name is Jason Beyer, and I'm a graduate of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos). Today is Thursday, November 13th, 2025, and we're conducting this interview in San Marcos, California with Virginia F. Burke. Also present is photographer Vyanh Vo. This oral history will preserve the lived experiences of United States military veterans. Please state your full name. 00:00:32.005 --> 00:00:34.594 Virginia Fay Burke. 00:00:34.594 --> 00:00:36.484 Your branch of service. 00:00:36.484 --> 00:00:39.945 I was in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. 00:00:39.945 --> 00:00:42.244 The highest rank that you attained. 00:00:42.244 --> 00:00:44.265 First Lieutenant. 00:00:44.265 --> 00:00:51.445 And please state the war or conflict that was happening during your time of service. 00:00:51.445 --> 00:01:03.015 I served in Vietnam as an operating room nurse and in the Army Nurse Corps. 00:01:03.015 --> 00:01:10.965 Thank you. So now what we'll do is begin with a brief introduction. So where were you born and raised? 00:01:10.965 --> 00:01:40.015 I was born in the Philippines when my father got stationed there during World War II, at the end of the war. And after five years, we immigrated to California. My dad was in the hospital for four years, so that's why there was a big lag time for us to come to United States. 00:01:40.015 --> 00:01:49.344 Being five years old and living in the Philippines, do you remember what that life was like for the first five years you were there? 00:01:49.344 --> 00:02:52.764 Yes, vividly, because at the age of three I took care of my brother, and we were put in a orphanage because my mom needed to go back to her island home in Central Philippines. And she left us there in a Catholic orphanage. And I remember going outside and you could see all the destruction from World War II buildings that had not been rebuilt up to that point. And food was scarce. We got a lot of our food from the US military, but it didn't last very long. But sometimes we got fresh fruit from the States and that was always a nice surprise for the kids. 00:02:52.764 --> 00:02:58.000 When you finally reached the United States, was that a hard transition for you? 00:02:58.000 --> 00:04:18.045 Yes, because we didn't speak English at the time. My brother and I spoke Tagalog. My mother spoke her language, which was Cebuano because it was in Leyte and Cebu area. So she was schooled in Cebu, so she knew Cebuano quite well. And my dad—when he was born—he was born up in northern Luzon on the seacoast, and he spoke his language and it was Ilocano. So when we spoke in our house in California, we all spoke English (laughs). And my dad wanted us to learn how to speak English. So he really wanted us to speak English. And in fact, he would pinch us if he (laughs) heard us speaking Tagalog, just to emphasize how important it was for us to speak English. 00:04:18.045 --> 00:04:25.545 Did your family ever serve in the US military or other military service from other countries before you? 00:04:25.545 --> 00:05:05.264 My father only. He was in the US Army. They drafted him when World War II started. So he went into the service in 1942—or '41—no, '42. And he served until he was injured when General MacArthur (Douglas MacArthur) landed in Leyte, 'cause he was involved in the Battle of Leyte. He went on shore there. 00:05:05.264 --> 00:05:10.365 Did that play an influence on your decision to join the military? 00:05:10.365 --> 00:07:08.814 Yes, very much so. My father was wounded in that battle. And while he was recovering, he was exposed to tuberculosis. And they didn't diagnose it for almost a year. And by the time they realized he had it, it had spread through his whole body, just about. And so they gave him a medical discharge and sent him to Denver, Colorado, to the big VA hospital that had tuberculosis wards there. There were several floors and there were many, many tuberculosis patients there. And that's what my dad had always told me. He kept in touch with those men, even though he didn't fight with them, but he kept in touch with them because they had something in common. But he came home with a open wound when he came home. We moved to Escondido (California) in 1952, when we arrived here. And at age nine, one day I saw him changing his wound bandage. And I said, "How can you reach it?" Because it was way in the back on his right side. And he says, "Well, I just have to do what I can." So I said, "I can help you." And so that's the start of my road to becoming a nurse. And I really wanted to be a nurse in the military because I could take care of patients in the hospital when I became a nurse. 00:07:08.814 --> 00:07:22.964 Leading up to your military service, prior to that, while you were in high school or getting ready to graduate, did you ever hold any jobs before joining the service? 00:07:22.964 --> 00:08:16.964 Well, I worked in a nursing home during the summer—two years, two summers. And so I kind of liked taking care of the patients, but they were elderly and we had to help them get out of bed. We gave them bed baths. The nurses there taught me how to do that and how to do—but I liked it. So I said, "Yes!" Now I knew I could become a nurse. So that was my goal in high school anyway, was to become a nurse. So I really didn't have any experience except doing my dad's wound change, and doing the bandage. 00:08:16.964 --> 00:08:25.004 What led you to your final decision to serve, and were you drafted or did you get a commission as an officer? 00:08:25.004 --> 00:09:43.144 Well, when I was in nursing school, I was—I didn't have very much money to finish school, and so I was trying to see if I could get a grant or some kind of scholarship. But, everything was—by the time I decided I needed it, the money was gone already. And so when I was in the nursing program, recruiters—military recruiters—came to our dormitory. And so I had a talk with them. And it turned out that the Army Nurse Corps had the best one for me because I could go in right away. And I was enlisted into the Army Nurse program—so with the financial aid in my last year of nursing school. And after I graduated from the school, then I got my commission, and then went to Fort Sam Houston (Texas). 00:09:43.144 --> 00:09:52.225 As far as the different branches, did that play a role in your decision for the Army over the, like such as the Navy or the Air Force at the time? 00:09:52.225 --> 00:10:38.065 Yes, because I really wanted to go into the Air Force because I thought that flight nursing was gonna be a possibility for me. But then they didn't have any programs that I could use to help me with my financial aid, and the Army had the program. And that's why I decided to go with that, because I didn't wanna wait another year to finish up my nursing program because I felt that I would not remember a lot of my schooling to take the state board if I took a whole year off from school just to earn the money to go back to school. 00:10:38.065 --> 00:10:46.000 So now we're moving on to your early military experience. What do you remember about your first days in the military? 00:10:46.000 --> 00:11:34.725 (Burke laughs.) It was exciting because I'd been in school for 17 years at that point. And, so it was nice to just be kind of free from studying. And it was exciting meeting new people and getting used to the military. Of course, there were things that they, you know, the rest of the military liked to play pranks on you, but I coped with it. I was so happy all the time, and I was—I guess I was a target (laughs). But it was fun. I liked it—meeting the new friends—and so it was great (laughs). 00:11:34.725 --> 00:11:41.434 What kind of training did you receive or schooling did you complete at the beginning of your early days of service? 00:11:41.434 --> 00:13:57.544 Well, I took my basic training in the medical field. They helped us with wearing a uniform and all the rules that you had. We took classes in military nursing, filling out the forms, that kind of thing. And we had to learn basic military. We went on a—oh, I forgot what the name of it was, but they taught you how to hold a gun, especially a .45, because that's what we would have to have if we ever were surrounded by the enemy. That's the only weapon that you could carry. But, you know, it was hard. I was small. I couldn't carry a gun as heavy as a .45. I had to use two hands just to hold it. But it made it interesting. And then we set up a field hospital and we learned all the formularies for the pharmacy that we were exposed to. How to get medications to the area. And then I was trying to get ready for my operating room school. And after I finished the basic training, then I was transferred to El Paso, to Fort Bliss. And I was working in the Beaumont Hospital. It was a field hospital. And I worked on two wards—a neuro (neurology) ward and urology ward—just to get some experience working in a military hospital. That was my first hospital that I worked in after my schooling. 00:13:57.544 --> 00:14:04.225 Do you recall any instructors or leaders who had a lasting impact on you all in your training? 00:14:04.225 --> 00:15:46.365 Oh, I remember my teacher for the operating room school. She was very good at what she did. Her name was Major Blackwood, I think it was her name. And she was a—I tried to remember everything, all the little, you know, tips that she would help us with. And she taught us all the aseptic technique, all the instrumentation for different surgeries. And I learned a lot more about anatomy and physiology, because in the operating room, you have to know that. So depending on what the wound was, you would know a lot more about the anatomy of body. And it was a great course. It was supposed to be a six-month course, but they needed operating room nurses so badly. And it was scaled down to four months, but we went to school every day for at least 8-hour plus—10-hour plus days sometimes, because sometimes we had to go to the OR just to learn how to set up an operating room. 00:15:46.365 --> 00:15:52.215 Were there any promotions or milestones during your early days of service you'd like to share? 00:15:52.215 --> 00:16:54.304 I didn't get a promotion until my first year was over, and I already had orders to go to Vietnam by that time 'cause I had finished my course in the operating room. So when I went to Beaumont—when I worked on the wards—they were trying to get me to think about the operating room school. And so I didn't get any promotions, but I knew that I was going to Vietnam. And so, on the way there, my promotion went through. So on the other side, when I got to Vietnam, they gave me my promotion. 00:16:54.304 --> 00:17:00.754 What part of the military life came naturally or felt the easiest for you? 00:17:00.754 --> 00:18:01.934 Well, I'd been to school so much already. I thought the school room was the—I loved it. I tried hard to remember everything that I learned. And I would talk to the doctors about the surgeries, and they gave me a lot of information that I carried to the end of my career in nursing—in the civilian life. And I've saved several people's lives because of the tips that doctors would tell me during surgery. And I felt blessed in that way because I had a good memory. And so I thought that was a plus for me (laughs). 00:18:01.934 --> 00:18:13.944 During your stateside service, before you left for Vietnam, what was your interaction like with other people in the military or people you might have met off base or something? 00:18:13.944 --> 00:20:19.375 Well, you know, when I came into the service, there weren't very many women coming. In my class, we even had one man that was doing operating room nursing. He had to take it so that—he wanted to be a nurse anesthetist. So the others, you know, we all came from different walks of life. So it was a hit and miss whether you could make a good friend. And I became friends with my roommate because we lived together, but she still went her way after we left the school. And most of the men—most of the military that I came in contact with were men, except for the nurses. And but going to school in the military—I don't know, it just seemed like there were more men than there were women. And the women were very shy. I didn't think I was that shy. I mean, I was shy because I didn't have very many experiences when I was a child. But once I realized what my environment was gonna be, I really opened up a lot. And I was always trying to learn a lot, not only about my environment and the medical field, you know, but even just my social environment, because it was all new to me when I went into the service—all new. Social life, military life, medical life. So I learned a lot. And that's what I wanted to do—and I did. 00:20:19.375 --> 00:20:30.625 So now we're moving on to your wartime service. You stated that you served in Vietnam. What was it like for you the day before you left for Vietnam? 00:20:30.625 --> 00:22:29.914 Well, my family took me up to Travis Air Force Base to catch the flight. And I didn't realize that my dad and my uncle were really concerned about me going to Vietnam because they had been in battle in World War II. But my dad was proud that I was in the military as a nurse. But he was also afraid for me to go to combat. But I never thought anything about the combat part. I just knew I was gonna be now nursing in the Army. So my family was all concerned, and my dad and uncle started crying, and so did my aunt. And I felt embarrassed because I was the only one that was a woman there. All the rest of the guys that got on the plane were men. And they were all looking at our—my family. And after I got on the plane, they said, "Oh, it's all right. You were the only woman there. Of course, they're gonna cry. You know, they don't, have a woman going into the combat zone very often." So then I said, "Okay, that's right." And I never realized it until later though, how much they worried about me. And when I found out that there were some nurses that were killed over in Vietnam, I really got concerned. But I made it through. I just felt, well, I have a spiritual side of me, and I always thought that God will take care of me. And so I trusted that (laughs). 00:22:29.914 --> 00:22:33.714 When and where did you deploy to in Vietnam? 00:22:33.714 --> 00:24:39.815 Well, I landed in Saigon, but as soon as I got my orders in Saigon they said I was going up to I Corps (ARVN), and I went to the 95th evacuation hospital in Da Nang. It was a field hospital, but it was a permanent field hospital. It was made of Quonset huts. And we had three, well, four operating rooms. Three of 'em they used every day. The only time they used the fourth one was when they had something that was different, like a scoping—or what we called scoping in those days when they were trying to do a kidney or a bladder problem. And they would go in there and work on that patient. I only did one person, one patient there. And it was pretty simple. And then that was it. I never went in that room anymore. I was—because I was mostly a scrub nurse for regular wounds—neural cases were the ones that I really, I did a lot of neural cases—brain injury and neck injuries—that kind of thing. And then we did a lot of abdominal cases. We had amputations. And those were big cases for me, because I'd never been exposed to those kinds of cases in the military in the States. So I learned a lot, and it prepared me for my civilian life. 00:24:39.815 --> 00:24:49.214 What stands out the most about your time overseas? Moments that were meaningful, difficult, or unexpected? 00:24:49.214 --> 00:26:32.365 Well, I was really surprised because I didn't make a lot of good friends there, because I was so busy working all the time. And on my downtime, I didn't know anybody else that would have the time off. Because we had a few nurses, but we had to stagger the days that we were off because we had to cover the rooms. And we never knew when the wounded would come in. In fact, they'll call you in—wherever you are—to come and do cases if they got a lot of wounded coming in by helicopter. You could hear the helicopters landing anywhere you went, except unless you went to the air base in Da Nang. But if you stayed around the hospital, you could hear them landing and you knew you had to get back to the hospital. But I only did that once because they were able to have a lot of the nurses stay around the operating room. And so by the time I got back to the base, well then it was time for me to go on. And we had long hours there. Most of the time it was long hours when they had casualties come in, and we couldn't leave a case unless it's finished. So it was one right after another. 00:26:32.365 --> 00:26:40.233 What were your experiences like with the local population or the different cultures while in Vietnam? Did you get to experience that at all? 00:26:40.233 --> 00:28:14.444 The only time I really got experiences, I went on a med—what they call a MEDCAP (Medical Civic Action Program). We would go into the villages and do—well, the doctors would go and see patients and then if they needed bandage changes or an injection, we gave those. And since I didn't speak their language, you know, you had to rely on the interpreters that came with us. But it was kind of simple because since my work was mostly in surgery, I didn't do a lot of work on patients when they were awake (laughs). So it was different for me, but I tried it 'cause I wanted to see what it was like. And mostly, you know, we—I helped the doctors hold the patients when they're doing examinations and that kind of thing. We did a lot of kids and we would try to get them booked for the OR for lots of little surgeries and some major surgeries, if we had a doctor to do it. They had a lot of cleft palates and things like that. And we could do those in our surgery. 00:28:14.444 --> 00:28:21.105 Did you form any lasting friendships or bonds during this time in service in Vietnam? 00:28:21.105 --> 00:33:42.325 I had one friend, but she was on the floor, you know. She was a bedside nurse, mostly in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). So I didn't get to see her too often because their hours were different from our hours, and we hardly ever got time off together. Once in a while in the evening, if we were free, we could get together and have dinner together. And then some of the doctors that I got to know, sometimes I would go to dinner with them, but I didn't like dinner there. I couldn't hardly eat it. The food wasn't very good. After—you know, we didn't get off at the meal times. So we missed meal times because we didn't—we would be on cases around the clock. And so when we did have time off, then we tried to go someplace where we could get a decent meal. And most of the time we went down to China Beach (Da Nang, Vietnam) and got a hamburger or something like that. But we'd have to come back right away because we never knew if their casualties are gonna come in. So there was only one part of that time when I was there where we had a lot of downtime because there was no fighting. And so we would go down to the—it was an in-country recreation area. So we would go down there and go to the beach and that kind of thing. And that was fun. That was a fun time for me. But it didn't last long because of the weather. Weather changed after a while, and then we didn't go—I didn't go there anymore, and it was mostly on the base. And I read a lot. And my—one of the doctors I worked with, he was in the Navy. He was lent to us by the Naval Hospital that closed down. They had just come in country. And so two anesthesiologists came to our base and worked with us in the Army Hospital. And I got to know the one that was an anesthesiologist. And sometimes we would go to his naval hospital that was just down the road. And we could go to dinner there. And that was real good food (laughs). I remember that. I really liked going there. So if he asked me if I wanted to go, and he was off and I was off, he says, "Come on, Gina, let's go and have a good dinner" (laughs). I never turned it down (laughs). But I lost touch with him. I guess it's because, you know, when we came home, it was not good. We didn't talk about military service. I never talked about it at all. My family never asked me questions about it. And so it was like I lost everything that—lots of memory. I tried to put the memory behind me because it was not a good time. And so I didn't keep up with a lot of the ones that I'd gotten to know in Vietnam, because we all went different ways. We didn't come home together. And you forget when you're trying to go home, 'cause you're happy to go home, but then you forget to get phone numbers and addresses and stuff, things like that to really keep up. And so it was hard for me, because I was there by myself. I was the only woman coming back home on the plane. In fact, I didn't even sit with the men in the back. I sat in front (laughs), because I was the only woman on the plane (laughs again). And all I did was sleep most of the time. So I never really thought about keeping in touch with them because we're so far away. We were spread out all over. Most of the ones I got to know were back east. And I was going to the West Coast (laughs). I lived here in California for most of my life until I got married (laughs). 00:33:42.325 --> 00:33:46.184 How did you stay in touch with your loved ones back home? 00:33:46.184 --> 00:34:37.945 They wrote to me by mail. One time they sent me a little tape recording that they made while—when they went to the fair—the state fair in California, in San Diego County—they went to the fair and the Red Cross had had set up a way to record their message. And I got a recording from them in July. I remember thinking, Well, how am I gonna listen to this? I don't have a tape recorder (laughs). And when I told somebody about it in the operating room, they said, "Oh, I have a tape recorder if you wanna listen to it!" And I said, "Yeah." So everybody got to listen to it (laughs). Yeah. 00:34:37.945 --> 00:34:46.047 Was it hard for you to hear the voice of your family members while you're in the middle of a war zone and away for the holidays and— 00:34:46.047 --> 00:36:17.905 —Oh, yes. 'cause I missed them. And, so they only—see, they didn't really know that they could talk to me or write to me, because I never—I only wrote a couple of letters home. I mostly wrote to a friend of mine that was stationed in Fort Bliss—one of my friends from Fort Bliss that I met there. We became good friends throughout my life. And I just lost contact with her a few years ago, maybe because well, she was older than I was, so I think maybe she didn't know how to maneuver—how to use the technology that we have today. You know, she didn't have a computer or anything like that. And I tried to get her to get a answering service on her phone. And it took her a long time because she didn't even know where to go get one (laughs). So I lost touch with those that couldn't keep up with the technology in the later years. 00:36:17.905 --> 00:36:25.244 Did you carry any rituals or keepsakes or good luck items during your time in Vietnam? 00:36:25.244 --> 00:37:51.184 Not really. I had my rosary 'cause I was a Catholic. I had my rosary and that's about all I had. I didn't carry too much over 'cause I didn't wanna lose anything, you know, because I didn't know where we would keep 'em. I had no idea what life was gonna be like. I thought it was always moving around, and I didn't realize that I was gonna have a room to myself and those kinds of things. So I didn't take very much. I took a couple of books because I like to read. But even the books I got from others, because when I read the books that I took with me, I didn't have anything else to read. But some of the others had books that they had collected, we would pass 'em around to the ones that like to read. And that's about all that I had. I don't—I wasn't—what do you call it?—into superstition. I—like I said—I always just believed in God (laughs). 00:37:51.184 --> 00:37:58.914 Were there any lighthearted memories or humorous events that you'd like to share about your time in Vietnam? 00:37:58.914 --> 00:38:24.545 Well (smiles, laughs). I don't think I should do that one because it happened on the beach (laughs)! And I felt so embarrassed I had to go back to the room (laughs). So if you can imagine that (laughs), that's all I can say! 00:38:24.545 --> 00:38:32.034 When it was time for you to leave and return back stateside, what did that feel like for you? 00:38:32.034 --> 00:39:47.144 I was glad because, you know, you get lonesome there. I didn't really have a real good, good friend like I did in the States. I formed relationships at—not so much at Fort Hood, the last place I was at, but from Fort Sam Houston and El Paso, William Beaumont, I had friends that we kept in touch with. And slowly, I lost touch with them as we moved—I moved a lot. So I really was the one that had to keep in touch with them. And sometimes I couldn't keep up with them because, you know, you lose their address or they changed their address. I changed my address so many times. People couldn't keep up with me (laughs). So that's why, I tried to keep up with some of 'em as much as I could, but it was hard. 00:39:47.144 --> 00:39:58.474 So we're moving on to your transition out of service. Do you remember the day your service ended? Please describe what that was like. 00:39:58.474 --> 00:43:38.014 Well, I only remembered going to the hospital. I went back east because I knew somebody back there that I could be with. And I didn't realize that when I went back there, they were gonna transition me for discharge. And so I thought I was gonna go back to L.A. (Los Angeles), but I could go anywhere I wanted. So I said, well, I think I would like to go there to be with my friend there. And, so I, you know, I don't really remember a lot about that day because I was just anxious to go back to California. I saw my friend and we did some things together, but then I went back home. I decided that I was gonna end my military career, because after that year—it was really traumatic for me at the beginning, and I didn't know how much it was going to affect me after I came back, especially with the atmosphere of the society in general. I was almost afraid to let anybody know that I'd been in the military. I felt that animosity even in the airport when I got off the plane. And so some of the flight attendants would tell me, "You should change outta your uniform when we land in Seattle." She says, "Get out of your uniform, so that you won't be noticed because some people are just mean." And I guess they saw that when the military got off the plane and into the society. So I was kind of scared, by myself walking around, but I did change into civilian uniform when I could. But when you traveled at that time—what's the name of that—I forgot what you call it when you travel by military—you had to wear your uniform in and out of the airport. So I tried to put on a jacket or something so that I wouldn't have to show the whole uniform. But some would ask me, "Oh, what did you do in the Army?" And I'd say, "I was a nurse in the hospital there." And, so I guess they thought that it was okay. So they didn't do anything to me, but I saw other things to other soldiers, and it was—I was sad. I felt sad going to the airports. And I never talked about those kinds of things, so I kept it inside. 00:43:38.014 --> 00:43:44.514 How were you received by your family or your community after you ended your service ended? 00:43:44.514 --> 00:59:32.045 I just, really, it was like, I'd never been gone. They never asked me about my military service. My family never asked me what it was like. They just didn't talk about it. So when I came home, I just—I said, "Well, I guess they don't wanna know. Maybe they're afraid to ask me anything." And so I kept it all to myself—unless I met a veteran and he says, "So, where were you stationed?" Well, of course I would tell him, but I knew that he was a military guy. Mostly it was all guys. That's all I—'cause there weren't very many women in the military at that time, you know, like they do now. So I would tell him about things that I would go through, you know, being a only woman out in the field and different places where I was stationed. And I felt comfortable talking to a veteran. But when I—after I got married and went back east, it was—we never talked about it. Most people didn't even know I'd been in the military. And that was—I got married three years after I came back. And then we were in San Diego—there's a lot of veterans—so I could talk to them, but most people didn't—even in the military—they didn't talk. They didn't ask questions, they just kept it quiet. It was like there were no military in San Diego, if you can believe that, because it's a big military community! But we hardly ever talked about our service. I hardly ever talked about it. Oh, sometimes they would mention it, but never personal experiences or anything like that. So I just thought that was, you know, normal. And I think a lot of the guys that had been in Vietnam, they felt the same way. They didn't talk about it. I was married to a Vietnam—but he was in a Vietnam military. He was in the Navy. But he stayed on the ship. He went—he took four tours over there in the China Sea, on the ship. And he never talked about it with me, only about what they did on the ship, but never about the war. And all his friends were the same way. We never talked about it. They never asked me about—in fact, they—some of them didn't even know I'd been in the military. And here I was married to a military man. And so I just didn't pay attention to it. But after I got married, I realized I was having terrible nightmares—real bad nightmares. And I know I just brushed it off because I didn't know that I was subject to that. I didn't know that that was normal for me, I guess, because of what I've gone through. I saw things that maybe a person my age and my experiences, that— I didn't know that. I've carried that burden through my whole life, having those nightmares and didn't know what was wrong with me. I got afraid. I became very paranoid, 'cause I was afraid of things that I wasn't afraid of before I left to go there. I couldn't stand being around loud noises. That was one thing I noticed. And I didn't like things on the streets, you know? And I was driving. And my husband would get mad at me if I swerved on the street. And he says, "What'd you do that for?" I said, "I didn't wanna run over the little squirrel." And he got upset with me. And I said, well—I didn't know that that was part of my paranoia. I didn't know in the—I still cried a lot. 'Cause that's what I did in Vietnam. I cried a lot, especially when I saw these horrific wounds. And I thought about those—the men that had to go back with those wounds. I didn't know how they could live. And I worried about that. (Burke's eyes tear up.) I said, "That was part of my problem with Vietnam." Because I kept that all inside of me, not knowing what was going on, what was normal or what wasn't. I just held it in until I came back here, back to California, and someone said, "You really need to go and have some counseling. 'Cause you have been affected by your wartime service." And the first day I had my counseling, I cried most of the whole time because I didn't realize that all that this was from that time period. Holding it inside, never talking about it, I never knew that this could happen to me. I've learned a lot now in the last—what I've been going now to counseling since 2014. I thought that I was going crazy when I was in the civilian life—when I got out and I started working. After I got married—no, before I got married—when I was working as a civilian nurse up in Northern California, I had run into these accidents and I started having those thoughts again about the patient. And I went home and I cried. Didn't know why I was crying. And I thought I was—see, my mother had a mental illness, and I thought that that's what was happening to me—that I was getting a mental illness because I couldn't stop crying. And so I made an appointment to go see a psychologist, but he couldn't help me. He didn't understand what I was feeling inside. And when I told him that I'd been in the military and I had just come back from Vietnam, he says, "Oh." He says, "You know, I really can't help you because I'm a family counselor." And he says, "And I don't know anybody that can help you with any wartime problems. So I just thought, okay, well now I guess I have to learn to cope with this because I was having a hard time with anger issues in the civilian hospitals. And, I had to control my anger. And I just lived that way. And even my husband, we would have arguments at home because of an anger issue. And I never—and he didn't know what was wrong with me. All he said was, "I think you should go see a doctor." But I didn't know anybody who to go to. 'Cause at that time we were back east, and I didn't know—I didn't have any military friends back there. And we didn't know what was wrong with me. He just knew there was something wrong with me. And it wasn't until my husband passed away and I was—I was single for 14 years before I met my second husband. And while we were going together, he noticed, he said, "You have signs of PTSD, do you know that?" And I said, "What's that?" And he says, "It's the name we call all of the symptoms that you have, because I hear you at nighttime. And see, I thought that I had gotten rid of it because I didn't have—no one knew that I was screaming in my sleep. I just knew that I was scared in my sleep. I never told anybody. And but when I got married, my husband saw it when I was sleeping, and it would wake him up from his sleep. And he says, "I think you need to go and see—and I know somebody over at the San Marcos Vet Center (San Marcos Veterans Center), 'cause I—he moved in with me after we got married. And he said, "I want you to go." So he took me there. He took me to the VA hospital in La Jolla (San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center) and signed me up for Agent Orange, 'cause I had been through a lot of illnesses. And he says, "I think you need to go see the doctor too." So he signed me up for all this stuff. I didn't know anything, because my husband was—he was a Navy sailor. And he didn't know anything about the war, really. He, of course, he had issues there because of all the bombing they did over overseas, you know, especially in North Vietnam. He helped with all that stuff on the ship. But he never—didn't go through what I did. That's why he kept saying, "I think you should go to a psychologist or a psychiatrist." And that's what really pushed me into where I was (laughs). My husband took me to the San Marcos Vet Center. He talked to one of the counselors. And so, I don't know if you knew the counselors there, but he's gone now. He's down in Chula Vista. And I have a new counselor. I have Randy now. So I learned a lot since I started going to the San Marcos Vet Center. But I went a couple of times a week at first, because I had so much to get out of me. And since it was a first time that I really could talk about my military service, I had a lot to say. And not knowing that I had PTSD was a surprise to me. And so now I try to help others, you know. I tell them my story, and my first day was the most dramatic day of my life in Vietnam, and I didn't even know it. I was going in there and doing that surgery. I finally told my group this morning that that was one of the things that I had thought about for many years, that I probably had those problems because I was green when I went to Vietnam. I had no idea what I was gonna go through. And it was a new life for me as a civilian, and a new life for me as a medical person, and a new life for me for the military. It was all new. And so the last 20 years I've learned a lot (smiles), not only about my military life but my social life, my volunteer life. Everything's new. And now I feel like I'm a better person for it, and I now wanna help. That's why I joined all these associations. I belong to VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), Vietnam Veterans (Vietnam Veterans of America), American Legion. And now I can share! I feel like I've shared a lot now, and I wouldn't have been able to do that without those associations—military organizations—that helped me grow and feel better about my military service. 00:59:32.045 --> 00:59:34.000 So now we're moving on to reflections. 00:59:34.000 --> 00:59:35.925 Yes. 00:59:35.925 --> 00:59:41.795 How has military service shaped who you are today? 00:59:41.795 --> 01:02:44.105 Well, I learned a lot. A lot about myself. And I think that maybe I was cut out for military life, but because of my dad and all his army buddies that used to come around and talk about their service. And but I didn't quite learn enough because of the atmosphere of our society. They did a really terrible disservice to the Vietnam vets. A lot of us kept our service hidden and inside. They never let us grow into the people that we are now. I still know a lot of—I've met Vietnam vets that still haven't grown in their military service. They were stunted, I think, just like me, because of our society at that time, when we came back. Having been the only woman in a lot of places, I had to grow up in that atmosphere, and I learned a lot. I learned that men need a social life as much as a woman does. And they fear the same thing we fear as a woman. It's the military service that we have to talk about. And it was an eye-opener for me when I came to join the military organizations and the military support. It was an eyeopener for me. And I realize now that I like being in the veteran community because I learn all—every day I learn something new. And we should all stick together and form our own community. And that's what I—that's what I want to do now with my life is build military communities so that we can help the military community grow. 01:02:44.105 --> 01:02:50.344 In what ways has your military service influenced your outlook on life? 01:02:50.344 --> 01:05:28.795 Oh that is my outlook now! I want to help other military retirees, active duty, give them hints about what it's all about. I've learned so much and then I also can help them in the medical field, because I have a lot of medical experience now because I read a lot, I listen a lot, I still can—I try to keep in touch with the military medical part of it. I read a lot of things about Agent Orange, but what it, how it affected our lives. I've been through so many medical problems, and I don't like taking drugs. That's why when doctors try to get me to take these new drugs, I say, "No, I don't wanna do that." I like to stick with the old fashioned ones that I learned when I first went into the medical field, because I see what those new drugs do to us military people. And I've talked to doctors that were in the military, and they tell me, because they know I was in the military, they tell me things that I shouldn't do, and I don't. I try to pass that on to all the military for medical—that have medical problems. I pass 'em on, because I think that's one of the things that I can help them with. I talk in the group—my group sessions. I tell them what I learned and they like knowing what I can help them with. And so I think that's my outlook on life now, because I've learned a lot now about the military, medical, social, and all the problems that we carry around with us (laughs). 01:05:28.795 --> 01:05:38.994 What message would you want to leave for future generations who may watch or hear this interview? 01:05:38.994 --> 01:07:40.065 Well, that if you do go into the military, join a military organization so that you can learn how you can help support the military community if you go into the service. That's what I would like to tell you. If I had known that, I probably would have tried to join some of the military organizations earlier, because I've learned a lot. You know, I thought I was always all by myself because I was the only military woman around. And even to this day, I don't see very many women that had been in the service. They don't tell you unless you've—they'll let out something, and I say, "Oh, were you in the military?" And then they tell me (laughs). So I like to hear about their experiences, and I want to tell people about my experiences. Of course, I won't go into really big details, but things that could help them be supported or to help them live their life the way they want to. I try to help them. I go to Palomar College now, making lunches for them—the vets there that are going to school. I love it. I just love talking to them. I love feeding them. And they appreciate my food when I bring it. So—and that's what I look forward to now is doing that. 01:07:40.065 --> 01:07:45.985 What do you wish more people understood about veterans? 01:07:45.985 --> 01:08:31.725 That we're all good people, just like they are in the civilian life. They do a lot for our country. And believe me, I know. I've been there, and you don't know what we sacrifice. I've sacrificed my whole life for the military, and I never got the—(Burke pauses, her eyes tear up)—I never could tell them about it because they thought we didn't know anything. (Burke nods her head.) 01:08:31.725 --> 01:08:41.225 If you were to reflect on the journey of your service, what themes or life lessons emerge? 01:08:41.225 --> 01:09:45.854 Um, well, I think that everybody should know what careers have done in the military for you. The sacrifices that they gave. They should learn about them. And they can if you talk to some of the veterans and not be afraid. And don't demean their service, because I see that a lot. Especially those that have never served—they demean our service to our country, and they forget that we sacrificed. Our service is really a sacrifice for those that have never served. 01:09:45.854 --> 01:09:47.000 So this is the last question. 01:09:47.000 --> 01:09:48.814 Okay. 01:09:48.814 --> 01:09:55.425 How did you become connected to the San Diego County community after your time in service? 01:09:55.425 --> 01:11:54.265 Well, um, I volunteer a lot. I've volunteered in my church, in my community. I go to a lot of organizations. I've given talks. And I think that when you volunteer and go to these organizations, you can learn a lot about volunteering. I just went to one and I realized that I could volunteer in every one of 'em if they needed me (laughs). Now I belong to so many organizations that I don't have enough time of myself to do it. So I volunteered first at the church, and then when I found out I could help the community more by going to the military veteran community, I could do more for the community itself—the non-military community. I could do more for them. And we have. I've done so many things out—just even on Cruisin' Grand (A regular event with classic cars cruising on Grand Avenue in Downtown Escondido). Oh gosh. I talked to the non-military people, and they were—they're surprised! They're surprised with what I've done (laughs). I said—you know, that's one thing I like about volunteering now. You give your own life to the people when you volunteer. And it's good for you too, because you get satisfaction by volunteering. 01:11:54.265 --> 01:11:59.585 Thank you again for sharing your story. It has been my honor to help preserve it. 01:11:59.585 --> 01:13:24.744 Thank you for this interview, because I've given you so much to let you know how I felt, because I want that. I want people to know the feelings that we've had in the military. Many are—you know, I find that a lot of them are afraid to talk to people that aren't in the military, but I think they should know that we are there to be in their community. We like it. We're—actually, you know, most of us in the military are volunteers (laughs). Most of us were volunteers. And we did our service as best as we could. And they—the civilian community—they benefit from it. Because we know what volunteering means (laughs). So they will benefit from the volunteers (laughs). 01:13:24.744 --> 01:13:26.034 Thank you. 01:13:26.034 --> 01:13:28.034 Yes. Well, thank you. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END ]]> https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en video Property rights reside with the university. Copyrights are retained by the &#13 ; creators of the records and their heirs. This resource is licensed for noncommercial educational use using CC NC-BY 4.0. Please contact Special Collections at archives csusm.edu if you need reproductions made. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=BurkeGina_BeyerJason_2025-11-13.xml BurkeGina_BeyerJason_2025-11-13.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Burke, Gina. Interview November 13th, 2025 Description An account of the resource 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-100 Subject The topic of the resource 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 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-13 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gina Burke Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Gina Burke Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vietnam San Marcos (Calif.) Philippines California United States 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.) Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience Women's experience Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Jason Beyer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Ed Labrado OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LabradoEd_BeyerJason_2025-11-17_access.xml Interview Keyword This filed adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the "keywords" field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record. Veteran OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Labrado, Ed. Interview November 17th, 2025. SC027-096 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm Veteran Captain U.S. Army Signal Corps Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Europe Santa Barbara (Calif.) Ed Labrado Jason Beyer Moving image LabradoEd_BeyerJason_2025-11-17_access 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/72bced0e8ce919f692fcb5724a7d099c.mp4 Other video English 0 Introduction and Biography Edwin Joseph Labrado Jr. was a captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was deployed in Europe during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. Labrado was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California, where he graduated from UC Santa Barbara and completed the U.S. Army's four-year ROTC program. His father served as a combat engineer in the 6th Armored Division during World War II. United States Army ; Captain ; United States Army Signal Corps ; Vietnam War ; Cold War ; Europe ; Santa Barbara (Calif.) ; UC Santa Barbara ; General George S. Patton ; Third United States Army ; The Super Sixth ; The 6th Armored Division ; Army ROTC ; Reserve Officers' Training Corps 0 163 Decision to Enlist in the U.S. Army Labrado graduated in June 1968. He was assigned to the Army Signal Corps based on his ROTC training, performance, and preferences. Army ; Reserve Officers' Training Corps ; Port Hueneme ; California ; Ventura (Calif.) ; Camp Roberts ; Santa Barbara (Calif.) ; M1 Garand ; World War I ; Korean War ; M14 ; M16 ; Signal Corps 0 348 Early Days of Military Service and Working with Computers After he was commissioned in the Signal Corps, Labrado completed a basic officer leaders course in Fort Gordon, Georgia. There he learned the tactical employment of communications equipment in the field. He then received additional training at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey and completed the Communications Officers Course. The course taught him about radios, data communication, and encryption. Labrado describes how encryption worked in the late 1960s using IBM computers. Signal Corps ; Basic Officer Leaders Course ; Fort Gordon ; Georgia ; Fort Monmouth ; New Jersey ; Communications Officers Course ; computer ; IBM ; card reader ; encryption ; missile systems ; launch codes 0 517 Assignment to Fort Ord in California and Experience with Burial Ceremonies After basic training, Labrado was assigned to a signal battalion at Fort Ord. There he supported communications training. Fort Ord was a large military establishment, and one of Labrado’s extra duties was organizing military funeral honors for servicemembers killed in action. Labrado tells a story about anti-war protesters at a military funeral in Oakland. At the cemetery, Labrado had to prevent conflict between veterans and protesters, and the protesters were kept from entering the cemetery grounds. Labrado says he respects freedom of speech but thinks it was disrespectful to protest at a burial ceremony. Fort Ord ; California ; Monterey (Calif.) ; signal battalion ; advanced training ; burial ceremony ; burial detail ; NCO ; Non-Commissioned Officer ; Oakland (Calif.) ; Vietnam War ; protest ; cemetery ; post-traumatic stress disorder ; PTSD 0 792 Hardest Adjustment to Military Life Labrado describes how difficult it was initially to adjust to military life. One’s living conditions, responsibilities, and deployment could change dramatically. These adjustments were especially difficult for those who were raising a family while in the military. Army ; Vietnam War ; living conditions ; family 0 904 Deployment to Europe Labrado begins his recollections of deployment with some background context on the Cold War in Europe. He describes how U.S. soldiers were deployed in Europe to deter a potential Soviet invasion. However, most U.S. soldiers who were deployed overseas were in Vietnam. Labrado recalls receiving information about growing anti-war sentiment in the United States, including the 1970 Bank of America burning in Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara. Europe ; Cold War ; World War II ; Russia ; USSR ; The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ; The Warsaw Pact ; NATO ; The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ; East Germany ; Soviet Union ; Western Germany ; Korea ; Vietnam ; University of California, Santa Barbara ; Isla Vista (Calif.) ; protest ; Bank of America 0 1195 Battalion Signal Officer in Europe In Europe, Labrado was a battalion signal officer for a Nike Hercules missile battalion that included nuclear warheads. Labrado described the political dynamics that determined why and how nuclear weapons could be deployed against the Soviet Union. battalion ; signal officer ; Nike Hercules ; missile ; nuclear war ; nuclear warhead ; Ramstein Air Base ; Western Europe ; NATO ; Germany ; Russia ; aircraft ; the JFK assassination ; Cuban Missile Crisis ; NCO 0 1420 Humorous Story in Europe Labrado tells a humorous story about when he and his soon-to-be wife, Linda, were stranded in the rain after his 1957 Volkswagen Beetle ran out of gas. They returned safely, but if he did not return to his duty station on time, he could have been labeled AWOL. France ; Germany ; 1957 Volkswagen Beetle ; AWOL ; Absent Without Leave 0 1528 Collecting Beer Glasses from German Gasthauses While deployed in Germany, Labrado would travel to inspect firing batteries. He would often stop at gasthauses for a meal. He collected about 30 beer glasses from the gasthauses. firing battery ; operations center ; Germany ; gasthaus ; glass 0 1615 End of Military Service and Transition to Civilian Life After military service, Labrado completed a master’s degree from UC Santa Barbara. His family was happy he returned, but he described the community’s feeling toward veterans as “lukewarm” at that time. He says that the Vietnam War’s unpopularity was reflected on to servicemen. Labrado thought it was awkward to serve when some citizens did not respect the military. He had a smooth transition back to civilian life, but he noticed that his non-military friends were further along in their careers. Santa Barbara ; education ; master's ; family ; Europe ; United States ; unjust war ; college ; male ; draft ; friends ; military ; career 0 1818 What More People Should Know About Veterans Labrado thinks veterans deserve greater recognition and respect, especially if they served in combat and have injuries or PTSD. Veterans’ families have also struggled with constant moving and absent family members. respect ; veteran ; serve ; combat ; post-traumatic stress disorder ; PTSD ; injuries 0 1882 Message for Future Generations Labrado wants future generations to understand that there was a real threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Labrado argues that deterrence worked and prevented the Soviet Union from invading NATO countries. He thinks that the threat of nuclear war is horrific and that it would be even worse today due to advances in military technology. Russia ; threat ; nuclear war ; Europe ; Vietnam ; Western Europe ; Eastern Europe ; Europe ; NATO ; Ukraine ; Nagasaki (Japan) ; warhead ; intercontinental missile ; deterrence 0 2113 Life Lessons from Military Service In his reflections on military service, Labrado refers to President John F. Kennedy’s statement urging Americans to ask what they can do for their country. He thinks it is important for people to serve their country in some capacity. In the military, he learned how to manage and motivate people, which he believes are important skills for private sector employment. reflection ; military service ; John F. Kennedy ; Peace Corps ; military ; country ; motivate ; supervision ; skills 0 Oral history 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. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:03.345 --> 00:00:43.424 My name is Jason Beyer, and I'm a graduate of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos). Today's date is Monday, November 17, 2025. And we're conducting this interview at CSUSM in the CSUSM library, located in San Marcos, California. Today I'll be interviewing veteran Edwin Lebrado Jr. This oral history will help preserve the lived experiences of United States military veterans. Please state your name—your full name. 00:00:43.424 --> 00:00:47.314 I'm Edwin Joseph Labrado Jr. 00:00:47.314 --> 00:00:49.424 Your branch of service. 00:00:49.424 --> 00:00:51.265 The United States Army. 00:00:51.265 --> 00:00:53.524 The highest rank that you attained? 00:00:53.524 --> 00:00:57.905 I was captain in the Army's Signal Corps (United States Army Signal Corps). 00:00:57.905 --> 00:01:02.674 And then please state the war or conflict that was happening during your time in service. 00:01:02.674 --> 00:01:10.314 Well, actually there was several. One was the Vietnam War was going on, and also the Cold War in Europe as well. 00:01:10.314 --> 00:01:16.885 Okay. So now we're gonna begin with introductions. Where were you born and raised? 00:01:16.885 --> 00:01:26.795 I was born in Santa Barbara, California, and I went to school there—elementary school, high school, and I went to UC Santa Barbara. 00:01:26.795 --> 00:01:30.635 What was life like for you growing up in Santa Barbara? 00:01:30.635 --> 00:01:43.944 Well, I really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful area. It's right by the coast, and I thought I had a great childhood there. 00:01:43.944 --> 00:01:48.194 Did anyone in your family ever serve in the military before you? 00:01:48.194 --> 00:02:14.264 Yeah, my dad did. My dad served with Patton's Third Army (General George S. Patton ; Third United States Army), and he was in what they call the "Super Sixth," the 6th Armored Division. And he participated in the invasion of Europe all the way through the end of the war. And he was a combat engineer. 00:02:14.264 --> 00:02:20.224 What were you doing before you joined the service? Did you hold any jobs or were you attending school? 00:02:20.224 --> 00:02:43.705 Well, like I said, I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and basically I was working on my bachelor's there, and that was my prior experience—prior to entering the Army. I was in the Army's ROTC program (Reserve Officers' Training Corps), and there I participated in their four year program. 00:02:43.705 --> 00:02:51.275 What led to your decision to serve? Were you drafted or did you enlist or were you commissioned as an officer? 00:02:51.275 --> 00:04:22.425 Well, as I mentioned, I was part of the reserve officers' training program there. So after the four years, you are commissioned in the Army. There was approximately—when I started—around 200 cadets that first started out, and about a hundred of us graduated in June of 1968. And our program, again, was a four year program. And we were trained essentially as infantry. We went to classes, and we also trained—like Port Hueneme—on some of the weekends. Port Hueneme is a naval facility near Ventura (California). And then we also trained at Camp Roberts, which is just up the coast from Santa Barbara. And we would train—in those days we used an M1 rifle, which is the old rifle—actually it was called a Garand. It was used in World War I in the Korean War. And so we got to use that initially, and then gradually we then used the M14 and then the M16, And then we would go to Camp Roberts some weekends where we would learn more about, you know, basic tactics, map reading and things like that to supplement our classwork, which was usually regarding military law, tactics, and history types of programs. 00:04:22.425 --> 00:04:28.084 Why did you choose the specific branch that you joined, that you served in? 00:04:28.084 --> 00:05:48.644 Well, I was in the Signal Corps. And the way the Army works—which is probably like the other services—they more or less can request certain areas or branches, and that's real important because that branch basically is your job during your service in the military. And in our program, the ROTC program, you are ranked for the entire nation for all the colleges that are graduating their officers. And you're ranked, and based on that ranking they give you priority in terms of your selections—you usually get three selections. And I was fortunate enough to get one of my three, which was the Signal Corps. But the Army is a big organization—probably one of the largest—and so we have a lot of branches. We have like 17 branches. We normally have like the ones you would think of—the infantry, armor and artillery—but we have the chemical corps, the ordinance corps, the veterinarian corps. We have all these different corps. So once you're selected, actually, for a particular branch, then that becomes the branch that you will usually remain in for the balance of your service. 00:05:48.644 --> 00:06:01.074 So we're moving on to your early days of your military experience. What kind of training or schooling did you complete while you were in the early days of service? 00:06:01.074 --> 00:07:43.285 Well, once you're commissioned—let's say in the Signal Corps, in my case—then you have to go to what they call a basic officers leadership course (Basic Officer Leaders Course). And there you learn your job, and it's usually a couple—two months, usually eight weeks—and each branch, you know, has different requirements. And in my case, the Signal Corps, the basic course was in Fort Gordon, Georgia. And there you learn how the tactical employment of communications equipment out in the field, because usually when you graduate from there, then you wind up going into the artillery, infantry or armor—and so those are combat, we call 'em combat branches—so there you need to know how to interact with that type of environment. And then, some folks are selected to go in additional training—like I was selected to go to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where I was in a course called the Communications Officers Course. And there I learned how to operate radios, and that was the branch that was involved in data communications, encryption, you know, things like that. And that was a eight-week course as well. So that was kind of like a summary of the training that you would get after you are initially inducted into the Army. 00:07:43.285 --> 00:07:49.305 What was it like training with encryption and learning that? 00:07:49.305 --> 00:08:37.995 It was real interesting. I was kind of interested in computers and the like. And you have to remember, this is back in 1969 and a lot of the computers were these old IBMs where you use these cards—IBM cards that you punch out. You know, the different holes, and they had card readers. And so computers were at its infancy—but you know we were progressing. And encryption was important because later I wound up in missile systems. And there encryption is a really big deal because you have, you know, the codes—launch codes for nukes and stuff. And so that was really helpful to me, you know, to get that kind of a background before I actually got assigned to a unit. 00:08:37.995 --> 00:08:41.595 What was your first assignment after basic training? 00:08:41.595 --> 00:09:31.715 Well, I was assigned to Fort Ord, California, which is just up the coast. It's close to Monterey. And it was—I really enjoyed it there because I liked the weather and everything, but this was a very large fort there. And I was assigned to a signal battalion. And my job was to support the units—the infantry units primarily—that were in training there with communication and also support some of the schools they had there for advanced training. Usually when you have basic training, the enlisted men undergo further training—like in radios or wiremen and whatever—and we also supported those units as well. 00:09:31.715 --> 00:09:41.504 When you were at Fort Ord, I remember recalling during your pre-interview, didn't you have a special assignment for like burial ceremonies? 00:09:41.504 --> 00:11:54.544 Yes. When you're—in the military you always get extra duties, and because Fort Ord had a large military establishment, when a serviceman was killed in action and the family wanted a burial detail—which was the highest level where they would have, you know, riflemen for the rifle squad for the volley. And then they would also probably have six pallbearers, a bugler and an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer). They would usually have a lieutenant go with that detail to provide services, you know, for the service member that was killed in action. And for us, it's a big deal when a serviceman gets injured or in this case killed, the utmost respect and honor is allocated to him and his family. And so I would be in charge of putting it all together—getting all the soldiers together and trying to make sure they're trained. And a lot, you know, of this work is done with the NCOs because they're the experts in these areas. And we would take a van—usually a small bus sometimes. But in one case we went up to Oakland, and we went there and there were protesters there—'cause this was in 1969, '70, so there was a lot of protesting the Vietnam War. And so it was really disheartening to us because when we entered the cemetery there were protestors there and they had signs that they were chanting, you know. And some of the signs that, you know, like they were like, "A life wasted," you know. And really derogatory kinds of messages. (Phone ringtone plays and automated voice says, "Unknown caller." The phone is silenced.) I thought I turned that thing off. Is it off? 00:11:54.544 --> 00:12:01.955 So back to the—so there was a service member that was being buried? 00:12:01.955 --> 00:13:12.394 Correct. And so I'm in this bus with probably about 20 soldiers, and most of them have just returned from Vietnam. And most of them had, you know, post-traumatic stress (Post-traumatic stress disorder ; PTSD). So they were real upset. And so, you know, we had to be—I had to contain them and make sure they'd get off the bus. And fortunately when we got into the cemetery, they had a gate there. So these protestors were not able to get in onto the grounds of the cemetery, which was good because that way they didn't interfere with the ceremony. But, you know, I get it. You know, people have a right to freedom of speech. You know, that's one of the things that soldiers do—they try to uphold the constitution. But there comes a point where, you know, you can get to a limit where it's just not respectful, you know, to do that in this type of a situation—especially a ceremony—a burial ceremony. 00:13:12.394 --> 00:13:17.514 What was the hardest adjustment to military life for you? 00:13:17.514 --> 00:15:04.634 Well, I think that initially when you get in the military, it's a whole new environment. I mean, it's 24/7 when you get into the military. You don't control necessarily where you go. I mean, you can ask to go to certain forts and certain locations, but you really don't have a final say. It's that whole saying, you know, "The military will put you where they need you," or, "The Army will assign you where they need you." And especially when there's a war like the Vietnam War going on, then yeah, you wind up going anywhere you want. You get—you move constantly. And you're constantly having to go and learn different kinds of tasks even though you're within a certain branch. You have to learn to work with different people, different superiors and all. That's fine, but it's very condensed. It happens a lot more often, especially when you're first starting off. You have to go into different training environments and you have to adapt. And a lot depends on rank, too. I mean, if you're a Private E1 one, you know, you don't get the same kind of benefits you would as a Second Lieutenant. I mean, the living conditions—and if you have a family, too. You know, it's awkward, constantly moving around, especially if you deploy overseas. Sometimes you can move with your family to a house and the government provides—the military provides housing for you—sometimes not. So it's like going into a new world in a new environment. So you have to adapt. 00:15:04.634 --> 00:15:18.000 So we're moving on to your deployment experience when you first got to Europe. You had mentioned that you were stationed in Europe during the Cold War— 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 Mm-hmm. (Labrado nods his head affirmatively.) 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.764 —and so what was that like for you? 00:15:21.764 --> 00:18:22.664 Well, again, the Cold War occurred right after the end of World War II. And as you probably know, when the Russians liberated Europe, those countries that they liberated, they wanted to maintain their political system, so they became communist countries heavily influenced by Russia. And in those days, Russia had—sort of like the United States had—they had the United Soviet Socialist Republic (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). They were like a federation of states. They were like 17 states that encompassed the USSR. Plus they had the Warsaw Pact, which was another six or seven countries, and they sort of duplicated NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization). And so in those days, back in the 1970s, for instance, Russia was a real prevalent opponent because they had like 22 countries that they could control in one way or the other. And one of those countries was East Germany—'cause East Germany was split in half—again—where the Russians had taken over the territory in Germany, that became dominated by Russia and became communist. Anyway, so in Europe we had of course NATO, and we were concerned with making sure that the Russians didn't invade—or the Soviet Union—Western Europe. So the problem was they were very close, you know? They were right on the borders. And so this was something where we as soldiers wanted to be sure that we were able to react and defend Western Europe. So that was kind of the situation. And simultaneously the Vietnam War was going on. And to give you a perspective, there was around 300,000 as I recall, military presence—U.S. presence—in Europe. And there was about 550,000 soldiers in Vietnam and around 65,000 in Korea. And so most of the focus was in Vietnam. But you couldn't leave Europe undefended because the Russians then might take advantage. And so it's one thing if you lose war in Vietnam, but a whole other scenario if you get into a conflict with Russia, because Russia has the nukes. And so you wanna make sure that that portion of the world is secure. So that's—so the environment that we were in way back in the 1970s. 00:18:22.664 --> 00:18:49.483 Was it—I've often heard one veteran describe it as, it was hard because you have the Vietnam War happening and then you're in Europe during the Cold War, and then there's protests happening stateside. One veteran described it as every time there was a protest, the Russians will get more bolder in Europe. Did you experience anything like that? 00:18:49.483 --> 00:19:55.825 Not a lot that I noticed. In terms of the protest, one of the things that was interesting to me is—I mentioned to you that I went to school at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Well, when I was in Europe, there was a community right next to the campus called Isla Vista, and the bank got burned as a result of a protest—an anti-war protest. It burned a Bank of America down. And I was in Europe at the time. And I was saying, "Wow." You know, 'cause this was a big deal for us, you know, to see that happening—especially in my case, which is right next to the school I graduated from. And I think that was—we got information about the protests and what was going on in the states, but it didn't directly affect us as far as I'm aware of in terms of deployments of any troops in Europe—Russian troops. 00:19:55.825 --> 00:20:01.464 What was your job in Europe to do while you were in Europe? 00:20:01.464 --> 00:23:40.233 Well, I was a battalion signal officer for a Nike Hercules missile battalion. And these are surface to air missiles. They're about 42 feet high, so they're big missiles. And their main objective is to shoot down medium- or high-altitude aircrafts—meaning bombers—and they're radar guided. And they are—we use them as—you can use 'em like for artillery—that is, you can hit land targets with it. We can also shoot down incoming missiles, but our main function would be to shoot down aircraft. And then also we had nuclear warheads on these missiles in the event that went into a nuclear war. And so we had—in my battalion, for instance, we had about 12 of these missiles deployed in various firing batteries. So we could shoot 12 off at one time. So the scenario would be, once the president declares war, we would get notified and then we would then react accordingly. And hopefully it would not be a nuclear war because that would be, you know, that would be horrible. And then we would then fire our missiles and deploy them, as, you know, required. And our main focus was to defend Ramstein Air Force Base—which was a large air force base in Western Europe—and also the NATO troops that were in the western portion of Germany. So usually what would happen when we go on alert is we saw a concentration of enemy, in this case, Russian troops concentrated in one area and like they were gonna deploy. Or if we saw any kind of aircraft coming over that looked like they were going in our airspace, we would then go on alert. And what would happen typically is the Russians would try to, you know, annoy us. They would send the planes towards our airspace and then the Air Force would send fighters out, and of course we would be ready to shoot down, you know, the Russian bombers or whatever if they got past the fighters. But they usually turned around, you know. They were just trying to make everybody aware that they were there. And then two, the other dimension is the political situation. Like, well, not so much the protestors was an issue, but if there was any kind of—well, like the JFK assassination, something like that, or the Cuban crisis (Cuban Missile Crisis), or any kind of real major assassination or political discord—then we would go on alert because we would not know how Russia would react. So we wanted to be sure, you know, that we were ready. So we were always on duty 24/7. I was really pleased that I had really good NCOs in my company because they were critical. I mean, those were the folks that actually did the work and made sure the men were doing their assigned tasks. So I was real fortunate in that respect. 00:23:40.233 --> 00:23:44.595 Were there any lighthearted memories or humorous events that you'd like to share? 00:23:44.595 --> 00:25:28.265 Well, there was one. My soon to be wife, Linda, she went to visit one of her relatives in France, so she went over to Germany. So we spent a couple of days—I got leave—and so I, at that time had a 1957 Volkswagen Beetle, and it was really kind of a relic in that it had—it only operated three out of four cylinders and it rusted out all of the floor of—the vehicle had rusted out because, you know, they use a lot of salt and it snows a lot. And so you could actually put your foot completely down into the road. So we put a piece of plywood there. And the other cool part of that VW was it didn't have a gas meter, so you never knew how much gas you had. So you had this little knob that if you saw the car sputtering, you twist the knob one direction and you get another gallon of gas and you go to a gas station. Anyway, what happened is it started to rain and we got stranded in the middle of nowhere in this VW and we were trying to figure out, you know, how we were gonna get back to—well, I was gonna get back to my duty station, 'cause you know, if you don't show up on time, it's a bad thing. You know, (Labrado laughs) if you're in the military, you could be AWOL (Absent Without Leave). So anyway, everything worked out. But it was really funny because we were in the VW and it's raining and we're we trying to hitch a ride, you know, to get back to my fort. And in the end we looked back and it was funny. 00:25:28.265 --> 00:25:33.875 Did you carry any rituals or keepsakes, or did you do anything for good luck during your time in service? 00:25:33.875 --> 00:26:55.904 Well, one of the things, in my unit we had firing batteries, and we don't put all of our firing batteries all together—you know, I had to spread 'em out. A firing battery would be maybe five or six missiles in one site. And, then we'd have maybe another firing battery five or ten miles from our battalion operation center—and we'd have 'em spread out. And I would go to these firing batteries sometimes to inspect them and stop off to have a meal. And they would have what they call in Germany gasthauses. And they're kind of like inns where you go in and you could have food and have a bar. And they even had, usually, a little hotel. You could stay there overnight. And I would collect from each gasthaus a glass, because each of these gasthauses specialized in certain kinds of beer. And so I came back with about 30 of these glasses of beer where they had these really cool emblems—because the Germans were really big on beer—and each of the breweries had their own emblem. So I thought that was kind of cool. And it brought back, you know, fond memories of going and interacting with the Germans in their, like, inns. 00:26:55.904 --> 00:27:04.993 So now we're coming up to your transition out of service. Where did you go immediately after you separated from service? 00:27:04.993 --> 00:27:21.944 Well, I went back up to Santa Barbara, and I resumed my education, and I was working on a master's. And basically that's what I came back to. 00:27:21.944 --> 00:27:27.345 How were you received by your family and your community back in Santa Barbara? 00:27:27.345 --> 00:28:19.944 My family was great. It was really pleased to see me. They were happy to see me, of course. The community was sort of lukewarm, you know. Some people were kind of lukewarm, when they saw someone in uniform during, you know, the 1968 through '70, '71. And so they were kind of aloof, you know. The Germans on the other hand probably viewed us differently. They saw us as defending or at least preventing the Russians from invading. But in the states, a lot of people thought that the war was an unjust war and it was an unpopular war. And some of that got reflected, you know, on servicemen. 00:28:19.944 --> 00:28:22.595 Was that hard for you to take in? 00:28:22.595 --> 00:29:26.355 Well, initially when you're, like, in Europe and, you know, you get the impression that you're there to protect United States—in this case from an attack, but—and then you find a lot of the citizens really aren't supporting you. That, you know, they think you really are pursuing an unjust war. And so it's kind of awkward because on one hand you're thinking that, "Gosh, we're doing a good thing here." But then on another hand, a lot of the citizens really didn't respect the uniform or the military at that point. And this is only a small portion of the population, but they were very vocal, and a lot of them, of course, were college kids and especially males because, you know, they were the ones who were gonna get drafted. So they were vociferous and—you know. 00:29:26.355 --> 00:29:31.634 What was it like for you to adjust back to civilian life? 00:29:31.634 --> 00:30:18.275 Well, I think I had a smooth transition. Again, I went back to work on my master's and you know, was able to pick up where I left off. But I did notice that when I graduated from college, some of my friends went directly into their careers. And so one of my best friends, when I got out, he became a lawyer. He got his degree and everything. So there was a integral period of time there where a lot of my friends were actually further along in their careers because, you know, I had served in the military and, you know, they of course went into their particular careers. 00:30:18.275 --> 00:30:23.275 What do you wish more people understood about veterans? 00:30:23.275 --> 00:31:22.994 Well, I think that people should really recognize and respect veterans because—and especially veterans that have served in combat roles, because they really have given a lot. Their families had to move constantly and frequently. Their servicemember is gone from the family. And when they serve in a combat role, a lot of the servicemen come back with like post-traumatic stress or physical injuries or mental injuries, and these folks need to be taken care of because they've given so much and that should be acknowledged and they should be supported by, you know, the community in the U.S. 00:31:22.994 --> 00:31:33.474 Following up with the reflections, what message would you want to leave for future generations who may watch or hear this interview? 00:31:33.474 --> 00:35:13.425 Well, I think the first thing is that we, I was in a situation back in 1970, '71, where there was a real threat with Russia because the threat was one in which we could actually get in a nuclear war. And so there are like different stages of war—especially like in Europe—there's conventional war, which is what we would be involved in using, you know, normal kinds of warfare, like in Vietnam. And then there's also limited nuclear war where you would just contain the nuclear war within Western Europe or Eastern Europe. And then hopefully, you know, the politicians or the leaders of the countries would stop there and negotiate a peace. But then if you go into the next level, which is the level where you have and use intercontinental ballistic missiles, and that's Armageddon. I mean, that's when hundreds of missiles go back and forth. And so there's like these three levels, and we were in Europe as part of NATO primarily as a deterrent to make sure that we don't escalate into those levels. So right now, for instance, we have Russia invaded the Ukraine. So that's like a conventional war, which is—it's horrific, but you know, it's contained. But if we were part—if Ukraine was part of NATO, then you would have all the western countries in the US involved in a war with Russia. And at that point, you know, it can escalate. So the point is that deterrence has worked—at least up to this point deterrence, as far as the Russians invading the NATO countries. So I think in that respect, you know, I was proud to be part of that because this is a deterrent that needs to occur so that we don't get in a war with a country that has nukes because we don't want it to escalate or progress to an all out nuclear war. Like in my battalion for instance, we were a tactical unit, so we had to use anywhere from 2 kilotons to 20 kiloton warheads. But even a 20 kiloton warhead was devastating. For instance, in Nagasaki they had I think a 12 kiloton warhead used in that particular bombing, and 150,000 people died. So, but now if it becomes an intercontinental missile, some of those missiles have over 300 kilotons. So you can see that we are at the point now where we have to do everything we can to minimize conflict, 'cause you can never know when it escalates. So in that sense, I think that I was real comfortable with the fact that I was a part of deterring and hopefully preventing any kind of conflict to escalate, because, you know, the threat of nuclear war is horrific. 00:35:13.425 --> 00:35:22.275 If you were to reflect on the journey of your service, what themes or life lessons emerge? 00:35:22.275 --> 00:37:13.945 Well, I think the most important thing is that you learn is service. I think that—well, I grew up in an age where John F. Kennedy said, you know, it's not what you can do for your country—it's what—it's basically what you could do for your country. And that's the critical thing. And I think that, you know, that could be, you know, volunteering, you know, in the Peace Corps or volunteering in hospitals—or actually it is working in gainful employment. In my case service was kind of important because I grew up in that environment, because my dad was in the military. So I think that's important. The need to serve in, some capacity, your country. Because you know, you look back and you see all the benefits this country has—I know we have our issues, but compared to other countries, and I visited a number of countries, our country's great—I mean, it's worth defending. The other thing I learned a lot personally is how to handle people. You know, how to motivate them, how to get them to do what you wanna do. And these were important skills that I learned when I went into the private sector and started working. And like, you learn that, 'cause when you're dealing with like soldiers, just because you have the rank doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna do it to their utmost ability. You have to be able to motivate them to get the most maximum output from them so that you can get the job done. And you have to—you learn a lot about supervision. And these are the kinds of skills that I learned. 00:37:13.945 --> 00:37:20.945 Thank you again for sharing your story. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LabradoEd_BeyerJason_2025-11-17_access.xml LabradoEd_BeyerJason_2025-11-17_access.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Labrado, Ed. Interview November 17th, 2025. Description An account of the resource 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-096 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-17 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ed Labrado Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Ed Labrado Subject The topic of the resource United States. Army United States. Army—Officers United States. Army. Signal Corps Vietnam War, 1961-1975 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 Post-traumatic stress disorder 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.) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Europe Santa Barbara (Calif.) Port Hueneme (Calif.) California Ventura (Calif.) Georgia New Jersey Monterey (Calif.) Oakland (Calif.) Russia (Federation) Soviet Union Germany (East) Germany (West) Korea Vietnam Isla Vista (Calif.) France Germany United States Ukraine Nagasaki (Japan) Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Jason Beyer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed David Shaffer OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=ShafferDavid_BeyerJason_2025-11-20.xml Interview Keyword This filed adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the "keywords" field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record. Veteran;Master Sergeant;United States Air Force;Germany;Portugal;Cold War;Six-Day War;Air Traffic Controller;San Diego County OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Shaffer, David. Interview November 20th, 2025 SC027-095 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm Veteran ; Master Sergeant ; United States Air Force ; Germany ; Portugal ; Cold War ; Six-Day War ; Air Traffic Controller ; San Diego County David Shaffer Jason Beyer Moving image ShafferDavid_BeyerJason_2025-11-20.mp4 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/e60dc869cbce01c35fe843aa0a4ca62d.mp4 Other video English 0 Interview Introduction and Military Background David Shaffer served in Europe as a captain in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. US Air Force ; Captain ; Cold War ; Europe 0 56 Personal Background Shaffer was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At four years old, he and his family moved to San Diego, California where his father worked as an engineer for Consolidated Aircraft. His family lived in defense housing. Shaffer remembers a large celebration in Balboa Park on Victory over Japan Day. Colorado Springs (Colo.) ; Colorado ; San Diego (Calif.) ; California ; Consolidated Aircraft ; B-24 ; B-32 ; South Cheyenne Canyon Road (Colo.) ; Pikes Peak (Colo.) ; Convair ; VJ Day ; Victory over Japan Day ; Balboa Park 0 237 Military Veteran Family Members Shaffer says his great-grandfather was a soldier in the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment in the American Civil War. He says he also had a Prussian ancestor who defected during the American Revolution and lived in German-speaking Pennsylvania. His grandfather’s brother was an Army cavalryman in the Philippines in 1898. Shaffer’s father tried to join the Navy but was rejected due to a knee injury. His father worked for Convair in Colorado Springs, studied engineering at Denver University, then moved to San Diego. 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment ; American Civil War ; Prussian ; British ; American Revolution ; Pennsylvania ; German ; American ; Philippines ; cavalryman ; Fort Bliss ; Texas ; Colorado ; Cortez (Colo.) ; Galloping Goose ; Denver and Rio Grande Railroad ; Navy ; Convair ; Colorado Springs (Colo.) ; Denver University ; San Diego (Calif.) 0 387 Work, Education, and Beginning of Military Service Shaffer was a marine engine mechanic on Shelter Island and a student at San Diego State. After college graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Shaffer wanted to be a pilot but was too tall, so he became an air traffic controller. Designing forward airfields was one of his responsibilities, which he did during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war. Shaffer got married at Lajes Field in the Azores, Portugal. He was a shift supervisor at Lajes Field for 18 months. He then transferred to Hahn, Germany and became the flight facilities officer at Hahn Air Base. Shaffer was the Officer in Charge of all the air traffic controllers at Hahn Air Base in West Germany from 1965 to ‘68. When his military service ended, he settled down in San Diego and became a high school teacher in North County. marine engine mechanic ; Shelter Island ; San Diego ; San Diego State University ; Air Force ; Officers Training School ; Second Lieutenant ; Air Force ; air traffic controller ; Keesler Air Force Base ; TERPS ; Terminal Instrument Procedures ; forward airfield ; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ; Six-Day War ; Sinai Peninsula ; Lajes Field ; Azores (Portugal) ; Portugal ; Strategic Air Command ; General Curtis LeMay ; Hahn (Germany) ; Germany ; Officer in Charge ; Hahn Air Base ; West Germany ; North San Diego County 0 584 Decision to Join the Air Force Shaffer decided to join the Air Force because he always wanted to be a pilot. He was especially fond of the B-36 Peacemaker, which his father worked on as an engineer at Convair. Shaffer says his father hired many little people to install jet engines for the A model B-36 because they were small enough to enter the wing. Air Force ; B-36 ; B-36 Peacemaker ; Convair ; San Diego ; A model B-36 ; engineer ; little people 0 719 Military Training Shaffer began officers training school at Lackland Air Force Base. He tells a humorous story about how his training officers tricked the trainees into getting drunk at an officers' club then forced them to mow the lawn by hand. Shaffer’s air traffic controller training took place at Keesler Air Force Base. He then took his final exam at Tinker Air Force Base. When he returned to Keesler, he worked on the terminal instrument approach procedure (TERPS). Shaffer says he was the only TERPS certified officer while on air base in Germany. He recalls the impact that Jimmy Stewart’s films about officer responsibility had on him. Lackland Air Force Base ; San Antonio (Tex.) ; Texas ; officer trainee club ; officers' club ; Germany ; Keesler Air Force Base ; air traffic controller ; Air Force ; FAA ; Federal Aviation Administration ; ATC ; air traffic controller ; Navy ; Army ; Tinker Air Force Base ; Oklahoma City ; TERPS ; BFS ; Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung ; Hahn (Germany) ; sergeants ; Azores (Portugal) ; Jimmy Stewart ; World War II ; Air Force 0 944 Military Promotions Shaffer was promoted to Captain while serving in Germany, but as an AFSC 1634B he could not fly. He did not receive pilot training due to his tall height and a shortage of air traffic controllers on base. Ultimately, Shaffer requested his release from active duty in Germany because he wanted pilot training. Azores ; Second Lieutenant ; First Lieutenant ; Captain ; Germany ; 1634B ; AFSC ; Air Force Specialty Code ; 1634A ; air traffic controller ; airmen ; sergeants ; Hahn (Germany) ; Air Force ; traveling ; skiing 0 1074 Adjusting to Military Life Shaffer says his disciplined childhood made adjusting to military life easy. He felt comfortable as an air traffic controller but wishes he could have flown a B-36, his favorite plane. childhood ; air traffic control ; B-36 ; Davis–Monthan Air Force Base ; Tucson (Ariz.) ; Arizona ; B-52 0 1137 Deployment to Europe After tech school, Shaffer was assigned to Lodges Field in the Azores, Portugal. Shaffer grew up in a Portuguese community of San Diego. When he arrived at Lodges Field, the family members of a childhood friend gave him a surprise welcome. He says being in the Azores felt like home. Shaffer married the daughter of a colonel at Lodges Field. Keesler Air Force Base ; Mississippi ; Lodges Field ; Azores (Portugal) ; Portugal ; San Diego (California) ; McGuire Air Force Base ; New Jersey ; Navy ; Air Force ; Colonel ; wife 0 1289 Designing Forward Airfields during the Six-Day War Shaffer designed forward airfields during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War. The 50th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hahn Air Base needed a landing place in the Sinai Peninsula. Ultimately, the war was over before the forward bases could be used. Six-Day War ; forward airfield ; 50th Tactical Fighter Wing ; Hahn (Germany) ; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ; Sinai Peninsula ; Israel ; Middle East 0 1374 Experience with Local Populations in Europe Shaffer would often snow ski during his free time in Europe. He and his friend once had a negative encounter with some German men in a bar who resented the American military presence, but overall people were very nice. While living in Kastellaun, Germany, he and his roommate decided to visit a nearby German Army base, Hunsrück-Kaserne, and drink beer with the Lieutenants there. At the base, he and his friend were treated to a German dinner with some lieutenants and colonels who told them a story. The German officers were in the Afrika Korps during WWII. In North Africa, they were captured by the British, held in a POW camp, then passed on to Americans who brought them to the United States. The German soldiers were held in a POW camp in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1944, the U.S. military put them in civilian clothes and took them on a tour of the United States. Ultimately, they were sent to work on a loading dock for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. At that job, there was an old night watchman called Old Gold. In 1957, after they returned to Germany, they received word that Old Gold had passed away. The German officers returned to the U.S. and served as pallbearers for Old Gold’s funeral. Shaffer concludes this story by noting how much those German officers loved the United States. snow ski ; Ramstein Air Base ; Austria ; Bavaria ; Lieutenants ; German ; World War II ; Hitler Youth ; Kastellaun (Germany) ; Germany ; Koblenz (Germany) ; Hunsrück-Kaserne ; military police ; BMW ; Afrika Korps ; Libya ; POW camp ; North Africa ; United States ; Winston-Salem (N.C.) ; North Carolina ; Marshall Plan ; Texas ; California ; Mount Rushmore ; Yellowstone National Park ; Iowa ; R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company ; Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Federal Republic of Germany ; Bundeswehr ; West German Army 0 1854 Serving as an Air Traffic Controller in Germany In 1966, Shaffer got permission to visit Berlin where he got facility rated in the control tower at Tempelhofer Feld. Shaffer describes how the Americans did all the air traffic control in West Berlin. Shaffer says a C-130 once left Rhine-Maine and entered the corridor at Checkpoint Alpha, but the East Germans cancelled the flight plans. Shaffer believes that the East Germans wanted to cause a midair collision between an Air France passenger plane and an Air Force cargo plane. Shaffer describes how Vietnam War protests made the U.S. look like a “paper tiger” in Russia’s eyes. Shaffer was convinced that protests in the U.S. were going to cause a Soviet invasion of West Germany. Whenever Shaffer could take leave, he and his friends would go skiing. F-100 Super Sabre ; Hahn (Germany) ; Air Force ; Vietnam ; F-4 Phantom ; Ground-Controlled Approach ; Berlin (Germany) ; Keesler Air Force Base ; Mississippi ; Tempelhofer Feld ; Checkpoint Alpha ; Frankfurt (Germany) ; Checkpoint Bravo ; West Berlin ; Berlin Tegel Airport ; C-130 ; Frankfurt Rhine-Main ; Checkpoint Alpha ; Air France ; Sud Aviation Caravelle ; Stars and Stripes ; ADIZ ; Air Defense Identification Zone ; East Germany ; West Germany ; Soviet Union ; Europe ; Garmisch-Partenkirchen ; US Army ; Austria ; Kitzbühel (Austria) ; Canadian Air Force ; Zweibrücken (Germany) 0 2192 End of Military Service and Return to San Diego Shaffer was released from active duty in December 1967. He and his wife traveled to the Soviet Union, where many people admired their Western European clothes. They then spent a few weeks skiing in Austria before flying back to McGuire Air Force Base from Rhine-Main. Due to escalating anti-war protests in 1968, they returned to the U.S. in their civilian clothes. Shaffer took leave and decided to return to San Diego. He encountered protestors at Philadelphia Airport while disembarking from an Air Force bus. Shaffer says a “hippie” spit on him, so he “decked the hippie right there in the airport.” Shaffer was received well by his family and community in San Diego, which he considers a “military town.” Shaffer says he still hates those who dodged the military draft. Europe ; Austria ; Soviet Union ; Air Force ; Moscow (Russia) ; Munich (Germany) ; clothes ; Germany ; Frankfurt Rhine-Main (Germany) ; McGuire Air Force Base ; United States ; Vietnam ; the Pentagon ; Andrews Air Force Base ; San Diego (Calif.) ; Philadelphia Airport ; Philadelphia (Pa.) ; Navy ; Marines ; Army ; hippie ; protest ; Ohio ; San Diego (Calif.) ; family ; community ; draft dodgers ; New Zealand ; Australia ; Germany ; France ; Canada 0 2522 Return to Civilian Life, the G.I. Bill, and Pilot Training Shaffer started teaching high school upon his return to civilian life. He says kids’ attitudes had changed considerably since the early sixties, which he attributed to the influence of hippie culture. The G.I. Bill helped Shaffer get his master’s degree at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) and his private pilot license. civilian life ; teaching credentials ; high school teacher ; Air Force ; hippies ; G.I. Bill ; pilot training ; VA ; Veterans Affairs ; ATP ; airline transport pilot ; private license ; San Diego State College ; Palomar Airport ; Carlsbad (Calif.) ; Fallbrook (Calif.) 0 2699 Maintaining Friendships After Service Shaffer had a close friend and skiing partner in the military, Fred Deal, who recently passed away. Their wives are still friends. friendship ; skiing ; Air Force ; Arkansas 0 2726 How Military Service Shaped His Identity reflection ; military service ; veteran ; Air Force ; Shaffer reflects on how military service shaped his identity. He says he wanted to serve in the military since he was a little kid. Shaffer hoped to fly planes in the military, but his height prevented him from receiving the necessary training. 0 2785 The F-4 Phantom Shaffer shares his experience with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, also known as the F-4 Phantom. While serving at Hahn Air Base, Shaffer had to redesign the holding patterns in order to accommodate the F-4. In his opinion, the F-4 was not a good dogfighter. F-4 Phantom ; F-100 ; TACAN ; Tactical Air Navigation ; DME ; Distance Measuring Equipment ; German Air Force ; MiG ; Mikoyan ; Sukhoi ; Vietnam ; Wild Weasel ; F-105 ; radar ; anti-aircraft ; Navy ; Robert McNamara ; Lyndon Johnson ; Cuthbert A. Pattillo ; Russian ; Fulda Gap ; Hahn (Germany) ; the 50th Wing ; West Germany 0 2980 Message for Future Generations Shaffer says, “Patriotism is number one in my book.” He thinks that those who do not study history are bound to repeat it. Shaffer tells his granddaughter that “whatever land we think is ours is only ours as long as we're strong enough to keep it.” As a Freemason, he is dedicated to promoting patriotism with younger generations. history ; patriotism ; Freemasonry 0 3064 What More People Should Understand About Veterans Shaffer wishes that more people understood the difference between military veterans who were drafted and those who chose to enlist. He talks about his brother-in-law who is in poor health due to Agent Orange in Vietnam but is still proud of his military service. veteran ; draft ; Agent Orange ; Vietnam ; military 0 3144 Life Lessons from Military Service Shaffer reemphasizes that his military service taught him the importance of patriotism. He describes the United States as “the best country that ever existed on the face of the earth.” patriotism ; country 0 3211 Personal Connection with San Diego County Shaffer’s parents, sister, and friends were still living in San Diego County. After ending his military service, Shaffer accepted a job teaching high school industrial arts in North County, where he and his wife relocated. San Diego County (Calif.) ; Europe ; Germany ; Air Force ; wife ; parents ; sister ; friends ; high school ; teaching ; industrial arts ; North County 0 Oral history 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. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:03.544 --> 00:00:37.676 My name is Jason Beyer, and I'm a graduate of CSUSM (California State University San Marcos). Today's date is Thursday, November 20, 2025. And we're conducting this interview at CSUSM in the CSUSM Library, located in San Marcos, California. Today we're with veteran David Shaffer. This oral history will help preserve the lived experiences of United States military veterans. Please state your full name. 00:00:37.676 --> 00:00:39.715 David Bernard Shaffer. 00:00:39.715 --> 00:00:41.564 Your branch of service. 00:00:41.564 --> 00:00:43.424 US Air Force. 00:00:43.424 --> 00:00:45.234 The highest rank that you attained. 00:00:45.234 --> 00:00:47.103 Captain. 00:00:47.103 --> 00:00:52.005 And please state the war or conflict that was happening during your time in service. 00:00:52.005 --> 00:00:56.945 Well, it'd be the Cold War, 'cause I was in Europe in the 1960s. 00:00:56.945 --> 00:01:02.284 So right now we're gonna start with introductions. Where were you born and raised? 00:01:02.284 --> 00:01:25.105 I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado until I was four years old. Then we came to San Diego, California when I was four. My dad worked for Consolidated Aircraft building B-24s and B-32s and all other airplanes thereafter, till he retired in 1974. 00:01:25.105 --> 00:01:29.305 For the years that you were in Colorado, do you remember what that experience was like? 00:01:29.305 --> 00:02:28.004 Yes, I do. My dad—we lived on South Cheyenne Canyon Road and the river that came over Seven Falls came down in front of our house in a meadow. My dad used to go out every morning before he'd go to work, and the deer were being forced down off Pikes Peak, and he's gonna pick out a deer that he wanted for deer season and—nope, not that day. So the next day we'd do the same thing, and I'd go out there with him—oh, there's one. He'd shoot the deer. We'd pile in our '37 Ford and go up and go across our little stone bridge into that meadow, and he'd wrestle the deer up onto the fender—bring it back, hanging it up in the garage by its rear feet. My grandfather would come up and he and I would dress that deer all day long. I was a 3-year-old kid. Somewhere in my archives, I have a picture of me at three years old standing by that deer with a wooden gun (laughs). 00:02:28.004 --> 00:02:34.525 When you moved to San Diego, what was life like for you in San Diego? Or the transition to San Diego? 00:02:34.525 --> 00:03:57.064 Well, in San Diego we lived in defense housing, and my dad had told me then my mother that he's not coming home from work maybe once a month until this war was over—World War II. So he stayed at Convair—Consolidated Aircraft—24 hours a day, seven days a week, and expected his employees to do the same thing. And he said, if the soldier, sailors, airmen and Marines can live in tents and in foxholes, the last least he could do was stay at work until the war was over. And he did. I very seldom ever saw him. And on VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day)—was my sister's first birthday, so my mother's getting ready to go down and pick him up from work, and we're gonna go out to Balboa Park for a party—for a birthday party for my sister. I was a 5-year-old kid. So we went down there and my dad piled in the car and says, "Yeah, the Japanese surrendered today." So when we got to Balboa Park, I never saw such a party in my life. There were thousands of people hugging and kissing and drinking and having a grand old time. And at first I thought they were all there for my sister's birthday, but I realized they weren't (laughs). VJ Day, San Diego, in Balboa Park. 00:03:57.064 --> 00:04:00.985 Did anyone in your family ever serve in the military before you? 00:04:00.985 --> 00:06:27.274 Yes. My great-grandfather was a soldier of the second Pennsylvania heavy artillery (2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment) in the Civil War (American Civil War). His dad and people before him were—well, I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to anyway. His grandfather—my grandfather's great-grandfather's grandfather—was a soldier with the Prussian army fighting with the British in the revolution (American Revolution). And he realized he'd made a big mistake. So he deserted, went over into Pennsylvania and took out a couple letters in his name and blended in in German-speaking Pennsylvania and became an American in that process in the 1700s. But yes, I have my Uncle Bliss, Bliss Shaffer. He was my grandfather's little brother. He joined the Army in 1898 and was in the Philippines. He was a horse soldier, cavalryman. And he was at Fort Bliss, Texas. And when I was a little kid, I always thought they named Fort Bliss after my Uncle Bliss. But I realized later they didn't. Anyway, he got outta the Army in 1928 and did a lot of jobs around Colorado. He had a pinto bean farm in Cortez. He drove the Galloping Goose (railcar) on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad for a while. He drove my grandmother nuts 'cause he was always showin' up at the house with another saloon floozy (laughs)—that she called 'em. Anyway, Bliss, my grandfather, and my dad—and my dad would try to join the Navy, but my mother had taught him to ski and he'd really wrecked a knee. And he always had this trick knee the rest of his life. And the Navy wouldn't take him. He wanted to be a photographer with the Navy. So he ended up getting hired from Convair in Colorado Springs. They sent him to Denver University for a crash course in engineering that took about six or eight weeks—or months, I'm not exactly sure—in 1943. Then we came to San Diego in March of 1944. 00:06:27.274 --> 00:06:37.685 What were you doing before you joined the service? Were you going to school? Did you have a job? Or were you helping the family out? 00:06:37.685 --> 00:09:44.205 I had a job. I was a marine engine mechanic, outboard motors and inboard motors on Shelter Island in San Diego. I was a student at San Diego State (San Diego State University). The Air Force wouldn't talk to me until I had a college degree, 'cause I wanted to go to OTS—Officers Training School. So I graduated in January, 1963, then they would talk to me 'cause I could show 'em a diploma (laughs). And by the end of '63, I was a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, but I was too tall to be a pilot, and that's what I wanted to be. I was six-foot four and about 220 pounds. And they said, "Nope, too tall." So I was—I said, "Okay, air traffic control, then. I wanna be an air traffic controller." So they sent me to Keesler Air Force Base in January of 1964 as a Second Lieutenant for tech school for air traffic control. And I finished that along with a TERPS (Terminal Instrument Procedures) certified terminal instrument approach procedure. It would've been my job, if we'd ever had to deploy to a forward airfield, to design the forward airfield to give it to the Corps of Engineers in the Army and also the BCE, the base civil engineers of the Air Force, to build the runway where I had designed it. And in 1967, that Six-Day War, I designed six of them in the Sinai Peninsula for real. But they never used 'em 'cause the war was over in six days. Which amazed me, 'cause I had gotten married the day that war started. I had a wife floating around somewhere in the world, and I didn't know where she'd gone. So after six days, I signed out on leave to go find her. And we ended up finding her. Had the church wedding in Lajes Field in the Azores (Portugal). Now air traffic control officers are required to be shift supervisors in bases that are run by the Strategic Air Command (SAC). General LeMay (General Curtis LeMay) said, "I want all of my shift supervisors and all SAC bases to be officers." Well, it was a good way of getting training to become a flight facilities officer later, like I was at Hahn, Germany. I was a shift supervisor in Lajes Field for 18 months, and then I was transferred to Hahn, Germany as the flight facilities officer. I was the OIC (Officer in Charge) of all the air traffic controllers at Hahn Air Base, West Germany from 1965 to '68. And then my wife—being an Air Force brat, I married the colonel's daughter that I found in the Azores—she didn't want to spend any more time living three years here and three years there, so I didn't go into air traffic control when I got back to San Diego. I had teaching credentials from the state. I started teaching industrial arts and history in high schools here in North San Diego County. 00:09:44.205 --> 00:09:48.433 Why did you particularly choose the branch that you served in? 00:09:48.433 --> 00:11:59.904 Well, I wanted the Air Force because I wanted to fly. I was in love with the B-36 Peacemaker, and I wanted to fly a B-36. I just, ever since I was a kid, my dad had—they brought—the B-36s were built by Convair. They came to San Diego. The A model did not have the jet engines on the wingtips, and all of the jet engines were added to the A model B-36 here in San Diego. And it was my dad's job to figure out how to put the—as an engineer at Convair—to figure out how to put those jet engines on an airplane that was already built. There was two ways of doing it. Either take the skin off of the wing and do all your work and then re-skin it, which meant you had to re-stress the wing—and it was very time consuming and expensive. Or, find somebody small enough to get out in that wing and do the work. So in the summer of 1951, I believe it was—50 or 51—he and two other engineers advertised all over the country for what we today call little people. But in those days we called 'em dwarfs and midgets—not to be derogatory, but that's what they were called. He hired 300 of them that came to San Diego that could get out in that wing and add all the hardware and tubing and brackets and everything to mount those jet engines. At one time, San Diego had more little people—midgets and dwarfs—than any other city in the United States. They were well thought of, they were well paid, and they were very valuable employees even after those jet engines were added to the A model B-36, because there's a lot of places in building an airplane that an adult six-foot tall or five-foot eight and above can't get into to do the work. So they were very, very valuable employees and very well considered. They were loved. 00:11:59.904 --> 00:12:07.715 So we're moving on to your early military experience. What do you remember about your first days in the military? 00:12:07.715 --> 00:13:34.595 Well, my first days in the military were in officers training school at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. And it's basically what I thought it was going to be. They're not interested in my opinion. They just—I'm to do what I'm told. And so I did. I tried to cooperate the best I could. I made it through there. When our upper class graduated and got their commission as second lieutenants, on a Saturday we got all called together—we're lower classmen. They said, "Monday morning you're gonna be upper classmen, and what we're gonna let you do is go to the OT club"—the officer trainee club, just like a regular officers' club where they had beer and so forth. Now we're all college graduates. We're all 23, 24 years old, and we haven't had a beer in months, so we went in there and within two hours there wasn't a sober person in there. And all at once in the front door come all our training officers all upset with us. So we're out there mowing the lawn—by hand, mowing the lawn. Years later in Germany, I ran across a colonel that was one of the instructors there. And I told him about that. He says, "Oh yeah, we sat out front in the car, and we called the bartender once in a while. Are they ready yet?" It was a big setup, but I thought it was funny, anyway (laughs). 00:13:34.595 --> 00:13:37.475 What kind of training or schooling did you complete? 00:13:37.475 --> 00:14:43.345 Well, the schooling was at Keesler Air Force Base. It was basically—teach you how to be an air traffic controller. The Air Force was the only one at that time that used the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) written exam as an ATC, air traffic controller. The Navy and the Army had written their own—why, I don't know. But we went up to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City and took our final exam in the FAA headquarters there in Oklahoma City and then flew back to Keesler. And then after we got back to Keesler, we worked on this TERPS, this terminal instrument approach procedure that officers only are responsible for. I was the only TERPS certified officer on the air base there in Germany. But I worked with a BFS TERPS man from—the BFS is the German FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung (Federal Institute for Air Traffic Control). And he and I would design all the—and would change all of the instrument approach or departure procedures for Hahn that needed to be changed, like holding patterns and so forth. 00:14:43.345 --> 00:14:49.264 Do you recall any instructors or leaders who had a lasting impact on you? 00:14:49.264 --> 00:15:44.304 Yes, I do. My sergeants. I learned more on a shift there in the Azores from my E7s and E6s and E5s that I worked with than I ever learned in officers training school—other than one thing in officers training school that I really enjoyed. Every week we had a little film done by Jimmy Stewart. And Jimmy Stewart was a general in the army. He was a bomber pilot in World War II, and he would make a film on officer responsibility—how we were supposed to behave as officers in the United States Air Force. And I really looked forward every week to sitting down and listening to that 20-minute or 30-minute film from Jimmy Stewart. It was really great. 00:15:44.304 --> 00:15:50.264 Were there any promotions or milestones during your early days of service that you'd like to share? 00:15:50.264 --> 00:17:54.597 Well, I was promoted in the Azores from Second Lieutenant to First Lieutenant. And I was promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain in Germany—almost the same time I got married in '67. That was all happening at the same time. And I was glad I made it to Captain, but as a 1634B, which is my AFSC, my Air Force Specialty Code, 1634B meant air traffic control officer, non-rated, no wings, maximum rank, captain. A 1634A was an air traffic control officer doing the same job with wings, maximum rank unlimited. And in 1967, I was trying to get—I was still young enough by about three months—to get into pilot training and they were gonna waiver me for my height. But the command that's in charge of air traffic controllers wouldn't release me from my air traffic control duties because it was less than 80% manned worldwide. I was authorized to have 96 airmen and sergeants work for me there in Hahn Germany. And I was lucky if I had 60, because the Air Force could not keep enough air traffic controllers to keep everybody fully staffed. And I understood that, but I lost my opportunity to become a winged pilot. I told them I would go right back into air traffic control if I could just get my wings and be a 1634A instead of a 1634B. And finally I decided to request a release from active duty. So I requested a release from active duty in Germany. My wife and I stayed there for a few more months traveling, around and skiing and so forth before we came home. 00:17:54.597 --> 00:18:00.000 What was the hardest adjustment to military life for you? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:22.125 It wasn't really difficult. I had a very disciplined childhood. My dad was the kind that didn't tolerate fools very well. So if I acted like a fool, I got notified of the fact. So it wasn't really hard. It was very easy. As a lieutenant and captain. 00:18:22.125 --> 00:18:25.954 What part came naturally or felt the easiest for you? 00:18:25.954 --> 00:18:57.664 Well, the air traffic control just kind of was—not easy, but it was comfortable. I liked it. But I would've liked to have flown that B-36. But by the time I got in the Air Force in 1963, all of the B-36s were in the boneyard at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. The B-52 had taken over the B-36, but I was really in love with that B-36 from a little kid on. 00:18:57.664 --> 00:19:06.204 So we're moving on to your deployment to Europe. When and where were you deployed in Europe? 00:19:06.204 --> 00:21:29.115 Well, my first assignment out of tech school at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi was to Lodges Field in the Azores, Portugal. And I got those orders while I was still in tech school in Mississippi. And I'd grown up in a Portuguese colony here in San Diego. And all my kids and I from the fourth grade on were Portuguese. And one of my best friends could not believe that I got sent to Portugal. He thought that was a funny—"How'd you pull that?" I didn't, it just happened. When I got off the airplane in Lodges Field from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey in three o'clock in the morning, the only people on the airplane were Navy and Air Force personnel for the base, and I coming down the ladder there, the steps to get off the airplane, and there's a string of Air Force and Navy personnel to accept their new troops. And there are 10 Portuguese civilians standing there. And I thought, what in the world are they doing out here at three o'clock in the morning? I got down to the bottom of the steps, they hollered out my name, they all came running over, were shaking my hand and giving me hugs. They were the grandparents, uncles, cousins, all the relatives of the kid that I'd grown up with in this Portuguese community in San Diego. And my Colonel looks over at me. He says, "Come over, stand Lieutenant. You've been here before? How come you know everybody?" And I had to think about it for a minute, 'cause my mother had told all our neighbors that I was being—and they were all Portuguese for that, in that period of time—that I'm getting transferred to the Azores, Portugal. And one of my friends that I grew up with, the only kid in the fourth grade that was not Portuguese, that he and I got to be friends first—when I first went into this school in San Diego—he kept talking to my dad about it. He kept—"How in the world did they do that? Get to Portugal?" But I loved their father music, their folk music that we used to play in school. I loved their food they had. The Portuguese food, their wines. It was just like old home, being in the Azores. I met my wife there. She was a daughter of a Colonel there on the base. 00:21:29.115 --> 00:21:37.345 What stands out most about your time overseas? Moments that were meaningful or difficult? 00:21:37.345 --> 00:22:54.233 It was a little difficult with that Six-Day War. I thought for sure—I'd gotten married the day that thing started, and I got put on alert instantly. And I started designing those forward airfields because our 50th tac fighter wing (50th Tactical Fighter Wing) at Hahn had to have a place to go. And it was up to me to tell the Corps of Engineers (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and the Air Force where was a place that was proper to build an airfield in the Sinai (Sinai Peninsula). And I thought for sure I was gonna end up down there in the Sinai Peninsula. And that was a little difficult those times right in there. But the war was over in six days. I couldn't believe it. How could Israel have taken care of all that in six days? Was just amazing to me. So for those six days it was a little tiring, a little troublesome, 'cause we were dividing up our air traffic controllers to stay at Hahn and most of 'em were gonna go with me down to the Mid East. We were just—and all our fighters were getting ready to go down to the Middle East when the time came to help out. And we didn't get to go. Which is fine. 00:22:54.233 --> 00:22:59.204 What were your experiences like with the local populations or different cultures in Europe? 00:22:59.204 --> 00:35:51.695 Well, the local population, the Germans, were glad we were there. I liked to snow ski. So my friend who was stationed at Ramstein (Ramstein Air Base), he and I were snow skiers and we were always heading to Austria on our leave time to go skiing. We got down in Bavaria and it was so snowy and icy, we couldn't make it on into Austria. So we checked into a (unintelligible) down there. And there were—what did two young Lieutenants do the first thing they get their junk thrown in their room? They head for the bar for a beer! So we're down in the bar—and speaking English, of course—and a couple of guys that were only about six or eight years, maybe five years older than we were—German guys—way too much stupid juice came over and they wanted to pick a fight. They wanted to go out and fight in the snow. Mm-hmm (Shaffer shakes his head). You take a swing at me in here and that's gonna be the last one you swing at me. And finally some older guys came over—World War II vets—and told 'em to knock it off and to be thankful we were American military and not Russian military. And that calmed them down. They went away, but they were probably Hitler Youth and been brainwashed as teenagers. Never made it into the German army, but they had poor little alcohol on them. And up comes all of that stupidity from the—as a Hitler youth. But for the most part they were very nice. Very, very nice to us. And in our town where I lived, Kastellaun, Germany, which is just west of Koblenz, there's a Hunsrück-Kaserne (Hunsrück Barracks), Kastellaun, a German Army base there—tanks, Panzer base. And it was only about a half-a-mile from our house. And my roommate and I decided one afternoon—we were both wandering around the house, still in our uniforms—we're gonna go up to that Hunsrück-Kaserne, Kastellaun and have a beer with the other Lieutenants up there—see what they're up to. So we went up there, the gate guard, the MP (military police) at the gate wanted to know if we knew where the officer's club was. And I said, "No, we've never been on the base before. Driven around it a lot, but never on it." He said, "Well, let me show you." So he jumps on his BMW motorcycle and led us to the officer's club. Walked in there and there's nothing going on down the hall to the right in the bar. I couldn't figure it out. It's not like our fighter base where all the fighter pilots are in there trying to out story each other. Anyway, we walked down the hall and I heard voices in a room just to my left. And I opened the door to see what was in there, and it was a private dining-in with all these German army officers, from two Colonels all the way down to some Lieutenants at the end of the table. And I said, "Oh, excuse me." And I started to close the door. And the Colonel says, "Oh, wait a minute. Come here, come here. I wanna talk to you." So we walked in there. He says, "What's your deal here?" I said, "Well, we live downtown. We just thought we'd come up to the Hunsrück-Kaserne for a beer with the—your lieutenants—and have a beer with you guys." He says, "You had anything to eat yet?" No. "Would you like to join us?" So yes, that'd be nice. So the lieutenants set us up, a couple chairs down at the end in place setting. We had dinner with them—full dining-in, German style. And at the end of the dining-in, the two Colonels up at the—full Colonels—up at the end of the table said, "I wanna tell a story, especially to the two American Lieutenants down there." They had been soldiers, young soldiers, young Lieutenants, in the Afrika Korps. And they were taken prisoner by the British, and they were in a little field, POW camp in North Africa—in Libya probably. And when the United States entered the war in 19—and sent all the troops over in '42 to North Africa, the ships were gonna go back to the United States empty. So they put all of the POWs they'd collected—the British and the Americans—into those ships and brought 'em back to the United States. And these two colonels, along with two other Lieutenants were—four of 'em were buddies—they were put in a POW camp in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. So they spent the rest of the war in Winston-Salem. And because of the Marshall Plan, Marshall told all of the POW—all of the commanders of POW camps in the United States—to treat them well, because whatever's gonna become of Germany after the war is over, these guys that are in these POW camps are going to be the leaders of whatever Germany is to become. So treat them well, so they're not all pissed off at the United States. So in the summer of 1944, they gathered up all of these young Lieutenants and Captains and so forth into a room, into an auditorium, and told them that—that you guys are gonna be the leaders of Germany, and what we want you to do—you don't have to do it, but if you want to—we're gonna put you in civilian clothes, put you on a train, and give you a tour of the United States. So they did. The summer of '44, they went all the way down into Texas, across into California, and up across by Rushmore (Mount Rushmore), Yellowstone (Yellowstone National Park), all the way back across the north, through Iowa, and back to North Carolina. And when they got back there—this is the fall now or the late summer of '44—they said, "We need—if you want to, you would like to, there's an awful lot of businesses in the town here that need help. If you want to, we'd like to send you out to do something besides sitting in the camp." So the four of 'em decided, yeah, they wanted to do that. So they sent 'em to the loading dock on the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, loading product on the trains in the evening at night shift. And there was an old night watchman on the dock there called Old Gold. And Old Gold was way up in his sixties or seventies. He weren't too sure he wanted four German Lieutenants on his dock. But after a few days he realized, these guys are okay. So Old Gold invited them over to his house for Thanksgiving 1944, Christmas of '44, and Easter of '45. The four of them went back to Germany, and when the Bundesrepublik (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or "Federal Republic of Germany") was formed in 1953, they went back into the West German Army (Bundeswehr). And in 1957, they were probably all four of 'em Majors or Lieutenant Colonels, Old Gold died. All of 'em took leave from the West German Army, went back to Winston-Salem to be Old Gold's pallbearers. And I would love to have a picture of that if I could find it. Old Gold being buried and being carried by four West German Majors or Lieutenant Colonels. But their love for the United States was just as great as those guys I'd met down in Bavaria that said, "Be thankful they're American soldiers and not Russian soldiers." And in 1966, late '66, we had F-100 Super Sabres there at Hahn. The Air Force, decided to send them back to the States—probably needed them in Vietnam—and provide us with F-4 Phantoms. So there was a period in there of about eight weeks in the late fall, early winter of '66, where we didn't have any airplanes. So I got orders to send my controllers except for a skeleton crew that ran the GCA (Ground-Controlled Approach) and tower during the day—five days a week, just Monday through Friday—and shut down that air base until we got our F-4s. So I gathered 'em all together and asked them where they wanted to go. Some of my sergeants and airmen wanted to go to Berlin. Well, a fellow I'd gone to tech school with in Keesler Air Force Base down in Mississippi, he was doing the same job at Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin that I was doing at Hahn in Germany. So I said, "I want to go too. I wanna see what Berlin's like." So I got permission to go there, and I got facility rated in the control tower. I wasn't there long enough—as long as my sergeants were—I had other things I had to do. I had to get back to West Germany, prepare for the F-4. And the corridor between Checkpoint Alpha, which is just outside Frankfurt, and Checkpoint Bravo—it's when you enter the American sector of West Berlin. And everybody knows about Checkpoint Charlie. That's the third one. That's a footpath in and out east to east. It was all run by the East German air traffic controllers, en route air traffic controllers. So I was sitting there in the control tower one afternoon, and Tegel (Berlin Tegel Airport) was the only civilian airfield in West Berlin, and it was up in the French sector. And we did all the air traffic control in West Berlin—period. Whether it was the American sector, the British sector, or the French sector. So they had to get permission from us to take off and land at Tegel. We had up above Tempelhofer Feld in the American sector, what we call the upside down wedding cake. It wasn't real long approaches to—along the final. It was a kind of a spiral down and a spiral up to get into those corridors. So C-130 had left Rhine-Maine, which is in Frankfurt (Frankfurt Rhine-Main), and entered the corridor at Checkpoint Alpha. And the East Germans canceled his flight plan. And I thought at the time, "Well, why would they do that?" And they were—the pilots flying in and out of Berlin—were briefed, if they do that to you, to shut off all your electronics, all your transponders, everything, and pull out flaps and throttle back and go into what they call slow flight, but don't try to turn around in that corridor or they're gonna shoot you down. So I thought, "Well, he's almost 200 miles away, and he's in slow flight. Now what's the deal?" About that time an Air France Caravelle (Sud Aviation Caravelle) called me from Tegel for takeoff. And I said, "Well, I can't have him ascending in the corridor until I know where that C-130 is." So I told him to stay on the ground until further notice—stay right where he was. About the time I said that, the East German air traffic controller called me and says, "Clearance is approved on the 130." They wanted us to have a midair right over Berlin between an Air France passenger plane and an Air Force cargo plane." Can you imagine that? And every time there was a war protest that went on over here in the United States, especially in Berlin—draft burning and draft dodging and all this other stuff—the Stars and Stripes newspaper would publish it. Of course, the Russians were keeping track of what was going on here too. They thought it was hilarious that we were a paper tiger. They pushed the ADIZ, the Air Defense Identification Zone, between East Germany and West Germany, with just masses of aircraft. And I thought for sure we were gonna get invaded. I didn't think we'd ever not be invaded because of the actions of the war protestors here in the States, especially giving the Soviet Union a green light actually to invade by their attitude here. And fortunately they didn't, but I don't know why they didn't. Sure came close. 00:35:51.695 --> 00:35:59.005 While you were stationed in Europe, did you do anything for good luck or did you have good luck items during your time of service there? 00:35:59.005 --> 00:36:32.224 Well, I loved to snow ski, so I was always heading for Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is run by the US Army, or the ski areas in Austria. Kitzbühel was my favorite spot in Austria. We'd take leave—probably a week or so, two weeks maybe—in January, and head for Kitzbühel, Austria to go skiing. All of us. The Canadian Air Force was at Zweibrücken down by Ramstein. All the Canadians and us we're always truckin' down to go skiing (laughs). 00:36:32.224 --> 00:36:41.000 So now we're getting ready to talk about your transition out of service. Do you remember the day your service ended? And please describe what that was like. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:40:47.905 Well, I got a release from active duty, actually on the 20th of December '67. And my wife and I decided to stay in Europe. We went back to Austria to go—she liked to ski too—so we went back to Austria. We did make a trip to the Soviet Union. I wanted to see how the other half lived. And I asked the Air Force if it'd be all right if I—my wife and I—went to Moscow. They said, "Oh hell yeah, Dave. You don't know anything. They'd pull all the fingernails outta you they want, but you're not gonna tell 'em anything that's important." So we did go to Moscow. And what Moscow reminded me of in January, 1968, was it was run by a bunch of junior high school kids. They didn't know how to make change in the store. They didn't know how to make change in the restaurants. They didn't seem to care if you were satisfied or not. They'd walk down the street and about knock you in the gutter in, and my wife was all dressed up in her Bavarian clothes 'cause she had been going to college in Munich when we got married. And so they saw these European clothes on us—Western European clothes. We could have gone back to the hotel every night naked because all the locals wanted to buy our clothes off of us. And after that we came back to the Germany and got the car and went down to Austria—spent about three weeks down there skiing and having a good time before we came back to the States. But when I went back up to Rhine-Main to fly back to McGuire, I was authorized to put my uniform back on. I was—all of us lined up to get on the airplane, and the Air Force personnel came out and said, "Do all you guys have civilian clothes?" Yes. "Well, please go put 'em on. Don't be going back to the United States in your military uniforms in '68." And so I went back in—had to put civilian clothes on a ride home. Embarrassing—because of the hatred for Vietnam they were taking that out on us. In 1966, as an Air Force officer in the com squadron, we were also responsible for all of the secret stuff that was going on in the combat operation center. And they had cards printed. And I would take the crypto cards back—had to take the crypto cards back to the Pentagon. And I thought, "Well, no way I can get out of Andrews Air Force Base back to Germany." But I got up to McGuire. And then I thought I'd take a leave and come back to San Diego for a couple days—visit my folks—hadn't seen 'em in several years. So I got a boarding pass out of Philadelphia Airport. And so I piled on the little Air Force bus and rode from McGuire Air Force Base to the airport in Philadelphia. I was the only officer on the bus. There were Navy, Marines, and Army on there. And as I came in there, I got to go through the door first, right into a bunch of hippies that were having a protest. And I got spit on—I decked the hippie right there in the airport. He was out cold instantly. And all the soldiers and sailors and airmen behind me kinda huddled around me, and we stepped over him and went onto our airplane. But that was my first interception of a hippie that spit on me. Now I wasn't so much worried what the Philadelphia police were gonna say to me for deckin' that hippie. I was worried what the Air Force is gonna say. Air Force officers aren't supposed to be decking hippies in airports. I was afraid of what—they were gonna chew me out for it. But nobody ever did anything. About somewhere over Ohio, I cleaned up my uniform and my knees quit shaking. I sat down properly in the airplane and rode on to San Diego. 00:40:47.905 --> 00:40:54.005 How were you received by your family and your community once you returned? Did you come back to San Diego? 00:40:54.005 --> 00:40:55.000 I came back to San Diego, yes. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:56.724 How were you received by them? 00:40:56.724 --> 00:40:58.485 Fine. Fine, yes. 00:40:58.485 --> 00:41:00.885 What about the community here in San Diego at this time? 00:41:00.885 --> 00:42:02.195 Oh, well, San Diego is a military town and was more so military in those days than it is today. And it's still a very much of a military town. So it wasn't hard to get accepted back in San Diego. However, I always had a heartburn for draft dodgers. I ran into neighbors, guys I worked with after I left the Air Force, that had all gone to New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France, everywhere—Canada—everywhere in the world to evade the draft—guys my age. And they wouldn't back off. They would call me a lifer. They had all these comments, and the hatred is still there. I have one that still lives in my neighborhood and I won't talk to him—that did that. I just want nothing to do with him. To run off—he ran off to New Zealand to stay away from the military draft. 00:42:02.195 --> 00:42:10.000 This sort of leads into our next question. So what was it like adjusting for you back into civilian life after the military? 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Well, coming—I started—I had teaching credentials as a high school teacher before I ever went in the Air Force, so I started teaching high school. And one of the problems was, with my airmen, if I said something, it's "yes sir, no sir." And trying to convince high school kids that I'm in charge was not that easy. See—(Shaffer mockingly mumbles). The attitude of the kids had changed considerably since I got my teaching credentials in the early sixties. By the late sixties, they'd been influenced by too many damn hippies, I think—'cause I could not stand hippies (laughs). 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:59.000 Did the G.I. Bill influence your next steps after the military service as far as going back to school or— 00:42:59.000 --> 00:44:59.304 Yes, yes. I wanted to learn to fly since I was a kid. And since the Air Force wasn't gonna teach me to fly, I'm gonna do it myself. So I went—I thought, well, I'll use my GI bill to help with my pilot training. So I went down to the local office. They said, "Well, we don't pay for the private, but we'll pay for"—this is the VA (Veterans Affairs) now talking about—"we'll pay for everything above your private"— like the commercial, the instrument, the ATP (airline transport pilot) and all the others above it. So I said, "Well now, how am I gonna pay for the private license?" So I decided to sign up at San Diego State for my master's degree, went back to the VA and said, I'm going to go to San Diego State College to get my master's. I need—they said, "Good, we'll send you some money." Well, I used the money they sent me from my master's to get my private. And I got a master's and a private all at the same time. Then I transitioned—after that, now I have a private license—to Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California to work on my commercial pilot's license. So I used the balance of my G.I. bill at Palomar Airport with flight trails on my commercial. I accumulated maybe 750 hours total by the end of that. And then I'm on my own nickel. So I joined flying clubs and had a friend at work that had an airplane, but he needed all of us at work that had pilot's licenses to rent it from him several times a month so he could make the monthly payments on it. So I rented his airplane for a long time. He lived in Fallbrook, California, and I'd fly it out of Fallbrook and take the wife and kid somewhere, if they wanted to go. 00:44:59.304 --> 00:45:03.835 Did you maintain any friendships after your time in service. 00:45:03.835 --> 00:45:26.585 With the people in the military? Yes. This Fred Deal, the one that I had gone skiing with. He left the Air Force about the same time I did. And yes, until he passed away just a few years ago. His wife Angie is still a friend of my wife's. They live in Arkansas now. He was a good friend. 00:45:26.585 --> 00:45:35.764 So now we're moving on to reflections. How has your military service shaped who you are today? 00:45:35.764 --> 00:49:40.074 I don't tell—I'm like my dad—I don't tolerate fools very well. And I like everything orderly and straightforward. I don't like wishy-washy things. And when I was a little kid, I thought to myself, "I don't want to be 85 years old and not be a veteran." And I think about that all the time. Now that I'm 85 years old and a veteran—good. I didn't want to ever be 85 and not be a veteran of something. Either I was gonna join the military right outta high school or right outta college. And since I wanted to fly airplane so bad in those days, as a kid, I thought, "Well, I'll wait until I'm outta college and then—" But being too big, they wouldn't take me. I wouldn't fit in the cockpit. One of my jobs in the Air Force, when we got the F-4 Phantom, they couldn't hold the holding patterns on our air base of the F-100. It would—the interturn between two TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) radials at 15 DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) was—we were way over in a German Air Force's airspace. So I had to redesign the holding patterns for that F-4 'cause it ate up real estate like crazy. And I thought this is ridiculous. That F-4 should have been a bomber, not a fighter. It was not a good dogfighter, for instance. The German or the Russian MiGs (Mikoyan, MiG) and Sukhois (Sukhoi) could have outturned that thing in a heartbeat if we'd ever gone to war with them. Now in Vietnam, they used the F-4—and they had the same problem—but they used it for what they called the Wild Weasel. It would go in ahead of the 105s (F-105), pick up the radar from the anti-aircraft sites, and then fire a rocket right down the—their own rocket, their own radar right into them. But as a dogfighter, in my opinion and the Air Force's opinion, it was not a good dogfighter. It was heavy. It still had the Navy hook on the back—which we didn't need in the Air Force, but they had it anyway—McNamara (Robert McNamara) and Lyndon Johnson decided the Air Force was gonna have that. But my wing ops officer, Colonel Pattillo, Cuthbert Pattillo (Cuthbert A. Pattillo), who retired as a four-star general—three-star—he couldn't he couldn't tolerate having it. He didn't like it. It was gonna be a terrible airplane to fight the Russians over the clouds as they invaded through the Fulda Gap. And we couldn't run away because we gotta stay there. Our life expectancy at Hahn, if they'd ever invaded through the Fulda Gap, those of us that were left at Hahn was 20 minutes before we'd been vaporized. Our pilots used to practice in the F-4 and in the F-100s with a patch over one eye, 'cause each one, each pilot at Hahn had a target in the east. He'd never been there, of course, never seen it. He'd studied it on maps. So he knew to fly this road, that ridge line, that river, whatever it took to get to that spot, drop his ordinance and then be lucky if he ever made it back out. Only about 2% of our fighters in the 50th attack fighter wing (the 50th Wing) were ever expected to make it out. And if they did, they had a patch over one eye because with all the atomic weapons going off, their only way out is the good eye that was under the patch. And then there would be no airfields left in West Germany, because in 20 minutes we were all gonna be vaporized, 'cause every airfield, civilian and military was targeted. That they would just fly as far west as they could till they ran outta gas and the motor quit and then eject. 00:49:40.074 --> 00:49:49.324 What message would you want to leave for future generations who may watch or hear this interview? 00:49:49.324 --> 00:51:04.514 Well It's hard to say. Just that, if we don't know history and we don't study our history, we're bound to repeat it. So if this does anything to tell the younger generation—like I've told my granddaughter this stuff, I want her to always remember—that whatever land we think is ours is only ours as long as we're strong enough to keep it. If you look at the maps of the world, there's been so many changes of ownership on land over the centuries that we're only here as long as we're strong enough to keep it. Somebody else is gonna grab it if we get weak. And that's the thing I want to tell 'em. Patriotism is number one in my book. I try to promote patriotism with a younger generation. I belong to an organization in the Masons (Freemasonry) that is dedicated to that. And that's what I want to do. Try to promote patriotism and keep this country as strong or stronger than it is now forever. 00:51:04.514 --> 00:51:10.114 What do you wish more people understood about veterans? 00:51:10.114 --> 00:52:24.385 Well, there are two kinds of veterans. There are those that are drafted and those that go in on their own. I have—those that go in on their own, go in for a reason—their own personal reason. They want to, like I did. Those that are drafted—I don't say that they're not good. Some of 'em realize that this is the best thing they ever did in their life, and others don't. But it's hard to say. It's an individual thing. Like my brother-in-law. He's a year younger than I am. He was drafted into the army right outta college. I told him when he went in, I says, "With your college degree, why don't you become an officer?" "No, I don't wanna do that." Okay, it's your decision. You could have. But he's suffering now with Agent Orange so bad that I don't—from Vietnam—that I don't think he's gonna live much longer. I just went up to see him about a week and a half, two weeks ago, and he can barely move. He's in such bad shape. And—but yet he's proud of being in the military. He's glad he did it, even with the Agent Orange that he got in Vietnam. 00:52:24.385 --> 00:52:33.914 If you were to reflect on the journey of your service, what themes or life lessons emerge? 00:52:33.914 --> 00:53:31.505 Well, that's a good question. Patriotism, like I just mentioned. This is the best country in the world—the world has ever seen—and I thoroughly believe that. We have our problems, but we're still the best country that ever existed on the face of the earth. And it's all a personal—whether you join the military or not, we have good presidents and bad presidents, and we have good leadership and bad leadership from time to time. But generally, we gotta do the best we can to keep this country the way it is—and better—and stronger. And otherwise somebody will take it over on us. Sure as hell. 00:53:31.505 --> 00:53:39.000 So how did you become connected with San Diego County? Is this where you chose to come back after your time in Europe? 00:53:39.000 --> 00:54:24.135 Yeah, I—before I left Germany, before I got a release from active duty, I contacted the education center here in San Diego County, 'cause my parents still lived here, and my sister was living here, and a lot of all my friends were. My wife is an Air Force brat. She didn't have any long time friends. She'd lived three years here, three years there, three years all over the world and didn't have any real ties to any particular place. So yes, I came back here because this is where I was offered a job before I ever left the Air Force, teaching the high school industrial arts up here in North County. 00:54:24.135 --> 00:54:25.000 Thank you again for sharing your story. 00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:26.611 (Shaffer laughs.) 00:54:26.611 --> 00:54:28.735 It's an honor to help preserve it. 00:54:28.735 --> 00:54:31.000 Thank you. Was that okay? 00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:32.500 Yeah, you're good. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END ]]> https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en video Property rights reside with the university. Copyrights are retained by the &#13 ; creators of the records and their heirs. This resource is licensed for noncommercial educational use using CC NC-BY 4.0. Please contact Special Collections at archives csusm.edu if you need reproductions made. Please see the related “Preferred Citation note” for language on citing materials from this collection. &#13 ; Permission to examine Library materials is not authorization to publish or to reproduce the examined material in whole, or in part. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=ShafferDavid_BeyerJason_2025-11-20.xml ShafferDavid_BeyerJason_2025-11-20.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shaffer, David. Interview November 20th, 2025 Description An account of the resource 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-095 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-20 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Shaffer Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. David Shaffer Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative Subject The topic of the resource United States. Air Force Cold War Consolidated Aircraft Corporation Convair Victory over Japan Day Fort Bliss (Tex.) 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.) Ramstein Air Base (Germany) Hitler-Jugend European Recovery Program (1948–1952) Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 Andrews Air Force Base (Md.) 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 Agent Orange Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Europe Colorado Springs (Colo.) Colorado San Diego (Calif.) California Texas Philippines Pennsylvania Cortez (Colo.) Shelter Island (San Diego, Calif.) Azores (Portugal) Portugal Germany San Diego County (Calif.) San Antonio (Tex.) Oklahoma City (Okla.) Tucson (Ariz.) Arizona Mississippi New Jersey Israel Middle East Austria Bavaria Kastellaun (Germany) Koblenz (Germany) Libya Africa, North United States Winston-Salem (N.C.) North Carolina Iowa Vietnam Berlin (Germany) Frankfurt (Germany) Berlin (Germany : West) Germany (East) Germany (West) Soviet Union Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) Kitzbühel (Austria) Zweibrücken (Germany) Moscow (Russia) Munich (Germany) Philadelphia (Pa.) Ohio New Zealand Australia France Canada Carlsbad (Calif.) Fallbrook (Calif.) Arkansas San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/9f2c03d328b7a2764ecb18b7c98c5ba1.pdf 45257bd03df6b4dc94d0da8b823f204f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Transcripts Description An account of the resource Written oral histories and transcripts are available for researchers that prefer the written word, or to see the whole interview in a document. Transcripts of <a href="https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/collections/show/5">audio and video files</a> are also available as part of those video files. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Luevano, Dora. Interview transcript, November 6, 2025. Description An account of the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dora Luevano Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-06 Subject The topic of the resource United States. Marine Corps Pacific Bell Telephone Company Camp Pendleton (Calif.) Camp Lejeune (N.C.) California State University, San Bernardino Palomar College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 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.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Dora Luevano License A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LuevanoDora_BeyerJason_2025-11-6_transcript Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative Community history San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience Women's experience https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/0f70d634d980b560c08804e1f0c93dd9.pdf 6b0b5f6cda3e59307102e4f5a008ea9c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Transcripts Description An account of the resource Written oral histories and transcripts are available for researchers that prefer the written word, or to see the whole interview in a document. Transcripts of <a href="https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/collections/show/5">audio and video files</a> are also available as part of those video files. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Burke, Gina. Interview transcript, November 13, 2025. Description An account of the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gina Burke Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jason Beyer Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2025-11-13 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Gina Burke License A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BurkeGina_BeyerJason_2025-11-13_transcript Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. San Diego Veterans History Initiative Subject The topic of the resource 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 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vietnam San Marcos (Calif.) Philippines California United States 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.) Community history San Diego Veterans History Initiative Veteran experience https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/15bbb61db5de803ebb96db5ea3cdd033.JPG 99e2c9a7c70bba96058d7b49f5f58f02 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daegu, Korea Description An account of the resource Lacea with U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, Randy Ferrer (Korean Army Medical Rep) in Daegu, Korea Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 19, 2014 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/b2943df6d3d599ed5bcaa4f38ddae61d.jpg 8dbdb798a49c482962fef3b5a6fb5c5d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2013 Marine Corps Ball Description An account of the resource Lacea posing with Corporal Mark Geppelt at the Marine Corps Ball, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November, 2013 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/8fe465df3d7d3bc72f114fc0f50acc53.jpg 3a13e1a7aa78b8e19b0b7907f53bffe5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2014 Navy Corpsman Ball Description An account of the resource Lacea posing with Hospital Corpsmen, Cody Goddard, Dillon Vick, and Gabriel San Pedro at the 2014 Navy Corpsman Ball, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June, 2014 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/ee334b06de570fa96581da9c1154c5d9.JPG 63c7e636aef083afe39d0115738cd0bb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sergeant Johan Lacea promotion Description An account of the resource Lacea posing with Sergeant Johan Lacea celebration Sergeant Lacea's promotion to E-5, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June, 2014 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/d71760c06f1d24624705473e1964a414.JPG 861ec5d97436c59bfa36798d6d2140f2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Philippines soldiers Description An account of the resource Lacea and Philippines soldiers during Exercise Balikatan, Tarlac, Philippines Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April, 2012 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/b8b7016710767f8fd7bd9720df671f11.JPG 2c9a0340b1723ca48dd2e883639167f6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lacea family photo Description An account of the resource A family photo of Lacea, Sergeant Johan Lacea, and Corpsman Howell Lacea at Camp Pendleton, California Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December, 2011 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/6ba8991cb99a58d06fcaab76957b145a.JPG 3231b71afb9703b046db0161ee43f1ad Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Deploying to the Philippines Description An account of the resource Lacea deploying to the Philippines on a C-130 plane flying from Okinawa, Japan, Zamboanga, Philippines Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource October, 2012 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/ce15a5c0ae75f9e2b5784e9cdb835034.JPG 824fb1ff5dd0388185f7d5347504b5c4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Operation Enduring Freedom support Description An account of the resource Lacea and Lance Corporal Josue Alegarbes in deployment to the Philippines in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Zamboanga, Philippines Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December, 2012 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/5f671f46e326eb21d61207c8fc41eb2d.JPG a3d62b412deeee165a17813a63f2f2ae Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wedding day Description An account of the resource Lacea and wife, Jazmin Lacea, on their wedding day in Seaport Village near the U.S.S. Midway Museum, San Diego, CA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 26, 2018 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/930fdeae5caffd52223a39a8e417d8d5.JPG 99e2c9a7c70bba96058d7b49f5f58f02 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Operation Enduring Freedom support 2 Description An account of the resource Lacea with Lance Corporal Jonathan Flores, and Philippines soldiers preparing to destroy ordinance in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Zamboanga, Philippines Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January, 2013 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lacea, Jan Michael Letigio. Photographs, Various dates. Description An account of the resource Ten photos related to the oral history of Jan Michael Letigio Lacea. Photograph #1 depicts Lacea with U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, Randy Ferrer (Korean Army Medical Rep) in Daegu, Korea, 2014. Photograph #2 depicts Lacea posing with Corporal Mark Geppelt at the Marine Corps Ball, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan, 2013. Photograph #3 depicts Lacea posing with Hospital Corpsmen, Cody Goddard, Dillon Vick, and Gabriel San Pedro at the 2014 Navy Corpsman Ball, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan, 2014. Photograph #4 depicts Lacea posing with Sergeant Johan Lacea celebration Sergeant Lacea's promotion to E-5, Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan, 2014. Photograph #5 depicts Lacea and Philippines soldiers during Exercise Balikatan, Tarlac, Philippines, 2012. Photograph #6 is a family photo of Lacea, Sergeant Johan Lacea, and Corpsman Howell Lacea at Camp Pendleton, California, 2011. Photograph #7 depicts Lacea deploying to the Philippines on a C-130 plane flying from Okinawa, Japan, Zamboanga, Philippines, 2012. Photograph #8 depicts Lacea and Lance Corporal Josue Alegarbes in deployment to the Philippines in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Zamboanga, Philippines, 2012. Photograph #9 depicts Lacea and wife, Jazmin Lacea, on their wedding day in Seaport Village near the U.S.S. Midway Museum, San Diego, CA, 2018. Photograph #10 depicts Lacea with Lance Corporal Jonathan Flores, and Philippines soldiers preparing to destroy ordinance in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Zamboanga, Philippines, 2013. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011 - 2018 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/5f846d16b07cebe79f32b0e45a368b9e.tif 2de5aca49a45a8348cb1dcebbdcc8698 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Basic Training Description An account of the resource Toro posing with Andy Andersen at basic training at Fort Ord, California Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 30, 1967 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/fbcf4960aa752901686449e33cff8717.tif 155c9148bb02fd3ecd0a197a0c648fe8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tent in Cu Chi Description An account of the resource Toro and Corporal Roe in a tent in Cu Chi, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/a588aabe1d226388f4983ea8249f9758.tif d93b145d903fe6830646784328e9fa32 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Service delivery Description An account of the resource A service delivery truck to the mess hall in Cu Chi, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/5894ee2e456478b2e7e86e9f2361196c.tif ca6ed40adfd5448fa6a719e2377265aa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ammunition dump Description An account of the resource Toro posing at an ammunition dump during monsoon season in Cu Chi, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/a30d54045801a0c1837a2742d3be288a.tif fdab3f6b39663a46820747cbda9d5575 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Deploying to Can Tho, Vietnam Description An account of the resource Toro leaving Cu Chi and deploying to Can Tho, Vietnam on a U.S. Navy Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in Newport, Saigon, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/b4543b8b9ac018a53964a556750b00fe.tif f084653b48ee3a24975630c358b6e1e6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource U.S. Navy Landing Ship, Tank (LST) Description An account of the resource A U.S. Navy Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in Newport, Saigon, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/6b0e3bc3a4aece457f1d723baed53d26.tif 6cc59aead9a00cd648f1372d90658ed5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Deploying to Can Tho 2 Description An account of the resource Leaving Saigon and deploying to Can Tho on a U.S. Navy LST, Saigon, Vietnam Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource August, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/2438aa7f1badf5931265ad8b288486da.tif 29af91310fe939af5b45556c25df127e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living quarters Description An account of the resource Living quarters tents in Can Tho, Vietnam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/cbf1f1370ae73210fbb657ce6c80c217.tif 86c759e0d0b39f2ae6eb962f844f0014 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource U.S. Army Howitzer Description An account of the resource Toro posing with a U.S. Army Howitzer in Can Tho, Vietnam, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/1129569059db11422fc03bfa98cd9691.tif b32cfbcf58613dfe4fe5b7045bc2139c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource River patrol boat Description An account of the resource A U.S. Navy River Patrol boat on the Mekong River Delta Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August, 1968 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Ten photos related to the oral history of Albert F. Toro. Photograph #1 depicts Toro posing with Andy Andersen at basic training at Fort Ord, California, 1967. Photograph #2 depicts Toro and Corporal Roe in a tent in Cu Chi, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #3 depicts a service delivery truck to the mess hall in Cu Chi, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #4 depicts Toro posing at an ammunition dump during monsoon season in Cu Chi, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #5 depicts Toro leaving Cu Chi and deploying to Can Tho, Vietnam on a U.S. Navy Landing Ship, Tank (LST) in Newport, Saigon, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #6 depicts a U.S. Navy LST in Newport, Saigon, Vietnam, 1968 . Photograph #7 depicts leaving Saigon and deploying to Can Tho on a U.S. Navy LST, Saigon, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #8 depicts living quarters tents in Can Tho, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #9 depicts Toro posing with a U.S. Army Howitzer in Can Tho, Vietnam, 1968. Photograph #10 depicts a U.S. Navy River Patrol boat on the Mekong River Delta, 1968. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. Title A name given to the resource Toro, Albert F. Photographs, Various dates. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 - 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/d0b28741a345d770078a4154db960e5c.png bb87d77210cca849da18d59e81396a55 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource BeachamD_250px https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/d9cf5d974d272b03329628f0fffc2932.png 3e44c45674bdbece890894aea010dde0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource GalyeanT_250px