Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Abstract NA4193 Barbara Beal, interviewed by Amy L. Stevens, May 1, 2003, in Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine. Beal, age 56, talks about her service as an Army nurse in the Vietnam War; her family and friends’ reaction to her deployment; her anxiety prior to deployment; her training experiences; her preconceptions of the war vs. the reality; her emotional experience of the war; her typical day at the medevac hospital; the dangers of the job; her leisure time; socialization between...

Abstract

NA3203 Barbara Beal, interviewed by Laura Wheaton, November 14, 2001, in her home in Ellsworth, Maine. Beal talks about joining the Army Nurses Corps in 1970; being stationed in Hawaii; being sent to Vietnam where she served until 1972; her rank of Lieutenant. Text: 15 pp. transcript. Recording: mfc_na3203_c2304_01, mfc_na3203_c2304_02 (C 2304). Time: 01:06:45. Restrictions: None.

Abstract

NA3212 Bessie Fleetwood, interviewed by Elizabeth LaPierre, December 9, 2001, Kennebunkport Maine. Fleetwood talks about completing her basic training in Cedar Falls, Iowa; serving as a Yeoman First Class in the Vietnam War; being stationed in Endicott Rhode Island. Text: 18 pp. transcript. Recording: mfc_na3212_c2314_01, mfc_na3212_c2314_02 (C 2314). Time: 00:57:45. Restrictions: None.

Abstract NA3085 Beth Parks and Colonel Mary Cady, interviewed by Devida Kellogg, August 25, 2002. Parks and Cady, on the Veterans Panel, speak of their experiences in the military during the Vietnam War era; reasons for enlisting in the military; society’s reactions to the Vietnam War; propaganda, including “The Green Beret” by Robert Moore and “The Ballad of the Green Beret” by Staff Sergeant Barry Saddler; Beth’s experiences in a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital); Beth’s participation in...

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NA3236 Beth Parks, interviewed by Robin Arnold, November 8, 2001. Text: No transcript. Recording: mfc_na3236_c2343_01, mfc_na3236_c2343_02 (C 2343). Time: 01:12:49. Restrictions: None.

Abstract NA3328 Beth Parks, interviewed by Sarah Kneeland, February 16 and 23, 2005, Corea, Maine. Parks talks her experiences in the Vietnam War and how she dealt with it afterwards: reasons for becoming a nurse; training at D.C. General Hospital; volunteering as an officer in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC); Viet Cong tunnels underlying the base camp at Cu Chi; attacks against their camp; operating rooms in the MASH and evacuation hospitals; it was the peak of her career; army vs. civilian nursing;...

Abstract 1005 Betty Brown, interviewed by Rebekah Rawding, November 1, 1975, Paris Hill, Maine. Brown discusses the events and ideas of the mid-twentieth century; her childhood, including chores and religion; long-standing desire to be a nurse; her thoughts on marriage and the ideal man; rise of society’s ecological consciousness; growing popularity of health food; Nixon and the Watergate scandal; apathy towards government; music of her childhood and teenage years; “Hair” and men with long hair;...

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Papers comprised chiefly of letters Harold Bolstad sent to his sister Lois Kutscha and her husband Norman P. Kutscha during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was in Vietnam from August 1970 to May 1971. Included also is a short biography of Harold L. Bolstad, a photograph of him in the Marine Corps, and a newspaper clipping with a picture of him in Vietnam.

Abstract 1006 Cathy Murray, interviewed by Susan Stewart, November 9, 1975, Augusta, Maine. Murray talks about her childhood in the 1950s and 60s with a working mother and subsequently divorced parents; her job as a speech therapist; movies of the 1970s; her views on women’s liberation and gender roles; her ideal man; recollections of Kennedy’s assassination; view of the Vietnam War; Nixon, the Watergate scandal, and political corruption. Text: 31 pp. transcript plus 4 pp. catalog. Recording: T 1018...

Abstract NA3207 Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, June 19, 2001, at the CATS Library in Augusta, Maine. Donna talks about enlisting in 1966; training in California and going to Vietnam; serving in the military occupational specialty signals corps and as a soldier of the Women’s Army Corps. Text: 9 pp. transcript. Recording: mfc_na3207_c2308_01, mfc_na3207_c2308_02 (C 2308, CD 1057, CD 1058). Time: 01:20:59. RESTRICTED pending TK review by the Penobscot Historic Preservation...

Abstract NA4196 Donna Loring, interviewed by Mazie Hough and Carol Toner, June 19, 2001, in Augusta, Maine. Loring, age 53, talks about enlisting in the Army in the Vietnam War; her experiences of discrimination as a Native American in Maine; boarding school; taking an aptitude test after enlisting; basic training; her role as a member of the Signal Corps; the dangers of the job; rising through the ranks; the detachment of the Women’s Army Corps from the rest of the Army; women soldiers and weapons;...

Abstract NA3329 Edith Beauchamps, interviewed by Ryan Millett, February 17 and March 29, 2005, Holden, Maine. Beauchamps talks about working at Massachusetts General Hospital while attending Emmanuel College in Boston; nursing during the Polio epidemic; iron lungs; treating Polio sufferers; how nursing has changes over the years; why she enjoys being a nurse; satisfaction derived from her career; Bill Miller and his drugstore; challenges facing future nurses; nursing and technology; colleague...

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The papers are related to articles and columns written by Donald Richard Larrabee, a Washington correspondent.

Abstract NA3242 Phyllis Sprague, interviewed by Kristen Frey on November 14, 2001. Sprague was born in Newbury, Vermont in 1943. Sprague talks about joining the Army in 1961; a typical day in basic training and then working for the Army; experience as a medical officer in the Army; Sprague’s attitude toward the military and government becoming more patriotic after her service; way soldiers were welcomed home after Vietnam compared to the Gulf War; relationship between men and women in the military in...

Abstract 1012 Stephen “Steve” McGowan interviewed by Sara Treat, November 1, 1975, Orono, Maine. McGowan tells of his childhood and role of his stepmother; being laid off and its impacts; his experience in Vietnam as being better than many others; surplus of teachers in Maine; marijuana and how widespread its use was in the 1970s; Army control of media while in Vietnam and how that inhibited his understanding of the antiwar movement; and the women’s liberation movement and his objection to reverse...

Abstract 1015 Suzanne Thompson interviewed by Susan Simpson, November 22, 1975, Kenduskeag, Maine. Thompson talks about the events and issues of the 1950s to 1975; the advantages of growing up in a large family; why she wants only one child; learning IBM keypunch; C.B. radio as both a social and practical device; Kennedy’s assassination; Vietnam War; why the US is aiding other countries too much; women’s liberation and equal rights; television and violence; and her fascination with psychic...

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1013 Terry-Ann Lunt Aucoin, interviewed by Michele Byrnes for IDL 105, fall 1975, Bangor Community College, Maine. 38 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. and trans. Aucoin, director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, talks about her life and education; politics; Kennedy’s assassination; Kent State; Vietnam War; Nixon and Watergate; ERA; women in the job market. Text: brief catalog and transcript. Recording: T 1024 1 hour.

Abstract NA3238 Ursula Pritham, interviewed by Hillary Jackson, November 5, 2001. Pritham, who was born in New York City in 1955, talks about her background (Swiss); serving in the Army Nurse Core; serving stateside, in Germany, and in Korea; initial training; Vietnam; Gulf War; husband; typical day; toll on family; public support; funny moments; husband’s experiences in the military; his views of the military; travel; male/female relationships in the military; relationships among the women;...

Scope and Contents

Series of interviews by Davida Kellogg with Vietnam War veterans.

Scope and Contents

This is an arbitrary collection of accessions created in June 2014 to bring together interviews that deal with the Vietnam War. There are 65 series in NAFOH that deal with the Vietnam War, but only five series that belong soley to this collection.

Abstract The record group contains correspondence between University presidents and students serving in the military in World War I and World War II. Also, contains biographical information about each student killed in World War I. And lists of students and alumni who served in World War II, along with copies of the volume "University of Maine, World War II: In Memoriam" and biographical information used to compile this volume. A card file for those who were called or recalled to service in the...