1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/d486621eed2d8e481da1f550e65d82ff.pdf b2ddaa52638810e5b661550f8eda698a PDF Text Text Military Oral History Interview Transcript Jeremy Gilley Siler City, North Carolina 24 September 2011 JG: Jeremy Gilley JB: Jim Brewer JG: It is September 24, I'm here with Mr. Jim Brewer and I'm going to ask him a few questions. Mr. Brewer where were you born and raised at? JB: Born in Chatham County, Siler City, North Carolina. JG: When was that? JB: December 1936. JG: Did you have a history of military service in your family? JB: No, I did not. JG: Why and when did you decide you would join the military? JB: I was drafted. I was one of the last ones drafted. I was examined for the army on my 22nd birthday and was drafted three months later to the day. JG: How did that make you feel when all of that was going on? JB: Pleased, I was looking forward to it. I am a very strong patriot of the country and actually I was looking forward to it because it gave me an opportunity to see different parts of the country that I had never seen before. JG: Had you thought about enlisting before you got drafted? JB: No, I had not. JG: What experience was it going through basic training? JB: It was quite an experience. I loved it. We boarded the bus at Raleigh, North Carolina and went to Fort Jackson on March 19th of '59 or maybe on March 18. We were sworn in on March 19th at Fort Jackson. It was an incredible experience. I took basic training at Fort Jackson and then went to Fort Bragg for 13 weeks as a member of the 28th Field Artillery. We were one of the last units to go to Europe to replace the 92nd Field Artillery in Germany. They were out of Fort Sill, Oklahoma and we replaced them there, about 1,500 of us. Half of the company that I went through basic training with was in this company. 1 �JG: Did you have any special memories or any special story from basic training? JB: Great comradeship. You learn to look after each other. You learn to take care of each other. Really it taught me a lot of discipline and personally and I suspect that every well bodied and able person should be required to spend a certain length of time in the military. JG: Was that a combat deployment in Germany or was that… JB: We replaced that the 92nd Field Artillery. We were station in Germany about 75 miles from Frankfurt in the spring of 1960 when President Eisenhower and Khrushchev had their conference in New York. Khrushchev walked out on our president at that summit. We had been put on alert and I was on a survey team of 13 members. We put in field positions for howitzer 155 units and I was a surveyor for a survey team. We were sent to the…what was then the three meter strip dividing East and West Germany. JG: Ok. JB: We were on one side and they were on the other side and we were looking each other eye to eye. We were putting in gun positions not knowing was would take place after what had happened in New York. We were there for four days surveying and putting in positions. Never saw any combat, never saw any, nothing happened thank the Lord. But we were getting ready in case something did happen. JG: Right. JB: That was the closest experience that I had during my tenure. However, after I got discharged in '61, March of '61, we were put on alert again and some of my unit was called into active duty. I was fortunately not called. But I had made up my mind that if l had been called back, that I would probably have made a career out of the service. JG: Right, right. JB: Fortunately I was not called. JG: Was there a time when you were sitting there looking eye to eye when you thought it might break out right there? JB: When we were putting in all those gun positions at that time the border between East and West Germany…east of Berlin, just out of Berlin was just a three meter strip that was plowed and that was the border. That was before the wall, before anything else. They were, the East and West was facing each other across that three meter strip. It was never that close but it was just in preparation in case something did happen. JG: Was there any ever any communication back and forth between the two sides? Any hand gestures or a wave or anything like that? 2 �JB: They waived, we waived. We saw them and they saw us military dressed ready for anything that might happen. But we were doing our job and they were doing theirs. There was never any close confrontation or anything like that. JG: No Christmas Day thing like you hear about? JB: No. JG: No. So I assume your unit didn't suffer and casualties or injuries as a result of anything? JB: We did not, our unit did not. Now later on in late 1960 my survey group of 13 men was sent to Gratenau, Germany to test firing a battery. That was field training in Gratenau. When we got there, shortly after we knew something had happened but we didn't know what. The unit that we were going to test with was practice firing and they overshot the safety range and there were several casualties. The round actually hit in a tent city and there were several casualties. Of course we tested that battalion later on, I never did know the results and never did know that much about what happened. But I did know that within 24 hours there was the most brass I had ever seen in my military experience in Gratenau, Germany. This was a training place for a number of artillery outfits along with cavalry and others too. That was the training site in that part of Germany. That was the only time I saw any, and I really didn't' see that but I just heard about it but it was at the same location that I was in. That was the closet we came to having any catastrophe that was even close to combat or anything else. I just thank the Lord that I was very fortunate. My age allowed me to be too young for the Korean Conflict and of course I was already out when 'Nam came about. So I was in the little window between the two skirmished you could say. JG: Now, you say you were artillery. What sort of weaponry were you dealing with? JB: Our unit was a 155 outfit, self-propelled. I was in the HQ battery on a type of survey party that put in the gun positions for the firing batteries. We had three batteries. A,B,C, and there were about 1500 of us total in the HQ and the three firing batteries. We were in Germany and I was there 18 months, almost 19months. Some of the guys that had more time were there a little longer. But it was one of my best experiences I spent of the 19 months that I was in Europe in my military career. Probably five months was spent in the field. Not consecutively but our job was to put in roads and gun positions and things of that nature. So we were surveying all the time and wherever we finished the day we spent the night there and started the next morning. It was good duty. Cold in the winter time but we made it through and it was quite an experience for me. JG: Did you ever receive any kinds of citations, awards or medals? JB: Good Conduct and that was all. Of course, I had two promotions, came out as an E4, corporal E4, Specialist E4, equivalent to a corporal. Met with a number of people about extending my career but I did not, I choose to come home, and I did. Came home and was discharged on the 10th of March out of Fort Hamilton, New York. 3 �JG: Was that basically because you wanted to be back at home? Did you miss being back at home? JB: Well, I had a good time in service; saw a lot of country that I had never had an opportunity to see before. Early on, one of the good things in my military service was this; I knew early on that we were going to Germany. When we had basic training and went to Fort Bragg for second twelve we were told then that we would be shipped to Germany. They almost told us the date within a few weeks of when we would be going. Our plans were laid out so I knew early on that we were going to Germany and that floored me because I wanted to see that part of the world. In fact, I did not take any leave time except right after basic because I wanted to save it until I got over there. When we got to Germany I had a critical MOS (military occupational specialty) and was not able to take all of my leave time. In fact I got paid for 27 days of leave time that I couldn't take. But while I was there I saw seven countries and had a great time. It was the finest time of my life. I went over there as a Christian and I came back as a Christian and had a wonderful tour of duty. Had a lot of buddies that I had to take care of, but that was Okay. In fact we did one thing that was against seventh army regulation that we were unaware of at the time. Myself and two of my best buddies actually purchased a car from a GI that was coming back to the states. We bought a 1951 Mercedes that he had bought and owned. He was a master sergeant and was being transferred back. We did not know that it was against eleven army regulations to have co-ownership of a vehicle. I was the only one that had military license, a license to drive. I was the only one that could drive but the commanding officer found out that it was co-ownership and after about five months we had to dispose of the car, which was okay. We had planned to come home and bring it with us. We were going to ship it home and drive it home. But we had a lot of fun while we had it. Traveled in a lot of areas that I would not have gone before otherwise. My military experience was rewarding and also fun, we had a lot of fun; a lot of good times even though it was stressful at times. JG: Was there anything we didn't talk about you’d like to speak of or any kind of closing remarks or anything like that? JB: The thing I'd like to say Jeremy is this…I was discharged on March 10, 1961. At that time you brought your duffle bag with you because you had to for your service. Two years active, two years inactive, two years active-reserve, or two years inactive. My duffle bag is still packed, I'm 74 years old now, and if l was needed I'd be the first one to go today to do whatever I could do. I'm a very strong believer in our military and today it’s certainly not needed. The things that I did are not needed today because of the technology. The things they can do today we couldn’t do then. For instance, our 155 rounds…we had coordinates. We had field observers and all of the good stuff to make sure we had, and that was a part of the surveying job that we had to do, that the rounds were landing where we told them they were going to land. Today, today they can put them in a window 50 miles away. That's the difference in the technology today. We'd have firing observers to ensure that the work was done correctly and that it produced the results that were needed for the mission that may have been going on at that time. 4 �JG: Now it's the real-time satellite pictures and they know everything. JB: Now it's totally different and it amazes me the things that they can do today. We have the best army in the world and the best-equipped army in the world and the most intelligence that you can have in a combat situation. Wars today would not be fought the way they were years ago. Now, you'll always have to have the ground soldier. I believe that very firmly, but their role is tremendously different today then it was 50 years ago when I was in. JG: Right. JB: And even different when I was in than it was in World War I and World War II because we've seen pictures and we’ve seen movies, and we've seen military films on what they had to endure during that time, that would not be necessary today. The technique would not be necessary today. It's amazing what the technology has done and the places that, the improvement in military strength, power, and equipment in the past 40-50 years. If l had to, you asked earlier for an experience, our second 12 weeks of training at Fort Bragg was quite an experience. The 28th Field Artillery, the unit I was in, 1,500 strong was temporarily placed on “Snow Bomb Hill,” facing the main street that leads up the hill there. To our immediate right was the 82nd Airborne, to our immediate left was the 18th Airborne, directly behind us, the barracks behinds us, was the 77th Special Forces. So there we were "feather legs," as we were know to the airborne people and the Special Forces people because we didn’t jump out of planes you know. They gave us a hard time, they harassed us the entire 12 weeks, but that was okay. They did what they needed to do and we did what we needed to do. Listen, if they jump out of a plane fine, I don't want any part of it. JG: I'm with you there. JB: We had a lot of harassment during them time, but that was fun also. We lived with, we enjoyed it, and listened to it and that was it. Their training was certainly different than ours of course they were already mature soldiers at the time, airborne and Special Forces and the Special Forces training is unreal. We had 13 weeks of harassment, but it was fun. JG: Well sir, I thank you for the opportunity to interview you for this project. JB: Jeremy I enjoyed it, thanks a lot. It's brought back memories of 50 years ago, 51 years ago now, that I hadn't thought of. I will say this, I've still got, and I communicate today with several people, buddies of mine that were in the service. We communicate via email, phone calls and things of that nature. And you build relationships in service that you never build anywhere else and you never forget it. I may forget my social security number, but I'll never forget my serial number. JG: Right. JB: Those are the things that stand out to me. I got to tell you, I'm proud of being a part of the military. I'm proud of the training that I got. I may have agreed with it then, but I do today. Our 5 �military is second to none, I really believe that. It hurts me to see people in government, officials in government, talk negatively regarding our military, reducing the spending and things of that nature because they are, the men and women that serve today. Even though it's all-volunteer, I served in a drafted army. Today it's all-volunteer, and I can say, and you can say, yes they didn't have to go, they asked for it. But they are on the front line protecting us today from an enemy that is tougher to face today than it was even when I was in. Today they have one motive in mind, and that's to destroy us. We've got to make sure that we do the things that necessary to protect out country, and our nation, and our people, and to not allow us to be faced with war in this country. JG: Right JB: Hopefully there's no war anywhere but they are dong a great job and should be commended for it. Just this past week I was in a place of business and there was a service man in uniform, and I walked up to him and shook his hand and thanked him for what he did. Don't know what he was in, think he was a National Guardsman, but his role is important too. I am very very proud to have been in the military and to have served my country in any way that I could JG: Again, I thank you for letting me do this. JB: Glad to do it. 6 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/64823e732a5ee7842d5ef4df2d87a859.mp3 aea626d8a79c7d0c94da9b62ef832ebc 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 Appalachian State University American Military History Course Veterans Oral History Project Description An account of the resource Each semester, the students of the American Military History Course at Appalachian State University conduct interviews with military veterans and record their military experiences in order to create an archive of oral history interviews that are publicly accessible to researchers. The oral histories are permanently available in the Appalachian State University Special Collections. The project is supervised by Dr. Judkin Browning, Associate Professor of History at Appalachian State University and all interviews are transcribed by the student interviewers. Copyright Notice: Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project’s audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, University Archives and Records, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Gilley, Jeremy Interview Date 9/24/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:22:31 Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. 6 pages 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 Interview with Jim Brewer, 24 September 2011 Description An account of the resource Jim Brewer, interviewed by Jeremy Gilley, was born in Siler City, North Carolina in December 1936. He was drafted into the Army in 1959, took his training at Fort Jackson, and served in the 28th Field Artillery. In the interview he discusses his deployment in Germany, his job duties in artillery, and how technology has changed the military. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the Veterans Oral History Project's audio and transcripts is held by Appalachian State University. These materials are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Veterans Oral History Project, Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Subject The topic of the resource Brewer, Jim Veterans United States Interviews Language A language of the resource English 28th Field Artiller Germany Jim Brewer Siler City North Carolina United States Army