1 50 3 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/7b64d54795133a68bf9a1048f24a75a0.pdf f829a20d40985f1fd30335bd18e724a7 PDF Text Text Transcription Veteran Interview: Daniel P. Elliott Interviewer: My name is Brendan Elliott from Dr. Browning's Fall 2012 American Military History class. And today I'm here interviewing my grandfather, Dan Elliott. So, let's start out with our first question: During the conflict that you were involved in, where were you living [pause] at the time? Interviewee: Well I […um...] was one of the young, younger people in, in the, at that time and about I turned eighteen…in 1943, in August, and so consequently I signed up for the Draft, had to sign up for the Draft at that point, and then living in Shreveport with my parents. I had just dropped out of college because I found it to be kind of disturbing situation to try and study and have all the people going, coming and going; that sort of thing. Interviewer: Um, and so were you drafted or did you enlist? And how old were you? Interviewee: Well as I said I was eighteen years old, and I had tried to enlist in the Navy, but I had the problem of [...] near sightedness and color blindness..and uh the, the recruiter said that he would promise me that I could stay in a, in a recruiting station in Kansas, just to make sure the, that the Navy was safe with me and my eyes, and so consequently I, I decide not to get in the Navy and waited for the Draft to take place, which happened in [stutters while collecting thought] the middle of October, late of October of [nineteen] fourty three. Interviewer: And why did you want to join…the military? Interviewee: I, I didn't really want to join, but by the same token, uh, I, when I was drafted I was drafted [pause] and we all knew that the threat of what [stutters while collecting thought] the Nazis were such that the [again stutters while collecting thought] it took an effort from everybody to try to get, uh, do something to stop this, what they were doing because they were relatively inhuman and they were doing things that you wouldn't believe could be don…people would do to each other, and so, logical on that basis if you thought about it, you needed to do something to stop the Nazis and really what reason joined [interviewer: mhm] Interviewer: Um, and why did you pick the service branch you joined? You said originally you wanted to join the Navy, then, you were drafted into the Army. Why did you want to go to the Navy in the first place? Interviewee: I, having been a sailor all my life to that point, I just, I, I had a love of the sea, and so consequently I, that was my reason for trying but uh, when that happened, didn't happen, well the Army was my next choice because I couldn't fly, because of my eyes and I didn't really want to be a m…You'd say a ground man for the Air Force, so I took the Army. Interviewer: Um, can you describe any of your training or boot camp experiences? Interviewee: Well, you know [clears throat] was, we were [pause] in the um […] the boot camp experiences…One of the, one of the first things they did was they took you on a, on a [stutters while collecting thought] a real long hike [chuckles] at night and so that you, you really got very, very um [stutters while collecting thought] matter of fact [pauses] probably twenty percent of them dropped out. I didn't drop out, I, I got a little sick, but I [interviewer: mhm] stayed with it. And, and seemed to make out alright with that, but then most of the training was drilling and, and learning what the Army was about and �learning, learning the other, uh shooting, and learning how to handle the gun, just […] take them apart, that sort of thing. And it, it was a [pause] probably a six…three to six months period. The one, the one experience I had, of course having gotten in the Army in October, late October we ended up getting up in Oregon and uh [pauses while collecting thought] Christmas came. And um, I, I had the privilege of kitchen duty [translation from context] on Christmas day. And I got to wash dishes, for EVER [chuckles]. [Stutters] And I always remember the mess, mess sergeant, he was a pretty nice guy and he came over and helped me wash. And the reason I had to do that […] because of the guy who was supposed to be on KP went AWOL to go home to see, wherever he lived was relatively local so […] and he came back, but he had been home for Christmas [interviewer: mhm] but I was in Oregon and not Louisiana [chuckles] for Christmas. Interviewer: And which wars did you serve in? Interviewee: Well, I, I only, the service I did was World War Two. Interviewer: And where exactly did you go? Interviewee: Well, [clears throat] let me just tell you, a little bit we did before we went overseas. Because actually, [clears throat] as we um [pauses] got through with the training at Camp White we went to Camp Housen, Texas; which was just above, above Dallas and […] while there, they sent us, they sent a group of us out to do machine gun [...] aircraft [pauses to collect thought] shooting, trying to shoot down aircraft from a truck, uh fifty [.50] caliber machine gun, and so [stutters to collect thought] that was out of El Paso, Texas and we found out what a dust storms were. Because [stutters while collecting thought] sand would start blowing around there and you had to clean the gun before you could even shoot [interviewer: mhm]. Then from there we went to West Virginia; up and around the Elkins, West Virginia there's a great big National Forest there and they were using it for training areas and in there I had the opportunity to become a mountain climber trainee and we went up and trained for about a week or ten days being instructed on how to climb mountains in case we went to Italy where mountains were; [Interviewer: mhm] we didn't do that. But then, from there we went over to um […flips through notes] Camp Picket in Virginia and learned about build…bridge building and which was part of our combat engineering training and [pauses to collect thought] it was on the Susquehanna River I believe is what the name of the river did all that. At that place we knew we were getting close because they gave us a [order] to go home and tell everybody goodbye. And from there we went to New York […] to Fort Slocum which was just off of New Rochelle and […] we did get to go into town to visit New York City a little bit, but I didn't get to go see my brother who was in Staten Island at that point. He was working for a ship yard. And actually, we left New York on the twenty-second of October, on this converted Italian luxury liner, the Saturnia and we were in a convoy that took eleven days to go across the Atlantic, and we ended up in South Hampton [United Kingdom] then we went to Delamere Park which was near North Hampton and where we were stationed for the time being but we had been moving around over England to open several replacement camps and old camps so that replacement troops could be taken care of when they came in for the second invasion of England with these replacement troops. […] We left England, Christmas week, 1944, and we [clears throat] didn't, didn't know whether we were gonna go to the, to the remaining of The Bulge [Battle of the Bulge] which was up around Bastogne or where we were going, but we finally when we got into Le Havre, they sent us out to a plowed field where we spent about two or three days waiting for the trucks to take us up. And we went to the Maginot Lines [clears throat] and we stayed there two or three days and then we went on up to Bouzonville, France which was near Saarbrücken [Germany] where we spent time trying to reinforce […] the area, because there was a rumor that the Germans might, when stopped at The Bulge, they might come around […] that area, so we, we put out […] demolition for, for bridges and trees and such in case they came we could blow up things and stop them from moving very much. And while we were there, I was transferred […] I was in the 187th �Engineers at that point, and while I was there they, I was transferred to the 44th combat engineering battalion, which had been decimated by the Germans during The Bulge. And so, at that point, I moved over to Bastogne which was where they, they were stationed out of […] The Bulge had been stopped [Interviewer: mhm] and were moving things, started moving up. [Takes pause to catch breath and collect thoughts] There was a great push from Bastogne to um, by the Americans to recoup, Americans and the British and the others recoup, the ground, so we did everything we could to keep supplies moving, on the front, maintaining roads and bringing up time, every time we moved up, up with the troops and we moved North through Aachen [Germany] and into Cologne [Germany] then to Koblenz [Germany]. When we got to Koblenz that was where the Moselle River came in and met the Rhine River. It was across river, we, we were able to, at point, we had, having all the trucks and vehicles we had, we went down and confiscated a few cases of wine so that we could have a taste of the good German wine that they, we had heard about [Interviewer: mhm] in the old days. Then uh, [skimming through notes] from there we, we traveled over several […] towns, Frankfurt [Germany], and Kassel [Germany], and then finally at the end…the war ended, we were in Plowen [Germany], which was right at the edge of Czechoslovakia, which is East Germany so to speak [Interviewer: mhm]. And that's kinda where we, where we stopped, and we stayed there for uh, until the Russians came, […] the Russians came over to take over that area [Interviewer: mhm] which was, that was part of the agreement put in […] at the end of the war; they were going to get East Germany so to speak. Interviewer: Um, and so you've mentioned a little bit about combat engineering, but um, so next question would be what is your job or your assignment […] as a combat engineer? Interviewee: Well I, I was actually enlisted as a, to start with as an electrician […] then uh finally I got to be, I mean I got transferred [...] the captain picked me out, saw that I was a…He was a construction […] man and he had some kind of building business back in the States. And he saw that as an engineer he thought may I, we would be compatible so consequently we, we got together and I ended up being his driver…but they had me listed as a clerk typist [chuckles] and just so that because of the way, the way the rules were…I guess [Interviewer: mhm]. So anyway, they, they […] we never did really do anything that except build odds and ends of things and we…mostly just taking care of roads, troops, and trying to make sure everybody was safe where they were as combat engineers. […] While we were going across uh, Germany, there, we hit one spot which was close to where the Remagen Bridge was still standing. The Germans had actually demolished all the crossing spots for, over the Rhine river, except somehow or another they had missed this one and we, we anticipated…the Army anticipated that, that sooner or later, they were going to try and blow it up somehow or another, which with the cannon shots or what have you. But, so what we, what we as engineers had to do was to go up the river about fifteen miles and build a pontoon bridge across the Rhine River. It took about three […] battalions of pontoon companies, or three companies that brought pontoons to get the, enough pontoons to go across and we had the grading that sat on top of the um […] pontoons and that […] it took about a day and a half to build all this, and our two couple of days, and it was kind of under fire [Interviewer: mhm] and there was, there was always a smoke screen being generated so people couldn't see, so people couldn't see what was going on and if you sat there in a truck, or so along the this track, these tanks would come along and they couldn't see where they were going [chuckles] and we couldn't see where they were going either, so you always were nervous about where, if you were safe to be around there because of the traffic that was going on. [Interviewer: mhm] And it was, that was, I guess that was the biggest that thing we did in the whole, in our, our, my part of the war because it, that, that uh, whole number of troops and vehicles go across the Rhine [River] safely where they, on this bridge [Interviewer: mhm]. �Interviewer: So you said you were kind of under fire, did, did you, during the building of this bridge. Did you see any combat at, during this time or at any other point during your service? Interviewee: Well [clears throat] um […] I, I really never did have anybody just, I was never was in a fox hole or never was in, in that, that kind of situation where it was man to man or what have you [Interviewer: mhm] but most days it was cannon fire or one time we had machine guns somewhere, somebody was running a machine gun at, at the road we were going across and we had to do something about that…but generally speaking we, we never did have direct fire on our operations. [Interviewer: okay] But sometimes we were in front of the troops, sometimes we were in the back of the troops and sometimes […] it was just…there was a […] at that point, there was a great deal of disorder in the Germans so that you, they didn't know exactly what they were supposed to do or how they were supposed to do it so consequently we, we could be in a place which was front of the troops, but, they, they, there won't be many troops, many German troops around, to um […] to harass us or to fight with us I guess. Interviewer: Um, were you awarded any medals, citations or anything similar during your service? Interviewee: [Reviewing notes] They uh, the medals that I, that I received, were the European [the uh] Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal; nothing specific. Thank goodness I didn't ever have to have a Purple Heart [Interviewer: mhm]…It just didn't happen […] in our […] place. Interviewer: Um, during the time of service when you were overseas, how did, did you stay in touch with your family? Uh, and how did you do that? Interviewee: Well […] directly everything was by correspondence and [Interviewer: mhm] […] we had…I'll say, semi-reasonable […] mail service. Sometimes, matter of fact, we had better mail service than we had water service…go a month without a shower [chuckles; Interviewer: mhm] a lot of the time, but, but they mail service…somehow or another, they, they managed to get the mail, […] to us at some point. We didn't, I guess you didn't really think about it all that much except […] we knew they were alright so, [Interviewer: yeah] so that was not our, our concern, would have been our concern…but they were fine. [Interviewer: Alright]. Interviewer: Um, during the, the more difficult or stressful days that you had during your service, was there anything special you did for good luck or to, uh, motivate yourself? Interviewee: Well, [Reviewing notes] What they […] all of us kind of […] passively, got in touch with God occasionally because we just, we […] somebody's gotta be looking out for you [Interviewer: mhm] and I think, and you don't think about it very much as you do it because we didn't see very many um, didn't see very many […] services […] church services by any means […] there were a few and so, you were very pleased to be a part, part of it if you were there somewhere. […] I guess really […] in my case, the, the stress was not really that much that you really got hung up on it [Interviewer: mhm] you got…on occasion you got frightened but by the same token it would pass very quickly in, in our case. Interviewer: Um […] what did you think of your fellow officers and…your officers, and fellow soldiers in your…element? Interviewee: As I, as I went in as a trainee, was to start with, we had a, a quadruple…people who had been in Alaska for two years […] and came back and there they, they were the cadre who formed the 187th [Engineers] and they, they were, they were princes…they had, they had been through it all, they had, they knew what to do…and they, […] they didn't make it easy, but they, they knew how to handle…the things �because of the, what the discipline they had had and when I transferred into the other outfit, well they, they […] they were at peace; we were all in it together, and most of us weren't, weren't uh, profession soldiers. There were a few scattered among, but uh, […] we were all just there to try to do what we had to do and, and survive really. And I don’t know, I don't ever remember there being any real antagonism between any of the people, one way or the other. And the officers, were…they were, I'll say, very, relatively decent people to, to have to deal with us [Interviewer: mhm] and, we didn't have any real complaints. Interviewer: Okay. Um, and what was one of the more interesting or memorable experiences you had during your service? Interviewee: Well, that's, as I told you before […] the building that Remagen Bridge, replacement [Interviewer: mhm] the pontoon bridge, that was, that was a […] that to me was the outstanding thing. A matter of fact, it's kind of interesting with that […] back here in the states in this day in time…a friend of mine, […] that was ill and we were sitting there talking and he sai…I told him about…he was over in Europe too and he was with a photography group that took pictures of things happening for the record…and I told him about building this pontoon bridge, he said "I've got a picture of the pontoon bridge" [chuckles]. And so he dug it out and uh, sure enough it was, it was, it looked like the one we had [Interviewer: mhm] couldn't be positive, but it was a pontoon bridge. And […] so it happened that uh, […] we talked about it [stutters while collecting thought] and he actually…his pilot, that he, he worked as a mechanic on the plane [Interviewer: mhm] that took pictures. And the pilot, came down to visit him in Brevard, where we are. And so they, he said, "would like you to meet the pilot…" [chuckles] "…who took the pictures." And uh, so I got him to autograph the picture that I [chuckles]. Which was kind of an interesting thing to have happen to, something […] which was [Interviewer: small world] a long time ago. [Chuckles] [Interviewer: yeah]. Interviewer: Um, do you recall the day when your service ended? Um, where were you? And do you know how long, you, were overseas for? Interviewee: They uh […] January the 26th, 1946 was when I was discharged. And I was at Camp Shelby, Mississippi near Hattiesburg [Mississippi]. And I had been in it for two years and three months. And um…they […] I had been back in the States for about three or four months before I was discharged; I came back in the fall of that year and just […] by circumstance. [Interviewer: mhm] And the thing that happened, with me, the 44th Engineer, Combat Engineer went, came…when the war was over, in Germany, they sent us down to Marseille…and they, they dis, disbanded the group […] and I was on the, in the […] ordinance group that was scheduled to go to Japan [Interviewer: mhm]. [Clears throat] And uh, we were up in this holding area waiting for the ships to come in that were going to take us to Japan to land aboard there; from what we know…and what happened was that President Truman ordered the Atomic Bombs to be dropped on Japan, and uh, first thing you know, the war was over with [Interviewer: mhm]. And the, after the second bomb, the, the Emperor declared […] surrender…[Interviewer: mhm] total surrender. And so consequently we, we were sitting up there and just happened that four days before…four days later we were supposed to get on the ship. So consequently, instead of trying to disperse us, redisperse us into Europe, they, they just went ahead and sent us home [Interviewer: okay]. And so I got home a lot sooner [chuckles] than a lot of my friends who were over, still over in Europe. And, but we got home in the fall of [19]46. Spent the time there and, and then I had to go, I had to stay in the Service because I didn't have, didn't have enough points to get out yet [Interviewer: okay] and so consequently, that's why I ended up in Camp Shelby, Mississippi for about two, three, or four months. [Interview: okay] Interviewer: Um, did you make any close friends while you were in the Service? �Interviewee: At this point [chuckles] uh, um, what…how long ago…it's been so long ago that, [Interviewer: mhm] yes, we had, we had, we had a lot, very…you know you'd have your two or three guys that you really liked being with or work with what have you…and uh, stayed in touch after the war for…I'd say several years and then you saw that you'd, you're not gonna ever get together again [Interviewer: mhm] so, something…so consequently, they, you kind of dropped, dropped the friends over the time […] of course, you're creating new friends so [Interviewer: yeah], in your businesses and what have you that you've done. Interviewer: Alright, Um, and when you got back, did you go to work, or did you go back to school? Interviewee: When I first got back, I, I really kind of did a little bit […] retraining about things but, […] I ended up working as a rodman for a surveyor…a one person surveyor. And I worked in that for about six months and then, he worked me hard enough that I decided that I really needed to go back to school [Interviewer: mhm] and so that's why that, that fall, I went, started back to college from where I had been before. And then […] the next three years I guess, was taken up with college and I graduated from there in June of [19]49 with a mechanical engineering degree. [Interviewer: okay] Interviewer: Um, and, the next question would be: what did you go on to do as a career after the war? Interviewee: Well, I went up to become a sale, manufacture's rep with my brother, but there was a problem with my doing that in Baltimore [Maryland] and so consequently I ended up getting a job with the Baltimore Gas Electric Company for about a year and a half. While I was doing that, I met some people that worked for W.R. Grace Chemicals and this was chemicals, phosphate chemicals, chemical fertilizer company and also silicone gel. And, and they asked me to come work for them as a project engineer. And I stayed there for about ten years, but then I finally ended up in Florida with them; working in the phosphate mines. Then I decided […] One of the people I met, suggested maybe I would enjoy being with a consultant engineering group, in Atlanta [Georgia]. And so I applied and uh, went to [pause] H.A. Simons, Simons Eastern Company [Interviewer: mhm] in Atlanta, Georgia and stayed there thirty-four years. I enjoyed being project engineer, project manager, […] and chief estimator for the company. [Interviewer: mhm] Interviewer: Um, did your military influe[nce]…experience influence your thinking about war as a whole, or the military in general? Interviewee: Well, my personal opinion: war is not good, but there are people not satisfied with their own lot in life and they want to take away our freedom because of their lack of ability [Interviewer: mhm] in their country. And someone has to repel these crack pots, as I'll call them, and our armed forces are working hard to let us maintain our existence. And they should be given great credit and support. And the politics of maintaining a world order is very, a very complex situation between the haves and have nots. Unfortunately, the situation we have with, between the UN and the rest of the world…all the things we try to do […] make it difficult to live […] make it difficult for us to live In peace [Interviewer: mhm]…which we haven't had for a long time at this point. [Interviewer: yeah] Interviewer: Um, well I don't have any other questions. Is there anything you would like to add about, before your experience, military service, during or after? Interviewee: Well, I think, one of the things…with having graduating high school at the age of sixteen and then going into the Service at eighteen, gave me an opportunity to grow up and understand things a little bit better. And I found out that having a degree and having an education does make a difference in the way �that you live, and think and consequently, I that's why I went back to college…was to do that. And I'm pleased that I got, had enough brains to take advantage of it. Interviewer: Alright, well thank you…for answering these questions and doing this interview with me. Interviewee: It's my pleasure. Say thank you for letting me, asking me to give you my experiences because it gave me a chance to relive it a little bit and refresh my memory. And it […] I had to look up a couple of things on my atlas [chuckles] some names that I had pointed, had thought about and hadn't done anything with in a long time. Thank you very much. Interviewer: You're welcome. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/00b8a1910d2811951a9bd940d663e9ba.mp3 a3e39bbe1b990699cf3ea035f89aca13 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. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Elliott, Daniel P. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Elliott, Brendan Interview Date 10/15/12 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:33:51 File name 2013_063_Elliott_Daniel_interview 2013_063_Elliott_DanielP_transcript 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 Daniel P. Elliott, undated Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elliott, Brendan Elliott, Daniel P. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> 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. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 7 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Elliott, Daniel P. World War, 1939-1945 Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Daniel Elliott is a WWII veteran who served for almost 3 years as a combat engineer. He says his biggest accomplishment was helping to build a pontoon bridge over the Rhine River so that American troops and vehicles could pass safely. He was released from duty a bit earlier after the Japanese were bombed and the war ended. He went on to study mechanical engineering and worked as a surveyor. army Battle of the Bulge Camp Shelby combat engineer Daniel Elliott Nazi Rhine River pontoon bridge WWII https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/092b880557fe9ec2060a3e1b140b4bb2.pdf 93c92ff7a2e4972d895e697a35ebdeff PDF Text Text Transcript of Oral History Interview with Clyde Badger October 07, 2012 Asheville, NC Ryan Blackmon: This is Ryan Blackmon. Clyde Badger: And I’m Clyde Badger. Blackmon: And if you don’t mind… can you state your… highest rank you achieved while you were in the Army? Badger: (Does not respond unable to hear) Blackmon: Can you state your highest rank you achieved while you were in the Army? Badger: I’m still not understanding…what you’re saying. Excuse me. I’m sorry. Blackmon: That’s fine... Do you remember your highest rank that you achieved in the Army? Badger: Oh…Highest rank…that I had while I was in the Army…I was Staff Sergeant. Blackmon: Ok. Badger: And I was in… the Combat Engineer… Company and we…essentially worked…we did…we built bridges and…and roads and repaired them you know… and… I… we did this in Hawaii before we…of course…we had combat in Hawaii. But we went from there to…Guadalcanal. And…just…hit sort of a very rough island with undergrowth…under all the…palm trees…and…so we would sort of clean the undergrowth off and… make sure that there…the roads were safe for a big truck. Dual wheels you know. So that…it’d be safe for us to…to start building roads…and…could bring…a lot of heavy equipment in off the ships. Of course right away the… it took a while before the…the land was ours you know. We’d landed…Japanese were…still shooting at us. (Laughs). Blackmon: (Laughs) And if…if you don’t mind, can you tell me a little bit about how you came to join the Army? Badger: Well…really…I had…had… started Oklahoma State University and I ran out of money. (Laughs). So… I joined the Army. The Army recruiter…was hanging around…campus and… he said you ought to go with us…Ft. Bliss Texas. I said heavens no. (Laughs). It was…Ft. Bliss was hot as…almost as hot as you could get in the United States. And…he said well…we got a place in Hawaii. I said I’m gone…sign me up and…and I… was signed up for a Combat Engineer outfit. And that’s what we �did. We built roads and…and bridges and it was an interesting work…and it was…an interesting place. Blackmon: Now can you tell me some about what your training was like? Your initial basic training or job training that you did? Badger: …well… now really I didn’t have any special training. Like I said we built roads and bridges and that’s manual labor. (Laughs). Really…really…you very much labor. But…they…folks would take us out on work details and I got to know what it was to handle a…a shovel and shovel dirt and material and then we did some construction work and… we repaired roads and bridges and that was interesting work so…that was my main job. And this was in…I was in Hawaii…before the Japanese dropped the bomb. Afterwards we knew that we had…some real work to do. We went into combat. And then we were going to have to build bridges that would get truck and men…truck loads of men from one place to the other. And…and their equipment and materials, their guns. That was my job. Blackmon: Ok Badger: And I was a sergeant in a…in a combat engineer outfit. We called ourselves a Combat Engineer ‘cause we did road work, or whatever work the Army wanted us to do but, we also carried a gun and would use ‘em. Blackmon: Ok Badger: And was taught to use ‘em. Blackmon: Now can you tell me about...that morning at Pearl Harbor while you were there? Badger: Well...it’s sort of disappointing. (Laughs). Sort of disappointing. Blackmon: That’s Ok. Badger: I had been in the army…for two years and was ready to come back home. December the first I was scheduled to come back to the United States and of course…the seventh they tore us up. So…our…now your question…I lost your question. Blackmon: That’s ok. I was just asking you…what was it like that morning? The morning of the attack. Badger: That…That morning was…we had to get all of our equipment that we used to…to…build bridges and do repair work…we had to get it ready and then move it out. Move away from the...we…we had long…usually sort of like…lets see here down where they have all the trucks under shelter, over we had all of our…our trucks and jeeps and pick ups….Log bearing, we had to get this, all of this stuff ready to…to do the Army’s orders whatever they asked us to do. This was in Hawaii and…we…started preparing immediately to go as a division. I was in the 25th �Division. And so we went as a division down to the South Pacific and went to Boganville and Guadalcanal and some of the…the other, rough places down there. Blackmon: Sir, can you also tell me about some of your experiences on Guadalcanal? Badger: …Well it was…it wasn’t…it wasn’t…I’m trying to see, I think I had a…Almost all of our time on there was…we started out landing and getting our equipment in there, and then finding out where we needed a road where the…the Army needed a road. Where we needed to get from…from a beach to a, a location on the island and build some…some roads. We had some road equip…bulldozers and what have you to build the…repair the roads and build roads. Blackmon: Now was there any special job that was given to your unit specifically? Badger: …Nothing…nothing…that would have any roses around it. (Laughs). Yeah…we…we were…mainly…they…they…had…we didn’t...didn’t finish all the jobs we got. (Laughs). We…we had…as I say…when…when we got on the island, then we had to be sure that all of our equipment, all the Army’s equipment, could move to where…we could do…do whatever they wanted us to do. Blackmon: Yes sir. Can you tell me anything about the…what the conditions were like on Guadalcanal? Badger: Well, when we first landed…it was, our conditions were pretty rough cause, no matter where we moved we got shot at. (Laughs). So…you…you learned…you learned how to keep your head down…while we were doing work and, but we, …always if the Army gave us a job, there was no excuses. You had to…go ahead and do the job that they gave us. Blackmon: Yes sir. Badger: But they were not unreasonable. They gave us jobs that were tough, but they were not…not, not unreasonable. Blackmon: Yes sir. Now, what do you think was the most valuable skill set or…you know…task that you learned while you were serving in the Army? Badger: I don’t…know what…the valuable…but…course I had, I had never, I had done farm work but…working under orders to…to…build something was new…was a new experience for me. And…And we didn’t have…we didn’t have a good su…lumber yard to go to. We didn’t…you know…we had to makeshift equipment…to…get a job done. And we cut…you know…cut down trees and remember the trees on those islands were mainly pine…palm trees. So they’re not the strongest, wood you know. But…no matter what we…they…any job that they gave us…we go that job done. They…we had…a good group…we had…something I’ll tell you. All of our officers in that Combat Engineer outfit…all of our officers were from the…the top of their class at West Poin…West Point. The engineering �officers…the…and so…they were real smart…real…reliable people to get work…get a job done. Get the Army’s job done. Blackmon: Yes sir. Well, thank you very much for your time sir, thank you for your service. Badger: Oh you’re welcome. You’re welcome. � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/09571e7c63ad6a6d5b5a3216999c40ce.mp3 8a0e384d7f5254a1051ec0f6820a0978 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. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Badger, Clyde Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Blackmon, Ryan Interview Date 10/7/12 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 0:13:35 File name 2013_063_Badger_Clyde_interview 2013_063_Badger_Clyde_transcript 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 Clyde Badger, 7 October 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blackmon, Ryan Badger, Clyde Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> 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. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 4 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Subject The topic of the resource Badger, Clyde Veterans World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Clyde Badger was an Army Staff Sergeant and worked as a combat engineer during the Guadalcanal Campaign. He built bridges and roads, and said that he didn't really have much specific job training. He did most of his learning on the job and most of it was simple manual labor. Army Staff Sergeant Clyde Badger combat engineer Guadalcanal Hawaii https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/f510a890e73e5b7de45451d89c9b252d.pdf ff82f45aa6f924112e9ff84c352eb8bc PDF Text Text Military Oral History Interview Transcript Captain Richard Meyers Boone, North Carolina 11 October 2011 DJ: Daniel Johnson RM: Richard Meyers, Captain DJ: My name is Daniel Johnson. I'm conducting this interview on 12th October, 2011 in the ROTC Department at Appalachian State University. I am interviewing Captain Richard Meyers of the United States Army, whose current position is.... RM: Recruiting Operations Officer. DJ: Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Ok, let's get the questions started. When were you born? RM: When? DJ: Yes. RM: October 2nd 1980. DJ: When did you enlist? RM: I enlisted in the Army in March; I think it was 14th 2003. DJ: Okay. RM: And that was into the Reserves? DJ: In the Reserves. Were you trying to participate in the SMP program? RM: I was at Clemson University. DJ: So you were in ROTC before you joined...? RM: Yes, I completed my first semester my freshman year and enlisted there in the second semester of there my freshman year of college. DJ: Did you go to basic training in the summer of 2003? RM: I did, yes, in the summer of 2003. 1 �DJ: Where did you train? RM: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. DJ: And your MOS was? RM: 21 Bravo at the time. It's now 12 Bravo, which are combat engineers. DJ: Combat engineers. What interested you in the combat engineers more so then any other branch at first? RM: Well, I had a short AIT, which was good for doing while I'm in college, and also...wanted to do something combat related. And went ahead and did combat engineers. DJ: Combat engineers. Why did you, what made you interested in ROTC, the Army in the first place? RM: Well, when I was high school, I had a young lady who sat in front of me in English class. My senior year and she asked me what I was going to do after high school and I said that I was thinking about going to college. And she said, “Were you thinking about doing a ROTC scholarship?” And I was like, 'What's that?' So one thing led to another with that and I found it what it was. Went ahead and applied for one. Had never done any JROTC. No one in my immediate family was in the military. They all had mixed feelings about it. I did not get a scholarship, but decided I would still do ROTC while I was in college. DJ: Were you always interested in the Army branch of ROTC? Army branch more so then any other branch? RM: Yes, yes, always interested in the Anny branch. DJ: Let’s go back to boot camp. Do you remember anything about boot camp, first arriving there, the drill sergeants? RM: Yes, I can't remember any of the drill sergeants' names, but I would know their faces if I ever saw them again. I have seen one of them before at Fort Riley before I went to Iraq. I remember being on the cattle car, going to where basic training was going to start for us. After we did all the in processing, I remember getting off and getting yelled out. We had to unload our duffle bags and get everything inspected. But it was pretty fun looking back at it, though wasn't fun at the time. DJ: Through 72-days, you would never want to do it again, but you didn’t mind doing it. RM: Yes. 2 �DJ: Did you have any people to help you get through it or… RM: Just some other people that were there. I really didn’t need too much help getting through it. It really wasn’t that difficult compared to other things I have done. But, it's always nice to have other people to talk to, to vent after the days over with. DJ: The random people, the battle buddies? RM: Yes. DJ: When I went there, I was ok with most of the guys. RM: Yes. DJ: Did you ever serve in any conflicts? RM: I was deployed to Iraq. Left in October 2008, and spent a few weeks in Kuwait doing more training there. Then went up into Iraq. I think it was early November 2008 when we arrived. DJ: So you were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom? RM: Yes. DJ: Was there a different name for it by then? RM: No, it was Operation Iraqi Freedom. But it was just for a year. DJ: A yearlong deployment? RM: Y e s . DJ: What part of lraq were you in during that time? RM: Well we flew up; when we left Kuwait we went up to Camp Tahji, which is in Baghdad. And got a bunch of briefings there for a week or two. Then we flew to...think it was FOB or Camp Spiker, and we stayed there for a few days. That was part of our movement up north; we were just waiting for our helicopter ride. Then we finally got one and went to Mosul, and landed in FOB Marez via Chinook helicopter. And spent the night there and then the next day, and we left the following night to go up to where. We spent most of our time, which was in Erbil Iraq, with- in the Kurdish region. DJ: Do you remember when you first arrive what it was like, or? RM: Yes. I do so...it was hot. It has a totally different smell, especially up in FOB Marez. 3 �It’s kind of hazy there all the time that I noticed. Throughout the whole deployment every time we went there it always seemed like it had a haze over it. Not a very friendly city. I remember the first night going outside the wire there when we went up to Erbil. I was supposed to be riding in the back of one of the MRAPs that we had on our transition team, because we still had the old team there showing us how they did things. And our combat medic was going to be driving in the 1114, which is the HMMV. But compared to the MRAPs the armor is not as great. So I switched out with him and drove. And I remember driving through Mosul at night following the other MRAPs and that HMMV it just struggled keeping up. It's not made for all the armor it was carrying. But it was a little; I don't know if it was scary, but it was a good bit of an adrenaline rush at first, because all of the training you get is, you know, “Hey! Watch out for piles of rocks. Watch out for trash.” Well on the sides of the streets in Mosul are all those things. So, you’re trying to look for IEDs...and it just gets to a point where it's like, you know what, whatever. I'm just going to drive now. I'm the rear vehicle. Just going to keep up with everyone else. So that was a little nerve racking, but looking back at it, it was good times, nothing happened. DJ: (Laughing) When you first arrived there. What was your assignment while you were in Iraq? RM: We were part of a fire support officer for a border transition team. Never had to call for artillery or air support while I was up there because we were with the Kurds. Very pro American, willing to help us. Heck I mean when we drove around they were providing security for us, you know? A good group of people. But we were just training them on how to better secure their borders up there. Their regional headquarters was in Erbil, and it had control over three provinces. Dahouk, Erbil Province, and Sulaymaniyyah province which, that encompasses a few kilometers of the Syrian border, all the Turkish border, and then a good bit of the Iranian border. So, we did a lot of driving while we were up there. DJ: My dad's unit during the Gulf War, their furthest advance was actually Dahouk in 1991. The 82nd. RM: Yes. DJ: That's where they stopped and then had to start going backwards. Because they were going too deep into Iraq and then the war was over back then...Did you take any contact while you were in Iraq? RM: No one ever shot at us that I know of. We never shot at anybody while we were over there that I do know for a fact. The only incident we had a night when we were going into Mosul. We were following another convoy that was taking supplies into FOB Marez. And we got held up by a route clearance unit that had found an IED on the route that we were taking. So we had to wait for them to do a controlled detonation on it before we could move on. So we were supposed to get there at midnight and I think we got in probably one or two o clock in the morning. So... 4 �DJ: Did anything really stick out to you from your deployment? Like your most memorable experience? RM: Most memorable experience...nothing really stands out. We helped with some of the schools getting repairs done on them. That was a pretty good experience. You know, doing patrols with the Iraqis, especially along the Turkish border, whi ch for the most part wasn't too threatening. But there was intelligence that there was a lot of drugs flowing into Turkey from that area because it’s an easier way to get into Europe, corning from Iran and places like that. So I just remember walking along and....with my pistol drawn through the tall grass and trees along a river that borders Turkey looking for people with the Iraqi border police. You know I take it back, one event that really stands out, we were up...I'm trying to think the name of the city I can't remember it now. We were on the Iranian border and we were investigating some incidences where the Iranians were shooting some artillery into Iraq. They said they were targeting P-jact, which is a separatist organized group that fights with Iran for Kurdish independence. When we went there we talked to a gentleman whose son was killed by Iranian artillery. And he still had damage on his house like there was still hole in the roof on it. And he was showing us his hot water heater, w h i c h was riddle with shrapnel. We walked around there for a while. Pulled some evidence out of some of the craters that were there. Found pieces of rockets that the Iranians had fired into Iraq. And then when we left we were back at one of the Iraqi border forts, probably about 10 miles away. And they carne in running...running into the room while we were talking to the commander through our interpreters, pretty excited about something. And the Iraqi commander got up and was telling us to come with him. And he ran up- went up to the roof of the border fort. And Iran was shelling the same area we were just at again. So that event really sticks out to me. I don’t think a lot of people know there are instances on a regular basis between those two countries that isn’t mentioned in the media here in the U.S. DJ: Pretty interesting. RM: Yes. DJ: Were you awarded any citations for your action in Iraq? RM: I was awarded a Bronze Star for the work we did up there up north. I was a unit administrative officer since I didn't really have to deal with calling in artillery for anything. And I advised the Iraqi border police headquarters on how to better keep track of their personnel. Make sure people that were injured or killed patrolling the border received- their family received the benefits that they were entitled to. Just keeping up with that stuff. And then, also did a little bit of training too with the Iraqis. So... 5 �DJ: Did you...how did you stay in touch while you were over there? Was there Internet video or.... RM: In the later stages I was able to use video Skype. The bandwidth we had over there wasn't the greatest so a lot of times, I just used video audio Skype. And it worked just like a regular phone. Set a phone number up before I left to go to Iraq while I was visiting my parents in Maryland. They got a phone number so they could call me in Iraq, and if I was in my “ choo,” which is where we lived, our little housing unit.... And my computer was on hooked the internet the phone would ring. Very rarely did that happen but I could always call them if we weren’t out on missions. DJ: Did you feel any pressure while you were over there being in command or was it pretty laid back considering the area you were in? RM: I wasn't the highest ranking officer on our team. We had a lieutenant colonel and a major who got promoted to lieutenant colonel while we were there. One other major who was our intelligence officer and then myself. And then we had two senior non commissioned officers, two E-7s, and a staff sergeant who was our mechanic. I wouldn’t say it was laid back, definitely had plenty of work to do while I was over there, but I didn't feel any pressure really, that you know worried about someone getting hurt. Mainly because of the area we were in. And I knew, I mean I was a gunner on one of the MRAPs while we had them. And we had one of the senior non commissioned officers and our mechanic was the other gunner. And you know I knew had my back and I had theirs. But I wasn’t really worried about anything happening where we were. DJ: Were other parts of lraq hot at that time? RM: They were. When we would go into FOB Marez in Mosul we would definitely be packing everything we could. Didn’t mess around in that city. You know I never really got scared while I was over there; it was more of like a, kind of an adrenaline rush. I mean when you’re going through those city streets in Mosul, knowing that city is probably the second worst in Iraq outside of Baghdad. It's pretty real. And you know you’re always scanning the buildings around you because you don’t want someone shooting down on you, from you a multi story building. So that keeps it pretty real keeps the adrenaline going, but never really afraid though while we were going through all that. Looking back on it, it was kind of crazy, but I wasn’t too concerned while I was over there though. DJ: Did anything funny a lot of funny events that happened over there? RM: Funny events? DJ: Or something goofy? RM: We had a bunch of cats on our FOB. Not really sure how they got there but they would 6 �eat the trash. They were kind of nasty, like alley cats. They were like rats when it came to trash. You know they would always be around it. We had a small dining facility that some foreigners worked in. I think they were from Bangladesh. But they had a little dumpsite for all the trash and stuff, and the cats would always be going through there. And I was going to work in our headquarters one morning; I think it was probably a Saturday. We norn1ally didn't work on Saturdays because the Iraqis didn't meaning we didn’t go outside the wire. But I went to the headquarters to do some administrative stuff and I heard this noise outside, and I was like, “What is that?” I opened the door and it was these two male cats, I mean just fighting. Clawing each other, biting. They were rolled up in one ball. And there was fur flying through the air. So I had tossed some rocks at them to break them up. And they got off each other and they were looking at me. They had fur hanging out of their mouths, they were dripping with blood and stuff, and I was like, “Oh my goodness.” I ran them off. But, that was probably, I don't know if it was the funniest thing, but it was definitely one of the craziest things I saw while I was over there. But, I mean we had quite a few things. When the Iraqis would get ammunition we would have shooting competitions with some of the border police out on the areas where no one was living. We pretty much set up range and we just had shooting competitions with them. So that was pretty fun. DJ: Once you got back, what did you do? Did you do a deployment drawdown with your unit or… RM: When we got back, we went back to Fort Riley where we did our initial training for the transition team. And we spent I don’t think it was quite a week while we there doing all of our redeployment stuff. All of our medical and some of our other administrative paperwork so we could go home. The cool thing about it was that we were put in the front of the line anytime we were doing redeployment stuff if there was another unit coming back because we hadn’t seen our families yet. We flew straight back to Fort Riley and our families were scattered all over the-really all over the world. So we were waiting to get back with them. So they jumped us to the front of the line. We were able to out process after we turned in our weapons and everything...in a few days, and then got us on aircraft to go home or to our next assignments. So that was a pretty interesting time. I didn't know it at the time when I was going to airport from Fort Riley to fly back home, my grandmother had passed away that morning. So that was a little tough to deal with, coming back to that. And it delayed me getting to my next assignment. I spent a little more time home then I was planning on. DJ: So after deployment did you automatically get sent to another station or... RM: They go to their next assignment or go home if they’re taking leave first. It really varied depending on the individual. 7 �DJ: So you were part of the 1st Armored or 1st Infantry Division? RM: I did all the training at Fort Riley through the 1st Infantry Division, 1st Brigade. When we got over to Iraq we were attached to 3rd ACR at first but they were leaving. They left pretty much a month after we got there. And then we were attached to 2-1 Cav the rest of the time. DJ: What unit were you part of during this time? RM: More so 2-1 Cav. I mean, because they were the ones that had all the logistical support for us and the administrative stuff too. DJ: That's interesting. So what was your next assignment after? RM: It was here at Appalachian State University ROTC. DJ: Did you choose to come here? RM: I did. I was dating a woman at the time who lived in South Carolina before I went to Iraq. And my plan was try to get an assignment to the Southeast, even if that meant Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, or Fort Bragg. And then someone mentioned, “Hey you could also do ROTC?” So I sent an email to my branch manager saying, “Hey look if there's an ROTC that has an opening anywhere in the Southeast, I'd like to go there. My first choice is Clemson because I'm a alumni b u t if that doesn't work out I'm open to pretty much anything.” A few months into the deployment he sent a message to me saying, “Hey would you want to go to Appalachian State University.” And I was like, “Yes, that's fine.” So I already knew about it, or knew about the university because Clemson would compete with them in Ranger challenge and I knew it was a good ROTC program b e f o r e I got here. DJ: And Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and Sergeant Major Arbogast were here at the time? RM: Correct. Yes. DJ: That’s pretty interesting...What did you think when you first met them when you first came here? RM: I thought they were pretty high speed. Obviously the program, the cadets that we were commissioning were solid, especially tactically. So, I think they were great people. DJ: Because I know that’s like way before my time, those early years. Because I really didn’t start getting involved until they were on their way out. RM: Yes. 8 �DJ: So...this is your last year and then you move on to another assignment. RM: Right. After this I go to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for my Captain's career course. Really I'm behind right now. Had I not gotten an ROTC assignment they were going to send me to the Captain's Career Course right after I got back from Iraq. DJ: And the Captain's Career Course is the next step to be appointed to major? RM: Well, you need to have it for theory you need to have it before you do a command. DJ: A company command? RM: Correct. Or in my case a battery command. And it also gives you training in how to be a staff officer as well. DJ: That's pretty interesting. So after that, you complete that you find out what your next unit is? RM: Correct. I don't know what my next assignment is yet. I've tried looking into that, but my understanding is when I get to Fort Sill the branch managers will come and figure out who’s going where at that point in time DJ: Is there any other places you would like to go, any stations in particular? RM: I would love to get back to a line unit, even one that’s deploying. My request that I sent it before being told, “Hey look just wait until you get to the Career Course.” Fort Stewart down in Georgia, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and if I had to do an overseas one I put Hawaii. I've already been to South Korea. I wouldn’t mind going to Germany, but for right now I want to hold on because I just got married. So, trying to stay in the United States for a little bit. DJ: So you chose artillery? Was that your first choice? RM: Yes, artillery was my first branch choice. DJ: Was there anything that really interested you about it? RM: Just that it was a combat arms branch. Infantry, I didn’t necessarily want to do that. I don’t know why now, but I think my second choice was armor. So I was just looking to get another job like combat engineers. DJ: Something.... RM: Just had a lot of firepower. DJ: You could be out there doing the combat job? 9 �RM: Yes. DJ: That makes sense. So did your service in Iraq affect your life any? Give you more perspective? RM: It gave me more perspective. When I watch the news now, especially with the Arab Spring going on, from what it's called anyway. My perspective on the Muslim religion is a little different. There are definitely Muslims out there who are pro United States in the Kurds. I still debate whether there are any pro Americans in the Southern parts of Iraq. But I wasn’t there, I don’t really know. So it gives more perspective when I listen to the news. I understand the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslim. And why they fight with each other all the time. I understand that region is very unstable having been there. Probably the direct effect on coming back was probably my driving habits. Took me a while to slow down, because I was used to driving pretty while I was in Iraq. DJ: Habit always checking the trash and stuff like that? RM: Well, not so much, but looking for stuff that was going to blow up. We didn't have too many issues with that but you know the way we drove in Iraq, we just drove fast. DJ: Fast but safe. RM: Yes. DJ: That makes sense. All right. I think that covers just about all the questions Captain Meyers. RM: All right DJ: Thank you for your time. RM: Yes, not a problem. 10 � https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/9ea04fe2cc6a8a07e749db88b752f1ce.mp3 1d86179bcce70d65f2766ff1b1b58afa 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. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed. Meyers, Richard Allen Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Johnson, Daniel Interview Date 10/12/11 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 29:10 min Copyright 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. Tag Army, officer, recruiting operations officer, ROTC, ASU, Appalachian State University, Clemson University, Army Reserves, Fort Leonard Wood, combat engineer, Fort Riley, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Kuwait, IED, Bronze Star, Fort Riley, 1st Infantry Division, artillery 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 Richard Allen Meyers, 12 October 2011 Subject The topic of the resource Iraq War, 2003-2011 Meyers, Richard, 1960- Veterans Personal narratives, American United States Interviews Description An account of the resource Richard Meyers, born October 2, 1980, enlisted into the Army in 2003. Current position as of 2011--Recruiting Operations Officer for Appalachian State ROTC. Served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq War) for one year, 2008-2009. In this interview, he discusses his experiences doing patrols and advising Iraqi border police in Erbil, a Kurdish region of Iraq. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Meyers, Richard Allen Johnson, Daniel Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="UA.5018. American Military History Course Records" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/167" target="_blank">UA.5018. American Military History Course Records</a> Extent The size or duration of the resource. 10 pages Language A language of the resource English combat engineer IED Kurds Mosul Operation Iraqi Freedom Recruiting Operations Officer reserves ROTC