Document Type

Oral History

Ronald Paul Frechette

Interviewer

Gary Waters

Interview date

6-15-1999

Interview location

Jay, Maine

Time

00:37:03

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Abstract

Ronald Paul Frechette, interviewed by Gary Waters in Jay, Maine on June 15, 1999. Frechette discusses his time training as a combat engineer at Camp Lejeune and jungle training in California, growing up fast in the Marines, being gung ho about going to Vietnam because he wanted to be patriotic, being assigned to the 1st Shore Party, 1st Marines, never forgetting the smell of Vietnam and odors that trigger memories, being at Hill 55 and Dodge City, seeing his first KIAs and WIAs, being unprepared and frightened, Vietnamese burial customs, slang terms used by soldiers. He talks about returning to the 1st Shore Party, then volunteering for a battalion landing team, deciding he’d never volunteer for anything again, Operation Allen Brook, coming under fire, returning to ship after a 30-day ground assignment with no hygiene or change of uniform and being told by an ensign that he couldn’t come aboard his ship in that condition. He describes sleeping conditions, morale, racial conflict between U.S. soldiers, the behavior of rock apes, his plan to deal with a gunnery sergeant and a captain at An Hoa, drinking and drug use by soldiers, the feeling he was a whipping boy and the hate he still holds. Frechette speaks about breaking his ankle and being sent back aboard ship, ‘losing it’ and being sent to the sick bay, and eventually ending up in the Newport Naval Hospital psych unit for three months, being discharged with no job and no place to go, learning about the VA from his father who was a WWII veteran, his father helping him get disability, learning his mental health diagnosis then about PTSD, feeling like “that kid that got slapped by Patton,” and his life after returning home. Text: 42 pp. transcript, 2 pp. supplemental. Time: 02:10:29. Restrictions: No restrictions.

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Part 1: mfc_na4494_01A
Part 2: mfc_na4494_01B
Part 3: mfc_na4494_02A

Disciplines

Military History | Oral History | United States History

Birth date

1948

Location

Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts

Nation of origin

United States

Home state/Territory

Massachusetts

Gender

Male

Ethnicity

European-American

Branch of service

U.S. Marine Corps

Service Unit

1st Shore Party, 1st Marines; 26th Marines

Dates of service

March 1968-March 1969, Vietnam

Date of entry

1968

Service entry

Enlisted

Location of Service

Da Nang, Vietnam

Wars & Conflicts

Vietnam War

Battles & Engagements

Operation Allen Brook

Entry Rank

E-1 Private

Highest Rank

E-1 Private

Exit Rank

E-1 Private

Names

Davis; Stevens

Locations

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky; Parris Island, South Carolina; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; California; Hawaii; Okinawa; Da Nang, Vietnam; Hill 55 (Nui Dat Son); Dodge City; Freedom Hill; Hill 27; Hill 72; An Hòa (Đức Dục); Đại Lộc; Hải Vân Pass; Newport Naval Hospital, Virginia; Alaska; Bedford Air Force Base, Massachusetts; Chelsea

Headings

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Battle casualties; Military casualties; Vietnamese Funeral Rituals; Operational rations (Military supplies); Rock Apes; Race relations; Fragging; Military chaplains; Substance Abuse; Suicide

Collection name

Maine Vietnam Veterans Oral History

Collection number

MF224

Item number

NA4494

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Ron Frechette, interviewed by Gary Waters, Part 3

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