Veterans Oral Histories Project
At California University of Pennsylvania
Veteran: Jameson, Thomas
Interviewer: Smith, Elizabeth D.
Date of Interview: November 1, 2005
Location: California University of PA, California, PA
Transcriber: Donna Hoak
Smith: Hi my name is Elizabeth Smith and I am interviewing Tom Jameson at
California University of Pennsylvania for the Veterans History Project today which is
November 1, 2005. So where did you live growing up?
Jameson: I lived in Maryland, Southern Maryland, just south of Washington D.C. about
25 miles.
Smith: How did you come about entering into the military?
Jameson: Well it was 1966, I was going to college in West Virginia, West Virginia Tech
to be specific and we were just in the throws of Vietnam and I wasn’t truly satisfied with
college at that time so I decided to join up after two years of college so that’s when I
joined the Army, May of 1966.
Smith: Before you decided to do that did you have a career you wanted to pursue?
Jameson: Not really I didn’t have any real goals at that time, I was thinking about
teaching but didn’t have any definite goals so joining the army and seeing the world and
seeing what was really going to Vietnam because the news I wasn’t sure what I was being
told so I decided to find out for myself.
Smith: What was your first duty as a soldier and where were you first stationed?
Jameson: Well I went in as an enlisted man and one thing led to the next and I was
qualified for officer candidate school, because I had a couple years of college and I
applied and went to officer candidate school as a corp. of engineer officer then I was
qualified for army flight school, so I applied and was accepted and I became qualified to
fly helicopters and that whole time period from being enlisted and going to Vietnam was
a little over two years and I went to Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and 2nd lieutenant
helicopter pilot.
Smith: And what did that job actually involve over in Vietnam?
Jameson: Well, I was assigned to a unit the 121st assault helicopter company known as
the South Train Tigers, in South Train Vietnam which was an assault helicopter company
was assigned to support three Vietnam divisions. 21st Army division, the 9th and the 7th
Army division which were all in the Macon Delta, and it was my job as a junior officer in
that aviation assault helicopter company I was a pilot as soon as upon arrival, I was a copilot for three months then I was fully qualified to be the pilot in command so we flew
combat assaults we did rescue missions where soldiers were injured we take them back,
we did re-supply missions sometimes we supported the U.S. special forces who were
involved in clandestine operations and also the U.S. Navy Seals.
Smith: How did this job that you had differ from those other jobs and experiences maybe
on the ground?
Jameson: Well at that time, during WWII was the first time that the Army Air Corp.
started flying fixed wing operations in the Pacific and Europe and a couple of decades
after that course the air force was created but the army always needed the capability of
transporting troops you know not high in the air like with the air force that had different
missions so the armies developed a helicopter force that was able to transport the G.I.’s.
How is that different? Of course we moved a lot faster where as the people we supported
were infantry troops, okay, people that were going to be on the ground so I flew them in I
was only there for a short time period we may get shot at for a few minutes but the poor
guys we left off there were they were there to conduct their combat operations so it was
you know you still got shot at in the air but when you got on the ground you got shot at
more and of course those guys are left there on the ground they were shot at even more
then we pilots and our crews.
Smith: While over in Vietnam how often were you exposed to the media back home and
what were their take on the events of the war?
Jameson: Well it hasn’t changed much in the past decades and it never seems the media
ever gets it right, that is one of the things that have disturbed me through my lifetime the
military forces of the United States Services, Army, Navy, Marine and for the greater part
the’re doing a lot of good work that doesn’t seem to be ever reported, and they are
conducting the mission doing the best job that they can and they are a credit to their
nation and to their hometown and whatever and we are living up to what I consider the
American creed you know trying to do the right thing and the United States as far as I am
concerned is the best place to live in the world and I think our government and former
government has a lot to offer and it seems like to me the media concentrates or focuses
on the slightest little thing that somebody does something wrong and they blow that out
of proportion and everybody else is sucked in to that whirl wind and they are kind of
guilty by association so unless your not good unless your not doing, I was never spit on
myself but I have had friends of mine and they were called baby killers, spit on and they
are the best type of person you ever want to meet. And I attribute that to the media
getting it wrong almost all the time. That’s my personal opinion.
Smith: Did you keep in contact with those at home and how did they view what you
were doing, was it more like what you viewed it as or more the media?
Jameson: Well, I was born in Southern Maryland and I was raised on a farm and my dad
was a truck driver and a farmer we’re simple folks and he participated in WWII you
know that what I think I found the great majority of those people in the military they are
there to do a job and not to complain or whine they are just trained to do a job. My folks
they never did say anything to me about why are you going, you shouldn’t go, that type
of thing is a decision I made and they supported that decision okay so, yes, we stayed in
contact, we wrote a couple times a week, I was there for two years the first time, I was
not married, the second time I was married so married to the same great lady, thirty-five
years, two children, and five grandchildren later, so yes we communicated via letters
mostly there was no internet, email, but there was something called the mars station
which we were able to talk via radio which was bounced off, I guess they were skipping
off the troposphere it was very very stilted, it was hello, I love you over type of thing it
was all crackly talking like 1960 technology around the world.
Smith: You said you went twice?
Jameson: Yes, I was over there for two years…
Smith: Okay, what was it like to come home the first time as opposed to coming the
second time?
Jameson: Well the first time and even the second time people really didn’t care what you
were doing because they were listening to the media and what good was being done in
Vietnam was completely twisted to something it wasn’t, so you just went about doing
your duty and people, personal friends of mine family acknowledged your welcome back
your okay, and the second time I got back it was basically more of the same, but it was
more of a feeling of loss in that everything that you did everybody all your
contemporaries all of the soldiers that you were with you know was really looked down
upon what a waste of time you know all those people that shed their blood and lost their
lives in you know I just didn’t think we had the fortitude that we have now I think what
we are trying to do is the right thing because we gotten rid of another Hitler in Iraq
people just don’t realize look at Cambodia, as soon as we left Vietnam there were
literally over one million people killed by the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia and there
were hundred of thousands of people that were eventually killed or jailed and killed in
Vietnam okay by the North Vietnamese and because we left we left without leaving we
created a vacuum and literally almost two million people died because we left the region.
You compare that to Korea we stabilized that, that still is a war time environment even
though there is no shooting there is no formal treaty our presence has created a stable
environment for the Republic of Korea our former enemy the Japanese to grow and
prosper and look at China, they still don’t talk to the North Koreans, well you have an
environment that is getting healthier and healthier economically people are taught to
communicate, communicating with each other so because we had to stabilize the
influence and I think that is something the United States has done, it’s going to be a long
time in Iraq and Afghanistan hopefully we don’t leave in a lurch and create a more tragic
situation over there that might not be.
Smith: What do you find that the mission was from many of the soldiers over there with
you was it the same as you were feeling doing the right thing or was it other duties to the
country?
Jameson: Well, lot of the troops that I knew were out in the Boonies it was a thankless
job and of course helicopter pilots we were getting shot at quite a bit but we had a place a
base to work out, these poor guys were in the mud up to their chin, leeches and snakes
and everything else and they were trying to carry out their mission and for the most part
were very very successful but you know because the way it was handled and because of
the way more people became more politically correct and more attuned was not reported
to the people back home people I know today don’t really know what took place there
because it wasn’t reported accurately that’s my personal opinion.
Smith: So what did you do with your live after you returned home?
Jameson: Well, if it didn’t mention it I did remain in the army after my first tour in
Vietnam they offered me basically a full scholarship to any institution that I wanted to go
to so I spent two years at Georgia Tech. got my bachelor of science degree and after that
they sent me back to Vietnam still needed had a need there, since that second tour in
Vietnam I served in aviation assignments and engineer assignments, construction, combat
engineering units then eventually worked into public works and I did do some theater war
gaming warfare analysis of Washington D.C. back in the early 80’s that was very
interesting looking at different scenarios and political situations in the world but my last
seven years were dealing with public works in Korea and in the United States were I
started at the Underground Pentagon a place called (SideR) and Fort Ritchey and my wife
and my family decided to retire and that is when I came to California in 1990 I was
fortunate to be offered the position of Physical Planning here and I have been here for the
last 15 years.
Smith: What military awards or recognition have you received, how exactly to you
achieve them?
Jameson: Well, your normally nominated for awards and most soldiers don’t like to talk
about those things some are for things like if you get wounded you get a purple heart so I
got wounded so I got a purple heart nobody wants to get wounded and there were other
awards some things it’s a matter of record. Your put in by your superiors for these awards
and you receive them and I’d rather not go into those because you know.
Smith: Well I guess you said how you military experience changed what you’ve become
now would you encourage any young men of today to experience the changes you lived
through?
Jameson: Well, I tell you what. If I had to do it all over again, I would, because the
people that you meet from all over the United States it’s probably the most rewarding
thing everywhere from every private to every general you always run into and I call them
dirt balls, okay, you always run into those types. They are the absolute minority and
sometimes that absolute minority takes up more of your time then they deserve okay, but
the people that I met in the army was very very rewarding having worked with them
having trained with them even added to that serving in the military is not anything else,
your experience in the college life or work I can tell you that what you go through in the
military and the experiences that you go through together take you to the edge and your
fully alive and it’s a second to second minute thing, there’s a lot of boredom you’ll hear
that a lot of boredom but you get to know people would I do it over again would I
recommend it for those people who want to do it that’s their own decision, having just
known you for a couple of hours I think that you might fit in you might have a curiosity
about what is happening in the world but outside of your county or your state, United
States what is that role but I’ve got to caution anybody that goes in that it’s dangerous but
then it is dangerous to go down I70 everyday too, so you know what I mean?
Smith: Is there any closing thoughts that you would like to share as you wrap up?
Jameson: I don’t know what I could add other than the reason I am doing this is to assist
Dr. Tuennerman who is a great lady and you and some selfish reason that this hopefully
will be somewhere for posterity I do a little genealogy myself and go back to the 1600’s
and 1500’s and read what my ancestors did so hopefully somebody my grandchildren in a
couple of hundred years look back at this speck of history and they see how you and I
thought and talked and our dialects will change and our opinions will change and they
will think boy those people were really stupid or maybe they had a point about
something, so it’s a change you know to (inaudible) something away for posterity I
would say and I want to re-emphasize a point that being in the military is very
challenging experience it was very challenging to my wife and my children and it is very
hard I just want to make sure people understand it is very hard especially on the children
you know moving every two to three years that is probably the only regret that I have is
that is was very hard on them having friends making friends and it was hard for children
to make new friends. An army guy you walk in and there all army guys, girls, guys you
say what’s going on so you just fit right in but it is very tough on the children it is very
tough on the spouses and they are very very special especially the spouses of a military
man or woman to support them so I wanted to say that okay, but I am glad that you asked
me to do this and I appreciate it.
Smith: Well that you very much for your time and sharing your thoughts.