Description

This interview with Vietnam veteran Everett "Scotty" Scott is in two parts: one recorded October 23, 1973, and the second November 3, 1973. He joined the Navy in 1967 at age 18 in expectation of being drafted and served in Vietnam for 18 months from late 1969 to 1971. He went to electronics school and "A" and "C" school. He worked on radio transmitters that were line-of-sight VHF equipment, ship-to-airborne or ship-to-shore. He was shipped from Travis Air Force Base to Da Nang after being told only that he was going "out of CONUS [continental United States] GM" (Guam), the meaning of which he did not know. On his first day his watch was stolen by a Vietnamese "cowboy" who cut it off his arm with a razor, and later a camera he had just bought from the military exchange was stolen as well. After a year in Vietnam he began to "rebel," but this experience is not covered by the transcript, which ends at about 50 minutes into this recording. At about 50 minutes the transcript ends with the first session and an index. At about 52 minutes the sound returns with the interviewer giving the date. She reviews his enlistment and assignment on Guam as crew on weather reconnaissance aircraft also used for "barrier flights" (flying back and forth for 12 hours on combat reconnaissance) over the Gulf of Tonkin, in conjunction with aircraft carriers. The North Vietnamese attacked with mortars to hit the supply depot. They cooked on the reconnaissance airplane in a galley, which was rough in a typhoon. They flew into Japan to avoid a storm. He talks about how Vietnamese people on and near the base were treated.