Tony Vargas |
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Joining the Marine Corps
As a high school senior, I didn’t pay much attention. I didn’t watch the news a lot, but I knew what was going on, obviously. I graduated from high school, went to one year of Mount SAC [San Antonio Community] Junior College. My major was police science. I thought I would go be something in law enforcement, and the following summer after a year of Mount SAC I was visiting with an old high school friend, and I thought I would join the army. And he says, ‘Well, you don’t want to do that—join the Marine Corps!’ and I said, ‘Well, that sounds look a good idea!’ [laughs].
So the young and dumb nineteen year-old I was, I went to the recruiter in Pomona and I walked into the recruiting office. The recruiting officer was there, and I said, ‘I’d like to have some information regarding the Marine Corps.’ He was a sergeant with hash marks from here to there [points from upper arm to lower arm], and he pulled out the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper—a form—and he put it on the table and he said, ‘Sign here, son.’ And that’s how I got in the marine corps [smiles].
Object Description
| Profile of | Tony Vargas |
| Title | From City Boy to First Target |
| Profile bio | Tony Vargas is a Los Angeles native who was a a machine gunner in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. After receiving a Purple Heart for a wound he received during the Tet Offensive, he went home and began his civilian life. Tony mentioned off camera that he has no bitterness at all about what happened to him in Vietnam, and feels that his being there was part of a much larger divine plan. He is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and spends a lot of his time serving his community through his calling and responsibilities within the same. |
| Profiler bio | Nick Bopp is a senior majoring in Computer Engineering / Computer Science. Paul Martinez is a junior majoring in Architecture. |
| Subject |
Vietnam war combat machine guner marines volunteer Viet cong communist veteran |
| Profiled by | Martinez, Paul; Bopp, Nick |
| Profile date | 2011-04-01 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles; Pomona; Hue; Huế |
| Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA; Vietnam |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/tony-vargas/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 4 video files (00:08:02); 4 transcripts |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
| Filename | vargastony |
Description
| Profile of | Tony Vargas |
| Title | Joining the Marine Corps |
| Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
| Filename | vargastony-vid1_tr1.pdf |
| Full text | Joining the Marine Corps As a high school senior, I didn’t pay much attention. I didn’t watch the news a lot, but I knew what was going on, obviously. I graduated from high school, went to one year of Mount SAC [San Antonio Community] Junior College. My major was police science. I thought I would go be something in law enforcement, and the following summer after a year of Mount SAC I was visiting with an old high school friend, and I thought I would join the army. And he says, ‘Well, you don’t want to do that—join the Marine Corps!’ and I said, ‘Well, that sounds look a good idea!’ [laughs]. So the young and dumb nineteen year-old I was, I went to the recruiter in Pomona and I walked into the recruiting office. The recruiting officer was there, and I said, ‘I’d like to have some information regarding the Marine Corps.’ He was a sergeant with hash marks from here to there [points from upper arm to lower arm], and he pulled out the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper—a form—and he put it on the table and he said, ‘Sign here, son.’ And that’s how I got in the marine corps [smiles]. |
| Archival file | Volume3/vargastony-vid1_tr1.pdf |
