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PREPARING FOR SERVICE Us: How did you decide to join the Reserves? What stage in life were you at? John: After graduating from high school, it was my dad’s idea that he didn’t feel that his kids were mature enough to go on to a four-year school, so we went to school at Pasadena City College. I got a summer job with the city of Pasadena, so I continued to work part-time while I was in school, and I started taking classes at UCLA through their extension program. And then I felt the draft breathing down my neck, so I asked some people who I was working with at City Hall what they recommended. One of them was a commander in the Navy Reserves, and he suggested I join the Navy Reserves. So I signed up, swore in, to serve my country, and bought myself a year’s extension while I continued going to school. But about ten months into that was when they canceled all student deferments for all reservists…so they said, “Okay, you’re all going on active duty. We’ll send you to Class A school – what school do you want to go to?” I said “Engineering Aid.” They said, “Sorry, that’s closed, can’t let you do that. What’s your second choice?” I said “Engineering Aid” – I wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. I argued for me and another friend of mine that I was in the Reserves with, and we both got into that Engineering Aid school. So I got to the class late…a lot of engineering, a lot of drafting, a lot of surveying, and soils – basic engineering stuff, very valuable for me throughout my career. After graduating from the Class A school, we were given a week’s leave, and then we reported to Little Creek, Virginia, for three types of training. We had a classroom teaching on the history of Vietnam, the history of the counter-insurgency, communist theory…that kind of background of what to expect in the Vietnamese culture. We also had intensive training in small arms, such that we were trained in every weapon we might come across that’s able to be hand-carried. After that, we did what was called SERE training – which stood for survival, evasion, resistment, and escape. They basically put us into elements of 9 men in a unit. They gave us one rabbit, two potatoes, and I forget what else…not much food. We had to start off before they sent us out into the swamp – this was in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. They sent us off through the swamp, and during the three or four days in the swamp, we had to do survival and concealment shelters as individuals, as well as in a unit. They gave us a head start, and they had special forces chasing us through the swamp. We had code words and what we were supposed to do…We did steal a few farmers’ corn while we were there, and caught some wild turtles and had turtle soup. So finally they stopped, and they said, “Okay, you guys have made your last check-point, you’ve done good, you evaded everything.” They put us in a truck, and gave us one can of C-rations for all nine of us, and I’m not sure we were able to finish it. Then they stormed the truck and “captured” us to put us into a simulated prisoner-of-war camp. That was interesting. One of the first things they did with you when they brought you in – how they decided, I don’t know – was they were either going to treat you psychologically or treat you physically, to try and get out of you what they wanted. Well, my hair was a little long, and I hadn’t had a haircut, so they were calling me a “gay from Hollywood”. They’d throw me over the head by my hair, and just harass me…they were just trying to stress you out in a lot of ways. When we begged for food, one time they threw us an ammo box. We opened it up, and it had a copperhead snake – a poisonous snake – in it. Just different things they did for a couple of days…When we finished with that exercise, let me tell you, we did not want to go through that training again. We were ready – to get on with it.
Object Description
Profile of | John Morris |
Title | A Career That Began in Vietnam |
Profile bio | John Morris has been involved in the water industry for more than 45 years, continuing his family's long involvement in the industry. Some of the first water projects he worked on were during his 13-month tour in Vietnam, from August 1966 to September 1967. John was stationed at the Public Works Design Office in Danang, where he was involved with designing the barracks and a water treatment system at Camp Tienxia, among other projects. After returning home, he continued his education at USC in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Though he has lived in Pasadena all his life, his service in Vietnam has led him to pursue water projects in many other parts of the world during his professional career, including Africa, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of southeast Asia. John is a strong leader in the water industry in southern California, and has served numerous leadership roles in the civil engineering industry. Even past retirement, John continues to find ways to help others with his expertise in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He currently serves as a mentor for USC's chapter of Engineers Without Borders, and has traveled to Honduras for these projects. John currently lives in San Marino with his wife. |
Profiler bio | Mohammed AlDahash, Economics major & Business Administration minor. Rachel Steinberg, Double majoring in Neuroscience and Biology at the University of Southern California |
Subject |
Vietnam Vietnam war anti war engineering aid sere culture shock readjustment |
Profiled by | AlDahash, Mohammed; Christian, Andrea; Steinberg, Rachel |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Da Nang; Saigon; Ho Chi Minh City; Pasadena |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | Vietnam; Africa; Saudi Arabia; Honduras |
Coverage date | 1960-1969 |
Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/john-morris/ |
Type |
images video |
Format | 1 image; 3 video files (00:15:31); 3 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 | morrisjohn |
Description
Profile of | John Morris |
Title | Preparing for Service |
Format | 1 transcript, 2p. |
Filename | morrisjohn-vid1_tr1.pdf |
Full text | PREPARING FOR SERVICE Us: How did you decide to join the Reserves? What stage in life were you at? John: After graduating from high school, it was my dad’s idea that he didn’t feel that his kids were mature enough to go on to a four-year school, so we went to school at Pasadena City College. I got a summer job with the city of Pasadena, so I continued to work part-time while I was in school, and I started taking classes at UCLA through their extension program. And then I felt the draft breathing down my neck, so I asked some people who I was working with at City Hall what they recommended. One of them was a commander in the Navy Reserves, and he suggested I join the Navy Reserves. So I signed up, swore in, to serve my country, and bought myself a year’s extension while I continued going to school. But about ten months into that was when they canceled all student deferments for all reservists…so they said, “Okay, you’re all going on active duty. We’ll send you to Class A school – what school do you want to go to?” I said “Engineering Aid.” They said, “Sorry, that’s closed, can’t let you do that. What’s your second choice?” I said “Engineering Aid” – I wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. I argued for me and another friend of mine that I was in the Reserves with, and we both got into that Engineering Aid school. So I got to the class late…a lot of engineering, a lot of drafting, a lot of surveying, and soils – basic engineering stuff, very valuable for me throughout my career. After graduating from the Class A school, we were given a week’s leave, and then we reported to Little Creek, Virginia, for three types of training. We had a classroom teaching on the history of Vietnam, the history of the counter-insurgency, communist theory…that kind of background of what to expect in the Vietnamese culture. We also had intensive training in small arms, such that we were trained in every weapon we might come across that’s able to be hand-carried. After that, we did what was called SERE training – which stood for survival, evasion, resistment, and escape. They basically put us into elements of 9 men in a unit. They gave us one rabbit, two potatoes, and I forget what else…not much food. We had to start off before they sent us out into the swamp – this was in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. They sent us off through the swamp, and during the three or four days in the swamp, we had to do survival and concealment shelters as individuals, as well as in a unit. They gave us a head start, and they had special forces chasing us through the swamp. We had code words and what we were supposed to do…We did steal a few farmers’ corn while we were there, and caught some wild turtles and had turtle soup. So finally they stopped, and they said, “Okay, you guys have made your last check-point, you’ve done good, you evaded everything.” They put us in a truck, and gave us one can of C-rations for all nine of us, and I’m not sure we were able to finish it. Then they stormed the truck and “captured” us to put us into a simulated prisoner-of-war camp. That was interesting. One of the first things they did with you when they brought you in – how they decided, I don’t know – was they were either going to treat you psychologically or treat you physically, to try and get out of you what they wanted. Well, my hair was a little long, and I hadn’t had a haircut, so they were calling me a “gay from Hollywood”. They’d throw me over the head by my hair, and just harass me…they were just trying to stress you out in a lot of ways. When we begged for food, one time they threw us an ammo box. We opened it up, and it had a copperhead snake – a poisonous snake – in it. Just different things they did for a couple of days…When we finished with that exercise, let me tell you, we did not want to go through that training again. We were ready – to get on with it. |
Archival file | Volume3/morrisjohn-vid1_tr1.pdf |