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ADJUSTING BACK TO HOME LIFE Us: Was it hard for you to transition zofran into life back at home? John: Not difficult… though some aspects might have been a little more challenging. I got home in September of ’67, and then went back to work part-time for the Pasadena Water department And knowing you’re leaving one part of your life that you’ve spent (for most of us) 13 months, and getting back to the life you knew when you grew up…The strange thing is when you’re going to live in a different culture in a different country, you expect your culture shock to be when you go to that country. But you get so acclimated in whatever that is, like in Da Nang in Vietnam, that the greater culture shock is when you come home. That’s what you don’t prepare yourself for, because you really think you remember the way life was. But you’re not the same, and you don’t view it the same, and you’ve got to watch saying the same words to your family around the table versus what you would say in a mess hall. Us: Can you explain how people’s reactions were when you did come home? John: I can’t say I was welcomed. I can say I was sworn at, cussed at, spat upon – because people so hated the war. I did not feel like a popular American… On Good Friday the following spring, the church I grew up in, All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, had a Good Friday service. So I took a break from work, and walked across the street to celebrate Good Friday. Our minister at that time, who was very much anti-war, in his sermon was asking all of us to donate our blood to North Vietnam…and I felt that I had heard and seen enough of that impacting people, that I said this isn’t where I want to stay – and I got up and left. It’s not like it is today – when most Americans see troops in the airport, many of us will go over and out of our way to say, “Thank you for your service”. It wasn’t that way in the sixties at all. While we were doing what we had been asked to do by our government, it wasn’t appreciated by the American people – or by very few. I had a tie that my wife had given me quite a few years ago. It was black, and it had regimental stripes. But one of the stripes was the Vietnam campaign medal, and the other was the Vietnamese service medal, and it alternated those stripes. So anytime I went to Washington and called on the Halls of Congress, I would always wear that tie because I was very proud of my service on behalf of my country. I wore that tie one time when I was at one of my professional associations, and there was a conference in Washington D.C., and there was a reception one evening. There were probably thirty to fifty people in the room, and there was only one person that recognized the significance of what that tie stood for. He recognized it, and he said, “Welcome home.” This was 40 years after I had come back from Vietnam, and it was the first time that anybody had said, “Welcome home.” I so appreciated that, that when that gentleman retired last year—he was the executive director of our organization—I gave him my tie. Us: Do you have any regrets from the Vietnam War? Would you serve again? John: Absolutely. Aside from serving my county, I’d say that period was one of the most valuable learning experiences for me as an individual. It helped me to grow up…to the extent that I’ve grown up so far. Us: Can you tell me how your experiences in Vietnam helped you in your career in the field? John: Fortunately, one of the projects I was involved with while I was there was working on the design of an aerated lagoon system, a wastewater treatment plant for Camp Tien Sha. And I had always felt I wanted to be a civil engineer, working in water and the environment – so I still do the same thing today, I do water and wastewater. It’s made me more comfortable in my career with traveling internationally, working internationally – going into 3rd world countries and helping improve their quality of life. If there’s nothing else I have to look back on in my career, it’s the feeling that I’ve been able to help contribute to improving the quality of life for literally hundreds of millions of people on this planet. And a lot of that is in 3rd world developing countries – a lot in Asia – and Vietnam was kind of the beginning of that. Us: Would you go back to Vietnam to see your work over there? John: In a heartbeat. It’s a little harder for me to get my wife to want to go to 3rd world countries. But I know there is a cruise in southeast Asia that I’ve seen, and sometime I want to do that, as long as one of its ports to call is Da Nang…So I can walk around and see if I can remember 56 Doc Lap Street, 7 Yen Bai, 151 Doc Lap, where the USO was, the White Elephant…my haunts. Go up to Camp Tien Sha and go to China Beach, and see what’s it like today, 40 years later… 45 years later!
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 | Adjusting Back to Home Life |
Format | 1 transcript, 3p. |
Filename | morrisjohn-vid3_tr3.pdf |
Full text | ADJUSTING BACK TO HOME LIFE Us: Was it hard for you to transition zofran into life back at home? John: Not difficult… though some aspects might have been a little more challenging. I got home in September of ’67, and then went back to work part-time for the Pasadena Water department And knowing you’re leaving one part of your life that you’ve spent (for most of us) 13 months, and getting back to the life you knew when you grew up…The strange thing is when you’re going to live in a different culture in a different country, you expect your culture shock to be when you go to that country. But you get so acclimated in whatever that is, like in Da Nang in Vietnam, that the greater culture shock is when you come home. That’s what you don’t prepare yourself for, because you really think you remember the way life was. But you’re not the same, and you don’t view it the same, and you’ve got to watch saying the same words to your family around the table versus what you would say in a mess hall. Us: Can you explain how people’s reactions were when you did come home? John: I can’t say I was welcomed. I can say I was sworn at, cussed at, spat upon – because people so hated the war. I did not feel like a popular American… On Good Friday the following spring, the church I grew up in, All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, had a Good Friday service. So I took a break from work, and walked across the street to celebrate Good Friday. Our minister at that time, who was very much anti-war, in his sermon was asking all of us to donate our blood to North Vietnam…and I felt that I had heard and seen enough of that impacting people, that I said this isn’t where I want to stay – and I got up and left. It’s not like it is today – when most Americans see troops in the airport, many of us will go over and out of our way to say, “Thank you for your service”. It wasn’t that way in the sixties at all. While we were doing what we had been asked to do by our government, it wasn’t appreciated by the American people – or by very few. I had a tie that my wife had given me quite a few years ago. It was black, and it had regimental stripes. But one of the stripes was the Vietnam campaign medal, and the other was the Vietnamese service medal, and it alternated those stripes. So anytime I went to Washington and called on the Halls of Congress, I would always wear that tie because I was very proud of my service on behalf of my country. I wore that tie one time when I was at one of my professional associations, and there was a conference in Washington D.C., and there was a reception one evening. There were probably thirty to fifty people in the room, and there was only one person that recognized the significance of what that tie stood for. He recognized it, and he said, “Welcome home.” This was 40 years after I had come back from Vietnam, and it was the first time that anybody had said, “Welcome home.” I so appreciated that, that when that gentleman retired last year—he was the executive director of our organization—I gave him my tie. Us: Do you have any regrets from the Vietnam War? Would you serve again? John: Absolutely. Aside from serving my county, I’d say that period was one of the most valuable learning experiences for me as an individual. It helped me to grow up…to the extent that I’ve grown up so far. Us: Can you tell me how your experiences in Vietnam helped you in your career in the field? John: Fortunately, one of the projects I was involved with while I was there was working on the design of an aerated lagoon system, a wastewater treatment plant for Camp Tien Sha. And I had always felt I wanted to be a civil engineer, working in water and the environment – so I still do the same thing today, I do water and wastewater. It’s made me more comfortable in my career with traveling internationally, working internationally – going into 3rd world countries and helping improve their quality of life. If there’s nothing else I have to look back on in my career, it’s the feeling that I’ve been able to help contribute to improving the quality of life for literally hundreds of millions of people on this planet. And a lot of that is in 3rd world developing countries – a lot in Asia – and Vietnam was kind of the beginning of that. Us: Would you go back to Vietnam to see your work over there? John: In a heartbeat. It’s a little harder for me to get my wife to want to go to 3rd world countries. But I know there is a cruise in southeast Asia that I’ve seen, and sometime I want to do that, as long as one of its ports to call is Da Nang…So I can walk around and see if I can remember 56 Doc Lap Street, 7 Yen Bai, 151 Doc Lap, where the USO was, the White Elephant…my haunts. Go up to Camp Tien Sha and go to China Beach, and see what’s it like today, 40 years later… 45 years later! |
Archival file | Volume3/morrisjohn-vid3_tr3.pdf |