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Reflections on the Vietnam War by David Johnson
What was the most important thing you learned about yourself while you were overseas?
That I could handle a lot more than I ever thought I could. And that I could actually be very calm in a very hectic situation. You learn to trust yourself, you learn to trust your instincts. And you learn to grow.
Can you give any specific examples of when you dug deep and found out more about yourself?
Every time you have to go in to get a friend. There was one time we were on patrol and we ran into a patrol from another unit. We were patrolling through the same area, and we went right and they went left. Talk to them for a while, got a couple hundred meters down the trail and we hear an explosion and went back and turned around. They ran into a 105 booby trap and well one of the guys we found enough of his body to fill a four-quart pot. It literally blew him to pieces. Another guy lost a leg, and that was kind of rough. But you learn that you have people here that are hurt and you are going to treat them get them help and do what we can. Every time you go in situation like that where you have to go into someone else’s aid you have to calm down you have to dig deep and you have to be the calm one because somebody else’s life depends on it.
For a closing question, what was the way the war impacted your life the most?
I feel you looking a lot more and you learn to value the little things. Also made me more confident in doing a lot of things than I was before. Heck I jumped out of airplanes, I jumped out of helicopters while they were still flying because that’s how we did it when we were in for a CA. We got out on the skid, he would low level across and we jump off. I learned to respect and value my friends a lot more. That’s definitely that one thing in the military does. It also made me more aware of people’s’ feelings because when you’re treated badly you know how you feel so you can extend that to other people. I think combat makes someone a better person because it teaches you things about yourself that you never knew. I’ve seen some big football players in combat curl up in little balls and cry like a baby and you see this little 90-pound nerd get up and go running out and drag somebody in twice his size under fire, so I mean it teaches you about people, don’t judge a person by they way they look because it will surprise you every time.
Thank you for your time, appreciate it.
Object Description
| Profile of | David Johnson |
| Title | Experiences from Vietnam War by David Johnson |
| Profile bio | David Johnson hails from Fresno, CA, where he was born on May 16, 1950. Dave is one half Native American and one half German. Before enlisting in the war in 1968, Dave was a student. Once he enlisted, he entered Special Forces as a Private, and was stationed in many regions including Bong Son, Da Nang, and Dong Dat, among other areas in Viet Nam. He was deployed with Fifth Special Forces Group, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the 23rd Infantry Division, or more commonly known as the 'American Division'. When Dave returned from the service on Dec. 3, 1971, he became a correctional officer. He now cares for an elderly man with special needs. |
| Profiler bio | Jordan Tolentino; Alayna Lewis; Bryce Herman; Sang Lee |
| Subject |
American Combat Helicopters Profile The Draft US Army US Special Forces Viet Nam |
| Profiled by | Tolentino, Jordan; Lewis, Alayna; Herman, Bryce; Lee, Sang |
| Profile date | 2016-02-26 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Fresno; Da Nang |
| Geographic subject (county) | Fresno |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA; Vietnam |
| Coverage date | 1950; 1968; 1971 |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/david-johnson/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 6 video files (00:24:18); 6 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 | johnsondavid |
Description
| Profile of | David Johnson |
| Title | Reflections on the Vietnam War by David Johnson |
| Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
| Filename | johnsondavid-vid6_tr6.pdf |
| Full text | Reflections on the Vietnam War by David Johnson What was the most important thing you learned about yourself while you were overseas? That I could handle a lot more than I ever thought I could. And that I could actually be very calm in a very hectic situation. You learn to trust yourself, you learn to trust your instincts. And you learn to grow. Can you give any specific examples of when you dug deep and found out more about yourself? Every time you have to go in to get a friend. There was one time we were on patrol and we ran into a patrol from another unit. We were patrolling through the same area, and we went right and they went left. Talk to them for a while, got a couple hundred meters down the trail and we hear an explosion and went back and turned around. They ran into a 105 booby trap and well one of the guys we found enough of his body to fill a four-quart pot. It literally blew him to pieces. Another guy lost a leg, and that was kind of rough. But you learn that you have people here that are hurt and you are going to treat them get them help and do what we can. Every time you go in situation like that where you have to go into someone else’s aid you have to calm down you have to dig deep and you have to be the calm one because somebody else’s life depends on it. For a closing question, what was the way the war impacted your life the most? I feel you looking a lot more and you learn to value the little things. Also made me more confident in doing a lot of things than I was before. Heck I jumped out of airplanes, I jumped out of helicopters while they were still flying because that’s how we did it when we were in for a CA. We got out on the skid, he would low level across and we jump off. I learned to respect and value my friends a lot more. That’s definitely that one thing in the military does. It also made me more aware of people’s’ feelings because when you’re treated badly you know how you feel so you can extend that to other people. I think combat makes someone a better person because it teaches you things about yourself that you never knew. I’ve seen some big football players in combat curl up in little balls and cry like a baby and you see this little 90-pound nerd get up and go running out and drag somebody in twice his size under fire, so I mean it teaches you about people, don’t judge a person by they way they look because it will surprise you every time. Thank you for your time, appreciate it. |
| Archival file | Volume4/johnsondavid-vid6_tr6.pdf |
