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Pre-War
My name is Michael Rank, and I’m an associate professor for the USC School of social work.
What was your life like before Vietnam?
I was in a small state school in upstate Pennsylvania. And actually this is the late sixties and the times were kind of crazy, politically as well as individuals protesting against the war, people supporting the war, and it was difficult to really discern what the reality was. I was majoring in accounting and actually I was a senior, had a semester left to go to graduate. I was really frustrated with thinking about myself as an accountant for the rest of my life and I was really fascinated–not fascinated, but interested in Vietnam. And I did the craziest thing, I dropped out of school, withdrew from school and I volunteered for the draft.
What was your family’s opinion about doing that?
My father didn’t like it at all. Actually my father was a World War II veteran. He was airborne, jumped on D-day and interestingly enough he became antiwar, and anti guns later on in his life, but I never really discussed with him the fact that I was going to join the army or volunteer the draft. Once he found out that I did that, he was disturbed to say the least, but ultimately supported my decision. I mean there’s nothing else he could do because once I signed up that was it. And I couldn’t take back the signature so he was disturbed but supported me. My mother was really distraught and she cried for hours for days before I left.
Do you have any brothers of sisters?
I have one sister that’s five years younger and she was disturbed as well. Actually I had a number of friends that had gone to Vietnam before me, a set of twins. And at that time only one of the twins could go into combat and the other had to stay home state side. So I knew both of these guys and one was a marine and he stepped on a land mine and lost his leg. And 2 weeks before I was to go into the army, he showed up at my house with his brother, kind of wishing me well going into the army. It really disturbed my mother that he was hobbling around and that he was on painkillers and it was really just an awful sight and it broke my heart to see him that way. And also the twins, who I knew so very well while I was going to college. So that was my sendoff.
Object Description
| Profile of | Michael Rank |
| Title | College Student at War |
| Profile bio | Michael Rank is an associate professor at the USC School of Social Work. He was an infantryman in the Vietnam War, from 1969-1970. Dr. Rank was a senior studying accounting when he decided to drop out and volunteer in the Army to fight in the Vietnam War. His choice to go to Vietnam was out of curiosity and also to make a difference. He wanted a change in his life, because as he puts it accounting wasn’t for him. His father was a World War II veteran who became anti-war later in his life. As a young man Rank participated in both anti war protests as well as pro war protests. He knew about Vietnam as a country but despite research he couldn’t understand why Americans were fighting in that part of the world, so he wanted to see for himself. In Vietnam he was chosen by the Department of Defense to be an infantryman. He was stationed in Chu Lai. When he came back from the war, he attended Bloomsburg University majoring in Sociology. He then went on to get his Masters in social work at Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in the same subject from the University of South Carolina. |
| Profiler bio | Rashid Binnur is a freshman majoring in Public Relations and planning to double minor in Information Technology and Business Entrepreneurship. Mia Poynor is a freshman majoring in Health and Human Sciences with a focus in International Health. Timothy Woodson is a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in EALC studies with and emphasis in Chinese. |
| Subject |
Vietnam Draft Vietnam war tet offensive volunteer antiwar antigun |
| Profiled by | Binnur, Rashid; Poynor, Mia; Woodson, Timothy |
| Profile date | 2016-03-01 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Columbia; Da Nang |
| Geographic subject (county) | Richland; Lexington |
| Geographic subject (state) | South Carolina; Pennsylvania |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA; Vietnam; Columbia; Laos |
| Coverage date | 1970 |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/michael-rank/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 3 video files (00:15:59); 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 | rankmichael |
Description
| Profile of | Michael Rank |
| Title | Pre-War |
| Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
| Filename | rankmichael-vid1_tr1.pdf |
| Full text | Pre-War My name is Michael Rank, and I’m an associate professor for the USC School of social work. What was your life like before Vietnam? I was in a small state school in upstate Pennsylvania. And actually this is the late sixties and the times were kind of crazy, politically as well as individuals protesting against the war, people supporting the war, and it was difficult to really discern what the reality was. I was majoring in accounting and actually I was a senior, had a semester left to go to graduate. I was really frustrated with thinking about myself as an accountant for the rest of my life and I was really fascinated–not fascinated, but interested in Vietnam. And I did the craziest thing, I dropped out of school, withdrew from school and I volunteered for the draft. What was your family’s opinion about doing that? My father didn’t like it at all. Actually my father was a World War II veteran. He was airborne, jumped on D-day and interestingly enough he became antiwar, and anti guns later on in his life, but I never really discussed with him the fact that I was going to join the army or volunteer the draft. Once he found out that I did that, he was disturbed to say the least, but ultimately supported my decision. I mean there’s nothing else he could do because once I signed up that was it. And I couldn’t take back the signature so he was disturbed but supported me. My mother was really distraught and she cried for hours for days before I left. Do you have any brothers of sisters? I have one sister that’s five years younger and she was disturbed as well. Actually I had a number of friends that had gone to Vietnam before me, a set of twins. And at that time only one of the twins could go into combat and the other had to stay home state side. So I knew both of these guys and one was a marine and he stepped on a land mine and lost his leg. And 2 weeks before I was to go into the army, he showed up at my house with his brother, kind of wishing me well going into the army. It really disturbed my mother that he was hobbling around and that he was on painkillers and it was really just an awful sight and it broke my heart to see him that way. And also the twins, who I knew so very well while I was going to college. So that was my sendoff. |
| Archival file | Volume5/rankmichael-vid1_tr1-0.pdf |
