Eugene Windom |
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Reflections on His Tour of Duty But no, over there the thing is you’re always thinking about coming home, but the thing is they send young men to war because…they don’t think of the consequences…they don’t think about fear…they don’t think that they are going to be the ones to get killed because pretty much…we’re invincible. If you’re nineteen years old you’re not thinking – bullets are flying over my head – I never thought one was going to hit me. I could hear them going by “shew shew shew” but I had special forces guys guarding me while I was loading and unloading the airplanes, and I could hear the bullets going over my head or by my head or whatever and I just… for some reason never thought that I’d get killed. But we’re supporting those guys that are fighting. There are so many of us in the background and its a typical day for the ones… like my typical day was… get up in the morning – the military always has things for you to do to keep you regimented. Make sure that you know that somebody is there that can tell you what to do or give you orders that you have to follow on… keep you brainwashed so-to-speak – you get up in the morning and its okay… look on a roster and its your turn to rake the sand, or do KP or peel the potatoes, or your turn to whatever, we always had chores, we always had regimentation. And whenever I saw bodies that got sent home, I actually wanted to go out and kill a gook. Because I know a gook killed that person. It was well known, and we lived with the idea that, that all the bases over there that in the daytime… we’d be working with the Vietcong. Calling us number one GI – “you number one GI!” – as long as they get what they want you’re number one. If they don’t get what they want you’re number ten, and if they really don’t like you you’re number “ten thou” GI, “you number thou GI.” We talked before and you can get court martialed for getting sun burned–you belong to the U.S government and whatever the U.S government wants you to do that’s what you have to do. As far as being black and saying they never called me nigger this and that; that has nothing to do with it. It has to do with being in the United States, being part of the United States military machine and taking care of that. Matter of fact I think everybody should serve two years in the military just like they do over in Israel because I think everybody needs to have that… be able to later on in life be able to say – you know what “I served my country, I did my part, I pulled my little two years” – and I feel that nobody could ever say that I don’t deserve whatever it is here… I don’t deserve my retirement, I don’t deserve any kind of medical treatment, I don’t deserve my house. Nobody can tell me that just because I didn’t serve my country that I – you know – don’t deserve something. So I think everyone should pay their dues and spend a year or two in some sort of service, and I think the President was talking about something like that.
Object Description
Profile of | Eugene Windom |
Title | We Did What We Had To |
Profile bio | Born in raised in Oxnard, California, Dr. Eugene Windom is the oldest of 6 children. His father, a shoe shiner and construction worker provided a modest lifestyle for the family, while his mother, a homemaker performed domestic work for other families on occasion. “We had everything we needed,” Eugene says as he describes his upbringing. At 17 yrs old, Eugene graduated high school and joined the United States Air Force after hearing news of an upcoming draft. Scoring in the 95th percentile of the qualifying test, he was placed in the Air Force, the highest ranked service. Despite aspirations to be a dental laboratory technician, Eugene was sent to Florida to work as a warehouseman. In 1966, at the age of 19, he received orders to go to Vietnam. Eugene served one year in the Air Force, collecting bodies of American soldiers during the war in Vietnam. “We did what we had to do,” Eugene says almost nonchalantly. Despite his dismal task, he made the best of his time in Vietnam, and has many fond memories. Upon his return, Eugene enrolled in Ventura Jr. College, studied biology, transferred to Cal State Northridge, and eventually attended USC Dental School. He graduated in 1978 and returned to his hometown to practice. Today Dr. Windom is a proud father of 2 children ages 24 and 21, and is developing his own line of dental hygiene products. |
Profiler bio | Nicola is a senior graduating from the School of Cinematic Arts. With what little free time he has he likes to pursue photography, films, Crossfit, violin, volleyball, among other activities. Mark is a senior graduating with a B.S. from the Thornton School of Music with a major in Music Industry. With his time outside of school, Mark is a professional pianist and recording engineer in the L.A. and Orange County area. Andrew Franklin is a senior graduating this year with a degree in East Asian Area Studies. In his free time he enjoys basketball, snowboarding and exploring the world. Simone is a junior in the Thornton School of Music, majoring in Music Industry. In her free time she enjoys writing and recording music, as well as dancing and vintage shopping. |
Subject |
Airforce enlistment draft Vietnam war Vietnam communist veteran |
Profiled by | Aversa, Nicola; Battle, Simone; Franklin, Andrew; McCombs, Mark |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Oxnard |
Geographic subject (county) | Ventura |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | USA; Vietnam |
Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/eugene-windom/ |
Type |
images video |
Format | 1 image; 3 video files; 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 | windomeugene |
Description
Profile of | Eugene Windom |
Title | Reflections on His Tour of Duty |
Format | 1 transcript, 2p. |
Filename | windomeugene-vid2_tr2.pdf |
Full text | Reflections on His Tour of Duty But no, over there the thing is you’re always thinking about coming home, but the thing is they send young men to war because…they don’t think of the consequences…they don’t think about fear…they don’t think that they are going to be the ones to get killed because pretty much…we’re invincible. If you’re nineteen years old you’re not thinking – bullets are flying over my head – I never thought one was going to hit me. I could hear them going by “shew shew shew” but I had special forces guys guarding me while I was loading and unloading the airplanes, and I could hear the bullets going over my head or by my head or whatever and I just… for some reason never thought that I’d get killed. But we’re supporting those guys that are fighting. There are so many of us in the background and its a typical day for the ones… like my typical day was… get up in the morning – the military always has things for you to do to keep you regimented. Make sure that you know that somebody is there that can tell you what to do or give you orders that you have to follow on… keep you brainwashed so-to-speak – you get up in the morning and its okay… look on a roster and its your turn to rake the sand, or do KP or peel the potatoes, or your turn to whatever, we always had chores, we always had regimentation. And whenever I saw bodies that got sent home, I actually wanted to go out and kill a gook. Because I know a gook killed that person. It was well known, and we lived with the idea that, that all the bases over there that in the daytime… we’d be working with the Vietcong. Calling us number one GI – “you number one GI!” – as long as they get what they want you’re number one. If they don’t get what they want you’re number ten, and if they really don’t like you you’re number “ten thou” GI, “you number thou GI.” We talked before and you can get court martialed for getting sun burned–you belong to the U.S government and whatever the U.S government wants you to do that’s what you have to do. As far as being black and saying they never called me nigger this and that; that has nothing to do with it. It has to do with being in the United States, being part of the United States military machine and taking care of that. Matter of fact I think everybody should serve two years in the military just like they do over in Israel because I think everybody needs to have that… be able to later on in life be able to say – you know what “I served my country, I did my part, I pulled my little two years” – and I feel that nobody could ever say that I don’t deserve whatever it is here… I don’t deserve my retirement, I don’t deserve any kind of medical treatment, I don’t deserve my house. Nobody can tell me that just because I didn’t serve my country that I – you know – don’t deserve something. So I think everyone should pay their dues and spend a year or two in some sort of service, and I think the President was talking about something like that. |
Archival file | Volume6/windomeugene-vid2_tr2.pdf |