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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: E Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Khe Sanh, Vietnam; Hill 861, Vietnam; Phu Bai, Vietnam
  • Highest Rank: Hospitalman Third Class

View full service history

"You can't learn until you're injected into a new experience." (Video Interview, 29:28)

A Navy medical corpsman in Vietnam, Raymond Torres didn't spend his tour of duty in a hospital, but out in the field, carrying a gun (not permitted by the Geneva Convention) and being shot at (also not permitted). In a lecture to a community college class, Torres offers a wealth of detail about daily life in country, with a long section devoted to what he saw during the siege of Khe Sanh, when he was manning an aid station on Hill 861, three miles north of the embattled base. Torres discovered that his training hadn't prepared him for much of what he encountered, from bloodsucking leeches to dealing with the culture of Vietnam.

More Resources

View 20 images in sequence.
[ Photo Album ]
View 4 images in sequence.
[ Letter to Ray [2/17/1968] ]
View Enlarged Image
[ Letter to "Doc" [4/18/1970] ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ Program from the Battalion Memorial Service ]

About this Item

Title

  • Raymond Emilio Torres Collection

Names

  • Tegge, Thomas
  • Sauk Valley Community College-Dixon, IL
  • Torres, Raymond Emilio

State of Birth

  • LA

Home State

  • IL

Headings

  • -  Torres, Raymond Emilio
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Hispanic

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: E Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Khe Sanh, Vietnam; Hill 861, Vietnam; Phu Bai, Vietnam
    • Highest Rank: Hospitalman Third Class
    • Dates of Service: 1966-1970
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Correspondence [2 items] -- Handwritten document (collected 1968 - 1970)
  • Photograph: Photocopy of photographic print [20 items] -- Photograph (collected 1968)
  • Manuscript: Clippings [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 04/17/1970)
  • Manuscript: Printed matter [3 items] -- (collected 1968)
  • Video: VHS [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 04/08/1996)
  • Video: Digital Betacam [1 item] -- Digitized Copy (collected 04/08/1996)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/30980

Cite as

  • Raymond Emilio Torres Collection (AFC/2001/001/30980), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Tegge, Thomas, Il Sauk Valley Community College-Dixon, and Raymond Emilio Torres. Raymond Emilio Torres Collection. 1966. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.30980/.

APA citation style:

Tegge, T., Sauk Valley Community College-Dixon, I. & Torres, R. E. (1966) Raymond Emilio Torres Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.30980/.

MLA citation style:

Tegge, Thomas, Il Sauk Valley Community College-Dixon, and Raymond Emilio Torres. Raymond Emilio Torres Collection. 1966. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.30980/>.