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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • Service History Note: The veteran also served as Director of Plans, Policy, Programming, and Management in the Office of Chief of Chaplains; and as Staff Chaplain for Naval Systems Commands.
  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division; Destroyer Squadron 6; Chaplain Resource Board
  • Location of Service: Naval Station, Washington, DC; Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland; Quantico, and Norfolk, Virginia; Newport Rhode Island; Atlantic; Newfoundland, Canada; Iceland; Vietnam
  • Highest Rank: Captain

View full service history

"The responsibility of the chaplain was to get out and serve the people wherever they were. When they were scattered around... Sunday was whenever the chaplain managed to get there." (Video Interview, 17:15)

Five of Alston Kirk's cousins served in the Navy, and he took inspiration from them one step higher: He wanted to be a Navy chaplain. He served for 33 years, and much of his interview deals with his tour of duty in Vietnam, attached to the 3rd Marine Division. The first day he reported to his unit, there was incoming mortar fire, a preview of what was to come for him. Kirk spent much of his time in the field with the men, surviving several deadly ambushes. He preferred getting around on helicopters, a safer mode of transportation in Vietnam than ground vehicles. Kirk saw up close what a "tremendous price" war extracts, at one point giving last rites to 25 young men whose bodies were recovered from a costly firefight in the jungle.

More Resources

View Enlarged Image
[ Biographical information for Chaplain Alston S. Kirk (revised 6/10/2005) ]

About this Item

Title

  • Alston Shepherd Kirk Collection

Names

  • Kirk, Alston Shepherd
  • AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps)
  • Bauer, Brittany

State of Birth

  • AR

Home State

  • TX

Headings

  • -  Kirk, Alston Shepherd
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Service History Note: The veteran also served as Director of Plans, Policy, Programming, and Management in the Office of Chief of Chaplains; and as Staff Chaplain for Naval Systems Commands.
    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division; Destroyer Squadron 6; Chaplain Resource Board
    • Location of Service: Naval Station, Washington, DC; Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland; Quantico, and Norfolk, Virginia; Newport Rhode Island; Atlantic; Newfoundland, Canada; Iceland; Vietnam
    • Highest Rank: Captain
    • Dates of Service: 1961-1994
    • Entrance into Service: Commissioned
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: Hi-8/Digital 8 [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 01/03/2006)
  • Manuscript: Biography [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 06/10/2005)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/47642

Cite as

  • Alston Shepherd Kirk Collection (AFC/2001/001/47642), 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:

Kirk, Alston Shepherd, Americorps Nccc, and Brittany Bauer. Alston Shepherd Kirk Collection. 1961. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.47642/.

APA citation style:

Kirk, A. S., Americorps Nccc & Bauer, B. (1961) Alston Shepherd Kirk Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.47642/.

MLA citation style:

Kirk, Alston Shepherd, Americorps Nccc, and Brittany Bauer. Alston Shepherd Kirk Collection. 1961. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.47642/>.