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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • Service History Note: The veteran served as Army Chaplain.
  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment, 5th Infantry Division
  • Location of Service: Fort Carson, Colorado; Vietnam; Romulus and Fort Wadsworth, New York; Walter Reed Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Nuremberg and Darmstadt, Germany; Fort Sam Houston, Fort Hood, and William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas
  • Highest Rank: Colonel

View full service history

"I lost several friends in the Korean conflict, and I always felt that I wanted to serve in the military and that I owed Uncle Sam some of my time." (Audio Interview, 1:54)

In college during the Korean War with a student deferment, Jimmie Spiller wasn’t drafted. But he never forgot the sacrifices some of his friends made in that conflict, so at the age of 35, as an ordained minister, he became a military chaplain. In Vietnam he was attached to an armored battalion. He comforted the wounded and those in need of assurance, holding services several times a week and not just on Sunday. He also paid visits to Navy hospital ships and learned to improvise when a bugler was not available to play “Taps” at a memorial service.

Jimmie C. Spiller Collection
Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • Jimmie C. Spiller Collection

Names

  • Spiller, Jimmie C.
  • Mary Lee Schumeyer
  • Redmond, Patricia
  • Daughters of the American Revolution, Frederick, Maryland Chapter

State of Birth

  • OK

Home State

  • MD

Headings

  • -  Spiller, Jimmie C.
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

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 served as Army Chaplain.
    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment, 5th Infantry Division
    • Location of Service: Fort Carson, Colorado; Vietnam; Romulus and Fort Wadsworth, New York; Walter Reed Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Nuremberg and Darmstadt, Germany; Fort Sam Houston, Fort Hood, and William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas
    • Highest Rank: Colonel
    • Dates of Service: 1967-1993
    • Entrance into Service: Commissioned
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Other [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 02/01/2008)
  • Photograph: Photographic print [6 items] -- Photograph (collected 1967 - 2006)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 02/01/2008)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/62542

Cite as

  • Jimmie C. Spiller Collection (AFC/2001/001/62542), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

Spiller, Jimmie C, Mary Lee Schumeyer, Patricia Redmond, and Frederick Daughters Of The American Revolution. Jimmie C. Spiller Collection. 1967. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.62542/.

APA citation style:

Spiller, J. C., Mary Lee Schumeyer, Redmond, P. & Daughters Of The American Revolution, F. (1967) Jimmie C. Spiller Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.62542/.

MLA citation style:

Spiller, Jimmie C, et al. Jimmie C. Spiller Collection. 1967. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.62542/>.