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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: USS Ticonderoga
  • Location of Service: Pacific Ocean; California; Vietnam
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade

View full service history

"I was lying in order to enlist in the military and serve my country, while there were some of my contemporaries who were lying to avoid serving in the military." (Video interview, 4:52)

Graduating from college in 1968, Nathaniel Butler decided to enlist in the Navy rather than face the uncertainty of a draft assignment. In addition to the inherent challenges that came with serving during the Vietnam era, he also struggled as a gay man in an intolerant environment. Despite his strong sense of the injustice of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he maintains positive feelings about his time in the Navy, and is glad to have served.

Transcript: XML

About this Item

Title

  • Nathaniel Glover Butler Collection

Names

  • American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER)
  • Butler, Nathaniel Glover
  • Ballard, Lara
  • Hebert, Marcie

State of Birth

  • MA

Home State

  • MA

Headings

  • -  Butler, Nathaniel Glover
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: USS Ticonderoga
    • Location of Service: Pacific Ocean; California; Vietnam
    • Highest Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
    • Dates of Service: 1968-1972
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: Video-8 [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 04/02/2003)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 06/2003)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/5878

Cite as

  • Nathaniel Glover Butler Collection (AFC/2001/001/5878), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

Wars & Conflicts

Service Branch

Location of Service

Service Unit

Gender

Race

Highest Rank

Service Entrance

Discharge Status

Interviewee

Interviewer

Organization/Affiliation

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:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, Nathaniel Glover Butler, Lara Ballard, and Marcie Hebert. Nathaniel Glover Butler Collection. 1968. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05878/.

APA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, Butler, N. G., Ballard, L. & Hebert, M. (1968) Nathaniel Glover Butler Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05878/.

MLA citation style:

American Veterans For Equal Rights, et al. Nathaniel Glover Butler Collection. 1968. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.05878/>.