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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
  • Location of Service: Fort Gordon, Augusta, Georgia; Phouc Vinh, Lai Khe and Quan Loi, Vietnam
  • Highest Rank: E-3

View full service history

"Because I made it, I have what they call survivor's guilt." (Video Interview, Part 3, 13:48)

A high school dropout who wanted to better his life by joining the Army, Robert Rice got a rude awakening when he shipped off to Vietnam, a place and war he admits he knew little about before arriving there. Getting wounded in combat and nearly dying, going AWOL several times, doing time in the stockade, getting a Dear John letter-Rice's tour of duty was like a laundry list of nearly everything bad that could happen to a man in a war zone. Even after he got back on his feet in the states, the mental turmoil the war had stirred up persisted. He became a minister and worked with convicts, one of whom was the son of a man Rice met in the stockade in Vietnam.

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About this Item

Title

  • Robert Lee Rice Collection

Names

  • WRCB-TV Channel 3
  • Bowen, Sarah
  • Rice, Robert Lee
  • Willie, Michael

State of Birth

  • TN

Home State

  • TN

Headings

  • -  Rice, Robert Lee
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Black or African American

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
    • Location of Service: Fort Gordon, Augusta, Georgia; Phouc Vinh, Lai Khe and Quan Loi, Vietnam
    • Highest Rank: E-3
    • Dates of Service: 1965-1969
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: Betacam SP [3 items] -- Oral history interview (collected 1/16/2003)
  • Photograph: Digital print [3 items] -- Photograph (collected 1966 - 2002)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/6050

Cite as

  • Robert Lee Rice Collection (AFC/2001/001/6050), 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:

Wrcb-Tv Channel 3, Sarah Bowen, Robert Lee Rice, and Michael Willie. Robert Lee Rice Collection. 1965. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.06050/.

APA citation style:

Wrcb-Tv Channel 3, Bowen, S., Rice, R. L. & Willie, M. (1965) Robert Lee Rice Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.06050/.

MLA citation style:

Wrcb-Tv Channel 3, et al. Robert Lee Rice Collection. 1965. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.06050/>.