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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Service Unit/Ship: Company L, Marine Support Battalion, Marine Corps Headquarters; 3rd Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); North Carolina; Camp Pendleton and San Diego, California; Turkey; Germany; England; Vietnam; Laos
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/10465

View full service history

"I was an inside guy." (Audio interview, 13:58)

Growing up in the 1950s, Staff Sergeant Ralph Garcia was impressed by the sharp uniform worn by his cousin, a decorated Marine veteran of the Korean War. His enlistment in the Marines in 1959 led him to a career in intelligence, first with the Marines and then later for the Central Intelligence Agency. As a "spook" working covert operations in Vietnam, and in undercover assignments with the CIA, he drew on his multi-lingual skills and multicultural background to help him blend in with his surroundings.

Ralph Anthony Garcia Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript

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About this Item

Title

  • Ralph Anthony Garcia Collection

Names

  • Lugar, Richard
  • Shaull, Philip A.
  • Garcia, Ralph Anthony
  • U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar

Home State

  • Indiana

Headings

  • -  Garcia, Ralph Anthony
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Service Unit/Ship: Company L, Marine Support Battalion, Marine Corps Headquarters; 3rd Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands); North Carolina; Camp Pendleton and San Diego, California; Turkey; Germany; England; Vietnam; Laos
    • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1959-1969
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran was working for British Intelligence while in England. After military service, Veteran worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Retiring from the CIA in 1991 he was given the Career Intelligence Medal

Materials

  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2002-12-17; 2005-06-01)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 2005-08-15; 2005-08-22)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 2002-12-17)
  • Manuscript: Biographical information [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 1997-06)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2002-12-17)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/10465

Online Format

  • audio
  • online text

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/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

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

Recording:

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

Photograph:

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

Computer file:

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

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), 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:

Lugar, Richard, Philip A Shaull, Ralph Anthony Garcia, and U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar. Ralph Anthony Garcia Collection. 1959. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.10465/.

APA citation style:

Lugar, R., Shaull, P. A., Garcia, R. A. & U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar. (1959) Ralph Anthony Garcia Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.10465/.

MLA citation style:

Lugar, Richard, et al. Ralph Anthony Garcia Collection. 1959. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.10465/>.