Personal Narrative Film, Video Manuscript/Mixed Material Photo, Print, Drawing Peter Robert Young Collection
Veterans History Project Service Summary:
- War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Branch of Service: Army
- Unit of Service: Base Camp, Special Services, 25th Infantry Division
- Location of Service: Fort Holabird, Maryland; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Ord, California; Alaska; Guam (Northern Mariana Islands); Cu Chi, Vietnam
- Highest Rank: Specialist Five
Peter Young was a librarian when he was drafted to serve in Vietnam. He considered deserting the Army for life in Canada but remembered why his immigrant father had come to the U.S. from China in the 1930s and, with the reassurance of fellow soldiers who had served in Vietnam, decided to stay on. He was fortunate to be assigned to a library on a base camp in Cu Chi, though he wasn't totally out of harm's way. Young's reflections on his service--its positive influence on his character and its negative object lesson in the futility of many wars--are thoughtfully expressed in this 2009 interview at the Library of Congress, where he was Chief of the Asian Division.
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PlayIn graduate school at Columbia University in spring 1968 when grad school deferments were dropped; went to his dean to ask if he could be drafted with a library degree; at Columbia, student protesters closed down the campus for a time; came to Washington that spring for his draft physical and took train back to New York in the wake of the Martin Luther King assassination, when cities were burning. 00:00:55.7 - 00:02:50.1
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PlayDescription of the student takeover of Columbia; he and two fellow librarians played archivists to the events, collecting all the literature, attending all the meetings; after all the tumult, the university canceled the graduation ceremony and mailed everyone his or her diploma. 00:03:00.2 - 00:05:44.9
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PlayWas against the war; participated in antiwar demonstrations before his induction; after he joined the Army, he was part of a group of soldiers who published a newspaper at Fort Sam Houston called "Your Military Left." 00:06:01.1 - 00:07:16.5
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PlayHe trained with a lot of 3-year enlisted or National Guard; drill sergeants focused on the draftees because they knew these recruits were going to Vietnam and they needed to learn skills for survival; left for Vietnam in 1969 from Ft. Ord; everyone on the plane was extremely quiet; first impression in country was blast of heat and smell of diesel oil; into a bus with wire mesh instead of windows; knew this was going to be year "in which I was going to have to be invisible." 00:08:44.1 - 00:11:29.7
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PlayReported to duty station and a first lieutenant who had graduated from Yale in the ROTC program; he actually gave Young a job running a library, his real-life specialty; library was a double-wide trailer with two air-conditioning units, so it was a place where people congregated and slept; had about 5,000 books, hometown newspapers, paperbacks to take out in the field; recorded music to play in their hooches and in the field; how he got his Bronze Stars. 00:13:03.0 - 00:19:17.5
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PlayThough he was not in combat, he was not out of danger; on bunker guard duty, learning about the difference between outgoing and incoming; years later learning of the tunnels of Cu Chi that were likely under his base camp; war stories were what people heard rather than experienced; was frightened for half his year, then angry. 00:20:21.9 - 00:24:38.4
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PlayFormed close friendships in Vietnam but has kept up with only one person; friendships lasted only as long as you were in country; was fascinated with the rituals of black soldiers; objects as talismans of the experience and how his insect repellent-soaked flak jacket seemed to symbolize his experience there. 00:24:51.2 - 00:31:00.7
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PlayImportance of mail; clinging to creature comforts like showering and shaving; trying hard not to stick out while he was in country, to be cool; how his ethnicity affected his service in Vietnam; he was half-Chinese and knew none of the language; mistaken for Mexican; in his post at the Library of Congress coming to understand better the culture of Vietnam in America. 00:31:28.1 - 00:38:14.3
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PlayLeaving Vietnam; talked into bringing home a captured 9mm Chinese pistol for a buddy who could carry only one; getting stares in the airport because he was wearing his uniform; seeing the effect of service on his comrades; advising to capture impressions of veterans when they are fresh; reacting to loud noises by hitting the ground; senses you never forget; anger he feels toward those who could have but didn't serve; Army gave him two traits: the ability to concentrate in chaotic situations (uses his reaction to the events on 9/11 as an example) and a sense of discipline to accomplish many task daily, as his father-in-law did. 00:40:28.7 - 00:47:57.1
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PlayTwo weeks before he was to ship out to Vietnam, he almost deserted, had a job lined up in Canada; realized that his father had come to the U.S. in the 1930s from China as an immigrant with hope for more opportunity and he should not give up so easily on that ideal; has not talked about his experiences to many people before this interview; is interested in the general idea of sharing personal experience and preserving it. 00:48:37.5 - 00:52:40.1
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PlayInterviewing for a federal librarian post in the late 1980s, he was asked if he knew how to take orders; his reply was to cite his military service; his father had worked in the Library of Congress in the 1930s in the same division Young is now chief of; has not been back to Vietnam but many colleagues have been helpful in supplying him with information about the country; has been to many other countries in Asia. 00:54:26.6 - 00:59:02.4
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PlayComing to grips with what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam; mitigating the poison of violence with libraries; reads from a Bob Herbert column about Robert McNamara, the Vietnam era Secretary of Defense who died recently; racial prejudice at the heart of training for going to war; cried when U.S. invaded Iraq, seeing the same mistakes being made as in Vietnam; believes in devoting his time to peaceful resolutions of conflicts on all levels. 00:59:23.4 - 01:05:35.5
About this Item
Title
- Peter Robert Young Collection
Names
- Young, Peter Robert
- Library of Congress
- Trulock, Alison
State of Birth
- DC
Home State
- MD
Headings
- - Young, Peter Robert
- - Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
- - United States. Army.
Notes
- - Veteran's biographical form lists race/ethnicity as Chinese American.
Repository
- Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Gender
- Male
Race
- Asian
Status
- Veteran
Service History
-
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Branch of Service: Army
- Unit of Service: Base Camp, Special Services, 25th Infantry Division
- Location of Service: Fort Holabird, Maryland; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Ord, California; Alaska; Guam (Northern Mariana Islands); Cu Chi, Vietnam
- Highest Rank: Specialist Five
- Dates of Service: 1968-1970
- Entrance into Service: Drafted
- Military Status: Veteran
- Service History Note: The veteran managed one of 32 Special Services Trailer Libraries in Vietnam, used by soldiers for recreation purposes.
Materials
- Video: MiniDV [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 07/13/2009)
- Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [47 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 1968 - 1970)
- Photograph: Photographic print [1 item] -- Photograph (collected 10/17/1969)
- Manuscript: Biographical information [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)
- Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [25 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 09/1968 - 09/1970)
- Manuscript: Biographical information [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 1978)
- Video: DVD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 07/13/2009)
- Manuscript: Printed matter [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 07/07/2009)
- Photograph: Duplicate [1 item] -- Photograph (collected 10/17/1969)
- Manuscript: Periodicals [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected 05/1970 - 06/1970)
- Video: MiniDV [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 07/13/2009)
Collection Number
- AFC/2001/001/66648
Cite as
- Peter Robert Young Collection (AFC/2001/001/66648), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Online Format
- image
- video
Additional Metadata Formats
IIIF Presentation Manifest
Wars & Conflicts
Service Branch
Location of Service
- Alaska
- Cu Chi, Vietnam
- Fort Bragg, North Carolina
- Fort DIX, New Jersey
- Fort Holabird, Maryland
- Fort Ord, California
- Fort Sam Houston, Texas
- Guam (Northern Mariana Islands)