Nicole+and+Margo

Please state the veteran's name, the conflict or era in which he or she served, and the group in which he or she belonged.

Then research this era or conflict using the Veterans History Project website. Be sure to use as many primary sources as possible. Include your research on this page.

Then watch a video of a veteran from the Veterans History Project website who served in a similar role and position. What questions will you be able to ask your veteran based on watching this interview? What worked well with the interview and what would you change? Include your finding on this page as well.

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Mr. Trone Transcript Margo: When you weren’t on duty did you have recreational activities that you did?

Mr. Trone: Yes, there were a number of things that were available. They had the club of course, the bar. And liquor was very cheap over there, and it was not limited by age to anyone. I mean, if you were fighting a war you were allowed to drink. I am not saying that was not a problem for some people. It probably was. There were a few people over there that abused alcohol. That was definitely a problem for some. The people I was with I did not see a real big problem. I mean there were some other things that we had a make shift work out area for people to work out. You know, some make shift barbells and workout equipment. You would be surprised what people could workout. The big thing that we had was that we had movies and a little bit of a library sent to us by the USO sent books and magazines for reading. Movies were the big thing. They sent movies in like a couple times a week. They were pretty much not far behind theater release. We would get movies, and it was pretty neat because they were outside shows. We had a big white billboard, which was what we put up. That was our projection screen, and we a little projection booth and we had a parachute that we put up in case it would start raining during the show. In addition, we had movies as soon as it would get dark and sometimes play them twice in a night. And I remember the biggest movie of the year, while I was there was “M.A.S.H”. “M.A.S.H” came out that year, and we had that movie for about 4 days. And I was the projectionist. I became the projectionist for a while, and for three months, I was running the projector. And we played that movie, I bet, I think we ran that about five times. I ran a midnight show. People just wanted to see “M.A.S.H” as much as possible, that was the “It” movie of the season, and it was wonderful.

Keller: In the war, did the Vietcong do anything radical that you wouldn’t have expected?

Mr.Trone: I think the, when I was there, there was nothing that they did that I saw, but I heard of the things they did. I think the biggest thing that amazed me was, I heard from some of the people that came into our area that we worked with, was the amazing amount of tunneling they did. They practically lived underground. They had some amazing tunnel systems and caves and caverns that they put whole units underground, and there were times that we couldn’t locate units. They had large amounts of people and munitions that were stock piled underground and we would bomb areas and thought we had obliterated them, and the next day they would come back out and engage our troops again because they had been tunneled well underground. It was just amazing what they did. The other thing they did, which was very barbaric, was the booby traps they laid for our troops. They maimed killed a lot of our troops with the booby traps. I thought that was barbaric.

Keller: Like the natives, could you tell the difference between enemies and foes?

Mr. Trone: No. The Vietnamese people, the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese, were all basically all of the same race. And it was a split country so it, you didn’t really know who your enemy was. It was just a, the North Vietnamese army or the Vietcong, the communist infiltrators you didn’t know whether they were enemies or not. They didn’t necessarily have to be a soldier, per say a male soldier, because they used their women and children in the combat action against our troops. The women helped to carry munitions and sometimes engaged in firing weapons against us. And sometimes children engaged in acts of aggression by dropping grenades at times into some of the facilities that our troops had. So it was a very different kind of war, something our troops were really not up to speed at fighting the way these people were. And plus politically I think by fully engaging with the North, so it was a tough. They were just not in a position where they could win the war.

Keller: Were you in any major conflicts like battles?

Mr.Trone: No, I was not in any major battles. The major offensive that was most memorable was the Tet Offensive. This happened the year before I went over. The Tet Offensive happened in 1968, a year before I went over. That was the major offensive, which almost won the war. The Vietcong and the North Vietnamese almost over ran the country. We were literally almost overrun at the time. Keller: What do you think was the main cause of the end of the war? Mr.Trone: Well the people of the U.S got tired of so many people being killed and the political unrest in this country. People just would not support the continued fighting of that war that we had to finally withdrawal. And the government in South Vietnam finally collapsed and we had to pull everything out. We basically lost that war. We didn’t fight that war the way we should have. We were held back politically ,  and we just lost.

Keller: So did you leave Vietnam before the war ended?

Mr.Trone: Yes I left Vietnam in 1970. I went over in November of 1969 and came back in November of 1970.

Keller: Where were you when the war ended?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone: Actually the war ended in 1974, so I was already out of the military at that time. Which I was very glad to be out of the military at that point. I finally got out of it in March of 1972. I finished my military career in Fort Lee, Virginia. I was a Personal Specialist. I was retrained when I came back because they were starting to bring a lot of people back from Vietnam so it was a lot of training being done, so I became a Personal Specialist. For a little over a year I spent at Fort Lee, and that’s where I finished my military career.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Keller: How were you received back into the community by your friends and family?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone: Well at that time <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the military was not viewed very highly and we were pretty much implied unless you were flying on military business on a flight that required you to wear your uniforms you didn’t need to wear it. There was a lot of conflict at that time and people snubbed soldiers. You were looked down upon. I didn’t feel good about wearing the uniform and even thought I did my duty I did not feel very comfortable with wearing the uniform. I was very glad. I wore my uniform on duty, but I didn’t wear it outside, off the post, so it was not something I was very comfortable with because <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">t <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">he military was pretty much under the gun because of what had taken place in Vietnam.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Keller: Was the adjustment back into civilian life difficult for you?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone: Well, it was a little bit because I was unsure with what I wanted to do. I came back and I went back to college for a semester and at that point I have been out for about four years <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. It was a tough adjustment. You just had no clued <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">what you wanted to do <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">. T <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here were a lot of people who had just come back from the service. There were a lot of people looking for jobs. It was a tough thing. At that point in time <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I wasn’t interested in taking classes. I was kind of tired of it. I was fortunate enough to get a job with a trucking company which I worked with part time when I was in high school and college. I started working with them in the maintenance shop as a mechanic <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and I worked my way into a position with them. I worked into a mechanic, then beyond that to a manager then past that into an upper level management position, and ultimately worked for that company for 35 years. So I feel that I had a successful career after starting out at the bottom and basically working my way up to finishing at a corporal office when I ended my career and retired. I retired after the company was sold due to a management structure which I disagreed with so I decided to retire. I still needed health insurance and was fortunate enough to get a job here. That’s a little about what I did after the military <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> but I’ve worn a number of different hats <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I traveled through work experience. I’ve been a frequent flyer and traveled over most of the country. I’ve done a lot of different things.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Keller: How did your experience in the military affect your life?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone: I think one of the things it gave me, especially the experience in Vietnam. One of the things that Vietnam taught me early on was the value of life. It makes me realize that life is very precious and you only have so much time. And nobody knows how much time that is. I think when I saw those people in that one casualty instant that I saw, that I really realized that nobody knows how short or long of a life you have. That made me respect life a lot differently my whole life. I think I’ve enjoyed li <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">f <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">e more too because I’ve looked at life as “Let’s have fun today” because you don’t know if it was my last day, so I tried to have fun every day. I think that’s the attitude I came away with early on in life. And I think a lot more people could benefit from learning that. Too many learn that late in life.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Keller: What important lessons did you learn from the military?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr.Trone: I think the military taught me discipline, regimen, cleanliness, neatness. I found that al <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">l <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> throughout my life that I’ve been very regimented and very discipline <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">d <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. I’m orderly <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.I <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">t followed though. I noticed that people also in the military tend to be the same way <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">E <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">e <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">specially those that are or were in the Marine Corps. If you’ve ever seen older <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">M <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">arines, they are always being very neat and orderly. There are very few that ever fall back to being a sloppy person. They learned how to be a certain way, and they stay that way. And I think the military does teach a certain type of discipline, regimen, and orderliness. And when you do that for a certain amount of time <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #58b442; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">you follow through that routine for your life.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Miller: Thank you for your time today and serving for us.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr.Trone: Well you’re welcome, appreciate it.

NARRITIVE <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr.Trone Narrative <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On May 7, 1949 in Hanover, York County Pennsylvania, Mr. Ray Allen Trone was born. His father, mother, two older sisters, himself, and his younger sister made up the family. Mr. Trone’s parents were farmers who also worked in a machine shop and a sewing factory. Mr. Trone is from a long line of heroes and soldiers who fought for America. His grandfather fought in World War I and his father fought in World War II. Mr. Trone carried on that legacy when he served in the Vietnam War, after being drafted and enlisting at the age of 19. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone originally received a draft notice and from there he enlisted, because with enlisting came certain choices that didn’t come with being drafted. He then chose his field of study and became a Specialist 5 in the Army. As a Specialist 5 (also called a Special Identification Techniques Analyst), he was to use radio transmitters and intercept the Vietcong’s radio transmissions that were through morse code and translate it. His particular job was to try and find the location of the enemy troops by tracking the signals from the Vietcong’s transmitters to pin point their location. He would then send the information to the commanders so they could deliberate what to do with their troops. Mr. Trone may not have seen a lot of the front line of the war, but he still was involved in a very crucial part of it. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Trone was stationed at Bien Hoa in South Vietnam, which is 30 miles north of Saigon. Bien Hoa, a very large airbase and military base, was not a center for attack by the Vietcong or North Vietnamese. However, it did see a regular shower of mortars. There was only one time Mr. Trone witnessed any casualties. It was an incident where his base took a mortar about 100 yards from where he was standing. There were four soldiers killed and a couple more injured from the incoming hit. Mr. Trone had a very sobering experience while stationed in Vietnam, due to this incident and his service time he values life a whole lot more, and also values family more too. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Mr. Trone was stationed in Vietnam he constantly wrote letters and communicated with his friends and family back home. The technology wasn’t what it is now. There were no cell phones or computer lines, just letters in which to communicate. His mom was his biggest fan and would always write him letters out of her concern for his safety. When Mr. Trone wasn’t writing letters back home, or was on duty. There were different recreational activities that he could partake in. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As being part of a base camp, recreational activities were popular. The men on the bases had a lot of down time to do anything they wanted, and a number of activities were available for them. One resource to spend their time, of course, was the club. At the time, alcohol was very cheap and always available to service men. If you were part of the war, you were allowed to drink legally. For Mr.Trone, drinking was not an issue. However, for some men in his unit, they did abuse the alcohol. More activities to included working out and reading. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Reading and working out weren’t the main past time activities to do, but it gave them something to do. For working out they had a small area that they made, which included some make-shift barbells and equipment. Mr. Trone said you would be surprised what the men could work out and do. The USO had also sent a small library. They sent a few books and magazines over to the men. The main pass time activity was watching movies. Watching the movies, also sent by the USO, was the popular thing to do. Movies were sent to the camp a few times a week and the movies were not to far behind the original release date. They were in the middle of the jungle, so a movie theater was not provided obviously. Mr. Trone stated that watching the movies was pretty cool though because it was an outside show. For their movies screen it was a white billboard and they had a small projection booth. Since they had no control over the weather, they also had a giant parachute to put over head to shield from possibly rain showers. As said before, movies were their favorite thing. The men sometimes would demand to watch he movie twice in the night. The biggest movie of the year while Trone was there, was M.A.S.H. He said that they had a that movie for about four days and watched it about five times. When not doing recreational things, the men were following the war. The Vietcong were the instigators of the Vietnam War. They were known for their radical and unsightly fighting ways. While Trone was there he said that he did not directly see or be affected by them though. However, he shared news that astounded him. The Vietcong had an immense and complex tunneling systems. The tunneling kept American fighters in the dark thinking that they had obliterated a whole group of men, and the next day, there was a whole new group attacking. Another thing that he thought was barbaric was the booby traps they would lay for their men. They took out large amounts of men that way. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Being in Vietnam directly, all of the people looked the same. Not being able to tell the enemies apart was common. The people who were civilians there were all basically of the same race, so telling apart the enemies and the peaceful people was a task. The Vietcong also used innocent children and women to trick their forces. They women were used to carry munitions and the children would sometimes have grenades strapped to them. Due to some of the gruesome fighting, their troops were not experienced or prepared for that kind of war. Trone said the troops that were directly in the war, were in no position to win it. After a brutal and terrible time, it was time for Mr.Trone to return home. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Mr.Trone had entered the war in November of 1969 and left November of 1970. The actual war itself ended in 1974. A full service time has to be fours years so Mr.Trone had to then take more courses to finish his career. In March, 1972, Trone had completely finished his military career. When he left the military, he had left as a Personal Specialist. Mr.Tone leaving Vietnam early, he had to be retrained to become the Personal Specialist. He had spent a year at Fort Lee for training, and that is where he finished his career. Being completely done with the military, he now had a new challenge to overcome; Returning home into his community. When Trone left the war, civilians did not view the war as a highly and honorable situation. In fact, he said that soldiers were looked down upon. Trone did not feel comfortable wearing his uniform around because of that. The only time soldiers would wear their uniforms was when they were on duty. Also adjusting back into civilian life was difficult for Trone. When he had finished his career with the military he was unsure about what he wanted to do, but there were thousands in the same situation as him. Before he had left for the military though, he was fortunate to have a job with a trucking company, so when he returned home he started working in the maintenance shop as a mechanic. He then worked his way up the scale from a mechanic, then to a manager, then to upper level management. He felt he had accomplished a lot from starting low and raising high and above. He had worked for that company for 35 years. Through his working experiences with the military and his working career, he also traveled a lot, and learned to love life more. The main lesson learned from his military time was just to appreciate life more. It made him realize what most people didn’t; that life is precious and you only have so much time before it ends, and a person doesn’t have a clue when that will be. He was fortunate to learn it at a young age, and he said he was. The military had made him look at life differently and taught him life long lessons. He says he now looks at life as a “Let’s have fun today” attitude, and wishes more people would learn and have the opportunity to look at life that way.