Taylor Johnson Interview #2

Interview # 2
Uncles Friend


Me: Why did you join the army?

Him:
A couple reasons

To avoid the draft because when you get drafted you are committed for at least 2 years and you have no say on where you go

99% of the time you could be in the jungle

This way I could get a chance at schooling I schooled high in administration

Hoping I would get it my way and hoping they would mess up and I would get out of the army
I went to a special school for administration and took a test and scored top 14 out of 100 that’s when they sent me to Alabama for flight operations.

That’s where I became flight operations flight traffic controller

So for a guy who grew up in Waipahu I did pretty well

I wasn’t patriotical or anything but I was smart and hoping for the contract that administration and pretty much everyone but the army draft guys get.

Me :What was it like for you to get home?

Him:
Well I wasn’t spat at or called names

But I never really walked around I spent a lot of time at home and didn’t show I was apart of the Vietnam war.

I stayed close to family

You could say I was depressed and isolated myself from the world

That has all changed now I am proud like your uncle I went to therapy and had much support from my family.

How was your experience different from my uncles?

Well it wasn’t really I remember those 4 soilders and that story your uncle was scary at the time

(laughs)

When I think of the war all I remember is sad faces,

a lot of blood

to be honest with you its all a blur in my head that I cant put into words

its like a loud boom in my head, and it’s a Smokey memory.

I saw many eyes that called for help and I did the best I could to help them on those helicopters.

I remember getting shot at a few times and seeing myself die.

One thing I wont forget is how muggy and hot it was in Vietnam.