Skip to main content
WCSU Archives - Student Exhibition Space - WestD

Fall 2016

IMG_1205 (1).JPG

Interviews by Alec Florio and Cody Clark.

The Vietnam Oral History Project and the creation of this digital exhibit originated in the fall of 2016 as a History 494 Senior Honors research seminar. History 494 provides students an opportunity to engage in a sustained research project while fulfilling the Senior Seminar requirement for the major.

This project began with the collection and organization of oral histories from Vietnam-era veterans in the greater Danbury area.  Under the supervision of Archivist Brian Stevens and Dr. Marcy May, Cody Clark ('16) and Alec Florio ('16) designed an oral history project focusing on veterans who served in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973. This entailed contacting and surveying possible subjects, defining the scope of the project, and identifying relevant themes and issues for exploration. For this work, Florio and Clark interviewed five veterans. Afterward, the interviews were compiled into this digital exhibit in the WCSU Archives. The exhibit can provide future students with the opportunity of conducting Vietnam Veterans oral history interviews of their own, and then adding them to the exhibit.

This project allowed Clark and Florio the opportunity of meeting and talking with local veterans who served in Vietnam between 1965, when the United States first deployed ground troops, and the end of American military involvement in 1973. Dr. Edward Hagan, who served as an intelligence officer in Vietnam between 1969-1970, was the first participant. In the interview, he discusses his personal experiences in Vietnam, many of which are also recounted in his memoir To Vietnam in Vain. He touches on some of the problems with the United States strategy in Vietnam, such as the failures of American efforts at pacification of the rural Vietnamese population. Clark and Florio then interviewed Paul Gassner, a Danbury native, who served in Vietnam between 1967-1970. As part of a chemical platoon of the 1st Calvary Air Division, Gasser worked with several different chemical agents, primarily tear gas. He also explains his experiences with PTSD and how he learned to deal with postwar stress, achieved primarily through counseling at the Veterans Center at Western. John Sheeran, who served as a U.S. military advisor between 1970-1971, provided the third interview. Sheeran was a part of a five-man advisory team tasked with training local village militias in the south. Sheeran, who saw little direct combat, recalls many of his experiences in Vietnam as mostly positive. As a result, he did not suffer from PTSD, unlike many of his fellow veterans that served in Vietnam. Subsequently, Florio and Clark interviewed Mr. George Robinson. He served in the Air Force between 1970-1972. His responsibility was to teach English to South Vietnamese officers who needed to take the pilot's exam, because this exam was only given in English. Robinson also discusses the problems with the American strategy in Vietnam and gives his opinion on what could have been done differently that could have led to a more favorable outcome for the United States. He criticizes the idea of only being in Vietnam for one year, rather than the duration of the war. The fifth interview was conducted with Dr. Jack Sikora, an Air force intelligence officer.  Dr. Sikora flew 96 scouting missions during his time in Vietnam, primarily along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Thank you to John Sheeran for the images of Vietnam used to embellish the group of 2016 interviews.

Fall 2016