Questions to Ask a Vietnam Veteran
Questions to ask a Vietnam veteran, for a student with an oral-history assignment or a son, daughter or grandchild who has never heard the whole story. They follow the order the years went: before Vietnam, in country, the people, coming home, what stayed and looking back. Each has a note on what to listen for or what to do with the answer, and the hardest subjects are marked as ones to leave for the veteran to raise.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Before Vietnam
Were you drafted or did you enlist, and how did it come about?
Why ask it
Start here, because the answer is rarely one word. Some men enlisted because a draft notice was coming anyway and signing up gave them a say in the branch or the job, so ask what the choice looked like from where they stood, and do not treat either answer as the braver one.
Did you serve in Vietnam itself, or somewhere else during the war years?
Why ask it
Plenty of people who served during the war were on ships offshore, at air bases in Thailand or Guam, or at posts far from Southeast Asia. Settle it early and without ranking the answers. If they were not in the country, skip most of the In country group; the other groups still fit with a word changed here and there.
Which branch and unit did you serve with, and what rank were you when you arrived?
Why ask it
Write the unit out in full, numbers included, and read it back to them. With the exact name you can look up where that unit was during their months, which gives you sharper questions for a second sitting and a way to check place names. Rank on arrival belongs in the record and is no measure of what they did.
What years were you there, and how old were you when you landed?
Why ask it
The war in 1965 and the war in 1971 were different experiences, so the dates tell you which one you are hearing about. Many were not long out of high school, and saying the age out loud to a student close to it often changes the tone of what follows.
How much did you know about Vietnam before your orders came?
Why ask it
Some will say they could not have found it on a map, and others had watched the war on the evening news for years. Write the answer down in their words: you will want it again near the end, when you ask how they see the war now.
Do you remember the draft lottery, and what number did your birthday draw?
Why ask it
The first lottery drawing was in December 1969, so this fits only people who were draft age from then on; anyone who went earlier will tell you how their local board handled it. Those who watched tend to remember the room and the number exactly. If they served with another country's forces, ask how the call-up worked there instead.
Had your father or anyone else in the family been to war, and what did they tell you before you left?
Why ask it
Many of the people sent to Vietnam were raised by the generation that fought World War II, and what a father said, or would not say, shaped what going meant. Ask whether the advice fit the war they found. If nobody in the family had served, ask what their mother did on the day they left.
What were your friends from high school doing while you were getting ready to go?
Why ask it
It is the gentlest way into how divided the country was, because it stays with people they knew: one in college on a deferment, one already over there, one at a protest. If the answer has an edge to it, do not press now. The Coming home group gives them room to return to it.
What did training get right about Vietnam, and what did it leave out?
Why ask it
A good answer names something concrete, such as an instructor just back from a tour or a mock village, and then the thing nobody could have taught. It also tells you their job without your asking for a war story.
Did you ever think about not going, or know anyone who found a way to stay out?
Why ask it
Ask it only if the earlier answers have been open, and keep your face neutral whichever way it goes. A college deferment, a doctor's letter, the National Guard, a move to Canada: let them name the route and say what they thought of it then. People who went often have strong and mixed feelings about those who did not, and both halves belong in an honest record.
In country
What hit you first when the plane door opened or the ship came in?
Why ask it
Expect the heat and the smell, described in more detail than almost anything else you will hear. A sensory question like this is easy to answer and gets the tour started on the first day instead of the worst one.
Where were you based, and what did the country around you look like?
Why ask it
Bring a map and let them point: the delta, the highlands, the coast and a ship offshore were four different wars. Ask about the monsoon and the dust while you are there, and have them spell the place names, because you will not find them by ear later.
What was your job over there, and what did an ordinary day of it involve?
Why ask it
Mechanics, clerks, cooks, truck drivers, radio operators and nurses all served in Vietnam, and many never went on a patrol. Take the job they name seriously and ask about its details. A veteran who senses you are waiting for a firefight will give you less of everything.
How were new arrivals treated, and how long was it before you stopped being one?
Why ask it
Many people arrived alone as replacements, joining a unit of strangers instead of the group they trained with. Somebody usually took the newcomer aside and explained what training had not. Write that person's name down, since it tends to come up again in The people.
What contact did you have with Vietnamese people, and is there one person you can still picture?
Why ask it
Answers run from children along the road and people who worked on the base to South Vietnamese soldiers, or to almost no contact at all. You may hear the slang of the time. For an oral history you record what was said, and you do not have to repeat the word yourself.
What did you put in your letters home, and what did you leave out?
Why ask it
The second half is the real question, and most veterans can tell you precisely what they kept from their mothers. Ask whether the letters survive, since families often kept them, and whether anyone sent recorded tapes back and forth instead.
What news from home reached you, and how did it sound from that far away?
Why ask it
Depending on the year, it might be the assassinations of 1968, the moon landing in 1969, the protests, or a hometown paper that arrived weeks old. Ask whether the news made home feel closer or stranger. The answer sets up most of the Coming home group.
What music was playing over there, and where did you hear it?
Why ask it
Ask where they heard it: a transistor radio, a tape deck from the PX, a band in a club on base. The song they name was usually everywhere for their whole tour. Then ask what it is like to hear it in a grocery store now.
Did you get R&R, and where did you go?
Why ask it
R&R was a few days of leave partway through a tour, usually out of the country, and the stories are mostly light. The follow-up worth asking is whether going back afterward was harder than arriving the first time.
Was there a place or a moment over there that was beautiful?
Why ask it
Hardly anyone asks this, which is why it often gets the most careful answer of the day: a coastline, a sunrise, rice fields from the air. If the answer is a flat no, believe it and move on.
How did you keep track of the days you had left?
Why ask it
Most tours had a fixed date to go home, and counting down to it was a daily habit with its own slang, calendars and superstitions. Ask whether the last weeks felt safer or more dangerous than the first ones.
Which day of your tour do you think about most?
Why ask it
The wording lets them choose a good day or a bad one, and you should not steer. If it is a hard one, stay quiet, do not ask for details they skipped, and thank them before moving to something easier. If they pass, that is a complete answer.
The people
Who did you trust most over there, and what had they done to earn it?
Why ask it
Trust in that setting was built on small things: who stayed awake on watch, who shared water, who told the truth. The story of how it was earned is usually better than any description of the friendship, so ask for the moment and not the adjective.
How did people from different backgrounds get along in your unit, out in the field and back at base?
Why ask it
The late 1960s were tense years for race and class at home, and veterans describe very different pictures depending on where they were and when. Record what this person saw without turning it into a statement about everyone. If they say the field and the rear were two separate worlds, ask what made the difference.
Was there a sergeant or an officer you would have followed anywhere, and one you would not?
Why ask it
The good leader usually comes with a specific act, such as carrying the same load or refusing a foolish order. Let them leave the bad one unnamed if they prefer. What that person did wrong is the part worth keeping.
Do you remember any of the medics, corpsmen or nurses, and what were they like?
Why ask it
It lets someone who was wounded or sick say so without being asked directly, and lets someone who was not simply praise the people who did that work. If the person in front of you was the medic or the nurse, turn it around and ask who they remember treating, then give them plenty of time.
What did you all do to make each other laugh?
Why ask it
Expect pranks, nicknames and humor darker than you are used to. Laugh if it is funny and do not flinch if it is not, because a veteran who sees you can take the jokes is more likely to trust you with the rest.
Did you lose track of the people you served with, and have you found any of them since?
Why ask it
Because each person went home on a separate date, many left without addresses and went decades without a word. Finding one another again through a reunion, a unit association or a search online is often a story in itself, and the name of an association is a lead for more interviews.
Is there someone who did not come home that you are willing to tell me about?
Why ask it
Leave it until late, and ask only if they have already mentioned a loss. Ask what the person was like alive, where they were from and what they joked about, never how they died. Then write the name down and check the spelling, because for many veterans having it recorded is the point.
Coming home
What was your last day in Vietnam like?
Why ask it
Many remember the flight out, which some called the freedom bird, and the noise in the cabin when the wheels left the runway. Listen for relief and guilt arriving together, since leaving meant leaving people behind who still had months to go.
What was the trip home like, and how fast were you back in ordinary life?
Why ask it
Many describe being in the field one week and at their parents' table the next, with no unit around them and no time in between. Ask for the number of days. It is often the detail that makes a listener understand what the return was.
Who met you when you got back, and what was said?
Why ask it
A family waiting at the gate and a bus ride home alone at night are both common answers, and the first thing a parent said tends to be remembered word for word. A long pause here is not a problem to fix: give it room, and do not rescue them with your next question.
What did you do with your first few months home: work, school, or nothing for a while?
Why ask it
Going straight back to an old job, starting college beside classmates who had spent those years on campus, and drifting for a season are all answers you may hear. Ask who was easy to be around then. If they went to college, ask what happened the first time the war came up in class.
How did strangers treat you once they knew where you had been?
Why ask it
Do not arrive with the answer. Veterans report insults, thanks and, very often, nobody asking at all. Take down what happened to this person, where it was and who said it, and resist the scene you have seen in films.
What did you think of the antiwar protests then, and has that changed?
Why ask it
Some veterans felt betrayed by the protesters, some joined them, and some did both in different years. Keep your own opinion of the war out of the room. If voices rise, you have not done anything wrong, but your job is to write it down and not to argue it.
Did you tell people you had been in Vietnam, or keep it to yourself?
Why ask it
Listen for places where they left it out: a job application, a college classroom, a first date. Then ask when that changed, because there is often a specific turning point, such as a reunion, a memorial or a grandchild's school project like yours.
Did veterans of earlier wars treat you as one of their own?
Why ask it
The welcome at the local veterans' hall varied from town to town, and people remember which way it went for them. A father or an uncle who had served sometimes understood without a word and sometimes could not see the comparison, so ask about home as well as the hall.
When did somebody first say 'welcome home' to you, and who was it?
Why ask it
Those two words are a greeting many Vietnam veterans give one another, because plenty of them did not hear it at the time. The answer is frequently a date years after the war. If you have not said it yourself, the end of the interview is the moment, provided you mean it.
What stayed
What habits from over there followed you home?
Why ask it
Sitting where they can see the door, waking before dawn, never wasting water: these are often told with a laugh, and the family in the room may add a few. If the answer moves on to nightmares, listen, and do not diagnose or recommend anything.
Is there a sound, a smell or a kind of weather that puts you right back there?
Why ask it
Helicopters, diesel, rain on a metal roof and a certain kind of humid afternoon are common answers. Ask where they are when it happens now and what they do next. It shows how close that year still sits, and you never had to ask outright.
Would you show me a photograph from your tour and tell me who is in it?
Why ask it
A photograph does the asking for you, and people will say more about a face in a picture than in answer to any question. Check the back for names and dates, and ask permission before you copy or photograph anything.
Has Agent Orange touched your life or the lives of people you served with?
Why ask it
It was an herbicide sprayed during the war that many veterans connect with illness later in life, and health is private. Leave this for them to raise unless you are family. Offer no medical opinions, and send questions about benefits to the veterans' agency where they live.
How did that year change what you believe about government, faith or your country?
Why ask it
Give them the three choices and let them pick one, since all at once is too much. It can go either way, a belief deepened or a belief gone, and a thoughtful answer often starts with 'before I went, I thought'.
What did you tell your own children about Vietnam, and when?
Why ask it
For a grandchild this is family history twice over, since it explains what your parent grew up knowing. 'Nothing, until they were grown' is common and not a failing. Later, ask your parent the same question from the other side.
What part of that year are you glad you had?
Why ask it
It gives permission to be proud, which not every Vietnam veteran has been offered. Friendships, a trade, growing up in a hurry: whatever they name, ask whether they would have found it any other way.
Looking back
How do you see the war now, compared with how you saw it when you were there?
Why ask it
Go back to what they told you they knew before their orders came, and read it to them if it helps. Veterans disagree with each other about whether the war was a mistake, winnable or neither, so there is no expected answer and you should not look surprised by any of them.
Where were you when Saigon fell in 1975, and what went through your mind?
Why ask it
Most had been home for years and watched it on television. Anger, grief, relief and numbness all come up, sometimes in one sentence. A natural follow-up is what they think became of the South Vietnamese people they had known.
What did you think of the people on the other side then, and what do you think of them now?
Why ask it
Respect for a skilled opponent, anger that has not moved and plain indifference are all possible, and the answer may come in the language of the time. Take it down as said and do not correct it. If they have since met someone who fought on the other side, or would refuse to, follow that story.
Have you been to the Wall in Washington, or to one of the traveling ones, and what was that visit like?
Why ask it
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists the dead by name, and replicas of it tour towns for people who cannot make the trip. Some veterans go every year and some cannot bring themselves to go at all. If they have not been, ask whether they want to, and leave it there.
Is there a name on the Wall you look for?
Why ask it
Ask only after they have described a visit. The names are arranged by date of loss, not by alphabet, so a veteran can often find a whole week of their tour on one panel. If they made a rubbing of a name, ask whether you may see it.
What goes through your mind now that Vietnam is a place people go on vacation, and would you ever go back?
Why ask it
Some veterans have gone back and walked their old ground, sometimes with a grown son or daughter along. Others find the idea unthinkable. Either way you learn whether the place is still a war to them or has become a country.
Which movie or book about Vietnam comes closest, and which one can you not stand?
Why ask it
Push for titles, because a named film or memoir gives you something to watch or read and then quote in your write-up. The reason they dislike one is often a small detail it got wrong, and those details are worth more than the review.
How do you feel about the way troops from later wars were welcomed home?
Why ask it
Some Vietnam veterans made a point of turning out to greet returning troops so that nobody else would come back to an empty airport. Ask whether they ever did, and what it was like to watch a welcome they did not get.
What should a history class say about Vietnam that the textbook leaves out?
Why ask it
Students should ask this one word for word, since it hands the veteran the teacher's chair. The answer makes a strong closing quotation. Read it back to them before you leave so that you have it exactly.
Who else should I talk to, and would you introduce me?
Why ask it
A good last question for an oral history: a friend from the unit, or a spouse, sister or brother who lived that year from the other end of the mail. A veteran who offers a name is telling you the conversation went well.
How to interview a Vietnam veteran
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Ask first, and say what it is for
Tell them plainly whether this is a school assignment, a family record or simple curiosity, and who will read or hear it. Some veterans have waited fifty years to be asked and some will say no. A no is not a comment on you, and asking again in a year is fine.
Find out the outline beforehand
A relative can usually tell you the branch, the rough years and whether they were in the country itself. Knowing that much keeps you from spending the first ten minutes on paperwork, and from asking about jungle patrols to someone who spent the war on a ship.
Choose about a dozen
Nobody should be read the whole list. Take two or three from each group, more from Before Vietnam and In country if you have one sitting, and mark the ones you most want in case time runs short. An hour is plenty for a first conversation.
Bring a map and ask for the shoebox
A map of Vietnam lets them point instead of explain, and photographs, letters or a patch on the table will start stories no question reaches. Ask ahead of time whether they would be willing to bring anything out.
Recording and permission
Ask before you record, and ask again before you share it with a class, a website or an archive. If the interview is going to a teacher or a veterans' history collection, find out from them what format and release form they want, since each one sets its own rules.
If they did not serve with American forces
The list leans on American terms such as the draft lottery and the Wall in Washington. Australians, New Zealanders, South Koreans and others served in Vietnam too, with their own call-up rules and their own memorials. Ask how it worked there and swap in the local names.
What to leave for the veteran to raise
Killing, and the worst thing they saw
Never ask whether they killed anyone, and do not ask for the worst day. If they want you to know, they will get there on their own, usually late in the conversation and after you have shown you can listen to the smaller things.
Health and nightmares
Wounds, illness, Agent Orange and trouble sleeping are theirs to bring up. When they do, listen and thank them. You are not there to diagnose, compare them with something you read, or suggest what they should do about it.
Your opinion of the war
You may have one, and a teacher may have given you one. Leave it outside. The interview is a record of what this person thinks, and a veteran who feels judged in either direction stops talking.
Stories you have already heard
Films and family rumor supply a ready-made Vietnam: the jungle firefight, the hostile airport. Do not ask them to confirm it. Ask what happened to them, and be ready for an answer that is quieter, stranger or more ordinary than the version you came with.
Ranking their service
A supply clerk, a nurse, a sailor offshore and an infantryman all served. Do not ask whether they saw 'real' combat, and do not look disappointed if the answer to a question about danger is that most days were dull.
While they are talking
Follow the order, then let go of it
The list is laid out the way the years went, which makes it easy for memory to walk forward. If they jump from the draft notice to the flight home, go with them and come back later. Their order is part of the record.
Use their words
If they say 'in country', 'the World' for home or 'short' for nearly done, say the same terms back, and ask what any word you do not know means. Veterans tend to enjoy explaining the slang, and the explanation is often a story.
Let silences stand
A pause after a question about a friend or a homecoming usually means they are deciding how much to say. Count to ten in your head before speaking. The sentence that follows a long silence is often the one you will quote.
Ask for one moment, not a summary
'What was it like' gets a shrug. 'What do you remember about the first night' gets a scene. Whenever an answer stays general, ask for one day, one person or one place.
Names, spellings and dates
Save these for the end so you do not break up a story to ask how a town is spelled. Then go back through your notes together: unit, places, years, and the names of anyone they want remembered.
When family is in the room
A husband or wife may correct dates or prompt a favorite story, which helps. They may also hear something for the first time. If the veteran starts choosing words for their sake, offer to finish that part another day, one to one.
If it gets heavy, and afterward
When they stop
If they go quiet, tear up or say 'that's enough of that', believe them. Say thank you, and move to something easy like the weather, the mail or the trip home, or end for the day. Never ask for the rest of a story someone has chosen to stop telling.
When they get angry
Anger about the draft, the protests, the government or the way they were received is common and is not aimed at you. Write it down as they say it, do not argue, and do not try to talk them out of it.
You are not their counselor
If the conversation seems to leave them shaken, stay a while and talk about something ordinary before you go, and let a family member know. If you are still worried afterward, tell an adult you trust or someone close to them, and do not try to handle it yourself. In the United States, anyone worried about a veteran can call the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and then pressing 1. Elsewhere, ask the country's veterans' agency which number to use.
Close the loop
Thank them the same day, and say 'welcome home' if you mean it. Write up your notes within a day while you can still hear their voice, check any quotation with them before it goes to a teacher or an archive, and give them a copy of whatever you make.