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- Description:
- Kay Wellinger talks about her service in the American Red Cross in 1969 during the Vietnam War. Wellinger says that she graduated from college in 1966 with a degree in Russian and began working for the CIA right out of school. Looking for more excitement, she joined the Red Cross and was sent to Saigon for two weeks of "supplemental recreation activity overseas" training. She talks about living in fire bases and planning recreational activities for the First Division and later the First Air Cavalry, living under enemy fire in bunkers, being housed and fed right with the troops, receiving hazardous duty pay and constantly being afraid for her life. She says she left Vietnam in October 1969, resigned from the Red Cross and was married that November. Welllinger also says she never heard any complaints from the troops about serving while she was in Vietnam and that when she came home she never experienced any negative fallout from people involved in the antiwar movement. Wellinger is interviewed by Virginia E. Emrich.
- Date Issued:
- 1986-02-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Marcia Baer Larsen, who studied art history and ceramics at the Rhode Island School of Design, talks about using her training while working at foreign postings for the federal government, including service in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. After graduating in 1964, Larsen says that she was hired by the Defense Department as a civilian Supervisory Recreation Specialist in the Special Services unit and was sent to Korea to run craft, recreation, and education programs for American troops at an R&R center and also led tours of ancient Korean kiln sites. Larsen says that she was in Korea until 1968 and after two years back in the States was sent to Thailand as administrator of all in-country recreation facilities, including golf courses and recreation centers. Larsen talks about closing centers in Vietnam and Thailand and turning the facilities and equipment over to local government and tells a story of taking an unauthorized flight with a CIA unit into Phenom Phen, Cambodia and initially being refused permission to leave. Larsen says that she left Special Services when she married and later became Director of the Southwest Craft Center. Larsen is interviewed by Ruth Stewart and Patricia Martin.
- Date Issued:
- 2007-02-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project