Vietnam War interview

Description

Tom Christensen grew up in Idaho on a potato farm. During the war, his farming wasn’t affected because their town was small enough that there was no impact on it. He joined the ROTC at the start of the war. He decided not to join the war and instead go on an LDS mission in Samoa. He got a mission deferral for two years so he didn’t have to join the war. When he came back, he received a student deferral as well. By the time his deferral ended, the draft was paused for elections. When the draft came back, the war ended so he wasn’t drafted. He believed that the soldiers deserved more respect than they were given when they returned. He said that at the time, the government was a mess with all the different views. He agreed with the US joining the war at the start to give aid, but towards the end he thinks they should have gotten out sooner because they were just wasting their resources. Overall, he says that the US would have been more successful if they had joined to win.

Participants

• Tom Christensen
  

Interview By

• Issy Hoskins