Happy Birthday United States Marines!

On November 10th, 1775 the US Continental Congress created the Continental Marines to fight in the American Revolution and today the Marines celebrate their 234th birthday.  Congratulations!

The Vietnam Archive wishes to honor all Marines on their special day today.  Here are a few Marine related items from our collection.  Semper Fidelis.

First wave-- Leatherneck helicopter of Marine Medium helicopter of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164 and infantryman of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, are the first elements into the zine, November 20 during Operation Mead River, about eight miles southwest of Danang. More than 75 helicopters of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing lifted some 3,500 leathernecks into pre-designed zones in approximately two hours.

 

 

Operation Prairie III-- Marines of "A" Company, 1st Battalion, Ninth Marines, move through a stream in search of North Vietnamese soldiers during Operation Prairie III approximately three miles west of Cam Lo.

 

Marine Attack Squadron 311, Marine Air Group 12, Chu Lai, I Corps, Vietnam

 

Mine Sweep-- A Marine mine sweep team of "A" Company, 3rd Engineer Battalion, checks a road west of Ca Lu for enemy Mines or dud rounds. This sweep, like many others in the Northern I Corps, is conducted each morning before traffic is permitted to use the road.

 

A US Marine carries a seriously wounded Vietnamese child from the ruins of a home in Hue. The provincial capital city was the target of violent VC attacks following the start of the Tet (Lunar new year).

 

  

1st Marine Division patch

 

2nd Marine Division patch

 

1st Marine Division shorts

 

Moving Images

 

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Film shot by R. J. Del Vecchio during his service as a Marine cameraman in Vietnam documents his own service and various aspects of the broader context of the war. Footage includes: Marine patrols, soldiers shaving and cleaning weapons, travel with sentry dogs, airlifted supplies.

 

 R. J. Del Vecchio Collection

 

Oral Histories

 

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John C. Arick, originally from Washington, D.C., served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1962 until 1992 and retired a Brigadier General. He is a 1962 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. John served two tours in Southeast Asia. During the first, from 1966 to 1967, he was stationed at the Ky Ha helicopter base north of Chu Lai with the Marine Observation Squadron (VMO) 6, Marine Air Group (MAG) 36, 1st Marine Air Wing (MAW) and was a UH-1E pilot flying fire support, escort, MedEvac, utility, and tactical air control missions. He took part in Operations HASTINGS, BEAVER CAGE, among others. During his second tour, from 1970 to 1971, John was first stationed near Marble Mountain Air Facility with the III Marine Amphibious Force (MAF) headquarters in the G-3 section, then with the 1st MAW at Danang in the G-3 section, and finally with the Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron (HML) 367 at Marble Mountain Air Facility. During his entire second tour, he flew the AH-1G Cobra with HML 367. In total, John flew in excess of 1,540 hours in Southeast Asia.

 

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John Thomas “Tom” Esslinger, originally from Ephrata, Pennsylvannia served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1966 until 1970. Tom went to Vietnam in September 1967 and served with India Company and Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, and operated out of Camp Evans. In December 1967, his unit was sent to Khe Sanh where it eventually occuppied Hill 881 South during the 77-day seige. After Khe Sanh, from April to July 1968, Tom, as CO of India Co., operated out of Quang Tri City and then west of Da Nang running various missions. In early August, he was made Assistant S-3 with the 3/26 Marines and served in that capacity until completing his 13-month tour in October 1968.

 

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Coporal Walter Rupp recounts his experiences in Vietnam, including being wounded in a helicopter crash and by Viet Cong fire. Rupp received two Purpple Hearts and the Bronze Star.

 

 Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2009 site

 

As part of the ongoing 20^th Anniversary celebration of the Vietnam Center and Archive, a photograph and artifact exhibit entitled “A Day in the Life of an American Soldier in Vietnam” is currently on display until mid December of this year.  Please visit the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building on the Texas Tech University campus to experience elements of a typical day in the life of a US soldier during the Vietnam War.  Consisting of over 25 black and white photographs and a selected number of artifacts, this exhibit will provide the visitor with stimulating and descriptive highlights of our highly unique collection materials.  The exhibit is self guided and open to the public, free of charge, Monday through Friday from 8:00am until 5:00pm.  All of the staff at the Vietnam Center and Archive hope that you will join us in celebrating 20 years of success by stopping by to view this exhibit!

The Vietnam Center and Archive is now on Facebook. Become a fan and keep up with the latest happenings at the Center and Archive, find out about upcoming events, see pictures from past events, make comments, and connect with other Vietnam Center and Archive supporters.

To become a fan, you first need to have your own Facebook page. The go to the Vietnam Center and Archive Facebook page and click Become a Fan.

To assist researchers studying the topic of agent orange during and after the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Center and Archive has produced a new subject guide highlighting agent orange related resources in both our digital and physical collections. The subject guide is divided by media type and subcategory, and includes links to the digital objects when available. This is the first in a series of subject guides that we will produce over the next year.

Agent Orange Subject Guide – http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamarchive/resources/agentorange/index.php

On December 16th thru 18th, the website of the Vietnam Center and Archive will experience periods of unavailability between the hours of 8am-5pm (-06:00 GMT). During this time we will be performing maintenance on existing systems and installing new equipment. While the website will be available during portions of these days, it will become unavailable without warning. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 806-742-9010 or vawebmaster@ttu.edu.

Do you have family heirlooms in need of proper storage, but aren’t sure what to do with them? Are you interested in, or want to learn more about the archival profession? Then don’t miss this exciting opportunity!

Kickoff Event: Thursday October 16, 2008, 3:00pm – 5:30pm in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building. Attend a presentation about archives and then take a behind the scenes tour of both archival facilities.

Preserving Your Family Records Workshop Series: Tuesday October 21, 2008, 11:00am – 6:30pm in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building. The series will include workshops focusing on the basic preservation of paper, photographs, textiles, audio-visuals and digital materials. Workshops will be followed by a one on one, in depth question and answer forum with archival professionals.

For more detailed information, please visit http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/archivesmonth.htm

Due to excessive rain and flooding in the Lubbock area, Texas Tech University and the Vietnam Center and Archive will be closed on Friday, September 12th. We will reopen on Monday, September 15th.

New guidelines and prices for duplications

Reproduction Rights and Guidelines
Duplications Price List

Researchers familiar with our Virtual Vietnam Archive have probably seen their fair share of the “Ghostbusters” like sign above and many have probably wondered what that sign really means.

The red sign means that a document is not available online. Why is it not available some might ask? There are two reasons for seeing the dreaded red sign. One, the document is copyrighted. Due to the stipulations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyrighted documents can be digitized as a form of preservation, but can not be redistributed in that format. This stipulation means that while we can scan the document to PDF or electronic form, we can not redistribute the electronic version over the internet or by burning it to a CD and giving it to someone else. Providing electronic versions of copyrighted documents to a third party constitutes a violation of the copyright law.

The second reason for seeing the little red sign is that the material in question has not been digitized yet. Many items are difficult and time consuming to digitize, video and microfilm are primary examples, or may be too fragile to digitize. Because these materials take so long to digitize, we create documents for them in the virtual archive so they are accessible via reference request.

The real issue out of all the red sign business is how do I get a copy of those materials? For paper documents you can request a copy be mailed to you. Send us a Reference Request from our web page with a list of the item numbers and item titles and we will make photocopies of the documents and mail them to your home. For videos and photographs we can make copies of the materials, but only if they are not copyrighted. If the videos and photos are copyrighted you will have to order copies of them from the copyright owner. Reproduction and postage fees do apply for reproduction requests. See our price list for the current charges.