Aaron Alford has been a graduate assistant processing collections at the Vietnam Archive since November 2006 after graduating from Texas A&M; with a BA in History and English in May 2006. While at Texas A&M;, Aaron served as editor of the Aggie student newspaper, The Battalion. Aaron will graduate from Texas Tech with an MA in Creative Writing this August. His thesis was a collection of creative nonfiction essays, titled “Boy Wonders: A Collection of Essays” that documents life in rural southeast Texas; an area in which Aaron is well versed since he is from Hull, Texas. One of the essays found in his thesis is titled “The Quick” and will be featured this month in the literary journal River Teeth.

Aaron first became interested in fiction and nonfiction about the Vietnam War from taking a writing course taught by National Book Award-winning author Larry Heinemann at Texas A&M.; This interest led Aaron to the Vietnam Archive when he arrived at Texas Tech where he has been a tremendous asset. Sadly for the Vietnam Archive, Aaron will become a Teaching Assistant in the English department at Texas Tech when he begins his PhD program in the Fall and will no longer be at the archive. We will definitely miss him, but wish him the best for the future.