Veteran Interview with Euell White (A)
(6:16) Mr. Euell White tells about joining the Army and his experiences in Jump School.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Euell White June 22, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Clip 1 Clint Alley: Okay, well, today is June 22, 2011. We...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/164 |
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Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Military life |
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Military life Veteran Interview with Euell White (A) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life Military training; Parachuting |
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(6:16) Mr. Euell White tells about joining the Army and his experiences in Jump School.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Euell White
June 22, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Okay, well, today is June 22, 2011. We are at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library with Major Euell White who has written a book called My Life as a Soldier and he's gonna tell us some about his experiences in the military and the Vietnam War. Major White, I'd like to ask you just first of all, when and where were you born?
Euell White: I was born in Lauderdale County down at what's called the "bend of the river‟ in 1933. December 26, 1933.
CA: Okay. And did you join the military or were you drafted or—
EW: I, I enlisted when I was seventeen years old.
CA: Okay. Okay.
EW: 1951.
CA: So, had you just graduated high school?
EW: No, I dropped out; I dropped out of high school in the ninth grade because, you know, I left home and had to make my own living. I've always made my own living since then.
CA: Um. Okay. Well what led you to, to enlist? Ah, you enlisted in the Army, is that correct?
EW: Yes. Um-hm.
CA: Okay. What, what, what were your reasons for wanting to join the Army?
EW: Well, I mean, I guess I had more than one reason, but, ah, the reason that I did enlist at that time, was I met up with a guy who was in the 82nd Airborne Division and he looked so sharp in that uniform and he told me some stories about—I don't know if they were all true or not—but he told me some stories and I said, “That's what I want to be. I want to be a paratrooper.” So I enlisted specifically for that.
CA: Okay. And you joined in '51?
EW: Yeah.
CA: Where did you take your basic training?
EW: Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
CA: Okay. I bet that was a hot place. Was it the summertime?
EW: Yes.
CA: Well what was basic training like?
EW: Well I, it, it was, you know, demanding, but it didn't bother me all that much, you know.
Rhonda Haygood: What did you have to do, in basic training?
EW: Oh, well, we, you know, we learned, I had sixteen weeks of it and we learned about all the weapons and fired the weapons and, you know, did a lot of physical things.
CA: Okay. And, okay, so that was 1951. Did you, ah, did you go to Korea?
EW: No, I didn‟t go to Korea. Course I, being an Airborne volunteer, you know, kind of put me on a path to go, but, ah, I did have one interruption there. When I was about, I don't know, we were, I guess, about halfway through basic, that sixteen weeks basic training, the personnel team came one day and called out three of us, one was named George Lane, he was from Lake City, Florida and one was named Thomas Wallace and he was from West Memphis, Arkansas and we all had several things in common. All of us were seventeen; all of us were Airborne volunteers; all of us were high school dropouts and all of us had made a high enough score on our aptitude test to go to Officer Candidate School. And, ah, but, we were too young to go to Officer Candidate School so they recruited us to go to an eight week leadership school after basic that they used more as a, sort of as a prep school for Officer Candidate School and promised us that if we went to that we would make private first class which was pay grade three, you know, when we graduated from basic training, then if we graduated from that school in the top third we‟d make Corporal. And we were leery of that, but they finally talked us into it and all of us went to that school, we all made Corporal when we graduated and went to Jump School together.
CA: Okay, okay. Where did you have Jump School?
EW: Fort Benning, Georgia.
CA: At Fort Benning? Okay. So you were, you were never, you never had any kind of a fear about jumping out of the planes or anything? You just—
EW: Oh, yes. Everybody had fear about jumping out of planes. I, I didn't, I wouldn't, I'd be worried about anybody that didn't have a fear. That's, that's what makes you, keeps you from getting killed. CA: Um-hm. Yeah. Yeah. Well how long was Jump School?
EW: Three weeks, but it was very intense.
CA: Okay.
EW: Two weeks, two weeks learning how and one week jumping.
CA: Okay. And that went okay for you, you didn't have kind of, like, accidents or anything or—.
EW: I wouldn't say—I didn't have any accidents, no.
CA: Okay, okay. I've heard of people, like, ah, pulling the chutes too quick and things. I think I knew a guy who did that once and he broke a leg or something, you know.
EW: Well, I, I fractured an ankle but it wasn't, it was I think my se—you, you make five jumps in Jump School, I think it was my seventh jump and—
CA: Okay.
EW: ―I fractured my ankle, my first night jump, I fractured a ankle on that [??].
CA: So, when did you get out of Jump School?
EW: I graduated on the 28th of March, 1952.
CA: Okay. Well take us through your military career from there.
EW: Well, I went, I went from there to the 82nd Airborne Division and, and I joined the Company F, 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment. They call it Parachute Infantry Regiment now, but it's the same, same thing. And immediately I was assigned as a squad leader so I never was anything below that except a couple of times. The whole time I was in the Army I was always in leadership of some kind. Then I, I was there till, I don't remember what month, later on that year they sent me back to Fort Benning to a fourteen week non-commissioned officer course. Again, it was my high scores, you know, that sent me to that school and that's when I, during that, during that training I, course I needed to jump for pay purposes so I made a parachute jump and I fractured my ankle and I was about halfway through the school and I spent six weeks I think it was in the hospital and then I had to start over so I actually spent seven months going to that fourteen week school.
CA: Oh, okay.
EW: And then, then went back to the 82nd. And was discharged on, ah, on my first wedding anniversary I was discharged, 16 June 1954. Stayed out forty-eight days and reenlisted in the 11th Airborne at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
CA: Okay.
EW: I was a Sergeant when I was discharged. |
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Veteran Interview with Euell White (A) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Euell White (A) |
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Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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FLCPLwar164 |
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https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/164 |
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http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/164 |
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1705462192912990208 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Euell White (A)Military training; Parachuting(6:16) Mr. Euell White tells about joining the Army and his experiences in Jump School.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryEuell White2011-06-22sound/textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected by U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Euell White
June 22, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 1
Clint Alley: Okay, well, today is June 22, 2011. We are at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library with Major Euell White who has written a book called My Life as a Soldier and he's gonna tell us some about his experiences in the military and the Vietnam War. Major White, I'd like to ask you just first of all, when and where were you born?
Euell White: I was born in Lauderdale County down at what's called the "bend of the river‟ in 1933. December 26, 1933.
CA: Okay. And did you join the military or were you drafted or—
EW: I, I enlisted when I was seventeen years old.
CA: Okay. Okay.
EW: 1951.
CA: So, had you just graduated high school?
EW: No, I dropped out; I dropped out of high school in the ninth grade because, you know, I left home and had to make my own living. I've always made my own living since then.
CA: Um. Okay. Well what led you to, to enlist? Ah, you enlisted in the Army, is that correct?
EW: Yes. Um-hm.
CA: Okay. What, what, what were your reasons for wanting to join the Army?
EW: Well, I mean, I guess I had more than one reason, but, ah, the reason that I did enlist at that time, was I met up with a guy who was in the 82nd Airborne Division and he looked so sharp in that uniform and he told me some stories about—I don't know if they were all true or not—but he told me some stories and I said, “That's what I want to be. I want to be a paratrooper.” So I enlisted specifically for that.
CA: Okay. And you joined in '51?
EW: Yeah.
CA: Where did you take your basic training?
EW: Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
CA: Okay. I bet that was a hot place. Was it the summertime?
EW: Yes.
CA: Well what was basic training like?
EW: Well I, it, it was, you know, demanding, but it didn't bother me all that much, you know.
Rhonda Haygood: What did you have to do, in basic training?
EW: Oh, well, we, you know, we learned, I had sixteen weeks of it and we learned about all the weapons and fired the weapons and, you know, did a lot of physical things.
CA: Okay. And, okay, so that was 1951. Did you, ah, did you go to Korea?
EW: No, I didn‟t go to Korea. Course I, being an Airborne volunteer, you know, kind of put me on a path to go, but, ah, I did have one interruption there. When I was about, I don't know, we were, I guess, about halfway through basic, that sixteen weeks basic training, the personnel team came one day and called out three of us, one was named George Lane, he was from Lake City, Florida and one was named Thomas Wallace and he was from West Memphis, Arkansas and we all had several things in common. All of us were seventeen; all of us were Airborne volunteers; all of us were high school dropouts and all of us had made a high enough score on our aptitude test to go to Officer Candidate School. And, ah, but, we were too young to go to Officer Candidate School so they recruited us to go to an eight week leadership school after basic that they used more as a, sort of as a prep school for Officer Candidate School and promised us that if we went to that we would make private first class which was pay grade three, you know, when we graduated from basic training, then if we graduated from that school in the top third we‟d make Corporal. And we were leery of that, but they finally talked us into it and all of us went to that school, we all made Corporal when we graduated and went to Jump School together.
CA: Okay, okay. Where did you have Jump School?
EW: Fort Benning, Georgia.
CA: At Fort Benning? Okay. So you were, you were never, you never had any kind of a fear about jumping out of the planes or anything? You just—
EW: Oh, yes. Everybody had fear about jumping out of planes. I, I didn't, I wouldn't, I'd be worried about anybody that didn't have a fear. That's, that's what makes you, keeps you from getting killed. CA: Um-hm. Yeah. Yeah. Well how long was Jump School?
EW: Three weeks, but it was very intense.
CA: Okay.
EW: Two weeks, two weeks learning how and one week jumping.
CA: Okay. And that went okay for you, you didn't have kind of, like, accidents or anything or—.
EW: I wouldn't say—I didn't have any accidents, no.
CA: Okay, okay. I've heard of people, like, ah, pulling the chutes too quick and things. I think I knew a guy who did that once and he broke a leg or something, you know.
EW: Well, I, I fractured an ankle but it wasn't, it was I think my se—you, you make five jumps in Jump School, I think it was my seventh jump and—
CA: Okay.
EW: ―I fractured my ankle, my first night jump, I fractured a ankle on that [??].
CA: So, when did you get out of Jump School?
EW: I graduated on the 28th of March, 1952.
CA: Okay. Well take us through your military career from there.
EW: Well, I went, I went from there to the 82nd Airborne Division and, and I joined the Company F, 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment. They call it Parachute Infantry Regiment now, but it's the same, same thing. And immediately I was assigned as a squad leader so I never was anything below that except a couple of times. The whole time I was in the Army I was always in leadership of some kind. Then I, I was there till, I don't remember what month, later on that year they sent me back to Fort Benning to a fourteen week non-commissioned officer course. Again, it was my high scores, you know, that sent me to that school and that's when I, during that, during that training I, course I needed to jump for pay purposes so I made a parachute jump and I fractured my ankle and I was about halfway through the school and I spent six weeks I think it was in the hospital and then I had to start over so I actually spent seven months going to that fourteen week school.
CA: Oh, okay.
EW: And then, then went back to the 82nd. And was discharged on, ah, on my first wedding anniversary I was discharged, 16 June 1954. Stayed out forty-eight days and reenlisted in the 11th Airborne at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
CA: Okay.
EW: I was a Sergeant when I was discharged.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,164 |