OH+Questions

**Interview subject** - ** Timothy Neville ** and ** Barb Perelewitz **
 * Topic** - Seeing Wars From the Viewpoint of a Teenager

1. Do you remember anything about the Korean War (such as learning about it in school or hearing about it through media)? My father (Grandpa) served in the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He was a Lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. He had many stories to tell us about the war and the fight against Communism. 2. What do you know about the Korean War? It was fought between North Korea (Communistic) and South Korea (Democratic) between 1950 and 1953. The United States along with a few other Democratic countries helped South Korea in defending their territory from the take over of North Korea and it’s Communistic push. North Korea was getting military assistance from China, who, also was a Communistic country. 3. What outcomes of the Korean War do you know of or see today? Less Communism in the world and more and more free Democratic countries than ever before. The free world has grown tremendously since the defense of South Korea. 4. What was your status during the Vietnam War (age/occupation/school/etc.) The Vietnam War ended when I was 18 years old. Because of the end of the war in 1975 I was spared being drafted for service. The war lasted a good 10+ years and was a similar war to the Korean War. (See below) 5. Did you have an opinion on the war? What information did you have or remember having about the war during the war? Do you know more about the war now than you did then? My opinion of the war was that we had very good intention, as well as a very good philosophy on what we, as a nation, needed to do to help stop the Communistic spread from North Vietnam into South Vietnam. However, the combination of anti-war support in the states (mostly among the young population) along with a lack of support in Congress during the length of war (driven by the death toll) things became a stalemate. I know much more about the war now, 34 years later, because of the wealth of knowledge via media, computers, and internet. One of the things that I vividly remember about the war was the nightly news ‘Body Count’ that was given every single night to the TV viewers. As I grew older I realized that this was definitely a ploy that helped enrage people about the losses that we were encountering. 6. Was there anyone in your family that was currently serving in the Vietnam War? No, not in my immediate family, but I had friends and friends siblings that served. 7. What kinds of things do you remember being said by the media/people about the Vietnam War? As I stated above, the media seemed to ‘over-emphasize’ the daily body count and this seemed to play into the minds of people against the war. (Something that was not pursued during the Korean War or World War II) The media also had quite a few ‘war correspondence’ reporters in Vietnam, in the action, reporting for the networks. Again, something that the Korean War and WWII did not see as much as. 8. What kinds of events or situations did you see or hear about that were a result of the Vietnam War? How we, and the world for that matter, handled ‘policing’ actions with other countries. The United Nations has taken a more bolder position when it comes to sanctions against countries that show aggressive, communistic actions. We’ve built a memorial in Washington DC to commemorate the 58,000+ casualties of the Vietnam War and it is something that everyone should see. We, as a world, have only a handful of Communistic countries left in existence; North Korea, Cuba, and Libya to name a few. 9. Do you see/know of any impacts of the Vietnam War today? Explain. Congress has signed bills into place to help define our right and commitment to war when it comes to foreign states. The fight against Communism does not seem as feverish as it was years ago because this generation is and was never threatened by its existence.