Amanda Barbee's Interview

Vietnam War Interview: Mr. Joe Garceau

Mr. Garceau: Mr. Joe Garceau, I am a Vietnam veteran and I am being interviewed by Amanda Barbee on August 12th 2004.

Amanda: Okay, so the first question was that the draft was used extensively during the Vietnam War. How did you get involved in the military?

Garceau: I was a freshman in college, and I was not ready to be in college. I graduated from high school and I only went to college because my parents wanted me to, not because I was ready. And in the spring of my freshman year I was going to a Co-op school and I was going out to work in Massachusetts, I grew up up north. And I decided you know, I don’t want to go back to school. So I went and took my physical to join the army. It seemed like a pretty good alternative. I was not concerned with Vietnam. I did not want to be drafted and end up in the infantry…I dropped out, took off, and went to California. Ultimately, the draft board found me. They reclassified me. They had the various classification systems, which as a student I had an exemption. But once I got, I quit school, and that information got back to the draft board, I became 1A, which is, you know, they’re going to call you. So I stayed in California for six weeks, drove back to Rhode Island and joined the army.

Amanda: The war in Vietnam was one of the most controversial wars. How did you feel about the war before you were sent to Vietnam?

Garceau: You know, Amanda, I was oblivious. I didn’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t have the best family life, and it got me out of the house. And so I didn’t really have any deep emotional attachments in my personal life. And I wasn’t nearly as politically observant as I am today. And so it was just part of what I did…I’m proud that I served…I was there fourteen months. I did my job. I came home…The Vietnam War was a war that was on the news every night. Wherever there was major activity, the nightly news focused in on it...I was in a construction unit, which is the equivalent to what they call in the Navy, the Sea Bees…If you would picture, you were driving down the road and there’s a construction project going on by the highway, there are the workers in the trenches, the guy in the back co, and a couple fellows standing around in white hats looking important but not doing anything. I drove that guy around in Vietnam.

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