Vietnam War Veteran
David A Schofield

Interviewed by:

Sam Morgan

" Listen, and look, and keep your mouth shut, it saves your life."
~ Dave Schofield (28:54)

David Schofield's Story:

David A. Schofield at age 20 joined the navy following the footsteps of other members of his family. Summer of 1960 Dave flew from Boston to Chicago were he was put into training before he went abroad. He chose the navy because he did not want to join the army after listening to the stories his father had told him. Schofield enterred the Vietnam War a little late, during peace time.

Schofield was living in an old World War 2 barracks living off of canned food leftover from World War 2. The weather was so hot and humid you could not wear your uniforms throughout the entire day, and it was very common to see soldiers walking around with their shirts off. It was so hot, you could take off your shirt, wipe off your body sweat, and you'll still be sweating. Some countries were cleaner than others, Vietnam wasn't as clean as Thailand, because in Thailand the people knew what a bar of soap was.

Not only was Dave in Vietnam, he went on a variety of special missions. While Dave was in Cambodia he was in a village, he was helping build up military forces on a hill to stop the North-Vietnamese from stopping them supplying Vietcong. Another mission was in Vietnam, Dave was in an old war barracks fixing an elevator. With his 5 by 3 foot toolbox Dave and 19 other guys were in the building. Suddenly, 3 thousand Vietnamese soldiers came in, and the side of the building Dave was working on had exploded. Dave was one of the 4 guys that made it out the following morning that weren't wounded nor killed. Another mission he encountered was the brix BOQ bombing, in Saigon. Dave was working on the elevator (for he was part of the technical support team) when the whole side of the building fell down. That night Dave met Bob Hope and his whole entourage that performed for him and 13 other guys.

As you can see, Dave has seen the good, bad, deadly, and ugly side of war. One of the most tragic things that happened to him was watching his best friend trip over a mine and witness him explode right in front of his face. Dave came out of the war with many skills, mainly in plumbing and air conditioning, and water purification. After experiencing the war, Dave thinks, "the military is the way to go", if he could, he'd be overseas helping out American soldiers today. David advises to any soldier going into the war to keep quiet and listen, because it will save your life.