Ernest F. Hines' interview for the Veterans History Project at Atlanta History Center

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Catalog number: VIS 508.012
This interview is conducted by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Atlanta Branch. In this interview, Sergeant Major (Retired) Ernest Hines recalls his career in the United States Marine Corps. He remembers his family and his reasons for joining the Marine Corps after high school. He describes the intense training new recruits endured, including the use of racial slurs as a way to toughen Marines against enemy tactics designed to unsettle them. He remembers receiving riot control training at his first duty station and reflects on his feelings then about the possibility of being required to use violence against those who were actually fighting for his own rights as a Black man. He describes his family legacy of military service, including his father, who served in the Pacific in World War II, and his maternal great-great grandfather, who served in Union forces from Delaware during the American Civil War. He recalls his two tours in Vietnam and compares his behavior on his first tour as a single man with his much more cautious conduct during his second tour as a husband and father. He describes serving in Japan among people who had never seen a Black person before; they would rub his skin to "see if it came off." He remembers working in a combined action platoon with the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam war and recalls the Bible his mother sent him, carrying it in his breast pocket every day. He comments on his progression in rank and how he found it easier to process his combat experiences by staying in the Marine Corps where he knew his colleagues had experienced the same things. He discusses Marines with whom he has stayed in contact and those he's lost over the years. He reflects on women in the military; the former "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding LGBTQ service members; and how attitudes toward veterans have changed since the Vietnam era. He describes his post-military careers and volunteer work and reflects on war and how his military service has informed his life.