Rodney Peterson's interview for the Veterans History Project at Atlanta History Center

We welcome your comments on this interview at [email protected]
Catalog number: VIS 201.0782
In this interview, Rodney Peterson recalls his experiences serving in the United States Army Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. He discusses his upbringing in New York, his high school experience, and working at his uncle's record store after graduation. He remembers getting his draft notice, liking the discipline of basic training, and the process of going through jump school. Peterson recalls his first impressions of Vietnam including seeing fire fights from above and the smell and the thickness of the air. He describes getting acclimated to war, his duties, and learning different tactical maneuvers. He details his combat experience including the operation in which he was injured and received a Purple Heart. He talks about his recovery and the experience of lying next to injured Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soldiers in the hospital. He discusses his family and careers he held after the military.