Herberholt: An Interview With A Vietnam Soldier

For my veteran interview we interviewed my Grandpa Jerry Herberholt. He enlisted into the Vietnam War in 1959 when he was only twenty two years old. During the time of his enlistment in the US was getting ready to send troops over to Vietnam so he felt it was best to get it out of the way with. He didn’t try to find an escape from the war. He felt as an American it was only right of him to serve his county. He told me he wasn’t afraid which is why he enlisted, even if by chance he wouldn’t be drafted, he still felt that this action was the right thing for him to do.
He told me he remembers his first day in service he got on a bus in downtown St. Louis and they shipped to Fort Leonard wood. He even remembers stopping at a restaurant named

He said there was a surplus of marching and rifle practice trying to have every soldier master those skills. From day to day they would learn something new. Whether it was learning how to overcome a gas attack, to learning how to save a fellow soldier if he was shot in combat, even undergoing fire drills where they were tasked with crawling under obstructions and with a brigade of machine gun fire above their heads to effectively and accurately represent real war scenarios. Other times they were sent into the woods to camp out overnight in a pup tent. They also had classroom-like training where they were all gathered in a large auditorium and lectured on survival skills that were needed in case of war My Grandpa says he only remembers one instructor; he doesn’t remember his name but he does remember him being a lot nicer than most of the other instructors. The reason any of the instructors would be harassing the soldiers would be for the benefit of the soldiers to prepare for the harsh conditions of war. My grandpa told me he didn’t have too much trouble getting through training. He said “You had to get through it, if you didn’t get through it they would send you back to basic