Interview, Gerald Cox, USN

Gerald Cox (b. 1947) was born and raised in Dansville, New York. In 1966, he broke off his marriage engagement and enlisted in the United States Navy, where he worked as a bookkeeper. After being honorably discharged in 1970, Cox returned to the Rochester area and went to work for Kodak and, later, Johnson & Johnson. He retired in 2009.

In his interview, Cox explains that he joined the Navy because he wanted to change the direction in which his life was heading. He was trained as a bookkeeper and fondly recalls an early period in his service career when he spent his time typing up the daily menu and playing intramural softball. Once he went to Vietnam, however, Cox’s routine changed drastically. He discusses attacks on the base and his “girlfriend of the day.” Cox fondly remembers friends that he made during the war and notes that he continued to keep in touch with them after it was over. He shares several photographs with his interviewers, describing each one for the record. Cox admits that he was secretive about being a Vietnam Veteran until the mid-1980s, when he felt the hatred of the war had sufficiently decreased and he could be more open about his experience.