Interview, Lawrence Langdon USA

Lawrence Langdon (b. 1945) was born in Canandaigua, New York, and was drafted into the United States Army on December 8, 1965. He completed basic training at Fort Dix, in New Jersey, and went on to specialize as a fixed plant carrier radio repairman. He was stationed at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and in Vietnam, where he served with the Signal Corps in Da Lat, a former French resort. Langdon served on guard duty and in the motor pool. He was in the Army for three years and reached the rank of E-5. Langdon was honorably discharged in December 1968. After leaving the military, he settled in Rochester, New York, where he joined the local Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 20, and drove a delivery truck for Brad’s Cookie Nook.

In this interview, Langdon describes the relatively safe and isolated environment in Da Lat, noting that he did not experience combat and the horrors of war like many other soldiers did. Although Da Lat was attacked during the Tet Offensive, Langdon explains that this happened after he had left Vietnam. He recalls interacting with Vietnamese civilians, eating in restaurants, and having local women do his laundry. He also remembers seeing wild tigers and water buffalo. Langdon says he mostly agreed with the Vietnam War, but that he felt it was carried out wrong. Today, he says he agrees with most of the United States’ foreign policy.