Interview, Bruce Vanapeldoorn, USMC

Bruce Vanapeldoorn (b. 1949) was born in Greece, NY, and attended parochial schools until high school. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and entered into military service on December 8, 1966. After basic training at Paris Island, South Carolina, he was sent to Da Nang, Vietnam. Vanapeldoorn was in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968 and participated in the Tet Offensive and Operation Allenbrook. He served in the Marine Corps for 20 years as tank crewman, reaching the rank of Master Sergeant. He was discharged in December 1986. Vanapeldoorn had been engaged to his wife, Nancy, before deploying for Vietnam and they married after he returned home. He used the GI Bill to obtain an MBA from Boston University and went on to become an Assistant Professor at DeVry University. He joined the local Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 20, to become involved with the community and other veterans.

In this interview, Vanapeldoorn recalls his combat experiences as a Marine and the difficulty of adjusting to civilian life after Vietnam. He recalls that for the most part, his time in Vietnam was almost non-stop combat and chaos. He shares that he was injured by shrapnel from a grenade that killed the soldier behind him. During his service, he says he thought he was serving his country and helping the people of South Vietnam and that as a soldier, he did not receive any of the negative news from home, but that when he returned home, he learned of the political motivations for the war and became disillusioned. Vanapeldoorn says he found it difficult to adjust to civilian food and to being around people who did not support the soldiers. He has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the war, but is proud to be a part of American history and is active in the veteran community.