Interview, Ronald Pommerening, USA

Ronald Pommerening (b. 1947) was born in Rochester, New York, and was drafted into the United States Army in November 1966. He completed basic training at Fort Carson, Colorado, and specialized as an armored personnel carrier driver. Pommerening served with the 9th infantry division in South Vietnam in 1967 and drove tanks in the Mekong Delta. He received two Purple Hearts for injuries sustained during the war. After two years of service, Pommerening was honorably discharged from the Army in August 1968.

In this interview, Pommerening criticizes American involvement in the Vietnam War. He discusses the injuries that earned him two Purple Hearts and explains that he had to relearn how to walk after being shot in the back. He expresses that the medical care he received in Vietnam was very good. After his injury, Pommerening was reassigned to work at the post-exchange (PX) store at his base in Vietnam, and he talks about he got to know a lot of Vietnamese civilians through this job. Pommerening shares that after the war, he became depressed and used alcohol to try and cope with his feelings. He reports that he is in recovery and that the war has not bothered him in about 20 years.