Robert J. Bartkow's interview for the Veterans History Project at Atlanta History Center

We welcome your comments on this interview at [e-mail]
Catalog number: VIS 201.0795
In this interview, Robert Bartkow recalls his experiences serving in the United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. He recalls his family and growing up years and describes his first impressions of Vietnam where he found himself in a firefight just 24 hours after arriving. He reflects on the training he received and comments on their living conditions. His platoon was badly understaffed, and he remembers tough living conditions during their missions in the field. As part of the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, they spent about sixty days in the bush before returning to a Navy ship for five or six days to await their next assignment. Most of his men were only 18 or 19 years old and he comments on how extraordinary they were. He remembers the enlisted ranks were fairly diverse, but there was little diversity in the officer corps. He recalls several harrowing experiences including losing three Marines to a friendly fire incident and two occasions where explosive ordnance left no trace of the men it killed. He remembers working with a South Vietnamese army (ARVN) group who were the children of soldiers killed by the North Vietnamese. He recalls receiving mail and audio cassettes from home and comments on how the ways service members communicate with their families has changed over the years. He describes returning home, his later Marine Corps assignments, meeting and marrying his wife, and attending graduate school in the 1970s. He reflects on his military experience and how the Vietnam War is remembered. Interviewer Joe Galloway presents him with a Vietnam War 50th Commemoration lapel pin.