Edward G. Lueders, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, February 1, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 326 and 327

Page 23

EDWARD G. LUEDERS February 1, 2000 WIN: That's really interesting. When did this begin? EDW: It probably began, oh gosh, it's hard to say. Not right away. But perhaps, ten or fifteen years after I was out.. WIN: After you were out. The Army must have traumatized you pretty well. EDW: Part of that trauma came from the experience in the alien countries I was in. WIN: Let's go back to -you got drafted, you had to drop out of school. EDW: Yes. WIN: Where did the Army send you for basic training? EDW: Camp Grant, I was drafted in Chicago, at the downtown draft center. Sent to Camp Grant, which is in Rockford, I think, Illinois, where I did the testing, and the general registration or whatever term for what you go through before you're sent out for basic training, as I was, fairly soon. WIN: I presume that you did well on the testing, that they offered you ... EDW: I did so well that I almost suffered in consequence. My self-help music training stood me in too good standing in the testing of the radio operator test, which was a dit­dot- dit test. And this was on paper, of course, and then you heard a dit-dit-dit-dot-dit-dit­dot- dot-dot-dot, and then another one, and you had to say whether it was identical to the first one, or different. And these were all just rhythms to me. WIN: So your trained ear really helped you, huh? EDW: My trained ear, and my sense of rhythm as a musician trained me, so I wasn't particularly interested and I wasn't paying too much attention. I found out later from a 21