| Title |
Matthew Williamson, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by John C. Worsencroft, October 13, 2009: Saving the Legacy tape no. IA-13, 16 |
| Alternative Title |
Matthew Williamson, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Williamson, Matthew, 1979- |
| Contributor |
Worsencroft, John C., 1981-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2009-10-13 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Kuwait; Iraq |
| Subject |
Williamson, Matthew, 1979- --Interviews; Veterans--Utah--Biography; Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American |
| Description |
Transcript (71 pages) of an interview by John C. Worsencroft with Matthew Williamson on October 13, 2009. From tape numbers IA-13 and 16 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Williamson (b. 1979) was born in Montpelier, Idaho, and grew up in the nearby small town of Georgetown. Like many kids he grew up playing soldier and decided to join the Marine Corps Reserves after seeing the positive results when a friend returned from boot camp. He was able to navigate through boot camp easily enough but recalls several stories of recruits having rough, but sometimes humorous encounters with drill sergeants. After 9/11 he spent over a year in training as part of a Quick Reaction Force in California's Camp Pendleton. Soon after the QRF mission his unit shipped out to Kuwait. He remembers feeling that the last-minute decision to ship his unit into Iraq in 7-ton trucks, rather than an armored Amtrak, was made because they were Reservists. The remains of enemy vehicles and men littered their path; evidence that air support had cleared much of the heavy resistance away. Soon they were in action; he recalls aiding a pinned down unit, taking sniper and RPG fire, and clearing out an Iraqi Defense Ministry building. He encountered trouble when, during a lighter moment, he donned Republican Guard pants and his flak jacket but was spotted by an NBC reporter who interviewed him for the nightly news. His commanding general saw the video and the end result was that he received a thorough chewing out for the infraction. Later he became very ill from what he believes was the over-chlorinated water they were provided. Returning home felt great but he did have symptoms and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD. He is proud of his mission to remove Saddam from power and has little patience with people that think they have all the answers but who have never served in combat. Interviewed by John C. Worsencroft. 71 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
71 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6r51sv5 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; Iraq War (2003-2011) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1027107 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6r51sv5 |
| Title |
Page 46 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1027080 |
| OCR Text |
Show Matthew William on oct b r 1 20 9 weeks, even into, I think, Baghdad as a translator. He mainly hung out with the ffic r ; I never talked to him. But he helped out with translation. They even gave him a uniform and a flack to wear around. But he would just come up and they finally let him take the body back and I guess bury him. The word that we got was it was just some random Nomad guy that the Ba'ath party member had talked into getting in his car and driving through our lines just to see what would happen. That was the Intel we got. After that, I don't remember the exact timeframe-I should have brought my stinking journal; I totally spaced it, because it would be in there-but we actually moved into the city at that point and started clearing homes and gathering up Intel. We ended up finding tons of Ba' ath Party certificates and stuff, a lot of weapons. At that time we actually had a tank with us. We just went through the town, gathering Intel. JCW: Did they tell you what you were looking for? MW: Not really, just anything Ba'ath Party related or weapons. JCW: Do you remember getting an op order? MW: Not really. JCW: You just basically got told to mount the trucks? MW: Yeah (laughs), pretty much. As usual, not a lot of information. I actually remember they had a huge pile of crap, Ba' ath Party certificates. We weren't supposed to take any, I don't think, but I still have one signed by everybody [24:47]. JCW: How long was it before you guys actually got to Baghdad? MW: I think we made it up there in about three weeks. We'd been, I think, for the first month we were wearing our biological suits. I remember getting pretty nasty and funky smelling. Once we got to Baghdad we could take them off because the biological threat 45 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6r51sv5/1027080 |
