| Title |
Nick Lopez, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by John C. Worsencroft, October 6, November 23, December 17, and December 29, 2009: Saving the Legacy tape nos. IA-10, IA-25, , IA-27, and IA-28 |
| Alternative Title |
Nick Lopez, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah; Nick Lopez, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by John C. Worsencroft, November 23, 2009: Saving the Legacy tape no. IA-25 |
| Creator |
Lopez, Nick, 1965- |
| Contributor |
Worsencroft, John C., 1981-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2009-10-06; 2009-11-23; 2009-12-17; 2009-12-29 |
| 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 |
Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Iraq |
| Subject |
Lopez, Nick, 1965- --Interviews; Veterans--Utah--Biography; Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American; Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American |
| Description |
Transcript (44, 31, 48, 33 pages) of four interviews by John C. Worsencroft with Nick Lopez on October 6, November 23, December 17, and December 29, 2009. From tape numbers IA-10, IA-25, IA-27, and IA-28 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Lopez (b.1965) was born and raised in Utah. His family has a strong military tradition, and he always wanted to be a Marine. After graduating high school in 1983 Nick began to have legal and financial problems that first drove him to Columbus, Ohio, and then into the Marine Corps. He talks about his experience in boot camp on Parris Island and how he was going to make something of his life. He graduated as a heavy equipment operator and was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. His switch to the Marine Corps Reserve was made to spend more time with his kids but he found that he was not keeping himself busy enough so he went back to active duty in time for Desert Storm in August, 1990. His unit flew into Saudi Arabia where they spent eight months working an average of ten hours a day supplying other units for Operation Desert Shield. He explains the chaotic nature of the first gulf war from his vantage points in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Nick talks about the patriotic American pandemonium during his return home. Soon after his return, he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and looked into becoming a Drill Instructor. For Drill Instructor training, he went back to Parris Island to face an even more intense boot camp. He didn't care much for his position after training and also began to have serious marital problems. In an attempt to save his marriage he chose not to reenlist and instead joined the 1457th Army National Guard unit in Murray, Utah. Quickly frustrated by the dynamics of the Army National Guard, Nick decided to switch to the Marine Corps Reserve with Charlie Company at the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. During the Utah winter Olympics in 2002, Nick decided to switch to Fox Company as a 1st Sergeant. Nick discusses the initial problems with communication, rumors, and disputes between officers. He recalls feeling like his unit was often short of supplies simply because it was a Reserve battalion. In addition, he describes the problems he experienced with the embedded Japanese journalist in his unit. He describes the combat his unit encountered, the effect combat had on his Marines, and the basic strategy his unit took approaching Baghdad. Furthermore, Nick explains the dynamics of the chain of command and his opinion on the state of Iraq today along with how it has changed since he was there. He discusses returning home and the medical problems his unit experienced, particularly PTSD symptoms. Interviewed by John C. Worsencroft. 160 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
160 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/s6767hd0 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; Persian Gulf War (1991); Iraq War (2003-2011) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030682 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6767hd0 |
| Title |
Page 35 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030556 |
| OCR Text |
Show Nick Lopez 6 Octob r 2009 Of course, as platoon sergeant, it's my job to go ahead and get hi personal effect and send them home. I never did see his body, but I got his wet clothes. I started sorting through his wet clothes and he had a pair of coveralls that were actually tanker coveralls, so he had all these pockets to get his personal effects together. And there in his pocket the letter I handed him, opened and read, his little Valentine's card from his wife. They'd just gotten married. He came over three months after we did; he joined us three months later, so he wasn't even with the initial deployment. He came later, because he was getting married. I remember getting his letter, looking at it. In his other pocket was a notepad where he was writing her a love letter back. I had to get that stuff together. That was hard. That was a tough deal for me, knowing that he was my responsibility and he was my good friend. Now what am I going to say to his wife? That deployment went like that nonstop. When the war went on we had, because we had a bunker set up, as the attack went on, Saddam started launching his SCUDs. That was the only thing we were in range of. We weren't really ... although there were a lot of foreign nationals running around the base driving trucks, there wasn't a sense of terrorism. We all knew what happened in Beirut, we all had that in our head, we all knew what the potential was, but that wasn't really, other than we had our own compound secure, our biggest threat was the SCUD and we got SCUD'd. I don't know how many times we got SCUD'd. At first I don't think they really knew where they were going. They just launched and they went up and they landed wherever. I think eventually he must have known what was going on at the pier. It makes sense, the biggest pier in Saudia Arabia. Two of them one night came right over. One burst, actually was hit by a patriot. A patriot took it out. This was, I think the same night that the Army compound 34 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6767hd0/1030556 |
