| 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 125 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030646 |
| OCR Text |
Show Nick Lopez 17 mb r20 rattling off the laws of war. We're required to send these guys out. We did thi to them. t that point Major Dougherty, the logistics major, he shows up. He comes out and says, "Fir t Sergeant, you're not putting that, we've been given direct orders we're not putting any civilians on these helicopters. That's enough, First Sergeant. You're not putting them on there." Two helicopters lifted off empty, except for Vadonya. I was pissed. We're like, "What do we do?" The corpsman said, "They've got to go to the hospital." And, Of course, we were told they go to civilians hospitals. I said, "Okay." Fucking next thing you know, we're stopping the next vehicle going down the road at gun point, scared to death family. They didn't know what the hell. They thought we were going to kill them. We popped the trunk open and laid the fucking boy in the back and we loaded them up with these wounded and said, "Take them to the hospital." I can't imagine having a family, you're just trying to get out of harm's way and all of a sudden you've got a group of Marines stopping you, the enemy, some foreigners in your land, stopping you at gun point and telling you, "You've got somebody else's problems," you've got your own family's problems. I guess they had the same problem. I guess Captain Massey and Staff Sergeant Lyles had the same problem. They went out in the street out there to recover all the wounded out there, that a whole fiasco. This will be the whole day on April gth' what was taking place. Lyles had the same problem. They had this family that they'd shot up and they'd recovered, they recovered these civilians, they ran out in this big open area. Finally got out in the open area, grabbed these civilians, brought them back and they had this woman that basically had a canoe. The bullet had parted her head from the front of her hairline all the way back and they had it all wrapped up. They took real good care of her and Lyles tried to get her in the Humvee and Massey took her out of the Humvee and Lyles put her back in. He said you can't put her in there, or whatever. 47 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6767hd0/1030646 |
