F. Kneeland (Neal) Stanley oral history interview

The Scope and Contents note of this oral history was originally generated by feeding the electronic transcript into OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4 on 2024 February 7. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

Oral history interview with Neal Stanley, Class of 1964 for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project, about his experiences during the Vietnam War. Stanley details his early life and education growing up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, and his experience at Dartmouth in the Army ROTC. He recounts his military service post-Dartmouth. Stanley also worked as an advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), arriving during the Tet Offensive of 1968. He describes his role in coordinating operations, dealing with the questionable loyalty of South Vietnamese troops, and facing Viet Cong infiltration. Stanley details combat complexities, such as calling in air support and the war's impact on civilians, while also expressing frustration with propaganda actions like staged parachute drops. Stanley reflects on the difficulties of transitioning back to civilian life and the war's long-term impacts on him. He emphasizes the importance of discussing these experiences to understand history and prevent repeating past mistakes, crediting initiatives like the Dartmouth Vietnam Project for facilitating this discourse.