Stephen Katz oral history interview

The Scope and Contents note of this oral history was originally generated by feeding the electronic transcript into OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o on 2027 July 26. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

Oral history interview with Stephen Katz ’56 for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Katz recounts his early life growing up in New York City, attending a Pennsylvania prep school, and enrolling at Dartmouth College. He describes his experience attending Dartmouth in the 1950s, where he struggled academically and socially as a Jewish student. Katz details his decision to join the Army ROTC at Dartmouth before switching to Air Force ROTC when his English major was no longer supported. He discusses his experience in the Air Force following graduation, training as a navigator, and meeting his future wife, in Kansas. Katz details his Vietnam War service beginning in 1970, conducting air refueling missions, and participating in evacuation missions from Saigon in 1975. He discusses holding various Air Force roles until 1986 and then working in logistics for over two decades. Katz then reflects on his pride in his military service and his life as a retiree in California.