Stephen Hallam 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 2024 July 26. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

Oral history interview with Stephen Hallam ’73 for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project, focusing on his time in the Navy ROTC and his subsequent military service. Hallam recalls his early life growing up in a military family and living abroad in Japan and Greece, which he states influenced his decision to join the Navy ROTC at Dartmouth. He describes the ROTC curriculum, including celestial navigation courses and summer training at naval bases. Hallam describes his view of anti-war sentiment on campus, and his decision to stay in the ROTC due to financial considerations and a sense of principle. Hallam recounts his military career after graduating college, attending nuclear power school before switching to flight training, flying on the USS Forrestal, and participating in NATO exercises. He then reflects on his military and commercial aviation careers, noting the impact of his training on his professional life and his views on military strategies and international politics.