Randall Cooper 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 8. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

Oral history interview with Randall F. ""Randy"" Cooper, Dartmouth Class of 1969, about his experiences during the Vietnam War era, focusing on his time at Dartmouth and subsequent Navy service. Cooper recounts his early life growing up in Rochester, New Hampshire and his decision to attend Dartmouth due to his family's strong ties to the college. He describes his time at Dartmouth, his participation in the Navy ROTC program, Navy-related courses, and the crew team and Gamma Delta Chi fraternity. He recalls significant NROTC experiences, including summer cruises aboard the USS Wasp and training at Naval Air Station Brunswick. Cooper reflects on the increasing anti-war sentiment at Dartmouth, contrasting the respectful early years with the polarized environment by his graduation. He details his post-Dartmouth Navy career serving on the USS Zellars and USS Du Pont, later leaving active duty to pursue a law career while supporting military training at Dartmouth.