Oral+History+Reaserch

Person being Interviewed: Richard Nelson Topic of Interview: What was it like living on a military bases during Vietnam and The Cold War? Name of the base: Wildwood Air force Base in Kenai, Alaska. Duluth Air base in Duluth Minnesota.

RESEARCH:
 * The Wildwood Correctional Complex, located three miles north of Kenai, Alaska
 * is a complex of correctional facilities housing a total of about 360 prisoners and under the jurisdiction of the Alaska Department of Corrections.
 * It consists of Wildwood Correctional Center (Building 10), a 255-bed medium custody long term facility housing
 * adult male felon and misdemeanor prisoners and also including a correctional industries program, and Wildwood Pre-Trial Facility (Building 5),
 * 113-bed facility housing male and female adult felon and misdemeanor prisoners of all custody levels.
 * Wildwood was originally known as Wildwood Army Station,
 * constructed by the U.S. Army as a military communications base in 1951 (completed 1953).
 * In 1965, it was transferred to the U.S. Air Force and became known as Wildwood Air Force Station.
 * In 1974, it was turned over to the Kenai Native Association as part of the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement
 * In 1983, the State of Alaska leased a portion of the facility for use as a correctional and pre-trial facility, with an option to buy at the end of three years, a purchase which took place in December 1992.
 * It is nick-named "Wally-World" by the locals.
 * A draft was like the lottery being drawn
 * When your birthday was picked you would get drafted into the military
 * Unless you were going to college or could pay to get out of it
 * We never really knew when vietnam started, it depends on your point of view
 * It was a very different kind of battle
 * We went in thinking we would be fighting against the Soviet Union and that's how we were trained
 * They were very different in fighting tactics
 * We were not ready for them to fight like that
 * The tet offense occured after the current president (of that time) said that the northen vietnamese army was almost defeated
 * People wondered how that was possible if they were almost defeated
 * wondered what the truth and what was fiction
 * North Vietnam were communists and so were the Vieg Cong Guerrillas
 * South Vietnam was democratic

Sources: "The Vietnam Lotteries" History and Records. 26 of May 2009. <[]> "Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History" PBS. 27 of May 2009. <[]> "Backround" __The Vietnam War__. Vietnam. 27 of May 2009. <[]> Pictures: [] (Vietnam Picture) [] (Iraq Picture)