Oral History Interview of Woodie F Ingram

Oral History Interview of Woodie F Ingram

Sergeant Woodie F. Ingram joined the United States Air force September 21st 1966. He spent four years in active service ending in September 18th 1970. His reserve time ended on September 20th 1972. Sergeant Woodie F. Ingram was a high school graduate when he joined the air force. He was born in Montgomery Alabama in 1947 and had four brothers and two sisters. His oldest brother Danny joined the service two years before he did. He was married with a newborn when he joined the service. He was in the 753rd Radar Squadron station at Clark Air Base, Luzon Island, in the Philippians. My job title was an Electric Power Production Specialist. I worked on radar and generators.

Sergeant Ingram enlisted in the air force for multiple reasons. The first reason he enlisted was because he now had a family to support. The second reason was the fact that a lot of his classmates were enlisting in the air force. The ideology of being in the air and not on the ground seemed more appealing, during war time. The third reason was that it was the right thing to do. He felt that the freedom that our country gave use from birth should be universal in all countries. Defending the United States from future communist leaders and countries were basically my national duty.

During his senior year of high school, he tried to keep informed of international news. At the time our nation was in turmoil due to the assignation of Present Kennedy and the attacks on the United States military compound in Pleiku. The war in Vietnam was beginning to escalate and President Johnson was requesting more troops. The United States combat troops started to land in Vietnam. The increasing number of activities by communist put the fear in the civilian population. On the news he kept hearing that if the United States let a communist nation survive, it would spread to another, I think it was refer to as the, "domino theory". The United States feared that communism would have an important impact on...

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