Interview with Thomas Hritz

Abstract

David Wise interviewed Thomas Hritz on his military service and experience in Vietnam. Hritz was born in Minnesota and lived there until 2008 when he moved to Georgia. His father fought in World War II and Korea. After graduating from high school in 1970, he joined the Air Force and was trained in radio operation and Morse code transmissions at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. He was then stationed at a naval base in Italy for 15 months, and was finally sent to Vietnam in October of 1972. As part of the 6924^th Security Squadron, he was then sent to Thailand since the war in Vietnam was winding down by the time he got there. He was directed by the CIA and the National Security Agency during his service in Thailand, and his mission was to, both in air and on the ground, intercept messages of the transport of materials from North Vietnamese fighters to South Vietnam, as well as messages from communist forces in Laos. He shares stories of friendly locals in Thailand, the barracks he stayed in, and the climate of the Southeast Asia region. He married a woman from Thailand, shared stories about his marriage to her, and after 509 days of service, returned to the United States with her in April of 1974. Over time, he has increasingly felt that the United States government left people in Laos and Thailand “high and dry” for retreating without winning. Hritz also shares stories about refugees from those countries who later came to the United States, how he met them and became friends with them.