Interview with Jeff Gore

Abstract

Dee Gillespie interviewed Jeff Gore on his military service and experience in Vietnam. Gore was born in Cedartown, Georgia, in 1947, and grew up in Atlanta. Both of his parents served during World War II, his father as a Tank Company Commander during the Battle of the Bulge and his mother as a code-breaker intercepting messages from even Emperor Hirohito. Other members of his family also served in the military. He graduated from high school in 1965. Gore “auditioned” for the army after his first year in college at Dekalb College. He was sent to the Navy School of Music at Fort McPherson in Virginia. He was then sent to OCS and declined going to Westpoint because of the high death rate of lieutenants in Vietnam. Gore originally had orders to go to Heidelberg, Germany, but was instead sent to Vietnam in late 1968. He was part of a performing Headquarters Band in the United States and in Vietnam joined the 4^th Infantry Division Band there, performing for both the military and Vietnamese villages. He did not face serious conflict and shared lots of humorous stories. He spent one year in Vietnam and returned to the United States in 1969. His opinion of the war after his service didn’t change despite fighting in it; he felt that the United States “had no business there because it was a civil war that we couldn’t win.” Gore did resent the public negativity against Vietnam soldiers after they returned.