OHQuestions

Interview with my Grandma: Louise Gitter Topic: home front life during Vietnam

- these are the notes taken from the conversation

**What were you doing at the time?**

• raising children in Madison, WI • teaching part time

**How did the major events of the war effect you?** • got a lot of anxiety from the news • otherwise didn't really effect much

• son Mark was draftable • Mark was drafted because he had a low draft number • he did not serve because he had poor vision
 * Did you know anyone who was drafted or could be drafted? What was your response to this?**

**What were your opinions of the war at the time?**

• didn't agree with it at all - thought we shouldn't be in other countries problems - it wasn't our business

**What was your reaction to the start and end of the war?** • start - too busy raising kids to care that much • end - didn't like the end because it had no conclusion

**Did you witness any war protesters? What was your reaction?** Yes 1) on the University of Wisconsin Madison there was a demonstration with tear gas that she witnessed 2) a bombing of a laboratory also on the campus that she heard about Reaction: horrified - she said that it has to stop

**Through what did you hear about the war from? Friends and family, TV, newspaper, etc. ?**

• mainly TV • also newspaper and radio

• hoped the US would learn something - war causes the loss of lives and the people don't like it
 * In your eyes, what was the impact of the Vietnam war?**

**Do you have any other thoughts or stories you would like to share?** • Her friend who worked for her husband's pharmacy was Jim Lahey • he enrolled in the army and wen to Vietnam • he was killed by a roadside bomb • it brought the war closer to home in her eyes