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    Knoxville in the Vietnam Era
    Knoxville in the Vietnam Era
    Knoxville in the Vietnam Era
    Ebook177 pages48 minutes

    Knoxville in the Vietnam Era

    By William Edward Hooper

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    About this ebook

    The Vietnam War era (1961 1975), one of our country s most turbulent periods, was also a time of change and social evolution. Seeded in the aftermath of World War II, the nation enjoyed a remarkable economic boom. Knoxville and East Tennessee stood witness to the transformation of American society and the problems that came with the new success. From the first recognized combat casualty of the Vietnam War to the evacuation of Saigon, Knoxvillians were there, and their stories of sacrifice and service earned little mention or were forgotten in historical texts. At home, urban decay gained a grip on Knoxville s once vibrant downtown, and protests were not an uncommon sight on the evening news, but there was progress too. This volume documents the start of a new beginning for Knoxville as the city tried to hold onto its traditional Appalachian values and move into a new era.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 12, 2008
    ISBN9781439619544
    Knoxville in the Vietnam Era
    Author

    William Edward Hooper

    Images of America: Knoxville in the Vietnam Era is author Ed Hooper�s third book for Arcadia Publishing. He is a longtime journalist and Knoxville resident who has covered East Tennessee and the South throughout his career as a general assignment and military affairs reporter.

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      Book preview

      Knoxville in the Vietnam Era - William Edward Hooper

      Guard.

      INTRODUCTION

      The years from 1961 to 1975 were a complicated stretch of time where everything seemed to change in Knoxville. A booming economy, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s hydroelectric dam projects, and the continued development of Oak Ridge increased Knoxville’s population tremendously, and social issues dominated current events.

      In the forefront of it all, however, was the ongoing conflict in Southeast Asia and a war unlike any other. The headlines and analysis of newspapers in wars past gave way to the immediacy of television, and the Vietnam War became one fought in living rooms across the nation. With Americans two generations away from World War II, people who could never imagine the horrors of war suddenly viewed it in living color from the comfort of their own homes, and the effect was unpredictably powerful.

      The government contractors headquartered in Knoxville and the longstanding military tradition of East Tennessee made the region a vital resource of products and personnel to the U.S. military. The city center, which had been creeping westward for a generation, suddenly stopped crawling and started racing west as interstates eased passage into Oak Ridge and to the supporting industries that sprang up to service the government village.

      Longtime family farms gave way to subdivisions, and while hundreds of homes were filling the gaps between the city and Oak Ridge, a period of urban decay was launched in the once-pristine downtown section of Knoxville. With the opening of West Town Mall in 1972, a new way of shopping was born, and the busy streets of downtown Knoxville started falling silent for the first time in more than 100 years.

      Small businesses and family dwellings began disappearing, and the city found itself economically anchoring to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and government offices—fighting to keep the downtown section alive and prevent brown fields from overtaking what was once the industrial heartbeat of the Tennessee Valley. West Knox County suddenly became the fastest growing section in the region. From Papermill Road to Cedar Bluff, new business and industries starting springing up and the population in the area boomed.

      The epic of the Vietnam War was always in the forefront of the American psyche, but it has to be remembered there were only three television networks and a handful of radio stations with news departments. Newscasts were short and information about the war in Vietnam limited. Social issues at home were the dominant conversation and competed for newscasts and ink space, not to mention the ongoing cold war between the United States and the USSR, Communism’s appearance on the United States’ doorstep in Latin America, and an anti-military movement that was in full force stateside, spurring distrust of the U.S. armed forces.

      The distrust of the military found a home on college campuses across the nation and in East Tennessee. It became an attitude that bled into everyday society, and when the war ended, those men and women became the first American soldiers to return home from a war front with no victory celebrations, no ticker tape, not even a welcome home. There were no heroes in their ranks as far as anyone was concerned. In fact, many of the soldiers were spit upon, accused of crimes they did not commit, and stripped of the pride and honor befitting a returning warrior. Those who had dodged the war, fled to Canada, or outright refused to go, however, were deemed heroes by the new standards. Yet the men and women who courageously served in Vietnam defined an entire generation of Americans and for good reason. More than three million people served in the Vietnam War, the United States spent $120 billion to fight it, and the casualty rate during that time period was incredible. More than 58,000 soldiers were killed, 2,000 went missing, and 300,000 were wounded.

      There were so many great stories and discoveries that fell through the cracks of the nation in the Vietnam era, especially here in East Tennessee. This is a sample of those stories.

      One

      ABOVE TOP SECRET

      James Thomas (Tom) Davis was your stereotypical East Tennessean who spent his time growing up hunting and fishing. With the Big South Fork as a playground, Davis was never far from his rifle or fishing rod throughout his youth, and when not working at his father’s drugstore, you could find him prowling in the rolling hills.

      He went to Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville and married his high school sweetheart, and the couple worked to build a home. In 1959, with a year to go in college, Davis and his brother both quit school to join the U.S. Army under the buddy system that allowed them to go through basic training together.

      After training at Fort Jackson, Tom Davis was transferred by U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command to

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