Top of page

Daniel Burress, en route to Vietnam, 1965

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Unit of Service: 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Vietnam
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/1811

View full service history

"You feel like you're fighting for someone's else's freedom and you don't have your own." (Audio Interview, 16:50)

A "gung-ho" Marine recruit at 21, Daniel Burress received a liberal education when he was shipped off in 1967 to Vietnam, where "a good day was a dry day" and "a bad day was stacking bodies." During battles, he found little racial tension, but back at the garrison, it was a different story. The news of Martin Luther King's assassination only fed his disillusionment about a war in which he trusted very few people. But on his last night in country, he did find himself sharing a bottle of whiskey with a white Marine to whom he had spoken very little during his tour.

Daniel Edward Burress Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript

        Loading...
    

About this Item

Title

  • Daniel Edward Burress Collection

Names

  • McKinney, Ashley
  • Burress, Daniel Edward
  • McCarthy, Erin A.
  • Columbia College Chicago

Home State

  • Illinois

Headings

  • -  Burress, Daniel Edward
  • -  Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Unit of Service: 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Vietnam
    • Highest Rank: Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1964-1968
    • Military Status: veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected unknown)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 2002; 2004-11-10)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [2 items] -- Reference copy (collected unknown)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2002-04-18)
  • Photograph: Mixed (Multiple types of photographs) [4 items] -- Photograph (collected 1964-1968)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/1811

Cite as

  • Daniel Edward Burress Collection (AFC/2001/001/1811), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Wars & Conflicts

Service Branch

Location of Service

Service Unit

Highest Rank

Discharge Status

Gender

Home State

Interviewee

Interviewer

Organization/Affiliation

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Mckinney, Ashley, Daniel Edward Burress, Erin A McCarthy, and Columbia College Chicago. Daniel Edward Burress Collection. 1964. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01811/.

APA citation style:

McKinney, A., Burress, D. E., McCarthy, E. A. & Columbia College Chicago. (1964) Daniel Edward Burress Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01811/.

MLA citation style:

Mckinney, Ashley, et al. Daniel Edward Burress Collection. 1964. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.01811/>.