40s and 50s Memories
volunteered for an assignment in Viet-Nam and
for Vietnamese language training.
Jim Perry, Lac Quoi, Viet Nam, 1966
As the American war there was heating up in
1965-66, I spent a most interesting time in the
American Embassy in Saigon, and then on
loan to the American aid agency in Chau Doc
province in the Mekong delta, on the Cambodian
border. I then had an assignment in the
Embassy in Brussels as personal assistant to
the Ambassador during the time that NATO and
SHAPE were moving from France to Belgium.
Then training in the Lao language, followed by
an assignment in the political section of the
embassy in Vientiane, Laos. Like some of the
journalists who later wrote books about VietNam, I
began my tour there full of enthusiasm
for the war effort and gradually began to realize
that we were on the wrong side of history. In
Laos I found that I not only disagreed with
the war we were pursuing there, but also had
disagreements with my Ambassador on several
ethical issues.
I chose to resign my commission. In a reversal
of career direction, I spent the next 25 years
in management in a variety of charitable
organizations. I found that I had a talent for
organization, and especially for bringing about
badly needed change. Now retired, Shirley and
I live in Tucson, Arizona. I volunteer taking care
of babies and toddlers in a crisis shelter, and
am part of a uniformed hiking patrol in Sabino
Canyon in Tucson. I am also a cast member
of the award-winning film, Traces of the Trade:
A Story from the Deep North, about my D'Wolf
slave-trading ancestors and about race in
America today. It's a movie that often gets groups of white Americans talking about race.
(see http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/). Shirley
and I also enjoy our time with seven young
grandchildren.
Jim Perry,
recent photo
J. PLATT-HIGGINS
Carpenter 57
Jim Platt-Higgins joined Carpenter House as
a founder member in 1952 and left King's in
1957 with 11 'O' Levels and two 'A' Levels, and
House half colours for cross-country.
Of his life after King's he writes:
I left King's after five very happy years with no
real idea about what I was going to do with my
life. I recall no careers guidance at all and it
seemed as if boys were just expected to follow
their father's career. There was no pressure
to go to university and Mr Unmack found me
a year's job as a junior prep school master on
the magnificent wage of £60 a term plus board.
When that ended I knew two things: I didn't want
to be a teacher and I had to do National Service
almost immediately. My ignorance of the real
world was shameful. Hardly had I started in
the Army when I was asked by my platoon
corporal "Are you a PO (Potential officer)?" I
had no idea that a national service conscript
could become an officer. Maybe the corporal
had spotted some talent as to my amazement I
passed the two day WOSBE assessment, was
sent to Mons Officer Cadet School and gained
a commission. At the end of two years' service,
mainly in Northern Ireland, I was faced with the
same challenge again - what to do now? My
godfather was a solicitor and a magistrates'
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