Frank Dunn was born December 29, 1951 in Stuyvesant Town, in lower Manhattan. He grew up in that urban environment, attending Catholic school and running with a gang for a time. He recalls the big events that punctuated the era, from the Kennedy assassination to the duck and cover drills to the emergence of Vietnam into the public consciousness. Frank recalls that he was in favour of the war at first, but that his attitudes changed over time. He was coming of age during a time when the war was starting to wind down, but Frank remembers that he had a low draft number. The New York State National Guard had some openings in 1970-71 so he chose to enlist, and he reported to Fort Dix. The army soon found out that he could type 60 words/minute, so he was assigned to be a clerk/typist, and he spent most of that year at Fort Dix, and he never had to go to Vietnam. Frank went on to be a high school teacher – and with the tables turned – it became his task to teach a new generation about that war, something he continues to do at the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial. Frank Dunn was interviewed by Scott Masters in Mt. Freedom, N.J. in March 2026.
