Dick Ellis Interview, 2017-11-08 [MilColl OH 1123] - North Carolina Digital Collections

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Document Details

Title

Dick Ellis Interview, 2017-11-08 [MilColl OH 1123]

Link

https://archive.org/details/MilCollOH1123Ellis

Date

November 08 2017

Creator

["Ellis, Dick."]

Contributor

["Peek, Matthew M."]

Rights

All rights held by the State Archives of NC. Permission to publish must be obtained from the registrar in writing.

Description

Dick Ellis was born and raised in Wilson, N.C., in 1944. He became a well-known radio and television personality in Wilson during his teenage years. By the age of 19, he had worked as a radio disc jockey for an early rock-n-roll show in Wilson; a weatherman; a children's show clown; and conducted some of the earliest "man around town" interviews in North Carolina. Ellis learned to fly as a teenage, and was a member of a local Civil Air Patrol that flew out of Old Washington, N.C., in Beaufort County during the 1950s and early 1960s. Drafted in 1966, Ellis served during the Vietnam War in the U.S. Army. With his radio and TV experience, Ellis was assigned as an announcer, producer, combat correspondent, and photographer with the American Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN) in Saigon, serving from July 1967 to September 1968. He was involved in covering combat missions, assisted in providing ground fire cover from helicopters during missions, traveled to covert and restricted military bases, and became friends with numerous influential American and South Vietnamese military officials. Ellis became the face and voice of the Vietnam War for American military members stationed in-country from July 1967 to September 1968. Ellis was in Saigon during the Tet Offensive, unable to broadcast for several days as he was trapped in his residential complex during the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacks in and on Saigon. Eventually, Ellis and his fellow news members would reach their broadcast building, and stayed on the air for a week straight in the immediate aftermath of Tet. He was wounded in combat and was presented with a Bronze Star. Ellis visited every province in Vietnam to shoot film and tape record interviews for the AFVN. Ellis trained later famous TV personality and game show host Pat Sajak to take over for him at AFVN in 1968. After his military service ended, Ellis was offered numerous TV positions around the United States, including a chance to work on the ABC network pioneering show "Wide World of Sports." However, Ellis wanted to return to live and work in North Carolina. He came home and worked as a news reporter for WRAL until 1973, including with Jesse Helms Jr. prior to his senatorial tenure. North Carolina Governor James Holshouser called and asked Ellis to serve as the press officer for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, which he did for two years. In 1975, Ellis took over the North Carolina Bicentennial planning as its director for the state, which he did until closing the work out in 1977. At the time of this interview, Dick Ellis was serving as the Marshall for the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Subject

["Vietnam War, 1961-1975","Veterans","United States. Army","Tet Offensive, 1968","Retired military personnel","Personal narratives","Oral history","Oral histories","Military history","Bronze Star Medal (U.S.)","American Forces Network"]

Local Call Number

MilColl OH 1123

Place

["Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina, United States","Washington, Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States","Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam"]

Time Period

["(1945-1989) Post War/Cold War period"]

Digital Collections

["Veterans Oral History Collection"]

Source Collections

["Military Veterans Oral History Collection. Military Collection. State Archives of North Carolina"]

Format

["Sound recordings","Oral histories"]

Hosted By

["State Archives of North Carolina","Internet Archive"]

Identifier

MilColl_OH_1123_Ellis.mp3

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