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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Cold War
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: USS Lowry (Destroyer)
  • Location of Service: New London, Connecticut; Pearl Harbor; Charleston, South Carolina; United States Naval Academy, Maryland; Naval War College, Rhode Island; Washington, DC; Indiana
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/31546

View full service history

"They have a saying on submarines: You have days and weeks of total boredom and minutes and seconds of sheer terror." (Audio Interview, 15:52)

Gerald McCarthy entered the Naval Academy in 1950 and spent his first two years of active duty aboard a destroyer before switching to submarines. He served on four subs and offers detailed descriptions of what it takes to become a submariner and his various duties in confined spaces. His missions during the Cold War and the Vietnam War were mainly patrol and reconnaissance, some of which he's still not at liberty discuss in detail. He also enjoyed a satisfying series of shore duties in the Pentagon, the War College, and at Purdue University with their ROTC program. After retirement from the Navy, he taught at Purdue for 14 years.

Gerald McCarthy Collection
Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • Gerald McCarthy Collection

Names

  • Lugar, Richard
  • U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar
  • McCarthy, Gerald
  • Brouillette, Susan

Home State

  • Indiana

Headings

  • -  McCarthy, Gerald
  • -  Cold War -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.
  • -  Cold War -- Personal Narratives

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • White

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • Cold War

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: USS Lowry (Destroyer)
    • Location of Service: New London, Connecticut; Pearl Harbor; Charleston, South Carolina; United States Naval Academy, Maryland; Naval War College, Rhode Island; Washington, DC; Indiana
    • Highest Rank: Captain
    • Dates of Service: 1949-1978
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran also served on the following submarines: USS Sea Robin (SS 407), USS Trout (SS 566), USS Remora (SS 487), USS Tusk (SS 426)
  • Cold War

    • Military Status: veteran

Materials

  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2009-11-13; 2009-11-13)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2009-11-13; 2009-11-13)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2005-06-10)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/31546

Cite as

  • Gerald McCarthy Collection (AFC/2001/001/31546), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

Lugar, Richard, U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar, Gerald McCarthy, and Susan Brouillette. Gerald McCarthy Collection. 1949. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.31546/.

APA citation style:

Lugar, R., U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar, McCarthy, G. & Brouillette, S. (1949) Gerald McCarthy Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.31546/.

MLA citation style:

Lugar, Richard, et al. Gerald McCarthy Collection. 1949. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.31546/>.