Maverick Veterans’ Voices: Interview with Allan "Bunky" Garonzik

.

Interviewee: Mr. Allan "Bunky" Garonzik

Interviewer: Melissa Gonzales

Date of Interview: December 18, 2013

Location of Interview: Arlington, Texas

Transcriber: Diane Saylors

Special Collections UTA Libraries

GONZALES: This is Melissa Gonzales. Today is December 18, 2013, and I am interviewing Mr. Allan "Bunky" Garonzik for the first time. This interview is taking place at the University of Texas at Arlington Central Library in Arlington, Texas. This interview is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and is part of the Maverick Veterans' Voices Project.

GONZALES: So, let's get started. Are you originally from Arlington?

GARONZIK: I am not. Originally from Dallas.

GONZALES: And did you participate--were there any ROTC programs in your high school?

GARONZIK: There was. They had a Junior ROTC program in which I did participate.

GONZALES: So why did you choose to attend Arlington State College?

GARONZIK: I did choose Arlington because of the Military Science Department. That was my goal.

GONZALES: And how did you hear about the program?

GARONZIK: Oh, I had neighbors and I had friends that had gone here that were in the military department, and that's what got me interested in Arlington in the first place, and plus it was affordable.

GONZALES: Was it also what interested you in the military, to begin with?

GARONZIK: Yes, when I decided to come to Arlington, which was not immediately after high school--I did work for a while before I came to Arlington--but it was because of the military. That was my idea as a career. I wanted to be a career military Army aviator.

GONZALES: So what year did you start at Arlington State College?

GARONZIK: Well, I graduated in 1961 and after graduation moved to New Orleans. I was seventeen years old and moved to New Orleans and worked in a machine shop in New Orleans for a period of time and decided that was not the career I wanted 00:02:00and so I actually started-- it'd be the spring semester in midterm in 1962.

GONZALES: What was your major?

GARONZIK: It was Business Administration.

GONZALES: Why did you choose that major?

GARONZIK: Well, frankly, at the time, Business was kind of a pay-your-fees- and-get-your-B's, and I just knew that I needed a college degree to go into the military, and that seemed to be the most likely and, frankly, the easiest avenue for me.

GONZALES: So what were your first impressions of the College?

GARONZIK: It was small and it was close-knit. It was mainly a commuter school, and everyone knows back in those days most of the students came from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Very few lived on campus, and it was just a small school and I liked that tidy environment that was a big military influence within the school. Most of the male members of the University or students of the University were mostly in the military back then.

GONZALES: Did you live on or off-campus?

GARONZIK: I lived on campus the whole time.

GONZALES: Did that affect your education with ROTC? Did it make it easier to get to classes?

GARONZIK: It did, of course, make it easier to get to classes although I did work the entire time, so I had to leave campus to go to work and then came back.

GONZALES: So what was your commute like between work and College?

GARONZIK: Well, I had pretty much of a checkered career while I was in College as far as working, but I did work at least forty hours the entire time I was in school, and so I had various jobs.

There was at least one semester where I actually worked in Dallas on the weekends, so I had to leave Arlington to go to Dallas and then come back after the weekend. And there was another semester, the semester that I got married, which was in 1964, I actually had a job at a freight dock in Dallas, and I worked at the freight dock and got off at two o'clock in the morning and had come back to school, and I worked at the cafeteria as part of the room and board 00:04:00at the Student Union Building, which we called the SUB back then. I think it's now called the Student Center and I had to be there at five-thirty, so my study time was somewhere between two and five-thirty in the morning, and that was subtracting the drive time for that.

And I remember taking eighteen hours and I had an eight o'clock class. That was a brutal semester for me.

GONZALES: So I take it, it affected your education, or was it--

GARONZIK: Well, as far as education, I'm not convinced that I really learned all that much, but as far as grades it did affect my grades although coincidentally and incidentally that particular semester was the only semester I made real good grades, and it was because you couldn't drop a stitch. You had to study when you had the allocated time and if you didn't, you didn't get it done. There wasn't time for that.

GONZALES: Since it was such a tight-knit community here on campus, I imagine especially with the ROTC group, were there any campus activities that you participated in other than ROTC?

GARONZIK: Yes, I was a staff photographer for at the time the Reveille, which was the yearbook. I understand they no longer produce that as such, but I was a photographer for three years for the Reveille and also did some work for The Shorthorn, which I understand is still going, and so I have pictures that would be in both of those over the years.

GONZALES: So you said you married while you were enrolled at Arlington State College?

GARONZIK: Yes. I got back from--at the time we called it summer camp. I think it's called the Leadership Development Course right now, but it's the same thing and I got back from Fort Sill in August of '64 and got married, I think, four days later from the time I returned home.

GONZALES: What was your relationship like with other cadets on campus?

GARONZIK: The cadets, especially the Jodies, the military drill team, was a very close-knit community. The Jodies from the time that I was on the team are still 00:06:00mostly my best friends. They're still the guys that I knew from College that were on the Jodies.

GONZALES: Were there any pranks that you played on one another?

GARONZIK: The answer to this question will depend on the statute of limitations. I'm going to assume that a lot of that's gone. Yes, that was pretty much my stock in trade was the prankster, and some of them were pretty serious pranks, but we had fun. So we had that fun. There was a war going on, and I think during the time of war, the guys that are slated to be soldiers are a little bit kind of laissez-faire, one might say, and so we don't care about a lot of things because you never know what the outcome of your military service is going to be, so pranks and taking chances and risks was just something that we do, and so, yeah, we had a lot of pranks.

GONZALES: So what was a day in the life of a cadet at that time?

GARONZIK: I lived in what was called Davis Hall, which I believe now is called 00:07:00Brazos Hall and there were no telephones the first couple of years. Then they actually had phones in the halls after that, so everybody had a common area of the phone in each of what they called the ramps, which was the way that hall worked. You'd be on the first floor and then the second floor on A Ramp, but you couldn't go from Ramp A to Ramp B without going outside and then cross over, so it was like four stacked different individual facilities.

So if there was a phone on, say, the second floor of B Ramp, then everybody on that floor had access to that phone, and so that was the level of communication to the outside world as it were. Matter of fact, we used to answer the phone World War III when the phone would ring in the hallway, and then we'd have to go find the person who the call was directed to.

GONZALES: Can you describe what the Jodies did and your involvement with them?

GARONZIK: The Jodies were a crack platoon, as it was originally called back in, I believe, 1933 when they were founded, and our job--our goal-- was to go to 00:08:00various drill team competitions, perform at the halftime at the football games, go to the various parades, and so our center of life was around the Jodies. That's what we did and it was in a way difficult because of the work and the school and the activities.

We used to practice about fifteen to twenty hours a week, and that would intensify as we got closer to a competition. And we were intent on being the best. That was what we aspired to, and those folks that were on the drill team back then previously have had good careers, stellar careers, both in the military as well as civilian life almost to a man.

An example I'd like to cite was back then the Army's elite forces were the Special Forces, the Green Berets, and then and even in the Barry Sadler song, 00:09:00only three out of a hundred that applied for the Green Berets make it, and out of the drill team that I was on that had approximately forty members, I think there were about ten or twelve that actually made the Green Berets, way higher than the national average. Most were Airborne qualified and also Rangers and that handful were Green Berets.

GONZALES: Do you think that was attributed to the training you received?

GARONZIK: It was. It was attributed to not so much the drill and ceremonies type training, but the dedication and the direction and the focus of military life.

GONZALES: Did any professors or instructors influence you?

GARONZIK: Well, absolutely. There were some that influenced in a very positive way. I can remember him by name. We had Colonel McDowell, who was in the paratroopers during World War II. He dropped behind enemy lines in Czechoslovakia and Colonel Max Manifold was a Major at the time, and COL Manifold was an Army Ranger that hit the beaches of Normandy, and so these were very 00:10:00effective instructors and they were very influential.

We also had two sergeants that I remember by name. Sergeant Dixon, who was a POW in the Second World War, and Sergeant. Colvard, who was a mentor and Airborne ranger, you know, in the twenties back then and we looked up to these guys. Unfortunately, there were some that came after that were not quite as influential in a positive way.

GONZALES: Do you feel being involved in Junior ROTC in high school prepared you for being a cadet?

GARONZIK: Only in a minor way. The high school ROTC was--you learn a few things. You can't say you don't learn a few things, but if I were to put it in perspective, somebody after one semester in Military Science I at university level would've caught up with anything learned in that Junior ROTC program. That's the way I see it. This is not to say that the Junior ROTC is not a good program, but there's only so much that they can do. It's just one class out of 00:11:00your curriculum at high school.

GONZALES: Did you graduate from Arlington State College or at that time it was The University of Texas at Arlington by that time?

GARONZIK: Well, that's an interesting story. It was The University of Texas at Arlington [Arlington State College] when I showed up on campus, and in '65, it was officially changed, I believe, to UT-Arlington, and the first graduating class was '67, and I was in the first graduating class there in 1967.

And I like to tell the story that when I went across the stage to get a diploma--in those days, they didn't give you a diploma, they just gave you a piece of paper wrapped in a rubber band--and when you turn in your cap and gown, you actually got the diploma. And I remember when everyone else was getting their high-fives and talking to their parents and congratulations, well, I went backstage and turned in my cap and gown, so I actually got the very first diploma issued from The University of Texas at Arlington.

GONZALES: I understand your class ring also had some significance.

GARONZIK: Well, that's true. The class ring was affected that way. It was when I got the class ring, you had to have sixty-five hours of studies and so I was able to get the class ring because I was--understand--an unlikely candidate for a college degree. My high school grades were terrible, my College grades a little worse than terrible, and so it was unlikely. So I, by gosh, wanted to get the class ring, and I did when I had the sixty-five hours, which was 1965.

When I ultimately graduated in '67, by then it was the University of Texas at Arlington, which I thought may have a little bit more significance nationally. So I actually sent the ring back to the Balfour Company and had the top half of the ring changed to University of Texas at Arlington, and the bottom half still has the Rebel flag because we were the Arlington State Rebels back then. So, yeah, it has lots--and unlike a lot of people, I still wear the ring. Matter of fact, can't even get it off anymore.

GONZALES: So what would happen after that approached the graduation date? What decisions were made?

GARONZIK: Well, back again, I think talking about in those days, for those 00:13:00people that were in the Military Science department that were about to graduate, you coincidentally were commissioned the same day that you graduated, and you would have had to, of course, completed your four years of ROTC and then get a degree.

And they were expected to go to--they would have a choice, but it was probably a wish list. They didn't always get their first choice, that depending on a lot of things with the cadre being part of it, that decision-making process, their grades been another, and how they did generally. But then they would actually have to go to a combat branch first to get the training there, which was infantry, artillery, and armor, one of those three combat branches. Then later they would go to another branch, which could be engineering, signal corps, a number of things, adjutant general, military intelligence, a number of things, but they had to serve in a combat branch first.

Now, in my case, where I had finished my ROTC prior to graduation, I was delayed on the commissioning, and ultimately I ended up moving back to New Orleans. I 00:14:00was in a reserve unit, and I moved back to New Orleans and worked at the same place that I had worked when I graduated high school. That company had developed to--it was kind of a renowned hydraulics-type engineering company, and so I had gained some knowledge there and so I had a clearance that related to the military.

They had three clearances. Without making it too complicated, they had a confidential clearance, a secret clearance, and top-secret clearance. I had a secret clearance that related to my military, and I had some unique knowledge of hydraulics, and so I was tapped on to go to work to buy hydraulic parts at LTV, which at the time was the eleventh largest company in the world. And we bought and supplied parts for U.S. military specifically for Navy and Air Force fighter jets, F-8s and A-7s.

So I actually went there after graduate school at Tulane to work there, and so my time in the Reserves just extended on for another--a total of about eight years.

GONZALES: Okay.

GARONZIK: But I never served an active duty role within the military.

GONZALES: So what were your duties or responsibilities as a reservist?

GARONZIK: Well, as a reservist, there were still some tough times, I suppose. I was in a Military Police unit, and back then there were the problems at a lot of the universities. Kent State would happen during that time and so what we as a Military Police unit did was we actually trained to work with and in support of National Guard units that would have to go to these various universities to prevent, stop all riot-type purposes, and that's what we did. And of course, the other training of disaster and so forth of Guard units, that's what we did.

GONZALES: So were you involved with that while you were at Tulane?

GARONZIK: I was still in the Reserves while I was at Tulane, so I worked a sixty-hour week. I went to graduate school in the evening and then I had military duty weekends and so forth.

GONZALES: So what are some of your more memorable experiences from your time as a cadet and your time as a reservist?

GARONZIK: Well, the time as a cadet, of course, is what really sticks in my mind probably more than the military service per se because that was as a reserve, but as a cadet, we had a unified group of dedicated potential and generally active Army and in some cases Marines and in some cases Air Force. The cadet that graduated from UTA would generally get an Army commission, but there were instances where some cadets could just walk across the street and get the Air Force commission.

In one particular case, who, another gentleman who is in the Hall of Honor got an Air Force commission because he wanted to fly jets and he got commissioned in 00:17:00the Air Force having had Army and Jodie training. So a little bit unusual on that but that still happened.

GONZALES: So was your education supported by the GI Bill?

GARONZIK: No, no. On the one hand, I'm a little bit proud of this, but on the other hand, I wish it didn't happen this way. I paid for 100 percent of my education. There were no scholarships. I didn't have the grades for that, and so I didn't have a good resume as it related to previous academics, so no scholarships, no athletic scholarships. I paid for the whole thing and worked the whole time. So it means a little bit more although I would say that I didn't learn as much as potentially was available. Today it's important to make grades, back then it was important to just graduate.

GONZALES: Do you feel what you learned as a cadet has influenced you now either for your current work or past work?

GARONZIK: Of course. As I look back at the training that I received while I was 00:18:00at UT-Arlington and before that Arlington State College, I would say 100 percent revolved around being a cadet and a Jodie. That was what we learned there. Stamina, perseverance, tenacity, getting the job done, dedication, all of those things, and I think those things are certainly important in the military but they're also important in civilian life, and so I attribute everything including graduation--had I not been on the military drill team, the Jodies, I would not have graduated. I didn't have a purpose too--I wasn't learning a lot from the academic end, so the only reason I got a degree was because of the Jodies, so yeah, it influenced me 100 percent in everything I've done.

GONZALES: You said you formed some close relationships or friendships while you were at Arlington State College. Do you still stay in touch and how so?

GARONZIK: I'm in touch with almost everybody that was on the drill team when I was on the drill team. And we actually started--when I was living in New Orleans 00:19:00in 1967, we started a Sam Houston Rifle Alumni Association, and I actually came up to Arlington to help get that started, and I was the president in about the third go-round and actually remained president for a number of years and was the editor and I wrote the newsletter and go it distributed, and I did that for well over twenty years.

GONZALES: So would you say you're somewhat the unofficial historian for the department of Military Science?

GARONZIK: Well, we actually have someone that was the historian and kept scrapbooks and whatnot, but I probably know as much about the history and the continuity of the organization from the beginning.

GONZALES: So what was your experience serving as the president of the Sam Houston Alumni Association?

GARONZIK: Well, I felt then and felt now that being in communication and maintaining the lines of communication and continuity was extremely important, and our members were scattered throughout. Everybody was, you know, deployed or 00:20:00went to someplace, and very few remained actually in Arlington the whole time, and so that link to the outside world in terms of communication was I think paramount and it kept the organization and the people in touch with one another.

GONZALES: Were you able to organize reunions?

GARONZIK: Yeah. We have a reunion for every year and the reunion coincided with homecoming activities and I will say that since I graduated in 1967 I've not missed a homecoming.

GONZALES: Do you like that homecoming has moved from February back to the fall?

GARONZIK: I think the thing that I'm most disappointed in as far as homecoming is that it used to revolve around the football game, so like so many alumni, not having a football team is not a plus in my opinion for the University. If someone comes to a school, the full College life I think is important. From the 00:21:00perspective of a football team--and I know it's a financial consideration--but from the perspective, you have the marching band, you have the marching drill team, you have the cheerleaders, you have the continuity, you have the purpose, and to have a major school like UT-Arlington in the middle of the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas and not having a football team, it is in my opinion somewhat embarrassing.

GONZALES: I think many schools would agree with you on that. So you were inducted into the UTA Hall of Honor in 2007 and honored as the UTA Distinguished Alumni in 2009. Can you describe receiving those honors?

GARONZIK: Well, I think as far as UTA Hall of Honor, I would say that the word that comes to mind is shock because I did not have a stellar military career; however, the criteria for the Military Hall of Honor at UTA is a compilation of 00:22:00military service, of community service, of supporting of the University and various charity events, those sorts of things, and so I felt as though that's what prompted me to get into the Military Hall of Honor.

GONZALES: So what community events do you participate in?

GARONZIK: For twenty-two years I was involved with the Leukemia Society. We have a branch of the Leukemia Society that's called the Chili Society and I was the president of the Chili Society for a number of years, and all of the proceeds from the various events that we did, 100 percent went to Leukemia Society, so for twenty-two years, I was involved with the Chili Society and for five of those years I was the president.

As far as other community events that I participated in, I was involved with the American Red Cross during the Katrina relief, and I was involved with the relief 00:23:00efforts on the explosion in West. We put together a cooking team and then about ten hours after the explosion, we were down there cooking. We served two thousand meals in a one-day period and our guys picked up and went home after that. I've been involved in a number of events.

The Boy Scouts, I was an assistant scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts. My son is an Eagle Scout. I participated in those events for five years, never missed a campout. And Indian Guides. My daughter was in Indian Guides and I went to all of those events.

So a lot of things that relate to community events I've been involved in. And of course, my work here at UT-Arlington.

GONZALES: So what was your involvement in the UTA Corps of Cadets 126- mile-march to Fort Hood in 2010?

GARONZIK: Yes. I put together a cooking team for that event and we had three of our members that actually went and participated the entire march, which was over 00:24:00a five-day period and we would show up and cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for that period of time for those days for all the cadets that went on that march. And we also called on various other Jodies that showed up at these different cooking times not every day but if we were near Fort Hood or down in Central Texas, those folks that lived there would show up and help us cook. It was an enlightening, interesting, and educational experience.

I can remember one guy, Lee B. Wilson, he's also in our Hall of Honor. Lee was in the Green Berets and Special Forces in Vietnam for a couple of tours, and there he was with a paper cook hat and cooking meals for the cadets. It was something that sticks in my mind.

GONZALES: So returning to campus as an alumnus, how has the campus changed?

GARONZIK: Well, it's night and day. This campus has grown exponentially. I was just walking through it today seeing all the courtyards and the trees and the beautiful buildings and all that. I will say that the dormitory that I lived in, 00:25:00although it's changed its name, it's still standing, and Lord knows we tried to take it down a number of times.

GONZALES: So is there anything you'd like to contribute to the interview that I haven't asked you?

GARONZIK: Well, I know we can't talk too much about the pranks because some of those things were a little bit on the, let's call it, shady side. One such event was we formed a detail, you know, where we put a lot of the military training together, where we formed a group. Each one had a job and a task and a responsibility. and We drove up in the middle of the night, at 2 o'clock in the morning, and -- let me say -- liberated the antique military cannon that was in front of one of the dormitories at the University of North Texas. It was North Texas State University then. We took apart in the middle of the night, right in front of the fraternity house, and loaded up in several cars. It weighed about 1000 pounds 00:26:00total. And brought it back and reassembled it in my room in the dormitory and we all took a blood oath to keep it a secret.

That lasted about 30 minutes, I suppose. By 8 o'clock in the morning, people were knocking on the door wanting to see the cannon and eventually campus security came by and gave us an ultimatum. It needed to be out in the front yard. The long and the short of the story is we disassembled it and reassembled it in the front yard and a wrecker came and picked it up and took it back to Denton.

GONZALES: Well I want to thank you Mr. Garonzick. You were helpful and informative and it was a pleasure talking to you today. Thank you so much for your contribution to this project.

GARONZIK: Thank you. My pleasure.