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Rutgers Oral History Archives

  • College/Year: RC '68, RBS '70
  • Links to Oral History Sessions: Zinn, John Part 1 (December 15, 2016)
    Zinn, John Part 2 (February 28, 2017)
  • Conflict(s): Vietnam War
  • Military Branch & Unit: Army
  • Theater(s): Vietnam
  • US Army Other: 54th General Support Group Quartermaster Corps

Description:

John G. Zinn was born on December 12, 1946 in Teaneck, New Jersey. He grew up in Wayne, New Jersey and graduated from Wayne High School in 1960.

From 1964 to 1968, Zinn attended Rutgers College, where he majored in business. Zinn became involved in managing the basketball teams, first managing the freshman basketball team under Coach Bruce Webster and then managing the varsity basketball teams coached by Bill Foster. In his interview, Zinn describes the 1965-1966 Rutgers basketball season and then the legendary 1966-1967 season in which Bob Lloyd and Jim Valvano led the Rutgers basketball team to a Final Four appearance in the NIT Tournament. Additionally, Zinn participated in ROTC for all four years of college, preferring to be an officer to potentially getting drafted after college.

Zinn attended graduate school at the Rutgers Graduate School of Business in Newark. In 1970, he earned his Master of Business Administration.

After graduate school, Zinn served in the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1972. Zinn was stationed at Cam Ranh Bay in the Quartermaster Office of the 54th General Support Group as an assistant adjudant in 1971-1972. He was awarded the Bronze Star.   

Zinn went on to a career as vice president of Fidelity Union Bank and Chief Financial Officer of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. He has written books about the Civil War and baseball. 

Targum Cover 11 22 1963a

 

"HERE IS A BULLETIN...": Memories of the Day Camelot Died

 

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Images from that day and the events that followed remain etched in our collective consciousness—the open-top Presidential limo traveling down the people-lined streets of Dallas; President Lyndon Baines Johnson taking the oath of office on Air Force One beside a shaken First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; John, Jr. saluting his father's passing casket at the funeral in DC.

Those who lived through that traumatic period can recall both their initial shock and the nuances of their reactions.

In "HERE IS A BULLETIN...": Memories of the Day Camelot Died, ROHA presents a sampling of stories related to the Kennedy tragedy, a touchstone event for multiple generations.

The Rutgers Targum (campus newspaper) cover from its November 22, 1963 issue. (Image courtesy of Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.)

 

Voices of Veterans Banner 1

Voices of Veterans

 

Voices of Veterans is an online exhibit showcasing passages from oral history interviews of veterans who served in the Second World War and in wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. ROHA created this exhibit in commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT MORE ONLINE EXHIBITS 

 

 

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