Interview with William Hein, April 29, 2021

Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project

Interview Summary

William Hein served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in East Pakistan - now Bangladesh - from 1961 to 1963. Bill had been working as an engineer since 1958 and served in the military. While on active duty he found a TV to watch the inaugural speech by President Kennedy which inspired him to join the Peace Corps. He was in the first group to South Asia. Two of Bill’s projects were the New Market which is still active and the Rajshahi Stadium. The heavy clearing and grading for the stadium site was done by hand by women from a non-Muslim Santal Tribe. The concrete was hand mixed using hand-broken bricks as aggregate. He also designed several small rural bridges and developed guidelines for designing these bridges using available materials. When Bill returned, he went to graduate school at Princeton University on a scholarship. He married his wife, a fellow volunteer in the same group, in East Pakistan and still celebrate special events with Bengali food.

Interview Accession

2021oh0300_pcrv0189

Interviewee Name

William Hein

Interviewer Name

Wendy Schumacher

Interview Date

2021-04-29

Interview Rights

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Hein, William Interview by Wendy Schumacher. 29 Apr. 2021. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Hein, W. (2021, April 29). Interview by W. Schumacher. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Hein, William, interview by Wendy Schumacher. April 29, 2021, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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