{"id":138031,"date":"2023-11-20T11:35:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T16:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=138031"},"modified":"2023-11-20T12:23:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T17:23:36","slug":"ucf-alum-vietnam-veteran-recalls-early-life-on-alcatraz-working-for-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-alum-vietnam-veteran-recalls-early-life-on-alcatraz-working-for-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Alum, Vietnam Veteran Recalls Early Life on Alcatraz, Working for NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a shortened version of a story on the UCF Alumni blog. Read the full version here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before the federal prison on Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco closed in 1963, John Craig \u201972<\/strong>, lived in one of its employee-housing units, far away from the prison population.<\/p>\n

Craig\u2019s father, Victor, oversaw the dining program for the prison, which had been built to incarcerate those who were deemed too difficult to incarcerate elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Craig graduated from Galileo High School in San Francisco in 1959 and said he didn\u2019t think much about the significance of living on Alcatraz until later. After graduation, Craig enlisted into the U.S. Navy and served two tours in Vietnam. He worked on three different ships, two destroyers and a cruiser, where he manned the radar and served as an electronics technician.<\/p>\n

After his discharge from the Navy, Craig moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where his parents had relocated. Because of his work experience in the Navy, he was snatched up by NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center to work in its astronaut simulation headquarters as a technician. He also began taking classes at Brevard Junior College and eventually transferred to Florida Technological 海角直播, now known as the 海角直播, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s in general studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Craig\u2019s journey to and after UCF by reading the full story on the UCF Alumni blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Craig \u201972 <\/strong>looks back on his journey to Florida\u2019s Space Coast and UCF \u2014 which he remains connected to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":138032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15992],"tags":[9144,54105,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-138031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-college-of-undergraduate-studies","tag-student-veterans","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Alum, Vietnam Veteran Recalls Early Life on Alcatraz, Working for NASA | 海角直播 News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Craig \u201972 looks back on his journey to Florida\u2019s Space Coast and UCF \u2014 which he remains connected to.\" \/>\n<meta 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