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- Notes:
- William Sleaford, of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, served with the United States Army Air Corps during WW II. He attended college courses while in the military for flight training. He flew with a bombing group in Europe and participated in dangerous covert air photography missions over the European continent. He also participated in carpet bagging missions, on one such flight, the aircraft faulted and he parachuted to the ground. A Portuguese truck driver found Sleaford and took him back to Portugal picked him up. After his service, he became an engineer with General Electric.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. Richard Wierenga, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. He joined the Air Force after two years of college and became a pilot. He was never sent overseas, but remained stationed in the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Howard Van Solkema was born in Byron Center, Michigan, in 1950. He was drafted shortly after graduating from high school and served in the Marine Corps between 1969 and 1971. He trained as a machine gunner and joined the First Marine Division at Da Nang in 1969. When his original regiment was sent home, he was transferred to a different unit in the northern part of the country, and finally to a base camp toward the end of his tour. He saw a good deal of small unit action, but no large battles, and worked with Australian and Korean troops.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John DeBoer was born in 1924 in Paterson New Jersey and before the war he worked as tool and die apprentice. He enlisted in 1943 and trained in Sampson New York. He was sent to radio school and was assigned to the destroyer USS John D. Edwards as a radio technician. The ship did convoy duty and anti-submarine patrols throughout the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and participated in the sinking of a German U-Boat. He left the ship in 1944 to began flight training, and was based near Memphis Tennessee. He left the military in 1946 before finishing flight training.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eugene Bleil was born in 1920 and grew up mostly on farms outside of the city. He was accepted to Eastern Michigan University, but dropped out after a semester, traveled with his brother looking for work, and wound up enlisting in the Army Air Corps. The brothers trained as Selfridge Field in Michigan and passed the tests for pilot training, but failed the physical, and trained as mechanics at Scott Field in Illinois. Assigned to the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Bleil shipped out to the Philippines in 1940. Based at Nichols Field outside of Manila, the squadron trained there until the war with Japan began, and then transferred first to Clark Field, and then to Bataan. When the aircraft were withdrawn, the crews became provisional infantry and fought off Japanese landing attempts along the coast until the surrender in April. Bleil survived the Bataan Death March and three years in labor camps in the Philippines before being sent to Japan to work in foundries. Bleil and some of the other prisoners developed a talent for sabotage, but were never caught by the Japanese. After the war, Bleil was told by Army doctors that he would not live very long or be able to father children. Even so, he went back to college, became a doctor, raised a family and is still around to tell his story. He has also published a memoir, Condemned to Death Six Times.
- Date Created:
- 2012-03-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arthur DeWitt was born in Lapeer, Michigan in 1921, and grew up in Kalamazoo. While a senior in high school, DeWitt joined the Michigan National Guard, and his unit, Company C of the 126th Infantry Regiment, was called up soon afterward, causing him to miss most of his senior year. His unit was sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana for training, and he became a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) gunner. In the spring of 1942, his division was sent first to Boston, then to San Francisco, and from there to Australia. They were shipped to New Guinea in September, and participating in the fighting around Buna. One of the few men in his company to get through Buna unscathed and healthy, he came down with malaria soon after returning to Australia, and was reassigned to the 41st Division. He served with the 41st on Biak, and then on Mindanao in the Philippines, and was rotated home shortly before the end of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ron Oakes was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in March 1949. After briefly attending junior college, he enlisted in June 1967 and received training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Camp Pendleton, California. He then received instruction in the Vietnamese language before being sent to Vietnam. Once he arrived, he was trained as a radio operator and assigned to a squad in the 27th Marine Regiment in the Da Nang area, soon becoming his platoon's radio operator, and saw extensive combat experience. When the 27th was rotated home, he was reassigned to 4th Marines at Quang Tri, and operated between Quang Tri and Hue before being sent inland toward Khe Sanh. While in this area, he contracted dysentery and was sent to a hospital ship where he spent a month aboard a hospital ship before being returned to his unit. When his tour was over, re was sent home and discharged in 1969.
- Date Created:
- 2010-06-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Allan Owens is a Cold War era veteran born in Detroit, Michigan in 1940. He attended Marquette University for a time and enlisted in the Air Force in 1961. He took basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, tech school at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado and he was deployed to Bitburg Air Force Base, Germany. He was assigned to the 525th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and was a weapons crewman. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he was placed on alert for three days and ordered to load nuclear weapons onto the aircraft. During his deployment he was also able to tour East Berlin and be witness to the desolation of the city. After he left the Air Force in 1964, he returned to Michigan and worked a variety of jobs, including with the Athletics Department at Grand Valley State University.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mr. Potter is from Grandville, Michigan. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in August, 2001, served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine. His highest rank was sergeant. He received his training in San Diego, where he was a squad leader. In Iraq, Mr. Potter was a fire-team leader. In Afghanistan, he was a squad leader. He was able to travel to over 30 different countries throughout his military career.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Tipton was born in Baskin, Florida in 1947. He received a draft notice in 1965, but received a deferment until 1969. After training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he deployed to Vietnam in October 1969. He was assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was sent to Camp Evans and then to Firebase Bastogne where he met up with his unit upon which they traveled to Firebase Birmingham. In December 1969 he and his unit moved to Firebase O'Reilly where he saw action in the field and from there went to Firebase Ripcord where he helped establish the base there. After Ripcord he was assigned to a mortar unit then he re-enlisted to be an aviation mechanic. He trained at Fort Rucker, Alabama and returned to Vietnam to serve with the 361st Aeroweapons Company at Camp Holloway outside of Pleiku. After Vietnam he served at Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, and in South Korea until he retired on October 31, 1990.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
