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- Notes:
- Wallace Ewing was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 11, 1932. He recalled listening to news reports on the radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but remained unworried about the global events of the Second World War. After graduating high school in 1950, Ewing pursued the NROTC program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He participated in three overseas cruises and training exercises, but was forced to abandon his training when he was told he could not be married and become a Midshipman. Ewing and his wife started a family in East Lansing, he finished his degree at Michigan State University, and he became a university English teacher and later Dean at a small college.
- Date Created:
- 2017-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Baas, Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1920, enlisted in the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor. Initially, he was initially allowed to return to college to finish his senior year, but before the term ended, he was sent to Mississippi to begin training. He qualified as a Navy pilot and was given his choice of naval aircraft (other than fighters), and trained on the TBF Avenger Torpedo Bomber. He did carrier training and flew patrols off the Massachusetts coast in 1944 and operated off of an escort carrier with an Atlantic convoy, and then was sent to the Pacific early in 1945. Assigned to Carrier Group 83, he flew missions over Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan, and participated in the attack on the Japanese battleship Yamato as it attempted to reach Okinawa.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jay Huston was born in Erie Pennsylvania on August 25, 1925. He graduated in 1943 and then enlisted in the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army. Jay went through basic training at Great Lakes in Chicago and went through advanced training there to be a hospital corpsman. He was then stationed in London and preparing a hospital for the incoming patients after the D Day invasion. After working in Europe, Jay also worked in hospitals in the Pacific, including on Okinawa, during the war with Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2009-02-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Ross was born on January 12, 1926 and enlisted in the Navy when he was just 17 years old because he had not wanted to be drafted into the Army. He went through training at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, Illinois and was then shipped out to the Pacific after having 30 days leave. While in the Pacific Robert worked on 5 different Carrier Air Craft Service Units, or CASUAL outfits, hauling aviation fuel and empty tanks. Robert spent a total of 19 months in the Pacific and moved back to Michigan after he was discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2004-05-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Naughton was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 29, 1931. He moved to Michigan when he was five years old and graduated from high school in 1950. Gerald joined the Navy reserve in 1955 and was later in the Navy full time. He was in the Navy for 17 years during the Korean War and Vietnam. Gerald now resides in the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bob Rimmer was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1923. He grew up in Minnesota, Michigan, and Kansas before enlisting in the Coast Guard in March 1942. After basic training he was stationed at Bay City, Michigan as a truck driver then aboard the USS Long Beach in the South Pacific during 1944 taking part in patrols and several amphibious invasions. In 1945 he returned to the United States and was stationed in Seattle, Washington and St. Louis, Missouri before being discharged in June 1946. Later in 1946 he enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve and in September 1951 he was called up for service and was assigned to the USS Ammen. He took part in patrols of the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Ammen, returning to the United States in February 1953. He was discharged from the Navy Reserve in December 1953.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Raymond Novakoski was born on January 25, 1951, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy Reserve in August 1970. In the fall of 1970 he reported to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, for two weeks of basic training then received two weeks of Corpsman Training at Great Lakes Naval Station Hospital. He stayed in Grand Rapids for a year then began his active duty service on August 22, 1971. He attended Corps School in San Diego from September 1971 through January 1972. He was stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida where he worked in the naval hospital and also served as a driver for a captain. His active duty ended on August 21, 1973, and his time in the Navy Reserve ended after two years of active reserve service and one year of inactive reserve service.
- Date Created:
- 2015-06-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
