Veterans History Project
1714 items
- Notes:
- William Gerber was born in 1921 in Menominee, Michigan. He grew up there and attended high school there until he graduated in 1939. In the summer of 1938 he trained with the U.S. Citizens Training Corps in Fort Brady, Michigan for four weeks which would later count towards basic training in the Army. After completing high school he went to Houghton, Michigan as part of the National Youth Administration and received radio training. This led to his getting involved with the National Park Service and his working at Isle Royale National Park starting on December 6, 1941 and being relieved from that duty in May 1942. After Isle Royale he worked briefly as a medical technician and as an ambulance driver for Marinette General Hospital in Marinette, Wisconsin. In July 1942 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and in August 1942 he reported for basic training. He was sent to Fort Story, Virginia and because of his prior military training he was quickly promoted to the rank of corporal. He went on to receive radio training at Fort Story and Fort Monroe in Virginia and he was later attached to the 663rd Field Artillery Battalion as a radio operator. In spring 1944 his unit was deployed to Europe. They would go on to participate in the Battle of the Bulge and supporting Allied infantry in Bastogne, and the 663rd was one of the first units to cross the Rhine River into Germany to begin the Allied invasion of Germany. He was discharged in February 1946, but remained in the reserves and was called up during the Korean War and served in Japan at that time.
- Date Created:
- 2014-07-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Frank Collins was born in Manistee, Michigan on July 4, 1933. After his mother died and his father moved to California he enlisted in the Air Force in 1952. He received basic training and went to Personnel School. During the Korean War he was deployed to Korea and worked in records. He processed North Korean prisoners of war and also spent a month monitoring the train and aircraft movements of the North Koreans. He stayed in the Air Force until 1963 then went on to serve in the Air National Guard.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold was born on February 6, 1927 near Alto, Michigan. He graduated from Caledonia High School and began working at the State Bank of Caledonia in 1946. Harold was drafted into the United States Army in June 1951 and served for two years at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri as the company clerk for the 506th Replacement Company. He was discharged in June 1953.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Elbert Lyles was born in Mississippi in 1920. After leaving school in 1936, he worked as an iceman and in a cottonseed plant. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served in both North Africa and Italy in an all black engineer battalion. During his time in service, he served as a cook for his battalion who had the task of delivering supplies to the front and setting up more permanent camps. In this interview, Elbert gives an overview of what his cook duties entailed and how being an African American affected his military service.
- Date Created:
- 2011-08-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Sheridan enlisted into the Navy in 1943 after graduating from Coopersville High School. He eventually trained in becoming a signalman and served as part of the Naval Guard on a Merchant Marine cargo ship. His first voyage went to the Persian Gulf via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. His ship then went to the Pacific, taking a load of lumber to the Philippines and bringing soldiers home at the end of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2010-07-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Larry Van Singel grew up in Byron Center, MI, and volunteered for the Army in early 1967 since he expected to be drafted and wanted to have some choice in his training and assignment. He initially served as a clerk at the 9th Division headquarters outside of Saigon, and traveled into Saigon several times during the Tet Offensive. Next he served as a radioman at a small base in the Mekong Delta. He was brought home early because of a death in the family and served the rest of his tour in the United States. He discusses his own feelings about the war and the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life, as well as a visit to the Vietnam memorial in Washington.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Nicholas Wieringa was born in 1948 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was part of the Army infantry as a specialist 4th class. At Fort Knox, Kentucky he undertook basic training, and then had AIT training at Fort Louis, Washington. Nicholas was deployed to Vietnam at an especially hectic time of the War during which 18 firefights broke out. After his return to the US he served the remainder of his enlistment at Fort Knox before being discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated November 13, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated November 16, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes for the second time that day hoping she will send more pictures of herself and reflecting on his time as he approaches the three year mark of being in the Army and sixteen months of being overseas.
- Date Created:
- 1943-11-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Merle Delagrange was born in 1950 in Grantwood, Indiana. He was newly married and living in Ohio when he was drafted in 1969. After training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado until he received his orders to be deployed to Vietnam. He arrived in Vietnam on April 28, 1970 and was assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion. 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division stationed at Camp Evans. He was wounded in a friendly fire incident in early May, but soon rejoined the unit and was with them when they were heavily engaged Firebase Ripcord in July and had to be rescued by another unit. Throughout the rest of his tour he led a platoon on patrols until he left Vietnam and returned home on March 28, 1971. He joined the National Guard in 1976 where he stayed with the 193rd Infantry Company for eighteen years and retired as a sergeant first class.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edward Dochod was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 1, 1919. He grew up in the area and was drafted into the Army in January 1942. He was sent to Fort Custer, Fort Jackson and Fort Devens before being sent on a ship across the Atlantic to North Africa. He took part in the invasion of Sicily, Italy, fought at Cassino and Anzio, and then landed in southern France. Edward and the rest of the 45th Division then fought across France and on into Germany, and liberated the concentration camp, Dachau, on their way to Munich.
- Date Created:
- 2013-07-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)