Veterans History Project 1714 items

Notes:: Mr. Dahlke served in the US Army as an engineer during the Vietnam War. He received his basic training at Fort Knox, and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood. This is where he learned to be an equipment operator. Much of his job included operating heavy equipment, like bulldozers. He cleared lanes, built bunkers, repaired roads, and did mine sweeps. In Vietnam, he served with the 588th Engineer Battalion, attached to the 25th Division.
Date Created:: 2009-05-29T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Fay Johnson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Lowell High School. After high school he joined the Navy and first trained as a radio tech and then a fire controller. He was assigned to the USS Terry and boarded it in November 1944. They went to Iwo Jima and their mission was to fire at targets on the island given to them by the marines. They were at Iwo Jima for 3-4 weeks and then went on picket duty between Japan and Iwo Jima. On their way back to Iwo Jima they were hit three times and had to go to San Francisco to get repaired. After they were repaired they were getting ready for the Japanese invasion, but the war ended.
Date Created:: 2008-08-25T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Fred Kerkstra was born in Byron Center, Michigan in 1923 and grew up on a farm. He was drafted in February of 1943 and sent to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan. At the time, the Army Air Corps was short on gunners and Fred and had been lucky enough to be transferred into the Air Corps. He trained for 13 months in Florida and Colorado and became a tail gunner on a B-25. Fred traveled to Hawaii, Australia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Luzon, New Guinea, Guadalcanal, and Formosa. Fred went on 40 missions altogether while in the Pacific. Personal narrative of military service is appended interview outline.
Date Created:: 2008-05-20T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: William Lalley was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1922. While in college in 1942 he signed up for an Army Air Corps program that was supposed to defer his service until he graduated, but he was pulled out of school early in 1943. He then trained as a B-17 pilot, was sent to England as a replacement, and was shot down on his first mission. With the aid of the Dutch resistance, William was able to evade the Germans for about 4 months before being captured. William was sent to three different prison camps while in Germany before the prisoners were finally liberated and he was sent home.
Date Created:: 2008-10-30T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Morgan Singer was born in Pinckney, MI and served in the Navy during World War II. Singer was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago, IL and then to Fort Bradford, VA and Ft. Pierce, FL for training on LST landing craft. After training, he was shipped to Guam, where he was preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. He was then sent to the Philippines, where he worked clearing vehicles.
Date Created:: 2007-06-09T00:00:00Z
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 December 12, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated December 24, 1943. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to Agnes from England while hoping to receive another letter from her during the holiday season.
Date Created:: 1943-12-12T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Glenn Sheathelm was born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1946. Enlisting in the Army in 1965, he joins the Army Artillery and undergoes Basic Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and AIT at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, before being deployed to Nuremberg, Germany. He is then redeployed to Vietnam where he served with the Fire Direction Control and S2 Military Intelligence sections of the First Cavalry Division until after the Tet Offensive in January of 1968. He sees combat while on patrol, during rescue missions, during Air Assaults, and during the Second Battle of Tampon when he receives several minor wounds and is sent to the rear for treatment in the final days of his deployment. He then returns to the United States in February of 1968 where he attends the Western Michigan and Grand Valley State Universities for masters' degrees in library sciences, literary media, and history.
Date Created:: 2018-08-08T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Norman Batch was born in 1925 in Muskegon, Michigan. Since he was raised on a farm, he received 6 months of deferred service, but ended up enlisting on his own. He served in the 80th Division of the 3rd Army under General Patton, and fought at Metz and in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he guarded German POWs and took care of cemeteries until his service was up. He came back to Grand Rapids and worked until he retired in 1990.
Date Created:: 2008-06-28T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Robert Darrell Burton is a Grand Rapids native and a resident at the Coit Street VA Facility. Burton spent the majority of his army service (1976-79) as a military policeman at a base in New Mexico. Burton did not see any combat during his term of service.
Date Created:: 2007-05-15T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Jim Flowers was born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1963. After he graduated high school, enlisted in the Air Force and did a tour on a strategic air command base on Guam. Back in the US, he completed college while still in the Air Force, and then spent a few years in civilian jobs before entering the Michigan National Guard in 1991. Commissioned as an officer in 1993, he eventually took a full time position with the Guard, and deployed to Iraq in 2003 and to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2012. He currently commands the 507th Engineer Battalion based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Date Created:: 2014-01-23T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)