Veterans History Project 1714 items

Notes:: Clarence Schipper was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 29, 1924. He registered for the draft in January 1942 and reported for duty in January 1943. He received basic training in Atlantic City, New Jersey then went to Myakka River State Park, Florida and Drew Army Air Field, Florida for Jungle Training and Radar Operator Training (respectively). In late 1943 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was stationed in England from January 1944 to June 1944 where he trained with Company B of the 573rd Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion. He was reassigned to the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion and went over to France, after D-Day, in June 1944. His unit was technically part of the Ninth Air Force, but followed the advance of the 2nd Armored Division through Europe. He passed through France, was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and took part in the advance through Germany. After Germany's surrender he helped disarm the German population and watch over German prisoners of war. In October 1945 he went to Marseilles and returned to the United States.
Date Created:: 2016-02-18T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Jack Cole was born on August 23, 1948. He joined the Army as a light vehicle driver and drove trucks in a convoy that traveled and brought supplies to the battle at Dac Tho. Jack occasionally drove the gun trucks while traveling in the convoy. While in Viet Nam, Jack was injured.
Date Created:: 2008-05-22T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Agnes Van Der Weide to Joe Olexa, dated November 14, 1944. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated November 15, 1944. In the letter, Agnes expresses her affection for Joe and reminisces about their first kiss on New Year's Eve. She also mentions her recent purchases including a train ticket to visit Helen and new clothes, while hoping the war will end and bring Joe back home soon.
Date Created:: 1944-11-14T00:00:00Z
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 March 7, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated March 9, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes of his excitement in receiving three of Agnes' letters that day, wishing they could have been together for his birthday, and sharing the news that his siblings plan to visit her in Grand Rapids.
Date Created:: 1944-03-07T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Dr. Ulf “Ulie” Hierlwimmer was born on May 31 st in 1945, in the Soviet occupied zone of Germany. When he was around one year old, his mother moved their family to the safety of West Germany while his father was in the German Army. After his discharge, Hierlwimmer's family moved to the United States and settled into Detroit, Michigan, in 1953. Hierlwimmer pursued his ujndergraduate degree at Wayne State University before he was accepted to Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. During the Vietnam War, he joined the Navy to continue his studies and became a pediatrician at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Maryland. After completing a fellowship in allergies, immunology, and asthma, worked as an active Navy doctor from 1972-1983, and then for nine and a half years in the reserves.
Date Created:: 2016-10-13T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Mitch Amlotte volunteered for the Army in 1968 to escape a bad home life. He was sent to postal school and then to Germany. He volunteered to travel with the children of military men on field trips and spent much of his time seeing different countries. He was released from the military after 3 years would have re-enlisted except that he did not want to go to Vietnam. He encountered an assortment of personal and medical problems after his discharge, which he discusses at some length.
Date Created:: 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Scott Baldwin Scott joined the Army National Guard in Oklahoma in 1986 and took ROTC training at Oklahoma State University. After a number of years on inactive reserve, he was activated, worked as a trainer at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was later sent to Afghanistan, where he helped train Afghan forces.
Date Created:: 2011-10-02T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Lyle Edward Booth is a WWII Veteran who served in the United States Army from April 10, 1945 to March 30, 1946 in Yokohama, Japan. Although he was stationed in Japan after the end of the war, Booth's experience gives a clear description of the immense poverty and destruction present in Japan by 1945. In November 1945, Booth saw first-hand the aftermath of Hiroshima, which he describes in this interview. Booth shares how older Japanese men had resorted to standing at the end of the soldier's chow lines, quietly begging for scrapes. This interview captures not only the daily struggles facing the American soldiers serving in Japan but also that of the Japanese civilians. Photographs appended to interview outline.
Date Created:: 2007-05-31T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Spud Ensing was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan late in 1926. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and trained as an aircraft mechanic, but the war ended before he got in it. After contracting malaria while on assignment in Florida, he was given a medical discharge, but soon reenlisted and trained on jet aircraft, and eventually served in Korea after the end of the fighting there. In 1957, he transferred to the Air Force, and did a tour in the Philippines in 1965-66, where he serviced C-130 transport aircraft and made regular trips to Vietnam, and retired in 1968 rather than return to Vietnam.
Date Created:: 2012-08-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Harold Christian served as a Quartermaster in the U.S. Army from approx 1954-1957 after the Korean Conflict. While in the service, Harold spent two years stationed in Alaska and one year stationed in Texas. After exiting the service he pursued a care as an airline pilot.
Date Created:: 2011-11-19T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)