Veterans History Project
1714 items
- Notes:
- Raymond Lantz was born on September 26, 1922 in Washington, Illinois. He was drafted in Grand Rapids, Michigan in November 1942 and went to Camp Grant, Illinois for processing. He was sent to Camp Beale, California for basic training, and then became a cook in B Company, 83rd Medical Battalion, 13th Armored Division. He was stationed at Camp Beale for a year, and then went to Camp Bowie, Texas where he was reassigned to the 54th Evacuation Hospital. He stayed in Texas until late 1944 when the unit was sent up to Seattle to be deployed into the Pacific Theatre. They sailed to Hawaii and he was stationed at Schofield Barracks until late summer 1945. They sailed up to Japan and arrived on September 4, 1945 two days after the formal surrender of the Japanese. He was part of the occupation force in Japan for a few months working as a cook. He returned to the United States in early 1946 and got discharged at Camp Grant, Illinois in February 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2015-06-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold Schaffer was born on February 3, 1925 in Flint, Michigan. After graduating from high school in June 1943 he received his draft notice on July 23, 1943 and reported for active duty on August 12, 1943. He was processed at Fort Custer, Michigan and got assigned to the Army Air Force. He was sent to Amarillo Army Air Field, Texas for basic training and got selected for ordnance training. He trained in Augusta, Georgia and was assigned to an ordnance-maintenance company, then trained in Jackson, Mississippi and Aberdeen, Maryland. He deployed out of San Francisco, California on August 1944 and arrived at Biak in September 1944. His ordnance-maintenance company serviced the ground vehicles used by the Army Air Force and endured mosquitos, intense heat, and bombings from the Japanese. After about a year they moved up to the Philippines and got stationed at Clark Field. Near the end of the war they were sent to Nichols Field near Manila and stayed there through the end of the war. In February 1946 he returned to the United States and was discharged at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
- Date Created:
- 2015-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Chaffee was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1939 and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. He attended Middlebury College and completed the Army ROTC program there, graduating in 1960 and taking his commission. He trained as a supply officer at Fort Lee, Virginia, and went to South Korea in 1961. He served first in a headquarters unit as a quartermaster, and then went to the 1st Cavalry Division along the DMZ. He served the rest of his enlistment at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. He left the service in 1965 rather than re-enlist in part because he did not want to go to Vietnam, but while in graduate school in 1966, he volunteered for a State Department program that sent volunteers to Vietnam as aid workers, and spent several months in Song Be Province.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-07T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Handwritten V-Mail letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated July 15, 1944. The envelope is sent from Det. of Patients, 4187 U.S. Hospital Plant, A.P.O.-152, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated circa July 1944. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to Agnes on a lovely day as he recovers in the hospital, sharing the news that he has nearly recovered after three weeks in the hospital and can now walk with only a slight limp. He also mentions how much he misses her and her letters while being there.
- Date Created:
- 1944-07-15T00:00:00Z
- 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 August 18, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. "K," Det. of Patients, 4167 U.S. Hospital Plant, A.P.O.-514-A, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated August 20, 1944. In the letter, Joe surprises himself by writing eight pages to Agnes, covering various topics such as their wedding plans, his impressions of the photographs she sent to him and how she has changed since he's been stationed overseas.
- Date Created:
- 1944-08-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Aldrich was born in 1925 in Hastings, Michigan, and enlisted in the US Navy after Pearl Harbor at the age of 17. He trained for 5 weeks at Great Lakes, and then went to gunnery school in Little Creek, Virginia to train as an Armed Guard for merchant ships. On his first voyage, he was on the Murmansk run with convoy PQ 18. He shot down a German bomber, but his ship was sunk by a torpedo, and he was rescued by a British destroyer. He then spent time on a US Marine base in Scotland, Oran, Algeria, on an oil tanker In the Caribbean and Atlantic, a tugboat in the Caribbean, and finally on a cargo ship in the Pacific after the end of the war, visiting Okinawa and Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2011-09-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Drew was born on March 16th, 1930 in Decatur, Indiana. Robert was the first and only member of his family to enter the military. He joined the National Guard while going to school and then chose to join the Air Force before the United States had a chance to draft him to a branch of service he would have not preferred. Robert was part of the Tactical Air Force unit and did air traffic control. He never left the United States due to the timing of the war. Robert was discharged after three years because the Korean War came to an end.
- Date Created:
- 2013-04-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Marv Kuzawa enlisted in the Navy in 1942 at the age of 21. For basic training he was sent to Camp Perry, Virginia. Eventually he was placed in the Seabees and sent to Kodiak Island and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to construct infrastructure for the War. After being transferred to the 14th Construction Battalion, Marv was sent to Honolulu Hawaii to build Quonset huts where the effects from the Pearl Harbor attack were still evident. In May of 1945 Marv arrived in Okinawa Japan to construct infrastructure for the ongoing invasion, and he was present in Okinawa during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In November 1945 he left Japan on the USS Topeka and coincidently met up with his brother as they were both discharged at Great Lakes military base in Illinois.
- Date Created:
- 2015-08-11T00:00:00Z
- 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 March 13, 1945. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated March 14, 1945. In the letter, Agnes expresses her relief over Joe's new assignment away from the front lines and hopes he will receive a furlough to return home once again.
- Date Created:
- 1945-03-13T00:00:00Z
- 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 February 14, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated February 17, 1944. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes a special Valentine's Day letter to Agnes asking her to be his "Darling Valentine" and imagining their future homecoming together.
- Date Created:
- 1944-02-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten V-Mail letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated July 10, 1944. The envelope is sent from Det. of Patients, 4187 U.S. Hospital Plant, A.P.O.-152, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated July 19, 1944. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to Agnes with updates from the hospital including his ability to walk without crutches and how he awaits receiving her letters once again.
- Date Created:
- 1944-07-10T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Oliver Butler was an aerial photographer for the Marines during World War II and was based on Midway Island. He spent 13 months here taking pictures of terrain and enemy defenses. He remained in the reserves during the Korean War where he was a Training Sergeant. Photographs appended to interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2004-05-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edson Carpenter is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army with the 767th Tank Battalion 19th Inf. Division from 1941 to 1945. In this account, Carpenter discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S and the Pacific, and his combat experiences across the Pacific. Carpenter also mentions aspects of the war not generally talked about such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the fighting on Leyte, and other island assaults he took part in. Carpenter concludes by discussing his life after the war and what he learned from his military experiences.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George B. Gane is a WW II veteran who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps with the 92nd Bomber Wing from 1944 to 1945. In this account he discusses his pre-enlistment years, enlistment and training in the U.S., and bombing missions in Europe.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Carol Gilbert is the wife of U.S. Army/Vietnam War veteran Freddie Gilbert. She was born in 1950 in Nuremberg, Germany to a military family and would move back to the U.S. in her childhood. She met Freddie when they were in high school and were married after they graduated. Through his deployment to Vietnam and his military career afterwards she remained supportive and stood by him through the emotional conflicts that persisted due to the war.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Darrell Thornley was raised in Duvant, OK and was drafted into the army soon after hearing about Pearl Harbor. His extensive military career in World War II and the Korean War and beyond took him to France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Darrell held a variety of positions throughout his career, such as squad leader, scout, and Cadre leader. During his military career, he received the Combat Infantryman Badge and a Bronze Star Medal.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kolleen Crane is the widow of WW II veteran Richard Crane. In the interview she tells of being a telephone operator when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She met her husband at Midland (TX) Air Force base, where he served as a B-24 crew chief, responsible for maintaining the air craft. He was sent to school at Washtenaw College as part of the Officer Training program. After leaving Washtenaw they went to Massachusetts, then to South Carolina where they spent the rest of his enlistment.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Durham, born in Connecticut in 1975, served in the U.S army from approx 2005-2010 In the War in Iraq and during the insurgency in 2007. Robert graduated from college with a teaching degree and taught the 4th grade prior to enlisting in the military in 2006. He then attended basic at fort Benning Georgia before being assigned to the 2nd ID first of the 23rd Charlie Company in Fort Lewis Washington. In many of 2006, Robert was sent to Iraq. Here he cleared and secured blacks of urban area. in 2008 Robert returned from Iraq and became an Army Recruiter in California.
- Date Created:
- 2012-08-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Harrison served in the US Navy from 1950 to June of 1954. During his time in the Navy, he served on the Light Cruiser, the USS Worcester, in the North Atlantic. He was a machinist on the ship, and distilled sea water for use aboard the ship.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Justin Marshall was born in in New Jersey and later moved to Michigan with his family where he finished high school. Marshall decided to enlist in the United States Army in during his last semester of college at Kettering University. In 2004, he was sent to basic training, after which he took a number of extra courses including Officer Candidate School, Airborne School, a mechanized vehicle course, and Ranger School. In March of 2006, Marshall joined the First Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, as a platoon leader, and later became a captain and company commander. On the first of his two deployments, he was sent to Ramadi, Iraq, which was a "Hot Spot" for Al-Qaeda recruitment. His second deployment was to the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraq, where Marshall and his comrades helped rebuild the struggling community and eliminate extortion by the Mahdi Army.
- Date Created:
- 2010-11-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bernice Tipton was born in Utah in 1924, and enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. She trained in Des Moines, Iowa, and served on army air bases in Mississippi and Colorado, working primarily in personnel classification, assigning servicemen on the base to specific duties.
- Date Created:
- 2010-11-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Phillip Stebbins Jr. is a United States Marine Corps veteran living in Michigan who served during peacetime as a demolitions expert and recruiter as well as during an evacuation of American diplomats from Albania in 1998 after a terror threat, and during unrest in Albania. He was involved with the Marines at a young age through the Young Marines and is still heavily involved with the Marines community today through involvement in the Marine Corps League.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bill Alverson was born in 1929 in Olympia, Washington and grew up there. He completed ROTC training in college and was commissioned in the Army in 1951. He went to Japan in January, 1952 and trained for service in Korea. He served as a platoon leader in E Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in Korea during the last year of the war. He left Korea on May 1, 1953 and began a career in the Army serving at Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Benning, Georgia, and completing paratrooper training, being a trainer for the ROTC at Washington State University, and completing Army Ranger School in the fall of 1960. He served in Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile crises and studied at the Command General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1965 he volunteered to go to Vietnam and was sent over in January 1966 to be an Army Ranger advisor for the South Vietnamese Rangers in Pleiku, South Vietnam. He helped carry out raids against the Viet Cong during his time there. After his deployment to Vietnam he returned to the United States and served at the Command General Staff College and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina helping train Special Forces. In 1972 he was redeployed to Vietnam and arrived there in August 1972. He was assigned to the Army Airbase near Can Tho in the Mekong Delta commanding the Air Cavalry Squadron and South Vietnamese Division there. The second tour ended in March 1973. He returned to the U.S. and served as an ROTC instructor at Idaho State University until his retirement in 1978 retiring with the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2014-10-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten V-Mail letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated January 19, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated January 29, 1944. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes an additional message to Agnes that day as he awaits the receipt of her photographs and misses her as much as ever.
- Date Created:
- 1944-01-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edward de Blécourt was born in Arizona in 1981 and later moved to Michigan. He joined the Army Reserve in 2000 and was called to active duty after 9/11. He was sent to Kuwait in March of 2003 and served as a machine gunner on trucks that delivered fuel to bases all over Iraq, but primarily on the Kuwait-Baghdad highway.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William McViker served his country during the Cold War. He was in the Air Force serving as security of nuclear weapons. During his service, the United States bombed Libya. He states that most of his time in the military was peaceful and that the service matured him as a person. He also states that he felt that the United States should have a compulsory military.
- Date Created:
- 2006-04-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Vandermolen enlisted into the Marine Corps in 1974 when he was 18 years old. He spent several weeks training before he was sent to Yokohama, Japan. From Japan, he traveled to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Korea. In Vietnam and Cambodia, he assisted with the evacuations of civilians when their governments fell.
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dick Bailey was born in Pennsylvania and enlisted in the army at the age of nineteen during World War II. He spent the majority of his time deployed in the Pacific, working as an aircraft mechanic in the 13th Air Force. He went home to Pennsylvania after the war, and became involved in stock car racing, and was one of the first NASCAR drivers.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bruce Brady was born in 1949 in Welch, West Virginia. His family was forced to relocate to North Carolina where he eventually graduated from high school in 1967. He was drafted on October 6, 1969 and was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and to Fort McClellan, Alabama for training as an infantryman. Sent to Vietnam after training, he was assigned to A Company, 2/506 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. On joining his unit, he became a radio operator for his squad, and later for his platoon. His unit participated in the campaign around Firebase Ripcord for several months. He was wounded in an ambush in July, 1970, and sent to Japan for treatment, and served out the last part of his enlistment at Fort Carson, Colorado.
- Date Created:
- 2012-10-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Craig Brodie was born in Plattsburgh, New York in 1941 and grew up Newtown, Connecticut. He attended the University of Vermont and Army ROTC there and received his commission in 1963 He served in Germany with the 4th Medium Tank Battalion of the 68th Armored Regiment as well as the 3rd Squadron of the 8th Cavalry participating in training maneuvers and border patrol of the East/West German border. He then served at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and deployed to Vietnam in 1968. He commanded the 590th Maintenance Company at Bearcat, a base outside of Saigon. After Vietnam he served in different positions in the US and Korea, and retired at the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2014-03-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Cooley served in the US Army between 1943 and 1946. He initially trained as an engineer, and then went into the ASTP engineer training program, and then was switched to the infantry when the program was shut down. He served as a mortarman with the 44th Infantry Division in France, Germany and Austria in late 1944 and 1945 and recounts several battles with German armor, infantry and artillery in the later stages of the war. Eileen relates her experiences on the home front during the same period.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
- 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.)
- Notes:
- Frank Tichvon was born in Barry County, Michigan, and served in World War II. Drafted in 1941, Tichvon served in the U.S. Army. He worked in Canada building the Alcan Highway and trails. He was later sent to England and then to the European continent, where he worked for a construction battalion whose job was to clear mines and construct bridges. He served in the Battle of the Bulge. He was discharged in October, 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-07T00:00:00Z
- 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 28, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated December 30, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes while in a hospital in France, awaiting his operation and reassuring her for the reason behind his recent lack of communication. He also writes asking Agnes if she had an enjoyable Christmas and wondering what Santa brought her this year.
- Date Created:
- 1944-12-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Tom Pack was born on December 12, 1949 in Kansas City, Kansas. He was drafted in June, 1969 and completed his training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. When he arrived in Vietnam, Tom was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. His battery (battery B) was positioned on Firebase O'Reilly, Firebase Jack, and was one of the first batteries on Firebase Ripcord in April, 1970. In July, 1970, Tom was transferred out of the 101st due to major hearing loss and he spent the remainder of his tour driving trucks and guarding the headquarters of the 1st Cavalry Division.
- Date Created:
- 2015-10-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Darin Jousma enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1997 after graduating from high school. He served in Bosnia in 1998 as part of a peacekeeping force helping with the confiscation of weapons and stopping Serbian forces from moving weaponry and ordnance around the country. He was stationed in Kuwait in 2004. He spent a few years at Fort Riley, Kansas with the 2nd Battalion, 78th Armored Regimant and worked as a commander's driver. As of the time of the interview he is in the Michigan National Guard with the rank of 2nd lieutenant and expects to be promoted to 1st lieutenant.
- Date Created:
- 2015-02-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Erickson is a Korean War veteran who served with the U.S. Army from November 1949 to 1953. Erickson discusses his training and service in Washington and Alaska before he was sent to Korea. He joined the 2nd Division on its advance from Pusan to the Yalu River, and was taken prisoner during a counterattack by the Chinese Red Army, and spent the remainder of the war different Chinese POW camps, and provides detailed descriptions of his experiences as a POW.
- Date Created:
- 2009-04-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Garcia was born in 1948 and served in the Army during the Vietnam War. Fred was drafted into the Army in 1968, and was trained as an infantryman. He spent his time on active duty as a desk clerk, training troops, and in the Demilitarized Zones in both Korea and Vietnam. After his time in the service, he worked as a teacher.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ben Harrison was born in Truman, Arkansas in 1926. After first attending Arkansas State College then the University of Mississippi, Harrison enlisted in the Army because he needed the money from the G.I. Bill to help finish his school. After finishing his first enlistment, Harrison returned to school, where he enrolled in the ROTC before eventually graduating. Once he graduated from college, Harrison re-enlisted into the Army as an officer and held a variety of positions, including as an aide-de-camp to a general in a variety of locations, including Iceland and Germany. Eventually, Harrison deployed to Vietnam to take command of the 10th Aviation Battalion. Once his first tour in Vietnam ended, Harrison went to Washington D.C. and worked in the office of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Eventually, Harrison returned to Vietnam as commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. While Harrison was commander, part of the 3rd Brigade fought in one of the last major battles involving American forces in Vietnam, the battle for Firebase Ripcord. After his tour as the brigade commander ended, Harrison served as deputy commandant and commandant for several military colleges and bases throughout the U.S. before retiring.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Born in Sturgis, Michigan in 1942, Gabe Hudson joined the U.S. Army in 1967 following several years of college. After completing training as a photo interpreter, Hudson deployed to Vietnam served with 101st Airborne Division for fifteen months. After returning to the United States, Hudson continued in the military, training with the OV-1 reconnaissance aircraft. Once he completed that training, Hudson redeployed to Vietnam for another fifteen months and was on the last flight of American troops out of Da Nang. Following Vietnam, Hudson served at a variety of different posts, including in Korea and several throughout the United States before finally retiring after twenty-seven years of service.
- Date Created:
- 2010-02-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gordon Lantz was born in Leslie, Michigan, in 1930. Gordon enlisted in the Michigan National Guard as a teenager, and was later called up to serve in the Army in Korea. He talks about being in Korea as a very young sergeant, and about being captured and held prisoner by the Chinese for eighteen days before being released.
- Date Created:
- 2011-09-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Heather Majestic, born in 1971 in Pennsylvania, served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 1997. She went through the Naval ROTC program at Notre Dame University, and received her commission after graduation. She then took training in Naval Supply, and served for a year with a cryptology unit based in the Aleutian Islands. While she was there, the rules were changed to allow women to serve on combat vessels, and she was assigned to the aircraft carrier Eisenhower, and sailed with the ship on cruises in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and spent three months on detached duty in Haiti on a humanitarian mission. She was then transferred to shore duty where she served as the supply officer for Seal Team 2.
- Date Created:
- 2012-05-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Philip Rasey, born in California in 1959, grew up in Colorado and served in the U.S Navy from 1977-1997. He trained to work on submarines, and did tours on the USS George Bancroft and on the USS Georgia. He also served as an instructor in Bangor, Washington.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Thomas joined the Army after he graduated from high school, intending to fly airplanes in World War II. Initially, the Army sent him to Engineering school, but after a two week break, he switched into the Air Cadet school. The program ended in 1944, and he was assigned to a turret gun in a B-17 and shipped overseas to Scotland to fly bombing missions into Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kurt Stauff was born in November 1954 in Jackson, Michigan. In December 1982 he enlisted in the Navy. He started basic training on June 20, 1983 at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, and received Basic Enlisted Submarine Training at Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut. He attended the Submarine Sonar Technician Apprenticeship School in San Diego, California and received further training at "C School." After two years of training he boarded the submarine, USS Pargo (SSN-650) in December 1984. He went on intelligence gathering missions, torpedo exercises, and got to sail north of the Arctic Circle. For a short time he served aboard fast-attack submarines and ballistic submarines out of Pearl Harbor. In 1994 he transferred to mine warfare and from 1995 to 1997 he trained in Charleston, South Carolina. From 1997 to 2000 he served aboard the USS Patriot (MCM-7) at Sasebo, Japan, then returned to the United States to serve as an instructor. During the War in Iraq he spent a year in Bahrain overseeing mine sweeping missions in the area. In 2007 he reached his highest rank, Master Chief Petty Officer (E9), and spent the next five years as the mine warfare master chief to an admiral. He retired from the Navy in 2012.
- Date Created:
- 2016-05-11T00:00:00Z
- 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 October 9, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated October 12, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes from Sicily and inquires about her move to Grand Rapids, Michigan and her hopes to work in a defense plant while getting acquainted with her new hometown.
- Date Created:
- 1943-10-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Austhof, born on September 15, 1948, enlisted in the US Army in 1967 during the Vietnam War with a friend under the Army's buddy system. He spent a year and a half in Germany as a repair parts specialist in a supply company. He did not see combat, but saw rioting in Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Beachum served in the United States Navy during the World War II era. Growing up in Michigan, he graduated from high school in 1945 and joined the Navy right away to avoid being drafted into the Army. Because of a scarlet fever outbreak at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, he was sent to New York for basic training, and remained on Long Island doing clerical work for fourteen months before he was discharged. He did not go overseas or see combat, and was perfectly happy not to be shot at.
- Date Created:
- 2006-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Patrick Lee Duncan served in Vietnam in Duc Pho, working with aircraft armament. He was drafted because he had waited a year to attend college. After being discharged he went to college and became a respiratory therapist.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Larry Groothuis was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1943. He was drafted into the Army late in 1966. During basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he was selected to go to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for training as a teletype operator, and from there was sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he served until late in 1967, when his communications company received orders for Vietnam. The unit went by ship, arriving in Vietnam in January, just before the Tet Offensive. His unit initially coordinated communications between the 1st Cavalry Division and other units while based at An Khe, but soon moved north to Phu Bai, and Groothuis was promoted and put in charge of the communications net for all of I Corps. He remained at Phu Bai for the rest of his tour, but made regular trips to other bases by helicopter with his company commander, and also periodically traveled with road convoys simply to get off the base. The base itself was relatively secure, but subject to regular mortar and rocket attacks, one of which killed one of his friends, and periodic sapper attacks.
- Date Created:
- 2011-06-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Steve Manthei was born Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1949 and was drafted into the Army in 1969. After training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was sent to Vietnam. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and served most of his tour as a machine gunner in C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment. His unit operated in the area around Camp Evans, in the A Shau Valley, and finally on and around Firebase Ripcord in the spring and summer of 1970. On July 2, he was wounded when his company's position was overrun, but he returned to field a few weeks later at the end of the Ripcord campaign, after which there was much less activity. After his tour in Vietnam, he served out the last part of his enlistment at Fort Carson, Colorado.
- Date Created:
- 2012-10-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Myers was born in Chicago in 1928. He enlisted in the Merchant Marines at the age of 16 and trained as a radio operator on Hoffman Island in New York Harbor. He sailed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean during the last months of the war and for several years afterward as the US was providing aid to and helping to rebuild countries affected by the war.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Helen "Gig" Smith was born on January 5, 1922 in Richmond, Virginia. She began playing softball at the age of 13. She joined the Women's Army Corps after Pearl Harbor and later was attached on special assignment to the Pentagon to decrypt Japanese codes. In 1947, she joined the AAGPBL's Kenosha Comets and then in 1948 played for the Grand Rapids Chicks. During her time in the league she played the infield. In 1948, she left the league to pursue teaching art in Virginia.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Erwin Veneklase served in the 2nd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division between 1939 and 1945. He enlisted in the National Guard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and trained with his unit in Louisiana before beign shipped first to the East Coast and then back across country to Australia and New Guinea, where they were the first American troops to reinforce the Australians. His battalion crossed the Owen Stanley mountains on foot without adequate supplies or ligistical support, and then fought at Buna from Novl 1942 to Jan. 1943. He became seriously ill at the end of that campaign and was eventually shipped back to the U.S. His account is one of the interviews featured in the documentary Nightmare in New Guinea produced by Grand Valley State University.
- Date Created:
- 2005-11-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Guild was born on October 2, 1925 in Gratiot County, Michigan. He enlisted in the Army in July 1943 and reported for duty at Fort Custer, Michigan on August 1943. He received basic training and infantry training at Camp Wolters, Texas until December 1943. He volunteered for Airborne Training and received that training and demolition training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was deployed to the European Theatre in May 1944 and arrived in England prior to D-Day. He was assigned to a demolition platoon of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He trained in England with the 506th through the summer of 1944. He participated in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945 they moved through Germany and captured Berchtesgaden and were in Zell am See, Austria from May 1945 to August 1945. He stayed in Joigny, France until December 1945 then returned to the U.S. from Antwerp, Belgium. He was discharged in January 1946 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He briefly served with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina from April 1946 to October 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2015-07-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dick Unger was born in Polo, Illinois in 1931. In 1951, he enlisted in the Air Force. Initially he was sent to Lackland Field in San Antonio, Texas, but the base was overcrowded, so he was sent off to Wichita Falls for basic training. Once training was complete he was assigned to Brookley Air Force base in Mobile Alabama where his clerk duties assisted the various personnel filing work. Eventually he was re-assigned in the summer of 1954 to Kelly field in Texas where he lived with his wife off base until her tragic death. Once his enlistment expired in October 1955 he graduated from CMU as a biology major and wound up teaching in Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2015-09-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kevin Bettinghouse, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1960, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1978 to 1982 as a Ground Navigational Aid. After his basic training at Lackland Air Force base in Texas, Kevin spent eight months receiving technical training in Mississippi. During his Service, Kevin was stationed in Warner Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, the Aleutian Islands, and Ohio.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Ryan was born in New York City and attended Notre Dame University on a naval ROTC scholarship. Upon graduating in 1975, he went on active duty for four years, serving on destroyers in the Pacific. After leaving the Navy, he joined the reserves in 1981, and did administrative work for them until he retired in 2005. Since then, he has been actively involved with the Employers Support for the Guard and Reserves, an organization dedicated to assisting men and women in the service deal with issues that they encountered when called to active duty.
- Date Created:
- 2011-01-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wesley Pontier was born on October 4, 1921 in Clifton, New Jersey and served in the United States Navy during World War II. He joined the navy in 1942 and trained in Bainbridge Maryland. He had several jobs while in the Navy and his most accomplished position was that of a signalman. Wesley traveled to many different parts of the world including Canada, Wales, Cuba, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela. During his interview, he recalls seeing men and ships preparing for the invasion of Normandy. After being discharged in December of 1945, Wesley returned to work for Manhattan rubber where he had worked before joining the navy. During his time in the navy, Wesley traveled over 80,000 miles at sea.
- Date Created:
- 2015-08-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jacob Mol was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on December 15, 1986. In May 2006 he decided to enlist in the Marines and was sworn in on September 11, 2006. He began basic training in San Diego in February 2007 then received Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton, California. He was designated as a fixed-wing aircraft mechanic and trained on aircraft engines in Pensacola, Florida. He graduated second in his class and volunteered to work on EA-6B Prowlers. He received training with those aircraft at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington then joined Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 3 (VMAQ-3) at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. He deployed to Iraq in August 2009 and was stationed at Al Asad Air Base until February 2010 then deployed to Afghanistan in fall or winter 2010 and was stationed at Bagram Air Base until May 2011. He completed his enlistment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and was discharged in February 2012.
- Date Created:
- 2015-06-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Rasmussen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 24, 1942. He attended Concordia Theological Seminary, enlisted in the Army on February 24, 1968, and graduated from seminary in June 1968. His first assignment was with an Army Reserve engineer battalion in Wallace, Idaho. On July 1, 1973, he volunteered for active duty. He spent a year at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, then deployed to Thailand in February 1974. In Thailand, he provided spiritual coverage for the Central Identification Laboratory which worked on identifying the remains and bodies of soldiers lost during the Vietnam War. From Thailand, he went to Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington, and after that returned to the civilian ministry for four years. He returned to service at the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis, Missouri then served at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for about five years. He was deployed to Middle East during the Gulf War, where he checked on the morale of troops and guards at prisoner-of-war camps. He retired on September 1, 1995, with the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2016-10-28T00:00:00Z
- 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 May 4, 1945. The envelope is sent from 6916 Reinf. Co. (Prov.), 6903 Reinf. Bn. (Prov.), A.P.O.-551, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated May 6, 1945. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes after receiving her first letter in nearly three weeks in addition to old letters from the time he spent wounded in the hospital. He also writes further on President Roosevelt's death and his experience overseas during that time, while also sharing his thoughts on Germany and concentration camps during the war.
- Date Created:
- 1945-05-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Betty Bovee was born in Lansing, Michigan on April 29, 1923 and later moved to a small town where she grew up on a farm. She graduated from high school in 1941 and moved in with her aunt in Los Angeles, California. Betty spent the majority of her time working while in California, until she met her husband Chet. She quit her job once they were engaged and they got married in Phoenix, Arizona. Betty followed Chet around on different bases that he was stationed at for the remainder of his time in the service. They had three children while he was in the service and they moved back to Michigan once he was discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold was born in Ava, Missouri on June 26, 1949. He worked for General Motors in Kansas City before being drafted into the United States Army in 1969. After basic training, Harold was made a crewman on armored vehicles such as M114 APC's and M48 and M60 tanks. He was sent to Vietnam and assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division. Harold served as a tank driver before volunteering to go to sniper school. He graduated fifth in his class and was later reassigned with the 101st Airborne. Harold spent thirty days on Firebase Ripcord.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Derk Doonbos was born in the Netherlands in 1920 and immigrated to the United States when he was very young. He served in the Army during World War II. He was trained as an Infantryman. He served in North Africa, where he caught malaria. He also served in Italy, fighting in Anzio and taking Rome. He was then sent to Southern France, where he landed at Saint Tropez. He also fought in northern France and into Germany and was part of the group that liberated Dachau.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Milton was born in Wyoming, Michigan and worked at General Motors until he was drafted. Albert was from Caledonia, Michigan and he worked on a farm. Andrew grew up in Kellogsville and he too was a farm hand for many years. Like Milton and Albert, he was drafted on April 16, 1941. All three men served with the 32nd Division and were sent to New Guinea and participated in the Buna campaign.
- Date Created:
- 2004-10-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rita Glanz was one of the 10,000 Jewish children saved before WWII started as a result of the Kinder Transport. Her father, a successful businessman, was driven out of Austria and into Switzerland by the Nazis. Mrs. Glanz was taken in by a couple from Coventry, in Great Britain, and remained with them for the duration of the war. Afterwards, her father wrote letters to Winston Churchill and George VI, and managed to get his daughter out of there. She spent three years with relatives in Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up in New York, graduated from high schoo, and spent two years in college before getting married. Her husband had escaped from Germany to Ireland, eventually coming to the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Duane Ritsema was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and enlisted in the Marine Corps on March 3, 1964 because he had wanted to avoid being drafted into the Army. Duane went through basic training for 3 months and then spent 1 month in advanced infantry training. He was then shipped to Vietnam and worked near China Beach for about 8 months. Duane was later discharged and sent back to Michigan where he found that the country did not appear to be fighting a war at all.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- 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.)
- Notes:
- Garry Underwood was born in Jackson, Michigan in March 1946. He started college after high school, but did not do well enough to keep his deferment, and was drafted in 1967. He trained as a mortarman, but when he arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1967, he was assigned as a rifleman to the 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku. He participated in numerous patrols and larger operations in late 1967 and early 1968, including a number of fights around Dak To. His platoon took heavy losses, especially immediately before and during the Tet Offensive of 1968 and during the "mini-Tet" in May. Toward the end of his deployment, he was put in charge of perimeter guards at his brigade's base camp.
- Date Created:
- 2013-01-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Allan Ostar was born on September 4, 1924, in East Orange, New Jersey. He went to Pennsylvania State University in fall 1942 and joined the Reserve Officer's Training Corps, then joined the Enlisted Reserve Corps. He volunteered for active duty and was inducted at Fort Meade, Maryland. He received Basic Training, Radio Training, and Signal Corps Training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, then was selected for the Army Specialized Training Program. He received Engineering Training at the University of Denver and Regis College until the ASTP was disbanded. Allan then received orders to go to Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, to join the 42nd Infantry Division. He was initially assigned to K Company of the 242nd Infantry Regiment, then transferred to Headquarters Company, before winding up in the Cannon Company. In November 1944 the 42nd went to New York City for deployment to Europe. They arrived at Marseille, France, in late November/early December 1944 then traveled north to help the French defend Strasbourg and the Alsace-Lorraine. During "Operation Nordwind" he received a Bronze Star for staying behind to direct artillery fire and another Bronze Star in Hagenau. In March 1945 he crossed the Rhine River into Germany, and took part in the liberation of Dachau on April 29, 1945. At the end of the war he entered Austria, and served in Austria as part of the occupying force. He left Europe in late 1945 (or early 1946) and was discharged at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
- Date Created:
- 2016-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kenneth Pitetti, was born in1946 in San Francisco, California, where he was raised. He enlisted in the ROTC program at the University of San Francisco. He signed up for infantry in the Army. He received Infantry Officer Basic Training at Fort Benning. In the fall of 1969, he was assigned to the 24th Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, which, within his last two weeks of the assignment, became the 1st Division. He then participated in jungle training in Panama before being sent to Vietnam in August of 1970. He was assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He spent most of his time in the field leading platoon-size patrols in the mountains and jungles in the northern part of South Vietnam. Four months into his service in Vietnam, Ken Pitetti stepped on a land mine and lost his leg just under his knee in a traumatic amputation. He was medically evacuated to a field hospital, where they performed surgery. He was sent back to the United States to recover. After his return to the United States, he faced the negative treatment and negative stigmatization that many veterans of Vietnam felt. Still, he worked to get his PhD and now is a professor at Wichita State.
- Date Created:
- 2017-07-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Tom Jillson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1947 and grew up in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He joined the Air Force upon graduating high school and was initially trained as an electrical specialist, but was then transferred to accounting. He was stationed at Webb AFB in Texas for two years of his service and was then shipped to Vietnam for the remainder of his enlistment period. His job in Vietnam was a clerk, trading American money for Military bills. He remained in Da Nang for the greater part of his time in Vietnam.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edward Johnson was born in Greenville, Michigan in 1919, and was drafted into the Army in 1941. After training to be a mechanic at Camp Boyd, Texas, Johnson joined Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He went to England with this unit in 1942, and stayed with it through campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, the Hurtgen Forest, Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Germany, ending up in Czechoslovakia when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2012-02-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Douglas Martyn served in the US Army from 1944 to 1946. He initially trained as a medic in Chicago and worked in a dispensary and administered inoculations to new recruits. He eventually transferred to the Army Air Corps and was based first in Louisiana and then in Alaska at a base near Nome that Generals Eisenhower and LeMay visited because of the good fishing there.
- Date Created:
- 2007-12-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Howard Plattner was born in Sabetha Kansas in 1950 and served in the U.S. army during the Vietnam conflict. He was drafted into the Army in 1969 and sent to Fort Sam Houston to train as a medic. He was sent to Vietnam in 1970 and returned to the U.S. in 1971. During this time he served as an operating room technician in an Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bertam Zheutlin served in the medical corps during WW II. Still in medical school when the war broke out, Zheutlin recounts what it was like to be a civilian waiting to go to war, as well as his experiences as a doctor during the war and the training he underwent. Zheutlin also talks about the psychological after effects of war and of a relative who had escaped a concentration camp in Poland and become a guerilla.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Roy Davis was born in Hartford, Michigan in 1924. He grew up in Hartford and after graduating from high school in 1942 enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. He reported for duty on June 1, 1943 and began training at Sheppard Field, Texas. From there he went to Wittenberg University for College Training then went to San Antonio, Texas for Active Pre-Flight Training. He received flight training in Uvalde, Texas, and after graduating as a pilot and receiving his commission as a 2nd lieutenant he was assigned to Multi-engine Advanced Training. In Reno, Nevada he trained on the C-46 cargo plane. In late summer 1944 he deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater and was stationed at Sookerating Field in the Assam Valley of India, flying supply missions into China over the Himalayas. Three months later, after Christmas 1944, he was transferred to Myitkyina Airfield, Burma where he continued to fly supply missions until the war ended. He contracted a disease (most likely malaria) and stayed in Burma until he was transferred to Calcutta, India in September 1945 for 30 days in a hospital. In October 1945 he returned to the United States and arrived in November. He received 30 days of leave and was discharged in early 1946. Marion Davis grew up in Hartford, Michigan and in September 1943 enrolled as a cadet nurse at St. Jospeh Hospital in South Bend, Indiana. She received hands-on training on how to be a nurse and planned on joining the Navy after she completed her nursing program if the war was still going on. She completed her nursing program at St. Joseph Hospital in September 1946, and married Roy Davis in 1947.
- Date Created:
- 2016-01-04T00:00:00Z
- 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 26, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated March 29, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes from England and shares his appreciation of the natural beauty of spring after his stroll around town, including the bird songs and blossoming trees he witnessed in the countryside.
- Date Created:
- 1944-03-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mark Northrup was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1957. He graduated high school in 1975 and attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota before opting to enlist into the Coast Guard for its Officer Candidate School. Northrup attended the OCS program in Yorktown, Virginia, before being commissioned in March of 1981. For his first assignment, he was sent to Duluth, Minnesota, to serve on an icebreaking buoy tender. Northrup also served tours in Okinawa, Japan, as a commanding officer of a long range navigation station, a pollution officer and Vessel Traffic Systems Watch Officer out of Puget Sound in Washington, and as an executive officer on a buoy tender out of Ketchikan, Alaska, where he bacame captain of his ship. Northrup left the service in 1994 and began a career in manufacturing, predominantly automotive, and electronics manufacturing.
- Date Created:
- 2019-02-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Walter "Red" Graham was born in January of 1917 in Lowell, Michigan, and lived there until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. He spent a year and a half training on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, Washington, and was then sent to Kodiak, Alaska as part of the 14th Coastal Artillery. In 1944, after spending significant time in Alaska, he was sent to Oklahoma for retraining before being shipped to Italy. Walter traveled through the Po River Valley in Italy until they reached Northern Italy when the war was won. Walter was eventually discharged from Camp Carson, Colorado in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2006-11-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. Robert Browne was born in Coldwater, Michigan on November 12, 1924. He grew up in Coldwater and Lansing, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan prior to enlisting in the Aviation Cadet Program of the Army Air Force in November (or December) 1942. He received training in Miami Beach, Florida, Xavier University, Ohio, San Antonio Aviation Center, Texas, and Cimarron Field, Oklahoma. He completed training in early 1944 and was qualified to fly multi-engine planes. He was sent to Hollandia, New Guinea where he joined the 41st Squadron of the 317th Troop Carrier Group. He flew C-47 transport planes and participated in supply drops, airborne missions (particularly the dropping of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment on Corregidor), and napalm bombing missions in the Philippines. He was stationed in Okinawa after the war ended in 1945 and was eventually sent home and placed in the Reserves in March 1946. In 1953 he retired from the Reserves.
- Date Created:
- 2015-06-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bea Foster Spivey was on the homefront during the Second World War and worked in a Ford factory in Michigan during the war. She was married and had a baby during the war, and her husband, William Hubert Foster served in the Army as a staff sergeant and saw action on New Guinea and on the Philippines and was wounded twice on the Philippines
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Agnes Van Der Weide to Joe Olexa, dated December 12, 1944. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated December 13, 1944. In the letter, Agnes tells Joe how much she misses and loves him and dreams of their future children.
- Date Created:
- 1944-12-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten V-Mail letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated November 26, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated December 11, 1943. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes a brief message to Agnes on the day after Thanksgiving hoping she is in good health and that she enjoyed the holiday spent with family.
- Date Created:
- 1943-11-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Groggel served during World War II in Germany and France as a Replacement Officer for the 90th Division in 1944. Shortly after arriving, he and his severely shorthanded platoon were captured by a German outfit when defending from a pillbox. Groggel was then registered as a POW on December 9, 1944 and was sent to a camp in Poland. A few weeks later, as the Russians approached, the prisoners marched across Poland to Germany, under grueling conditions, and then had to march south from Hannover to Munich as other Allied forces approached. His liberation by General Patton's forces came on April 29, 1945 in Münchberg, Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mike Renner was born in Sigourney, Iowa. He enlisted in the Army in 1969 to stay ahead of the draft. After training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was sent for artillery training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Sent to Vietnam in early 1970, he was assigned to Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, a 155mm howitzer unit in the 101st Airborne Division. He served on several different fire bases in the northern part of South Vietnam, including Ripcord, where he served during the siege that took place in July, 1970. His own gun was destroyed by enemy mortar fire during the siege, but he helped out as best he could until the base was abandoned. He remained with his battery for the rest of his tour, and returned home in 1971.
- Date Created:
- 2012-10-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James VandenBosch, born in Ada, Michigan, enlisted in the Navy in 1966 and trained as a medical corpsman. After a cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La in the Mediterranean, he trained for combat duty with the Marines at Camp Lejeune and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. After a short stint with a Civil Action Patrol working in the villages near Da Nang, he became the senior corpsman for a rifle company of the 26th Marines, and participated with them in a series of combat operations. He spent the last part of his tour at a hospital in Da Nang. After his discharge, he eventually decided to go to nursing school and re-enlist in the Navy, this time as a nurse and officer. He did so, and retired from the Navy in 1989.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Vogel served in the U. S. Navy both stateside and during two tours overseas during the Vietnam War. He joined the Navy immediately after high school to avoid being drafted. Vogel recalls his experiences during basic training, his time spent in Vietnam, and the technology used during the war.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)