Veterans History Project
1714 items
- Notes:
- Henry Diedering was a teenager in the Netherlands when the Germans took over in 1940. He describes life in his home town under occupation, and of his efforts to avoid being impressed as a forced laborer by the Germans when he turned 18. He made his way to Rotterdam and got a job on a cargo ship on the Rhine River, and worked on it until the ship was damaged by Allied air attack. After that, he tried to make his way home, staying in damaged and abandoned houses, until he found a German village that had no able-bodied men in it, and where he worked for the villagers until the spring of 1945, when the Canadians took over the area. Seeing few opportunities at home, he enlisted in the Dutch Marine Corps and was sent to Indonesia, where the Dutch were attempting to reassert control, and was sent home after the Dutch agreed to leave.
- Date Created:
- 2010-02-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arlen Dove is a Vietnam and Cold War Era veteran who served with the Military Police Corps in the U.S. Army, in which he served in active service from 1968 to 1971. In this account, Dove discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S. and abroad. He began his active service when he enlisted training to go to Vietnam but ended up serving his first tour in Germany instead. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1971, Dove left the U.S. Army to pursue other career activities. Was soon called back to serve in the National Guard in various places around Michigan and upon his return to the regular U.S. Army which he made his career as an MP he served in Germany, Korea, the Philippines, and various military bases in the U.S. before he was declared medically retired from the military service sometime in the late 1980s. Dove concludes by sharing some of his thoughts about his time in the service and how his time there led him to pursue a career as a chaplain.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wendell Miles was born in Holland, Michigan. He went to Hope College, then to the University of Wyoming to get his masters degree. From there he went to the University of Michigan for law school. He became a lawyer and joined the Army as a private. After getting in trouble for throwing a fire cracker in the officers mess, he went to school to become an Officer. After graduating OCS he went to Camp Hood, Texas where he looked after the German POWs. After leaving this duty station he traveled between Europe and the U.S transferring POWs and inmates who went to jail for not honoring the draft. After the war ended in Europe, he worked as a JAG (Judge Advocate General) dealing first with contraband stolen by US soldiers, and was stationed in Marseille and Strasbourg. Miles went on to become a Federal District Court Judge. Newspaper article, biographical notes, and a 2006 published interview is appended to the interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Colin Williams was born June 9, 1927 and decided to enlist into the Navy due to the expectation that men his age served their country and because his brothers had also served. He was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for boot camp where he learned a good deal of discipline. After boot camp, he was sent west to get aboard the USS Charles Carroll where he then made fourteen voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Colin traveled to Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Eniwetok Island, Ulithi Island, Philippines, Japan, China, Guam, and Manus during his time in the service.
- Date Created:
- 2005-04-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joseph Minias was born in Bockhorn, Germany in 1945 and his family moved to the United States when he was five years old. He grew up in Buffalo, New York and graduated from high school in 1964. He was drafted by the Army for the Vietnam War in 1969. He was ordered to the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Evans in Vietnam. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry, and participated in the Ripcord campaign in 1970.
- Date Created:
- 2014-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edward Benjamin was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in December in either the late 1910s or early 1920s. He grew up in Grand Rapids and in spring 1942 he enlisted in the Army to serve as a dentist. He reported to Chicago on May 2, 1942 and was assigned to Fort Custer, Michigan for basic training. From December 1, 1942 to November 1944 he served at Fort Sheridan, Illinois then Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts then Fort Custer again. In December 1944 he boarded a ship in Virginia and was deployed to the European Theater. He was stationed in Marseille, France for a while then in early 1945 he moved to Caserta, Italy then in early spring 1945 moved to Florence, Italy where he worked in a dental clinic. In mid-April 1945 the Spring 1945 Offensive in Italy began and he advanced into northern Italy. After Germany's surrender in Italy on May 2, 1945 he served in Verona, Italy then after Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945 he moved to Montecatini, Italy and served as the head of the dental clinic of the 94th Evacuation Hospital. In August 1945 he left Italy and returned to the United States, and after visiting his wife and daughter, completed his service at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. He was discharged in December 1945 and returned to Grand Rapids.
- Date Created:
- 2013-11-17T00:00:00Z
- 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 January 30, 1945. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated February 1, 1945. In the letter, Agnes updates Joe on how her family are doing as she awaits another letter from him that winter.
- Date Created:
- 1945-01-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Larsen served in the Navy during WW II as a diesel mechanic for a mine sweeping ship (YMS 231). He served from 1942 to 1945 and reached the rank of Chief Petty Officer 1st class. His training took place in both Michigan and on the east coast, and his time overseas was spent in England and along the coast of France. His interview includes descriptions of his life during training and his time on the open water. The major operation mentioned in the interview took place during D-Day off the Omaha landing site. His re-counting includes details about the mines, enemy fire, types of ships, operational tactics, and the damage sustained by his and other ships. He discusses his down time in the US, England and France.
- Date Created:
- 2007-07-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Barry McAlpine was born in Cass City, Michigan in 1945. After graduating from high school in 1963, McAlpine briefly worked at General Motors before attending Michigan State University. However, his time at Michigan State did not work out and in 1965, McAlpine received his draft notice. After going through the induction center in Detroit, McAlpine went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for his basic training. Once he completed the basic training at Fort Knox, McAlpine's MOS was military intelligence, which required him to go through advanced infantry training, also at Fort Knox. After finishing the advanced training at Fort Knox, McAlpine deployed to Germany, where he received an assignment to a unit stationed of the West German border with Czechoslovakia. McAlpine left Germany in 1966 and after a short leave, deployed to Vietnam. Once in Vietnam, McAlpine's orders sent him to "B" Troop, 1st of the 9th, 1st Air Cavalry Division. While with "B" Troop, McAlpine served as a member of the Blues, a ground scout section of the troop tasked with purposely finding and engaging the enemy. McAlpine spent his entire tour with "B" Troop, eventually becoming a squad leader. When his tour ended, McAlpine returned to the United States and began going back to college.
- Date Created:
- 2012-04-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Peter Ondersma was born in Orlando, Florida and moved to Michigan in 1955 when he was 8 years old. Peter went to school in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated in 1966 and was drafted into the Army shortly after graduation. He began basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky and then moved on to combat engineer training in Missouri. While in Vietnam Peter worked on maintaining the security of bases, sweeping and laying mines, and destroying underground tunnels. He was injured by mortar fire during the Tet Offensive and kept on limited duty for the rest of his service. Peter is now the chairman of the Kent County Soldiers Relief Commission where he works to help veterans with financial problems.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mrs. Rood was being interviewed to talk about her brother Jimmy's time in the Navy during World War II. He served for about a year and a half. He received training at Great Lakes Naval and spent most of his time in the Philippines, where he worked with tugboats in bringing in ships to dock.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Brian Sager, born in Brown City, Michigan, in 1978, served in the Marine Corps Reserve starting in 1996. After training in San Diego and at Camp Pendleton, California, he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to train as a combat engineer, and then went home. He was still in the Reserves in January, 2003, when his unit was activated and sent to Kuwait. His unit participated in the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, and built several bridges over the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers before being sent back to Kuwait and then home again. Since then, he has gone to the Dominican Republic to build bridges for humanitarian work.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Daniele Fernandez was born to Dominican immigrants in 1977 in Brooklyn, New York. In 1997, hee enlisted in the Army and was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for basic training and Fort Sam Houston, Texas for combat medic training. During his first enlistment he was sent to Bamberg, Germany where he joined the 82nd Engineer Battalion and was also deployed to Kosovo during that time to Camp Bondsteel. He reenlisted and was based out of Fort Jackson, South Carolina where he worked on the base, but was also deployed. He was sent to Bosnia, the Sinai Peninsula, and to Afghanistan in March 2002 where he took part in Operation: Anaconda with the 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
- Date Created:
- 2015-02-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Astrauckas served with the Merchant Marines from 1943 to 1948 during World War II and with the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1952 during the Korean War. He discusses his pre-enlistment years, enlistment and training in the U.S. and sea voyages abroad with the Merchant Marines. He describes his experience of the Normandy Invasion and carrying of supplies and cargo to European ports and elsewhere. Astraukas further mentions his involvement in Greece during the Marshall Plan and peacetime service during Korea.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Cornell Beukema graduated from Michigan State University in 1943, went through a series of OCS camps, engineer school, and the Second Army Mine School. He specialized in bridge building, mines and demolition. Sent to Japan after the war ended, he witnessed the destruction wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki as they rebuilt an airfield and built an airport. He remained in active reserve in the army for a number of years after WWII; he was finally discharged in 1953, and he spent the rest of his career with the Michigan state highway department. Military service timeline appended to outline.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Sherman Christensen, born in Covington, Kentucky, in 1988, served in the U.S. Marines and Marine Reserve stating in February 2006 and served 11 months in Iraq in 2007-2008. He joined the Marines out of high school in February of 2006. He trained at San Diego and Camp Pendleton as a mortarman, and was assigned to Bravo Company 1st Battalion, 24th Marines. During his service in Iraq, Sherman mostly patrolled and looked for road side bombs and IEDs.
- Date Created:
- 2012-09-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Earl Freeman was living in Phillips, Maine when he enlisted into the Navy. He was greatly influenced by the military experience of all five of his brothers. After waiting for his ship in San Diego, Earl was sent to Guam for more training. From Guam, he was sent to Vietnam to serve in many capacities on the riverboats. The majority of his time was spent in the Mekong Delta. He saw a good deal of combat, and his unit received multiple citations.
- Date Created:
- 2005-05-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Cappy Rowe served in the U.S. Air Force from 1941 to 1971. He enlisted in the Army prior to the start of the war, and trained initially as an artillerist, but eventually was accepted for pilot training. He served in the Pacific during the latter part of World War II, flying out of Guadalcanal and other islands. After the war, he had assignments in England, South Africa, Austria, Hawaii and the continental US, doing various types of intelligence work, and retired as a full colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2012-08-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joyce Barnes McCoy was born in on a farm south of Hutchinson, Kansas on October 18, 1925. She played softball with her siblings and then played various sports throughout grade and high schools. One day while still in high school she was reading a Hutchinson News article in which read that Phillip Wrigley was looking for girls to try-out for women's softball teams up in Chicago. After one correspondence—Mr. Wrigley paid Barnes' way to the tryout in Chicago. She started and ended her professional career by playing with the Kenosha Comets in 1943. She played as a pitcher while there.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gene Van Zee was born on April 1, 1929 in Pella, Iowa. He graduated from high school in 1947 and went to Calvin College for pre-medical school then went to the University of Iowa for medical school. He enlisted in the Navy Reserves and was stationed at Naval Hospital Pensacola, Florida taking care of personnel and the family members of those personnel. After a year at Pensacola he reenlisted and was assigned to Naval Air Station Atsugi near Yokohama, Japan. He treated American personnel there and their family members then returned to the United States and was discharged in 1958.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-09T00:00:00Z
- 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 August 9, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated August 14, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes from the Mediterranean island of Sicily and describes his job while on detached service with the Navy. He also describes his excitement in receiving fourteen of Agnes' letters and the many surprises written within them including her new job and her parents move to Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 1943-08-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arthur Polmanteer is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army's 78th Division from January, 1944 to 1946. In this account, Polmanteer discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training. His unit saw action in the Hurtgen Forest, in the Battle of the Bulge, at the Remagen Bridge and into Germany, where they participated in the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ralph Hawley Safford entered the United States Army Air Corps shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was educated in mechanics and engine work and used this training to work on aircraft from the Army Air Corps. He repaired fighter aircraft in England, and was working during the D-Day attack.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
- 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 25, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated February 3, 1944. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to notify Agnes of the previous letter he sent discussing his prior engagement and to share his happiness in receiving her photographs.
- Date Created:
- 1944-01-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Frank Bort was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1945 and grew up on his grandfather's farm around Canfield, Ohio. Shortly after graduating from John Carroll University, Bort received a draft notice and attended Basic Training in September 1968 at Fort Knox, Kentucky, advanced infantry at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then NCO-School at Fort Benning, Georgia. In October 1969, Bort was deployed to Camp Evans in Huế Phu Bai, Vietnam where he served in the Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne. He recieved medical treatment on a hospital ship due to worries over hearing damage. Bort's unit participated in the establishment of Firebase Ripcord as well as the attacks on Hill 902 and Hill 1000 before recieving an early-out of the Army to attend graduate school.
- Date Created:
- 2018-11-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Bostwick was born on April 7th, 1933 in Home Acres, Michigan. He was drafted in to the United States Army in 1953, while the Korean conflict was occurring. While in basic training, the conflict ended, and he was shipped to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, where he was a personnel management specialist until his discharge 2 years later.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Nina Daly served in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) from 1943 to February of 1945 during World War II. Though the WAACs were permitted to leave the U.S. after 1943 Nina spent her service in Daytona Beach Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Nina spent her service working as a truck driver and in intelligence gathering.
- Date Created:
- 2012-05-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Marv Honderd was born in Byron Center, Michigan and enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 to avoid being drafted into the army. After starting out in radio school, he switched to pilot training and became a fighter pilot. He flew 70 missions over Korea in F-86 fighters in 1953, before he was sent back the US. Afterwards he continued flying more advanced F-86 jets in Dayton Ohio.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dan Pfeiffer served in the US Army between 1952 and 1954. He served in an infantry unit in Korea during the last months of the Korean War in 1953. He provides detailed descriptions of combat patrols and fighting in the trench lines against the North Koreans and Chinese. Later on, he was assigned to be the chauffeur for a general.
- Date Created:
- 2007-12-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James H. Childress enlisted in the Navy in October 1943. He trained in Spokane, Washington, Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois (for Quartermaster School), and and Little Creek, Virginia for amphibious training. He joined a Landing Ship, Medium crew in Houston, Texas and trained with them before sailing out into the South Pacific. He took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima and after that the invasion of Okinawa where he survived the sinking of his ship. He was sent home later that summer and was home during the dropping of the atomic bombs and Japan's subsequent surrender on August 15, 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Peter Godino was born in Italy on November 16, 1921. In 1930 he and his mother and siblings came to the United States to live with his father in Pennsylvania. When he was eighteen he enlisted in the Army and was placed in the Army Air Force. He trained at Bolling Field, Washington D.C. and served there until he joined the glider program in 1942. He trained with gliders in Wisconsin, but was reassigned to gunnery training. He received gunnery training in Las Vegas then joined a bomber crew at Wendover Field, Utah. The crew was assigned to the 461st Bombardment Group and they were sent for further training at Fresno, California. They eventually received orders to go overseas and wound up at Torretto Airfield, Italy. They began flying missions in April 1944, bombing targets in Regensburg, Vienna, Budapest, Ploesti, as well as in Yugoslavia. His bomber was eventually shot down and he was one of three survivors from his crew. He was then captured and taken to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Stalag Luft IV, and finally Stalag Luft I.
- Date Created:
- 2005-10-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joseph DiLorenzo was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 3, 1948. He enlisted in the Air Force in April 1967 and reported for basic training on August 2, 1967. He received his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and for two and a half years was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana guarding B-52 bombers and KC-130 tankers. In December 1969 he received orders for Vietnam and in the spring of 1970 he was deployed to Vietnam. He was stationed at Phu Cat Air Base with the 12th Security Police Squadron. For the first six months of his tour he stood guard in a tower outside of the base's perimeter, and for the second six months he was part of a mobile Security Alert Team patrolling the base's perimeter and dealing with any security breaches. At the end of his tour he returned to the United States and was discharged in Seattle, Washington.
- Date Created:
- 2015-07-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Beatrice Takeuchi was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 6, 1921. In June 1942, she, and the rest of her family, was deported to the Puyallup Assembly Center at the Western Washington Fairgrounds, due to Executive Order 9066. Her family sold their house and their car, and her father's printing equipment was seized by the government. She was held at Puyallup Assembly Center for two or three months before getting transferred to Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Due to unsanitary conditions at the camp, she fell ill which contributed to her being allowed to leave the camp. She had also been an art student, and was allowed to continue her studies at the Chicago School of Design. Beatrice then found work in Washington D.C. and was there when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2017-01-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Herb Kitchens was born on October 24, 1940, in Bauxite, Arkansas. Prior to joining the Army, he attended the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas, and served as a pastor for 12 years. He joined the Army as a chaplain in 1974. He was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, in October 1974, but didn't take his basic chaplain's course at Fort Wadsworth, New York, until January 1975. He spent his first three years in the Army at Fort Hood and served as an assistant chaplain in the division artillery of the 2nd Armored Division. He was sent to West Germany in 1977 and was assigned to the 12th Engineer Battalion at Anderson Barracks near Dexheim, Germany. He returned to the United States in the summer of 1980 and took the advanced chaplain's course at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. He returned to Fort Hood and served as the brigade chaplain of 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division for three years. After Fort Hood, he received orders to go to the Chaplain's School and serve as part of the staff and faculty.
- Date Created:
- 2016-10-27T00:00:00Z
- 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 February 11, 1945. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated February 13, 1945. In the letter, Agnes discusses her happiness over receiving Joe's latest letter and how much she looks forward to the day when he finally returns home and they can build their life together.
- Date Created:
- 1945-02-11T00:00:00Z
- 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 December 13, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated December 27, 1943. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to Agnes letting her know he misses her and her letters and confides that his morale has been down while stationed overseas.
- Date Created:
- 1943-12-13T00:00:00Z
- 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 April 30, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated May 2, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes after writing to his mother, whose birthday is a few days away, and shares the news of his engagement proposal to Agnes. Joe also writes of the recent movie he had seen called "They Met in Bombay" starring Clark Gable and Rosiland Russell.
- Date Created:
- 1944-04-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Bennett was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1925. He attended Albion College for one semester, then enlisted in the Navy, and became a submariner. He served on five patrols, one in the Kurile Islands, three near the Yellow Sea, and a final one north of Tokyo. During this time they sunk forty-two enemy ships. He was discharged on December 18th, 1945. After the war, he finished school at Albion College.
- Date Created:
- 2005-11-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Morris Gooch was born in Monroe, Michigan in 1951. He enlisted in the Navy during the American war with Vietnam because he felt that it was the patriotic thing to do. While in the service, Morris worked as a torpedo man traveling to South Carolina, Spain, Hawaii, and Guam. Morris remained in the Navy for 13 years and ended up as a Navy Alcohol Safety Action Program Instructor. After his time in the service, Morris began working as a field engineer for a company that dealt with submarine construction.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Michael Gower was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and served with the Army in the Iraq War. He served in the First Stryker Brigade to enter Iraq, and was deployed twice. He was discharged for medical reasons on August 2nd, 2007 after being injured in an explosion that killed three of his squad members and injured several more.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Marthajane Kirby was born on November 4, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri. When her high school sweetheart joined the Marines, she wrote to him regularly until he was killed. His friend, Stanley Kirby, then took up the correspondence, and when he finally returned to the US, the two were married. See other interview record for papers.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Zena Smith was born in 1926 in Birmingham, England. As a teenager, she experienced the effects of war on her community. She had a job at an office after completing public school that made tanks for the North African Desert War. There were often sirens heard throughout her community to warn them about air raids. She contracted diphtheria at one point and had to stay in a hospital for eight weeks and was there when a bomb hit her hospital. She took a job with a defense plant and saw Winston Churchill and General Montgomery when they visited it. Mrs. Smith met her husband, Ken Smith, in 1944 and dated a year before marrying. Her husband worked at Packington Park and was an assistant during autopsies. After getting married and at the end of the war, she traveled on the Queen Mary to the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2012-02-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lloyd Snowdeal was born in Rockland, Maine in 1927. After graduating from high school he enlisted in the Navy. Lloyd went to radio school after training and became a Radio Officer. Lloyd went on trips across the Pacific in a large convoy on a repeater ship. His job was to repeat changes in the course from the commander ship to all of the other ships in the convoy. After the war was over in the Europe, he brought replacements across the Pacific to Japan. Lloyd was discharged and then on February 23, 1950 he enlisted in the Air Force for the Korean War. He became a Bypass Specialist and was assigned to a B-29 squadron. Lloyd became sick and went home, but later volunteered to go back overseas. He was stationed at a service and repair depot and then spent the rest of his time in the Air Force close to home in Bangor, Maine.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Shirley Weber served in the 32nd Infantry (Red Arrow) Division during WWII in New Guinea. His company teamed up with the Australians fighting Japanese soldiers on the island. He spent time fighting in Buna, Saidor and Aitape battles. He received the Bronze Star for an operation to pull out fire from the Japanese hiding in the jungle. He contracted malaria on New Guinea, which eventually led to his being sent home, where we worked with German POWs at a camp in Chicago. Military papers appended to the interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Baker III was born in Kalamzoo, Michigan in 1935. He grew up in Kalamazoo and enlisted in the Army in 1954. John received basic training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas and engineer training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Upon completion of his training he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington where he took a ship to Alaska. He was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska for two years and worked in the machine shop. Upon completion of duty in Alaska he returned to Fort Lewis, Washington and served for two years as a truck mechanic. At the end of his service he contracted meningitis, and once he recovered from that was discharged from the Army on June 18, 1958.
- Date Created:
- 2016-02-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bryan Tobias enlisted in the Air Force six months after he graduated from high school. He received basic training in San Antonio, Texas and received mechanical and material training in Rantoul, Illinois (most likely at Chanute Air Force Base). After training he spent eight years in Anchorage, Alaska (most likely at Elmendorf Air Force Base) and completed his service at Fort Walton Beach, Florida (most likely at Eglin Air Force Base).
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-20T00:00:00Z
- 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 July 2, 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 5, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes on a Sunday while recovering in the hospital, reminiscing of the Sunday's they used to spend together and how swell it will be when they are together once again.
- Date Created:
- 1944-07-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Roger Elliott, born in 1949, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967 and served in Vietnam as a supply sergeant at Cam Ranh Bay. After his tour in Vietnam, he completed his enlistment at Fort Lee, Virginia.
- Date Created:
- 2012-05-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bill Heintzelman enlisted in 1961 and trained as a radioman in the Navy. He was stationed at the Panama Canal during the Cuban Missile Crisis where he patrolled aboard ships and along the canal. When Heintzelman went back into the Navy after a ten year gap between his first and second term of service, he worked as a journalist at several stations around the world.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken TerHaar was born in Byron Center, Michigan on January 31, 1928. He graduated from high school in 1946 and was drafted into the Army in August 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War. Ken spent six months training at Fort Knox in Tennessee and another six months training at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. He was then sent to a base in Germany where he worked with the Army of Occupation for about one year. He spent time working with many German citizens while the country recovered and saw the effects of the Cold War grow stronger over the year.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Oosterbaan was born on May 17, 1926 in Ellsworth, Michigan. In 1942 (or 1943) he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan and in May 1944 he enlisted in the Navy. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois then went to Camp Bradford, Virginia for Amphibious Training. He went to Jeffersonville, Indiana and joined the crew of LST 720 and sailed to the Gulf of Mexico for the ship's shakedown cruise. In late 1944 they sailed to the Pacific Theatre and operated around the New Hebrides until sailing to the Philippines in 1945. He took part in the Battle of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 and supply operations around the Philippines until the surrender of Japan in August 1945. After the war he stayed with crew of LST 720 and sailed around China, Korea, and Japan helping transport liberated Chinese slave laborers and Japanese soldiers back to their home countries. In spring 1946 they sailed for the U.S. and arrived in Bremerton, Washington in May 1946. The ship was decommissioned in June 1946 and he was sent back to Great Lakes Naval Station in late June and got discharged there.
- Date Created:
- 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
- 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 12, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated August 18, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes from Sicily and describes his impression while residing there including the warm weather, mountainous landscapes, and an abundanace of sunshine.
- Date Created:
- 1943-08-12T00:00:00Z
- 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 25, 1945. The envelope is sent from 6916 Reinf. Co. (Prov.), 6903 Reinf. Bn. (Prov.), A.P.O.-551, U.S. Army, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated March 30, 1945. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes with positive news of his recovery upon leaving the hospital, in addition to his feelings for his future wife as they approach the one year anniversary of their engagement.
- Date Created:
- 1945-03-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- After graduating from a military academy, William Brinkman attended Officer's Candidate School where he was given a commission as 2nd Lieutenant. He served during the Korean War, but his division, and a couple of others, were sent to Germany, instead, to guard against the Russians. He served in the 102nd Regiment, 43rd Infantry Division. He also tells the story of his OCS classmate, Doc O'Donnell, who was killed in Korea. After the war, he worked for Martin Marietta and was involved with the space program.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mary Jean Brooks was in the WAVES during World War II. She trained at Smith College in communications. She worked in the Naval Department building in Washington, D.C., encoding and decoding messages sent to and from naval bases and ships. She delivered some messages herself to different government offices and to the White House.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Newton Dilley joined the Army in 1943 and worked with the 12th Armored Division during his time in the Army Specialized Training Program. He was eventually assigned to the 56th Armored Infantry battalion of the 12th Armored Division. He saw combat in Alsace and southwestern Germany, and before the war ended was called to finish Officer Candidate School and eventually spent more that a year working with the Army of Occupation. After his time in the service, Newton went to Yale Law School and became a lawyer. A summary of service written by Dilley is appended to his interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rex Greenawalt was born on October 5, 1947 In Plainwell, Michigan and graduated from high school in 1966. He was drafted into the Army in September of 1967 and went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and then infantry school at Fort Polk in Louisiana. Rex was sent from California to Vietnam on the Fourth of July in 1968. Rex went through Scout Dog Training School and became the handler of a dog named Rupert. They then began working with the 25th Infantry Platoon Scout Dogs. Rex was eventually wounded in both legs and sent back to the US and discharged in 1969.
- Date Created:
- 2005-08-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Mulbrecht served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aircraft mechanic from 1942-1944 in Italy during World War II. Prior to joining the service, Fred was in the National Guard. After being drafted in 1942, he aspired to be a pilot but instead was made a mechanic. Fred's training was undergone at Kistler Field Virginia as well as several private schools in New Orleans and Detroit. In late 1943 Fred was sent to a unit of the 15th Air Force in Foggia, Italy, where he spent all his service until he was discharged in 1944.
- Date Created:
- 2012-09-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Raymond Start was born in 1927 and grew up in Galewood, Michigan. When he turned seventeen he enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training. From there he was sent to the University of Wisconsin for Radio School and after five months of that he was sent out to California to board a troopship. He was sent to the Philippines where he boarded an attack personnel destroyer in Leyte. They sailed toward Japan with underwater demolition teams, preparing for the invasion of Japan until the atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945. He was sent back to the United States where he was assigned to the aircraft carrier the USS Bougainville. He took a cruise around the Pacific collecting aircraft and officers, and then helped decommission the ship in Tacoma, Washington until July 1946 when he was discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Butler served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He evaded earlier tours of Vietnam, by serving on two missions to Antarctica as part of a construction crew. However, he eventually served time in DaNang, Vietnam, once again as a construction member. After his active service, Butler served time in both the United States Naval Reserve and the United States Army Reserve. After failing to secure an officers position in either branch, he joined the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He became a Lieutenant Commander and served until his retirement.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jerry Gore was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War in 1969. Having gone through Advanced Infantry Training, he served as a machine gunner and tunnel rat until he became too ill to fight. He states that he was in combat all the time, but chooses not to talk about it.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Carl King was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1924 and served in the Navy during World War II. He was drafted into the Navy upon his request, and attended training at Great Lakes Naval Station. He joined the PT corps and worked as a machinist throughout his time in the service. He spent most of his time in the service in the Pacific theatre, serving in the New Hebrides, Guadalcanal, the Philippines, and Okinawa.
- Date Created:
- 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Millard Jr. was strongly influenced by his father at an early age to join the service. After graduating high school, he enlisted into the Air Force where he became a part of the Security Police, and, eventually, a dog-handler. He was stationed at Cam Ranh Bay in 1971-72, and then sent to England for a year.
- Date Created:
- 2006-12-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Mulder was born in 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His family moved to Montana, but moved back to Grand Rapids after World War II broke out. John was drafted into the US Army when he was 18 years old. After completing basic training in Fort Stewart, Georgia, he also completed anti-aircraft school, in which he learned how to operate mobile anti-aircraft units. After training, he spent the remainder of the war in Hawaii, guarding Pearl Harbor.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Pitsch volunteered for the draft in the summer of 1972. He expected to go to Vietnam, but had hopes that he would not due to the troop draw down. He completed his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and completed his advanced training at Fort Bliss, Texas. He was assigned to air defense artillery missile system and was a fire control crewman. He spent 20 months of active duty in central Germany, near the Dutch border. He returned to the United States in August, 1974, and was on inactive duty for the next two years.
- Date Created:
- 2011-04-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dave Pugh was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1961. Dave was in college during the aftermath of Vietnam, studying music and teaching. He enlisted into the military to be a part of the National Guard Band. He went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Basic Training. After AIT training he went to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana where he played alongside a National Guard Band. During his time in the band he played at veterans' funerals, at the 40th anniversary of NATO in London, England, at the Michigan inaugurations, mental health facilities, Trinidad and Tobago, and Italy.
- Date Created:
- 2011-03-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ann Petrovic was born in Aurora, Indiana, in 1928. She grew up playing ball with her brothers and played on different girls' teams in school. When she was fifteen, she heard about tryouts for the All American Girls Professional Baseball League being held in Illinois, tried out and was assigned to a team in Minneapolis which soon moved to Kenosha. After playing in the league's first season, she signed with a professional softball team in Chicago, where she played until 1950.
- Date Created:
- 2010-08-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Kuiper was born in February 1926 in Holland, Michigan. He grew up in Holland and in February 1944 he received his draft notice. In June 1944 he reported for duty at the draft board in Holland, was processed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and was sent to Camp Roberts, California for basic training and field artillery training. After sixteen weeks of training he was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland for an additional week of training and then left the United States out of Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. He sailed over, stopping in England, and arriving in Le Havre, France. He was sent to Paris where he was assigned to the 191st Field Artillery Battalion attached to the 4th Armored Division. He joined the battalion in Belgium in mid/late December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and was assigned to #1 Gun in A Battery and also laid down field telephone wire for the gun batteries. After the Battle of the Bulge they advanced into Germany, crossing the Rhine River at Worms, going south and seeing the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, and entering Czechoslovakia on April 29, 1945. After the war ended on May 8, 1945 he was reassigned to the 405th Infantry Regiment and then 4th Armored Division before being sent home in early 1946 and getting discharged at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken Vanlier was born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1948. He served in the Air Force during the time of the Vietnam War, achieving up to the rank of Staff Sargent. Before turning 18 Ken joined the military with an interest in flying in the Air Force. During basic training he stayed at Lackland Air Force base and joined the drum and bugle corps. Eventually he would be stationed out of Beale Air Force base and sent to Okinawa for tours as necessary. Part of his duties consisted of structural repair mechanic work on the SR-71 planes. Ken left the military in March of 1971.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Pia White was born in 1926 in Rome, Italy, to a Japanese father and an American mother. Due to her father's job with the Japanese government, the family traveled all over the world, and she lived in the United States, Japan, and various other countries. In the late 1930s, Pia, her mother, and her siblings returned to Japan. She lived in Tokyo and attended school there. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her family moved to a summer cottage in a mountain village near Tokyo. In 1942 her father, who had been in Washington, DC, at the time of Pearl Harbor, returned to Japan as part of an exchange of diplomats and he lived in Tokyo until he joined the family at the cottage. During the war she helped gather food and worked at the village's police station as a translator. In 1945, her older brother, a pilot, was killed in action during a bombing raid on Tokyo. After the war ended, she worked closely with the American Army of Occupation by helping manage the village as an R&R location for American troops. She befriended one Lieutenant Ken White and they eventually married, returning to the United States in December (1947 or 1948). They started a family and lived in Ohio and various cities in Michigan before settling in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2016-05-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Wilt was born in West Virginia on June 30, 1942. He enlisted in the Marines in 1960 and after basic training received assignments in the United States. He was stationed at Marine Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia carrying out guard duties, and received infantry training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He also went on temporary duty to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-12T00:00:00Z
- 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 13, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated December 5, 1943. In the V-Mail letter, Joe writes to Agnes to let her know he hasn't received the package she sent and wonders if she received the three small packages he sent to her with love.
- Date Created:
- 1943-11-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eugene Borek was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925. He enlisted in the Army shortly after turning eighteen, and trained with the 78th Division at Camp Butner, North Carolina, until his unit was broken up and he was assigned to the 83rd Division. He sailed to England in April, 1944, and landed in Normandy in late June. He fought in the battles near St. Lo until he was wounded and sent to England. He was then sent as a replacement to the 104th Division in September, and fought near Aachen, in the Hurtgen Forest and western Germany until he was wounded again in early 1945. After that, he was assigned to a military police unit based in Strasbourg until he was sent home late in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Kuhn, born in 1934 in Grand Rapids Michigan, served in the U.S. Air Force between 1954 and 1974. He trained as a pilot and did two tours in Korea. He was later sent to Vietnam, where he flew AC-47 ground support aircraft, and was shot down once. After returning from Vietnam in 1969, he completed his 20 years at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Glenn Marks, born July 27th 1925 served in the U.S. Army in the medical field from 1944-1946 in Europe during World War II. While in training at Camp Grant, Illinois, Glenn was sent to clerical school where he was trained to be a typist. However, due to demand, Glenn was assigned to be a field medic recovering fallen casualties. Glenn traveled across Europe following units that were expected to have high casualty counts. At the end of the war, he stayed in Germany caring for German casualties until he was sent home.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Leo Zimmerman of Grand Rapids, Michigan, waited to be drafted before joining the Army in 1943 during World War II. Leo received his training in wheeled vehicle maintenance and repair in Camp Worth, Texas. His first deployment was to Italy in 1944 where he served with a replacement depot until the war ended in May 1945, driving with supply convoys between Naples and the Po Valley and performing other duties. After the war ended in Europe, Leo was transferred to the 109th Ordnance Company and shipped out to the Philippines to start servicing vehicles. He was stationed in the Philippines during the bombing of Hiroshima, and was sent to Japan shortly after to perform maintenance duties and gained further experience in welding. Leo left the military in April 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jay Shook served in the US Navy in World War II and the Korean War. He served in the Pacific Theater in World War II on the USS Bailey, a destroyer, and escorted LSI's and LSG's in to landing zones. During the Korean War, Jay served on the USS Bryce Canyon, a Destroyer class maintenance ship.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Buzz Sodeman served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1970. After serving for several months as ground crew on a Naval Air Station in California, he was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, to train on ejection seats. From there, he went to San Diego, where he maintained aircraft and trained other personnel on ejection seats. He was sent to Vietnam in 1969, and served his tour at the Naval base at Binh Thuy in the Mekong Delta, where he worked as a parachute rigger. He describes daily life there in some detail, and also discusses some of the physical and psychological issues that he had after his return.
- Date Created:
- 2011-12-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Pittman was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1943. He grew up in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park and graduated from high school there in 1961. He went to work and got married, but lost his marriage deferment when he divorced in 1966 and was drafted in March 1967. He received basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and advanced infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana leading to him specializing as a mortar crewman. In August 1967 he was deployed to Vietnam where he joined Charlie Company of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade stationed in the area around Long Binh. For two months he worked as a mortar crewman in Charlie Company until he was reassigned to be a rifleman carrying out search and destroy missions as well as patrols in the Dong Nai River area with Charlie Company. After four months of being a rifleman he was severely wounded and was evacuated back to the United States. Despite being a paraplegic, he went back to work as a draftsman in the Detroit area, and eventually bought a farm near Saranac, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2014-06-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Tibbe is a World War Two veteran who was born in Moddersville, Michigan in 1924. After completing the ninth grade he left school and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and worked around Michigan doing public works projects. On August 19, 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and received training at Shepherd Field, Texas and at Buckley Field, Colorado to become an armorer for bombers. He was stationed at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, at Fiji, and and at Hickam Field, Hawaii over the course of the war. Just before the end of the war he was sent back to the continental United States where he served at Hamilton Field, California, Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, and Lowry Field, Colorado. He was discharged in December 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-18T00:00:00Z
- 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 September 17, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated September 20, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes from Sicily and wonders how her family are settling into their new home in Grand Rapids, MI. He also writes of his experiences with the relentless flies in Italy while keeping a good sense of humor and expressing his adoration of Agnes.
- Date Created:
- 1943-09-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Christiansen was born on August 11, 1920 in Muskegon, Michigan. He joined the US Navy in 1944 and served in the Pacific on board the destroyers USS Ward and USS July. He served on convoy duty between New Guinea and the Philippines and in the Okinawa campaign.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Lobbezoo grew up on a small farm in Michigan and was drafted in the Army in April of 1941. Albert worked as a switchboard operator for the 32nd Infantry Division headquarters in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines between 1942 and 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken Rondeau, born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1962, served in the National Guard during the 1980s. During this time Ken served mostly as a sergeant training mortar crews.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold Sibley was born in Grand Lake, Michigan in 1921. After graduating from high school, he tried to enlist in the Navy Air Corps, but was rejected due to his eyesight. Later on, he was drafted into the Army and eventually volunteered for the First Special Force, the predecessor to the Green Berets. Harold was a mortar man for the special force and was sent to the Aleutian Islands, Anzio, Southern France, Rome, Nuremburg and many other places throughout Western Europe. He was in Norway processing German prisoners of war when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gloria Cordes Elliott was born in Staten Island, New York, in 1931. She grew up playing ball with her brothers, and first learned about the AAGPBL when they played an exhibition game on Staten Island in 1949. She tried out for the league before the game, and was invited to spring training the following year. She played as a pitcher for teams in Muskegon, Racine, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, and at one point pitched twenty-four straight complete games.
- Date Created:
- 2007-08-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Glenn Gronevelt was born in Grand Haven, Michigan in 1947. In early 1969 he enlisted in the Navy to be serve with the “Seabees” (Construction Battalions). He received introductory training at Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi then went to Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme, California for combat training. He was deployed to Vietnam in late May 1969 and arrived on June 1, 1969. He was assigned to Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 302 and did construction work in Cam Ranh Bay, at New Port warehouse in Saigon, in Cat Lo, and he helped with building projects part of the “Vietnamization” process. During his time in Vietnam he also remembers witnessing first hand the movement of troops and supplies into Cambodia. He left Vietnam on July 1, 1970 and after visiting his family for the 4th of July he reported to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and was discharged from the Navy.
- Date Created:
- 2015-07-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wendall Smits was born in South Holland, Illinois in 1936. After graduating high school, a friend convinced him to join the Coast Guard Reserve at the age of 17. He completed two weeks of boot camp in 1955 at Cape May, New Jersey and became an engineman for the Coast Guard aboard various ships. He then became a chief engineman and, later, a lieutenant with a unit in Chicago before transferring to a Coast Guard unit in Gary, Indiana. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he was promoted to the position of warrant officer, and then to a Lieutenant Junior Grade. Smits primarily worked for port security at the various bases bases he was stationed at and also trained recruits for his Coast Guard units as a training officer. He was later awarded the Coast Guard Achievement Medal for his work rewriting engineering programs and engineering training manuals for the entire 9th district in Gary, Indiana.
- Date Created:
- 2017-07-06T00:00:00Z
- 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 April 9, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated April 12, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes on Easter Sunday after attending the church service that morning and looks forward to the day when they can go to church together once again. He also writes of the recent double feature films he saw in town and how Agnes is always with him in spirit.
- Date Created:
- 1944-04-09T00:00:00Z
- 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 May 7, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated May 8, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes with great excitement after receiving her letter accepting his engagement proposal, dreaming of their future wedding and life together.
- Date Created:
- 1944-05-07T00:00:00Z
- 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 July 24, 1944. The envelope is sent from Det. of Patients, 4167 U.S. Hospital Plant, Co. "K,"A.P.O.-162, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated July 24, 1944. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes while on the road to recovery in the hospital, using American Red Cross stationary and letting her know he is now located at another hospital where he will spend four additional weeks before returning to his outfit.
- Date Created:
- 1944-07-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated December 30, 1944. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated January 2, 1945. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes during the holiday season, sharing the news of his slow recovery in France and how much he misses receiving her letters while in the hospital.
- Date Created:
- 1944-12-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Daniel Donnelly was a student in high school before he decided to enlist into the Navy under the Navy Enlistment Buddy Program. After taking his oath at a Detroit Tigers game, Daniel was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for basic training. He departed for his deployment three days before Operation Desert Storm began and returned five days after it had ended. Daniel never saw active combat but served as an electrician and worked with nuclear propulsion operations aboard a Ballistic Missile Submarine. After the service, Daniel received his Associate's Degree from Grand Rapids Community College and a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. After school he began working at Amway Corporation where he remains an employee. Daniel believes his experience helped motivate him and get him on the right track in life.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Hood was born in Detroit, MI and moved to Grand Rapids, MI where he attended high school. After high school Robert joined the Marines shortly after World War II ended. He was sent to China, where he helped to repatriate Japanese soldiers. He continued to serve until 1951, and spent six months on the front lines in Korea before being wounded.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Jandernoa served in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He trained as a B-24 pilot and flew missions for the 15th Air Force, based in Italy, in the later stages of the war. He describes the training process and his combat experiences in detail, including a mission on which he and his crew had to bail out along the Yugoslav coast and were rescued by local villagers. He also discusses the role of the Tuskegee airmen in protecting his unit.
- Date Created:
- 2006-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Janssen was born on April 30, 1922 in Wisconsin and moved to Michigan in 1928. He graduated from high school in 1940 and joined the Marine Corps on October 29, 1941. John went through basic training in South Carolina, where they spent a lot of time marching through swamps. John then began working on an aircraft carrier as an anti-aircraft gunner and served in a series of battles in the Pacific, concluding with Okinawa. After Japan was bombed, John worked there breaking down an arsenal and taking weapons away from Japanese soldiers.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1942, John Sampson joined the ROTC while at Western Michigan University. Following graduation from Western Michigan and graduate school at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Sampson went through signal corps training at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. After completing his training, he shipped out to Korea, where he served in the G4 for Eighth Army, working with both the Korean and US military. Following his tour in Korea, Sampson returned to Fort Monmouth and served until March 1970.
- Date Created:
- 2010-10-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Hung M Vu was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1952. His father worked in the National Government of Vietnam, managed by the French. After the Geneva Peace Accord in 1954, Vu's family moved to Saigon, Vietnam and settled there. He lived in Saigon when the Tet Offensive took place but it did not affect him. He joined the Navy in 1970 and received electronic and electrician military training. He initially worked on rivers on a reinforced fishing boat, stopping any potential threats. Vu eventually moved closer to home and worked in a shipyard fixing and working on boats. Because his sister was a stewardess, Vu was able to get a flight out of Vietnam in 1975.
- Date Created:
- 2010-04-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ben VanSlooten served in the United States Army during WW II from May 13, 1943 to October 30, 1946 in the European Theater. VanSlooten discusses life on the home front, his time in basic training, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Operation "Market Basket" (Market Garden), interactions with soldiers from other countries, and his first air raid. He talks about the chow lines in Belgium, a restaurant in France, acts of kindness in England, and the Red Ball Express in Belgium.
- Date Created:
- 2006-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Frazine was born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1925. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943, and went to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, for his boot camp and Radio School. Upon completing training, he boarded a Landing Ship Transport (LST) and sailed to San Diego (via the Mississippi River and the Panama Canal) before going to the Pacific Theater. He served as the radio operator on the flotilla flagship, but also handled supplies and knew how to operate a 20mm antiaircraft gun. Gerald participated in the invasion of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan during the Mariana Islands Campaign; the invasion of Leyte during the Philippines Campaign; and the final battle of the Pacific Theater, Okinawa. After the war, he sailed back to San Diego then returned to Great Lakes Naval Station to be discharged from the Navy in late 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2016-10-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)