Veterans History Project
1714 items
- Notes:
- Willard Van Singel was drafted into the Army in 1941 and trained in Texas. He spent 3 years in Texas working as a battalion supply sergeant and also helped with administration and clerical work. Willard then served in the 83rd Infantry Division, landing in France in late 1944. He switched from being a supply sergeant to being a platoon sergeant in a rifle company and saw action in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and at the end of the war met the Soviets east of the Elbe River.
- Date Created:
- 2007-11-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bill Williams was born in Muscatine, Iowa on December 20, 1941. He attended Colorado State University and was part of the Army ROTC, graduating and receiving his commission in 1963. He went to Fort Benning, Georgia for Infantry Officer Basic Training and Jump School (paratrooper training). He spent a year stationed in South Korea serving as a platoon leader in the 7th Infantry Division. After South Korea he returned to the United States and received Special Forces Training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and in early 1966 he was deployed to Vietnam. He served at a Green Beret outpost in Nha Trang and at another outpost in Pleiku until early 1967. He took the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and was a small arms instructor at Fort Benning, Georgia for eighteen months. He was redeployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. He served as the assistant S3 officer at 3rd Brigade Headquarters for four months until he was assigned to be the company commander of Bravo Company 2nd Battalion 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He carried out patrols around Firebase Ripcord in spring 1970 and fought at Hill 805 until B Company moved to Firebase Ripcord in July 1970 and experienced the siege of Ripcord. Shortly before the fall of Ripcord he was severely wounded and was medically evacuated. He received treatment in Vietnam, Japan, and California before completing his service at Fort Carson, Colorado.
- Date Created:
- 2015-10-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Joe Olexa to Agnes Van Der Weide, dated November 11, 1943. The envelope is sent from Co. L, 26th Infantry A.P.O.-1, c/o Postmaster New York, New York, dated November 13, 1943. In the letter, Joe writes to Agnes after receiving letters from her and his family, covering subjects such as Agnes' potential visit to meet his family and his special request for another lock of her hair.
- Date Created:
- 1943-11-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ralph Baldwin was an astronomy instructor at Northwestern University in 1941 who volunteered for service after Pearl Harbor. He was initially assigned to teach navigation, but lobbied for a more important assignment. He was sent in 1942 to a secret program in Maryland being run by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Here he helped to develop the proximity fuse, a device that enabled anti-aircraft shells to sense when they were near targets and explode. By the end of the war, the fuse had become highly effective, and aspects of the technology developed for it are still used today.
- Date Created:
- 2007-11-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Louis Dudeck was born in 1943 in Bloomer, Wisconsin, and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1963. He trained at San Diego and Camp Pendleton, and served with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Pendleton until he unit was deployed to Vietnam in 1965 and redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. His unit did jungle training on Okinawa, and then landed at Da Nang, the first ground combat unit in Vietnam. His battalion initially guarded the Da Nang airport, then went to Chu Lai, and Dudeck was then transferred to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, with whom he participated in Operation Harvest Moon in December, where his company took heavy losses. A few weeks later, while operating in the A Shau Valley, Dudeck was badly wounded and sent first to Japan and then to the US to recuperate, and was discharged for medical reasons in 1966. [Note: the first interview includes most of his combat history, and the second fills in some gaps in the early part of the story and clarifies several aspects of his Vietnam service.]
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Chris Meeuwenberg was born Fremont, Michigan and drafted into the Army in 1943 when he was 19 years old. He went through training in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas and eventually became a medical technician. Chris was sent to Europe and landed in La Havre, France where they were immediately shot at by German planes. While in Europe Chris traveled through France, Germany, and Austria. He was eventually discharged near the end of the war and then went to Ferris State University for 4 years of pharmacy school.
- Date Created:
- 2004-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dominic P. Sondy served in the U.S. Army with the 662nd Field Artillery from April 1943 to January 1946 during World War II. In this account, Sondy discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S., and his combat experiences in France and Germany. Personal narrative is appended to the interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James O'Malley was born in Chicago in October 1932. In April 1951, he enlisted in the Navy. He received his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, then went to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, for Pre-Flight School. He then went to Naval Air Station Memphis, Tennessee, for Aviation Electronics School. James was sent to Naval Air Station Barbers Point on Oahu, Hawaii, and joined Squadron VP-22, an antisubmarine patrol squadron. He served aboard a P2V-5 Neptune and conducted antisubmarine patrols around Hawaii. In spring 1952, Squadron VP-22 was sent to Okinawa to fly reconnaissance missions along the Chinese coast as part of the Korean War. His plane took antiaircraft fire on multiple occasions and they encountered Chinese fighter planes. After the armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, he returned to Hawaii and was then reassigned to Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois. His final duty station was at Naval Air Station Glynco, Georgia, and he was discharged from there.
- Date Created:
- 2017-01-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Van Dop was born in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on July 20, 1926. He was drafted in late summer 1944 and reported for duty in November 1944. He received basic training at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas then received his advanced training in Fort Ord, California. He boarded a troopship in late May/early June 1945 and sailed to Manila in the Philippines. He was assigned to Military Police duty on August 1, 1945 and worked at a base on Manila Bay. William was stationed in the Philippines until October 1946. He sailed back to the United States and was discharged at Camp Beale, California in fall 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2016-02-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Handwritten letter and envelope with transcript by Agnes Van Der Weide to Joe Olexa, dated November 12, 1944. The envelope is sent from 1913 Berkley Ave. S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, dated November 14, 1944. In the letter, Agnes talks about her upcoming week's paid vacation to visit Helen and Gaylord, comparing it with her last trip to Detroit, Michigan where she daydreamed of her future with Joe.
- Date Created:
- 1944-11-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)