Veterans History Project
1714 items
- Notes:
- Robert Bonner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on December 29, 1950 and enlisted in the Navy as soon as he turned 18. He did well in basic training thanks to his ROTC experience, and then trained to service engines. He served at bases in California, the Philippines and Okinawa, repairing aircraft carriers, barges, tugs and other naval craft. He also worked in an amphibious base in San Diego before he was discharged in March of 1973.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Byron Gibbs was born in Clare, Michigan on December 7, 1916. He graduated from college in 1938 and was drafted into the Army in 1941. Byron trained in Louisiana with Company C of the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division, and was sent to Australia in 1942. They continued training in Australia, traveling to Adelaide and Brisbane and then were sent to New Guinea, where his unit fought at Buna. While that campaign continued, he was transferred back to the US for signal corps training, and eventually returned to the Pacific and served as a signalman at MacArthur's headquarters in the Philippines.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James was born on Long Island, December 10, 1948. His father was in the Marine Corps and served in Korea. The family moved around during his childhood but they eventually settled back in New York. After graduating from high school in 1966, Jim went to Cornell University. He flunked out and tried another school to avoid the draft. He later graduated from Cornell with a degree in Civil Engineering. He joined the Peace Corps in 1971 and was stationed in Thailand. After being there for three years, he returned home and eventually joined the United States Army and served as a medic in Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Kieda was born in 1949 and enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school. He trained as an aircraft mechanic and volunteered for Vietnam, but was assigned to Okinawa instead. Here he serviced aircraft used for training as well as combat missions.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dewey Lenger was part of the United States Army Air Force during World War II. He took a cadets exam that allowed him to bypass the general draft and eventually become a pilot. He was set to Europe and assigned to fly transport planes, which he had not trained in, and learned to tow gliders and drop paratroops as well as regular cargo missions. He flew first from a British base, and later from a French one. He ferried fuel to Patton's army, dropped supplies for American troops during the Battle of the Bulge, and carried Canadian paratroopers during Operation Varsity.
- Date Created:
- 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George William "Bill" Sefton was born in 1922 in Anderson, Indiana. Prior to the war he was taking classes at Ball State Teacher's College. He enlisted in the Army shortly after the war started, trained as an officer and served briefly with the 131st Infantry Regiment guarding the Soo Locks in northern Michigan before being accepted for paratrooper training. He went to Camp Taccoa, Georgia and began training with the 501st Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He went with his unit to England and jumped into Normandy on D-Day. He served with his unit in Normandy until they withdrew to prepare for Operation Marked Garden. He made his second jump as part of that operation in September, and served with his unit in the Netherlands until they were withdrawn in Novermber, and then went to Bastogne, Belgium in December 1944 to fight back against the German advance during the Battle of the Bulge. After the fighting at Bastogne, his unit moved to the Alsace-Lorraine region and on into Germany. With the war over he was transferred to the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division where he served with them in France as the athletics officer and club officer (in charge of athletic supplies, and officers' club supplies) for his unit. At the end of the war he met his wife who was an Army nurse at the time.
- Date Created:
- 2003-09-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Green served in the military for two years during the Korean War. He was drafted, but served at Fort Carson, Colorado. He was raised in Lowell, Michigan along with his two younger siblings. While in the Army, he was a mechanic on tracked units. He reminisces about some of his camp experiences, and explains some of the training he underwent.
- Date Created:
- 2006-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Leo Homrich served in the Army during World War II. He was born in 1925 to a family of farmers, and was drafted into the Army at 18. After training, he was shipped to the Pacific, where he served in New Guinea and the Philippines. He worked as a both a radio man and as an operator of the Browning Automatic Rifle while he was in the Pacific theatre.
- Date Created:
- 2009-03-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Lofgren is a World War II veteran who served in the Quartermasters Corps of the U.S. Army from November 1942 to 1945. In this account, Lofgren discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training in the U.S. and his service time abroad. What is most interesting is the brief details he gives in regards to the fighting in Italy, S. France, and his acquaintanceship with Audie Murphy. Lofgren concludes by sharing what impact his time in the service had on him.
- Date Created:
- 2004-06-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bernard Malewitz was born in Grand Rapids, and studied engineering at the University of Detroit before being drafted at the start of the Korean War. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers and taught water distillation techniques for two years in Fort Meyer, Washington, D.C. He worked to improve training procedures and manuals to be more useful to soldiers in the field.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)