Veterans History Project 1714 items

Notes:: Warren Mastenbrook is a WW II veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an aircraft mechanic from 1941 to 1945. In this account, he discusses his pre-enlistment years, enlistment and training the U.S. and combat experiences in the Pacific, primarily in the Solomons.
Date Created:: 2008-02-16T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Robert Ross was born on January 12, 1926 and enlisted in the Navy when he was just 17 years old because he had not wanted to be drafted into the Army. He went through training at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, Illinois and was then shipped out to the Pacific after having 30 days leave. While in the Pacific Robert worked on 5 different Carrier Air Craft Service Units, or CASUAL outfits, hauling aviation fuel and empty tanks. Robert spent a total of 19 months in the Pacific and moved back to Michigan after he was discharged.
Date Created:: 2004-05-15T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Alfred Thomet became a member of the United States Navy at 17 years old. He served in the Pacific theatre, specifically on Okinawa, in 1945. He worked as a truck driver in a supply route for the Navy. He returned to Lowell, Michigan after his service where he married and had a successful automotive career.
Date Created:: 2007-05-31T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Dr. Sanders entered the United States Army Air Corps shortly before the United States entered the war. Due to his previous medical training, the Army sent him through accelerated medical school training. However, he did not graduate from medical school until after the war had ended. He served in medical hospitals after the war had ended.
Date Created:: 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Charles Shapin served in the US Army during World War II. He trained both as an artillerist and an infantryman, and eventually shipped over to Europe with an artillery battalion attached to the 75th Division. He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, and later in the Netherlands and Germany. He provides detailed discussions of training and army life, as well as of his experiences in Europe, both in and out of combat.
Date Created:: 2008-04-06T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Toni Palermo was born and grew up in Forest Park, Illinois. When she was ten, her P.E. teacher encouraged her to try out for a professional softball league in Chicago. She played for a farm team until she turned fourteen when she joined the professional team. She was recruited into the All American Girls Professional Baseball League shortly afterward, and played two years with their barnstorming teams, the Chicago Colleens and the Springfield Sallies. Over the next several years she alternated between playing on AAGPBL teams and a Chicago softball team. She played shortstop throughout her career. She went on to become a nun as well as a teacher, and remained active in competitive sports.
Date Created:: 2009-09-26T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Michael Moloney was born in Detroit, Michigan on September 15, 1967 and served in the United States Army as an artillery surveyor in the First Infantry Division. He joined the army in 1987 and trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Michael was sent to Germany in 1988 where he spent a period of two months playing war games. He recounts the people he met and the opportunities he had to visit historical locations from the Second World War. After his time in the service, Michael enrolled at Michigan State University.
Date Created:: 2015-05-23T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Rick Sturim was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 21, 1942. He attended college at the Newark College of Engineering and joined the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He graduated in 1964 and was commissioned in that same year as a 2nd lieutenant. He was trained as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois from December 1964 through June 1965. In August 1965 he was assigned to Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico where he helped maintain the nuclear weapon-armed B-52 bombers at that base. In August 1968 he was assigned to Kincheloe Air Force Base in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and stayed there until August 1969 when he was discharged from the Air Force.
Date Created:: 2015-07-09T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Chuck Mulder was born in September 1925 in Grand Haven, Michigan. He grew up there and in the fall of 1943 he was drafted into the Army. He reported for duty on December 21, 1943 and was sent to Camp Crowder, Missouri for basic training and Signal Corps training. In the summer of 1944 he was assigned to an antitank platoon in the Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion of the 302nd Infantry Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division. He was sent over to Europe in August 1944 and was sent to France on September 8, 1944. He saw action around Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, France and then in January 1945 saw action in the Battle of the Bulge around the Saar-Moselle Triangle. In the spring of 1945 the 94th Infantry Division advanced into Germany and from the end of the war on May 8, 1945 through the summer of 1945 he was stationed in Czechoslovakia as part of the occupation force. He was sent back to the United States in late 1945 and was discharged from the Army at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
Date Created:: 2015-05-07T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Notes:: Scott Barber is a Veteran who served in the United States Navy for five years from the late 1970s until the early 1980s in California, Iran, Thailand, and Panama. Because of skill and good military record, Barber's unit was assigned to the first rescue attempt of the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1980. In this interview, Barber discusses the training involved in preparing for this mission as well as the equipment failures and combat that took place that night. Barber also shares stories of his time in Panama, where his unit was responsible for destroying boats and planes used to transport illegal drugs, and his time in Thailand, where he spent over six days living in a dumpster.
Date Created:: 2007-06-07T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)