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- Notes:
- Daniel Horon served in the Navy during the Cold War, from 1957 to 1961. He trained in communications and photographic intelligence and was sent to an air base in Newfoundland. He performed a variety of duties, including aerial reconnaissance, and provides detailed accounts of both life on the base and of the assorted tensions brought on by the Cold War as they played out in Newfoundland. He also took large quantities of pictures while there, and many of these are included in his file.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jacob Lucas is a World War II veteran who served in the Seabees, a construction branch of the Navy, from December 1942 to 1945. In this account, Lucas discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training in the U.S. and his service time abroad in the Pacific. He goes into some depth about his responsibilities as a Seabee in Okinawa, New Caledonia, New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. Lucas concludes his interview by showing pictures and newspaper clippings from that time.
- Date Created:
- 2004-04-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ollie Dean is a World War II veteran that was born in 1927 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In early 1945 at the age of seventeen he joined the U.S. Navy and after training at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago was deployed to the Pacific Theatre and Southeast Asia aboard the U.S.S. Cheleb, a Navy cargo ship. He also served on the U.S.S. Mt. McKinley, a communications ship, on a cruise through the Inland Sea of Japan and up to Vladivostok. With the Cheleb, he spent time in Shanghai and Tsingtao while the Japanese were being evacuated from China.
- Date Created:
- 2013-11-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jerry McFarland was born on March 24, 1933 and enlisted in the Navy in 1950 after graduating from high school. Jerry trained at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, Illinois and was then stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. He worked there for about 4 years transporting Marines to Puerto Rico to train for the Korean War. Jerry was discharged after 4 years, but found himself bored with civilian life and then enlisted in the Army. While in the Army Jerry worked in Texas, Germany, France, Colorado Springs, and Vietnam, where he served with an engineer unit.
- Date Created:
- 2005-05-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Norton was born in Ottawa County, Michigan, in 1920. He graduated from high school in 1937 and enlisted in the Navy in 1938. He trained as a machinist's mate and sailed first on a transport ship in the Pacific, then on the destroyer USS Barker from 1940 to 1943, engaging mostly in convoy escorts and antisubmarine patrols in the Pacific (including visits to China before Pearl Harbor) and Atlantic (sinking two U-Boats). He then transferred to the destroyer escort USS Henry R. Kenyon, and again served in the Atlantic and Pacific, witnessing a kamakaze attack at Okinawa and ending the war in the Philippines.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wayne Monroe served in the US Navy between 1944 and 1946. Her served as a crewman on USS Kaskaskia, a large oiler, and saw action at Okinawa, where he witnessed kamikaze attacks. After the war, he sailed to Japan, China and Arabia before returning home to be discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Samuel Latigo was born in 1927 in San Antonio, Texas. Raised by his grandmother, he worked as a teen before enlisting in the Navy at the age of seventeen. Following training in San Diego, the Navy assigned him to the troop transport U.S.S. Edgecombe. The Edgecombe carried troops to New Guinea and the Philippines and participated in the invasion of Okinawa and the landing of occupation troops in Japan following the end of the war. Following the end of the war, the Edgecombe returned to the United States and the Navy discharged Latigo.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jerry Bruinekool was born in Michigan on December 15, 1938. Jerry enlisted in the Navy in January of 1956 because he felt that his life needed some direction. While in the Navy, Jerry traveled to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas, France, Italy, Portugal, and Greece. He enjoyed going to all the different foreign ports and seeing how other people lived.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ronald Biermacher served in the US Navy during the Korean conflict. He was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia aboard the USS Mississippi, where he was a barber. After the conflict was over, he returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan where he continued cutting hair until he retired.
- Date Created:
- 2005-05-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Buford North was born in Paragould, Arkansas, in 1922. His family later moved to Flint, Michigan where he attended high school. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1942. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and transferred to New Orleans, Louisiana for further training and his assignment to a ship. From New Orleans he went to Orange, Texas to board the USS William D. Porter as an Electrician's Mate 3rd Class. The USS William D. Porter participated in escorting President Roosevelt to Allied conferences in Africa and the Middle East as well as campaigns in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Philippines, and finally at Okinawa supporting the invasion there. On June 10, 1945 the USS William D. Porter was struck by a Japanese kamikaze plane and sank off the coast of Okinawa. Buford, along with the rest of the crew, was successfully rescued and returned to the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2014-09-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Johnson served in the Navy during WW II. He traveled mostly aboard a luxury ship that had been remodeled into a Navy ship. Johnson's crew traveled throughout the Pacific to Australia, Guam, and the Philippines. Johnson experienced combat three times while in the Pacific and also discussed his experience with Japanese Kamikazes.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fay Orvis was a soldier during World War II in the United States Navy. He worked as a minesweeper during his time in the service and spent time in Okinawa and Saipan. His account describes different duties performed on the minesweeper and onshore in California and on various islands, as well as incidents involving kamikaze attacks and mine explosions.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Steele was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He had previously gone to a technical high school and was able to continue such aviation and mechanical training while in the Navy. George spent most of his service in Guam after the Japanese invasion. He was there for about two years while the Navy was giving technical support to the Marines. After his time in the service George became a draftsman at an architecture firm.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Steve Wendt served in the US Navy between 1968 and 1972. He did a tour in Vietnam as an engine mechanic working on river craft on the Mekong River. He went on numerous patrols and saw combat on a regular basis. His unit went into Cambodia on a number of occasions, and helped to escort Vietnamese refugees from Cambodia back into Vietnam.
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Thomas Michael Ross was born in Holland, Michigan in 1954. He attended Zeeland High School, and served in the United States Navy between 1975 and 1979. One of his assignments was on a nuclear supply ship as sub tender aboard USS Fulton AS11.
- Date Created:
- 2007-02-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- David Cheeseman, of Martin, Michigan served in the Navy for 22 years, rising in ranks throughout his enlistment to become a Chief Officer. He enlisted in 1964, during the beginning of the Vietnam conflict. David trained as an aviation anti-submarine warfare technician in Memphis and spent his first four years in the Navy stationed at the Commander Fleet Air of San Diego. After reenlisting in 1968 with the rank of a Third Class Petty Officer, David spent time in Japan before returning to San Diego as a First Class Petty Officer and completed a tour from 1971-1975 in which he served as a mechanics repair shop supervisor. After being deployed to Bermuda, Spain, and Iceland, David returned to Memphis to spend his last four years in the Navy as an AVA course supervisor. By this time, he had earned the rank of Senior Chief. David shares extensive insights on racial relations in the south, anti-warfare sentiments on the west coast throughout the 1960's, and the integration of women in the Navy in the 1970's.
- Date Created:
- 2011-09-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Len Berkenpas was born in 1925 to a farmer in Byron Center, MI. Was drafted into the Navy in 1943 and worked as a cook at Naval Air Base Livermore near San Francisco, CA. He did not spend any time on a ship at sea.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jake DeWitt served during the Second World War as a Gunner's Mate on the USS Roper, a destroyer from WWI. The Roper patrolled the Virginia coast where it sunk its first German submarine, then travelled to the Straits of Gibraltar for convoy duty. She was eventually struck near Okinawa when a Japanese fighter plane crashed into the side of the ship injuring DeWitt. Dewitt was eventually discharged after recovering from his arm injury.
- Date Created:
- 2010-02-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Anderson was born on February 5, 1931 in Coopersville, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy in 1951. He was sent to the Great Lakes training center in Chicago, and then transferred to Newport, Rhode Island, where he took torpedo training. He was sent to San Francisco and assigned to the USS Curtis. He did not see any combat, but he went through patrols that took him all across the country and to Pearl Harbor. He worked in the armory of the ship.
- Date Created:
- 2005-02-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Carlson is a U.S. Navy veteran that served before and during the Vietnam War first aboard the USS MacDonough (before Vietnam) and aboard the USS Wainwright during the Vietnam War and saw action in the Gulf of Tonkin during Operation Rolling Thunder. He was born in Holland, Michigan in 1943 and enlisted in the Navy in 1961. He trained at Great Lakes Naval Academy and specialized in electronics. He traveled throughout the Mediterranean Sea aboard the USS Macdonough and the Tonkin Gulf and South Pacific aboard the USS Wainwright. He then had shore duty in Charleston, South Carolina, and left the Navy in January 1970.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Barker was born in 1925 in Stanton, Michigan. Albert grew up on a farm and was doing farm work when he was drafted into the Navy in 1943 and was then sent to Great Lakes, Illinois where he spent eight weeks in basic training. After his training, Albert was sent to the South Pacific where he met up with his PT squadron in New Caledonia. After being in New Caledonia, he was sent to Rendova Island where he patrolled waters against the Japanese. After Rendova, he was sent through the Solomon Islands until he was eventually sent to the Philippines. Albert was sent home from the Philippines and was discharged in Bainbridge, Maryland in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2012-07-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ray Cebulski served aboard the USS Kittyhawk as an A-6 pilot during the Vietnam War. In this interview Cebulski describes day-to-day life for a bomber pilot aboard a carrier, additional duties he had, night interdiction missions into North Vietnam, and some of the people that he served with.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Spencer joined the Michigan National Guard in 1940, and served in Company C, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division. His unit was mobilized in October, 1940, and he went with them to train in Louisiana. From there he was shipped to Australia and then to New Guinea in 1942. Fred was wounded by a sniper at Buna, New Guinea, and spent over a year recovering first from the wound and then from malaria. He was finally sent back to the US, where he completed his service guarding German POWs in the southwest.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ben Peters was born in 1941. He grew up on a farm in Holmes County, Florida and enlisted in the Navy in 1958. He served for four years on the carrier USS Bennington. After leaving the Navy, he enlisted in the Army in 1962. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division, then at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia, then as a helicopter mechanic with the 101st Airborne Division. In mid-1966 he was sent to Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and served as a helicopter mechanic for the 166th Transportation Detachment at Bien Hoa Air Base. After six months he returned to the United States to go into Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. After completing Officer Candidate School he was sent to West Germany to serve with the 1st Battalion 36th Infantry Regiment 3rd Armored Division for two years. Returning to the U.S. in 1969, he trained to be an adviser to Vietnamese force, but when he redeployed to Vietnam in January 1970 he was sent to the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division as their public relations officer and worked with civilians in the area around Camp Evans. During the siege of Firebase Ripcord in July, he went to the base to take over the battalion's B Company, and was in charge of security as the base was evacuated on July 23. He continued to command B Company until he left Vietnam in December 1970. After the Vietnam War he served at Fort Bragg with the 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Rucker, Alabama as a flight operations officer, in Athens, Greece as noncommissioned officer in charge of a nuclear weapons storage site, and then at Cairns Army Airfield, Alabama as a flight operations chief until he left the Army in 1975.
- Date Created:
- 2014-09-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Katt served with the 66th Infantry Division during WW II. He was drafted in 1943, trained mostly in Alabama, and went to Europe late in 1944. He served in France and Germany. Most of his comments are on training, working with French troops, and serving on occupation duty in Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Swendsen served on the USS Silversides and the USS Haddock during World War II. In this interview, he gives a guided tour of the Silversides, which serves as a museum in Muskegon, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2009-06-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Avery Loucks served in the US Navy between 1962 and 1966, and remained in the Reserves until 1993. He served with an aerial reconnaissance unit based in the Caribbean while on active duty, and was called up during Desert Storm in 1991.
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rodney Kenyon enlisted in the US Navy in 1952 to avoid being drafted into the army and sent to Korea. He was assigned to the commodore's staff in a destroyer flotilla based in Newport, Rhode Island. He followed his commander from ship to ship, and eventually served on 21 different vessels before being assigned to duty on the base at Newport. He made regular trips across the Atlantic, but never served in a combat zone.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Cornelius Ringnalda and Richard Herrema were interviewed jointly. Ringnalda was born in Grand Rapids in the early twenties and drafted into the military after high school. He served with the 383rd Infantry Regiment and fought on Okinawa in the early stages of the campaign, and was wounded after about two weeks of combat. Herrema was born in Michigan in the early twenties and was also drafted after high school. He joined the Air Force Cadet program and was assigned to a B-29 crew with the 13th Air Force, and flew 21 missions from bases in New Guinea and the Philippines.
- Date Created:
- 2008-07-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Alvin Rippen was born in 1917 in Franklin County, Nebraska. He finished high school in 1935, went to college and graduate school and took a job in the dairy industry in Chicago. In 1942, he enlisted in the Navy and qualified for pilot training. He was assigned to the USS Lexington in 1944 and went to the Marianas, where he witnessed "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" air battle and then participated in attacks on Guam and Saipan. He then spent time as a dive bomber instructor, and then learned to fly the Hellcat fighter and served on the USS Shangri-La and on Saipan before being discharged late in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2014-07-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Burgess is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from June 23, 1944 to May 16, 1946. During the course of the interview he discusses in great detail his pre-enlistment, enlistment/basic training experience, and active duty in the South Pacific fighting against the Japanese. He describes in vivid detail the fighting on New Caledonia, Ulithe, Okinawa, in the Philippines, Saipan, and the suicide bomber attacks on the USS Franklin. He further goes into some detail about what the occupation of Japan was like. Burgess concludes by discussing what he got out of his military service.
- Date Created:
- 2005-03-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jan Roy was born in Holland, Michigan in 1941. She joined the United States Navy in 1963, and served as a court reporter and legalman both on active duty until 1977 and in the Naval Reserve until 1997. She was stationed in New Orleans, Newport, Grand Rapids, the Azores and aboard on the destroyer escort Nickelson. Jan remains active with the local veterans organizations such as the American Legion, Amvets and Waves National. She has attained the positions of commander and judge advocate for the American Legion and was named the Kent County Veteran of the Year.
- Date Created:
- 2013-02-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Tony Trovato was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1912. He was son to Italian immigrants and could speak fluent Italian. He enlisted into the Navy in 1943 when he was 31 years old and trained at Great Lakes where he learned how to handle troops and personnel. He was later assigned to Norfolk, Virginia where he was trained to be a boatswain. After leaving Norfolk, he was sent down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and eventually made his way across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea. While in the Mediterranean, his convoy spent the majority of its time resupplying troops in France and Italy as well as carrying war prisoners. He served as shore patrol near the end of his time before he was discharged in 1945, after both Germany and Japan had surrendered.
- Date Created:
- 2012-03-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Hayes Cargill was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1926, and served in the Navy during World War II. He worked primarily on craft that took men from their ships to the mainland when they were at port. He worked in both the Philippines and Japan, but he never saw combat, as they were in theses areas after the war had for the most part wound down. After the War, he worked as an umpire for minor league and women's baseball.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eric Schwaller is a very unique veteran; he served in three branches of the armed forces between 1972 and 1998. He started as a tank crewman in Germany. He joined the Navy traveled undersea in a nuclear missile-bearing nuclear submarine and returned to the army and was a member of the 101st Airborne. He then enlisted in the Air Reserve, and then transferred to the Air National Guard. He now lives in the Coit Street VA facility in Grand Rapids.
- Date Created:
- 2007-01-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ester Warber grew up in Michigan and worked in defense plants in the Detroit area during World War II, and then enlisted in the WAVES, trained as an aircraft mechanic and served on a base in Hawaii. After the war she held a variety of jobs and became a psychologist, and then served in the Peace Corps in the 1960s. She provides detailed descriptions of her training and duties in the military, and mentions meeting Henry Ford as well as Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.
- Date Created:
- 2004-02-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kay Maxson, born in Lowell Michigan in 1933, enlisted in the Naval Reserve in early 1951, and was called to active duty in January, 1952. Trained in fire and damage control, he was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. After he joined the ship at Norfolk, Virginia, it sailed to Guantanamo and to Panama, but the ship turned out to be too wide to get through the Canal, and had to go around the Horn instead to reach the Pacific, and was damaged in the processed. They stopped in Chile and Peru, then went to San Francisco to pick up its aircraft, and then went to Hawaii to train the pilots before going on to Korea. They crossed the Pacific and visited Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan, and patrolled off the North Korean coast before returning to port in 1953.
- Date Created:
- 2011-09-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Christine and Henry Vande Kerk are both World War II veterans who served their country in different capacities during the course of World War II. Christine Vande Kerk briefly discusses her pre-enlistment, enlistment as a nurse into the armed services, and her nursing experience while serving in England until 1944. She then discusses her missionary work in Iraq and Jordan in some detail. Henry Vande Kerk briefly discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training in the U.S. and then his goes into some detail about his days as a U.S. Navy Air Force civilian flight instructor working in the training of pilots in the basic procedures of aviation mechanics before they went on to pursue advanced training in bomber, fighter, and transport plane dynamics. Henry then briefly describes his thoughts on his wartime and what he learned from it. They both wrap up their interviews by showing some pictures and documents from Christine's Army and Missionary Books.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Luckett entered the United States Navy in 1991, following the Persian Gulf War. He was sent to a naval training base in Chicago where he spent eight weeks after expressing an interest in joining the navy to a local recruiter. During his service time he was stationed at several locations around the world including France, Spain, and Italy. Luckett was a Gunner's Mate, which meant he was in charge of small weapons management on aircraft carriers. This job involved the repair and relocation of single-man weapons onboard the ship. Luckett was not involved in any active combat during his service. He returned to the Virginia coast to serve on the U.S.S. Yorktown just before he was sent home in 1998.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Randolph Phillips served in the US Navy as a communication technician from 1963-68 during the Vietnam War, training reservists for service in Vietnam. He joined the Navy because his grades were too poor to keep him in college. For part of his service he was in Hawaii, and for a longer period he was in Jersey City at the US Naval Reserve Training Center. He talks about what he learned by being in the military and how it applied to life after service. He talks about the Vietnam memorial and its affect on him and other veterans of Vietnam. He also talks about how the Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home, and how it differs from how veterans are treated today.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gordon Van Wylen left his job as an engineer for Dupont in 1943 and joined the US Navy. He entered an officer training program, but then transferred into submarine school. He served on the submarine USS Hardhead in 1944-45 and went on six patrols in the Pacific. His boat sank several Japanese warships, including an aircraft carrier, and after the war he contacted and befriended some of the Japanese sailors who survived the sinking of this ship.
- Date Created:
- 2004-10-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jerry Von Holt served in the US Navy from 1947 to 1956. He served on ships and at bases across the Pacific, including Korea and Japan. He served on destroyers that patrolled Korean waters, but did not see combat. He also received firefighting and rescue training.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Chris Leaver is a US Navy veteran that was on active duty in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and later in the early to mid-2000s (post 9/11). He was born in Toledo, Ohio and his family eventually moved to Madison, Indiana. After high school he enlisted in the Navy to get money for college. He went to Orlando, Florida for boot camp in October 1989 spent a year at Millington, Tennessee, training in aviation electronics. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, later accepted to the Naval Academy where he attended for two years, and was then sent to Andrews Air Force Base. He left the Navy in 1994, but joined the Michigan Naval Reserves in 2002, and went on active duty until 2006.
- Date Created:
- 2014-02-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Warren Wandrey, born in 1924 in Chicago, served in the U.S. Navy from July 1943 to March 1946. After receiving his draft notice in 1942, he was allowed to finish high school before starting training in 1943. He trained as a radioman, and was sent to the Pacific in 1944. He started at a PT boat base in New Guinea, and was soon assigned to a series of PT boat tenders, which he accompanied to the Philippines and back to the East Indies, where he was stationed when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- David Wyma was born in 1963 in South Korea. After high school, David enlisted in the US Navy. He served 3 years in Norfolk, Virginia and 2 years in Iceland.
- Date Created:
- 2009-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Carr grew up in Chicago and joined the Navy in 1945 at age 17 as a first class seaman. He received raining at Great Lakes Naval Station, and worked there as a dispersing clerk handling payroll for sailors being discharged after World War II. He then went to college and served in the reserves. He was called up when the Korean War started and was sent to Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands to work on a secret project for Atomic Energy Commission.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Baas, Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1920, enlisted in the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor. Initially, he was initially allowed to return to college to finish his senior year, but before the term ended, he was sent to Mississippi to begin training. He qualified as a Navy pilot and was given his choice of naval aircraft (other than fighters), and trained on the TBF Avenger Torpedo Bomber. He did carrier training and flew patrols off the Massachusetts coast in 1944 and operated off of an escort carrier with an Atlantic convoy, and then was sent to the Pacific early in 1945. Assigned to Carrier Group 83, he flew missions over Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan, and participated in the attack on the Japanese battleship Yamato as it attempted to reach Okinawa.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wade Cratsenberg is a Vietnam veteran who served in the United States Navy from November 1964 to November 1970 in California. In this interview, Cratsenberg discusses the behind-the-scene work done by the Navy during Vietnam. As part of the VR7 and VR8 squadrons, Cratsenberg was responsible for the aircraft carriers, carrying out both plane maintenance and pilot maintenance training. He provides detailed accounts of the work he did on planes as well as the usefulness of the Navy uniform, and the lifestyle and dangers of working on an aircraft carrier.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Bocian was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 and enlisted in the Navy in 1943 when he was only 17 years old. He went through training in Chicago and then chose to continue his training with submarines. After going through submarine school Gerald was stationed at Pearl Harbor where he worked on refitting submarines while the crew had time off on R & R. Gerald worked in Hawaii for 3 years before he went on a war patrol on the submarine USS Silversides in the Pacific.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Sid Linger was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1918. After graduation from high school, Lenger went into business with his father, who ran several stores in the Grand Rapids. He was drafted into the Navy in 1944, and was assigned as a quartermaster on a new LST that was being built at Seneca, Illinois. He sailed on the LST down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf and Mexico and the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Ocean. Lenger's LST transported Marines as part of the massive invasion of Okinawa, where they witnessed many kamikaze attacks. Following the battle, the LST transported the supplies needed for P-38 fighter escorts and supplies to Japan before Lenger left the service. Included with the interview is a video Lenger made himself, combining official Navy training films and video he filmed himself while aboard the LST (see 2 of 2).
- Date Created:
- 2011-01-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Earl Lee joined the Navy in 1943 and trained for only six weeks before shipping out to London. Earl made three trips across the Atlantic while he was in the service, also traveling to Cuba, Panama, the Philippines, and Japan. He said that he had more problems aboard the ship then he did fighting the enemies. He had been surprised when they went ashore in Japan becuase he had thought the people there would be more hostile towards Americans. Earl said that overall he had a very positive experience in the Navy and it dramatically affected his life in a positive way.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Randy Curry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1962 when he was 17 years old. He served on a destroyer as a torpedo man. His ship sailed to the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Norway. He spent an extra 4 months in the service due to Vietnam and signed out after that.
- Date Created:
- 2007-01-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Rasmussen, born in 1913, grew up on a farm outside of Greenville, Michigan. After finishing high school, he attended Olivet College and the University of Chicago Medical School on scholarships. After receiving his medical degree, he was accepted into the Navy in 1938, but wound up going back to Chicago to train as a thoracic surgeon. He was still in training when Pearl Harbor happened, and in 1942 he entered the Navy. He was assigned to a Seabee battalion that trained in Rhode Island and was sent to Adak Island in the Aleutians, where he served over two years. Once back in the states, he began practicing in Grand Rapids and became part of the research group that developed the first heart/lung machine and became an early anti-smoking activist.
- Date Created:
- 2011-02-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Susan Ryan Bowers is the widow of Vietnam War veteran Steven Bowers. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee and then grew up in Florida. She met Steven in 1963 after a deployment to Europe. He was in the Navy as a bombardier/navigator for an A5 Vigilante in RVAH 5 Squadron (reconnaissance). They were married in January 1964 and in June of that year he was deployed to Vietnam where he saw action flying bombing missions along the coast of Vietnam. During his time in the service she was an active member of the Sanford Naval Air Station community in Florida and ardently supported his involvement with the military and with the Vietnam War. After his tour ended in June 1965 he decided to leave the Navy and they moved up to Grand Rapids, Michigan where he worked for Lear-Siegler, an aerospace company, which allowed him to still be involved with the military, specifically the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
- Date Created:
- 2014-12-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Doug Hoekzema served in the US Navy between 1953 and 1955. He served on a destroyer in the Pacific, and his ship patrolled the Korean coastline shortly after the armistice there. The ship then toured the world, and Hoekzema got reassigned to shore duty after that, possibly due to the intervention of his congressman, Gerald Ford.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Jakubczak is from Grand Rapids Michigan and was born in May of 1946. After high school he worked at Lowell Engineering and as a farmer. He briefly attended Kendall School of Design, but dropped out in 1966 and he and his brother joined the Navy and volunteered for training as medical corpsmen. He completed his basic training and medical training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and then went to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, for field training. He then worked at Great Lakes Naval Hospital for ten months, and went to Vietnam in February, 1968. He was assigned to the First Shore Party, which provided logistical support to Marine combat units in the field, and was regularly attached to combat units when on operations. He was based near Da Nang, and supported Marine units involved in Operations Allen Brook and Mameluke Thrust. He left Vietnam in February, 1969, and completed his enlistment at Great Lakes.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Pond was born in Santa Ana, California in 1925. He became very bored with school during the war and dropped out when he was 17 to enlist in the Navy. James went through boot camp in Idaho and then went to signal school in Chicago. After signaling on destroyers in the Arctic, James retinas became burned and he could no longer work as a signal man. He went back to school to become a hospital corps man and was sent to work in a hospital in Okinawa after the invasion. James also worked as a doctor aboard a ship stationed outside of Sasebo and Nagasaki, Japan
- Date Created:
- 2009-02-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ray Richardson, born November 13th 1920 in Winterfield Township Michigan, served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942-1943 and then in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946 as a flight instructor during World War II. As a flight instructor, Ray trained cadets on the PBY Catalina in Pensacola Florida. After completing his service, Ray served as an agent in the FBI from 1947-1973.
- Date Created:
- 2011-08-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Raymond Fink was a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy Reserves from 1945 to 1946. In this account Fink discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training, and his active duty while stationed out in the Pacific. Fink was stationed on Guam and describes living conditions there after the war.
- Date Created:
- 2009-04-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wilbert Koetje was born in Marion, Michigan in 1922. After failing in his first attempt to enlist, he was drafted in 1943 and served in the Navy. Even after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Koetje waited a year before enlisting. After the military denied his enlistment, Koetje waited for the draft; once drafted, he served in the Navy. He initially served on a destroyer, the USS Davison, on convoy duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He then switched to another destroyer, the USS McDermott, which patrolled out of Hawaii. After several months, he was sent back to California on a transport ship, the SS Henry Byrd, which had to be abandoned off San Francisco. After that, he was assigned as a gun captain aboard a transport ship, the SS Leo, and participated in the campaigns at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, took a load of troops to Japan for the occupation, and helped repatriate Chinese soldiers.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Monica Allen Pรฉrin was born October 2nd, 1953 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland her father was in the Navy at the time of her birth. She finished high school in 1971 after transferring from five different high schools. She had trouble finding a job once she graduated college so she decided to join the Navy. She worked in Athens, Italy for over 10 years in her career and eventually became a combat artist for the Navy.
- Date Created:
- 2014-06-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ed Wikander joined the Navy in 1934 and served as a seaman on board the battleship USS Tennessee until leaving the Navy in the middle of 1941. After Pearl Harbor, he was drafted back into the Navy, and spent about two years working at a Marine base in California before being sent to Tinian to help build a hospital. He was called up again for Korea, and served on a destroyer based in Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Clyde Boerman served in the Navy in World War II. He was part of a Torpedo Boat that served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres. He worked manning the torpedoes on the boat. He participated in D-Day as part of the Naval team that assisted with the landings and he also served in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies.
- Date Created:
- 2005-05-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. Edward Byrd was born in 1940 in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Washington, D.C. He attended George Washington University and was accepted into the medical school there graduating in 1965. All medical school graduates at the time were expected to enter the service, so he joined the Navy,completed a short training at Annapolis Naval Academy, Maryland and served aboard the USS Chikaskia, USS Altair, and USS Truckee and took a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea taking part in aiding the USS Liberty during the Six Day War in 1967. In 1967 he volunteered to go to Vietnam to gain some experience with neurosurgery. In August 1967 he arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to the USS Repose off of Da Nang. He was originally in charge of his own ward aboard the ship treating tropical diseases until he began to assist neurosurgeons. In Vietnam he aided in treating a myriad of casualties from minor wounds to fatal wound and saw the immediate effects and aftermath of the Tet Offensive in late January 1968. He returned home and trained and worked as a neurosurgeon. After retiring he took art courses in Charleston, South Carolina and graduated with a degree in art history and studio art. He created a bronze sculpture in memory of one Dennis Lobbezoo, a soldier he treated in Vietnam that died in 1968, that was placed in the Richard M. DeVos Center of Grand Valley State University.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harvey Lugten was born in Holland, Michigan in 1922 and graduated from Holland High School in 1940. Harvey was drafted into the service and had his choice of the Army of the Navy. He chose the latter and went through training at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago. After basic training Harvey went to machinist school and then submarine school for another 6 months. After training he was shipped to Australia where he later boarded the USS 256. Harvey went on three war patrols throughout the Pacific and was later discharged in February of 1946. After his time in the service, he received his masters degree and later became the superintendent for Byron Center schools in Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Louis Schmidt served in the Navy during World War II. He was sent to Australia after basic training and trained as an anti-aircraft gunner, but served mostly in support units. He served for about a year in Australia, and then went to Manus Island and to the Philippines.
- Date Created:
- 2010-09-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Schuster served in the Navy during WW II aboard a Logistics Support Vessel (LSV), of which only 5 were used during the war. During this interview Schuster talks about serving in the engine room of the LSV, and trips between various islands and Pearl Harbor ferrying wounded personnel. Schuster also describes Manila after it's liberation from the Japanese, and about Navy prisoners having their sentences reduced if they went to sea.
- Date Created:
- 2007-08-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Brooks was born in Canton Township, Michigan. His father died when he was two years old, and his mother later remarried and the family moved to Grand Rapids. He graduated from Central High School in 1933 and joined the Navy in 1940 to become a pilot. Richard went to Pensacola, Florida to conduct flight training and went on to be stationed in Naval Air Station Coco Solo in Panama. While there, he flew future President Gerald Ford across the Panama Canal so he could make it back to his ship. Later in the war, he was sent to the Pacific and stationed in the Philippines where he flew hundreds of hours of missions doing both Black-Cat operations and Air-Sea Rescue.
- Date Created:
- 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Kramer was born in Gary, Indiana on April 3, 1943. Don got his GED when he was 17, got married, and also joined the Navy. Don worked in the Caribbean, Europe, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. Don was involved in many fire fights while in Vietnam and was often under heavy attack. After being badly wounded in a mortar attack in 1972, Don was discharged from the Navy 6 months short of retirement and spent 2 years in military hospitals receiving physical therapy. He retired from his job in 2005 and now spends most of his time at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
- Date Created:
- 2006-12-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Scholz was born in 1918 in Quincy Illinois. Before Pearl Harbor he worked as a civilian for the Navy as an offset printer in Washington D.C. He was drafted after Pearl Harbor happened and did his basic and job training at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri. Robert became a combat engineer in the 13th Engineer Battalion of the 7th Infantry Division. Robert and his unit left on a train to Camp Stoneman in California and from there they departed to New Hebrides via ship for refueling. From there they went to New Caledonia and finally arrived at Leyte, Philippines. His unit later took part in the initial landings on Okinawa, and after the war went to Korea before returning home.
- Date Created:
- 2014-03-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. Larry Robson is a Vietnam War veteran who was born on June 27, 1937 in Almont, Michigan. He attended Albion College and the University of Michigan completing surgical training in 1968. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1968 to fulfill his commitment to the military. He was first stationed at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas for five months until he received orders to go to Vietnam. He was trained at Camp Pendleton and was then deployed to Vietnam where he joined the 3rd Medical Battalion with the 3rd Marines Division at Quang Tri. He served as a surgeon for a year first with the Marines then with the Army when the 101st Airborne Division replaced the Marines. After Vietnam he was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for the last six months of his service.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ronald Bergin enlisted into the Navy in the year of 1944. He was to be sent to Japan for the Occupation, but his company was instead sent to Guam. He describes the condition of the camps in Guam and the how their camp was used to test President Truman's idea for integration between blacks and whites.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gordon Potter enlisted into the Naval Reserve the summer of 1955. He trained in Great Lakes, Illinois and was assigned to Alameda Naval Air Station afterwards to do clerical work. His main job was managing fuel use for Bravo Allotment until he was transferred to San Diego where he continued doing clerical work.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Tim Kidd was born in Michigan on August 20, 1951 and graduated from high school in 1970. Shortly after graduating, Tim was drafted into the Army and went through basic training in Fort Knox, Tennessee. Tim then had supply training in California and was then shipped out to Vietnam. Tim did mostly security work in Vietnam, guarding ships and inspecting convoys. After Tim was discharged from the Army, he felt that he did not enjoy civilian life and joined the Navy. Tim spent time in the Reserves after the Navy, but had to retire in 1991 due to his class 1 diabetes. He now resides in the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
- Date Created:
- 2006-12-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Cannon was born in Gary, Indiana in 1925. He was drafted after high school in July of 1943 as part of a group of black draftees from his neighborhood. Mr. Cannon was assigned to the Navy. After training at Great Lakes Naval Station, he was sent to Whidbey Island, Washington, where he commanded a small boat used to retrieve torpedoes from training missions. Later on, he was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and then at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bud Masinick was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Detroit, MI during his childhood. After graduating high school, he was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He attended basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, and attended submarine school in New London, CT. He was then assigned to the USS Icefish, and patrolled the Pacific until the end of the war. After the war, he played professional baseball, making it to the AAA level.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wesley Strehlau was born on December 14, 1926 in Detroit, MI. He served in World War II in the U.S. Navy as a second class water tender. During his three years of service, his responsibilities included operating and repairing machinery. He traveled from port to port to Australia where he participated in atomic bomb tests. He was discharged in 1947 and returned to work as an apprentice draftsman.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Crowell is a WW II veteran who served in the United States Navy from November 1942 to February 1946 in the South Pacific. In this interview, Crowell shares with great detail his time in combat, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf, dogfights over Manila, suicide attacks, a massive air attack on November 25, 1944, and a landing accident that threw Crowell 150 feet from his plane. This accident, which both Crowell and his pilot survived, was made part of a motion picture.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold Harig served in the US Navy from 1943 to 1946. He trained as an anti-aircraft gunner and served aboard the escort carrier USS Shamrock Bay. He sailed on convoy escort duty to North Africa, and later served in the Pacific in the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns, and was later based in Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. James Clark is a veteran of the Cold War who was born on September 7, 1939 in Oak Park, Illinois. He attended college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and joined the Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps there. When he graduated in June 1961 he was also commissioned and went to report for duty at the USS Purdy DD734 based out of Newport, Rhode Island. He took part in several voyages to the Caribbean Sea, including one during the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as a Mediterranean Cruise with the 6th Fleet. In May 1963 his two year commitment ended. In 1964 he joined the Active Naval Reserves and stayed with that until he was informally retired in the 1980s and then was finally officially retired in 1991 with the rank of captain.
- Date Created:
- 2014-12-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Cathy Seifert was born in Grand Rapids, MI in 1952. After graduating from Hope College, she entered the civil service in 1976, and then went to the Naval War College for officer training in 1978. She then served as a naval officer in various capacities until retiring in 1999. She served in Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Portugal, Norfolk, and finally at the Pentagon, serving with the Defense Intelligence Agency. She describes her different assignments in detail, and also says a good deal about life in the Navy and issues confronted by women officers during the period in which she served.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Berles was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was drafted in 1943 during his sophomore year at Aquinas College. Robert volunteered for a Navy program after receiving his draft notice that would allow him to finish his sophomore year before his time in the service, and also allow him to finish up college afterwards. Robert began officer training at Western Michigan University, where he attended classes all day long and physically trained. He served on a troop transport ship in the Pacific, and his ship was hit by a kamikaze off Luzon, the aftermath of which he describes in detail.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dennis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 19, 1981. After graduating high school, he joined the Navy and trained to be a diesel mechanic. He was stationed on the USS Ashland for his first tour. He traveled to Europe and went to Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia. After September 11th, he was sent to the Middle East where he later re-enlisted and was sent to Japan and stationed on the USS Chancellorsville as a part of the Pacific 7th Fleet. While there, he was able to go to South Korea, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
- Date Created:
- 2013-02-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Loftis was born July 28, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He spent the majority of his childhood at his grandparents' farm in Marne, Michigan. Robert enlisted into the Navy in 1942 and was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for boot camp where he spent nearly five weeks in training. After boot camp, he was sent to board the USS Phelps in Treasure Island near San Francisco, California. From California, he left for six months to fight the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific Ocean. Robert spent the majority of his time in the Pacific Ocean and was designated as a Signalman 3rd class that used Morse code to communicate with other ships. He was discharged in September of 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2004-05-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fay Johnson, born in Lowell Michigan in 1925, served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945 in the Pacific during World War II. After completing his basic training, Fay was sent to specialty school where he eventually was made a fire controller. After training, Fay was placed aboard the destroyer USS Terry and sailed to Saipan and then took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima. The ship encountered some damage during the invasion and needed to be sent back to San Francisco for repairs, and returned to duty off the coast of Japan before the end of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2005-11-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Lindner was born in Indiana in the early 1920s and joined the US Navy on July 3, 1941. Paul went through basic training in Chicago and was then sent to Rhode Island to train as a mechanic working on torpedo boats. Paul later traveled through the Pacific to Panama, Australia, New Guinea, Milne Island, Boona, and Kiriwina Island. Paul was also sent to Europe where he patrolled off the coast off Plymouth, England, and Cherbourg, France. He was eventually transferred to the Pacific shortly before the war ended, and never served there. Photographs and an account of military service are appended to interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Peterson enlisted in the Navy when he was just 17 years old and was then sent to Rhode Island for training in 1942. During training George and a friend volunteered for submarine service and were transferred shortly after. George spent nearly a year training for submarine service and was finally on his first war patrol in 1943. He spent two years making six war patrols throughout the Pacific, with port breaks at Panama, Hawaii, Guam, the Marshall Islands, and Midway. After the war George was part of the police force in Hawaii, where he helped to patrol the base. George had made it to the position of First Class Gunner's mate when he was discharged in 1952. Photographs are appended to interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Allen was born in 1926 in South Boston. His father served in World War I for the US Navy. Paul graduated high school at the age of 15 in 1942. Although he wanted to go to Harvard, Paul knew he would end up in the military and he wound up being stationed to the battleship New Jersey as a dispersing officer where he would be the youngest officer on the ship at age 19. After a few years on a few different ships, Paul would arrive to the Eastern theater during the Korean War as he was primarily based out of Yokusuka Japan in late 1950. He later served assignments at the Pentagon and aboard the carrier USS Essex (1954-56), and later had assignments in the Philippines and at the naval base in Da Nang during the Vietnam War.
- Date Created:
- 2014-06-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lloyd Heibel enlisted in the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17. He trained as a gunner and served on the USS Midway and USS Shenandoah, operating in the Atlantic and Mediterranean at the time of the Korean War.
- Date Created:
- 2010-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Thiel was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1950 and served in the Navy/Marines and Army during the Vietnam War era. He worked for the Navy and Marines as a lab assistant in a number of different locations, including South Carolina and Camp Pendleton in California. After his stint in the Navy, he joined the Army and worked as a truck and forklift driver in Germany and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
- Date Created:
- 2008-06-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Oracz was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925. He was drafted into the Navy in 1943 and went to basic training at Farragut Naval Station, Idaho and then went to the University of Chicago for radio training. In late 1943 he was sent to Shoemaker Navy Base, California to wait for his next orders, and in early 1944 he finally received orders to join the Pacific Theatre. After doing a few weeks of supply work on various liberated Pacific islands he finally boarded the USS Hoel, a destroyer, in early 1944 in the Solomon Islands. Aboard the Hoel he saw action during the Invasion of Peleliu and at Leyte Gulf, where his ship was sunk. He was rescued after three days in the water, and served on several other ships without seeing further action until he returned home in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2014-08-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Phil Brockschmidt knew that he wanted to join the armed service after Pearl Harbor was attacked and joined the Navy when he was only 15 years old. He took many long trips traveling in a convoy to Russia to deliver oil. Phil was eventually transferred into the Navy Air Corps and was disappointed with the transfer. In the Navy Air Corps Phil traveled to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Africa, Miami, Cuba, and Puerto Rico working as an ordinance man.
- Date Created:
- 2004-10-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dale Hemphill was born in Michigan in 1942 and later moved to Indiana with his mother when he was 10 years old. In 1960 he enlisted in the Navy for 3 years of active duty and 3 years in the Reserves. Dale went through boot camp in San Diego, California and was then stationed in California and later Alaska. After his time in the service he began working on a project called Flags Across America n 1979. He also started a non-profit organization called Spirit of America and he often travels around the country working on his project and organization.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jay Lindquist was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from high school there in 1952. He attended the Naval Academy and served on several ships before transferring to the Air Force in 1957. He trained as a fighter pilot served as a flight instructor, and then trained to work with rocket systems before volunteering for duty in Vietnam. He served there between 1965 and 1966 training Vietnamese pilots and flying observation aircraft out of Da Nang with the 110th Vietnamese Liaison Squadron, and won the Distinguished Flying Cross on one of his missions.. He returned home in 1966 and worked at the Air Defense Weapons Center in Florida until he resigned from the Air Force to pursue a business degree at the University of Michigan during which time he served with the Michigan Air National Guard until he resigned from there as a lieutenant colonel and took a job at Western Michigan University as a marketing professor.
- Date Created:
- 2014-02-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Raymond Stafford was born in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan in 1937. He enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to a mine sweep boat, but later moved down to the Panama Canal Zone to be on the security force. After that he went on the SS Iowa, the SS Galveston and the USS Sierra battleships and trained on the east coast. While he was on the USS Sierra he took part in the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1968 Raymond was sent to Columbus, Ohio and made chief petty officer. He went through the survival, evasion, resistance, and escape program and was sent to Vietnam to be in charge of a patrol boat river unit. Raymond spent 2 years in Vietnam and was sent back to the US.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Art Lucas was born in a small farm town in Michigan in 1922. There he acquired farming skills that would help him to avoid being drafted into the war at the very beginning. Lucas became eligible for the draft and decided to enlist in the Navy serving on an LST as a signalman and then as a quartermaster between 1944 and 1946. He has photographs taken in Japan after Nagasaki had been bombed. After serving, he continued farming and in Michigan was voted supervisor of his township for 25 consecutive years. Personal narrative, "My Two Years Before the Mast" is appended to the interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-09-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gene Welch was born near Midland, Pennsylvania in 1942. After graduating high school in 1960, he decided to join the Navy. Mr. Welch received his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Academy, and then went to a training school in San Diego to specialize in welding and metal working. He worked on the repair ship USS Klondike and the oiler USS Chemung. He made cruises to Japan, The Philippines, and Hong Kong on both of them. After returning to the United States in 1963, he was stationed at Long Beach for another year while the Chemung was being overhauled.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James VandenBosch, born in Ada, Michigan, enlisted in the Navy in 1966 and trained as a medical corpsman. After a cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La in the Mediterranean, he trained for combat duty with the Marines at Camp Lejeune and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. After a short stint with a Civil Action Patrol working in the villages near Da Nang, he became the senior corpsman for a rifle company of the 26th Marines, and participated with them in a series of combat operations. He spent the last part of his tour at a hospital in Da Nang. After his discharge, he eventually decided to go to nursing school and re-enlist in the Navy, this time as a nurse and officer. He did so, and retired from the Navy in 1989.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Newton was born in Grand Rapids, MI and graduated from high school at age 16. When he was eligible, he joined the Navy and did basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station. He then moved to submarine training at New London, CT. He was then assigned to the USS Icefish and patrolled the Pacific Ocean, making attacks on various different Japanese vessels.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Windisch grew up in Holland, Michigan during the depression. Although times were rough, his parents were both able to hold on to their jobs during the depression. Charles went to school through the sixth grade and joined the National Guard when he was only sixteen. He eventually enlisted in the Navy and traveled through the Pacific to islands such as Hawaii, Guam, and Okinawa. He served between 1941 and 1946 primarily on the USS Nashville, but also did a stint as a demolitions frogman.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)