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- Notes:
- Derk Doonbos was born in the Netherlands in 1920 and immigrated to the United States when he was very young. He served in the Army during World War II. He was trained as an Infantryman. He served in North Africa, where he caught malaria. He also served in Italy, fighting in Anzio and taking Rome. He was then sent to Southern France, where he landed at Saint Tropez. He also fought in northern France and into Germany and was part of the group that liberated Dachau.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Milton was born in Wyoming, Michigan and worked at General Motors until he was drafted. Albert was from Caledonia, Michigan and he worked on a farm. Andrew grew up in Kellogsville and he too was a farm hand for many years. Like Milton and Albert, he was drafted on April 16, 1941. All three men served with the 32nd Division and were sent to New Guinea and participated in the Buna campaign.
- Date Created:
- 2004-10-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rita Glanz was one of the 10,000 Jewish children saved before WWII started as a result of the Kinder Transport. Her father, a successful businessman, was driven out of Austria and into Switzerland by the Nazis. Mrs. Glanz was taken in by a couple from Coventry, in Great Britain, and remained with them for the duration of the war. Afterwards, her father wrote letters to Winston Churchill and George VI, and managed to get his daughter out of there. She spent three years with relatives in Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up in New York, graduated from high schoo, and spent two years in college before getting married. Her husband had escaped from Germany to Ireland, eventually coming to the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Duane Ritsema was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and enlisted in the Marine Corps on March 3, 1964 because he had wanted to avoid being drafted into the Army. Duane went through basic training for 3 months and then spent 1 month in advanced infantry training. He was then shipped to Vietnam and worked near China Beach for about 8 months. Duane was later discharged and sent back to Michigan where he found that the country did not appear to be fighting a war at all.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Sleaford, of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, served with the United States Army Air Corps during WW II. He attended college courses while in the military for flight training. He flew with a bombing group in Europe and participated in dangerous covert air photography missions over the European continent. He also participated in carpet bagging missions, on one such flight, the aircraft faulted and he parachuted to the ground. A Portuguese truck driver found Sleaford and took him back to Portugal picked him up. After his service, he became an engineer with General Electric.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dr. Richard Wierenga, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. He joined the Air Force after two years of college and became a pilot. He was never sent overseas, but remained stationed in the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Howard Van Solkema was born in Byron Center, Michigan, in 1950. He was drafted shortly after graduating from high school and served in the Marine Corps between 1969 and 1971. He trained as a machine gunner and joined the First Marine Division at Da Nang in 1969. When his original regiment was sent home, he was transferred to a different unit in the northern part of the country, and finally to a base camp toward the end of his tour. He saw a good deal of small unit action, but no large battles, and worked with Australian and Korean troops.
- Date Created:
- 2008-10-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John DeBoer was born in 1924 in Paterson New Jersey and before the war he worked as tool and die apprentice. He enlisted in 1943 and trained in Sampson New York. He was sent to radio school and was assigned to the destroyer USS John D. Edwards as a radio technician. The ship did convoy duty and anti-submarine patrols throughout the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and participated in the sinking of a German U-Boat. He left the ship in 1944 to began flight training, and was based near Memphis Tennessee. He left the military in 1946 before finishing flight training.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eugene Bleil was born in 1920 and grew up mostly on farms outside of the city. He was accepted to Eastern Michigan University, but dropped out after a semester, traveled with his brother looking for work, and wound up enlisting in the Army Air Corps. The brothers trained as Selfridge Field in Michigan and passed the tests for pilot training, but failed the physical, and trained as mechanics at Scott Field in Illinois. Assigned to the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Bleil shipped out to the Philippines in 1940. Based at Nichols Field outside of Manila, the squadron trained there until the war with Japan began, and then transferred first to Clark Field, and then to Bataan. When the aircraft were withdrawn, the crews became provisional infantry and fought off Japanese landing attempts along the coast until the surrender in April. Bleil survived the Bataan Death March and three years in labor camps in the Philippines before being sent to Japan to work in foundries. Bleil and some of the other prisoners developed a talent for sabotage, but were never caught by the Japanese. After the war, Bleil was told by Army doctors that he would not live very long or be able to father children. Even so, he went back to college, became a doctor, raised a family and is still around to tell his story. He has also published a memoir, Condemned to Death Six Times.
- Date Created:
- 2012-03-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arthur DeWitt was born in Lapeer, Michigan in 1921, and grew up in Kalamazoo. While a senior in high school, DeWitt joined the Michigan National Guard, and his unit, Company C of the 126th Infantry Regiment, was called up soon afterward, causing him to miss most of his senior year. His unit was sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana for training, and he became a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) gunner. In the spring of 1942, his division was sent first to Boston, then to San Francisco, and from there to Australia. They were shipped to New Guinea in September, and participating in the fighting around Buna. One of the few men in his company to get through Buna unscathed and healthy, he came down with malaria soon after returning to Australia, and was reassigned to the 41st Division. He served with the 41st on Biak, and then on Mindanao in the Philippines, and was rotated home shortly before the end of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
