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- 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.)
- Notes:
- Ron Oakes was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in March 1949. After briefly attending junior college, he enlisted in June 1967 and received training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Camp Pendleton, California. He then received instruction in the Vietnamese language before being sent to Vietnam. Once he arrived, he was trained as a radio operator and assigned to a squad in the 27th Marine Regiment in the Da Nang area, soon becoming his platoon's radio operator, and saw extensive combat experience. When the 27th was rotated home, he was reassigned to 4th Marines at Quang Tri, and operated between Quang Tri and Hue before being sent inland toward Khe Sanh. While in this area, he contracted dysentery and was sent to a hospital ship where he spent a month aboard a hospital ship before being returned to his unit. When his tour was over, re was sent home and discharged in 1969.
- Date Created:
- 2010-06-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Allan Owens is a Cold War era veteran born in Detroit, Michigan in 1940. He attended Marquette University for a time and enlisted in the Air Force in 1961. He took basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, tech school at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado and he was deployed to Bitburg Air Force Base, Germany. He was assigned to the 525th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and was a weapons crewman. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he was placed on alert for three days and ordered to load nuclear weapons onto the aircraft. During his deployment he was also able to tour East Berlin and be witness to the desolation of the city. After he left the Air Force in 1964, he returned to Michigan and worked a variety of jobs, including with the Athletics Department at Grand Valley State University.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mr. Potter is from Grandville, Michigan. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in August, 2001, served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine. His highest rank was sergeant. He received his training in San Diego, where he was a squad leader. In Iraq, Mr. Potter was a fire-team leader. In Afghanistan, he was a squad leader. He was able to travel to over 30 different countries throughout his military career.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Tipton was born in Baskin, Florida in 1947. He received a draft notice in 1965, but received a deferment until 1969. After training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he deployed to Vietnam in October 1969. He was assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was sent to Camp Evans and then to Firebase Bastogne where he met up with his unit upon which they traveled to Firebase Birmingham. In December 1969 he and his unit moved to Firebase O'Reilly where he saw action in the field and from there went to Firebase Ripcord where he helped establish the base there. After Ripcord he was assigned to a mortar unit then he re-enlisted to be an aviation mechanic. He trained at Fort Rucker, Alabama and returned to Vietnam to serve with the 361st Aeroweapons Company at Camp Holloway outside of Pleiku. After Vietnam he served at Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, and in South Korea until he retired on October 31, 1990.
- Date Created:
- 2013-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Garry Underwood was born in Jackson, Michigan in March 1946. He started college after high school, but did not do well enough to keep his deferment, and was drafted in 1967. He trained as a mortarman, but when he arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1967, he was assigned as a rifleman to the 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku. He participated in numerous patrols and larger operations in late 1967 and early 1968, including a number of fights around Dak To. His platoon took heavy losses, especially immediately before and during the Tet Offensive of 1968 and during the "mini-Tet" in May. Toward the end of his deployment, he was put in charge of perimeter guards at his brigade's base camp.
- Date Created:
- 2013-01-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Assembly plant for Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel (LCVP) in Cairns, Queensland Australia, 1943.
- Date Created:
- 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Assembly plant for Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel (LCVP) in Cairns, Queensland Australia, 1943.
- Date Created:
- 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Tom Jillson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1947 and grew up in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He joined the Air Force upon graduating high school and was initially trained as an electrical specialist, but was then transferred to accounting. He was stationed at Webb AFB in Texas for two years of his service and was then shipped to Vietnam for the remainder of his enlistment period. His job in Vietnam was a clerk, trading American money for Military bills. He remained in Da Nang for the greater part of his time in Vietnam.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Edward Johnson was born in Greenville, Michigan in 1919, and was drafted into the Army in 1941. After training to be a mechanic at Camp Boyd, Texas, Johnson joined Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He went to England with this unit in 1942, and stayed with it through campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, the Hurtgen Forest, Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Germany, ending up in Czechoslovakia when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2012-02-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Douglas Martyn served in the US Army from 1944 to 1946. He initially trained as a medic in Chicago and worked in a dispensary and administered inoculations to new recruits. He eventually transferred to the Army Air Corps and was based first in Louisiana and then in Alaska at a base near Nome that Generals Eisenhower and LeMay visited because of the good fishing there.
- Date Created:
- 2007-12-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Howard Plattner was born in Sabetha Kansas in 1950 and served in the U.S. army during the Vietnam conflict. He was drafted into the Army in 1969 and sent to Fort Sam Houston to train as a medic. He was sent to Vietnam in 1970 and returned to the U.S. in 1971. During this time he served as an operating room technician in an Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bertam Zheutlin served in the medical corps during WW II. Still in medical school when the war broke out, Zheutlin recounts what it was like to be a civilian waiting to go to war, as well as his experiences as a doctor during the war and the training he underwent. Zheutlin also talks about the psychological after effects of war and of a relative who had escaped a concentration camp in Poland and become a guerilla.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Assembly plant for Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel (LCVP) in Cairns, Queensland Australia, 1943.
- Date Created:
- 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Walter "Red" Graham was born in January of 1917 in Lowell, Michigan, and lived there until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. He spent a year and a half training on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, Washington, and was then sent to Kodiak, Alaska as part of the 14th Coastal Artillery. In 1944, after spending significant time in Alaska, he was sent to Oklahoma for retraining before being shipped to Italy. Walter traveled through the Po River Valley in Italy until they reached Northern Italy when the war was won. Walter was eventually discharged from Camp Carson, Colorado in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2006-11-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Groggel served during World War II in Germany and France as a Replacement Officer for the 90th Division in 1944. Shortly after arriving, he and his severely shorthanded platoon were captured by a German outfit when defending from a pillbox. Groggel was then registered as a POW on December 9, 1944 and was sent to a camp in Poland. A few weeks later, as the Russians approached, the prisoners marched across Poland to Germany, under grueling conditions, and then had to march south from Hannover to Munich as other Allied forces approached. His liberation by General Patton's forces came on April 29, 1945 in Münchberg, Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mike Renner was born in Sigourney, Iowa. He enlisted in the Army in 1969 to stay ahead of the draft. After training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was sent for artillery training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Sent to Vietnam in early 1970, he was assigned to Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, a 155mm howitzer unit in the 101st Airborne Division. He served on several different fire bases in the northern part of South Vietnam, including Ripcord, where he served during the siege that took place in July, 1970. His own gun was destroyed by enemy mortar fire during the siege, but he helped out as best he could until the base was abandoned. He remained with his battery for the rest of his tour, and returned home in 1971.
- Date Created:
- 2012-10-05T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Vogel served in the U. S. Navy both stateside and during two tours overseas during the Vietnam War. He joined the Navy immediately after high school to avoid being drafted. Vogel recalls his experiences during basic training, his time spent in Vietnam, and the technology used during the war.
- Date Created:
- 2007-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ralph Hauenstein was working as a newspaper editor in Grand Rapids, Michigan in September 1940 and in the Army Reserved when he was called to active duty was assigned to be the public relations officer for Fort Sheridan, Illinois. In September 1941 he was assigned to an American intelligence task force, along with an American brigade, that was being sent to Iceland to relieve British troops that were stationed there. He worked as an intelligence liaison between Washington D.C. and London and oversaw the recon operations being conducted by Norwegian troops into Norway. After the outbreak of war he was transferred to an intelligence task force that was based in London that was preparing for the invasion of Western Europe through France. In the time leading up to D-Day he was involved in deceiving German forces stationed in Europe namely in the hugely successful Operation Fortitude which drew the bulk of German forces away from Normandy to Pas de Calais. He served as an intelligence officer during D-Day, the liberation of France, and the Battle of the Bulge as well as witnessed the results of the Holocaust. At the end of the war he took part in the interrogation of high ranking German officers and helped build the CIA out of the OSS. After the Second World War his time with the Army ended and he left with the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2014-10-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Assembly plant for Landing Craft Vehicle/Personnel (LCVP) in Cairns, Queensland Australia, 1943.
- Date Created:
- 1943-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Les Dykema was born in 1949 and few up in Hudsonville, Michigan. He tried college, but did not do well in his first year and in 1968 went ahead and enlisted in the Army and get some choice of assignment rather than wait to be drafted. In basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he found that he did not much like the Army, and got into some trouble, but made it through and went on to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for military police training. Despite a few more run-ins with authority, he completed the training and spent several months there working at a recreation area on the base before going to Vietnam in 1969. He was assigned to an MP unit, and soon got into trouble with his sergeant and captain, and was eventually reassigned to a combat engineer unit in the field. He worked with a demolition squad for some time, including the period of the Cambodian incursion in 1970, before being wounded and sent to Japan to recuperate. He agreed to extend his Vietnam tour in exchange for a month at home and
- Date Created:
- 2011-02-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jim Harris was born in South Dakota on December 29, 1941, and later moved to Minneapolis. After college, medical school and a year of internship, he was drafted into the Army in 1969. He trained at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, and was then sent to Vietnam. He served initially in a MASH unit with the 1st Division at Lai Khe, and when the division pulled out, he was transferred to Phu Loi, and then to the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Evans. In May, 1970 he voluntarily set up the battalion aid station on Firebase Ripcord, and stayed there until the base was evacuated in July. He remained with the battalion for the rest of his tour, serving on several different firebases, and went home late in the year. He completed his enlistment at Fort Pickett, Virginia.
- Date Created:
- 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- August Katsma was born on November 11, 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1937 he joined the National Guard as a medic in the 126th infantry. After the National Guard he got married and then was drafted into the Army. August trained as an MP and was in the Army's band. He was sent to North Carolina to a special service camp as a band member to raise money and play for the servicemen. Next he was sent to Camp Sibert, Alabama to Grey's Registration Unit and then Deployed to Manila in the Philippines. In Manila he worked at the morgue where he documented casualties of the war. August was sent back to the United states in February, 1946 and discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dale Krueger served in the U.S. Army from 1971-1974 in the Vietnam War. He also served in Iraq at a check point as well as in other countries such as Panama.
- Date Created:
- 2010-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arthur Thorsen is a Muskegon, Michigan, native who enlisted in the U.S. Navy before Pearl Harbor in 1941 at the age of seventeen. He worked mostly in the engine rooms of the ships he served on, initially an ammunition ship, and then the light cruiser Philadelphia in the Atlantic in 1942 and 1943 as it escorted convoys and supported the North African landings. He was then assigned to a new destroyer, the Anthony, which was sent to the Pacific in 1944. This ship also served as an escort and engaged in shore bombardments, notably at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and was then based at Sasebo, Japan, after the end of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2009-06-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Philip Tietz, born June 12th 1942, served in the U.S. Army from 1963-1966 during the Vietnam War. During his first tour of duty, he lived in Saigon and worked as a systems controller. On his second tour, Phillip was flown via helicopter to various locations where radios needed repair. Phillip was discharged in 1966.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Peggy Stolk was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up during the Depression. Her family never ran into any major problems during that time, but afterwards her father left her mother with six children to raise on her own. Peggy worked during high school and during the war, while she was waiting for her boyfriend to come home. She said that most of the young men were gone at the time and she spent a lot of time hanging out with girlfriends. She wrote her boyfriend everyday while he was fighting in Europe and they finally got married in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2008-02-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Orville Boerman was born in 1933 in Allegan County, Michigan. He was drafted into the Army in May of 1953. He trained as a mechanic and was sent to Germany where he served in a transportation company supporting an artillery unit, helping them move around and transporting supplies.
- Date Created:
- 2008-07-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mike Borah served as a sergeant in the US Army during the war in Vietnam from 1969 through 1970. He enlisted in the US Army with the hopes of getting a better assignment than he would get if he waited to be drafted, but things did not work out that way, and he spent his year in Vietnam with a weapons company in the First Cavalry Division and spent a lot of time in combat in the jungle. Mike enjoyed working in the US Army, but really hated his time in Vietnam and was even more displeased with the welcome he received from US citizens when he returned from the war.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Interview with Peggy Dorstewitz about her husband Edward Dorstewitz. Edward grew up in Coloma, Michigan and after graduating from high school, attending Ferris State University, going year-round so he could finish his studies early. After completing his degree, Dorstewitz received his draft notification and went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for his training. Once he completed his training, Dorstewitz deployed to Vietnam and joined a unit patrolling along Highway 1, where he stayed for the remainder of his tour. Much later, after Dorstewitz had returned home, he became sick and it was eventually determined that his sickness resulted from contact with the chemical "Agent Orange".
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Louis Dudeck was born in 1943 in Bloomer, Wisconsin, and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1963. He trained at San Diego and Camp Pendleton, and served with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Pendleton until he unit was deployed to Vietnam in 1965 and redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. His unit did jungle training on Okinawa, and then landed at Da Nang, the first ground combat unit in Vietnam. His battalion initially guarded the Da Nang airport, then went to Chu Lai, and Dudeck was then transferred to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, with whom he participated in Operation Harvest Moon in December, where his company took heavy losses. A few weeks later, while operating in the A Shau Valley, Dudeck was badly wounded and sent first to Japan and then to the US to recuperate, and was discharged for medical reasons in 1966. [Note: the first interview includes most of his combat history, and the second fills in some gaps in the early part of the story and clarifies several aspects of his Vietnam service.]
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jack Harris was born in 1933 in Lucas, Ohio to a family of farmers. His family later moved to Michigan where he attended high school in the town of Buckley, graduating in 1951. He later attended Michigan State for a time, but left before finishing a degree. In 1953 he was drafted into the Army, where he took basic training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. During his training, the armistice was signed, ending the Korean War. After training, Jack was sent to Frankfurt, Germany where he was assigned to Division Ordinance in the 4th Infantry Division.
- Date Created:
- 2014-12-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Darwin Cutler enlisted into the Air Force in September 1950 and trained as a Specialized Mechanic and sometimes operated as a Flight Engineer. His job was to work on aircraft engines and transportation during the Korean War. He was based in the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2010-06-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Dorsey was born in 1946 in Gary, Indiana. After graduating from high school and briefly attending college, Dorsey attempted to the join the Air Force, who denied him because of a bad knee, although the Army eventually drafted him. Following basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas and advanced training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Dorsey deployed to Vietnam in 1968 and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division near the DMZ. After several months, the division moved south to an area near the Cambodian border and stayed there for the rest of his tour. Dorsey's company saw a lot of combat, and due to combat losses and troop rotation, he became a radio operator, and eventually his company commander's radio operator. After his tour, he served as a drill instructor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
- Date Created:
- 2010-09-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Raymond Hawkins, Jr. was born on July 7, 1956 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His father was in the Navy and stationed in Puerto Rico at the time. Raymond went through ROTC while attending college at Michigan State University and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant once he graduated. He went through basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas and then through jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia. While in the service Raymond was stationed in Louisiana, Bosnia, and Oklahoma before he was discharged. He then worked as a defense contractor during Desert Storm and was serving in active duty in the Reserves during the second Iraq war.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Smith was born in 1946 in Fredericktown Missouri, he later moved to Tennessee. He joined the ROTC in college, then joined the Army in 1969. He trained at the IOBC at Fort Benning, then at Fort Reilly. He served with the D Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, as platoon leader of 2nd platoon, and was involved in the fighting in early July 1970 around Firebase Ripcord. After he was wounded he served as the properties officer, later air coordinator. After returning to the US he was involved in the training base at Fort Campbell, before leaving the Army in June of 1972.
- Date Created:
- 2014-10-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Bernhardt enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17 in early 1944. He served in the Pacific Theater of WWII as an artillery observer for naval bombardments. He also served as a guard of the atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki, and was part of the post-war occupation force as an MP in the Nagasaki area.
- Date Created:
- 2007-11-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joe was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1923. He joined the National Guard when he was fourteen years old and served until his unit was federalized in 1940. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 and was sent to be an MP at Fort Custer, Michigan. Joe was sent to England where he patrolled four small towns about thirty miles outside of London. While in country, he also was part of the honor guard and was a staff driver for officers. Joe was sent back to the United States in 1946 after the war had ended.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Roger Oppenhuizen was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1946. After completing college in 1968, he enlisted in the Army to stay ahead of the draft, and signed up for Officer Candidate School. He did his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then trained as a combat engineer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The Army assigned him to Infantry OCS instead of Finance, so he decided not to enter the program, so he was sent directly to Vietnam as a combat engineer in May, 1969. In Vietnam, he served with D Company, 35th Engineer Battalion, which was based at Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta and working on constructing a two-lane highway connecting the Delta to Saigon. For the first three months, Oppenhuizen worked on constructing the highway. However, because he knew how to type, Oppenhuizen eventually moved up to the company headquarters first to replace the operations sergeant while he was on leave, and then to replace the departing company clerk.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Walter Stecker was able to avoid being drafted into the services during the beginning of World War II because of his work for the aircraft industry in industrial design. He was eventually drafted into the Navy and worked on illustrations for the assembly of aircraft, blue-prints, and maps. He worked on top-secret projects and even presented some of his findings to the US Senate.
- Date Created:
- 2007-07-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Scrapbook of photos, brochures, documents, and memorabilia compiled by James W. Ochs of the 26th Infantry Division of the US Army documenting his WWII service.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Doug Anderson was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Union High School in 1943. He enlisted in the Navy and began training one month after graduation. Doug went through accelerated college courses at Oakland College in Ohio and was then sent to mid-shipman school in New York. After going through training, the war was already over and Doug was sent to work in salvage and preservation in Guam. Doug spent the extent of his service in Guam and eventually became an Executive Officer when he was only 19 years old.
- Date Created:
- 2004-05-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jim Corbett was born in 1938 in Big Rapids, Michigan. He grew up in Detroit during WWII, attended high school in Big Rapids and graduated from there in 1956. He attended Ferris State University for two years until he enlisted in the Air Force. Prior to serving in the Air Force he joined the Michigan National Guard during his senior year of high school and served with E Company Light Infantry 126th Regiment 32nd Red Arrow Division from fall of 1955 to April 1958. He was trained at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas and was transferred to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for advanced electronics training. He served with the 341st Strategic Air Command Bomber Wing at Abilene Air Force Base, Texas; the nuclear strike force at Elmendorf Air Base, Anchorage, Alaska; Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan; Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam (prior to the outbreak of war); Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and saw a myriad of international deployments to France, Libya, Germany, Thailand, and the Panama Canal Zone.
- Date Created:
- 2013-11-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Hawley, born in Michigan in 1932, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1949-1953 in both the U.S. and Korea during the Korean Conflict. During his service in Korea, Richard worked as a welder and maintenance man at the K-2 air base, mainly repairing runways and aircraft. After returning to the U.S. he continued his job as a welder in Selfridge Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harry Sobotka was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1918. After graduating from high school he joined the National Guard. In October of 1940 Harry got called up for active duty and went to Louisiana for training. He became a sergeant and commanded 4 mortar crews. After training in Louisiana he went to Officer Candidate School. Harry was deployed to England and then landed on Omaha Beach in the fall of 1944. He went towards Alsace-Lorraine and helped capture the town of Metz. He was the executive officer in charge of the HQ and handled 3 Howitzer Platoons. Harry helped out at the Battle of the Bulge after Metz. He was sent home and discharged in December of 1945. Harry accepted a job with the technical program in the National Guard and retired in January of 1975.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)