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- Notes:
- Barry Kleinjans was born in Holland, Michigan in October 1942. After graduating from high school in 1960 he enlisted in the Navy. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois then received sonar training at Key West, Florida. While at Key West he also helped with recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Donna. He served aboard the USS Thomas J Gary (DER 326) on the Distant Early Warning Line searching for Soviet submarines and bombers, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the search for the USS Thresher. He left active duty in 1963 and worked as a Navy recruiter in the Navy Reserves until he returned to active duty in 1980. He served aboard the USS O'Callahn (FF 1051), received advanced sonar training in San Diego, and served aboard two Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates and helped with the evacuation of personnel when Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991. He worked as an instructor in the U.S. until he retired in 1997.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-02T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Bill Schaefer was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1943. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University in 1965. He enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to San Antonio, Texas for basic training. He was selected for top secret code work and was trained at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. With that training complete he was assigned to the 410th Bomb Wing stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan and got picked to serve aboard the airborne command post, flying missions out of Guam and directing B-52 bombing raids over North Vietnam. In May 1966 he was sent to Lindsey Air Station, West Germany and was assigned to Central European Operations, part of the Defense Intelligence Agency. During his time with them he worked to stop the desertion of soldiers, tracked uranium shipments in the Eastern Bloc, and oversaw the retrieval of codes from the U.S. embassy in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring), Wheelus Air Force (Gaddafi seizure of Libya), and the U.S. embassy in Jordan (Jordanian Civil War). In the early 1980s he was assigned to the Pentagon to work with Tactical Air Control Party units and retired from that in 2003. He is now an active member of the Kent County Honor Guard aiding veterans and veterans' families.
- Date Created:
- 2014-08-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- This interview session recaps the first part of Bassett's tour in Vietnam, and then covers the second half, when he was a brigade-level staff officer in the 9th Division. Bassett supervised long range reconnaissance patrols, organized and ran a provisional company working with experimental ground radar, and dealt with an unstable commander. He would remain the Army until 1997, working both with the Rangers and in intelligence work. He spent a total of eight years in Germany, including the period immediately before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and also went to Saudi Arabia and Iraq at the time of the Gulf War, and also worked at the Pentagon. After retiring for medical reasons, he continued to work as a civilian contractor for the military, helping the Colombian army and national police with counterinsurgency training and later working with civilian contractors sent to the Middle East at the time of the invasion of Iraq.
- Date Created:
- 2011-04-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dennis Bassett was born in 1942 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from high school in 1960, Bassett decided he wanted a different direction for his life, so he enlisted in the Army. After completing both his basic and advanced training at Fort Knox in Kentucky, Bassett deployed to Korea, where he worked at a medical depot. Once he finished his tour in Korea, Bassett returned to the United States and worked with a Ranger training company in Georgia before receiving his discharge. Following his discharge, Bassett went through four years of college, with the final two years in ROTC and as a result of his time in the ROTC, after his graduation, received a Regular Army commission. After receiving the commission, Bassett went back through Ranger school and deployed to Vietnam, where he served with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta region as part of the Riverine Force, and served as a platoon leader in the 3/60 Infantry for the first half of his tour. (see Part 2 for the rest of the story)
- Date Created:
- 2011-04-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joyce Washburn was born in October 1949 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She enlisted in the Navy Reserves in May 1968 and received basic training at U.S. Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Maryland in August 1968. She returned to college then went to Naval Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois where she learned how to be a corpsman. She stayed in the Navy Reserves for twenty six years working at the hospitals at Great Lakes Naval Station, San Diego, and Pensacola. She also got to work at Bethesda Naval Hospital and U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington D.C. During her time in the Navy Reserves she helped with domestic abuse programs, drug abuse programs, and psychological trauma programs. After her service she helped a fellow veteran, Dr. Edward Byrd, with the creation of a memorial for her fiance, Dennis Lobbezoo, who was killed in Vietnam in June 1968.
- Date Created:
- 2015-02-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Born in Sturgis, Michigan in 1942, Gabe Hudson joined the U.S. Army in 1967 following several years of college. After completing training as a photo interpreter, Hudson deployed to Vietnam served with 101st Airborne Division for fifteen months. After returning to the United States, Hudson continued in the military, training with the OV-1 reconnaissance aircraft. Once he completed that training, Hudson redeployed to Vietnam for another fifteen months and was on the last flight of American troops out of Da Nang. Following Vietnam, Hudson served at a variety of different posts, including in Korea and several throughout the United States before finally retiring after twenty-seven years of service.
- Date Created:
- 2010-02-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)