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- Notes:
- Robert Hammond was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 18, 1923. Robert enlisted in the Navy about one year after Pearl Harbor was attacked and went through basic training in Chicago. After basic training, Robert went to radio, gunnery and flight schools. He went on 39 flight missions as a radioman/gunner on TBF fighter bombers, seeing action at Palau, Saipan, Guam, the Philippines, Okinawa and Formosa. Eventually Robert and the others in his crew were in such bad shape, they could no longer pass their physicals. They had been pulled from their flight missions shortly before the bombs were dropped on Japan. Military records are appended to interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2004-06-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ray Janssen was born in Wisconsin in 1923 and then grew up on a farm in Michigan. He graduated from high school in 1942 and was drafted shortly after in 1943. Ray trained in terribly hot weather in Alabama for eight months and then trained in California for about three weeks before leaving for Australia. Ray worked with Australian civilians in supply warehouses for one year before traveling to Leyte, where he was wounded in a kamikaze attack on his ship. He recuperated on New Guinea and returned to duty in the Philippines at the end of the war, where he helped to destroy leftover supplies and munitions.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Melvin Van Dis was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and served in the Army during World War II. Van Dis was drafted into the Army in 1943, and was sent to Europe as a replacement for killed or injured troops. He was attached to the 1st Division, which had lost a number of men during their previous campaigns. He landed in Normandy on D-Day as part of the second wave to hit the beaches. He was injured in Normandy in a friendly fire incident. He recovered and was sent back to his unit, serving with them across France and into Aachen, only to succumb to trench foot in the Hurtgen Forest. He finished his tour of duty working for the American Legion back in the United States.
- Date Created:
- 2009-07-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Art Jacobs joined the Naval Air Corps in the 1930s. He was one of only 32 men that graduated with wings out of the original 435 men. He stayed in the Navy for a long time and eventually taught other young men advanced air fighting tactics. While he was called out to fight in World War twice, in both times his orders eventually were cancelled before he was actually shipped out. Art Had a rough childhood because his father died when he was only six and then he and his siblings had to help support their mother. Art enjoyed being in the Navy and believes that every male should serve at one point in their life. After life in the Navy, Art also became part of the Masons, the Red Cross, and the Eastern Star.
- Date Created:
- 2005-11-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Basil Morris was born in Allegan, Michigan and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Basil joined the Air Corp following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and went through the requisite training to fly B-24s. He was eventually sent to Europe, flying missions from a base in Italy. On his third mission, his plane was shot down over Austria, and he was captured by local villagers and made a POW. He was sent to a POW camp in Germany, and released when the camp was over-run by the Russians.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Smith was born in Coopersville, Michigan on April 28, 1922. George was drafted into the Army when he was 20 years old. He was assigned to the 105th Artillery and mostly trained in Georgia. George landed in France and moved into Germany where his job was to support the infantry with artillery. His unit was pulled off the front lines in Germany to help out in Bastone, Belgium where he was wounded by a mortar. George was put in a horse arena that was converted into a hospital and got gas gangrene. He lost his left leg and his big toe on his right foot. George was sent home and spent over a year at a hospital in Texas.
- Date Created:
- 2008-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Van Luyn was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925, and was drafted into the Army in 1943. He wanted to go, and was disappointed when he was rejected due to an eye problem, but later talked his way past the recruiter and sent to Camp Ellis, Illinois, to train as an engineer. He joined the 1303rd Engineer General Service Regiment and was assigned to B Company, which specialized in bridge construction. He shipped out to England with his unit in the spring of 1944, and deployed to Normandy shortly after D-Day. After the Normandy breakout, his regiment followed Patton's 3rd Army across France, building and rebuilding bridges all along the way, sometimes under fire from enemy artillery or aircraft. His unit got caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, and then participated in the invasion of Germany, building their longest bridge across the Rhine near Remagen. Shortly after the Germans surrendered, the unit was deployed to the Philippines in preparation for the invasion of Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2011-08-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Keith Blough was born on August 28th, 1925 in Freeport, Michigan. He was drafted in to the US Navy in November of 1943. After attending boot camp in Farragut, Idaho, he became a signalman on a ship. After the war, he was discharged at Great Lakes in Chicago, Illinois.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kenneth Kelly was born on a farm in Coopersville, MI in 1925. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and served in a construction battalion (Seabees) in the Pacific theater, primarily in the Admiralties and on Okinawa. He relates several of his experiences while working on war construction projects, and focuses mostly on camp life. He also served in the Reserves for thirty years. The interview includes a description of his experience of the 1995 reunion at Okinawa.
- Date Created:
- 2008-01-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gelmer Romeyn was born on March 24, 1923 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the early 1940s he joined the Michigan State Troops (a state defense force) and in November 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Force. He reported for basic training at Miami Beach, Florida in February 1943 then received college training at Duquesne University, Pennsylvania. He was classified as a pilot and received flight training at Maxwell Field, Alabama, Shaw Field, South Carolina, and and Moody Field, Georgia. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and a pilot on May 22, 1944. He trained on the C-47 transport plane. He spent six months in Casablanca, Morocco flying transport missions to Italy. He was transferred to Oran, Algeria for the remainder of his time overseas. He returned to the United States in December 1945. He was discharged at Newport News, Virginia and was released from active duty in February 1946. Gelmer remained in the Army Air Force Reserve and then served with the National Guard as a 1st lieutenant for two years.
- Date Created:
- 2005-04-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)