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- Notes:
- Marvin Besteman was born on June 29, 1934 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On November 8, 1956 he received his draft notice. After being processed in Detroit and at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri he went to Fort Carson, Colorado for basic training. He stayed at Fort Carson to help train recruits then received advanced infantry training there. He stayed at Fort Carson for two months as a company clerk then received orders for Europe. He was stationed at Patton Barracks in Heidelberg, West Germany as the Chief Clerk of Headquarters Company of United States Army Europe and his wife joined him there as an Army nurse at the hospital in Heidelberg. In 1958 he left Germany and then was discharged from the Army.
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Hoolsema was born in 1928 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from high school in 1947. He was drafted into the Army in mid-1950 and began training at Camp Carson, Colorado in late October, 1950. He received basic training as well as infantry training there, and after nine months he and the rest of the 196th Regimental Combat Team were sent up to Fort Richardson, Alaska. During his time in Alaska he went on maneuvers and prepared for the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Alaska, specifically protecting Elmendorf Air Force Base. In late 1952 he was sent back to Camp Carson, Colorado and was discharged from the Army.
- Date Created:
- 2015-03-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Grace Harper was born in Iowa in 1923. She married Robert Powers in 1941. She and her husband had two children when he was drafted in 1944. Her husband was sent to Europe and was wounded in action and spent several months in the hospital before returning home.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Earl O. Henry Jr. was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, on June 19, 1945. He attended Vanderbilt University and the University of Washington, and while in college was in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. After graduation he was commissioned as an officer in the Army and received Quartermaster and Officer Basic Training at Fort Lee, Virginia. He was assigned to manage the officers’ club at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He served from 1969 to 1971. Earl’s father, Earl O. Henry Sr., was born in Clinton, Tennessee, in 1911. He served as an officer and a dentist in the Navy. With America’s entry into World War II, he served at Parris Island, South Carolina then joined the Dental Corps at the Naval Academy. In 1944 he volunteered for sea duty and was assigned to the USS Indianapolis. He joined the ship on July 25, 1944 at Saipan. He participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima and survived the kamikaze attack near Okinawa on March 31, 1945. Earl Sr. was aboard the USS Indianapolis when it delivered the atomic bomb components to Tinian, and was killed in action when the I-58 sank the Indianapolis on July 30, 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2016-08-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- In July 1969, Ron Kloet returned to Vietnam for a third tour of duty. During this tour, he served as part of the intelligence section for the 1st Air Cavalry Division in the Phuoc Long Province. While with the 1st Air Cav., Kloet took part in operations within neighboring Cambodia. Once his tour with the Air Cav. ended, Kloet's original orders called for him to go to a career course at Fort Bragg. However, recalling previous time spent at Fort Bragg, Kloet instead requested going back to Vietnam for a fourth tour, which he received. Therefore, after receiving training in another career course and in a MASA (Military Assistance Security Advisory) course, Kloet deployed to Vietnam for a fourth time. During the fourth tour, Kloet served as part of the Phoenix program, a joint Vietnamese-American effort to neutralize the Viet Cong and communists at a local level. Also during his time with the Phoenix program, Kloet took part in the NVA's 1972 Easter Offensive, which occurred in a neighboring province.
- Date Created:
- 2011-02-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Darrell Burton is a Grand Rapids native and a resident at the Coit Street VA Facility. Burton spent the majority of his army service (1976-79) as a military policeman at a base in New Mexico. Burton did not see any combat during his term of service.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Diane Brigalia enlisted in the Army after high school because she had always been interested in becoming a doctor, but was not yet ready for college. She went through 9 weeks of basic training and then was sent to Fort San Houston in Texas for EMT training. They mostly focused on field simulations and learned how to put together make shift medical centers and basically work with very few materials. Diane was stationed in Korea after she finished training and worked at the field station with the Second Engineer Battalion. She met her husband in Korea and they later got married when they were both stationed at Fort Riley in Texas.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Womer, born in 1941 in Niles Michigan, served in the U.S. Army for 26.5 years. During his service, William was stationed in both Germany as well as in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968 where he organized ambushes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. William had the honor of being selected as the 4th Army NCO of the year and spent the later part of his service stateside training solders.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold Christian served as a Quartermaster in the U.S. Army from approx 1954-1957 after the Korean Conflict. While in the service, Harold spent two years stationed in Alaska and one year stationed in Texas. After exiting the service he pursued a care as an airline pilot.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lawrence Koster was born on May 13, 1935 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After attending Calvin College for two year, he enlisted in the army with the idea that he would be allowed to finish his degree. Since his test scores were high, he was given special training to maintain the Nike Ajax Missile system. Once he completed his training, he was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas where he trained recruits in the maintenance of the Ajax Missile System. He discusses the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during this time. When he left the military, Lawrence took advantage of his electronics experience and went to work for IBM.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jeff Bowman was born in Muskegon, Michigan on May 27, 1954. He went to Christian schools in Muskegon and played basketball. Jeff graduated in 1972 and then enlisted in the Army. He had basic training in Fort Dicks and was stationed there for two years. During his time in the Army, Jeff drove trucks and continued to do so after being discharged. Jeff currently lives in the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Marvin Abbott was born in June 1938 in Decatur, Michigan and after graduating from high school, attending Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, Abbott went through the ROTC program, which included a six-week basic training course at Fort Riley, Kansas. After graduating from Michigan State, Abbott received an officer commission and went to Fort Bliss, Texas for air defense artillery training. Once he completed the training at Fort Bliss, Abbott went to Fort Knox, Kentucky and served as part of the training units there. Following his active-duty service at Fort Knox, the Army transferred Abbott to an Army Reserve transportation unit using B.A.R.C.s (Barge Amphibious Re-supply Cargo). Abbott stayed with the Reserve unit for another five years, until 1968, when he received his discharge.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bob Heine was born in 1947 in the Bronx, New York. After high school, he enrolled in the engineering program at Auburn University in Alabama, and completed four years of ROTC training. Instead of going to Vietnam, he was sent to graduate school for two years, and then received specialized chemical training, after which he went into the reserves rather than active duty. He soon switched to the Engineer Corps, and pursued a professional career while advancing through the ranks in the reserves. He was assigned to command an engineer battalion during Desert Storm, but the unit was not deployed due to the brevity of the war. After 9/11, however, he was activated, working initially at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and then being deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in command of a unit supporting American forces in those countries, and wound up doing two tours in Iraq as a major general and working with high ranking American and Iraqi officials.
- Date Created:
- 2012-05-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Chaffee was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1939 and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. He attended Middlebury College and completed the Army ROTC program there, graduating in 1960 and taking his commission. He trained as a supply officer at Fort Lee, Virginia, and went to South Korea in 1961. He served first in a headquarters unit as a quartermaster, and then went to the 1st Cavalry Division along the DMZ. He served the rest of his enlistment at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. He left the service in 1965 rather than re-enlist in part because he did not want to go to Vietnam, but while in graduate school in 1966, he volunteered for a State Department program that sent volunteers to Vietnam as aid workers, and spent several months in Song Be Province.
- Date Created:
- 2014-11-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bill Alverson was born in 1929 in Olympia, Washington and grew up there. He completed ROTC training in college and was commissioned in the Army in 1951. He went to Japan in January, 1952 and trained for service in Korea. He served as a platoon leader in E Company, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in Korea during the last year of the war. He left Korea on May 1, 1953 and began a career in the Army serving at Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Benning, Georgia, and completing paratrooper training, being a trainer for the ROTC at Washington State University, and completing Army Ranger School in the fall of 1960. He served in Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile crises and studied at the Command General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1965 he volunteered to go to Vietnam and was sent over in January 1966 to be an Army Ranger advisor for the South Vietnamese Rangers in Pleiku, South Vietnam. He helped carry out raids against the Viet Cong during his time there. After his deployment to Vietnam he returned to the United States and served at the Command General Staff College and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina helping train Special Forces. In 1972 he was redeployed to Vietnam and arrived there in August 1972. He was assigned to the Army Airbase near Can Tho in the Mekong Delta commanding the Air Cavalry Squadron and South Vietnamese Division there. The second tour ended in March 1973. He returned to the U.S. and served as an ROTC instructor at Idaho State University until his retirement in 1978 retiring with the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2014-10-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Rasmussen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 24, 1942. He attended Concordia Theological Seminary, enlisted in the Army on February 24, 1968, and graduated from seminary in June 1968. His first assignment was with an Army Reserve engineer battalion in Wallace, Idaho. On July 1, 1973, he volunteered for active duty. He spent a year at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, then deployed to Thailand in February 1974. In Thailand, he provided spiritual coverage for the Central Identification Laboratory which worked on identifying the remains and bodies of soldiers lost during the Vietnam War. From Thailand, he went to Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington, and after that returned to the civilian ministry for four years. He returned to service at the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis, Missouri then served at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for about five years. He was deployed to Middle East during the Gulf War, where he checked on the morale of troops and guards at prisoner-of-war camps. He retired on September 1, 1995, with the rank of colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2016-10-28T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- 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:
- Gregory Glazier was born in Alma, Michigan in 1967. Gregory enlisted in the Army in 1985 and was part of the 1st Armored Division for 10 years. For most of his time in the service, Gregory was stationed in Germany where he guarded American housing areas and kept watch for terrorist activity. Gregory was also a tank crew member and his duties included driver, loading 120mm shells, gunner, and eventually tank commander.
- Date Created:
- 2007-04-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Arlen Dove is a Vietnam and Cold War Era veteran who served with the Military Police Corps in the U.S. Army, in which he served in active service from 1968 to 1971. In this account, Dove discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S. and abroad. He began his active service when he enlisted training to go to Vietnam but ended up serving his first tour in Germany instead. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1971, Dove left the U.S. Army to pursue other career activities. Was soon called back to serve in the National Guard in various places around Michigan and upon his return to the regular U.S. Army which he made his career as an MP he served in Germany, Korea, the Philippines, and various military bases in the U.S. before he was declared medically retired from the military service sometime in the late 1980s. Dove concludes by sharing some of his thoughts about his time in the service and how his time there led him to pursue a career as a chaplain.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Baker III was born in Kalamzoo, Michigan in 1935. He grew up in Kalamazoo and enlisted in the Army in 1954. John received basic training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas and engineer training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Upon completion of his training he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington where he took a ship to Alaska. He was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska for two years and worked in the machine shop. Upon completion of duty in Alaska he returned to Fort Lewis, Washington and served for two years as a truck mechanic. At the end of his service he contracted meningitis, and once he recovered from that was discharged from the Army on June 18, 1958.
- Date Created:
- 2016-02-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Laidlaw was born in Detroit on December 13, 1938. After turning 18 he volunteered for the draft and was inducted into the Army. He received basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and truck mechanic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma with an artillery battalion and served as a lieutenant's driver. In September 1957 the unit sailed to Italy and was stationed in the area around Vicenza near the Austrian and Yugoslavian borders. During his time in Italy the unit conducted war games and maintained a presence in northern Italy to keep the Soviet Union from any attempts to move into Austria or Italy. Upon the death of his father he received an emergency leave home, and after 30 days was discharged from the Army in Chicago.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harry L. Fortier grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, and was drafted into the Army in 1972. He served primarily at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, loading and unloading helicopters, and did not have to go overseas. When he left the Army at the time when the Vietnam War was ending, he experienced some of the same negative treatment that returnees from Vietnam went through.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)