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- Description:
- Robert D. Vassen, retired Associate Director of the English Language Center at Michigan State University is interviewed by John Metzler, African Studies Center Outreach Coordinator and Peter Limb, Michigan State University Librarian and Africana Bibliographer. Vassen discusses growing up in South Africa during the late 1940's and 1950's as an Indian and living in the Indian community of Fordsburg, near Johannesburg. Vassen says he was active in the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress and in 1962, joined the illegal military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Forced into exile in London in 1964, Vassen says he continued to be an active member of the ANC and edited "Letters From Robben Island: a selection of Ahmed Kathrada's prison correspondence, 1964-1989."
- Date Issued:
- 2005-01-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- In a 1983 oral history interview, Dorothy M. Harrison talks about her childhood in Royal Oak, MI, attending the University of Michigan and her service in the American Red Cross during World War Two. Harrison says she volunteered for the ARC in late 1942 and after receiving their training, her unit was shipped to Europe as part of a forty-ship convoy which was attacked by a German submarine during the crossing. Harrison also talks about opening a service club with the 93rd Heavy Bombardment Group in Hardwick, England, moving to the 337th General Service Engineers and later to the 363rd Photo Reconnaissance Group as part of the push across Germany as the war ended. She describes her quarters, her duties, celebrating Christmas with the troops during the Battle of the Bulge, struggling to get the equipment and supplies she needed to keep the clubs running, and the sexual harassment she experienced. Harrison says that she returned to the U.S. in September 1945, resumed her career as a librarian and married and moved with her husband to Louisville, KY to raise a family.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Ginny Brown talks about her childhood in Tennessee, graduating from nursing school in 1943 and joining the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in July of that same year. After her initial training, Brown says that she volunteered to go overseas and was assigned to the 48th General Hospital in Petworth England in January 1944 and to a combat medical unit in France in August of that same year. She describes living in a tent, showering in front of male soldiers, working in a field hospital in a potato patch and being stationed in Paris after liberation. After V-E Day, Brown says that she was assigned to a hospital on the Riviera, was shipped back to the U.S. from Marseilles, left the Army in 1946, but went back on active duty in 1953 and finally retired in 1980. Brown claims that women were discriminated against in the military and were often denied promotions because of their gender. Brown is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart and Carol A. Habgood.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-01-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Linden N. Anderson talks about her long career in the American Red Cross which included service in World War Two and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Anderson reminisces about her childhood, attending the University of Texas, teaching in Texas public schools and finally joining the Red Cross in 1943. Anderson talks about her training with the "doughnut dollies", being stationed at the 91st General Hospital, shipping out to England and being stationed in Wales until her unit could be moved to a hospital at Oxford. Anderson says that her job was to provide entertainment for the wounded and build morale and that she often took patients on bus tours throughout England. After V-E Day, Anderson says that she returned to the States, but was soon recalled by the ARC to serve in Japan and in Korea during that conflict. Anderson also says that she remained in the Red Cross for twenty-years after Korea, discusses her duty stations in Libya, Germany, Korea and the U.S., describes treating casualties in Japan during the Vietnam war and finishing her career in Corpus Christi in 1973. Anderson is interviewed by Ruth F. Stewart.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-02-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Robert D. Vassen, retired Associate Director of the English Language Center at Michigan State University is interviewed by John Metzler, African Studies Center Outreach Coordinator and Peter Limb, Michigan State University Librarian and Africana Bibliographer. Vassen discusses growing up in South Africa during the late 1940's and 1950's as an Indian and living in the Indian community of Fordsburg, near Johannesburg. Vassen says he was active in the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress and in 1962, joined the illegal military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Forced into exile in London in 1964, Vassen says he continued to be an active member of the ANC and edited "Letters From Robben Island: a selection of Ahmed Kathrada's prison correspondence, 1964-1989."
- Date Issued:
- 2005-01-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection