Oral Histories 1857 items

Wide-ranging oral histories from Grand Valley, Capital Area District Library, and Michigan State that capture the perspective of citizens and veterans across the state.

List Map Gallery

1311. Lloyd, James (Interview outline and video), 2007

Notes:: Jim Lloyds experience in the military began when an ample amount of recruits entering simultaneously and according to Jim the military had no idea what to do with the new recruits. From Chicago to Texas, the military was shipping him from base to base with no orders of why he was there. Upon his arrival they would always ask him why he was there and Jim would have no skills to assist each base he arrived at. He was used for positions as a teacher of gun torrents and advanced electronics which he was unprepared for but made the best of each situation. He was able to adapt well into military life regardless of their lack of efficient placement of his person. He was transferred around often enough that he never made it into active duty during the war. As the war ended he returned to life back in the states, where he returned to his wife and his family. His experience shaped his ability to adapt to changing circumstances but created no life long friendships from the military.
Date Created:: 2007-11-17T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1312. Park, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2013

Notes:: Robert Park was born in 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was drafted in 1943 and trained at Camp Roberts, California, and Camp Bowie, Texas, with the 13th Armored Division in a firing battery of the 498th Armored Field Artillery Battalion and was deployed to the European Theatre as an artillery observer in January, 1945. He saw action at the Saar River, in the Ruhr Pocket, and in Bavaria. After the war's end he served out his enlistment at Fort Hood, Texas, and was discharged in 1946.
Date Created:: 2013-01-17T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1313. Harnish, Arthur (Interview outline and video), 2007

Notes:: Arthur Harnish served in the 347th Engineer Regiment between 1943 and 1945. He provides detailed descriptions of training and his service in Europe. He landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day and helped his unit rebuild bridges in France, Belgium and Germany, including bridges on the Rhine.
Date Created:: 2007-11-27T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1314. Livo, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2011

Notes:: Robert Livo, born in Detroit Michigan, serve in the U.S. Naval reserves from 1953-approximately 1954 to 1955. During his service, Robert went thought most of his training at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois. The men were put to work often cleaning and repairing ships that had come into port. Robert worked in the electronics department. He was also sent on a small cruise assigned to refill line layers in the South Atlantic. During this cruise Robert was given 18 days in Brazil.
Date Created:: 2011-09-09T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1315. Mercurio, John (Interview outline and video), 2007

Notes:: John Mercurio served in the Army Air Corps between 1943 and 1946. He was an aircraft engine technician who repaired and maintained bombers at fields on Biak and Leyte in the Pacific during the war, and provides a vivid description of the difficulties of working on Biak in particular. He also spent time in Japan during the occupation and worked on experimental jets and helicopters at Wright Air Force Base in Ohio.
Date Created:: 2007-11-15T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1316. Prosch, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2008

Notes:: Richard Prosch was born in 1921 in Indiana and graduated from high school in 1939. He attended college in Ohio and signed up for the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked. His appointment was deferred until his graduation in 1943. Richard trained as a naval liaison to work with army units in invasions. While training in England, he witnessed the Slapton Sands disaster. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the 1st Division, and then worked with the 2nd Division as it landed the next day. He was subsequently transferred to the Pacific, and served in the Philippines.
Date Created:: 2008-07-04T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1317. Williams, Roger (Interview outline and video), 2010

Notes:: Roger Williams is a Native American who served in the United State Air Force as a medical Administrator in two separate tours between 1957 and 1967. He was stationed in Texas, Florida and Germany, and was at the Homestead , Florida, air base at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Date Created:: 2010-06-04T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1318. Houghton, Milo (Interview outline and video), 2015

Notes:: Milo "Mike" Houghton was born in Sand Lake, Michigan in 1924. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the Navy in December of 1941. At Great Lakes Illinois he received his brief basic training. He was bound for the USS Sperry departing out of San Diego, California where they headed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place so recently that ships were still smoking. There he was relieved to encounter his brother who was injured in the attack, but survived. Next the Sperry took him to Brisbane, Australia where they remained for some time. Eventually the Sperry returned to San Diego and Houghton would next be departing on the USS Kittson. In 1944 the Kittson traveled the South Pacific and on then to Okinawa. It was at the battle of Okinawa in 1945 where Houghton worked to ferry members of the Army to and from the ships. Although on board the Kittson and prepared to invade Japan, the end of the War made this unnecessary and he was soon honorably discharged thereafter.
Date Created:: 2015-11-18T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1319. Palmer, Philip Maynard (Interview outline and video), 2015

Notes:: Philip Palmer was born on May 23, 1933 in Lansing, Michigan. After high school he joined the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps and studied at the University of Wisconsin, receiving training aboard the USS Roanoke, USS William R Rush, and at Little Creek, Virginia and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. He graduated and was commissioned in 1955 with a degree in chemical engineering and a degree in naval science. He served aboard the USS Strickland and the USS Hissem and served as a Navy ROTC instructor at the University of Michigan. He served aboard the USS Meadowlark during the Bay of Pigs invasion. He studied at the US Naval Postgraduate School and at Ohio State University and received nuclear reactor training in Bainbridge, Maryland and Idaho Falls, Idaho. He served aboard the USS Enterprise during the Vietnam War from 1966-1968, afterwards being assigned to the Office of Naval Research. In 1971 he reported for duty at Naval Magazine Subic in Subic Bay, Philippines and served there until 1974 when he was reassigned to the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Potomac, Maryland. He then served at Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington D.C. and then at Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey. His final assignment was at the Applied Physics Laboratory at John Hopkins University and he retired from that in 1984.
Date Created:: 2015-01-22T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

1320. Alcumbrack, Lester (Interview outline and video), 2008

Notes:: Lester Alcumbrack was drafted into the army in 1942. Les became very sick during basic training, and became a truck driver. He trained as a fuel truck driver and received amphibious training. He began duty in Scotland and Wales prior to the Normandy Invasion, and continued to serve as a truck driver in France and Germany during and after the Invasion. After the German surrender, he spent his last months working with a refrigeration unit delivering food to US occupation troops.
Date Created:: 2008-02-28T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

« Previous
Next »
1
2
…
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
…
185
186