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.

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141. Johnson, Edward (Interview outline and video, 1 of 2), 2012

Notes:: Edward Johnson was born in Greenville, Michigan in 1919, and was drafted into the Army in 1941. After training to be a mechanic at Camp Boyd, Texas, Johnson joined Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He went to England with this unit in 1942, and stayed with it through campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, the Hurtgen Forest, Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Germany, ending up in Czechoslovakia when the war ended.
Date Created:: 2012-02-28T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

142. Padnos, Stuart (Interview outline and video), 2008

Notes:: Stuart Padnos was born in Michigan in 1922. He attended the University of Michigan and enlisted in the Army Reserve after Pearl Harbor. He was called to service a few months later where he took part in the Army Specialized Training Program. Padnos began taking engineering classes, but was later called up for infantry training due to a shortage of recruits. Stewart was later assigned to the 78th Division and sent to fight in the Hurtgen Forest, where he was captured and sent to a German prison camp. He remained there until he was liberated by the Russians, and eventually found his way back to the US.
Date Created:: 2008-06-30T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

143. Schrader, William (Interview outline and video), 2010

Notes:: William Schrader was born in Alpena, Michigan on October 19, 1929. He entered the Army on July 31, 1948, and served in Germany near the end of World War II. After WWII, Schrader went to Korea and served in the Korean War. After Korea, Schrader switched from Infantry to Airborne. After joining the Airborne, Schrader married and he and his wife went back to Germany. Schrader spent 113 days in Lebanon during the Lebanese Crisis, and afterwards, went back to the United States and joined the Special Forces, eventually becoming a Green Beret. In 1962, Schrader left and trained guerillas in both Laos and Iran before going to Vietnam in 1965. Schrader left Vietnam and served in the United States for several years before returning to Vietnam in 1969, where he again trained Vietnamese forces.
Date Created:: 2010-05-20T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

144. Smith, Eugene (Interview outline and video), 2006

Notes:: Eugene Smith was drafted to the United States Army in the 1940's. He was stationed in Calcutta, India for a total of 28 months. Although the American troops deployed to India at this time were intended to attack Axis supply lines coming from the country of Burma, Smith was not actively involved in this mission and served as a military policeman. His duties consisted of primarily base patrol with occasional prisoner safeguarding. The base which Smith was stationed was highly underdeveloped and demanded fast adaptation by new recruits who had been thrust into highly dangerous positions from a previous life of suburban factory work. The 44-day voyage to India presented Smith and the other young American men with unfamiliar situations including attacks by Japanese submarines, hurricanes, and extended sea travel. Smith was discharged on January 1st 1946 and returned to his home in Wisconsin to attend Marquette University funded by the GI Bill of 1944.
Date Created:: 2006-05-31T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

145. LeDuc, Noella (Interview transcript and video), 2010

Notes:: Noella Le Duc was born in Graniteville, Massachusetts in 1933. She grew up playing baseball with the boys, and when she was sixteen, a friend of her mother's introduced her to one of the AAGPBL players, Rita Briggs, who arranged a tryout for her in 1951. She played in the AAGPBL from 1951 through 1954, first with Peoria and later with Muskegon and Fort Wayne. She was primarily an outfielder, but also tried her hand at pitching and catching.
Date Created:: 2010-08-05T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

146. Viveen, Jan (Interview outline and video), 2010

Notes:: Jan Viveen, born in 1918 in a small village in North Brabant in the Netherlands. After completing high school in 1936, he was drafted into the Dutch Army in 1936. At the time of the German invasion in 1940, he was manning an antitank gun on the banks of the Erft River, and stayed there until his unit was ordered to surrender. He spent about four months in a POW camp before being allowed to return home. After that, he worked in a rail yard and aided downed Allied airmen. In the spring of 1945, he was sent to a labor camp in Germany, and remained there until the liberation.
Date Created:: 2010-09-07T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

147. Owens, Philip James (Interview outline and video), 2015

Notes:: Phil Owens was born in 1984 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enlisted to the Marines and undertook boot camp in San Diego, California. After graduating in 2003 he was educated for supply operations and administration at Camp LeJune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. His role involved training, keeping track of inventory and serial numbers of gear, and budgeting. Additionally he trained to use specialized weapons in machine gunner school such as the MK19 grenade launcher and the M240. Owens returned to the 3rd Marines battalion in California before being sent on two tours of duty to Iraq. From 2004 to 2005 he was situated in Fallujah where the Second Battle of Fallujah was taking place. The second tour was located in Haditha Iraq. In 2008 he was honorably discharged from the Marines and continues to participate in a variety of groups for war veterans and working as a clinical athletic trainer.
Date Created:: 2015-05-24T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

148. Vickers, Robert C (Interview outline and video), 2016

Notes:: Robert Vickers was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 25. 1944. He was in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Eastern Kentucky University and received a commission as an officer in the combat engineers of the Army in 1965. He decided to become a chaplain and attended seminary for three years, then went to the Chaplain School in 1969. He stayed in the Army Reserve until January 1975 when he went on active duty. His first assignment was at Fort Carson, Colorado, with the 1st Battalion of the 77th Armor Regiment, for 15 months. He was stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany, with the 76th Infantry Brigade from March 1976 until June 1979. He studied at the Advanced Course for Chaplains at Fort Wadsworth, New York, then went to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in January 1980. He left Fort Devens in May 1983 to study at Vanderbilt University then serve at the Chaplain School. He was stationed at Fort McPherson, Georgia for four years, then did a tour in South Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division. Robert's last two assignments were at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he retired in 1996.
Date Created:: 2016-10-26T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

149. Tromp, Woodrow J. (Interview outline and video), 2008

Notes:: Woodrow J. Tromp is a WW II veteran who served in the U.S. Army with the 32nd (Red Arrow) Division Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment from 1940 to 1945. In this account he discuses his time with the National Guard before and after it was federalized as part of the U.S. Army. In addition, he discusses his training in the U.S. and Australia, combat experiences in New Guinea and the Philippines, along with problems caused by terrain and disease.
Date Created:: 2008-01-24T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Collection:: Veterans History Project (U.S.)

150. Dick Rossi interview (video and transcript, 3 of 6), 1991

Notes:: Interview of John Richard "Dick" Rossi by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Dick Rossi served in the American Volunteer Group (AVG) as a Flight Leader for the 1st Squadron, "Adam and Eves." He joined the AVG in 1941 after being discharged from service in the US Navy, where he had been assigned as a flight instructor at Pensacola Naval Air Station. He arrived in Burma in November 1941 and began training on the P-40 airplanes, but had not yet completed his training when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Though officially attached to the 1st Squadron, he was also temporarily assigned to both the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons. In this tape, Rossi discusses his reaction to the news of Pearl Harbor and the following days being on alert. He also goes into detail on his first battle with the Japanese and how Chennault's training was put into practice.
Date Created:: 1991-02-06T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:: Grand Valley State University. University Libraries

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