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- Notes:
- Leonard Straayer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 30, 1918. He was drafted in 1941, shortly after graduating from high school. Leonard was assigned to a service company in the 126th infantry and drove trucks. He was first sent to South Australia and then to New Guinea. In New Guinea he helped haul the E company up the Owen Stanley Range and loaded k rations on to planes to be air dropped. Then he was moved up to a mechanics company and went to places such as Milne Bay, Morotai and Saidor. Leo was then sent to the Philippines, but only spent 25 days there and was sent home because he had enough points. He spent the rest of his time helping out with German POWs at Fort Custer, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2008-09-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Keith was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1926. He grew up in Grand Rapids and in August 1944 he enlisted in the Army Air Force, almost a month before his eighteenth birthday. He reported for duty on March 1, 1945 and was processed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He was sent to Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi for basic training and then a technical school where he learned how to be an aircraft mechanic. His time there ended in September 1945 and he was sent to Langley Field, Virginia for two months. In November 1945 he was sent over to Germany where he was stationed at Landsberg Air Base near Munich doing engine changes on a variety of aircraft, but the major focus was on the C-47 transport plane. His time in Germany ended in September 1946. He returned to the United States and was discharged in October 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Otto Skoppek was born near Treuberg, East Prussia, on December 15, 1916. Sometime in the early 1940s, he enlisted in the German Army and was assigned to Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps. He served as a paratrooper and went behind British and French lines to disrupt their forces so the Germans could advance. Based on this information, he was most likely in the Ramcke Parachute Brigade. He saw fighting across North Africa in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, and was stationed in Tunis for a time. He did six combat jumps, and fought at El Alamein, Tobruk, and Sollum. In 1943, due to dire supply shortages, he and the other German forces surrendered to American forces. Due to being under Rommel's command, they were treated with great respect and civility. Otto was brought to America and spent the rest of the war at a prisoner-of-war camp in Texas near the Mexican border picking cotton, then briefly at a canning factory in Wyoming. He returned to Germany (most likely in 1946 or 1947), and lived in West Germany until 1957 when he and his wife and child moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2017-02-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Stout was born in Muskegon, Michigan on July 20, 1923. He grew up in Muskegon and enlisted in the Michigan National Guard on June 30, 1939. In October 1940 his unit, G Company of the 126th Infantry of the 32nd Division was mobilized and sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana and later to Camp Livingston, Louisiana to train to prepare for an American involvement in the war in Europe. After Pearl Harbor the unit was sent to Fort Devens, Massachusetts for further training until it was decided that they were needed more in the Pacific Theatre. They were sent first to Australia and later to New Guinea in September 1942 where his unit crossed the Owen Stanley Mountain Range leading to them being nicknamed the "Ghost Mountain Boys." He participated in the Buna-Gona Campaign in New Guinea and was wounded there. After healing and rejoining his unit they went back to New Guinea. After New Guinea was liberated his unit was sent up to participate in the invasion of the Philippines at Luzon and Leyte. In July 1945 he had enough points to go home and returned to the United States and was discharged at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He worked briefly for Continental Motors until the end of the war and from there joined the police force. After the 126th Infantry Regiment was reorganized he decided to reenlist in the Michigan National Guard. During that time he was sent to Detroit to be a part of the military presence in the city helping to restore order during the race riots. He retired from the National Guard in 1968 with the rank of major.
- Date Created:
- 2014-06-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jacob Rozema was born in the Netherlands and moved with his family to Michigan in 1930. He enlisted in the medical corps and served in the 148th station hospital in New Guinea before transferring to an evacuation hospital in Manila. In the Philippines, he served with front line combat units at times as well. He served in Japan after the war and contrasts what he observed of Japanese brutality in the Philippines with their treatment of the soldiers in the occupation forces. Extensive personal narrative written prior to this interview concerning New Guinea, the Liberation Campaign, Occupation Forces in Japan, return to the US and separation from active duty is appended to this interview outline.
- Date Created:
- 2007-12-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Tibbe was born in Grant, Michigan on March 10, 1921. He went to school through the 8th grade and then began working on his family's farm until he was drafted into the Army in the fall of 1942. John went through basic training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and then later went through Advanced Infantry Training at Camp Pickett in Virginia where he trained to be an anti-tank gunner. After training John was stationed in New Guinea and also the island of Morotai.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Bocian was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 and enlisted in the Navy in 1943 when he was only 17 years old. He went through training in Chicago and then chose to continue his training with submarines. After going through submarine school Gerald was stationed at Pearl Harbor where he worked on refitting submarines while the crew had time off on R & R. Gerald worked in Hawaii for 3 years before he went on a war patrol on the submarine USS Silversides in the Pacific.
- Date Created:
- 2008-12-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Don Eckman, of Lake Odessa, Michigan enlisted in the Army in March, 1944. He was in basic training in Florida at the time of D-Day, and shipped to Europe in the fall of 1944. He was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, at Nancy, France, and participated in fighting at Strasbourg and other places in Alsace, regularly walking point for his platoon. He was wounded twice in the space of several months, and was already on a ship heading for home when the Germans surrendered in May, 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2011-09-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Louis Kramer served in the 42nd Infantry Division in the US Army during World War II. His unit was shipped to France late in 1944, and joined the 7th Army in Alsace. Kramer's unit fought near Strasbourg during the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Nordwind, and participated in the counterattacks that followed and in the campaign into Germany. Kramer was wounded in March 1945, and out of action for the rest of the war.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Sid Linger was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1918. After graduation from high school, Lenger went into business with his father, who ran several stores in the Grand Rapids. He was drafted into the Navy in 1944, and was assigned as a quartermaster on a new LST that was being built at Seneca, Illinois. He sailed on the LST down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf and Mexico and the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Ocean. Lenger's LST transported Marines as part of the massive invasion of Okinawa, where they witnessed many kamikaze attacks. Following the battle, the LST transported the supplies needed for P-38 fighter escorts and supplies to Japan before Lenger left the service. Included with the interview is a video Lenger made himself, combining official Navy training films and video he filmed himself while aboard the LST (see 2 of 2).
- Date Created:
- 2011-01-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)