Pelak, Henry (Interview outline and video), 2004

Notes:

Henry J. Pelak was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1924. He grew up and finished high school there and was drafted in 1942. He chose to enter the Navy, and trained at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then did amphibious craft training in Virginia and Florida. He was assigned to be the motor machinist on an LCM (landing craft, mechanized). He was deployed to Europe and went over to England to prepare for the Normandy Invasion. In April 1944 he witnessed a U-Boat attack during a training exercise. On June 6, 1944 his craft transported a demolition team to the beach to aid in the Allied invasion. After dropping off the team his craft continued to aid the invasion force by ferrying personnel between ships. After Normandy he was reassigned to a unit that was following the British Army through northern Europe to establish an American Naval base at Bremerhaven, Germany. When the war ended he concluded his service with the Navy decommissioning a ship in the Caribbean Sea. He reenlisted for two more years and was stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany first and then in Vienna, Austria.

Date Created:

2004-12-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Grand Valley State University. University Libraries

Collection:

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

Subject Topic:

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American, United States. Navy, Oral history, Veterans History Project (U.S.), United States--History, Military, Michigan--History, Military, and Veterans

Language:

eng

Rights:

<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>

URL:

https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/41072