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- Notes:
- Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Donald Brazones enlisted into the Army Air Corps at the age of 18 in retaliation to the Japanese's bombing of Pearl Harbor. Brazones trained to be a navigator and was sent to England to fly missions over Europe. On Brazones' 18th mission, he was shot down and captured by German Officers. His interview is a detailed recollection of his time in the service, especially his memories from the day he was shot down, and his subsequent capture, imprisonment and release from captivity.
- Date Created:
- 2009-04-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lewis Kelsey was drafted into the army in 1942. He initially was sent for pilot training, but a problem with one eye made him a gunner and flight engineer instead. He trained in B-17s, and his crew was sent to the 8th Air Force in England in April, 1944. He flew 30 missions between April and August, and was then sent back home to serve as an instructor. Most of his missions were over France, supporting the Normandy invasion, but he also flew missions over Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
- Date Created:
- 2010-11-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- This interview adds new material to the original interview, specifically focusing on his efforts to help rescue the crew of the downed B-24 crew in the waters off of Borneo.
- Date Created:
- 2009-02-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Goins was born in 1921 in Sigma, Michigan, and grew up in Zanesville, Ohio. His family farmed and ran a produce trucking business that made regular trips to the Southern United States to market. Although Goins is African- American, he did not fall victim to the racially charged environment where he did business. He was drafted into the United States Army and entered the service in 1943. Goins completed basic training at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, and then stationed on a series of air bases in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas, and eventually worked as a mechanic repairing B-29 bombers. He recalls having to be careful while traveling through the south due to fear of lynching, but also being offered the opportunity to train as an officer.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Donald Brazones enlisted into the Army Air Corps at the age of 18 in retaliation to the Japanese's bombing of Pearl Harbor. Brazones trained to be a navigator and was sent to England to fly missions over Europe. On Brazones' 18th mission, he was shot down and captured by German Officers. His interview is a detailed recollection of his time in the service, especially his memories from the day he was shot down, and his subsequent capture, imprisonment and release from captivity.
- Date Created:
- 2009-04-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lewis McDonald of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a World War II veteran who served as a pilot with the Eighth Air Force. Lewis was drafted in 1943 and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for basic training. While there, he was recruited into a pilot training program, and was sent to England in late 1944 to be a B-17 pilot. He flew regular missions over Central Europe until the German surrender, at which point he was sent back home to train as a B-29 pilot, but the war ended before he was to deploy to the Pacific. After the war, he remained in the Army Air Corps for a year and a half, mostly flying B-17 on aerial photography missions, and spent the summer of 1946 doing this at Thule, Greenland.
- Date Created:
- 2007-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Keith Edmondson was born in 1924 in Wheaton, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Glen Ellyn. After graduating from high school, Edmondson began attending Purdue University the following fall, which was where he heard about the Aviation Cadet Program, which offered a deferment from military service until the end of school; however, in February 1943, the government changed the program and Edmondson enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He trained in Texas, Idaho and Nevada and was sent to the Pacific in 1944 as a bombardier on a B-24. After receiving additional training in Hawaii, Edmondson's crew deployed to the island of Kwajalein, located in the Marshall Island chain. While stationed on Kwajalein, Edmondson's B-24 participated in bombing attacks against the Japanese-held island of Truk. Eventually, Edmondson's squadron moved from Kwajalein to Guam, where they began launched bombing attacks against Japanese-held Iwo Jima. From there, he went on to Okinawa, where he completed his requisite forty missions and rotated home.
- Date Created:
- 2011-04-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Engel, son of U.S. congressman Albert J. Engel, served in the U.S. Army from February 1943 to April 1946 in the European Theater during World War II. During basic training, Albert applied for OCS school, but due to his young age did poorly, but did receive his commission. Before being sent to England, Albert was assigned as commander of the 80th Bomb Disposal Squad. However, shortly after arriving in France Albert was transferred to the HQ for the 19th tactical air command. Here he was assigned to represent defendants in court martial cases. Albert than applied to be the commander of the 86th Bomb Disposal Squad. He stayed commander of this squad until his discharge in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Nick Marrone was born in Italy in 1924 and came to the United States in 1929. He was drafted into the army, and was assigned to the Army Air Corps as a mechanic. He served with the 13th Air Force in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1945. H was a crew chief in the 12th Fighter Squadron, which was based on Guadalcanal and New Guinea.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ted Weatherhead was attending college at Ohio University when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. He immediately enlisted in the Army Air Corps, but had to wait for some time before starting his training. After surviving the initial screening and tests at San Antonio, he made it successfully through pilot training, only to be assigned to fly transport planes rather than fighters. Assigned to a transportation squadron early in 1944, he flew his C-47 to North Africa and then to England, where he underwent an accelerating training program to prepare him to drop paratroopers into Normandy. Between June, 1944 and May, 1945, he flew eight combat missions as part of the D-Day and Market Garden operations, as well as over 250 supply missions.
- Date Created:
- 2011-07-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Phillips was born in Flint, Michigan and graduated from high school in 1936. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in April of 1941 and was sent to Chanute Air Field in Illinois for airplane mechanic school. William also went through crew training and gunnery school, later becoming an instructor training men to work as gunners with B-24s. He later got his orders to work overseas and was sent to Puerto Princesa Bay where he began working with the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Frens is a World War II veteran who served out of the 792nd Bomb Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps from December, 1942 to 1945, and remained in the reserves until 1958. He served in the Army Air Corps as a B-29 navigator. His unit was based first in India, then later in China and in the Marianas. He participated in bombing missions against Japanese positions in Southeast Asia and China, and later in the strategic bombing of Japan in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2003-06-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ross Vincent was drafted into the Army during World War II. Initially assigned as an MP, Ross took the Air Corps exam, and was sent to Army Air Corps training, eventually becoming a navigator in the Pacific, specifically based off the island of Morotai. After several months, his crew was assigned to Clark Field, in the Philippines, where he became an Information and Education officer. Ross was discharged in 1946, but stayed in the Active Reserves.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Leonard Galloway was born on August 3, 1925 in Huron, South Dakota. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps when he was 17 years old because he did not want to be drafted and because he had always wanted to fly. Leonard went through basic training in Texas and then was sent to the University of Mississippi for training classes. The war ended just as he was getting into advanced flight courses and he was disappointed because he had really wanted to fly in Europe.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard was born in Holland, Michigan on August 21, 1917. He was drafted into the Army in 1942. He was sent to aviation mechanics school and specialized in propellers. He was stationed at Love Field in Dallas, Texas as a part of the 5th Ferries Command to the 62nd Ferry Squadron. Shortly after arriving however, he was attached to the guard squadron and eventually was transferred to the 1208th Military Police Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. Richard was sent to Brazil where he worked as base security in Natal. He remained there until his service ended in 1945.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Adrian Sytsma grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was drafted into the Army in 1943. Because he already had some technical training and work experience, he was assigned to the Army Air Corps to be a mechanic. After initially training on B-17s, he eventually was retrained for B-29s, and finally sent to Guam in April, 1945. He serviced aircraft conducting missions to Okinawa and Japan in the last months of the war, and remained on Guam until March, 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2010-11-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Engel, son of U.S. congressman Albert J. Engel, served in the U.S. Army from February 1943 to April 1946 in the European Theater during World War II. During basic training, Albert applied for OCS school, but due to his young age did poorly, but did receive his commission. Before being sent to England, Albert was assigned as commander of the 80th Bomb Disposal Squad. However, shortly after arriving in France Albert was transferred to the HQ for the 19th tactical air command. Here he was assigned to represent defendants in court martial cases. Albert than applied to be the commander of the 86th Bomb Disposal Squad. He stayed commander of this squad until his discharge in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2012-02-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Alexander Gorashko was drafted in 1942 was assigned to the Army Air Corps. He began training as a radio operator, but then switched to gunnery school, and was assigned to a B-24 crew as a tail gunner. He and his crew were sent to the 15th Air Force in Italy, and flew 14 missions before being shot down over Hungary, including raids over Romania and Auschwitz, and a mission in support of the landings in southern France. After being shot down, he was captured and sent to a POW camp in Pomerania, and was eventually forced by the Germans to march eastward to escape the advancing Russians. The Germans continued to move prisoners around as Allied forces approached from east and west, and Gorashko was eventually liberated by American and British soldiers
- Date Created:
- 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Julius Van Oss was drafted into the US Army in 1943 and initially assigned to the Army Air Corps. In training, he qualified for the ASTP program, which sent men to college to prepare them to become engineers, but the program was cancelled after he had been in it for seven months, and he was returned to the Air Corps. After failing to qualify as a radio operator, he was assigned to the infantry and was slated to go to Europe. The Germans surrendered before he could leave, however, and he wound up being sent to the Philippines as a replacement for the 6th Division. He fought briefly prior to the Japanese surrender, after which he was assigned to work with communications for his regiment, first in the Philippines and then in Korea before he returned home in 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lloyd Blough was born in Michigan on August 25, 1915 and drafted into the Army in 1941 when he was 26 years old. He went through training at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan and was transferred to Virginia two weeks after Pearl Harbor was attacked. In Virginia, Lloyd went through advanced training to become an airplane mechanic, working with P-39s. Once he was finished training, Lloyd was sent to Africa where he worked on different planes in Algeria and Tunisia. He spent a total of two years overseas and also worked in France, Italy, and Ireland before he was sent back to the United States to finish the other two years of his service.
- Date Created:
- 2005-03-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Charles Olson was born in Muskegon, Michigan in September of 1921. In 1940, he decided to join the National Guard, and shortly afterward, his unit was federalized and sent to Louisiana to train. He had wanted to fly, so while in Louisiana, he applied to join the Army Air Corps, and was accepted into bombardier school. He was sent to England at the end of 1943 and flew 32 missions in a B-26 over Europe before returning home to train B-29 crews in 1945. He left the Army briefly, but soon rejoined the Michigan National Guard, and went back on active duty in 1948. He was sent to Japan, and participated in the Inchon landing and the invasion and retreat from North Korea in 1950. He remained in the Army into the 1960s, and served as an adviser in Vietnam in 1963. While working at the MACV Headquarters in Saigon, he wound up having to identify the bodies of the assassinated Vietnamese President Diem and his brother.
- Date Created:
- 2009-06-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Tom Westbrook was born in 1919 in Ionia, Michigan. He enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor and trained as an aircraft mechanic at Keesler Field, Mississippi. Immediately after training, he was sent to Australia, where he worked at bases in Brisbane and Townsville, and volunteered for duty nearer the combat zones. He then went to Finschaefen and Hollandia, New Guinea, and then to Morotai, and from there to Okinawa and, after the war, to Japan.
- Date Created:
- 2006-02-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Horton Mallory was born in Elwell, Michigan, and was drafted during World War II. He volunteered for the Army Air Corps, and trained as a bombardier. He flew in B-24 bombers out of Italy, and served a total of 38 missions in the later stages of he war.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Myrtle Zietlow was born outside of Chicago in 1921. She attended the University of Illinois, and after graduating she went to work for Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut, where they made aircraft engines. She tells her own story as well as that of her husband, George, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard DeVos was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1926. He grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Grand Rapids Christian High School. After graduating he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and after being processed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois was sent to Sheppard Field, Texas for basic training and glider mechanic school. He was then sent to a base near Winston-Salem, North Carolina to aid in the training of glider pilots. From there he received orders to be deployed to the Pacific Theatre. He shipped out of Portland, Oregon shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered. He was stationed on the island of Tinian aiding in the effort to bring material back to the United States as well as the transportation of food to the various mess halls on the island. From Tinian he was sent to Clark Field in the Philippines where he continued to load supplies onto ships bound for the U.S.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bruce was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 16, 1922. He grew up in Fowler, Michigan and was drafted into the Army Air Corps on February 12, 1942. Bruce served as a medic. He was sent to Scotland during the war and helped coordinate flights home for wounded troops. He also spent some time in France and Poland. Bruce was discharged in 1946, and moved back home to Lansing where he continued his job at Oldsmobile.
- Date Created:
- 2013-06-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Keith Cole, born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1924, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1945 in England during World War II. After completing his training at Miami Beach, Keith was sent to England in 1943 where he was assigned to the 22nd Anti Submarine Group. Keith was then sent to Herington Air Field where he served as an Engineer on B-24 bombers utilized by the OSS. These aircraft dropped operatives and supplies for the Resistance in France, and were also pressed into service to ferry supplies to American units that had outrun the ground supply system. Keith was sent home soon after VE Day and was discharged in late summer of 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2012-07-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dewey Lenger was part of the United States Army Air Force during World War II. He took a cadets exam that allowed him to bypass the general draft and eventually become a pilot. He was set to Europe and assigned to fly transport planes, which he had not trained in, and learned to tow gliders and drop paratroops as well as regular cargo missions. He flew first from a British base, and later from a French one. He ferried fuel to Patton's army, dropped supplies for American troops during the Battle of the Bulge, and carried Canadian paratroopers during Operation Varsity.
- Date Created:
- 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Larry Nelson was born in Warren, Ohio in 1924. He grew up there and attended high school there. After graduating from high school he attended Ohio State University, and after Pearl Harbor was bombed he decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps to become a fighter pilot. Beginning in February 1943 he trained at San Antonio, Texas; Chickasha, Oklahoma; Coffeyville, Kansas; back to Texas; Bruning, Nebraska; and wrapping up at Pierre, South Dakota. In 1944 he was sent over to Europe as a P47 Thunderbolt pilot where he joined the 82nd Squadron of the 78th Fighter Group stationed in Duxford, England. During his time in war he escorted bombers on raids to Munster and Cologne, asset denial missions all over Europe, and wrapped up flying a P51 Mustang during the Battle of the Bulge and conducting bombings raids on Berlin from December 1944 to VE Day.
- Date Created:
- 2014-06-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Basil Morris was born in Allegan, Michigan and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Basil joined the Air Corp following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and went through the requisite training to fly B-24s. He was eventually sent to Europe, flying missions from a base in Italy. On his third mission, his plane was shot down over Austria, and he was captured by local villagers and made a POW. He was sent to a POW camp in Germany, and released when the camp was over-run by the Russians.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Chester Bovee was born in Michigan on June 10, 1923 and enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps when he was 19 years old. He went through basic training at Contra Field in Texas where he also worked as an electrician. Chester later got a high enough test score to move on to be a pilot and was sent to the University of Montana to take academic courses. He then went to pre-flight school in Santa Ana, California before he was sent to Thunderbird Field in Arizona for primary flight school. After training he had met his new crew in Roswell, New Mexico and they were getting ready to go to the Pacific before they heard that the war was over.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Thomas Reddington was born on May 7, 1924 and later enlisted in the Army Air Corps because he wanted to avoid getting drafted into the Army. He went through basic training in Florida and went through a series of many different flight classes all over the country until he became a fighter pilot and made 2nd Lieutenant. After a delay due to injuries from a crash, Thomas was deployed in January of 1945. The war ended 4 months after they arrived in Europe, so Thomas spent about a year in Europe working with the Army of Occupation.
- Date Created:
- 2003-10-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Henry Lee Helmink of Holland, Michigan, enlisted in 1943 and served during World War II as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. He flew C-46 and C-47 transport aircraft between bases in Burma, India and China, and would drop supplies to troops in the field.
- Date Created:
- 2010-04-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald France was born in 1925 in New York City. He grew up on Governor's Island, New York City, the home of the 16th Infantry Regiment. He left high school in 1944 to join the Army Air Corps. He qualified for flight training and went through the early stages of it, but was reassigned to armament school due to a lack of need for pilots. He trained at different bases and joined a B-17 crew that flew to England in April, 1945, joining the 490th Bomb Group at Eye Air Station. They flew several missions over Germany and against isolated German forts in France. When the war ended, they flew relief missions, including ferrying political prisoners.
- Date Created:
- 2014-09-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Page served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II as a ball turret gunner on a B-17. Page served from 1943 until 1946 and flew a total of 15 missions in the 15th Air Force, mostly over Germany and Austria.
- Date Created:
- 2010-05-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rosadell Galmish Wolf, wife of 2nd Lieutenant Elvin Jay Galmish, tells the story of her husband during World War II from her perspective. Elvin Jay Galmish enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the age of 21 and trained to be a pilot. His wife traveled with him during his training until he was sent to Europe in 1944 where died in service of his country. He was a bomber pilot, based first in England and then in France (so presumably with the 9th Air Force).
- Date Created:
- 2009-06-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Walter Kloc served in the Air Force during World War II. He joined the Air Force prior to the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and was called up for active duty on December 10, 1941. He worked as a bombardier on a B-24 aircraft in the Pacific Theatre. Some of the locations of his bombing runs included Borneo, New Guinea, and Indochina. He flew 45 missions before he was sent home, and he worked as an engineer after the War.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Thomas joined the Army after he graduated from high school, intending to fly airplanes in World War II. Initially, the Army sent him to Engineering school, but after a two week break, he switched into the Air Cadet school. The program ended in 1944, and he was assigned to a turret gun in a B-17 and shipped overseas to Scotland to fly bombing missions into Germany.
- Date Created:
- 2009-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eugene Bleil was born in 1920 and grew up mostly on farms outside of the city. He was accepted to Eastern Michigan University, but dropped out after a semester, traveled with his brother looking for work, and wound up enlisting in the Army Air Corps. The brothers trained as Selfridge Field in Michigan and passed the tests for pilot training, but failed the physical, and trained as mechanics at Scott Field in Illinois. Assigned to the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Bleil shipped out to the Philippines in 1940. Based at Nichols Field outside of Manila, the squadron trained there until the war with Japan began, and then transferred first to Clark Field, and then to Bataan. When the aircraft were withdrawn, the crews became provisional infantry and fought off Japanese landing attempts along the coast until the surrender in April. Bleil survived the Bataan Death March and three years in labor camps in the Philippines before being sent to Japan to work in foundries. Bleil and some of the other prisoners developed a talent for sabotage, but were never caught by the Japanese. After the war, Bleil was told by Army doctors that he would not live very long or be able to father children. Even so, he went back to college, became a doctor, raised a family and is still around to tell his story. He has also published a memoir, Condemned to Death Six Times.
- Date Created:
- 2012-03-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Joe was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1923. He joined the National Guard when he was fourteen years old and served until his unit was federalized in 1940. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 and was sent to be an MP at Fort Custer, Michigan. Joe was sent to England where he patrolled four small towns about thirty miles outside of London. While in country, he also was part of the honor guard and was a staff driver for officers. Joe was sent back to the United States in 1946 after the war had ended.
- Date Created:
- 2013-05-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- William Deary, born in Pontiac, Michigan in July 31st 1925. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1943, and was sent first to Miami Beach for basic training, and then to Laredo, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, for training as a gunner. He was sent to Italy in 1944 and joined a B-24 squadron in the 15th Air Force. He flew eight missions late in 1944, and his plane was shot down over Hungary on the final mission. He was captured and moved through an assortment of interrogation centers and camps in Hungary, Austria and Germany before being assigned to a prison camp outside of Berlin. When the Russians who liberated the camp refused to let the men leave, Deary and two other men took off on their own and made their way back to American lines, after which he was sent home.
- Date Created:
- 2011-08-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Lawrence Scheidel grew up in Michigan and enlisted in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War. He went to basic training in Miami Beach, and then to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for radio school. He was then shifted to different bases in the western United States and became an MP serving on different air bases.
- Date Created:
- 2010-09-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Cappy Rowe served in the U.S. Air Force from 1941 to 1971. He enlisted in the Army prior to the start of the war, and trained initially as an artillerist, but eventually was accepted for pilot training. He served in the Pacific during the latter part of World War II, flying out of Guadalcanal and other islands. After the war, he had assignments in England, South Africa, Austria, Hawaii and the continental US, doing various types of intelligence work, and retired as a full colonel.
- Date Created:
- 2012-08-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Fred Mulbrecht served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aircraft mechanic from 1942-1944 in Italy during World War II. Prior to joining the service, Fred was in the National Guard. After being drafted in 1942, he aspired to be a pilot but instead was made a mechanic. Fred's training was undergone at Kistler Field Virginia as well as several private schools in New Orleans and Detroit. In late 1943 Fred was sent to a unit of the 15th Air Force in Foggia, Italy, where he spent all his service until he was discharged in 1944.
- Date Created:
- 2012-09-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Tibbe is a World War Two veteran who was born in Moddersville, Michigan in 1924. After completing the ninth grade he left school and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and worked around Michigan doing public works projects. On August 19, 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and received training at Shepherd Field, Texas and at Buckley Field, Colorado to become an armorer for bombers. He was stationed at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, at Fiji, and and at Hickam Field, Hawaii over the course of the war. Just before the end of the war he was sent back to the continental United States where he served at Hamilton Field, California, Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, and Lowry Field, Colorado. He was discharged in December 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2010-03-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)