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- Notes:
- John Baker III was born in Kalamzoo, Michigan in 1935. He grew up in Kalamazoo and enlisted in the Army in 1954. John received basic training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas and engineer training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Upon completion of his training he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington where he took a ship to Alaska. He was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska for two years and worked in the machine shop. Upon completion of duty in Alaska he returned to Fort Lewis, Washington and served for two years as a truck mechanic. At the end of his service he contracted meningitis, and once he recovered from that was discharged from the Army on June 18, 1958.
- Date Created:
- 2016-02-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Bryan Tobias enlisted in the Air Force six months after he graduated from high school. He received basic training in San Antonio, Texas and received mechanical and material training in Rantoul, Illinois (most likely at Chanute Air Force Base). After training he spent eight years in Anchorage, Alaska (most likely at Elmendorf Air Force Base) and completed his service at Fort Walton Beach, Florida (most likely at Eglin Air Force Base).
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Roger Elliott, born in 1949, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967 and served in Vietnam as a supply sergeant at Cam Ranh Bay. After his tour in Vietnam, he completed his enlistment at Fort Lee, Virginia.
- Date Created:
- 2012-05-24T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken TerHaar was born in Byron Center, Michigan on January 31, 1928. He graduated from high school in 1946 and was drafted into the Army in August 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War. Ken spent six months training at Fort Knox in Tennessee and another six months training at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. He was then sent to a base in Germany where he worked with the Army of Occupation for about one year. He spent time working with many German citizens while the country recovered and saw the effects of the Cold War grow stronger over the year.
- Date Created:
- 2008-04-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Oosterbaan was born on May 17, 1926 in Ellsworth, Michigan. In 1942 (or 1943) he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan and in May 1944 he enlisted in the Navy. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois then went to Camp Bradford, Virginia for Amphibious Training. He went to Jeffersonville, Indiana and joined the crew of LST 720 and sailed to the Gulf of Mexico for the ship's shakedown cruise. In late 1944 they sailed to the Pacific Theatre and operated around the New Hebrides until sailing to the Philippines in 1945. He took part in the Battle of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 and supply operations around the Philippines until the surrender of Japan in August 1945. After the war he stayed with crew of LST 720 and sailed around China, Korea, and Japan helping transport liberated Chinese slave laborers and Japanese soldiers back to their home countries. In spring 1946 they sailed for the U.S. and arrived in Bremerton, Washington in May 1946. The ship was decommissioned in June 1946 and he was sent back to Great Lakes Naval Station in late June and got discharged there.
- Date Created:
- 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- After graduating from a military academy, William Brinkman attended Officer's Candidate School where he was given a commission as 2nd Lieutenant. He served during the Korean War, but his division, and a couple of others, were sent to Germany, instead, to guard against the Russians. He served in the 102nd Regiment, 43rd Infantry Division. He also tells the story of his OCS classmate, Doc O'Donnell, who was killed in Korea. After the war, he worked for Martin Marietta and was involved with the space program.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mary Jean Brooks was in the WAVES during World War II. She trained at Smith College in communications. She worked in the Naval Department building in Washington, D.C., encoding and decoding messages sent to and from naval bases and ships. She delivered some messages herself to different government offices and to the White House.
- Date Created:
- 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Rex Greenawalt was born on October 5, 1947 In Plainwell, Michigan and graduated from high school in 1966. He was drafted into the Army in September of 1967 and went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and then infantry school at Fort Polk in Louisiana. Rex was sent from California to Vietnam on the Fourth of July in 1968. Rex went through Scout Dog Training School and became the handler of a dog named Rupert. They then began working with the 25th Infantry Platoon Scout Dogs. Rex was eventually wounded in both legs and sent back to the US and discharged in 1969.
- Date Created:
- 2005-08-21T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Raymond Start was born in 1927 and grew up in Galewood, Michigan. When he turned seventeen he enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training. From there he was sent to the University of Wisconsin for Radio School and after five months of that he was sent out to California to board a troopship. He was sent to the Philippines where he boarded an attack personnel destroyer in Leyte. They sailed toward Japan with underwater demolition teams, preparing for the invasion of Japan until the atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945. He was sent back to the United States where he was assigned to the aircraft carrier the USS Bougainville. He took a cruise around the Pacific collecting aircraft and officers, and then helped decommission the ship in Tacoma, Washington until July 1946 when he was discharged.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Butler served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He evaded earlier tours of Vietnam, by serving on two missions to Antarctica as part of a construction crew. However, he eventually served time in DaNang, Vietnam, once again as a construction member. After his active service, Butler served time in both the United States Naval Reserve and the United States Army Reserve. After failing to secure an officers position in either branch, he joined the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He became a Lieutenant Commander and served until his retirement.
- Date Created:
- 2008-03-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jerry Gore was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War in 1969. Having gone through Advanced Infantry Training, he served as a machine gunner and tunnel rat until he became too ill to fight. He states that he was in combat all the time, but chooses not to talk about it.
- Date Created:
- 2009-11-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Carl King was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1924 and served in the Navy during World War II. He was drafted into the Navy upon his request, and attended training at Great Lakes Naval Station. He joined the PT corps and worked as a machinist throughout his time in the service. He spent most of his time in the service in the Pacific theatre, serving in the New Hebrides, Guadalcanal, the Philippines, and Okinawa.
- Date Created:
- 2009-01-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Millard Jr. was strongly influenced by his father at an early age to join the service. After graduating high school, he enlisted into the Air Force where he became a part of the Security Police, and, eventually, a dog-handler. He was stationed at Cam Ranh Bay in 1971-72, and then sent to England for a year.
- Date Created:
- 2006-12-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Mulder was born in 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His family moved to Montana, but moved back to Grand Rapids after World War II broke out. John was drafted into the US Army when he was 18 years old. After completing basic training in Fort Stewart, Georgia, he also completed anti-aircraft school, in which he learned how to operate mobile anti-aircraft units. After training, he spent the remainder of the war in Hawaii, guarding Pearl Harbor.
- Date Created:
- 2009-09-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Richard Pitsch volunteered for the draft in the summer of 1972. He expected to go to Vietnam, but had hopes that he would not due to the troop draw down. He completed his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and completed his advanced training at Fort Bliss, Texas. He was assigned to air defense artillery missile system and was a fire control crewman. He spent 20 months of active duty in central Germany, near the Dutch border. He returned to the United States in August, 1974, and was on inactive duty for the next two years.
- Date Created:
- 2011-04-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Dave Pugh was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1961. Dave was in college during the aftermath of Vietnam, studying music and teaching. He enlisted into the military to be a part of the National Guard Band. He went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Basic Training. After AIT training he went to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana where he played alongside a National Guard Band. During his time in the band he played at veterans' funerals, at the 40th anniversary of NATO in London, England, at the Michigan inaugurations, mental health facilities, Trinidad and Tobago, and Italy.
- Date Created:
- 2011-03-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ann Petrovic was born in Aurora, Indiana, in 1928. She grew up playing ball with her brothers and played on different girls' teams in school. When she was fifteen, she heard about tryouts for the All American Girls Professional Baseball League being held in Illinois, tried out and was assigned to a team in Minneapolis which soon moved to Kenosha. After playing in the league's first season, she signed with a professional softball team in Chicago, where she played until 1950.
- Date Created:
- 2010-08-07T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- George Kuiper was born in February 1926 in Holland, Michigan. He grew up in Holland and in February 1944 he received his draft notice. In June 1944 he reported for duty at the draft board in Holland, was processed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and was sent to Camp Roberts, California for basic training and field artillery training. After sixteen weeks of training he was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland for an additional week of training and then left the United States out of Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. He sailed over, stopping in England, and arriving in Le Havre, France. He was sent to Paris where he was assigned to the 191st Field Artillery Battalion attached to the 4th Armored Division. He joined the battalion in Belgium in mid/late December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge and was assigned to #1 Gun in A Battery and also laid down field telephone wire for the gun batteries. After the Battle of the Bulge they advanced into Germany, crossing the Rhine River at Worms, going south and seeing the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, and entering Czechoslovakia on April 29, 1945. After the war ended on May 8, 1945 he was reassigned to the 405th Infantry Regiment and then 4th Armored Division before being sent home in early 1946 and getting discharged at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken Vanlier was born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1948. He served in the Air Force during the time of the Vietnam War, achieving up to the rank of Staff Sargent. Before turning 18 Ken joined the military with an interest in flying in the Air Force. During basic training he stayed at Lackland Air Force base and joined the drum and bugle corps. Eventually he would be stationed out of Beale Air Force base and sent to Okinawa for tours as necessary. Part of his duties consisted of structural repair mechanic work on the SR-71 planes. Ken left the military in March of 1971.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-21T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Pia White was born in 1926 in Rome, Italy, to a Japanese father and an American mother. Due to her father's job with the Japanese government, the family traveled all over the world, and she lived in the United States, Japan, and various other countries. In the late 1930s, Pia, her mother, and her siblings returned to Japan. She lived in Tokyo and attended school there. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her family moved to a summer cottage in a mountain village near Tokyo. In 1942 her father, who had been in Washington, DC, at the time of Pearl Harbor, returned to Japan as part of an exchange of diplomats and he lived in Tokyo until he joined the family at the cottage. During the war she helped gather food and worked at the village's police station as a translator. In 1945, her older brother, a pilot, was killed in action during a bombing raid on Tokyo. After the war ended, she worked closely with the American Army of Occupation by helping manage the village as an R&R location for American troops. She befriended one Lieutenant Ken White and they eventually married, returning to the United States in December (1947 or 1948). They started a family and lived in Ohio and various cities in Michigan before settling in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
- Date Created:
- 2016-05-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Paul Wilt was born in West Virginia on June 30, 1942. He enlisted in the Marines in 1960 and after basic training received assignments in the United States. He was stationed at Marine Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia carrying out guard duties, and received infantry training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He also went on temporary duty to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
- Date Created:
- 2015-04-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Eugene Borek was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925. He enlisted in the Army shortly after turning eighteen, and trained with the 78th Division at Camp Butner, North Carolina, until his unit was broken up and he was assigned to the 83rd Division. He sailed to England in April, 1944, and landed in Normandy in late June. He fought in the battles near St. Lo until he was wounded and sent to England. He was then sent as a replacement to the 104th Division in September, and fought near Aachen, in the Hurtgen Forest and western Germany until he was wounded again in early 1945. After that, he was assigned to a military police unit based in Strasbourg until he was sent home late in 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Kuhn, born in 1934 in Grand Rapids Michigan, served in the U.S. Air Force between 1954 and 1974. He trained as a pilot and did two tours in Korea. He was later sent to Vietnam, where he flew AC-47 ground support aircraft, and was shot down once. After returning from Vietnam in 1969, he completed his 20 years at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Glenn Marks, born July 27th 1925 served in the U.S. Army in the medical field from 1944-1946 in Europe during World War II. While in training at Camp Grant, Illinois, Glenn was sent to clerical school where he was trained to be a typist. However, due to demand, Glenn was assigned to be a field medic recovering fallen casualties. Glenn traveled across Europe following units that were expected to have high casualty counts. At the end of the war, he stayed in Germany caring for German casualties until he was sent home.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Leo Zimmerman of Grand Rapids, Michigan, waited to be drafted before joining the Army in 1943 during World War II. Leo received his training in wheeled vehicle maintenance and repair in Camp Worth, Texas. His first deployment was to Italy in 1944 where he served with a replacement depot until the war ended in May 1945, driving with supply convoys between Naples and the Po Valley and performing other duties. After the war ended in Europe, Leo was transferred to the 109th Ordnance Company and shipped out to the Philippines to start servicing vehicles. He was stationed in the Philippines during the bombing of Hiroshima, and was sent to Japan shortly after to perform maintenance duties and gained further experience in welding. Leo left the military in April 1946.
- Date Created:
- 2011-10-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Jay Shook served in the US Navy in World War II and the Korean War. He served in the Pacific Theater in World War II on the USS Bailey, a destroyer, and escorted LSI's and LSG's in to landing zones. During the Korean War, Jay served on the USS Bryce Canyon, a Destroyer class maintenance ship.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Buzz Sodeman served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1970. After serving for several months as ground crew on a Naval Air Station in California, he was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, to train on ejection seats. From there, he went to San Diego, where he maintained aircraft and trained other personnel on ejection seats. He was sent to Vietnam in 1969, and served his tour at the Naval base at Binh Thuy in the Mekong Delta, where he worked as a parachute rigger. He describes daily life there in some detail, and also discusses some of the physical and psychological issues that he had after his return.
- Date Created:
- 2011-12-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Christiansen was born on August 11, 1920 in Muskegon, Michigan. He joined the US Navy in 1944 and served in the Pacific on board the destroyers USS Ward and USS July. He served on convoy duty between New Guinea and the Philippines and in the Okinawa campaign.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Albert Lobbezoo grew up on a small farm in Michigan and was drafted in the Army in April of 1941. Albert worked as a switchboard operator for the 32nd Infantry Division headquarters in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines between 1942 and 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2007-10-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ken Rondeau, born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1962, served in the National Guard during the 1980s. During this time Ken served mostly as a sergeant training mortar crews.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-12T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harold Sibley was born in Grand Lake, Michigan in 1921. After graduating from high school, he tried to enlist in the Navy Air Corps, but was rejected due to his eyesight. Later on, he was drafted into the Army and eventually volunteered for the First Special Force, the predecessor to the Green Berets. Harold was a mortar man for the special force and was sent to the Aleutian Islands, Anzio, Southern France, Rome, Nuremburg and many other places throughout Western Europe. He was in Norway processing German prisoners of war when the war ended.
- Date Created:
- 2005-06-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gloria Cordes Elliott was born in Staten Island, New York, in 1931. She grew up playing ball with her brothers, and first learned about the AAGPBL when they played an exhibition game on Staten Island in 1949. She tried out for the league before the game, and was invited to spring training the following year. She played as a pitcher for teams in Muskegon, Racine, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, and at one point pitched twenty-four straight complete games.
- Date Created:
- 2007-08-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Glenn Gronevelt was born in Grand Haven, Michigan in 1947. In early 1969 he enlisted in the Navy to be serve with the “Seabees” (Construction Battalions). He received introductory training at Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi then went to Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme, California for combat training. He was deployed to Vietnam in late May 1969 and arrived on June 1, 1969. He was assigned to Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 302 and did construction work in Cam Ranh Bay, at New Port warehouse in Saigon, in Cat Lo, and he helped with building projects part of the “Vietnamization” process. During his time in Vietnam he also remembers witnessing first hand the movement of troops and supplies into Cambodia. He left Vietnam on July 1, 1970 and after visiting his family for the 4th of July he reported to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and was discharged from the Navy.
- Date Created:
- 2015-07-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Wendall Smits was born in South Holland, Illinois in 1936. After graduating high school, a friend convinced him to join the Coast Guard Reserve at the age of 17. He completed two weeks of boot camp in 1955 at Cape May, New Jersey and became an engineman for the Coast Guard aboard various ships. He then became a chief engineman and, later, a lieutenant with a unit in Chicago before transferring to a Coast Guard unit in Gary, Indiana. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he was promoted to the position of warrant officer, and then to a Lieutenant Junior Grade. Smits primarily worked for port security at the various bases bases he was stationed at and also trained recruits for his Coast Guard units as a training officer. He was later awarded the Coast Guard Achievement Medal for his work rewriting engineering programs and engineering training manuals for the entire 9th district in Gary, Indiana.
- Date Created:
- 2017-07-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Daniel Donnelly was a student in high school before he decided to enlist into the Navy under the Navy Enlistment Buddy Program. After taking his oath at a Detroit Tigers game, Daniel was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for basic training. He departed for his deployment three days before Operation Desert Storm began and returned five days after it had ended. Daniel never saw active combat but served as an electrician and worked with nuclear propulsion operations aboard a Ballistic Missile Submarine. After the service, Daniel received his Associate's Degree from Grand Rapids Community College and a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. After school he began working at Amway Corporation where he remains an employee. Daniel believes his experience helped motivate him and get him on the right track in life.
- Date Created:
- 2011-11-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Robert Hood was born in Detroit, MI and moved to Grand Rapids, MI where he attended high school. After high school Robert joined the Marines shortly after World War II ended. He was sent to China, where he helped to repatriate Japanese soldiers. He continued to serve until 1951, and spent six months on the front lines in Korea before being wounded.
- Date Created:
- 2004-12-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Donald Jandernoa served in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He trained as a B-24 pilot and flew missions for the 15th Air Force, based in Italy, in the later stages of the war. He describes the training process and his combat experiences in detail, including a mission on which he and his crew had to bail out along the Yugoslav coast and were rescued by local villagers. He also discusses the role of the Tuskegee airmen in protecting his unit.
- Date Created:
- 2006-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- John Janssen was born on April 30, 1922 in Wisconsin and moved to Michigan in 1928. He graduated from high school in 1940 and joined the Marine Corps on October 29, 1941. John went through basic training in South Carolina, where they spent a lot of time marching through swamps. John then began working on an aircraft carrier as an anti-aircraft gunner and served in a series of battles in the Pacific, concluding with Okinawa. After Japan was bombed, John worked there breaking down an arsenal and taking weapons away from Japanese soldiers.
- Date Created:
- 2008-08-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1942, John Sampson joined the ROTC while at Western Michigan University. Following graduation from Western Michigan and graduate school at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Sampson went through signal corps training at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. After completing his training, he shipped out to Korea, where he served in the G4 for Eighth Army, working with both the Korean and US military. Following his tour in Korea, Sampson returned to Fort Monmouth and served until March 1970.
- Date Created:
- 2010-10-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Hung M Vu was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1952. His father worked in the National Government of Vietnam, managed by the French. After the Geneva Peace Accord in 1954, Vu's family moved to Saigon, Vietnam and settled there. He lived in Saigon when the Tet Offensive took place but it did not affect him. He joined the Navy in 1970 and received electronic and electrician military training. He initially worked on rivers on a reinforced fishing boat, stopping any potential threats. Vu eventually moved closer to home and worked in a shipyard fixing and working on boats. Because his sister was a stewardess, Vu was able to get a flight out of Vietnam in 1975.
- Date Created:
- 2010-04-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Ben VanSlooten served in the United States Army during WW II from May 13, 1943 to October 30, 1946 in the European Theater. VanSlooten discusses life on the home front, his time in basic training, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Operation "Market Basket" (Market Garden), interactions with soldiers from other countries, and his first air raid. He talks about the chow lines in Belgium, a restaurant in France, acts of kindness in England, and the Red Ball Express in Belgium.
- Date Created:
- 2006-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Gerald Frazine was born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1925. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943, and went to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, for his boot camp and Radio School. Upon completing training, he boarded a Landing Ship Transport (LST) and sailed to San Diego (via the Mississippi River and the Panama Canal) before going to the Pacific Theater. He served as the radio operator on the flotilla flagship, but also handled supplies and knew how to operate a 20mm antiaircraft gun. Gerald participated in the invasion of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan during the Mariana Islands Campaign; the invasion of Leyte during the Philippines Campaign; and the final battle of the Pacific Theater, Okinawa. After the war, he sailed back to San Diego then returned to Great Lakes Naval Station to be discharged from the Navy in late 1945.
- Date Created:
- 2016-10-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Frank Jones is a Vietnam War veteran that was born on February 15, 1950 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from high school in June 1970 he was drafted into the Army in August 1970. He trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and Fort Benning, Georgia. He was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and was deployed to Vietnam in October 1971. In Vietnam he was assigned to Headquarters Company for the 101st Airborne Division in Phu Bai. He worked as a clerk for a captain, but also went out into the field on a few patrols. In February 1972 he received an early out and his tour in Vietnam ended.
- Date Created:
- 2015-01-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James Laidlaw was born in Detroit on December 13, 1938. After turning 18 he volunteered for the draft and was inducted into the Army. He received basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and truck mechanic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma with an artillery battalion and served as a lieutenant's driver. In September 1957 the unit sailed to Italy and was stationed in the area around Vicenza near the Austrian and Yugoslavian borders. During his time in Italy the unit conducted war games and maintained a presence in northern Italy to keep the Soviet Union from any attempts to move into Austria or Italy. Upon the death of his father he received an emergency leave home, and after 30 days was discharged from the Army in Chicago.
- Date Created:
- 2015-05-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Milford Cherington Served in the Air Force during World War II. He joined the Air Corps after being classified 4F by the Army draft board. He wanted to train as a pilot, but wound up as a gunner on a B-17 bomber and flew numerous bombing missions over Germany. He was also part of the first group to bomb Berlin in daylight.
- Date Created:
- 2004-04-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Mark Doren was born in 1919 in Kent City, Michigan and served into the Army in World War II. He was drafted into the Army and attended basic training in Florida and was then sent to Europe. He served in the 6th Armored in France and Germany as a mechanic, and was part of the group that liberated the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Harry L. Fortier grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, and was drafted into the Army in 1972. He served primarily at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, loading and unloading helicopters, and did not have to go overseas. When he left the Army at the time when the Vietnam War was ending, he experienced some of the same negative treatment that returnees from Vietnam went through.
- Date Created:
- 2011-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- James McConnon was drafted into the Army in October of 1971 and went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky for 8 weeks. He then went through secondary advanced individual training at Fort Bliss, Texas where he worked with the Air Defense Missile System. After training James was sent to South Korea in April of 1972 to work with Air Defense Artillery. James spent 14 months in the Northern area of South Korea working on air defense where he spent most of his time in field training.
- Date Created:
- 2009-05-29T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)
- Notes:
- Kent Laudeman was born in 1943 in Bremen, Indiana. After graduating high school, he attended college to avoid the draft for seven years, but was eventually drafted into the Army in 1968. He completed both basic and advanced training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, before being sent to Fort Jordan, Georgia, for MLS training and then Fort Ben Harrison for basic officer training. In August of 1970, Laudeman was deployed to Vietnam for only a year. Due to his struggles supporting a family, he went to USAR in Kingsbury as an on-reserve instructor and, at the end of 1990, was called to action in Saudia Arabia in KKMC (King Kalaat Military City). After a year in KKMC, he returned to the states until 1995, when he was brought to Hungary for Project: Joint Endeavor. In 1996, he returned to the United States after his last deployment.
- Date Created:
- 2017-06-20T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Veterans History Project (U.S.)