Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
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...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Born in Houston, Texas in 1951, Jim Hodges worked on ranches as a teen before enlisting in the Army in 1970. During his training, the Army selected him to cross-train for special operations missions and following the completion of his training, the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Born in July 1944, Jack Empie served in the U.S. Army during the height of the Cold War. As part of his deployment, Empie traveled all over the world. Germany, Japan, and Taiwan are only a handful of the locations where Empie served. As well, he...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Marine Corps
Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1947, William Jones divided his younger years growing up between Ionia, Michigan and Manchester, New Hampshire. After graduating from high school in Manchester, Jones followed family tradition and enlisted in the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American;...
Born in Sturgis, Michigan in 1942, Gabe Hudson joined the U.S. Army in 1967 following several years of college. After completing training as a photo interpreter, Hudson deployed to Vietnam served with 101st Airborne Division for fifteen months....
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. National Guard
Born in White Cloud, Michigan in 1953, Gary Boucher just missed the draft for the Vietnam War. However, based on input from several of his friends and his own investigation, Boucher joined the Michigan National Guard in 1978. Following training at...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Bradford Sutherland is an Air Force veteran who entered the military after completing two years at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI as an art student. His introduction to the military was through an officer's training course that was...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Bruce Brady was born in 1949 in Welch, West Virginia. His family was forced to relocate to North Carolina where he eventually graduated from high school in 1967. He was drafted on October 6, 1969 and was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and to...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; United States. Army; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Bruce Whipple was born in Lansing, Michigan, and was drafted into the Army two years after high school. He trained as an infantryman at Fort Bragg and Fort Dix, and went to Vietnam in July, 1969. He was assigned to mortar platoon Echo Company,...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Navy
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...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives,...
Carolyn Greene was born in Jackson, Mississippi on June 23, 1948. Her father was in the US Air Force and she grew up where he was stationed at Kessler Air Force Base in Mississippi. When Carolyn was a teenager she was active in the Civil Rights...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives,...
Catherine Kooyers was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and comes from a family of veterans. After she got married, she was working at a local fair when she first encountered Vietnam veterans. From her experiences, Catherine quickly realized that work...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Charles Harlan grew up in Mancelona, Michigan, and enlisted in the Army as soon as he finished high school in 1966 in order to stay ahead of the draft and have some say in his assignment. After basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he went to Fort...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American;
Charles Mangold was born on June 9, 1952 in Saginaw, Michigan. Charles enlisted in the Navy in December of 1970 and went through boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, Illinois. He then went through Basic Propulsion Engineering School...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American;...
Charles Olsen 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...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army;
Charles Pope was born on October 15, 1956 in the upper peninsula of Michigan. He enlisted in the Army when he was only 17 years and his parents had to sign a waiver because he was so young. Charles went though basic training at Fort Leonard Wood...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Chet Teater was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan in 1946 and was drafted into the Army in 1969. He served with an armored cavalry unit in Vietnam in 1970 and participated in an assortment of combat missions and security assignments. He discusses...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Marine Corps; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American;
Claude Dies was born in 1945 and served in the Vietnam War with the Marine Corps. He was trained in the area of Air Radio Electronics after basic training, and was sent to New River Air Base in Jacksonville, North Carolina where he spent most of...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings;
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Marine Corps
Clyde Westra was born in Grand Haven, MI in 1948. He dropped out of high school to join the Marine Corps at the age of 17. Clyde was initially trained and worked in Vietnam as a Combat Engineer, but was shipped to Danang and trained to be a radio...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; United States. Army; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Craig Van Hout was born in 1949 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he went to college for three semesters before dropping out, and received his draft notice soon afterward in January 1969. After finishing his basic training...
