Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Fred Spencer joined the Michigan National Guard in 1940, and served in Company C, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division. His unit was mobilized in October, 1940, and he went with them to train in Louisiana. From there he was shipped...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American;
Carl Carlson is a veteran of the United States Army Air Corps. He served in the European theatre during World War II. He worked as a radio operator during flight missions, particularly over Italy. He served around 70 missions, the military had to...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal...
Harold LeFurge served in the US Navy in both WWII and the Korean War. On an LST ship during WWII, he sailed to the Marshall Islands, the Carolinas', the Northern Mariana Islands, and to Okinawa. The main battles were over by the time LeFurge got...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American;
John Beukema was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 15th, 1924. He volunteered for the Army Air Corps during World War II, and was accepted as a pilot. After flight school, he was sent to be an instructor back at Basic flight school in Gardner...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Elvin W. Keith III was born on April 14, 1933. He went to Westchester State Teachers College and then joined the Marines. He started out in the platoon leader’s class and then was promoted from a Field Commander to the Company Commander. Elvin...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Wayne Monroe served in the US Navy between 1944 and 1946. Her served as a crewman on USS Kaskaskia, a large oiler, and saw action at Okinawa, where he witnessed kamikaze attacks. After the war, he sailed to Japan, China and Arabia before...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; United States. Navy; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Tim Kidd was born in Michigan on August 20, 1951 and graduated from high school in 1970. Shortly after graduating, Tim was drafted into the Army and went through basic training in Fort Knox, Tennessee. Tim then had supply training in California...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Phil Brockschmidt knew that he wanted to join the armed service after Pearl Harbor was attacked and joined the Navy when he was only 15 years old. He took many long trips traveling in a convoy to Russia to deliver oil. Phil was eventually...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Harold Hanselman served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was stationed on Attu Island in the Aleutian chain in the northern Pacific ocean. He was a radio operator in a B-25 bomber that would fly bombing missions in the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
William Sterzick served in the US Army during the Korean War, but never saw combat. Stationed in Nuremberg, Germany, he met his future wife while working as an orderly in a hospital. He discusses life in Germany at the time and the condition of...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Harold Schipper served in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946. After training in California, he was sent to the Solomon Islands, where he joined the 1st Marine Division as a replacement after the invasion of Peleliu. He took part in the landing on...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Harold Cavner joined the US Marine Corps in 1943. He was on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa, and was one of the occupation troops in Nagasaki after the war, after the atomic bomb had been dropped there. Back in the United States, he attended Grand...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force;
Thomas Swanson served in the U.S. Air Force between 1976 and 1980. He trained in Denver, Colorado, as an instrumentation mechanic, and worked on the testing grounds at Yuma, Arizona.
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Norman Spring served in the US Army during the Korean War. He enlisted in 1951, and spent much of his time as an MP, first in Japan and then in Korea, before persuading his superiors to assign him to a combat unit. In Japan, he served as a prison...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Lawrence Gardner was born in Illinois near the Mississippi River and enlisted in the Marine Corps during WWII. He was pulled out of basic training to take courses in aerial photography. He served in the Pacific and helped to plan the invasions of...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Howard Bennink enlisted in the Marine Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bennink trained for six months at Camp Lejeune before traveling to New Zealand. He served in fought on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester and Iwo Jima during his tour of duty....
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Milton Devries was drafted in 1941 and sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, to join the 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division. He served with this unit on New Guinea, where he was badly wounded at Buna. After an extended hospital stay, he saw...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Wayne Anderson served as an armorer in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. He was based in England and serviced fighter planes, primarily P-51 Mustangs, that escorted bombing missions. At the time of the Battle of the Bulge, he was assigned to...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army. Air Corps; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Marvin Jalving enlisted in the Army Air Corps in July of 1943 and was discharged in October of 1945. He went to England late in 1944 and flew 23 missions in B-17s, most of which were in Germany taking out train yards and gasoline refineries. ...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Marine Corps; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Louis Dudeck, of Bloomer, Wisconsin, served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He entered the Marine Corps in 1963 and while on the Marine base in San Diego, California, remembers the sentiment of pending war with Russia...
