Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Glenn Lyons was born April 4th 1920 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and drafted into the Army in November, 1941. After a year of training, he was shipped to North Africa, with the 2nd Armored Division. He spent most of his military service as a jeep...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Air Force
Willie Saddler is an African American veteran who grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II where he helped clean up and retrieve casualties from towns in Germany and Italy that were attacked during...
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
Ben Harrison was born in Truman, Arkansas in 1926. After first attending Arkansas State College then the University of Mississippi, Harrison enlisted in the Army because he needed the money from the G.I. Bill to help finish his school. After...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Albert Eitel, born in Nebraska in 1926, served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 in the Pacific theater during World War II. Albert enlisted at the age of 17. He did basic training at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, and then trained on LSTs at...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Tony Ten Harmsel was born in Iowa in 1919 and grew up in Michigan. He was working at General Motors when Pearl Harbor happened, and was drafted into the Army in 1942. Having grown up on a farm and being experienced with trucks, he was pulled out...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Marine Corps
James Abrams was born in Sparta, Michigan, in 1923, and eventually grew up in Montana. After moving to Grand Haven, Michigan, he joined the Marines after Pearl Harbor. After boot camp in San Diego, he was shipped to the Solomon Islands and joined...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American;
Wendell Miles was born in Holland, Michigan. He went to Hope College, then to the University of Wyoming to get his masters degree. From there he went to the University of Michigan for law school. He became a lawyer and joined the Army as a private....
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
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...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Navy; Veterans; Video recordings;
Art Jacobs joined the Naval Air Corps in the 1930s. He was one of only 32 men that graduated with wings out of the original 435 men. He stayed in the Navy for a long time and eventually taught other young men advanced air fighting tactics. While...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Merchant marine--United States; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives,...
James Shannon was born in Galveston, Texas in 1928. He enlisted in the Merchant Marines while in his first year of college. He had boot camp in Catalina, California and went to radio school on Hoffman Island in the New York Harbor. He completed...
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;
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...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings;
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Merchant marine--United States
Bob Marshall is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Merchant Marines from November, 1944 to mid-1947. In this account, Marshall discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment, and training in the U.S., and combat experience on the high seas in...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army;
Donald Yondo is a World War II veteran who served with the 25th Division, U.S. Army as part of the occupational forces in Japan in late 1945 for a period of eighteen months. In this account, Yondo discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic...
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865; Bedell, Grace, 1848-1936; Billings, Grace Bedell, 1848-1936
Letters sent to Grace Bedell, "Lincoln's Little Girl." As a little girl Grace saw an election portrait of Lincoln with a shaven face. Grace wrote Lincoln asking him to grow a beard as she thought he would look better with whiskers. Grace told...
