Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Coast Guard; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Louis Begin Jr. was born to Hungarian immigrants in Pennsylvania. His family then moved to Detroit, MI after his father lost his job. He enlisted in the Coast Guard after the attack at Pearl Harbor. He was then assigned to guard ships going in and...
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;
Stuart Jennings was born during the beginning of the Depression in Michigan. He said that growing up through that taught him to share, to do things on his own and to treat people well. After graduation Stuart became a cadet in the Army Air Corps...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force; Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
Robert Fry was born in 1970 and enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating high school in 1988. He spent his time training in Kentucky and enjoyed boot camp. Robert earned many medals and ribbons during his time serving in Germany and in the...
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; African-American soldiers; Video recordings;
Alford Walker, of Pontiac, Michigan, was drafted into the Army in 1967. Before being drafted, he remembers business greatly slowing down and much protesting and civil unrest. Al went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training, and then to New...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Navy; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
John Canepa was born in Massachusetts in 1930. He attended Harvard University and enlisted in the Navy near graduation and just barely missed the Korean War. He attended officer school in Rhode Island and was later assigned to work in the Naval...
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; United States. Air Force; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Harris Van Singel was born in Byron Center, and has lived there his entire life. He went to school, and graduated from Byron Center School in 1940. He avoided the draft for four years because his two brothers had both enlisted, and because he was...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Fred Kerkstra was born in Byron Center, Michigan in 1923 and grew up on a farm. He was drafted in February of 1943 and sent to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan. At the time, the Army Air Corps was short on gunners and Fred and had been lucky...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
John Reeves was a B-24 pilot in World War II where he flew 45 missions in the Pacific. He provides a detailed account of training and of missions over New Guinea, the Philippines, Okinawa and the Netherlands East Indies.
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;
George Peterson enlisted in the Navy when he was just 17 years old and was then sent to Rhode Island for training in 1942. During training George and a friend volunteered for submarine service and were transferred shortly after. George spent...
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;
Charles Weingate was born in West Hazelton, Pennsylvania and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan as a child. He was drafted into the Army in 1944 before finishing high school, but was allowed to finish. He became a radio operator in the Signal Corps....
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;
Kevin Heine was born in Flint, Michigan on October 1, 1964. About 25% of his graduating class joined some form of the service in Osceota because it was an Air Force town and the economy was terrible in Michigan during the 80s. Kevin joined the...
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;
Robert Powers was born in Greenville, Michigan on January 25, 1924. After graduating high school, he attended college at Albion University before enlisting in the Air Force. Robert trained for about 13 months before he was sent to a base in...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Air Force; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Women
Mildred Doyle was born in 1921 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and served in the Womens Airforce Service Pilots Corp. She became a pilot during college, and then was requested to serve in the WASP corp. She worked, after training, on Freeman Field in...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives,...
Marthajane Kirby was born on November 4, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri. When her high school sweetheart joined the Marines, she wrote to him regularly until he was killed. His friend, Stanley Kirby, then took up the correspondence, and when he...
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
William A. Sikkel joined the Michigan National Guard before World War II and served in the army on active duty between 1940 and 1945 in the 126th Regiment, 32nd “Red Arrow” Division. He attended Officer Candidate School before the division...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
James Schultz was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 2, 1964 and then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1975. He enlisted in the Army after a year of college and signed up to be an airborne medical specialist. James then went to boot camp and...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Air Force; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Duane Koshork was born in Wisconsin in 1925 and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and did sheet metal training. After about 10 months of training in the US Duane went to Bombay, India on a troopship and then...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Army; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American;
Edward McLogan entered the ROTC at the University of Michigan in 1938, and joined the US Army in 1942. He served as an officer with an army unit in the Solomons, participating in a landing on Vella Lavella, and subsequently volunteered to join a...
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;
Charles Hammond was born in Columbus, Ohio on August 24, 1919 and was drafted in 1940. He trained at Fort McClellan in Alabama. He was assigned to the 4th Armored Division and served in France, Belgium, Germany and Czechoslovakia as a military...
