Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; African-American soldiers; United States. Air Force; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings;
John Heflin was born in Bellevue, Michigan and after high school enlisted in the Air Force. He was assigned to be a mechanic and trained in Columbus, Ohio. John was deployed in January 1968 to the Philippines during the Tet Offensive. After 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; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives,...
Ken Scott was born in Alma, Michigan in 1937. Ken graduated from Central Michigan University in 1960 and then went into the Army. His first duty was in Korea with the 7th infantry 17th transportation battalion as their platoon leader. In 1962 he...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Navy
Raymond Stafford was born in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan in 1937. He enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to a mine sweep boat, but later moved down to the Panama Canal Zone to be on the security force. After that he went on the SS Iowa, the SS...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Navy; Aircraft carriers; Veterans; Video recordings;
Wade Cratsenberg is a Vietnam veteran who served in the United States Navy from November 1964 to November 1970 in California. In this interview, Cratsenberg discusses the behind-the-scene work done by the Navy during Vietnam. As part of the VR7 and...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Navy; United States. Army; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American;
John Thiel was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1950 and served in the Navy/Marines and Army during the Vietnam War era. He worked for the Navy and Marines as a lab assistant in a number of different locations, including South Carolina and Camp...
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;
George Bekkering was drafted into the Army after graduating high school in 1966. He served in the Vietnam War for one year, 1967-1968, as a light infantry soldier in the 198th Infantry Regiment, Americal Division. His division camp was based in...
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;
Jimmie Carol Bush was drafted into the Army in 1967, and served in the Vietnam War. He joined the 82nd Airborne Division, and was involved in heavy jungle fighting. His job in his platoon was to carry the M-60 machine gun. His unit spent most of...
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;
Denny Gillem was born in Sacramento, California, in 1941. He intended to make the military his career during his high school years, and applied to West Point several times before being accepted. After West Point, he was trained as an Army Ranger,...
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;
Bob Arntz was born in 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from high school Bob worked in a factory for a while before enlisting in the Army in 1968. Bob went through basic training in February of 1968 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Navy; Veterans
William Coan was in the Navy during the war in Vietnam from 1970- 1974. He traveled to Greece, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Italy, Cuba, St. Croix, and St. Thomas. He mentions that he may have received a better education and pay in the Air Force.
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; United States. Army Reserve; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; Veterans; Video recordings;
Richard Devries joined the Army Reserve after high school and worked on a mortar crew to plot coordinates. Richard trained in Missouri during the Vietnam War but was never called to duty. Richard enjoyed his time in the service and made lots of...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Air Force; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American;
Kendrick Coryell was born in Kansas, but grew up on a farm in rural Oklahoma. He joined the Air Force upon graduation from college in 1956, and started as a flight instructor. He worked most of his career in reconnaissance, including flying from a...
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
Wyatt Morren was born on April 12, 1947 in New Orleans. He enlisted in the Army when he was 19 years old in 1965. Wyatt went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and then through technical training at Fort Benning, Georgia. After...
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
Bert Jones II was a combat soldier in the Vietnam War for the U.S. Army. He mainly fought in the Tan Yen Province, but was in Cambodia for 45 days, as well. He does not discuss in specific detail what he did during the War, but he does describe...
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; United States. Army
Jerry McFarland was born on March 24, 1933 and enlisted in the Navy in 1950 after graduating from high school. Jerry trained at Great Lakes Naval Academy in Chicago, Illinois and was then stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. He worked there for about...
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
Thomas McIntire enlisted in the US Army three days after his graduation from high school. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for boot camp, and later for truck mechanic school. The Army sent Thomas to Germany, where he worked in the motor pool on a...
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
Mitch Amlotte volunteered for the Army in 1968 to escape a bad home life. He was sent to postal school and then to Germany. He volunteered to travel with the children of military men on field trips and spent much of his time seeing different...
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
Al Orr was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 5, 1935. He enlisted in the Marines Corps in November 1952 when he was only 17 years old. Al was sent to the Pacific in March 1966 and first arrived in Okinawa where he was assigned to a...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings;
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American;...
Amos Sterzick Jr. grew up in western Michigan with his sister and two brothers. On a whim, he decided to leave for Grand Rapids, MI with his friend to enlist in the Air Force in order to avoid being drafted into the army. Most of his service 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
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...
