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
James McConnon was drafted into the Army in October of 1971 and went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky for 8 weeks. He then went through secondary advanced individual training at Fort Bliss, Texas where he worked with the Air Defense...
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
James Perso was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he grew up. After graduating from high school he took classes at the University of Minnesota in mechanical engineering and also went through an ROTC...
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
Richard Price was drafted into the Army in 1965. He trained as a vehicle mechanic at Fort Knox, and expected to go directly to Vietnam. Instead, he and several other men from his training company were sent to Korea to replace men who had been...
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. Air Force
Michael Yocum was born in Seattle and grew up in the Mount St. Helens area of Washington. He enlisted in the Air Force in the early 1960’s and after serving at several bases around the world as an aircraft mechanic, he did a tour in Vietnam at...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Iraq War, 2003--Personal narratives, American; United States. Air Force; United States. National Guard
Autumn DeRoo made the choice to join the Air Force at the age of 17 early in her high school career. Going into a technological field, dealing mainly with computers, Deroo was able to work at Cheyenne Mountain with NORAD and the U.S. Base Command...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army; Video recordings
Richard Dahlen served in Army between 1969 and 1972, and spent about a year as an air traffic controller for the Army at Cu Chi in Vietnam. He discusses his specialized training for his assignment, his work at Cu Chi, and his impressions of both...
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
Russ Fincher is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Army from summer, 1970 to late-1971. He was part of the last group of draftees, and during training and while he was waiting for deployment, it was not clear whether he would go to...
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. Navy
Paul Ryan was born in New York City and attended Notre Dame University on a naval ROTC scholarship. Upon graduating in 1975, he went on active duty for four years, serving on destroyers in the Pacific. After leaving the Navy, he joined the reserves...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975-Personal narratives, American; Vietnam War, 1961-1975-Personal narratives, Vietnamese;...
Trinh Nguyen was born in a rural village in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. After attending a school at a French military outpost, Nguyen went traveled to Saigon to go to college. After a single year of dentistry schooling, Nguyen joined the...
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; United States. Army. Women’s Army...
Bernice Tipton was born in Utah in 1924, and enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. She trained in Des Moines, Iowa, and served on army air bases in Mississippi and Colorado, working primarily in personnel classification, assigning...
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
Ron Dykstra was born on July 6th, 1948 in Holland, Michigan. Following graduation from high school in Grandville, Michigan, Dykstra received his draft notice in 1968 and reported in 1969. After completing his basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky...
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
Joe Lange was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 9th, 1947. After graduating high school, Lange married and briefly attended college before getting a full-time job and receiving his draft notice. After receiving his draft noticed, Lange went...
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
Richard Pitsch volunteered for the draft in the summer of 1972. He expected to go to Vietnam, but had hopes that he would not due to the troop draw down. He completed his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and completed his advanced training 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. Air Force
Richard Shaull was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1921, and enlisted in the army in 1942. He wanted to become a pilot, but his vision was not good enough for the Army Air Corps, and he enrolled in a course for artillery observation pilots, but was...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Iraq War, 2003--Personal narratives, American; United States. National Guard
After returning from Vietnam in 1969, Ron Oakes married, earned a degree in electronics and traveled around the Midwest working. Eventually, he and his family moved back to Michigan, where Oakes joined the National Guard. As part of the Guard,...
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
Harry Kutten was born in St. Louis in 1924 to Russian immigrant parents, and enlisted in the Navy while still in high school after he heard of the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. He felt obligated to join the armed forces after this incident, and cited...
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
Richard Rasmussen, born in 1913, grew up on a farm outside of Greenville, Michigan. After finishing high school, he attended Olivet College and the University of Chicago Medical School on scholarships. After receiving his medical degree, he was...
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. Army; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Forrest Johnson, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Johnson served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After Pearl Harbor, he tried to join the Army Air Corps and the Marine Corps, but both rejected him due to colorblindness. The Army drafted him 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
Fred Spaulding was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in April 1940. After high school, Spaulding waited a year before enlisting. Initially rejected by his first choice, the Marine Corps, Spaulding enlisted in the Army and went to Fort Knox, Kentucky...
