Thiel, John, “Thiel, John (Interview outline and video), 2008,” Digital Collections, accessed December 6, 2025, https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/29452.
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 Pendleton in California. After his stint in the Navy, he joined the Army and worked as a truck and forklift driver in Germany and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.