Vonk, James, “Vonk, James (Interview outline and video), 2010,” Digital Collections, accessed March 13, 2025, https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/29950.
James Vonk of Grand Rapids, Michigan, left college in the late 1980s to enlist in the Marine Corps. He was sent to Okinawa, and was based there at the time of Desert Storm. His company was scheduled to go to Iraq, but the ground war ended so quickly that they did not have to go. Instead, they spent several months at Subic Bay in the Philippines, and then returned to Okinawa.