DeGroot, Loren (Interview transcript and video), 2017

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Loren DeGroot was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1935. While he was still in high school, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves. After he graduated high school in 1953, he began classes as Grand Rapids Junior College and then went to the University of Michigan to finish his bachelor’s in engineering. After graduating, he went to officer training in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1957, he joined the crew of a destroyer ship. His first cruise was to the Mediterranean, where he served as a shore patrol officer on the island of Rhodes in Greece. He then went to Piraeus, Greece and spent a total of six months in the Mediterranean before going back to Newport. His home base was then switched to Mayport, Florida where he served as ship’s navigator. After finishing serving his active duty on the ship in 1960, DeGroot joined the inactive Naval Reserve and stayed in it for 14 years. He went back to the University of Michigan to finish his master’s degree.

2017-03

In Copyright

Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

DeGrootL2108V

video/mp4

application/pdf

Moving Image

Text

eng