Diedering, Henry (Interview outline and video), 2010
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. Marine Corps
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Henry Diedering was a teenager in the Netherlands when the Germans took over in 1940. He describes life in his home town under occupation, and of his efforts to avoid being impressed as a forced laborer by the Germans when he turned 18. He made his way to Rotterdam and got a job on a cargo ship on the Rhine River, and worked on it until the ship was damaged by Allied air attack. After that, he tried to make his way home, staying in damaged and abandoned houses, until he found a German village that had no able-bodied men in it, and where he worked for the villagers until the spring of 1945, when the Canadians took over the area. Seeing few opportunities at home, he enlisted in the Dutch Marine Corps and was sent to Indonesia, where the Dutch were attempting to reassert control, and was sent home after the Dutch agreed to leave.
Diedering, Henry
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.)
In Copyright
DeWitt, Jake (Interview outline and video), 2010
United States. Navy
Jake DeWitt served during the Second World War as a Gunner's Mate on the USS Roper, a destroyer from WWI. The Roper patrolled the Virginia coast where it sunk its first German submarine, then travelled to the Straits of Gibraltar for convoy duty. She was eventually struck near Okinawa when a Japanese fighter plane crashed into the side of the ship injuring DeWitt. Dewitt was eventually discharged after recovering from his arm injury.
DeWitt, Jake
DeWitt, Arthur (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States. Army
Arthur DeWitt was born in Lapeer, Michigan in 1921, and grew up in Kalamazoo. While a senior in high school, DeWitt joined the Michigan National Guard, and his unit, Company C of the 126th Infantry Regiment, was called up soon afterward, causing him to miss most of his senior year. His unit was sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana for training, and he became a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) gunner. In the spring of 1942, his division was sent first to Boston, then to San Francisco, and from there to Australia. They were shipped to New Guinea in September, and participating in the fighting around Buna. One of the few men in his company to get through Buna unscathed and healthy, he came down with malaria soon after returning to Australia, and was reassigned to the 41st Division. He served with the 41st on Biak, and then on Mindanao in the Philippines, and was rotated home shortly before the end of the war.
DeWitt, Arthur
Dewitt, Al (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States. Army. Air Corps
Al Dewitt was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and joined the Army Air Corps in 1942. Al was assigned to be a glider pilot and received his glider wings. He then trained as a fighter pilot but remained based in the US. He became a farmer after the war, but was called back into duty for 21 months during the Korean War. He was first a test pilot for the AT-6 and then was put on a B-36 crew. They did training runs and went over Russia at high altitudes, and Al survived a particularly dangerous crash landing.
Dewitt, Al
Devries, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Army Reserve
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
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 friends. After serving, Richard got a job at Steelcase and now believes that all areas of the service are very important to support our free country.
Devries, Richard
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Devries, Milton H. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Milton Devries was drafted in 1941 and sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, to join the 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division. He served with this unit on New Guinea, where he was badly wounded at Buna. After an extended hospital stay, he saw duty in Australia and the United States before being discharged.
Devries, Milton H.
DeRoo, Autumn (Interview transcript and video), 2009
Iraq War, 2003-2011--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 in the States, and was there at the time of the 9/11 attacks. She later served on a NATO base in Portugal, where she was when the Iraq War started in 2003. She eventually left the military as a Technical Sergeant and now works at Grand Valley State University.
DeRoo, Autumn
Dellinger, Valeria (Interview outline and video), 2006
United States. Army. Women's Army Corps
Valeria Dellinger was a veteran of WWII in the United States Army in 1945 and 1946. She served in Los Alamos, New Mexico as a switchboard operator for the military at the time of the development of the atomic bomb. She married her husband after she was discharged in 1946. He remained a MP for the military and transferred to the Pacific when they were testing the atomic bomb, while she stayed on at Los Alamos in the civil service for a while before moving to Michigan.
Dellinger, Valeria
Delfino, Frank (Interview outline and video), 2013
Frank was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 21, 1949. He graduated from high school in June 1966 and had two unsuccessful attempts at college. He worked for the United States Postal Service and received his draft notice on his twentieth birthday 1969. Frank was drafted into the United States Army. After basic training and AIT, he attended mortar school and the NCO training school in Fort Benning, Georgia. He served for several months as the training NCO at Fort Riley before being sent to Vietnam. Frank was attached to Charlie Company, 1/506th, 101st Airborne and was stationed out of Camp Evans. Frank was involved with Firebase Ripcord and later operated the TOC at Camp Evans and was in charge of base defenses.
Delfino, Frank
Delagrange, Merle (Interview outline and video), 2013
Merle Delagrange was born in 1950 in Grantwood, Indiana. He was newly married and living in Ohio when he was drafted in 1969. After training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado until he received his orders to be deployed to Vietnam. He arrived in Vietnam on April 28, 1970 and was assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion. 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division stationed at Camp Evans. He was wounded in a friendly fire incident in early May, but soon rejoined the unit and was with them when they were heavily engaged Firebase Ripcord in July and had to be rescued by another unit. Throughout the rest of his tour he led a platoon on patrols until he left Vietnam and returned home on March 28, 1971. He joined the National Guard in 1976 where he stayed with the 193rd Infantry Company for eighteen years and retired as a sergeant first class.
Delagrange, Merle
DeBaar, George (Interview outline and video), 2008
George DeBaar was born in Grand Rapids, MI, and was drafted in January of 1943. He served at Fort Brady at Sault St. Marie, as part of the 131st Infantry (later the 156th). His unit served as guards at the base, and near the Soo Locks and the Canadian Locks. Because of this experience as serving as guards, his company was selected to serve as Eisenhower's guards. He served in London, during which time the CIA subjected them to mock break-ins to ensure security. He also served as Eisenhower's personal guard in Reims.
DeBaar, George
Deary, William (Interview outline and video), 2011
United States. Army Air Corps
William Deary, born in Pontiac, Michigan in July 31st 1925. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1943, and was sent first to Miami Beach for basic training, and then to Laredo, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, for training as a gunner. He was sent to Italy in 1944 and joined a B-24 squadron in the 15th Air Force. He flew eight missions late in 1944, and his plane was shot down over Hungary on the final mission. He was captured and moved through an assortment of interrogation centers and camps in Hungary, Austria and Germany before being assigned to a prison camp outside of Berlin. When the Russians who liberated the camp refused to let the men leave, Deary and two other men took off on their own and made their way back to American lines, after which he was sent home.
Deary, William
Dean, Oliver "Ollie" (Interview outline and video), 2013
Ollie Dean is a World War II veteran that was born in 1927 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In early 1945 at the age of seventeen he joined the U.S. Navy and after training at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago was deployed to the Pacific Theatre and Southeast Asia aboard the U.S.S. Cheleb, a Navy cargo ship. He also served on the U.S.S. Mt. McKinley, a communications ship, on a cruise through the Inland Sea of Japan and up to Vladivostok. With the Cheleb, he spent time in Shanghai and Tsingtao while the Japanese were being evacuated from China.
Dean, Oliver
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Dean, Lawrence A. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Lawrence L. Dean served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1957 to 1959 in the U.S. In this account he discusses his pre-enlistment years, enlistment and training in the U.S., and his service. Dean concludes by discussing his life after the war and mentioning that he also served briefly for 3 months in 1968.
Dean, Lawrence A.
Dean, Douglas G. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Douglas G. Dean who served in the Army from 1966 to 1968. In this account, he discusses his pre-enlistment years, enlistment and training in the U.S. and combat experiences abroad in Vietnam and Korea. He served in a grave registration unit and was stationed in Vietnam and Korea, and describes some of his experiences in detail.
Dean, Douglas G.
De Loof, Arnold (Interview outline and video), 2007
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Arnold De Loof grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War. After training, he was sent to Alaska and Korea, where he did supply work and eventually became a fireman.
De Loof, Arnold
de Leeuw, Walter (Interview outline and video), 2008
Walter de Leeuw was born in the Netherlands in 1937 and lived there during the German occupation of the country. He later emigrated to the US, and served in the US Army between 1959 and 1961. He trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and served in Germany with armored and artillery units.
de Leeuw, Walter
Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum (Muskegon, Mich.)
De la Cruz, James (Interview outline and video), 2008
James de la Cruz was born in Texas in 1945 and moved to Michigan when he was one year old. James spent 3 years in the ROTC while going to school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. James enlisted in the Air Force in 1965 and was sent to Texas for basic training. He also spent time training in Illinois for mechanics training. His first duty station was in Tampa, Florida where he spent 14 months maintaining aircraft on base. James then left for Ubon, Thailand where he was stationed for a year maintaining aircraft. After Thailand, James was sent to Tinker Base in Oklahoma before being discharged 9 months early.
De La Cruz, James
De Jonge, Cornelius (Interview outline and video), 2008
Merchant mariner
Cornelius "Casey" De Jonge was born in the Netherlands, became a US citizen in 1935, and served in the Merchant Marines between 1943 and 1943. He tells of a series of voyages in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific, including some difficult trips to Russia via the Arctic route.
De Jonge, Cornelius
de Blécourt, Edward (Interview outline and video), 2008
Edward de Blécourt was born in Arizona in 1981 and later moved to Michigan. He joined the Army Reserve in 2000 and was called to active duty after 9/11. He was sent to Kuwait in March of 2003 and served as a machine gunner on trucks that delivered fuel to bases all over Iraq, but primarily on the Kuwait-Baghdad highway.
de Blécourt, Edward
Day, Mike (Interview outline and video), 2009
Mike Day was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who is currently serving in the National Guard. His recent term of deployment lasted about 11 ½ months. In this account, Day discusses his pre-enlistment year, his enlistment and training in the U.S. His term of active duty in Iraq has taken him to various camps and cities in Iraq as part of a transportation company. Among his duties included serving as a convoy truck operator transporting military equipment to their destinations.
Day, Mike
Day, Harold (Interview outline and video), 2013
Harold was born in Ava, Missouri on June 26, 1949. He worked for General Motors in Kansas City before being drafted into the United States Army in 1969. After basic training, Harold was made a crewman on armored vehicles such as M114 APC's and M48 and M60 tanks. He was sent to Vietnam and assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division. Harold served as a tank driver before volunteering to go to sniper school. He graduated fifth in his class and was later reassigned with the 101st Airborne. Harold spent thirty days on Firebase Ripcord.
Day, Harold
Davis, Wayne Keith (Interview outline and video), 2007
Wayne Keith Davis is a Veteran who served in the United States Army during peacetime from the late 1970s to the late 1980s in Germany and in the United States. Born in 1957, Davis talks about his childhood growing up in Benton Harbor and his summers spent in Alabama visiting his grandparents. In Alabama, Davis remembers facing segregation and also selling peanuts at his grandpa's barber shop. Upon enlisting, Davis went to Supply School in Virginia and then was flown to Germany where he became a member of the 42nd Medical Company. After spending his four year term in Germany, Davis returned to the United States and served in the Reserve for another six years as a member of the military police.
Davis, Wayne Keith
Davis, Phil (Interview outline and video), 2005
Phil Davis served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He joined the Air Force because of his low draft number, and he was sent to Vietnam and served in the I Corps sector as a pilot.
Davis, Phil