Smith, Zena (Interview transcript and video), 2012
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
Video recordings
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Zena Smith was born in 1926 in Birmingham, England. As a teenager, she experienced the effects of war on her community. She had a job at an office after completing public school that made tanks for the North African Desert War. There were often sirens heard throughout her community to warn them about air raids. She contracted diphtheria at one point and had to stay in a hospital for eight weeks and was there when a bomb hit her hospital. She took a job with a defense plant and saw Winston Churchill and General Montgomery when they visited it. Mrs. Smith met her husband, Ken Smith, in 1944 and dated a year before marrying. Her husband worked at Packington Park and was an assistant during autopsies. After getting married and at the end of the war, she traveled on the Queen Mary to the United States.
Smith, Zena
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Master plan reports
Elmwood Township (Mich.)
Leelanau County (Mich.)
The Waterfront District Master Plan for Elmwood Township was prepared by Smithgroup JJR and was approved on January 25,2012.
Smithgroup JJR
Planning and Zoning Center Collection (RHC-240)
No Copyright - United States
Smits, Wendall (Interview transcript and video), 2017
United States. Coast Guard
Wendall Smits was born in South Holland, Illinois in 1936. After graduating high school, a friend convinced him to join the Coast Guard Reserve at the age of 17. He completed two weeks of boot camp in 1955 at Cape May, New Jersey and became an engineman for the Coast Guard aboard various ships. He then became a chief engineman and, later, a lieutenant with a unit in Chicago before transferring to a Coast Guard unit in Gary, Indiana. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he was promoted to the position of warrant officer, and then to a Lieutenant Junior Grade. Smits primarily worked for port security at the various bases bases he was stationed at and also trained recruits for his Coast Guard units as a training officer. He was later awarded the Coast Guard Achievement Medal for his work rewriting engineering programs and engineering training manuals for the entire 9th district in Gary, Indiana.
Smits, Wendall L.
Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27
Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.
Smoker, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2014
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Bob Smoker was born in 1949 in York, Pennsylvania. He grew up there and graduated from high school there in 1967. He attended college briefly, and then took a job, which cost him his deferment. In April 1969 he received his draft notice and shortly thereafter began basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After Fort Dix he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Infantry Training and upon completing that he was deployed to Vietnam in October 1969. He arrived in Bien Hoa and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. After completing Screaming Eagle Replacement Training School at Camp Ray (near Saigon) he was sent up to Camp Evans and was assigned to Charlie Company,2nd of the 506th Regiment 101st Airborne Division. During his time in Vietnam he participated in patrols of the Lowlands, in Operation Texas Star (the establishment of Firebase Ripcord in the spring of 1970) and the subsequent Battle of Firebase Ripcord during July 1970. After leaving Vietnam he finished his service at Hunter Army Air Field, Georgia and was discharged from the Army on May 12, 1971. After a professional career, he became a minister and got involved with a group of American missionaries that work in Vietnam to help teach the rural Vietnamese English and to help American Vietnam War veterans find peace with their memories.
Smoker, Robert
Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Snowdeal, Lloyd (Interview outline and video), 2008
Merchant mariner
Merchant marine--United States
Lloyd Snowdeal was born in Rockland, Maine in 1927. After graduating from high school he enlisted in the Navy. Lloyd went to radio school after training and became a Radio Officer. Lloyd went on trips across the Pacific in a large convoy on a repeater ship. His job was to repeat changes in the course from the commander ship to all of the other ships in the convoy. After the war was over in the Europe, he brought replacements across the Pacific to Japan. Lloyd was discharged and then on February 23, 1950 he enlisted in the Air Force for the Korean War. He became a Bypass Specialist and was assigned to a B-29 squadron. Lloyd became sick and went home, but later volunteered to go back overseas. He was stationed at a service and repair depot and then spent the rest of his time in the Air Force close to home in Bangor, Maine.
Snowdeal, Lloyd
Snyder, David (Interview outline and video), 2011
Dave Snyder was born in 1949 in Painesville, Ohio. After graduating from high school in 1967, Snyder held a series of jobs before receiving his draft notice in 1969. After processing into the military in nearby Cleveland, Snyder went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for his basic training. From Fort Campbell, Snyder moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for advanced training in field artillery then attended Non-Commissioned Officer School, also at Fort Sill. Once he finished NCO school, Snyder spent a few months in a training battalion stationed at Fort Sill before deploying to Vietnam. Once in Vietnam, Snyder received an assignment to Alpha Battery of the 2nd of the 11th Field Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division. The main weapon of the 2nd of the 11th was the 155mm artillery gun and once in his gun section, Snyder received the position of gunner. After Snyder arrived, his battery moved to several different hilltop firebases before finally arriving at Firebase Ripcord. While stationed on Ripcord, the battery participated in the weeks-long siege of the firebase by enemy forces. Once the siege ended, the battery moved to another firebase, where it was when Snyder's tour ended and he rotated back to the United States.
Snyder, David
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Journal of GVSU student Jenna Sobaski's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sobaski, Jenna
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Sobotka, Harry (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States--National Guard
Harry Sobotka was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1918. After graduating from high school he joined the National Guard. In October of 1940 Harry got called up for active duty and went to Louisiana for training. He became a sergeant and commanded 4 mortar crews. After training in Louisiana he went to Officer Candidate School. Harry was deployed to England and then landed on Omaha Beach in the fall of 1944. He went towards Alsace-Lorraine and helped capture the town of Metz. He was the executive officer in charge of the HQ and handled 3 Howitzer Platoons. Harry helped out at the Battle of the Bulge after Metz. He was sent home and discharged in December of 1945. Harry accepted a job with the technical program in the National Guard and retired in January of 1975.
Sobotka, Harry
Sodeman, Harold "Buzz" (Interview outline and video), 2011
United States. Navy
Buzz Sodeman served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1970. After serving for several months as ground crew on a Naval Air Station in California, he was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, to train on ejection seats. From there, he went to San Diego, where he maintained aircraft and trained other personnel on ejection seats. He was sent to Vietnam in 1969, and served his tour at the Naval base at Binh Thuy in the Mekong Delta, where he worked as a parachute rigger. He describes daily life there in some detail, and also discusses some of the physical and psychological issues that he had after his return.
Sodeman, Harold "Buzz"
Solecki, Nicolaus (Interview outline and video), 2016
Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American
United States. Marine Corps
Nicolaus Solecki was born in October 1990 in Flint, Michigan. He joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Flushing High School in 2009. After his basic training, Nic was stationed in Okinawa, Japan
from Okinawa, his unit (1st Battalion, 7th Marine Division) was sent to the coast of North Korea, as well as the Philippines. In early 2012, Nic's unit was sent to the Sangin Province of Afghanistan. His mission was to assist in the training of the Afghan National Army
this task was made increasingly difficult by lack of operational effectiveness that the Afghan soldiers often displayed. Nic would return to the United States in October 2012 and enroll at Grand Valley State University.
Solecki, Nicolaus
Ivo Soljan audio interview and transcript
Civil rights--Michigan--History
Ivo Soljan compares and contrasts the different countries that he has lived in.
Soljan, Ivo
Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project
Minerva Solla video interview and transcript
Young Lords (Organization)
Puerto Ricans--United States
Civil Rights--United States--History
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Social justice
Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Oral history of Minerva Solla, interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez on 10/23/2016 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Solla, Minerva
Sondy, Dominic Patrick (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2008
Dominic P. Sondy served in the U.S. Army with the 662nd Field Artillery from April 1943 to January 1946 during World War II. In this account, Sondy discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S., and his combat experiences in France and Germany. Personal narrative is appended to the interview outline.
Sondy, Dominic Patrick
Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Jews--United States
Muskegon (Mich.)
Men--Societies and clubs
Minutes (Records)
Board meeting minutes of the Congregational Sons of Israel, Temple B'nai Israel from July 1943 to January 1945.
Sons of Israel
Digital file contributed by the B'nai Israel Temple as part of the L'dor V'dor project.
Soper, Harold (Interview transcript and video), 2017
Harold Soper was born on April 16, 1920 in Indianapolis, Indiana and settled into Grand Rapids in 1929. Soper was drafted into the Army before finishing college and went on to supervise the American Oil Dump being shipped through Iran and Iraq to the Soviet Union. After being turned away from the Army Corps of Engineering and officers' training, he was relocated to Chicago and Indianapolis to close domestic military contracts. After leaving the service, Soper finished his schooling and earned a master's degree in accounting.
Soper, Harold S.
Cynthia Sorenson (audio interview and transcript) 2018
Michigan
Saugatuck (Mich.)
Douglas (Mich.)
Restaurants
Allegan County (Mich.)
Audio recordings
Cynthia Sorensen shares her memories of the burning of the Big Pavilion, attending high school, and working at The Hollyhock House.
Sorensen, Cynthia
Stories of Summer project, Kutsche Office of Local History. Grand Valley State University
Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project)
Jeffrey Sorensen audio interview and transcript
Discrimination
Stereotypes (Social psychology)--Upper Penninsula (Mich.)
Jeffrey Sorensen grew up in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan. He discusses the stereotypes and misconceptions of "yoopers."
Sorensen, Jeffrey
America “Mecca” Sorrentini interview and transcript
Puerto Ricans--Personal narratives
Puerto Rico--Autonomy and independence movements
Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--1951-
Puerto Rico--Politics and government
Puerto Ricans--Social life and customs
America Sorrentini was born in Puerto Rico. She moved first to Boston and then to Chicago, arriving in the 1970s. Ms. Sorentini's parents were prominent organizers and activists in the struggle for Puerto Rican self-determination, working primarily in and around Santurce, Puerto Rico. Ms. Sorrentini, or “Mecca” as she is known, began her own community activism in Boston working on a variety of issues including housing. By the time Ms. Sorrentini arrived in Chicago she was already aware of the work of the Young Lords and remained in solid contact with the Young Lords. She, and the Chicago Puerto Rican Socialist Party, assisted with the Jiménez aldermanic campaign and later the Harold Washington campaign. When the Young Lords celebrated their official founding date, which is September 23rd the same day as the Grito de Lares or Puerto Rican Independence Day, they selected Ms. Sorrentini to be their keynote speaker.
Sorrentini, America
The First Peoples International Indian Fair and Trade Exposition, June 1990
Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals
Indians of North America
Michigan -- Grand Rapids
The First Peoples International Indian Fair and Trade Exposition flyer, Ray Township MI, June 8-10, 1990, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection.
South Eastern Michigan Indians Inc.
The Michigan Indian Day Social, September 1990
The Michigan Indian Day Social flyer, Belleville MI, September 29, 1990, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection.
South Middle School
2000 Census Population Counts by Race/Ethnicity and Age in Southeast Michigan
Census--Statistics
Detroit, Michigan
Wayne County (Mich.)
The 2000 Census Population Counts by Race/Ethnicity and Age in Southeast Michigan report was prepared by the Southeast Michigan Census Council in April 2001.
Southeast Michigan Census Council
1990 Census Subcommunity Profiles for the City of Detroit
The 1990 Census Subcommunity Profiles for the City of Detroit report was prepared by the Southeast Michigan Census Council with assistance from the Michigan Metropolitan Information Center at Wayne State University and United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit in October 1993.
Michigan Metropolitan Information Center, Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit (consultants)
The "Business as Usual" Trend Future: The Data Base
Government report series
The "Business as Usual" Trend Future: The Data Base report was prepared in January 1991 by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
Population and Households in Southeast Michigan, 1990-2000
The Population and Households in Southeast Michigan, 1990-2000 report was prepared in July 2000 by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.