343 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2b4375928af9a73fda456516137db111.jpg 1610ced4cab2b1490a53f6a6d9fd1364 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection Loutit Hall Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource George Rickey's mobile, "Six Lines" Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_001633 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Description An account of the resource George Rickey's mobile, "Six Lines", hanging in the West Atrium of Loutit Hall. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Facilities Sculpture Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright - Non-commercial use permitted.</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives color photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/861926b5de35ee88c77fcb7cfa06a5ed.jpg 5bbed4ee37fb6a345fa206d5fd16cfa6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1970s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000779 Title A name given to the resource George Rickey's mobile, Six Lines Description An account of the resource George Rickey's mobile, Six Lines outside Lake Huron Hall before being placed in the West Atrium of Loutit Hall. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Facilities Sculpture Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30c155ca0e526ea3193ce3d9bfd55f99.jpg aad9c3e00b67e0efb3e2caa792041dc9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_M238-0016a Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource George Sayer, Malvern College Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of George Sayer, the biographer and teacher at Malvern College in Malvern, England, who is best known for his biography of author C.S. Lewis and as a trustee of the Lewis estate. In the photograph, Sayer is holding a stack of books inside an interior room at Malvern College. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Sayer, George Malvern College (Malvern, England) Malvern (England) Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbdb477a09704846610b35b4f28fa5e1.jpg 83d4adcded9804f6f7cf8034ddaa7248 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_M239-0005a Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource George Sayer, Malvern College Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of George Sayer, the biographer and teacher at Malvern College in Malvern, England, who is best known for his biography of author C.S. Lewis and as a trustee of the Lewis estate. In the photograph, Sayer is holding a stack of books inside an interior room at Malvern College. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Sayer, George Malvern College (Malvern, England) Malvern (England) Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9d1201d55d5a362de4ef36242ec1fdb2.jpg 13abb6f96832942377e1b51de1a29940 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1990s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000452 Title A name given to the resource George W. Bush with Louie the Laker Description An account of the resource George W. Bush with Louie the Laker at the fieldhouse. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives color photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d30107e7563b6200303a1fb087df9c14.mp4 1a527d25f28c44525c442b9495b5f234 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1fec8aa0e012664da2eded20f4f88a7b.pdf 32af0fe98f7add5945cd0ac2c2276d9f PDF Text Text George, Al Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee’s Name: Al George Length of Interview: (56:52) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Maluhia Buhlman Interviewer: “We’re talking today with Al George of Grand Rapids, Michigan and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project. Okay Al, being with some background on yourself and to begin with, where and when were you born?” In Muskegon Heights. Interviewer: “In what year?” (00:24) August 19th, 1925. Interviewer: “Okay, so that’s Muskegon Heights, Michigan.” Muskegon. Interviewer: “Alright, did you grow up there or did you move around?” I was there basically until I moved to Grand Rapids in 1954. Interviewer: “Okay, so you grew up basically– So you grew up in Muskegon Heights.” Right. �George, Al Interviewer: “What was your family doing for a living when you were a kid?” Well my dad was in the moving business, he was in World War I, when he came out he and another fellow started the business and it was moving into storage. Interviewer: “Okay, now was he able to keep that business during the depression?” He kept the business but didn’t make money on it. He had about three people working for him and we– My uncle became sheriff in 1936 and when that happened he had a little store out in the country. We went out and ran the little country store, lived in his house and we kept the business. Dad kept the business going but the family ran with the little country store. Interviewer: “Okay, so you kinda got by, now what town was the store in?” Just north of Muskegon in the M-20. (1:53) Interviewer: “Alright, okay so you found different ways of getting by. How many kids were in your family?” I had two brothers and a sister. Interviewer: “Okay and where were you in that order?” I was the third, my older brother, older sister, and a younger brother by ten years. Interviewer: “Okay, so now– And then how long did you stay in school?” I was in through high school. Interviewer: “Okay so you graduated from high school.” �George, Al I graduated from high school on a Thursday– On a Friday, on one day they sent me– My folks were able to send me to Michigan State College to wait to be drafted. I tried to join the Navy during my stay in high school, five of us went to Detroit and I couldn’t pass it because I was sick, color blind, and I went a term and a half at Michigan State until they drafted me and I fooled my way to get into the Navy because I wanted to be in the Navy. Interviewer: “Okay, how do you get past a color blindness test?” I was the first one through on Saturday morning with our group and I got to the first line of the test for eyes and he paid no attention because he was getting his stamp credits and all that stuff out, and he said “Read this line.” And I wrote what I could read and bluffed the rest of it and he stamped it normal and when I got through they said “What do you want, Army, Navy, or Marines.” I said “Navy.” They sent me to Great Lakes. Interviewer: “Okay, I want to back up a little bit, do you remember how you heard about Pearl Harbor?” (4:18) Oh yeah, we were in the country running the store, it was a Sunday afternoon and we heard it on the radio and I was 16 years old and I said “I’m too young to fight.” Interviewer: “Alright, now before that happened were you paying attention to the news at all?” Oh yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, so you knew there was a war going on in Europe and all that kind of thing?” Yes, yes. Interviewer: “And were you thinking that at some point we were going to get into it?” �George, Al Well I thought some– They were drafting people at that time but they had to be 21 or older, it was just a matter of time. My brother was in Michigan State, he was, I think a junior. Interviewer: “Okay so something was coming and now it does happen but then initially you’re too young and now were you 17 when you tried to enlist?” Yeah. Interviewer: “You could do that if your parents let you.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, but they rejected you but then the second time when you get drafted– Once they draft you they’re gonna use you someplace and they would’ve put you in the Army maybe if they found out you were color blind. Okay, so you made it to the Navy, you go to Great Lakes, Illinois for your boot camp. Now what was the boot camp like?” (5:52) It was great, actually I only weighed 150 when I went in and I came out at 180, I did move a lot, I liked it, it was good. When I didn’t know what they would do with me because of my color blindness, when I came back from leave it said “Construction.” And that meant they were gonna send me to Seabees. Interviewer: “Okay, how did you gain so much weight while you were there?” I ate good, I was one of the top runners, and it just was healthy for me. Interviewer: “Okay, so they fed you well and you got a lot of exercise, so that work was good. Now how much emphasis was there on discipline?” Well I felt the discipline was fine I didn’t reject it. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, but were they really careful about all the spit and polish stuff?” Kind of made me not like the fact that some guys would not do what they’re supposed to be doing and that bothered me. Interviewer: “Okay, now would they punish all the men in the unit if some of them didn’t do their job?” We’re supposed to sweep down every night and they just wouldn’t do it and it bugged me things like that. Interviewer: “Okay, so it wasn’t so much that the instructors were punishing you.” No. Interviewer: “It was just that some of the guys weren’t doing their job.” Yeah. (8:00) Interviewer: “Okay, alright now how long did the boot camp last?” I think about a month, I can’t remember exactly. Interviewer: “Okay, so pretty short.” Yeah it was short. Interviewer: “Okay, and then you said– Did they give you a leave after that?” Yeah. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, and then do you come back again to Great Lakes to get your assignment?” Right. Interviewer: “Alright and so they put you in the Seabees and the naval construction battalions.” Right. Interviewer: “Okay, now did they send you for training next?” Yes, they asked me what I wanted, of course I wanted– I like the water I wanted to boat and learn how to handle– Well be in the boat or a portion of it. Interviewer: “Yeah, so be on a ship rather, yeah.” (8:48) Well I learned how to operate a landing craft. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now where were you doing your Seabees training?” On Rhode Island. Interviewer: “Okay, I think your notes talk about going to Virginia first?” Yeah, that’s where I came– I went to Virginia and then they sent me up to Rhode Island and assigned me to Seabees unit number 65. Interviewer: “64” �George, Al 64. Interviewer: “Yeah, okay but did you do any training in Virginia or did you just get processed?” Mostly processed, they like to put me in the…cut that out. Interviewer: “That’s okay. Alright, okay so you went to Camp Perry there’s a Seabees center there but just then on to Rhode Island the 64th Battalion, and so your training is really going on in Rhode Island.” Rhode Island, right. Oh, what do you call it, when you feed people? Interviewer: “Okay so you’re doing KP?” KP, and I had too much of it and when we left Rhode Island I told the officer I wanted to be off for a month, he said “How long you been on?” And I told him, he says “You’re not gonna be on at all from here on out.” (10:57) Interviewer: “Okay, did you have any idea why you were stuck on KP for so long?” It bothered me, yeah. Interviewer: “But do you know why you were stuck with that?” It’s because it was easy for them to not have a complainer. Interviewer: “Okay, so you would do the job.” I’d do the job. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, so they’d just have you keep doing the job, yeah. Alright, now when you were training in Rhode Island what kinds of things you were learning, you were learning how–” I learned seamanship and studied it. Interviewer: “Okay, so would that involve navigation or?” And learn how to handle the– What do you call it? Interviewer: “The landing craft?” Landing craft, yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, were these the little Higgins boats, the small landing craft?” (11:58) Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, now did you have any–” I would’ve had that duty when we left– When the war ended, at that time we were going to go to Japan– Or– Interviewer: “China?” China. Interviewer: “Okay, that gets a little bit farther along. Now aside from the learning how to pilot a landing craft, did you get any weapons training?” Some, just practicing with small arms. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, did you fire machine guns or just rifles and pistols?” No, just rifles. Interviewer: “Okay, basic rifle training.” Seabees didn’t have that much. Interviewer: “Okay, now did you learn to operate any equipment?” No. Interviewer: “Okay, so then anything like that maybe comes later?” Yeah. (12:59) Interviewer: “Okay, okay so this is really pretty basic training–” Well, including the 90 I did operate– Telephone operation, I learned that when we were in Hawaii. Interviewer: “Okay, but that’s later as well, that’s after Rhode Island, okay.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, now do you have an idea about how long you were in Rhode Island?” From the fall– Oh yeah, about two or three months. Interviewer: “Okay, so not too long, did you ever go off the base?” �George, Al Yeah. Interviewer: “Where did you go?” I went to New York when I could get away. Interviewer: “Okay, and how would– Now where in Rhode Island were you, were you at Quonset Point or somewhere else?” I think it was Quonset Point, it was– Interviewer: “It was kind of on the bay?” We were right on the bay, we used to go swimming in the bay. Interviewer: “Okay, and you could take a train into New York?” (14:13) Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now once you finish up at Rhode Island where do you go next?” We headed for the Pacific. Interviewer: “Okay, now how did you from Rhode Island–” Train. Interviewer: “Okay, so you cross the country, now did you go all the way to the west coast?” �George, Al All the way to San Francisco. Interviewer: “Okay, and what do you remember about that train ride?” Oh all the places kind of followed the map where we were and it was a good nice trip. Interviewer: “Okay, how long did it take?” It probably took about three or four days. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now would they let you get off the train at different places?” No, not much, we just stayed on the same train. Interviewer: “Okay, and so what port did you sail out of?” San Francisco is where we leave, yeah San Francisco. (15:15) Interviewer: “Okay, alright and what kind of ship do they put you on?” From there to Hawaii was a regular passenger ship. Interviewer: “Okay, so like a converted ocean liner with a lot of bunks in it?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, now when you left San Francisco–” Yeah. �George, Al Interviewer: “A lot of times people talk about the waves and rolling seas and people getting seasick.” No problem. Interviewer: “Okay.” Never had a problem with it, seasick. Interviewer: “Alright, now did other people on the ship have trouble?” Yeah, we got pictures of them in our picture book. Interviewer: “Okay, now when you went to Hawaii did the ship sail by itself or were you in a convoy?” (16:08) No, we were by itself. Interviewer: “Okay, do you remember if the ship zigzagged at all or just went straight?” We just– It was like taking a tour. Interviewer: “Okay, so like a pleasure cruise.” Pleasure cruise. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now where did you go to in Hawaii?” To– In Hawaii? Come on. Interviewer: “Well did you go to Pearl Harbor or somewhere else?” �George, Al Pearl Harbor. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now when you got to Pearl Harbor could you see any signs of the attack, was there still–” We were doing some repair work, we spent about three months there I think just working on cleaning up and road work. Interviewer: “Alright, and now is this–” Oh I wasn’t working on that I got– They asked for somebody to operate the telephones and another fellow and I volunteered, we worked the whole time we were there. Interviewer: “Okay, and is this about the middle of 1944 now that–” Yeah. (17:30) Interviewer: “Yeah, okay alright so then were you actually based at Pearl Harbor?” Yeah, on Waimano Ridge. Interviewer: “Alright, and so what was it like living in Hawaii?” It was great, we had time where we could go swimming and every night we could go see the movie, outside movie, might be raining a little bit but that was all. Interviewer: “Okay, and would you go into Honolulu or places off base?” We could. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, did you do that very much or did you just stay on the base?” No, it was not much tourists at that time. Interviewer: “And you probably didn’t have a lot of money either.” No. Interviewer: “Alright, because in a place like that I mean the assumption is–” I can get along at $20 a month. Interviewer: “Okay, cause sometimes you have stories of people going into town, getting drunk and getting in trouble and stuff like that, did men in your unit do that?” I wasn’t involved with any of them. (18:55) Interviewer: “Yeah but were there other guys in your unit who would do that?” Yeah, it wasn’t bad. Interviewer: “Okay, alright so you’re there for a few months and then what happens next?” Then we were sent to the Pacific and it took us about 30 days to get there, we had– We were all in LSTs. Interviewer: “Okay, so what is it like to be sailing on an LST for a month?” [unintelligible] I was in the stern and it was quite rough and some of us would take a cot and put it on main deck underneath the equipment that was there and stay overnight. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, and that’d be more the middle of the ship, so you wouldn’t go up and down as much?” Yup. Interviewer: “Yeah, okay now was your whole battalion on one LST or were you on several of them?” There was several of them. Interviewer: “Okay, alright did you have–” I had all the equipment we needed to work what we were going to do, we were gonna build a base, Navy base. Interviewer: “Okay, alright yeah, so for that– Yeah I mean an LST is not really that big especially that’s full of equipment so for a full battalion you’d need several trips.” (20:40) Right, we were assigned to a ship after we were there. Interviewer: “Okay, but you spend about a month on an LST in transit basically.” Right. Interviewer: “Alright, now did you have any duties during that month?” No. Interviewer: “Okay, and they didn’t make up work for you to do?” �George, Al We played games. Interviewer: “Did they do a ceremony for crossing the international dateline or anything like that?” Didn’t go across the dateline. Interviewer: “Well eventually you’d have to, from Hawaii to the Philippines you cross the dateline, just not the equator, the dateline runs north, south.” Right. Interviewer: “Okay, but they didn’t–” Oh the dateline, I was thinking– Interviewer: “Yeah, I think the equator is that they have the weird stuff for.” (21:30) The equator, we didn’t go across the equator, dateline you know we kept track of the time. Interviewer: “Okay, now– And so you’re heading for the Philippines and what island did you go to?” The island that we ended up on was Tubabao, it was attached– Not attached but we made a road between Samar and Tubabao. Interviewer: “Okay, and Samar is a larger island kind of in the middle of the Philippines, it’s near Leyte which is where you landed.” It was the south end of Samar. �George, Al Interviewer: “Yeah, okay alright.” We had to clear the land to make the base there. Interviewer: “So what was there?” A, what did you call it, where you mix soap and so forth. Interviewer: “Okay, so there was a soap plant or something like that, do they have palm trees?” Yeah, raised palm trees. Interviewer: “Okay, so they make palm oil and make soap out of that, okay.” We took the palm trees all out. (23:12) Interviewer: “So it had been a plantation of some kind then?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now were there any civilians around?” Yes, had a little– On Samar, had a little village and what surprised me was they all had Singer sewing machines and they had stuff that they sold for us to send home. Interviewer: “Now were there any on Tubabao or just on Samar?” I don’t think they were on Tubabao, but they used to have natives come over and do your– Interviewer: “Your laundry?” �George, Al Laundry, if you wanted. Interviewer: “Okay, alright so how long did it take you do you think to clear off the trees to start building?” Oh that went pretty fast, time didn’t mean much. Interviewer: “Yeah, okay–” Wait, I helped in building the buildings at the time too, helped the carpenters and all the workmen. Was working with a fella that had the bulldozer, I worked with him a lot, quite a long time clearing the place. Interviewer: “Did you learn to operate the bulldozer, did you drive it?” Not officially. (25:05) Interviewer: “Okay, alright so when he’s using the bulldozer what are you doing?” Clinging, fastening on to the bell end equipment and the trees, dragging them off the side. Interviewer: “Alright, now once you’ve got the trees out of the way what kind of base were you building or what was it going to be used for?” Well the buildings were going to be for Navy personnel. Interviewer: “Okay, so just barracks or?” Yeah, we didn’t get a chance to use them, we had tents, we even made a baseball field for them. �George, Al Interviewer: “Alright, what was the weather like when you were there?” Minor to moderate, they kept the mosquitoes sprayed and the only thing that bothered me was that I might get some disease but we had no problem. Interviewer: “Okay, so you didn’t pick up any tropical diseases?” No. Interviewer: “Okay, now did they have you taking drugs to prevent malaria?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, did you take atabrine, was that–” I don’t know what exactly it just– It wasn’t a big deal. (26:42) Interviewer: “Okay, alright now did it rain a lot or was it–” No, but when it did rain it would rain hard and then it would– It was just wait for it to get away and it didn’t keep up. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now were some of the Seabees were they building harbor facilities or anything like that or an airstrip?” No, no airstrip. Interviewer: “Okay, but you were mostly just working on the buildings and the facilities for the personnel.” Yup. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, now is that what you were doing when the war ended?” Well yeah it was all complete. Interviewer: “Okay, and so and then while you were on the Philippines were you following the news of the war, keeping track of things?” Oh yeah, yeah we did a little– They had small printed things telling what was going on, it was a daily thing, we kept up. Interviewer: “Okay, alright so you kept track of– So were you there when Okinawa was going on and that kind of thing?” Oh yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, and so did you finish building the base before the war ended?” (28:08) It was about the same time. Interviewer: “Okay, okay do you remember hearing about the atomic bomb?” Oh yeah, oh yeah. Interviewer: “And when that news came out did you know what that meant?” Yeah, we were kept up on the news of it, yup. We were kept up real well with the news, it was written up. Interviewer: “Okay, now where you were, did you ever see anything of the Japanese?” �George, Al No. Interviewer: “Okay, so there were no Japanese aircraft going by or anything like that?” No. Interviewer: “Okay, and there weren’t any hiding out in the jungle anyplace?” No. Interviewer: “Okay, so it was really pretty quiet.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, now did you think that was a good thing?” (29:04) Well it was the proper thing I thought and the others we were not in any danger at all, didn’t even see a Japanese plane. Interviewer: “Okay, alright so now getting into August of ‘45 the Japanese surrender, what were you planning at that time or what was going on before that?” Well we were– We were gettin ready, prepared for the landing we’re gonna make and we’ve figured that they would be– We thought they were bringing the soldiers away from Europe and out and helping us and I didn’t have any qualms about what was going to happen except that because I hadn’t had any reason to worry. Interviewer: “Alright, okay now where was your unit supposed to go, most people were going to go to Japan?” Tubabao– I meant to Sing Tao, Sing Tao. �George, Al Interviewer: “Right, okay so you’re gonna go to lay support in North China. Yeah, okay so that was your goal but in the end you didn’t go there?” No, no they split us up and half of the unit went back to Truk and the Truk was like Hawaii to the Japanese, that was where they have all their power but we bypassed them and they lost all their ability to do anything from there. So when we got there we saw the Japanese were there and they looked like they were in good shape, had been– They were living off the land. Interviewer: “Yeah, and well Truk that was so they– That’s just a coral atoll isn’t it? It’s just a bunch of little islets around a big harbor.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, now were there sunken ships or things in the harbor?” (31:38) No, I didn’t– We didn’t see any ships in the harbor at all. Interviewer: “Well some of them were sunk but they were at the bottom, so you wouldn’t see those, we tapped it a lot.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, but you got a good look at the Japanese when you got there?” In fact we had some of the Japanese show us around the island, took us into their defense and was kind of– There was no unhappiness with the people at all. They were– I think they were just as happy to get up and get ready to go home. Interviewer: “Alright, now were you surprised at all by that?” �George, Al Surprised? Interviewer: “Yeah that the Japanese seemed like normal people.” Oh yeah, it was– Well yeah, it was kind of was a good thing to be around them and the Navy gave us some of the equipment like samurais swords, pistols, rifles and we could take them home. Interviewer: “Okay, now how long did the Japanese stay on the island, did they leave before you did?” Not very long, they got shipped home. Interviewer: “Okay, now what was your job on Truk, what were you doing?” About the same thing that I was doing when we were building the base I had telephone operation, that kind of stuff. (33:30) Interviewer: “Did the battalion have to do much construction?” Well yeah we were fixing the air base, the airfield was– When we landed on there we had to pitch our tents on the air base– On the airfield, it was a bunch of holes and they also started working on clearing it and making a big airplane– Airfield, a good airfield, and that’s what they were doing when I left. Interviewer: “Alright, how long do you think you stayed on Truk?” Well the war ended until May. Interviewer: “Okay, so about nine, ten months, something like that, not a long time.” �George, Al Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, how did you spend your time when you were off duty?” One time we took a ride to some of the islands, we met some people who were from Germany who were missionaries and we couldn’t speak their language, they couldn’t speak ours, but we got somebody that could both speak Spanish and we visited with them for a while and they had some little kids. Interviewer: “Had they been there all through the war?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Yeah, just kind of trapped, but you didn’t get to go outside of the Truk atoll you were just going to the different islets in the area, now was there a native population there?” (35:25) Yeah but we didn’t see much of it, we saw they had a big place on the water and it was so smelly that we didn’t want to go around there anyhow, it was bad. Interviewer: “Okay, so they kind of had them all in one compound or one area, yeah at that point.” Yeah Interviewer: “Okay, alright now while you were overseas did you have much contact with the people back home?” No, just those people who want to sell us stuff, that was all. Interviewer: “Well did you write to your parents or anything like that?” �George, Al Oh yeah, no problem there. Interviewer: “Okay, but basically you’re pretty much just on your own.” Could take pictures too, didn’t have a very good camera but took some pictures. Interviewer: “Well what kind of camera did you have?” Box camera. Interviewer: “Okay, and could you develop things on the island or did you have to send the film somewhere else?” Yeah, we had that equipment. Interviewer: “Alright, now if you think back over the time that you spent on Tubabao and then on Truk are there any other particular incidents or things that happened that stand out for you?” (36:53) No, just happy the bomb was let so we could go home, we figured that we saved our lives, it saved our lives. Interviewer: “Quite possibly, alright so and basically you wind up staying until you accumulate enough points to go home, was that how that went?” Yup. Interviewer: “Okay, now had most of your battalion left before you did or were you in the middle of them?” �George, Al I don’t know, I didn’t really keep track. Interviewer: “Okay, but so you didn’t feel like you were the last guy left?” We just keep track of who is all able to go, had enough points. Interviewer: “Alright, now once you get enough points how do they get you back home?” It was a ship, passenger type. Interviewer: “Okay, and then did you have a good voyage back home?” Went back to Hawaii and flew out of it, I happened to get a flight out of there. Interviewer: “Okay, had you ever been on an airplane before?” (38:08) Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, so you had flown before?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, okay and then you fly from Hawaii. Where do you land in the continental U.S?” In San Francisco. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now do they discharge you there?” Yeah, flew home from there. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, because it was a little bit unusual to be flying in those days.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Mostly you take boats and trains but you did that, okay.” I didn’t fly, I came home by train. Interviewer: “Okay, once you got there.” My second time I did a lot of flying. Interviewer: “Right, okay now when you are discharged one of the things they did is they often asked you if you wanted to be in the reserves.” Yes. (39:06) Interviewer: “And they– Did they ask that of you?” Yes. Interviewer: “Okay, and what did you answer?” I figured I was single and if anything happened in four years I’d be called back in anyhow, I wanted to make sure to go back into the Navy so I joined the reserves. Interviewer: “Okay, now were there any benefits to joining the reserves?” Yeah, well if you’re active, I was active you get paid a little bit. I mean we had two weeks that we would be on a tour. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, so you still have the usual kind of reserve drill stuff.” Meetings. Interviewer: “Meetings and things.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now did you go back to Muskegon or somewhere else?” Yeah, I went back to Muskegon. Interviewer: “Okay, and then once you got back home what did you do?” I went to work for my dad, his business of course during the war was busy and nobody else in the family wanted anything to do with it. So I thought “Well, I’ll take over and but it from my dad.” So I started buying and working with moving into storage. (40:30) Interviewer: “Alright, now in the next few years did you get married or anything else like that?” Yup, I got married, had one child and in 1951 the Korean war came and they called me in right now. I had to go within a week and here I had a business and the funny thing is about three months before that happened there was a fella that wanted to buy my business. I had– There were about four moving companies and the other ones weren’t doing so well, I had most of the local work there and people wanted to buy it and I said “No, I’m not selling.” And when this happened I said “Wow, what can I do? I think I’ll call a guy and see if he wants it.” He did and I was gone in a week, I had leave– Emergency leave to get home to sign papers to finish that up, so they gave me a couple of days to go home. Interviewer: “Alright, now when they called you up where did you report to first?” �George, Al Great Lakes. Interviewer: “Okay, and was it from Great Lakes that you went home on emergency leave to sign the papers?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, alright and then once you’ve joined them how long do you think you stay at Great Lakes?” Let’s see, not very long they sent me right away to San Francisco to assign me to a ship. Interviewer: “Okay, now what ship did they assign you to?” Sproston, the DDE. (42:34) Interviewer: “DDE, that’s 577 and from the information you’ve got here about the ship it looks like it was initially commissioned as a destroyer in World War II and then redesignated as a destroyer escort at the time of Korea when they un-moth balled it or whatever. So it’s DDE-577 when you’re on it, yeah. Okay, now describe the ship for people who don’t really know anything about Navy ships, about how big was it, what did it look like?” 300 feet long, it’s a small operation but they work with other ships like carriers for assistance and we got– We trained first weapons and so forth. Interviewer: “Okay, so basically it can be used as an escort or for scouting that kind of thing.” Escort for– Yeah. �George, Al Interviewer: “And what kind of weapons did it carry?” We used– Had, what do they call that now? The ones that they would drop for– Interviewer: “So depth charges for submarines?” Depth charges yeah, for submarines. Interviewer: “Right, so and did you carry torpedoes?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, and then just regular cannons and anti aircraft guns and things like that. Yeah so kind of a small all purpose Navy ship.” Small, yeah. (44:25) Interviewer: “Alright, so now you finally get to be on a ship.” Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, and then what did your ship wind up doing?” What did I do on the ship? Interviewer: “Yeah, well first of all what did you do on the ship yeah.” Yeah, I was a bosun mate at that time, that’s why they put me on ship because I was a bosun’s mate and I told them I was color blind, that didn’t make a difference and I was in charge of the fo’c’stle part of the ship and a crew of about six or seven. �George, Al Interviewer: “And was this just maintenance or cleaning?” Maintenance, cleaning, and of course we fired anti aircraft, that sort of thing. Interviewer: “Okay, and so your general quarters, your battle stations was with the anti aircraft gun?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, alright and then once you went out to sea where did you go?” Hawaii, well it was a few months before we got to Hawaii and then they assigned us to working with the aircraft carriers. Interviewer: “Okay, and then where did the aircraft– Where did you sail then?” (46:02) Just around Hawaii. Interviewer: “Okay, so you didn’t actually go to Korea, you just stayed around Hawaii?” Yeah, right getting– Right that’s when we were assigned to go to a special place where nobody knew we were going and that was for the bomb test at Enitwetok. Interviewer: “Alright, but what kind of bomb was being tested?” The big one. Interviewer: “Okay so a hydrogen bomb? So the big, big one, so yeah okay. So one of the first tests of the hydrogen bomb.” Yeah. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, and what was your ship supposed to do during the tests?” Keep people away from them while we were getting with the preparations, you had to make sure no one was in the area. Interviewer: “Alright, so when your ship goes down there and you start patrolling did you know what the mission was or was it just keep people–” Yeah, we knew what it was going to be. Interviewer: “Alright, and now did you have to shoo anybody away or was it quiet up there?” We had one ship that we had to push them, they– It was Japanese, they wanted to fish, we got them out of there. (47:28) Interviewer: “Alright, now what do you remember about the test itself, what could you see or hear?” Well we were gonna see it actually happen and we knew about when it was going to be and then when it was ready we were about 65 miles away from it and they had to have black glasses or turn your back or things until the thing was fired and then as soon as it was fired they said “Okay, you can see it.” And we went into it. Interviewer: “So you went into the mushroom cloud?” Right to the cloud, right. We went into it and we saw where the dead fish and everything– The effect of it and then we had to clean the ship up, took us three times to get it all washed off. The water did the job but it was– Then after we got that cleaned off and we had to strip and we had to get cleaned off. They checked us with the geiger counter before we could eat. �George, Al Interviewer: “So they’re trying to clean off all the radiation.” Radiation, get rid of the radiation. Interviewer: “Alright, now how close to the atoll did you actually sail the ship, did you actually go into the atoll or just the areas outside?” Oh yeah, we were using the atoll for a place to go for when they were getting ready, so I don’t know, they just ruined the island [unintelligible] the atoll. Interviewer: “Yeah, I mean were the islands still there, was there still a reef?” It was already 15 feet above sea water. Interviewer: “Okay, so you’ve kind of blown the rest of it off?” Yeah. (49:47) Interviewer: “Alright, okay so the cleaning the hull is cleaning off the radiation not the dead fish?” Yeah, then we went back to Hawaii. Interviewer: “Alright, and was that really the only substantial mission you had or did you sail to other places?” Well they– My ship was going to go do– I thought was going to go right over to the war but I got points enough to get home. Interviewer: “Okay, so how long do you think you spent on the destroyer?” �George, Al On the what? Interviewer: “How long were you on the Preston, how long were you with them?” Well the whole time. Interviewer: “Okay, but was it– But were you on active duty for a full year or less than that?” We got it down there? Interviewer: “Not seeing it on there.” Well my whole time was about a year and a half, you know it was on board ship. Interviewer: “Alright, so it’s– That was a good amount of time. Alright, now did you write home regularly?” (51:17) Oh yeah, in fact one time there I had leave, a ten day leave, to go home. Interviewer: “And were you able to fly home and do that?” Yeah, flew home and back. Interviewer: “Alright, and again thinking about that time now are there anything else that went on on that ship or other things about that tour of duty that stand out for you?” Oh it was– I had about six or seven guys who were– In charge of and it was kind of fun to have that duty and working with them. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, now were there a lot of senior enlisted on that ship who had been in World War II?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay, were there other guys who had been Seabees or were you the only one?” That were in Seabees? Interviewer: “Yeah.” Nobody that I know of, no. Interviewer: “Alright, now when you get back home the second time–” Yeah. (52:32) Interviewer: “You come back and now– You had sold your business.” Yup. Interviewer: “So now what do you do?” Well I had a little bit of money from selling the business, so I started looking for something to do and I went to different– Two different companies for a while and kept in touch with the moving business, I couldn’t go in competition there but my best competitor called me from Grand Rapids and they wanted somebody to do the kind of work that I was doing and so I went. They hired me and I was with them about 28 years. Interviewer: “Okay, now were you doing management or were you–” �George, Al Management, yeah and to the point where I ended up buying the– Moving into that company and doing some other work too. Interviewer: “Okay, alright now when you think back over the time you spent in the Navy what do you think you learned from it or how do you think that affected you?” Well I think it was the way it should’ve gone and the way I look back because the moving business changed a lot and the work that I was doing in Grand Rapids was at the right time because of the work that had to be done in the urban renewal and one time we had about 40 men working and– But that came and went, as long as– Like work with BM and companies like that that I had real good association with. Interviewer: “Okay, so you’re moving a lot of business stuff and commercial stuff not just family stuff.” Right and they had a time when they were big and then I got into the business of historic business records and that was great. So the way things went I think we couldn’t have had a better time. (55:23) Interviewer: “Alright I was gonna ask you though about how– What do you think you learned from being in the Navy or did it help you in any way those experiences?” Only the way it turned out coming and going, I think it helped me that way and I’m glad I was called in because the business that I got into after I came home worked out very well. Interviewer: “So you may have done better winding up in Grand Rapids that you would’ve been staying in Muskego.” Staying in Muskegon. �George, Al Interviewer: “Okay, alright and then when we think about those early atomic tests and that sort of stuff one of the concerns is that we exposed a lot of servicemen to radiation and this kind of thing and they can have health problems later, did you have any of that?” No problem. Interviewer: “Very good.” No problems, I had six children, 19 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren and they’re all in good health. Interviewer: “Well very good then. Alright, I’d just like to close this by thanking you for taking the time to share the story today.” � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GeorgeA2317V Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource George, Alfred Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-07 Title A name given to the resource George, Alfred (Interview transcript and video), 2019 Description An account of the resource Alfred George was born in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, on August 9, 1925 and moved to Grand Rapids in 1954. After graduating high school, George briefly attended Michigan State University before being drafted into the Navy. George was then sent to Great Lakes, Illinois, for Navy Boot Camp where he trained in construction. He was then assigned to Navy Seabees Construction Battalion 64 and was transferred to Camp Perry, Rhode Island, where he learned to operate small Higgins landing craft and underwent some basic rifle training. After Seabee training, George was sent to San Francisco and then was shipped on a converted passenger liner to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He and his Battalion were stationed for a few months at Pearl Harbor in mid-1944 repairing the damages of the 1941 Japanese attack. Then, George and his Battalion were transferred to the Philippines on LSTs and were stationed on Tubabao Island. They had orders to clear the local plantation forestry in order to construct Navy personnel barracks. While stationed in the Philippines, the war ended, and George read news pamphlets about the war’s final stages as well as the Atomic Bomb. His Battalion was then split up and he was sent to the Truk Atoll, in the Caroline Islands, where he operated phone lines while the rest of his Battalion worked to reconstruct the nearby air base over a ten-month period. Eventually, George accrued enough points to leave the service. He was shipped to Hawaii and then flown back to San Francisco where he was discharged. However, he opted to remain in the Navy Reserves. When he returned to Muskegon, George went to work for his father’s moving company and eventually bought the business from him. He also got married and had a child, but was soon called back into service in 1951 after the outbreak of the Korean War. From Great Lakes, Illinois, George was transferred back to San Francisco where he was assigned to the destroyer escort DDE 577, an old destroyer from the Second World War. He was assigned to an anti-aircraft battle station aboard the ship which sailed around Hawaii and was never fully deployed to Korea. George served on the destroyer escort for a year and a half before leaving the service again. George worked for several companies before being hired into a Grand Rapids based moving company as a part of its managerial staff for twenty-eight years. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States—History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401. Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7bb28d2a14ec638870df45c9537c4dbc.jpg 3913fc91b18272f8a4524b8f0e973c21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00725 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-01 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. 122 Oglethorp St Savannah Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of a house at 122 Oglethorp Street in Savannah, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f7eeb2549308352eff9b96aa59171f52.jpg b54bef52f1c0f68f04c06cc7a138d016 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00721 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-01 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Irene Mound Savannah Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the Irene Mound in Savannah, Georgia, looking north. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9418d1b634384693c6364e36a125eff1.jpg eda5b5095cacd258d69a303de72637ea Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00722 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-01 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Irene Mound Savannah Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide overhead view of the Irene Mound earthworks in Savannah, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33edf1cb8083bc85c33ba6a398a62d6d.jpg cf1a1b796ae76c9d71dfb04350c22c6b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00723 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-01 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Irene Mound section Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide close up view of excavated sections of the Irene Mound site in Savannah, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2e1e06c8037aa360985f96ca8349fa4b.jpg 6d5955dfb4caf349b65fc1b2413a8be1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00724 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-01 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. MacIntosh House 1782 Savannah Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the MacIntosh House, built 1782, in Savannah, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ca9083b69da3828096987572288d32fc.jpg 4711b78bb2472ee79537d01fc5b5125d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00731 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Macon Lamar mounds Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the two Lamar mounds near Macon, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Macon (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1f1477aad773bb9c70acc0725ec3391c.jpg 6302070d9081255ff8c8d661463092e1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00730 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Macon Lamar ramped mound Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the Lamar ramped mound near Macon, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Macon (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/337c5349fbcaee363d675f00a556a784.jpg 0f67ce75a8f906b1a94be0b76cc56820 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00728 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Macon large mound Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of a large mound near Macon, Georgia, looking southwest. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Macon (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f9d01c86a30ce130585a203eac52b663.jpg 916f81b7ff2d44244c0cae9d8cdf4a38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00729 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Macon Mound C Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of a mound with a shelter constructed over it near Macon, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Macon (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5cdba350f23eb2c91b74fb9d19799ff6.jpg b1a4605f028e3fec4b3e1e225825f5b7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00727 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Macon mounds Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of mounds near Macon, Georgia, taken from a large mound looking northwest. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Macon (Ga.) Mounds Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cb196c9648b05095e40dcf29db1c6452.jpg aae79d22178ac7b37a36a0e7f3dac8ff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00726 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939-01-02 Title A name given to the resource Georgia. Wetter House Savannah Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the Wetter House in Savannah, Georgia. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Georgia Savannah (Ga.) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5417f6833e515d14d7ffd5ee24ddc392.jpg 040618652824fc7b7b7e8fdfc7ab49a1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_I075-0009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968-07-09 Title A name given to the resource Gérard Klijn, Uppsala, Sweden Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of photographer, Gérard Klijn, in Uppsala, Sweden. In the photograph, Klijn is seated next to a window while smoking a cigarette and two cameras can be seen hanging from his neck, in addition to a "Staff" identification badge on his blazer. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Klijn, Gerard, 1940- Uppsala (Sweden) Photographers--Netherlands Photographers Cameras Smoking Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9a4e6ee1abdb6f58c35292668ad4842e.jpg c366be4db2059607dde077ee68096f34 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GerberDanielFrankJr Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Gerber, Daniel Frank, Jr. Description An account of the resource Daniel Frank Gerber, Jr., Part-Time Tutor, General Studies Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College teachers Universities and colleges – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6bc8cbace97538f9790e8dd249d8492.mp4 ed91351d652e384b31a0bc01b062d8b1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/05ee6576c05965132cfff57169528474.pdf 25759b254cda6ee5f6353e6a27204de8 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project William Gerber World War II 1 hour 20 minutes 22 seconds (00:00:09) Early Life -Born on June 26, 1921 in Menominee, Michigan -Had three brothers (two were twins and one was a single brother) -Grew up on a farm near Menominee -Attended a country school until the sixth grade -Moved into town to attend middle school and high school -Graduated from high school in 1939 -Father had worked as a mechanic -He was a WWI Navy veteran -Mother was a home maker (00:03:58) U.S. Citizens Training Corps -In August 1938 he received military training through the U.S. Citizens Training Corps -Went to Fort Brady, Michigan near Sault Ste. Marie -Training lasted four weeks -Trained from six in the morning to eight at night (00:05:24) National Park Service and Beginning of the War -After high school was sent to Houghton, Michigan as part of National Youth Administration -Received training about radios there and learned Morse code as well as radio technology -Got appointed to be the radio technician for the National Park Service at Isle Royale -Arrived at Isle Royale on December 6, 1941 -They had access to a radio and heard about the attack at Pearl Harbor the next day -They weren’t allowed to leave the island to enlist or do anything like that -Stationed on the island until the spring of 1942 -During the week they would patrol the island -After Pearl Harbor he had to encode all radio transmissions -Left Isle Royale in May 1942 (00:14:58) Returning to Menominee and Hospital Job -Returned home to Menominee after being on station at Isle Royale -Got a job at the nearby Marinette General Hospital in Marinette, Wisconsin -Lived at the hospital -On duty for eight hours a day and on call for the other sixteen hours -Worked as a medical technician on the ambulances -Worked at the hospital from May 1942 to July 1942 -Remembers one ambulance call where a woman suffered a head injury at a farm -He was driving the ambulance for that call -Nurse on board made it clear that he wasn’t going fast enough -Wound up going 65mph through the town to get back to the hospital (00:19:36) Getting Drafted and Basic Training -In July 1942 he was drafted into the Army �-Reported for basic training on the fourth or fifth of August 1942 -Went to Fort Custer, Michigan to be inducted into the Army and to go through processing -From Fort Custer he was sent to Fort Story, Virginia -Training he received through Citizens Training Corps proved to be extremely helpful -Got promoted to the rank of corporal after being in the Army for only six weeks -Told that his Citizens Training Corps training had effectively been basic training (00:21:52) Radio Training -Because of his experience with radios he was placed into the radio training program -Wound up receiving a total of five months-worth of radio training in the Army -Got sent to radar school at Fort Monroe, Virginia -Six weeks of intense training -Equipment they were using was top secret at the time -Day started at eight in the morning and ended at nine at night -Radar unit got broken up and he was placed in field artillery training -Got sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas -Received his field artillery training there -Had less work to do than the other trainees because of prior training experience -Got trained on how to be a radio operator for field artillery units -Job was to receive codes and coordinates and relay that information to gun crews -Stayed at Fort Chaffee for a couple months (00:25:13) Deployment to Europe and Overview of Deployment -He was assigned to the 663rd Field Artillery Battalion -From Fort Chaffee they were sent to New York City and from New York got sent to England -By the time they arrived in England it was spring 1944 -Eight weeks after the D-Day Invasion his unit landed at Omaha Beach in France -His unit was involved in the Allied offensive in the Rhineland and pushing into Germany -Eight inch howitzers were the primary artillery pieces that they used -Got to go through Paris en route to the Rhineland -His unit was one of the first to fire across the Rhine River into Germany -Offensive began in late 1944/early 1945 (00:32:49) Personal Responsibilities and Experience with Combat -His task was to act as a liaison between the forward observers and the gun crews -Transmitted the coordinates from the forward observers to the plotters -Gun crews were usually made up of six to eight men -There were three guns to each battery -Had to sleep wherever you could -Unit moved forward every day if an advance was possible -They were usually just behind the frontline if not within eyesight of the main fighting -If they and the infantry were able to break through German defenses they would advance -Germans never got very close to the artillery position -Usually had Allied infantry between them and the Germans -His unit didn’t sustain any casualties that he knew of -He himself didn’t get wounded during his time in Europe (00:37:24) Interactions with Civilians Pt. 1 -Remembers moving into liberated towns and being greeted by the civilians -Civilians would come right up to Allied troops and give them hugs �-They knew that they had finally been liberated from German rule -He had never seen so many happy people in his life (00:38:20) Logistics of Deployment -When they were deployed to Europe the equipment and personnel were moved over together -From England they had traveled to France aboard a larger landing craft (LCT or LST) -Able to pull right up to Omaha Beach and unload soldiers and equipment right onto the beach (00:40:01) Battle of the Bulge -Got involved in the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45 -Unit acted as artillery support for the infantry units under siege in Bastogne, Belgium -They were only about five miles away (at the most) from where the main fighting was occurring (00:41:09) Interactions with Civilians Pt. 2 -Remembers the French women being very welcoming of the U.S. troops -Children would also come running up to the U.S. troops to give them hugs -Moving experience for the soldiers that had children of their own back home (00:42:27) Battle of the Rhineland and Pushing into Germany -Pushed across the Rhine River in early 1945 -Eventually made it all the way to Berlin -Supported infantry during the offensive all the way up to Victory in Europe Day (May 6, 1945) -Some of the Germans welcomed the U.S Army and the end of the war -Others were resentful about being occupied -In time they eventually accepted the reality that they had been defeated (00:43:58) Coming Home and End of Active Duty -Returned to the United States as individuals and not as a single unit -Got sent home depending on how many “points” you had -Point system: Acquired points depending on length of service and action seen -Landed in New York City and got sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey -From Camp Kilmer took a train to Fort Custer, Michigan -Got processed out there and was discharged from active duty in February 1946 -From Fort Custer took a train to Chicago and from Chicago took a train back to Menominee (00:46:44) Involvement with the American Legion -Upon arriving home he joined the American Legion in Menominee -Has been a life member of the Legion ever since -Became vice commander of the American Legion post at Menominee -During his time with the American Legion helped in any way he could -Doing odd jobs and a variety of tasks for the post -Had a couple hundred members at the post that he was a part of (00:48:29) Life after the War -Attended Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma for two years -Studied general commercial radio with a focus on radio engineering -Also received his radio license through them -Spent some time in Oklahoma City -During his time there met a girl and met that girl’s sister -Wound up marrying the sister and stayed married for twenty five years and eight months -She died in 1973 and he never remarried -“Never ran into anybody that could replace her” -After completing his radio studies and getting married he returned to Menominee, Michigan �-Got a job at WMAM radio station out of Marinette, Wisconsin -Acted as both their radio and TV engineer -Also worked at their satellite station in Manistique, Michigan -Stayed with WMAM for several years -Got a job in the Michigan State Police through his twin brothers who worked for the police -Started at Houghton Lake, Michigan as a radio operator -Stayed there for about half a decade -From Houghton Lake got transferred to Rockford, Michigan -Worked there for twenty five years until he retired in 1974 (00:54:38) Morale and Conditions in the Field during the War -Stayed in touch with family by way of V-Mail (Victory Mail) -Form of military sponsored postage that used microfilm to make shipping more efficient -Had a mess sergeant for their unit who was very particular about the quality of food -He was such a good cook that a general wanted him to be his personal chef -Refused the offer, so the general would come down and eat with the enlisted men -Also very strict with the cooks that worked for him -If food was not prepared to his liking he would force them to redo it -Never had any problems with having enough supplies -Didn’t feel stressed during his time in Europe just tried to take everything in stride (00:58:38) Downtime and Entertainment in Europe -Everyone had their own form of entertainment -On the first New Years that he was in the Army he got into a poker game -Won five paychecks even though he’d never played poker before -Got to see some of the USO Shows -Some were good, some were bad, and some he was indifferent about -Soldiers were allowed to take leave into nearby towns -Grew up speaking Danish, German and English so he could talk to German civilians -Germans were surprised that so many Americans could speak German -He was able to visit Paris and various small towns during his time in Europe (01:04:58) Relationship with Officers and Fellow Soldiers -Held officers and the other enlisted men in high regards -There were a few officers in particular that were good leaders and good men -Didn’t keep in touch with anyone that he served with after the war -Men that he served with were from all over the country -Too difficult to maintain a friendship with someone that lived hundreds of miles away (01:07:53) Involvement with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion -Belonged to the Veterans of Foreign Wars for a while when he lived in Menominee -Not all that he thought it would be -Kept his American Legion membership no matter where he was transferred -Officially remained a registered member of the Menominee post -If he walked into a local American Legion post with his hat on people didn’t question it -Didn’t bother to transfer his membership to the Houghton Lake or Rockford post (01:09:03) Army Reserves and Korean War -Stayed in the Army Reserves after WWII -Didn’t seek out warfare, but if he was needed to fight he was willing to go -When the Korean War broke out he was called to active duty and was sent to Japan �-Due to security clearance issues he wasn’t allowed to be sent to Korea though -Stayed in Japan for a year until he was sent back home -Retired from the Army Reserves in 1967 -Spent a total of twenty five years in the Army (01:12:07) Life after State Police -Retired from the State Police in 1974 in Rockford after serving them for twenty five years -After retiring from the Michigan State Police he worked odd jobs for various people -Anything that came along he was willing to help out with -Experience in the Army and in the Boy Scouts had taught him a wide array of abilities -He’d been very active in the Scouts as a youth and as a parent (01:14:34) Reflections on Service -The abilities that he’d learned in the Army transferred well into civilian life -His service in the Army instilled in him a sense of community and selflessness -If his help was needed then he would pitch and help where he could -Saw it all as just something that had to be done and he did it � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_GerberW1661V Title A name given to the resource Gerber, William (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-07-14 Description An account of the resource William Gerber was born in 1921 in Menominee, Michigan. He grew up there and attended high school there until he graduated in 1939. In the summer of 1938 he trained with the U.S. Citizens Training Corps in Fort Brady, Michigan for four weeks which would later count towards basic training in the Army. After completing high school he went to Houghton, Michigan as part of the National Youth Administration and received radio training. This led to his getting involved with the National Park Service and his working at Isle Royale National Park starting on December 6, 1941 and being relieved from that duty in May 1942. After Isle Royale he worked briefly as a medical technician and as an ambulance driver for Marinette General Hospital in Marinette, Wisconsin. In July 1942 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and in August 1942 he reported for basic training. He was sent to Fort Story, Virginia and because of his prior military training he was quickly promoted to the rank of corporal. He went on to receive radio training at Fort Story and Fort Monroe in Virginia and he was later attached to the 663rd Field Artillery Battalion as a radio operator. In spring 1944 his unit was deployed to Europe. They would go on to participate in the Battle of the Bulge and supporting Allied infantry in Bastogne, and the 663rd was one of the first units to cross the Rhine River into Germany to begin the Allied invasion of Germany. He was discharged in February 1946, but remained in the reserves and was called up during the Korean War and served in Japan at that time. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gerber, William Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Erichsen, Wallace (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/245bddaaffdbb90d82cdfdbfc915f4ae.mp4 9e235d364d0c9fe0b9b06cd71091d9fc https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ba1155fe7c7834e14aff5c85ea661963.pdf 3043438bca248c1342b6359cc39ae0d4 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Gerhard “Herman the German” Neumann Date of Interview: 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 1] - audio only FRANK BORING: To begin with, could you give us some idea of your background before you even came to China - your schooling and your expertise, learning how to work with engines. Can you give us some background of that please? HERMAN THE GERMAN: I was the son of a manufacturer of feathers for beds and feathers for blankets in East Germany, east of Berlin and Prussia. I was the only son and my son, of course, wanted me to take over his business ultimately. But I didn't like his business at all, I liked engineering from a little boy on. I flew secretly without telling my parents. I was nine years old already and airplane and took a round flight in a plane, I was very excited about it, and my parents then agreed I could go to engineering college. In order, in Germany in those days, to go to college, you had to be an apprentice as a mechanic for a minimum of 3 years, which gives you a feeling for the stuff which you ought to design later and how things work. I completed this 3 year period, I passed the examination as a journeyman which then means you are free to repair automobiles or airplane engines if that's the case on your own without supervision. I then went to Midweiter [?] which is the most famous German engineering school and the oldest one for many famous people like Junkers, Heinkel, Opel and many of the leading German manufacturers came from and graduated from. Just before I finished graduating, this was under the Hitler years, of course, it �was in 1938, in '38 in August '38, I was drafted into the German army and I got a passport but as an engineering student, I was deferred. All engineers and all doctors, medical, in anticipation of the need for war which Hitler knew he was going to start, but the world claimed then that they knew about it, I was deferred, I could continue with my studies and just before I graduated, I saw a notice on the bulletin board that the Chinese government, nationalist of course at that time, was looking for a few German young engineers who, after graduation, would take over the supervision of the maintenance of German aircraft and German planes. I saw this ad, I took this ad to the director's office and said, "Look, I have a chance to go," and he said, "This is okay, you had some excellent grades in the past years and we will send you a certificate. You apply, go right to Berlin and start applying for visas", because in those days, when you made a flight from Germany to Hong Kong, for example, you passed 12 countries, you need 12 visas. It's nothing like today where things go in a matter of hours, it took weeks before you could get the visa or an interview, going through Iraq, going through Baghdad and going through Iran, or at that time, Persia, and India was, of course, one country and Burma and Indo-China, French Indo-China at that time, all these countries took a while. Anyhow, I did get a ticket for a big tri-engine plane that flew once a week, Air France from Paris to Hong Kong and it took eight full days to fly there because there was no night flying and many landings were not on runways, there were no runways, they landed on the beach in many places. But in any case, it took eight days and I wound up in Hong Kong. FRANK BORING: Could you tell us what the reaction was of your family when you told them you were going? HERMAN THE GERMAN: They wouldn't think it would really work. My parents never thought that it would really work, that I would really get on that plane and get all the way to China because it was in the other half of the world, it was so far away that they thought they would never see me again if I do go. But I was determined to go. �FRANK BORING: Why did you want to go China and as a sub-question to that, what did you know about China before you went? HERMAN THE GERMAN: I knew really nothing about China, but I knew that I had to learn English. Now I had English at school and I had Latin at school for seven years, I had French for five years and I had English for three years, but that English I found out didn't really work when I talked to the first Englishman I met in Germany. He didn't understand a word that I had. I had English from teachers who had never been to England, so I knew I had this ahead of me. China seemed interesting, there was a book out in those days, "600 Million Customers". I don't know whether you had that here in English too, but we had this in German, I read this, it fascinated me, what they had in China and how they lived and to go on a two year contract, that was the idea, two years over there was perfectly all right as far as I was concerned. FRANK BORING: Tell us about your arrival in China and what was the first thing that you were to do when you arrived in China. HERMAN THE GERMAN: When I went to China in a very fancy airplane and everything was paid ahead of time in Germany, all the hotels at night and all the food and everything. I could not take any pictures incidentally because the law was that the cameras would be all locked up, so we couldn't take any photographs of the very fancy old places. I arrived in Hong Kong and stayed at the Peninsula Hotel, which was in those days, and still is today, the high class hotel. The one night of arrival was paid for in Germany. I had one experience with Nazi leadership. In September of '38 or thereabouts, there was a rumor that Germany may start a war, and Hitler denied it vigorously and on German radio. While looking out of the window of my apartment I saw German tanks already lined up, camouflaged and I knew at that point it was a complete lie. How the allied intelligence could not find out about this before, �is beyond me, but it was obvious we were going to start a war in a very short time, and so my invitation to go to China came just at the right time. FRANK BORING: If you can just repeat the answer that you had before HERMAN THE GERMAN: There were several questions before, which one was that? FRANK BORING: This is the one, your reaction to the situation in Germany at that time. HERMAN THE GERMAN: At that time, from beginning 1934,5,6 on, after the Olympic Games in Berlin, and I assure that it became obvious to the Germans that a war was in the making. Germany had all kinds of treaties, had just signed a treaty with Poland and was ready to violate it. We saw it in tanks which were parked in front of my window near the Polish border and there was a German agreement with Russia which suddenly came about after Hitler and Stalin were fighting each other – it was dog and cat – all of a sudden these two were signing a peace agreement. We knew right away inside Germany that this would lead to war very soon, and the allies would be terribly surprised because they wouldn't believe that Hitler and Stalin would get together and sign an agreement. FRANK BORING: What did you know about the situation in China politically, with the Japanese, before you left? What did you know about that? HERMAN THE GERMAN: The rape of Nanking was a well-known matter. I knew not much about China except what was written in the book "600 Million Customers", very favorable towards the Chinese people, about their intelligence about their work habits and so on, but the Japanese invasion which was in Shanghai and which went rapidly westward and got into Nanking, the rape of Nanking, was known, at least as the reporter reported it, in Germany. That itself didn't bother me because I was going to go with the nationalist Chinese, which at that time, there was really only the nationalist Chinese �and to help China operate the German equipment they had secretly got. One may be surprised that Germany sent military equipment to China. While Germany had Hitler and Hirohito and Mussolini as everybody knows were an Axis group but secretly Hitler shipped via Russia military equipment to the Chinese to fight the Japanese and that was a weapon trade and not only is Germany doing this, others have been doing this too. But anyhow, the Chinese had equipment but could not operate it properly, at least, that's the way they felt. FRANK BORING: What were your first duties? What were your first responsibilities? HERMAN THE GERMAN: When I got to Hong Kong, I was supposed to contact immediately a Chinese organization which operated under a code name and was taking several other engineers like myself and bringing them into the interior of China. Now this was Hong Kong, the British Hong Kong, where this took place. The people I was looking for, I was told had just left because they were thrown out at the Japanese request. The Japanese demanded from the British that they expel that particular group which was a recruiting agency. Here I was, all by myself and with nothing to do, and I immediately looked for a job and as automobile mechanic, it was the easiest to find a job. I got a job with the General Motors Agency in Hong Kong, but it didn't last very long because the war started in Europe and the British interned me immediately as an enemy alien. They had my travel passport and my military passport taken away and so I was put in a camp and we had to finally 102 German prisoners who were there kept until 1940 and Germany suddenly unleashed its war against the west, Holland, Denmark, Belgium and France collapsed I believe it was June 22nd or thereabouts of 1940. Then our good treatment in the British camp, prison camp, was ended, the friendliness. After all, the British were in a very delicate position, because the Chinese were considered inferior and the Chinese were handing on the barbed wire and looking in from outside, what happened to the prisoners in there. We could play ball, or we could play tennis and we had even laundry service and �everything. All this of course, ended, and we were given a 48 hour ultimatum and that was to either get out of Hong Kong or be shipped to Colombo in a big German prison camp they were going to establish at that point. And you had to pay a few Hong Kong dollars for a guard which was assigned to you with a fixed bayonet, to follow you wherever you wanted to go. He wasn't supposed to talk to you but there were a few places I thought, maybe Portugal or General Motors, or the Philippine Consulate or some other places, there were about six places I wanted to go to, to see if they would take me in without a passport, since I did not have a passport. The British were not going to give me my passport back, and only five of the 102 internees took advantage of that. One had a kayak folding boat and went by kayak, got away and paddled over to Portuguese Macao which is about fifteen miles away across the ocean which was not too dangerous, the water was usually quite quiet. The other four did not get any jobs and I gave up just about one more visit – at the last visit at the CNAC, Chinese National Aviation Corporation. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Neumann_Gerhard_1991_v01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Title A name given to the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann interview (video and transcript, 1 of 9), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Gerhard Neumann by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying TIgers. Neumann, known by his American Volunteer Group (AVG) comrades as "Herman the German," was a mechanic and the son of non-practicing Jewish parents. Though drafted into the German army in 1938, he attained a deferrment as a working engineer. He left Germany to seek a job opportunity in Hong Kong in 1939, but upon arrival learned the company had disappeared. Circumstance led him to working for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) where he worked as an auto mechanic. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he accepted an offer from Col. Chennault and joined the AVG. He served among the headquarters personnel as a Propeller Specialist. In this tape, Neumann describes his background in Germany before traveling to China to work as a mechanic for the Chinese government. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/291fd0fa68a09531d0066f40a0fb6da2.mp4 9a3b3fb4241ccc79d898b1657539e18d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1953a6fd8f68c12d3be7779621044dae.pdf 5854d265276745e2fa63b82969957b35 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Gerhard “Herman the German” Neumann Date of Interview: 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 2] HERMAN THE GERMAN: The paddler [?] went to Macao and succeeded to get there but I understand he was interned in Macao and was kept there throughout the war for another four years. I made one final attempt to go sea in a CEE which is a Chinese National Corporation which is rumored to be part of a Pan American outfit. My guard and I went up into the only "skyscraper" they had in Hong Kong at that time, 20 storey high, a beautiful building, Hong Kong and Shanghai bank, a lot of travelers who went to Hong Kong have seen it. On the eight floor was CNAC building and I went upstairs with my guard, there was a Chinese, beautiful Chinese girl. All I remember was this slit skirt which all the Chinese girls had, and I was concentrating on her legs down there, but asking where the manager is. She said "The manager went home, you come back on Monday." I said "I cannot come back on Monday", and he said "I'm very sorry he's not here." And we both left, the guard and I left the CNAC office, I went to the elevator, I pushed the button on the eighth floor to go down, and the elevator come up to pick me up, and as the doors opened, I walked into the elevator with my guard, and coming out of the elevator was a gentleman with whom I collided, and I backed up and apologized. I saw right away that this man look British at all. He had a tie which was loose, he had a jacket over his shoulder, he was a tall good looking man, and he said, "Come in my office", and he happens to be – we went back in the office, passed the secretary, and he asked me what the story �was, what I wanted, and I had to speak English, of course, which was not too easy at that point, I had to speak slowly, and he said, "Have you any papers, or any passport, I said, "No, the British have all that", and he said, "Let me see if I can help you". The next thing I knew, it turned out to be typically American, he turned around, grabbed the phone right there, called someone, and all I heard was his side of the story and I understood only half of it. Also that his American was different from British, and I couldn't understand English enough anyhow. But all I heard him say was, he has to be out, then he asked me, "When do you have to be out?" and I said "I have to be out by midnight". He said, "Okay", he went back to the phone and told the other party, whoever he talked to, "No, it's too late, he has to be out tonight", I said "Yes", "Tonight. All right". Then he talked some more and said, "Okay, I'll have him there". He put the receiver down, he said "I am Mr. Bond, I am Vice President of Pan American Airways, happened to be here in town. I just talked with the manager of CNAC and they are expecting you at 11 o'clock at Kai Tak airport, which was in those days a very small, little airport, 90 degrees off of where is today a long jetty one way, which was a sand and grass runway and the CNAC flight would wait for me, or would expect me to be there at 11 o'clock. He then talked to my guard and wanted to be darned sure that he understood exactly: I have to be at the airport 11 o'clock at night for a night flight into Chunking. The flying was always done at night because of the danger of being shot down by Japanese planes, which were right out at Hong Kong, which is the city of Canton, about 60 miles away, which was the base for Japanese aircraft. So to avoid any possibility of being shot down, all flights took place at night. (22:04:41:00) I found out that the CNAC headquarters is in the only high rise building, high rise was 20 stories high in those days in the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, a very famous landmark of the Hong Kong seen from any ship going through it. My soldier and I got to the eighth floor where the door of the elevator opened and I got out and we saw a very pretty Chinese secretary whose trademark was a typical Chinese dress which goes all the way up to the left side of the skirt, and I asked �where the manager was and she said, "Manager is out", and I said, "What time can he see me?" and she said "He won't be back before Monday, you come back Monday", and I said, "Monday is too late and she said, "Sorry, I can't do anything about it." I told the soldier, "Okay soldier, let's go back to camp, I give up" and as we got out and pushed the button for the elevator, the elevator was seen by the lights to come up from the ground floor to the eighth floor, and as it arrived, I went in with the soldier, and I must have been somewhat absent-minded and worried about what happens now and I collided with a gentleman coming out of the elevator. He looked different from British, immediately I saw that. His tie was loose, he had a jacket over his shoulder, and he said, "What goes on here?" and while I had backed up with my soldier to let the gentleman out, the elevator doors closed and the elevator went down without us. The manager introduced himself as a Mr. Bond, Vice President of Pan American Airways, and that he's just here on a visit to Hong Kong to see if we could extend the San Francisco Manilla service into Hong Kong, there was a flying boat at that time, people may remember that, it was called "The Flying Boat", a four-engined flying boat, and I told the Manager, Mr. Bond, as briefly as I could, as simply as I could in my pretty lousy English, what the situation was, that I have until tonight, midnight, to either get out or be shipped to Colombo, and he said, "Well, maybe I can help", and he grabbed the phone and in what I found out later, was a typical American movement, "Okay, let's do it now, don't let's delay it". The British would have never done that. He grabbed the phone next to him, he got through the operator a connection to somebody, told them briefly my story. He wasn't quite sure that he'd right, that it would be that evening, that midnight, the second day of my 48 hours the British had given me, that I had to leave Hong Kong or at least be accepted by someone firmly, and he asked me once more this question, "Are you sure tonight, you mean tonight, midnight?" I said, "Yes" and then I heard him say that to the other party, and after a while he said, "Okay, he will be there at 11 o'clock. Thank you very much. He hung up, then he told me and I didn't understand – I couldn't quite believe what I �heard, but what I heard was correct. He had gotten me a trip from Hong Kong via CNAC via Chungking to Kunming, China and that I would not have to pay for anything, I did not need a passport, I just get there at 11 o'clock, be at Kai Tak which was the name of the airport as it is today, except the airport today is a long runway built into the harbor and was at that time just a very simple, small runway. I told my soldier, okay, let's go back to camp. The soldier said, "All right, I will tell the officer what happened". And that is exactly what happened. I was at 11 o'clock at night at Kai Tak, I was delivered by the British. FRANK BORING: What happened when you arrived… HERMAN THE GERMAN: … No, no FRANK BORING: Okay, then tell the rest of the trip then. HERMAN THE GERMAN: I left 11 o'clock in a Douglas DC2, which also became quite a famous plane later, because one of its wings got damaged during a Japanese attack and a DC3 wing was attached to that particular plane, so it was called the DC 2-1/2, which is, one wing was a DC2 wing, the other wing was a DC3 wing of somewhat different size, but in those days, one really did not care. That airplane flew from Hong Kong to Chungking. We arrived there at about 5.30 in the morning, about an hour after heavy bombardment by the Japanese. Chungking was burning very badly and I remember exactly that I couldn't possibly believe that Hong Kong, which already seemed somewhat primitive relative to Berlin, now seemed after we landed in Chungking on an island in the Yangtze River, with the runway on an island, the houses were bamboo, and they had bamboo layers, different layers of bamboo so that bombs which had contact fuses exploded when hitting the roofs rather than penetrate into the building. They exploded on top of it, but everything was very, very primitive, the people very simple, no automobiles, and the city as I said, was burning and people tried to put it out, I assume. I was not in the area actually where the houses were burning. We had a brief �lunch on the island, then got back on this plane to fly to Kunming, which was 6,000 ft. high, a beautiful city in Yunnan, in the western part of China, which was the headquarters of the CNAC. FRANK BORING: Could you give us your personal impressions of the burning, what was your reaction. You had seen all these things so far, but so far no real [?]. If you could answer, what was your first reaction to seeing this Chinese city in flames? HERMAN THE GERMAN: It was a terrible reaction when I saw parts of this city burning, because it was a large city, very grey and foggy, the smoke was heavy and drifting over part of the city, and I saw actually flames before we landed, I could see flames burning, but I did not see any people being hurt. I knew, of course, that people must have been hurt or killed, but I did not see it except a terrible impression of a Chinese city in addition to it being burnt, so there were two impressions, a Chinese city being rather primitive and grey, and no street traffic, nothing flowing like I saw in Hong Kong, which was very nice and very modern. FRANK BORING: Once you arrived (inaudible)… HERMAN THE GERMAN: The airfield in Kunming was very primitive, a straight runway out of, consistent with grass and sand ending up at the lake of Kunming, which was quite famous. I should have mentioned that Mr. Bond in Hong Kong, gave me a little card, three by four card, with a little message. "Claire, take a look at this man", signed Bond, and he had explained to me that Claire was the name of an American officer of the Chinese Air Force, Captain Claire Lee Chennault, a name totally unknown here in America, of course, and unknown to me, and he told me, "When you come to Kunming, you will arrive there by noon time, you will have time while you are at the airport, before you go to town in Kunming to stay, you'll find a place to live. We can't help you there, you'll have to do this on your own. Look up this man, he may be able to help you". And so, I did look up, when I arrived, got out of the DC2, at �that time, and I said, "Where would be Mr. …" and then I said, "Captain Chennault", and a Chinese CNAC employee said, "He is over there at that building, that's a Chinese military complex, and there's a Chinese guard outside, but you tell him that you have orders to see Captain Claire Lee Chennault". FRANK BORING: If you could (inaudible) when you walked into that office to meet Claire Chennault. HERMAN THE GERMAN: I went over there, a few hundred yards to that compound, which was guarded by the Chinese who was very polite, he didn't ask me any questions, he couldn't speak English anyhow, and I couldn't speak Chinese, of course. So he let me right through and inside I saw a Chinese and I asked him, "Could you tell me where to go to Captain Chennault, and he said, "Right over there is his door". I knocked at the door, and someone said, "Come in" and I went in. There was a simple table like, Captain Chennault, when he became a Commanding General of an air force, the United States Air Force, still kept a simple table with nothing on it but a telephone and a cup of coffee, and behind it sat a gentleman, looking at me and said, "Can I help you?" and I gave Captain Chennault the card from Mr. Bond, whom I had met in Hong Kong just by pure accident. He looked at me and he said, "You are German I see, what can you do on airplanes?" and I said, "Well, I am a mechanic, also I am an engineer, yes, but I also can do mechanical work, and I understand that you may be able to help me", and he said, "Well, it will be another year, year and a half before we need your help, because we're going to get some American fliers come over here, but in the meantime, you could work for the Chinese Air Force, but there is really no work to be done, because I haven't got many planes. You could pull the chocks away from the wheels and put them back again, but it wouldn't be interesting for you, and if you can somehow get yourself employed, they certainly need a good mechanic around here, I can assure you of that. I could even give you some introductions and then see me again. Find a place where to live, and see me again a year, year and a half from now. �FRANK BORING: What was your first impression ………… (inaudible)? HERMAN THE GERMAN: The man behind the desk who had invited me into his office, this Captain Chennault, was a most impressive character with two black piercing eyes looking at me straight. He did not look to the right, he didn't look to the left, or went up and down, he just looked at me straightforward, and I was not sure whether he understood all my English, which of course, was full of mistakes, but he asked me if I had some proof of my background, and I happened to have kept with me, which the British had not taken away, some of my grades of my Engineering College of Midweiter [?], which I understand you still have today, and I had one engine drawing of a German piston engine, a radial propeller type engine, not a jet engine of course, and he looked at everything very, very carefully. He took my grades, he went through them line by line, although I was not sure whether he could speak English fluently, but the word "chemistry and physics and mechanical strengths" were easily translatable into English, and my grades were "excellent" throughout. With the exception of two which were "good", the others were all rated "excellent" which was the best grade you could have. He looked at me again, he said, "All right, I'll see you, you will find out when we are here, and I'll hope to see you then. In the meantime, you go to that and that place and they will put you up overnight, and there are a few truck firms here in Kunming which operate on the new Burma Road, bringing supplies up and down the Burma Road, and I'll give you a little to one of the managers of that company, and that's what he did. FRANK BORING: Now what was the next [?] or did you think this was your only alternative? HERMAN THE GERMAN: I didn't consider any other alternative, I just followed the line, I didn't even think of the future, what would happen later. I knew that Kunming was connected by a railroad with Hanoi, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was a very �exceptional railroad by French engineers going out from sea level Hanoi, to 6,000 ft. Kunming. It was running a single track for one time a day, one time daily connection. But the Chinese were afraid, and so was Captain Chennault, that this railroad would be cut by the Japanese, which indeed it was within a month to two months after that, and China had nothing to connect anything – its interior was with the outside world, except the Burma Road, which was not a highway like people may think it was, paved and the width of two trucks wide, nothing like it. It was one a one track hewn into the mountains and about 600 kilometers long to Won Ting which is the Burmese border town through which supplies for China were delivered by the British and the Burmese government, and maybe by the Americans, and which would contain fuel and spare parts for the airplanes which ultimately were supposed to come. FRANK BORING: What was your first employment? What was the first thing that you started to do? HERMAN THE GERMAN: I immediately saw the manager and I was fortunate, all my life I was fortunate, that this manager of the trucking company was there. Number two, that he was a German, and number three, that he worked for a French company. It was Renault Company Trucking Company which had four cylinder, cap over engine trucks, which were just short enough or long enough to pass the very sharp curves of the Burma Road. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Neumann_Gerhard_1991_v02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Title A name given to the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann interview (video and transcript, 2 of 9), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Gerhard Neumann by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying TIgers. Neumann, known by his American Volunteer Group (AVG) comrades as "Herman the German," was a mechanic and the son of non-practicing Jewish parents. Though drafted into the German army in 1938, he attained a deferrment as a working engineer. He left Germany to seek a job opportunity in Hong Kong in 1939, but upon arrival learned the company had disappeared. Circumstance led him to working for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) where he worked as an auto mechanic. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he accepted an offer from Col. Chennault and joined the AVG. He served among the headquarters personnel as a Propeller Specialist. In this tape, Neumann discusses his journey to Hong Kong to visit the CNAC office and his first meeting with Captain Claire Lee Chennault in Kunming discussing the future of the AVG. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7bbf6e39dad3fdc38d6bc2aacb572730.mp4 34d95867abe1a190310cee422fee5365 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/22679d846d5c2e039394aaeefe61bdc8.pdf 23ad1977fb8b56cfe7890ad1b976cb41 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Gerhard “Herman the German” Neumann Date of Interview: 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 3] HERMAN THE GERMAN: There were other Germans still in Kunming, there was a German – not an ambassador, but a rank level lower, and a German legation, and there was German university in Kunming, and there were quite a few Chinese who spoke German and learned German, and there was a Lufthansa subsidiary still flying into Kunming, Junkers 52 airplanes with a big swastika painted on the tail, sitting happily and peacefully next to the CNAC plane, an American aircraft. There was a whole group of foreigners who stayed in one hotel in Kunming, many nationalities, French, German, British, Americans, and they had no problem whatsoever with each other. While they were fighting and killing each other in Europe in the war, they lived together happily in Kunming. FRANK BORING: Where did you go for your first employment, then tell us about that. HERMAN THE GERMAN: Renault was my first employer, he operated the trucks over the Burma Road. Because they had technical problems which the Chinese could not fix on the spot because there was no width available for two trucks to pass each other, they asked me whether I would like to go, for pretty good pay, as the only non-Chinese and convoy leader, leading 24 trucks down the Burma Road and then back again bringing gasoline and ammunition and other – �some food supplies, special spare parts up the Burma Road to Kunming. FRANK BORING: Why was it necessary to have a western educated engineer, mechanic if you will? Why couldn't the Chinese just fix their own trucks? HERMAN THE GERMAN: The Chinese mechanics were nice, they were good drivers, those few who drove, but automobiles were not yet very much known in the western part of China. Shanghai yes, and some of those big cities, but the West Yunnan which was one of the most primitive parts of China did not have many educated drivers, and if they could drive, they could not maintain and take an engine apart on the highway which I promised to do, whatever is necessary. And indeed, when I had my convoy going down, on the way down, we burned up a bearing of a piston engine, of a truck engine, and I stopped the convoy and I dropped the oil pan, I worked on the bearing of a piston, of one of these engines. We had no spare parts available on that particular thing. It may be interesting for the audience to know that one of the Chinese had an idea to cut up his felt hat into strips and put felt of his hat around the bearing. I liked the idea and we put it together and a deep convoy completed its trip with a unique type of bearing, all the way down to Burma, to Won Ting in Burma. FRANK BORING: At this time, where were you living ………… HERMAN THE GERMAN: …………… that the word spread around that there is a foreign mechanic ………… FRANK BORING: That's right, okay. ………………a little more to know what happened after you came back from that convoy trip. HERMAN THE GERMAN: When I returned from the Burma Road was all the trucks still on the road, and this is an exception because most convoys lost one or two trucks in the process because there was a very steep drop on �the sides of these very narrow, poor roads. I was told by the German at Renault that the word had spread around that a German mechanic is here to fix cars and we have a list of several people who would like to have their cards checked. There was not necessarily anything wrong, but they would like their cars checked after having gotten it all the way up to Kunming, and there were also Chinese gentlemen like the Mayor of Kunming, the Governor of Yunnan, the Chief of the Police of Kunming. All Chinese officials had big cars, big American cars, and of course the German Embassy, or the German Consulate, and the French and the British and all down there, and I had a hard time hiring enough capable mechanics, and communicate with them. We had no equipment, we didn't even have a firm floor like you would expect a garage to have. When it rained, we were all lying in the water, and I got a bad case of rheumatism in the process down there, lying in the wet and the rain under the cars. But we developed portable bamboo roof, which four men took and put over the car, so when it rained you could work in it and so we the little bamboo roof since we didn't have a big place. But anyhow, the garage business did very well. We had a bad inflation at that time in China, money really didn't matter. I got money, I brought it to the bank, they exchanged it into some American money which was very nice of the bank, because I also repaired the car for the president of the bank of the China National Bank, and he treated me very well. And so I could live nicely in a village for foreigners which was outside of the city wall of Kunming. Kunming in those days had a 360 degree wall with four gates, north, south, east, west, beautiful gates with some nice Chinese curved roof, and these doors or gates were closed at night and opened early in the morning. The foreigners had to live outside. There was one long line along the highway towards the airport, called the "Model Village". It had 67 houses. I got number 67, the last small house. Number 66 was a pilot of the CNAC, an American pilot, Mr. Angle who would was there with Chennault before the Flying Tigers came in, but he stayed with CNAC then joined Pan American later. The house next to him was 65, was Captain Chennault and each of those gentlemen and each �of the foreigners had their own car of course, and I had to take care of all the cars down there. So we were in very close contact, for Claire Chennault had an old Ford, which I think the Chinese gave him. This was probably in worst condition of any of the cars down there, and I had a lot of contact with him, and I admired already Captain Chennault what he was trying to do, and he reminded me every so often that the Americans were coming only a year from year now, then later on only nine months from now, and just before they came, he said, "They are now in Burma, and we'll have some up here by Christmas or before Christmas we will have the planes, the American planes and pilots here, and mechanics and so on, and I would like you to join me by that time." I said, "Okay, I will do that.” FRANK BORING: (Inaudible) HERMAN THE GERMAN: A neighbor of Bob Angle was a very fine gentleman who had married an American nurse in Hawaii, military nurse, and he lived next to me as I said, and brought spare parts for my garage business from Rangoon to which he flew daily with CNAC, Kunming–Rangoon and I had to give them a list in the evening and he brought it back next day and I made him a partner in my garage, so he was a 50–50 partner by bringing the parts up. The house further was Chennault where the Captain, who later was called Colonel Chennault, I think he was a Colonel in the Chinese Air Force, no-one called him Captain any more, we called him Colonel, and the Colonel I liked not precisely what he did, because I didn't know what he did, except that he was trying to train Chinese how to fly, but he left early in the morning, he came back at night, he looked at you straight and he said, "Neumann, I have a little problem here or there", but he kept his house in good shape, and what I really liked about him was the eyes, he looked at you and he, by God, you knew when this man tells you something, you can trust him, which was always a problem when you travelled around the world, you find out that there are a lot of people who tell you things, and they will not live up to it. �FRANK BORING: In terms of the conversations that you had with Chennault prior to the actual formation of the AVG, did he ever let you know about the progress or any of the problems he was having with the formation? HERMAN THE GERMAN: No. Chennault was obviously working besides the Chinese on something for which he said he would like me to be there a year and a half from now when I met him at that timed. I knew it pertained to American aircraft, just like the Germans had shipped German aircraft over to China, but he also had pilots which he mentioned he was in the process of getting together a group of pilots and a group of mechanics. Now, at the same time, as all this took place, the Russians had Russian military aircraft in Kunming helping the Chinese. for a while it was going to be the IVG, the International Volunteer Group, which ultimately, a year from now, would be formed and which I should be a party to it, but when the Germans invaded Russia, the Russians withdrew all the aircraft of the their pilots and pulled them back, and the Germans pulled their [?] back, and suddenly there was nothing but the Americans in the picture, and the Chinese, and out of it came later then, as you know, the AVG as the Chinese American wing later in the air force. FRANK BORING: This is very important for us to understand, that made you want to leave that very comfortable and lucrative life to join up with something that had no precedence before and had no real chance of success, when you look at it from that point of view. HERMAN THE GERMAN: I can tell you that as part of my customers – I had mentioned this before – the Governor Lung Yun, the Chief of Police, the chief of the air force, and the Mayor of Kunming were customers who I had regularly once a month a luncheon in their home, in the Governor's home, because I took care of their cars during that time. They mentioned Colonel Chennault to me as one of the wonderful Americans who they were familiar with. Also I should say that �during operating my garage, the American marines who travelled from Burma to Chungking, to maintain the American warship which was anchored in Chungking, an old-fashioned thing which the Japanese finally sank. They talked about Colonel Chennault as being a great guy and some people would say, "Well, heck, if you join him," – and I told them that he promised that he said, "I'll take you when they come, I'd like you to join," – they'd say, maybe you can become an American and come to America later," Of course, they had no authority, nor did they know anything and I didn't really take it seriously, but Chennault did not promise anything about that he gets me to the States, he just said, "You can help us and the Chinese people very much if you come". And I wondered why the heck Americans, in the German opinion, was that high and were that capable, why they would need a German mechanic, well trained, but I found out later that German training was still, I believe, superior to that what the boys received in the military in the United States. FRANK BORING: During these conversations with the Mayor or with the Governor or anything like that, was it ever brought to your attention that the state of affairs, if you will, of the Chinese military were – at this time the Japanese were winning almost everywhere, the British and everybody was being defeated – what was your impression? Did you ever talk about this, or did they give you any indication of the state of affairs, the situation that China was in? HERMAN THE GERMAN: No, I received my briefings of where the war was standing during the luncheons with the Chief of Police, the chief of the military and the air force, and of course, what people probably don't know is that Kunming was bombed practically daily, beginning at the end of 1940. The Japanese Air Force used Kunming as a target practice, and they were usually three times, nine planes, which is a Vee formation nine, nine was one in front or one in the rear, twenty seven bombers, twin engine bombers which bombed defenseless Kunming, just anywhere. They bombed right down into the city and they never bombed our foreign village where we �stayed but I think only because the target was for them, Kunming, bomb Kunming. They had anti-aircraft gun, which was a German 88 mm gun set-up, with Chinese who had German steel helmets, but it was time they hit a plane which went down, a bomber. But there was out of, nearly daily raids, right on schedule, 10 o'clock in the morning, the Chinese alarm system, which was very, very good, had three balls up on a high mountain, the red ball pulled up first means enemy aircraft are 200 miles away, then the second ball was added to it and said, they are now within 50 miles, the third ball put up, it said don't move any more, don't run around, hide, go in your cellar there, in five minutes you get bombed, and so the three balls alert, you may have read, this came from China, the three ball alert, the three red balls. Whatever you were doing, you looked up there to see if was anything going up on the hills. And so, being bombed for a year before America got into the war, I had a feeling already that bombing, after what I had seen in Chunking which I told you before, I'd seen it from the air, how it was burning, now it was a pretty darn miserable to get bombed on the ground. Particularly when you have no shelters and cement underground buildings like they had in London or they had in Berlin or they had in some other places in Europe, you were just flat, the Chinese buildings were all flat on the ground, there was nothing dug in, except in Chungking where they had big caves, and where one time, by coincidence, you may have heard about that, those entrances to that big central cave, which kept thousands of people in a shelter, they were bombed instantaneously, and the pressure on both sides was so tremendous that their eyeballs popped and the stomach dropped in. It was one of the very horrible things that happened in Chungking when the big air-raid shelters got bombed simultaneously as the exit and the entrance. The bombing was, fortunately for us, done on a regular basis. Every morning at 10 o'clock sharp, the third ball went up already, saying, we're going to be hit very shortly, and thereafter there did not come – the Japanese did not return any more the second time during that day, they waited for the next day. And so we foreigners, not all of us, but those who were interested and who were at home, went to �town, we walked to town to the entrance of the walled city and once we got inside, I saw the full horror of the war. I saw women, who held the baby to their breast, and the women were lying on the floor, split wide open, they were dead already, the babies were still alive. I've never seen so many colors in the human body which were hanging out of the persons who were hit by the bomb splinters and shrapnel and whatever else happened there. There were not only people, there were animals, their big water buffaloes which are used to transport a lot of things in tall carts, were lying dead in the street down there, their four legs up in the air, and war is just really horrible, total sin. America never really saw the war luckily for the American citizens here, but the Europeans have seen plenty of it and the Orientals have seen plenty of it too, and I was glad to be alternately joining those who fight the Japanese Air Force as they come in and do their daily bombing as a target run, and was looking forward to joining Colonel Chennault's people and help them whatever little bit I could. I glad gave up my garage business which had been booming at this point, and one of my chief mechanics was also a German whom I turned over the whole thing to him. I just turned it over and said, "You have it now, I'm going to join the AVG when they come up in December of 1941. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Neumann_Gerhard_1991_v03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Title A name given to the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann interview (video and transcript, 3 of 9), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Gerhard Neumann by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying TIgers. Neumann, known by his American Volunteer Group (AVG) comrades as "Herman the German," was a mechanic and the son of non-practicing Jewish parents. Though drafted into the German army in 1938, he attained a deferrment as a working engineer. He left Germany to seek a job opportunity in Hong Kong in 1939, but upon arrival learned the company had disappeared. Circumstance led him to working for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) where he worked as an auto mechanic. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he accepted an offer from Col. Chennault and joined the AVG. He served among the headquarters personnel as a Propeller Specialist. In this tape, Neumann describes his first employment while in Kunming working as a truck mechanic for the Burma Road. He also describes the conditions that led up to the formation of the AVG and his motivation for accepting General Chennault's offer to work together. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/365f936d4507e18389afe9ff28368026.mp4 3e6c2fea43f353581cb50e4aa7bc7f46 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5f10ba87027253ea8da3df4e7459b6e6.pdf a160e42b61c77b2d8c92a248ba614cb6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Gerhard “Herman the German” Neumann Date of Interview: 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 4] HERMAN THE GERMAN: After the bombing, those of us - just the men - went into town to see what all was damaged. Kunming was not a very city, there were cobblestones down town, then the gates, and the first thing we always looked at, was the gate still there, yes, we found the one gate which we entered was still there. Immediately after entering the gate, we saw already people lying on the street, dead or badly wounded, we saw one woman who had her baby – she had been nursing her baby and the baby was still alive but the woman was dead, she was split all the way through and I saw – I'd never seen before a dead or alive person – how many colors were there in a person between the stomach and the heart and the insides, red and yellow and everything, it was absolutely horrible. There were people without a head and without arms, there were animals there and there were crater, of course, where the bombs hit and war was just plain horrible, and that's the way it always is, you don't see from an airplane. I made many a flight over where we dropped bombs, you don't feel that, the impersonality, but you walk through a city and the buildings, because there was no more glass in Kunming after all these air-raids, they all had paper as windows, they had no more glass, there was no glass available, no glass replacement, and so there were no glass splinters at least. But the rest of the building would just collapse, and then the rebuilding immediately began, the Chinese, right on the same – by noon time, 12 o'clock, the Chinese had streamed back into the city, they had �left early in the morning when the first ball went up that the Japanese are coming again and all went outside, and they came back again and start sweeping together the rubble and the plaster and whatever earth material they had to make bricks out of. They just mixed it with water again, they reformed it and put it out to dry and hoped that the next day, another part of the city would get bombed so that their pieces could go up again. And it was a very tragic thing, the anti-aircraft was inadequate for continuous bombing by 27 bombers like, I said, so the Japanese could do whatever they wanted. They had hit at the power station completely, there was no more electric power available, no more electric light, and food came in in buffalo carts, and then the buffaloes could eat in town, and it was just terrible. (22:43:35:00) I was obvious to us that the Japanese were using Kunming as a bombing practice target, and this was later confirmed during the war when the raids on Kunming had just been discontinued, the regular daily runs, because they had other targets then to bomb like in Burma and Indo-China and other places. But until nearly the end of – until the beginning of the war with America, just a little bit before that time, the raids discontinued. There were also no raids when the weather was bad, but it was very rarely in Kunming which was usually a good weather city. But it was a nasty thing to do on civil population, except that a lot of people did make it out regularly of the 150,000 inhabitants, and it was only a few that just did not quite get out in time with their weird vehicles, wooden wheels, so those who got stuck got killed on the streets, or near the gates. In other words, they were trying to get out through the gate but couldn't quite make it when the air-raid started. FRANK BORING: Let's look at December 8th when Pearl Harbor got bombed and what happened immediately afterwards in terms of your own, the change in your own life at that time. HERMAN THE GERMAN: It was Bob Angle? who had a radio, a short wave radio and he came over to my house and said, "Would you believe it or not, the Japanese have now bombed Pearl Harbor", and I didn't even know �myself where Pearl Harbor was until he said it was in Hawaii, an island, it's a big city and a big U.S. naval base, and he told me already not in detail, but that major damage had been done, that a substantial number of Japanese planes had been shot down, but that he knew that no-one had expected a Japanese fleet of carriers to get so close to Hawaii, that the planes could be launched from Hawaii and fly back again. Manilla was considered a target by us in China. We thought the Japanese would hit Manilla right away, and they already had occupied French Indo-China at this point, so they didn't have to worry about Hanoi or Saigon any more, but Rangoon was going to be a target and the Philippines and then when we got the word that Hawaii got bombed and major damage was done, that was bad news. Although we probably never got the word that the damage was so bad as it really was, I believe the Japanese did – I hate to say it – but I believe they did an outstanding job from their point of view, an excellent job to target and get in and sink those big carriers and ships and battle cruiser and whatever else damage they did. I thought they did a very good job from a Japanese point of view. FRANK BORING: Now what happened immediately afterwards? If you could explain your motivation for leaving a very lucrative business, with a lot of high profile contacts and whatnot, to go to join the AVG. HERMAN THE GERMAN: After the bombing, he told me this story, I asked him if where was Colonel Chennault was going to be and he was not clear whether Colonel Chennault would be in Burma at this time, in Rangoon or in Kunming. Now, come to think of it, I wasn't quite sure myself. I went out to the airport in my own car which I had been given as a present by the Governor for maintaining his car, it was a Peugeot convertible which was not fancy enough for him, but it was a wonderful car as far as I was concerned. I drove out to the airfield, and I either saw Colonel Chennault himself, or another American, an aide who knew about the Colonel's offer for me to join the AVG. And I said, "I'm going to close up this garage in two days as far as I personally am concerned, but I have another German �working for me and I have turned this business, will turn the business over to him, and I'm available in two days to join you. And he said, "There is no great hurry, but you should go to the new quarters, you're going to live in what we call your "hostel one" which was a Chinese military establishment and they would be moved out, or they will be possibly moved out to make space for Americans who are going to come up, who you are going to join. So I moved out and within days already the first ground equipment came up and then the first American fighter aircraft that I had ever seen came up. And they were Curtis P-40B's as you may have heard. FRANK BORING: (Inaudible) HERMAN THE GERMAN: I was asked why would I leave my lucrative garage business and the answer is yes, it was very lucrative, but Colonel Chennault had offered me an American salary in U.S. dollars of something like about $300 a month which was an enormous amount of money so far as money is concerned, while I made at least as much or more in my garage business, it gave me a new opportunity and a growth and I was excited to be with Americans – to meet Americans. I'd now met a lot of Chinese, I got used to Chinese habits, but I'd never really seen any Americans en masse. I'd seen Mr. White who was my employer in Hong Kong, I'd seen Colonel Chennault, I'd seen Mr. Bond in the elevator, I'd seen a few Americans, but I'd never really seen what seemed to be hundreds of Americans going to come, and I was looking forward to that, and I really had no idea, no secret idea about going to the States, but just was – I was a young man at that point – was 24 years old, and it was just exciting to do something different but repair automobiles. FRANK BORING: Let us now go to… HERMAN THE GERMAN: The first troops that arrived –so-called troops who I thought would be uniformed and with military rank insignia and very orderly and walking straight, I was just completely shook up by what really �came up. Very, very nice people, they called me GI, or GI Neumann, or later Herman – Herman the German, that became my name, and those men were wore all kinds of odd uniforms put together, no insignia whatsoever. I couldn't tell the difference between an officer and an enlisted man, so to say, but it turns out that in the American Volunteer Group, these differences really were not very large, except that the officers stayed by themselves and pilots, while the rest of the organization, regardless what rank they had, whether he was a corporal, or a sergeant, or nothing, it didn't exist, there were no ranks, there were no rank insignia. Some people wore civilian clothes, some people wore some uniform, it was the oddest group of people you could possibly imagine, and they immediately took me in immediately, and said, "Hey, tell us about yourself," as we sat at the breakfast table, and someone said, "Hey, shoot the jam, Sam". I didn't know what he says, "Shoot the Jam, Sam?" And a lot of these slogans, which you Americans all understand and are familiar with were actually new to me, and I couldn't get it. But everyone was very, very nice to me, immediately and they said, "Look, I have an extra shirt", someone else said I have an extra pair of pants that may fit you", and they fixed me up and fitted me up and I even got an old-fashioned flat steel helmet which the American military used to wear before World War II, and so the integration with my associates was very, very easy. They immediately gave me handbooks on how to maintain Allison engine, Allison to be a General Motors part, of very clear and descriptive books on what to do in maintenance, and I noticed the boys themselves, not all of them, some of them were outstanding, or very good, but there were some of them there who really were not that good, and not that reliable, and the problems that we developed with the total of, I think altogether, 52 aircraft was about all that came over after the Burmese campaign had ended, there were all left from what was supposed to be 100 aircraft to begin with, the 52 aircraft was very, very difficult to maintain, of course, they did need a lot of repairs. The American boys were very good at replacing parts properly and installing it right, but to repair things was another matter. We in Germany are �trained to repair, we never had the money to buy new parts, new spark plugs, new ignition units or new propeller governors, or whatever and so I became quite well known as, "Hey, Herman come over here, about fixing that, or how about fixing that" and I found out a lot things about American machinery which was not very good, which would not have passed in Germany, and while Americans were always deeply insulted when I said, "Hey, that is not particularly good", it turned out to be true, it wasn't. For example, let me give you an example. You now an aircraft engine of the type we had, the Allison, was V12 aircraft engine, that means there are 12 cylinders in a Vee form, and each cylinder had two spark plugs, one from outside and one from the inside, and if you had to work on the spark plugs inside, or on a propeller governor which was a particularly poor design, which was mounted inside that Vee, and an aircraft came back from a flight in which at this count had some problems, and you had to put your hands in, there were no way but burning your hands completely and I was known, I wanted to show the American boy the good German boy was not afraid of it. I went in with my hands in there and they were completely burned, but once it was burned, it didn't make any difference any more, I didn't feel it any more. To replace spark plugs, and replace this particular propeller governor, was a horrible thing to do it in the quick time of the plane landing, quickly replace it, get it ready for flight again and in a matter of 30 minutes be ready to take off again. And that's when I got my name of Herman the German, and I salvaged a pretty good reputation which I did not know at that time, 'til the day the AVG left on July 4th and I was offered a job as a Staff Sergeant with the promise of promotion to Technical Sergeant very quickly two days after and to Master Sergeant very shortly thereafter, and I ran the whole squadron. FRANK BORING: Before we get into the details of (inaudible)… HERMAN THE GERMAN: To get ready for the reception of the aircraft coming up from Burma, the first squadron, we needed facilities. We had absolutely �no facilities ready, and so we were busy from December 8th, so to say, actually it was December 10, I believe, or December 9th, to set up overall facilities, camouflage, inside trees, we had no hangar, we had nothing. A hangar was going to be built and we made some sketches – someone else did it, I didn't do that. – a sketch of a typical small hangar for fighter aircraft, and we were setting up places, where are we going to pull the engines out, which tree is strong enough to hang a chain hoist or to lift the engine up. You wouldn't believe the primitive situation which we faced. I want to tell you one thing which I think you will be very interested in. the aircraft engine had not only two spark plugs but also has two ignition units a right one and a left one, and they were plastic cases and a plastic distributor rotor they call it, that's in the center of the unit which rotates around, and one of them had a tiny crack that we found after some very difficult maneuvers, and we had no spare part, of course, for such engine, and one of the Chinese mechanics who I'd brought with me – I took some from my garage and some I knew and some I interviewed – some actually came from Hong Kong, whom I'd met, who worked for me in Hong Kong, and since I could speak Chinese a little bit, enough to get along with, I was the one who had to handle all the Chinese – one of the suggested to take the horn of a buffalo, of a living buffalo, probably that had just walked by pulling a cart, and they cut off, they held on to the buffalo, we sawed off with a handsaw, a piece of that horn, then the Chinese fired very cleverly, the shape of that part that was plastic, and they replaced it and that P-40 was flying a full 100 hours before it was sent back to India. Now I'm going to mention the words "100 hours" which may not seem much to you, it is not very much, but for a fighter plan in World War II, at the very beginning, 100 hours in combat is a long time, and it was practically, barely any one airplane that saw that much time before it was replaced by a later group of P-40E's which the Flying Tigers, or the AVG also had. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88_Neumann_Gerhard_1991_v04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Title A name given to the resource Gerhard "Herman the German" Neumann interview (video and transcript, 4 of 9), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Gerhard Neumann by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying TIgers. Neumann, known by his American Volunteer Group (AVG) comrades as "Herman the German," was a mechanic and the son of non-practicing Jewish parents. Though drafted into the German army in 1938, he attained a deferrment as a working engineer. He left Germany to seek a job opportunity in Hong Kong in 1939, but upon arrival learned the company had disappeared. Circumstance led him to working for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) where he worked as an auto mechanic. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he accepted an offer from Col. Chennault and joined the AVG. He served among the headquarters personnel as a Propeller Specialist. In this tape, Neumann discusses his reactions to the bombings in Kunming and Pearl Harbor, in addition to his motivation for joining the AVG with General Chennault. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (interviewer) Christopher, Frank (director) Fei Hu Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng