379 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1ba4947bf07b1071f592ded87a7b87c5.mp4 af948381824c72611dab276ff60a1fe2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7039e87e236432e8f4cbc926b83126ae.pdf 9dba44d80c67eb2d8f9a290a30e58475 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Tony Ten Harmsel World War II (1:18:27) Background Information (00:08)            Born February 11 1919 in Iowa. At the age of 7 in 1928 he and his family moved to Holland, Michigan. (20:00) His family bought a house in Holland but lost it during the depression. (00:28) His family than lived in Blendon, Michigan for 2 years before moving to Hudsonville, Michigan. (00:33) He lived on farms for most of his life. His father was a farmer. (00:54) He attended Hudsonville Christian School until he graduated from 8 grade in 1933/1934. (1:18) He then worked jobs on farms until the age of 18 when he got a job at General Motors. (1:40) In May of 1942 he received his draft notice. (1:55) There were 5 boys in his family. Tony was the middle child. (2:25) He lived at home until he was drafted. (3:10) Tony heard of Pearl Harbor over the radio while at dinner. He was sure after this notice that he would be drafted. He almost enlisted. (3:30) th th Basic Training (4:20)   First he was sent to Grand Haven, Michigan. Then, via bus, he was sent to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the men received physicals. (4:25) He was then sent to Fort Custer, Michigan, for 1 night. He was then sent via train to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on June 1 1942. (4:43) The train to Fort Sill was a cattle train but beds were placed in it for sleeping. (5:47) He was supposed to have basic training at Fort Sill but he was later assigned to be a truck driver for a general. (6:36) Some of the men who arrived at the base with Tony arrived without shoes on. (7:25) During exercises, Tony was order to stay with his truck so that it wouldn’t be taken. (8:20) He did participate in rifle training but he was excused from all other training. (9:00) He wasn’t assigned to an outfit until overseas. (9:30) He left for Europe in the spring of 1944. (10:28) In June of 1943 he was married to his wife while on furlough. He was given a furlough in the winter and in the summer. (10:40) He and his wife rented an apartment outside of Fort Sill Oklahoma. (11:00) As a general's driver, there were a lot of men jealous of him. When he sat down to pray before a meal other men would take his food. (11:49) One time the general offered him free theater tickets but he turned them down because of his religious upbringing. The general offered him protection from other soldiers if he was harassed about his religion. (12:49) st            �    Every Wednesday night he attended a young Calvinist meeting. Sometimes these men got in trouble and had to scrub floors. (14:30) The general heard of this and sure that the others would never harass him again. (16:27) He was told to report to Boston, Massachusetts, when he was to be sent overseas. (18:08) In March of 1944 he was sent to work in warehouses and in a shipyard loading ships to go overseas. (19:00) Voyage Overseas (19:40)  He was sent overseas on a modified luxury liner. There were approx. 8000 men on the ship. (19:42)  The ship was too fast to be in a convoy. The ship was constantly circling to lose U boats. (20:15) The weather was good on the way over but rough on the way back. It took 4 days to get over. (21:12) He landed in Liverpool, England. (21:50) He was sent over without assignment as a replacement. It took about a week for him to be assigned. (22:44) He joined the 18 Artillery at their base camp. (23:16) On June 6 he was assigned to be sent to Europe. Eisenhower shook hands with every man who went across the English Channel. (23:40)      th th Service in Europe (24:20)        He landed on Utah Beach. His unit was in action 5 minutes after landing. (24:54) The men dug foxholes as soon as they got far enough inland. (26:00) He did not have an assignment, only a rifle. (26:24) There was a house with a French couple and two daughters by Tony’s position once while his battery was in Normandy. For several days, enemy artillery fire against their positions was highly accurate, even though the enemy could not observe their positions. The captain noticed that every time one daughter came out to work in the garden the firing ceased, and then started up when she went inside. He told Tony that the next time the girl came out, he should shoot her. Tony protested and suggested that the captain shoot her himself, but was told that while the captain could not shoot her, Tony could do so if he was ordered to. He told Tony to wait until she turned her back to them and bent over, and to use her substantial rear end as a target. Tony followed the order. After he shot the girl, her parents came out and started screaming at them, but the Americans then went into the house and discovered that it was full of German radio equipment. The girl had been noting the American positions and sending them to the Germans. (26:43) His unit moved often. They never moved more than 10 miles in a day, however. (30:04) He didn’t have much of an idea of what was happening in the campaign. He only followed orders. (30:35) He was trained on the artillery gun in the field. He was the lanyard keeper. (31:00) �             He drove the truck that carried the guns. After another truck driver was injured he was switched from his company. (32:00) The men slept outside in foxholes. (32:35) His unit came under fire from both artillery and mortars. (33:00) While manning a .50 cal. machine gun he shot down a German aircraft. (34:00) He was, at one time, shot in the helmet by a sniper. (34:50) Bombers performing carpet bombings over Normandy came in so thick that they blocked the sun. The shake from the bombs could be felt by Tony’s unit. (35:45) In the Normandy breakout of the summer of 1944 it was not uncommon for Tony and his unit to move every day and even get ahead of the infantry in some occasions. (37:28) It was not uncommon for the unit to run short on supplies. (38:00) The Germans frequently attacked at night. (38:12) The unit never stayed in one place or settled. (40:00) He was involved in the fighting in the Hurtgen Forest. (40:20) The Belgians treated the American more kindly than did the French. There were even French women in upper stories of buildings who would shoot at the Americans passing through cities. (41:05) In Belgium there was a civilian who offered to aid in the liberation of a prisoner camp. (41:45) The Hurtgen Forest (42:30)        The fighting was more intense in the forest. There was a great concern over shrapnel from trees in the forest. (42:33) One once occasion when order came to fall back, Tony and his buddy stayed behind on their own initiative and manned a machine gun and took out assaulting Germans. The Colonel who gave the order to fall back did not reprimand them. (45:30) While in open fields moving it was not uncommon for the soldiers to be fired upon by snipers. (45:50) Tony and his buddy once killed a sniper to find that he was using a .30 cal. gun with a 50 round magazine. It had remarkable accuracy. (47:00) When in the Hurtgen Forest the soldiers were very scared due to the possibility of fatal shrapnel coming from the trees. (47:47) The weather was damp and cool. (48:30) He was in Hurtgen Forest for several weeks before being sent somewhere else. (48:56) The Battle of the Bulge (Winter of 1944/1945) (49:07)       He was on the North end of the battle when the Battle of the Bulge occurred. Tony was on guard manning a .50 cal. machine gun. (49:23) After encountering a German tank, the unit changed course to go around it. (50:56) The artillery had anti-tank rounds and would fire at tanks. (51:24) To keep warm the men wore big wool over coats. The snow was also used as an insulator. (52:57) The men had to shave every morning. The water was cold. (53:35) If the men kept their shoes on at night they ran the risk of freezing their feet. (53:53) �   The men had access to a kitchen truck for food. (54:25) Even during the Battle of the Bulge the men moved often. The men had to wait a little while before they began moving forward. (55:12) Tanks were the first to move through the German lines. Infantry followed after. (55:45) Late Service (56:20)          Fighting stayed pretty heavy for his unit even after the Battle of the Bulge. (56:38) He encountered an older German soldier (mid 30s) who wanted to give up because if he went to a POW camp there was a better chance he would return home. (57:34) His unit encountered the Russian soldiers. He thought they were heavy drinkers. (59:05) Being a truck driver, Tony was assigned to take captured Russian soldiers back to the Russian Army. They would sing and drink. It was not uncommon for Tony to have to stop because one soldier had fallen off. (59:35) There were many displaced persons who had their homes destroyed. (1:00:30) Most Germans appeared happy the war was over. (1:01:04) His unit liberated a concentration camp. (1:01:49) There were no prisoners left. They were released or dead before the Americans arrived. (1:02:16) There were still German guards there when Tony arrived. (1:02:43) Service after German Surrender (May 1945) (1:03:59)             After the war ended in May of 1945 the unit was stationed at a camp. The men mostly rested here. There was talk of the men being sent to Japan. (1:04:38) Tony left Europe in October of 1945. (1:05:39) Tony was able to travel around Germany and see sights (1:05:47) They stayed in Nice, France, for a week. (1:06:25) He wrote home as often as possible and he often got letters back. (1:07:00) He often had to pay the Red Cross for packages. (1:08:00) He was paid 66 dollars a month. (1:08:35) The men were happy to hear about the dropping of the atomic bomb. (1:09:00) He left his unit to return to the U.S after having acquired enough points. (1:09:45) He voyaged home on the USS Parker. There were 2000 men aboard the ship. Some men were forced to stay on the deck because the ship was overloaded. (1:10:44) One man was washed overboard on the journey back to the U.S. (1:12:50) After arriving in New York he was given a ticket to send him back home too Michigan. (1:15:15) Life after Service (1:15:30)      He once again began working for General Motors. (1:15:33) He then worked for several furniture factories. (1:16:16) He then worked for a bakery in Holland, Michigan. (1:16:46) After 7 years of working in his own bakery, he retired. (1:17:00) He drove school buses for 11 years after baking. (1:17:20) � His service taught him the value of peace. (1:17:50) � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Harmsel, Tony Ten (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harmsel, Tony Ten Description An account of the resource Tony Ten Harmsel was born in Iowa in 1919 and grew up in Michigan. He was working at General Motors when Pearl Harbor happened, and was drafted into the Army in 1942. Having grown up on a farm and being experienced with trucks, he was pulled out of basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to drive a truck for a general on the base, and stayed at Fort Sill until the spring of 1944, when he was shipped to England and assigned to a battalion of the 18th Artillery. His unit landed on Utah Beach on or shortly after D-Day, and went into action right away. His unit fought in Normandy, in northern France, in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and the invasion of Germany. They went through a concentration camp and ferried Russian POWs back to the Soviet lines at the end of the war. 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng 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 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-11-08 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HarmselT1298V 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> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/8fbec366d00f3b37d3a214da662e86f8.mp4 b3c9099ccb4a40f2d428acd9be79bebf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e2921711c414a2a19669c9db1165c09f.pdf 12450809fb98c84db80fa273d82f376a PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Arthur Harnish (01:31:16) (00:10) Background Information • • • • • Arthur was born in Michigan in 1922 His dad was a farmer and a WW1 veteran They lost the farm during the depression and had to move to another town He had to hitch hike to school every day because the small town he lived in had no high school Arthur graduated in 1940 (4:00) The Service • • He had been a welder in Allegan during the attack on Pearl Harbor and after that he knew he would soon be drafted, even though many welders had been deferred from the draft At that time many of his friends had already been drafted (5:30) Training • • • • Arthur was sworn into service on January 18, 1943 He was then sent to Camp Grant in Illinois and assigned to the Corps of Engineers and went to Virginia There he went through combat engineer training and demolition building training for portable bridges Arthur was in Virginia for three months and then sent to Pennsylvania (12:05) Pennsylvania • • • • They were gathering men to ship overseas for replacements Here he had no regular duties, except to wait to leave for Europe They then went to New York in Camp Shanks where they cooked for 2500 GIs three times a day He was on KP, but always got to eat whatever he wanted (16:20) The Trip on the Queen Mary • • • • • On this ship, there were 19,000 GIs plus the crew 16 men had to share one room, which only 8 men could fit in at a time The ship had to zig zag along course to avoid German submarines They had left in May so there was good weather without any storms They were not traveling with a convoy and the ship was quite fast �• They never encountered any submarine scares • There were two fighter planes above them to watch for subs (20:50) Glasgow • The men were unloaded into an old prison • They then went to southern England near the Salisbury plains • They joined with the 347th engineer, which needed replacements because its A and B companies had gone to Africa (23:00) Duties • Arthur worked with a portable welder in a trailer and motor pool where he fixed equipment • The 347th moved around a lot and built places to store supplies and roads in the countryside (26:20) One week in London • He received a pass that he won through a lottery and was allowed leave in London • He saw Winston Churchill in a funeral parade for the Navy • Arthur visited St. Paul’s Cathedral • He also met some British soldiers that had been POWs (35:15) D Day • They had been in southern England and knew that something big was happening because airplanes had been flying all over the place (37:15) France • They crossed into France near Southampton • There had been three air raids the night before • They all had to take sea sick pills for the crossing of the channel, which made them very sleepy • They landed on Omaha Beach and it was a mess • They camped on shore because it was dark already, but it was still nice because it was June • The next day they traveled to areas where they had to fix bombed railroads • They worked dusk till dawn • None of the men really knew what was going on with any of the battles around them in other parts of Europe • They moved to another town than was completely devastated where they were building temporary bridges (49:00) Progress Across France �• • • They ended up 18 miles outside of Paris, which had not been liberated yet The sergeant later gave him a pass to go to Paris They just worked on small jobs while in France and while they were on their way towards the Rhine (56:30) Guard Duty in the Winter • Many Germans had American uniforms [at the time of the Battle of the Bulge] and he was told to not trust anyone • Arthur had been guarding a rail yard and was on midnight shift • He heard a vehicle coming, which he had not been expecting; it was a Jeep • He yelled at them to halt and they claimed that they were Americans, though they did not know the password or the answers to general questions, which was suspicious • They claimed they were from the 26th division, which was in combat at the time • He eventually let them through and found that they were telling the truth (1:01:40) Belgium • The US Air Corps had stopped many convoys and trains • A young boy had been stealing food and equipment from their trucks (1:07:25) The Railroad Bridge Across the Rhine • The bridge was a mangled mess and they could not rebuild it, so they had to start from scratch • It was a long and hard job that took 9 days to build • Roosevelt had died while they were building the bridge, so they ended up naming it the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial Bridge • General Patton had visited them to give them a pep talk (1:13:20) Germany • They got through Nuremburg when the war had ended • Once again his name was drawn for a pass to see Hitler’s hideout • There was not much left because it was all burned out • They did not do much work while in Germany • Many men talked about the possibility of going to Japan after Europe • Arthur had been in Belgium on guard duty when Japan was bombed (1:17:40) The End of the War • Anyone over forty years old automatically got to go home • Arthur had worked with most of the same men throughout the war • He traveled back on a victory ship and the voyage was rough • They passed the Army of Occupation on their way back �(1:24:45) Back in the US • They went back to the camp in New York and they all received a “Welcome Back Steak” • They took a train home that was very slow • They stopped in Ohio where everyone got a haircut and a shave • He was discharged on November 19, 1945 • He went back to doing welding work and business was good � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Harnish, Arthur (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harnish, Arthur Description An account of the resource Arthur Harnish served in the 347th Engineer Regiment between 1943 and 1945. He provides detailed descriptions of training and his service in Europe. He landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day and helped his unit rebuild bridges in France, Belgium and Germany, including bridges on the Rhine. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng 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 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-11-27 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HarnishA 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> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/cc16b79e3b3c6cc73d3d9fb8aea2fa2f.jpg a33fe270f4914fe041ccfed5c6e75e86 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 HarperEarl Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harper, Earl Description An account of the resource Earl Harper, Business 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/7603c7e3768d579fe0c5f3510f9cce9b.jpg 088ebb0c1bb95ab663e8b8a4fb5894d2 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 HarperNancy_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994 Title A name given to the resource Harper, Nancy Description An account of the resource Nancy Harper, Alcohol Education Research Director Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators 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 1994s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/99f3ebf9acb24174f0694a28d5048a96.jpg a3b000b2adc3ca5c9892c19d200b1510 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 HarperNancy_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994 Title A name given to the resource Harper, Nancy Description An account of the resource Nancy Harper, Alcohol Education Research Director Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators 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 1994s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d8cab91677514cddfb046b747edc4450.jpg 4747828ab3e246c7866dda656b2a9022 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 HarpoldJudith Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 Title A name given to the resource Harpold, Judith Description An account of the resource Judith Harpold, Education 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 1969s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0c6c68bf966f66bd6564852e9cd27771.m4v 048dc23ae45bdd326442c09c08134847 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f7f8b4aa0155cb538be790e4471d7f7f.pdf e5b9e3c8b3a6c45703a037ecc976b4a6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Edgar Harrell World War II 2 hours 16 minutes 1 second (00:00:32) Early Life -Born in western Kentucky in 1924 -Parents were farmers -Had an older sister, six younger brothers, and one younger sister -During the Great Depression everyone they knew was poor -$1 for a day’s work was considered good pay -Taught him valuable life lessons -Being on a farm allowed them to be self-sufficient -Had vegetables, an orchard, and some livestock -Mother canned a lot of fruits and vegetables -Had a battery-powered radio since the farm didn’t have electricity -Allowed them to keep up with news after the war began (00:05:30) Start of the War -Aware of Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 and the start of the war in Europe in 1939 -On December 7, 1941, he was at church when he heard the news about Pearl Harbor -Remembers President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech on December 8 -Followed the news about the fighting in Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, and the South Pacific (00:07:05) Enlisting in the Marines -Didn’t want to wait to get drafted -Enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943 -Two of his younger brothers served in the Army during the war -One fought at Okinawa then was part of the occupying force in Japan -Another brother served in Germany as part of the occupation force (00:08:30) Training -Sent to San Diego for basic training -Sent to Sea School -Learning how to serve as a Marine aboard a ship (00:08:55) Joining the USS Indianapolis -Sent to join the USS Indianapolis in San Francisco -Note: Most likely after the Aleutian Islands Campaign or after the Battle of Tarawa -Joined the USS Indianapolis as part of the Marine garrison -Couldn’t believe the size of the Indianapolis -Thought it was big enough to win the war on its own (00:09:53) Battles in the Pacific Theater Pt. 1 -Saw mop up operations at the islands of Kwajalein and Eniwetok (c. January and February 1944) -Saw the invasion of Saipan, Tinian and Guam (c. June and July 1944) -Participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (c. June 1944) -Saw the invasion of Peleliu (c. fall of 1944) -Saw the invasion of Iwo Jima (c. February 1945) -Saw the bombardment of Okinawa (c. March 1945) (00:10:22) Secret Mission Pt. 1 -He helped guard the atomic bomb components on board the USS Indianapolis �-Picked up the atomic bomb components on July 16, 1945, at Hunters Point, California -Delivered their secret cargo to Tinian on July 26 -Didn’t know what the components were or about the Manhattan Project -On July 16, scientists at Los Alamos conducted the successful Trinity atom bomb test (00:11:28) Battles in the Pacific Theater Pt. 2 -He didn’t land with the other Marines at Iwo Jima -Stayed on board the ship during the bombardment -Indianapolis was closer to the island than the landing craft -At Saipan and Iwo Jima the Japanese had mountain bunkers with blast doors -Hid artillery batteries behind the blast doors (00:13:12) End of War in Europe -Remembers hearing the news about Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945 -Happy to hear about it -Remembers “Tokyo Rose” trying to feed them misinformation -Note: “Tokyo Rose” was an English-speaking propagandist for Japan (00:14:38) Battles in the Pacific Theater Pt. 3 -At the Battle of the Philippine Sea they fought the last of the Japanese fleet -USS Indianapolis was part of Task Force 58 -The Japanese lost 550 – 650 aircraft in that one battle as opposed to 123 American aircraft shot down (00:16:00) “Tokyo Rose” - “Tokyo Rose” was an English-speaking propaganda organ of the Empire of Japan -Demoralize and misinform American soldiers -She and her “facts” became a running joke as the war dragged on -Her information became obviously wrong once it became apparent the US was winning (00:17:03) Admiral Raymond A. Spruance -Admiral Spruance used the USS Indianapolis as his flagship -Used it until a kamikaze damaged the ship near Okinawa on March 31, 1945 -Only encounter with Admiral Spruance was saluting him -Remembers seeing Admiral Spruance walking on the deck and talking with his aides -Knew that he was an instrumental leader at the Battle of Midway (00:18:20) USS Indianapolis at Start of War -USS Indianapolis had been stationed at Pearl Harbor just before the attack -On December 5, 1941, the ship received orders to go to the Johnston Atoll -Got resupplied -On December 7, the ship received word that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor -Before the war, the Indianapolis had served as the “Ship of State” for President Roosevelt -Returned to Pearl Harbor to survey damage and regroup (00:21:00) Death of President Roosevelt & Presidency of Harry Truman -On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died -Sad time -Felt they were in good hands with President Truman -Right man at the right time -President Roosevelt’s death felt like a personal loss (00:22:00) Battle of Okinawa -USS Indianapolis served at the Battle of Okinawa for the bombardment of the island -Arrived on station in mid-March 1945 -Remembers seeing the carriers behind the bombardment ships -The Indianapolis was close to shore to bombard Okinawa -Told they were too close to shore and move back �-He was on watch on March 31, 1945 when radar detected an incoming Japanese aircraft -Ordered onto an antiaircraft battery -He got onto a 40mm antiaircraft battery and never got a round off -Another Marine on a 20mm battery opened fire on the Japanese plane -The kamikaze hit the ship on the port side -One of its bombs passed through the hull, through ship, and exploded in the bottom -Killed nine men -He helped push the kamikaze debris overboard -Engineers made a temporary patch to allow the Indianapolis to get back to California for repairs (00:26:36) Secret Mission Pt. 2 -Made it back to California and went to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs -On July 16, they went to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard -A huge crate was loaded onto the Indianapolis with high ranking officers observing -He was corporal of the guard and told to set a watch for the crate -No one was allowed to loiter around the crate -Two Air Force officers came aboard with a metal container in a locked cage -He followed them and set a watch by the room where they placed the container -Learned that these “officers” were actually nuclear scientists -Passed under the Golden Gate Bridge after they received word of the successful Trinity test -Note: Trinity test: First successful atomic bomb detonation at Los Alamos, New Mexico -Delivered the atomic bomb components at Tinian on July 26, 1945 -Had orders to proceed to the Philippines to assemble for the invasion of Japan -Stopped at Guam to refuel and resupply -Denied escort despite the sinking of the USS Underhill in the area on July 24 -Navy knew that Japanese submarines were operating in the area -Denied underwater detection equipment (00:31:30) Sinking of the USS Indianapolis Pt. 1 -On July 30, 1945, at 12:14 a.m. the Japanese submarine I-58 launched torpedoes at the Indianapolis -Two of the torpedoes struck the Indianapolis -He was asleep on the deck at the time -Ship had slowed down to give the engines a break -Captain McVay decided it was dark enough, thus safe enough, to stop zig-zagging -The first torpedo destroyed the bow of the ship -The previous night he had slept on a place that was vaporized by the explosion -The second torpedo hit near the Marines compartment -Set off the #2 Turret ammunition magazine -Felt the ship moving forward and water rushing into the ship -Realized the ship was sinking -Felt secondary explosions below deck -Made his way to the quarter deck to report to his emergency station -En route he saw officers come up from below decks covered in flash burns -Before he got to his emergency station he realized he didn’t have a life jacket -His lieutenant was at the emergency station -Edgar told him the ship was sinking and they needed life jackets -Lieutenant refused to cut down life jackets until given order to abandon ship -Ship lost power which meant they lost in-ship communications -Water started coming onto the quarter deck, so he cut down life jackets -Men started shouting to abandon ship -He ran over to the port side because the ship was listing �-Saw the blackness of the night and sea -Did a lot praying and pleading with God to get home -Climbed over the railing, jumped overboard, and swam away from the ship -Saw the fantail rise, the propellers still turning, and men jumping overboard -Some jumped and hit the propellers on the way down -Saw more secondary explosions and heard a rush of air escaping the ship (00:44:43) Survival – First Couple Days -He found another sailor -A lot of men were injured and some lacked life jackets -Found two other Marines -One was a new Marine that had suffered multiple bone fractures during the sinking -He lingered for an hour and died -The other Marine was a friend from his squad -He was covered in engine oil -By the second day he could hardly see due to the oil and the saltwater -He wanted to commit suicide, but Edgar stopped him -On the second day he started seeing men drinking saltwater -As a result these men hallucinated and went crazy -They thought friends were Japanese soldiers and attacked them, or thought friends had water -His lips were swollen and cracked irritated by the oil and saltwater -Men swam away and got attacked by sharks -Couldn’t go to help them -Found men missing the lower half of their body, or a leg, or had been disemboweled -Gathered dog tags from the dead -Remembers a rain cloud passing over them -He cupped his hands to collect rainwater, but it mixed with engine oil -After drinking the oil and rainwater he vomited losing the water -Daytime temperatures reached 100o -By the third day, countless men had died from drowning or shark attacks -Life jackets lost their buoyancy -This meant you had to exert energy just to stay afloat (00:53:20) Survival – Joining a Group -He and his Marine friend joined a group of 17 men on the third day -Another group of survivors joined them with a raft and fresh life jackets -Learned to wring out the jackets and let them dry in the raft to regain buoyancy -Saw planes fly overheard at 30,000 feet -Too high to see the survivors -Thought they were closer to the Philippines than they really were -Wanted to try to paddle to the Philippines, 500 miles away -Found a crate floating in the water -Swam to it and discovered it was rotten potatoes -Washed away the rotten skin and found the core was still good -He filled his pockets with potatoes and brought them back to his group -Heard more voices and found another group of survivors with a lieutenant he recognized -The swells died down -Got separated from his raft and his Marine friend -He was with the lieutenant and another sailor -Sailor eventually died -Started believing the lieutenant was his Uncle Edwin �(01:03:10) Rescue -On August 2, he saw the plane piloted by Lieutenant Gwinn and Lieutenant Colwell -Edgar started shouting and splashing the water -Lt. Gwinn had gone into the bomb bay to retrieve a faulty radio antenna -Saw men and debris in the water, and someone using a signal mirror -Lt. Gwinn brought his PV-1 Ventura down to about 1,000 feet -Surveyed the debris field and the survivors in the water -Tilted his wings to let them know he saw them -Lt. Gwinn radioed Lt. Marks, a PBY Catalina seaplane pilot, of the situation -Lt. Marks radioed the USS Cecil J. Doyle about the situation -Despite contrary orders, Lt. Marks landed his seaplane and started picking up survivors -Ultimately, the seaplane never flew again -Lt. Marks picked up Edgar and the lieutenant -A couple dozen men had already been packed inside the aircraft -Edgar’s Marine friend had already been picked up -All toll, Lt. Marks recovered 56 survivors -USS Cecil J. Doyle arrived on the scene and took the PBY crew and the survivors aboard -Other destroyers and destroyer escorts came to the scene and recovered the remaining survivors -Out of a crew of 1,196 only 317 men survived -USS Cecil J. Doyle sailed to Peleliu so the men could be treated at the field hospital there (01:10:24) Commander Hashimoto -Commander Hashimoto confirmed that the Indianapolis sank in only 12 minutes and other details -Commander Hashimoto refused to shoot survivors in the water -Left the area because he mistook the Indianapolis’s engine noise as another ship -Met Commander Hashimoto (commander of the I-58) after the war and saw he was a good man -Commander Hashimoto came to the court-martial of Captain McVay to defend the captain -He has since come to reunions as a way of making peace -He lost his entire family due to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima -His granddaughter and great-grandchildren come to reunions -He has met them, they have forgiven each other, and he sees them as family (01:16:45) Recovery & End of War -After being rescued by the Cecil J. Doyle he was taken to Peleliu for initial recovery -Taken to Guam by the hospital ship, USS Tranquility -At the hospital at Guam he remembers men wrapped in Vaseline gauze to recover from burns -On August 6 he remembers being in a cot and being told about the destruction of Hiroshima -Admiral Spruance presented him with a Purple Heart -Stayed in Guam for a while -Got to the United States on October 2, 1945 -On October 4 he was admitted to Balboa Hospital with a ruptured appendix -Received 29 days of antibacterial treatment with a new drug, penicillin -Felt honored that the Indianapolis had helped end the war (01:23:35) General Douglas MacArthur -Heard more criticism of General MacArthur after the war than during it -He didn’t feel that he had a right to criticize a general being an enlisted man -Plus, General MacArthur was an Army general, not a Marine general (01:25:03) Navy’s Response to Sinking -Navy didn’t send his family a telegram until August 12 letting them know he was alive -Navy didn’t want the public to know about the Indianapolis until the war was near its end �(01:27:06) Life after the War Pt. 1 -Came home in poor physical and psychological shape -Felt he should wait to get married until he was in better health -His girlfriend waited for him -On July 25, 1947, he and his girlfriend got married -As of July 2016 they celebrated 69 years of marriage -Thankful that he got to live his life after the war and the sinking (01:30:12) Captain Charles B. McVay III -He knew that Captain McVay had two sons and a grandson -Knew that Captain McVay wasn’t an emotional man, but he respected his subordinates -Remembers Captain McVay fishing with enlisted men -Respected him for doing that -Saddened to hear that Captain McVay was being tried for losing the USS Indianapolis -Wrote a letter to Captain McVay to say he would go to Washington DC to defend him during trial -In 1960 the survivors held their first organized reunion -Edgar invited Captain McVay and he came -All of the attending survivors greeted Captain McVay at the Indianapolis airport -Captain McVay remembered Edgar and shook hands with him -Captain McVay was the only captain to be put on trial for losing a ship in wartime -The Navy needed a scapegoat for losing the USS Indianapolis -Naval personnel had ignored distress signals from the Indianapolis -Admiral King had made extremely bad decisions concerning the Indianapolis -Commander Hashimoto came to the trial to testify in favor of Captain McVay -Said that Captain McVay couldn’t have done anything to avoid the sinking -In 1968, Captain McVay committed suicide -Years of guilt and hate mail from grieving families took its toll on him -Hunter Scott, a 12 year old student, began working to exonerate Captain McVay -In October 2000 Congress exonerated Captain McVay for loss of the USS Indianapolis -In July 2001 the Navy purged Captain McVay’s record of all wrongdoing -Captain McVay had earned a Bronze Star for his actions at Okinawa -Navy denied him the commendation due to the court-martial (01:43:18) Sharks -Saw sharks 6 – 10 feet away from him taking down bodies -Saw shark fins only a matter of feet away from him -When the sharks dove down he felt them brush against his legs and feet -Heard men scream as the sharks attacked them (01:44:45) September 11th Attacks -The September 11th attacks felt like a repeat of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of WWII -Felt that the government lacked appropriate foresight and allowed dangerous persons into the country (01:46:03) Reflections on the USS Indianapolis -He can still relive the events of the sinking and surviving after the sinking -He can still see these things in his mind’s eye -Feels that not enough people know about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis -Considers it an honor that he can still tell his story and the story of the ship (01:48:20) Public Awareness of the USS Indianapolis -Feels that the Navy tried to cover up or ignore the sinking of the USS Indianapolis -The Navy’s reaction to the sinking made the Navy look bad -Too many high-ranking personnel made too many serious mistakes -Trying to avoid a PR nightmare due to the miscarriage of justice with Captain McVay �(01:50:16) Life after the War Pt. 2 -Had two children, one daughter and one son -Had eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren -Son worked as a pastor -He was involved with his church as a teacher and as a lay-minister -Served as a trustee at the Moody Bible Institute for 15 years (01:52:29) African-American Sailors -Had some African-American sailors aboard the USS Indianapolis -None of them survived the sinking -They served as assistants to the officers, cleaners, and cooks -Their compartment flooded first when the ship began to sink -He was friends with one black sailor, Clarence Sims -Believes these men died as a result of segregation -Had separate, and most likely poorer quarters (01:55:35) Captain Edward L. Parke -Captain Edward L. Parke was the commanding officer of the Marines on the USS Indianapolis -Remembers that he was relatively new on the ship, and tough -He respected Captain Parke -Captain Parke directly ordered Edgar to set a watch for the atomic bomb components -Knew that Captain Parke had fought at islands early in the war -After the sinking, Captain Parke tended to wounded men and surrendered his life jacket to men -Continued to lead and care for men until he died -There is a swimming facility at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego named in his honor (01:59:15) Captain McVay’s Exoneration -Never heard one survivor say that Captain McVay deserved to be tried for losing the ship -None of them felt he was responsible for losing the ship or the sailors dying (02:00:49) Remembering the USS Indianapolis -Has been to the national memorial for the USS Indianapolis in Indianapolis -Emotional event when it was first unveiled in 1995 -Has been to the memorial on other occasions -On Veterans’ Day people have come up to him and asked him about the sinking -People from the Smithsonian Institute and from Ireland have wanted to interview him -He invited them to come to reunions so they can get more stories than his -National Geographic and Dr. Robert Ballard are still looking for the wreck of the Indianapolis -Plans to send unmanned submarines to look for the wreck -There are also plans to place a memorial on the wreck site if the wreck is found -Expedition planned for spring or summer 2017 -If they find the wreck it will provide closure for him, and probably for other survivors -Aware of Sara Vladic’s documentary, USS Indianapolis: The Legacy -He is also aware of USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage starring Nicholas Cage coming in fall 2016 � 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 HarrellE1946V Title A name given to the resource Harrell, Edgar (Interview outline and video), 2016 Description An account of the resource Edgar Harrell was born in western Kentucky in 1924. In 1943 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, received basic training in San Diego and was selected for Sea School to serve as a marine aboard a ship. Upon completion of training he was assigned to the USS Indianapolis. Edgar saw combat aboard the Indianapolis at major battles in the Pacific Theater including the Philippine Sea, Iwo Jima, and the bombardment of Okinawa. After delivering the atomic bomb components to Tinian on July 26, 1945, the Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945. Edgar was one of the 317 men to survive the sinking of the Indianapolis and being stranded at sea. He was picked up on August 2, 1945, by the seaplane piloted by Lieutenant Marks and was transferred to the USS Cecil J. Doyle. He recovered at Peleliu, and was brought to Guam on the USS Tranquility. Edgar arrived in the US on October 2, 1945, but due to appendicitis was kept at Balboa Hospital until early November 1945, and was discharged from the Marines after that. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harrell, Edgar Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hammond, Steve (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-08-22 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/25b20bed38fa4f16f1fb50fafcf3d1ac.pdf 67302b907eaa7a1d2ab30020cb125311 PDF Text Text ���� 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</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 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. 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-45_CWLundy Title A name given to the resource Harriet Lundy from Thomas Lundy, Oct. 9, 1862 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1862 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lundy, Thomas Subject The topic of the resource United States. Army. Michigan Infantry Regiment, 19th (1862-1865) United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Cincinnati (Ohio) Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Description An account of the resource Letter from Thomas Lundy, a soldier in the Michigan 19th Infantry, describing his time in a Cincinnati hospital. Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 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/8415ba41616773927357851b4932624b.jpg c1f5f21991a80d688b011b59d7c74004 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_NE_62_1926_033 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1926 Title A name given to the resource Harrington Sound Outlet, Bermuda Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a stone bridge over a river in front of a group of building. A horse-drawn carriage is crossing the bridge. "Harrington Sound Outlet, Bermuda." is written on the bottom of the image. Subject The topic of the resource Bridges Harrington Sound (Bermuda Islands) 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/ec1da02afee306309dfe4f8e3e253717.mp4 37d2abfd8b5e12d462fe5254768d636b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/75e1db8090a907e650a1ebbaf6cfd722.pdf ee4e6235f14443bee00b0a2cf07275d0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Korean War Jack Harris Length of interview (00:45:32) (00:00:18) Introduction & Pre-War Life  Childhood (00:00:18) o Born in Lucas, Ohio to a family of farmers in 1933 o Father was a bootlegger o He was seven when World War II started  Education (00:01:38) o Attended High School in Buckley, Michigan, south of Traverse City o He then went to Michigan State  Remembering World War II (00:02:30) o He remembers seeing newsboys selling extras right after Pearl Harbor was attacked o His father entered the army, serving in Italy as a cook in Patton’s army  Korean War Era (00:04:35) o He finished high school in 1951 o Jack was in the ROTC while at Michigan State o He struggled with college and eventually dropped out and was almost immediately was drafted into the army in April of 1953 (00:06:00) Training  Jack went to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, for basic training (00:07:55) o He remembers it being a rather active training camp, having maybe as much as 30,000 troops there at one time o Jack had sixteen weeks of basic infantry training  How to throw grenades, shoot a machine gun, how to use a bayonet, and rifle training o He remembers having no fear of going to Korea  He was in his fifteenth week of infantry training when news of the armistice came (00:09:25)  He was on a march to where they were going to bivouac when a jeep came up and the driver announced “it’s over”  Jack remembers that after the armistice, training was pretty loose and the army had difficulty with discipline (00:10:04) o He remembers that discipline was relatively lax to begin with o Jack also remembers some corruption at the camp, with the officers giving men leave and then renting their cars to them so they could travel to Detroit for $50 to $100 a piece  Most of the camp cadre had been to Korea (00:11:37)  Jack remembers there being propaganda that they were soon going to have to fight the Russians and they had to be ready, however he and most of the men knew this wasn’t likely to happen (00:12:16) � After basic, Jack was assigned to keeping the fires going in a coal fire furnace that heated the barracks (00:13:00)  Jack was interviewed by a corporal, who was trying to figure out where to send him (00:14:08) o During the interview the two built a rapport and the corporal moved him from the list of men being sent to Korea to the list of men being sent to Europe (00:15:15) Atlantic Voyage and Active Service  He reported to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, getting there by train, before being sent to Europe on a troop ship (00:15:20) o Spent ten days crossing the Atlantic o He remembers the weather being spring-like o Jack was sea sick for some of the voyage  They landed at Bremerhaven, Germany where the men were then dispersed in Germany (00:16:37)  Jack was sent to Frankfurt, Germany (00:16:56) o Germans were very friendly towards Americans o He was a part of a German-American club, which was a social club with German citizens, American serviceman, and German students  He was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division (00:17:40) o Jack doesn’t remember himself as being a very good soldier, never making it farther than private first class  Jack was assigned to division ordnance, where they had him keep track of where all the division’s broken down vehicles were (00:18:35)  He stayed in what had been a German barracks in Frankfurt (00:19:25) o He recalls going by the opera house, which was a shell of a building, having been hit with fire bombs during World War II o There was still a lot of destruction left over from World War II despite the rebuilding that was going on  They were on combat alert at least once a month, treating the alert as if war had been declared (00:20:55)  Jack had thirty days of leave that he used to travel Europe (00:21:27) o The cost of travel was very little with his military pass o Jack also remembers the black market being big in Europe at the time and the American dollar having high value  Jack served with primarily other draftees who were quickly processed and discharged (00:23:00)  Jack remembered having a Major who was reverted back down to Sergeant First Class after the Korean War (00:23:34) o Promotion could be rapid in war time, but with the war over the Army was diminishing in size and there were a lot of cut backs  Having grown up in Northern Michigan, Jack’s service in the Army was his first time around African Americans (00:24:15)  Jack recalls more of his training o He recalls half of the men in his basic training group were from poor African Americans from Detroit o He remembers getting along with the other men well � Prostitution was wide-spread in Germany due to the lack of jobs (00:26:20)  Almost all the officers and non-commissioned officers had German girlfriends, which were called “Class B Dependents” (00:26:40) o Not all of these women were prostitutes however and some serious relationships did develop  Jack never really learned much German, because most of the Germans spoke English (00:27:40)  Jack was deployed in Germany for a year, roughly half his time in the service (00:30:00)  He was anxious to get out of the army, because he knew that he had the GI bill to take advantage of when he returned home (00:30:20) o The GI bill paid for his education nearly all the way through his master’s degree o He remembers the GI bill wasn’t a lot of money, but due to the relatively low cost of college, that didn’t matter (00:32:20) Returning Home and Post-War Life  Although some of the men were flown back to the United States, Jack had to take a troop ship home (00:32:30)  Jack was discharged in Chicago at Great Lakes Training Base, having disembarked from New Jersey and taking a train to Illinois (00:33:07)  He immediately returned to college after being discharged (00:33:50) o Jack was a much better student this time as he was more mature and serious about his education o Initially, he went to a community college in Traverse City, earning an associates degree o Jack returned to Michigan State where he earned a baccalaureate degree in political science and a teaching certificate  Jack spent his first five years as a teacher, first teaching government and then later English and social studies (00:35:46)  Making very little money, Jack took a series of different jobs (00:36:38)  Jack eventually returned to education after returning to school and earning a master’s degree (00:37:14)  Jack feels that his time in the Army was beneficial for him, especially because of the GI bill, although he didn’t enjoy it at the time (00:38:15)  He remembers that during the Korean War Era, he and most of the other men viewed the war as “the right thing to do” (00:39:10) o Jack did not feel the same way about the Vietnam War and shared the growing sentiment that it was “not the right thing to do” o He recalls Kent State happening during his years in graduate school and demonstrating in Washington � 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_HarrisJ1716V Title A name given to the resource Harris, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-12-16 Description An account of the resource Jack Harris was born in 1933 in Lucas, Ohio to a family of farmers. His family later moved to Michigan where he attended high school in the town of Buckley, graduating in 1951. He later attended Michigan State for a time, but left before finishing a degree. In 1953 he was drafted into the Army, where he took basic training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. During his training, the armistice was signed, ending the Korean War. After training, Jack was sent to Frankfurt, Germany where he was assigned to Division Ordinance in the 4th Infantry Division. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harris, Jack 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Other veterans & civilians--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/cc571b8ca888f772c01e656c2c6716ff.mp4 60d923946aded01ae8e32b34219e9597 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3572081f85593ed295e550631fbba53c.pdf 5e11726c3cb06aebbf4862dd33eda674 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Vietnam Jim Harris Total Time – (01:17:00) Background • • • • • • • • • • He was born in South Dakota on December 29, 1941 (00:27) When he was eight years old, his family moved to Minneapolis He graduate from Richfield High School in Minneapolis in 1959 (00:37) His father was a physician o He grew up expecting to a doctor as well (00:51) He attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (00:57) o He majored in chemistry o He was a captain on the wrestling team Growing up he had some thoughts of going into the military o Having a family and being in the military appeared to disruptive for him (01:20) He graduated from Carleton College in 1963 (01:28) In Fall of 1964 he started at the University of Minnesota Medical School where he eventually graduated from in June of 1968 (01:37) The military, at this point, was not taking anyone directly out of medical school (01:58) He had four years of medical school and one year of internship (03:04) o He finished his internship in 1969 Enlistment/Training – (03:13) • • • • • • • He had orders to report – he had been drafted (03:18) o He had taken his physical before he was done with his internship There was an assumption that the military would use him as a doctor (04:13) He is sent for training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas (04:14) o At training, there were field drills as well as classroom work In basic training, the military did not expect the doctors to be like everyone else (05:03) He is kept at Fort Sam for six weeks Nearly everyone in his unit had received their orders to report to Vietnam before they had finished training (05:24) There were a couple hundred men in the classes together (06:06) �• • o They were pretty much herded through the process He had orders to report to Vietnam o They had a week of leave before they were sent After his leave, he planned on taking a bus from San Francisco Airport to Travis Air Force Base where he would leave from (06:49) o The bus traveling to the base had sold eighty tickets for fifteen seats o The last ticket on his plane to Vietnam was given to the guy in front of him (07:11) Active Duty – (08:04) • • • • • • • • • • • • He then took a plane from San Francisco, California to Hawaii (08:08) o The plane refueled at Wake Island before going to Tan Son Nhut, Vietnam (08:26) He landed in the middle of the night o It was quiet when they landed After they landed, all of the soldiers loaded up onto buses to go to Long Binh, Vietnam (08:49) o Here they filled out all of their paperwork He then caught a ride to the 44th Med Brigade (09:07) His assignment was the 2nd Mobile Army Surgery Hospital in Lai Khe, Vietnam (09:13) His first impression of Vietnam was that it was not very much different than he expected o It was somewhat difficult to adjust to the military life but not necessarily to Vietnam (10:28) o It was the realization that he was in Vietnam that was strange He remembers talking to a Medic that was at Pearl Harbor and all he could say was that “it was awful” (11:30) o It is hard to be able to fully relay the experience to someone that was not there o He does not have the communication skills to explain exactly what it was like The reception in Lai Khe was typical o They lived in hooches (13:29) o The doctors got more space than other soldiers When he was there, it was a main base camp for the 1st Infantry Division (14:05) o The 1st Infantry was in the process of being withdrawn o Once the 1st Infantry got to a low level, the hospital was closed (14:24) He was at work within twenty-four hours of being there They took care of a lot of Vietnamese and civilian casualties (14:54) o There G.I.’s would come in during the evening There were very few casualties or injuries that were inflicted by the Vietnamese or American armies (16:00) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • o The majority of the civilian injuries were intentionally inflicted by the North Vietnamese (16:11)  They targeted the civilians to intimidate them so they would help them out The MASH Unit had three operating rooms and fifteen to twenty doctors (16:41) o There were also a couple of wards with nearly twenty beds in each one They did most of the stabilization The military did a good job of spreading the casualties around (17:04) There was an emergency room where there were six stretchers that were sometimes all filled up (17:19) The majority of the patients that he saw needed major amputations in their lower limbs (17:41) The Vietnamese are sent to Vietnamese hospitals for stabilization They had heard that the Vietnamese hospitals were not very good (18:03) Sometimes they cared for North Vietnamese prisoners (18:07) The North Vietnamese were treated the same as everyone else (18:38) o There were Military Police (MPs) with the NVA soldiers at all times  The MPs were there to protect the NVA soldiers from other patients or soldiers (19:06) Beyond the fifteen doctors, there were some extra technicians, lab people, three anesthesiologists, and some others (19:42) o There was a nursing staff as well (20:02)  There were male and female nurses From where he was, he knew that Nixon was pulling soldiers out, but they did not know that he was trying to pull everyone out (21:56) o The morale of the soldiers on the field was poor o He was busy enough taking care of patients that he did not pay attention to many other things There were not many interesting places to visit off the base (22:34) He spent the majority of his time on the actual base He was able to stay in contact with those at home through letters and a tape recorder (24:04) He stayed with the MASH unit for roughly three months (24:13) When the MASH unit was taken down, he was transferred to Phu Loi, Vietnam (24:21) Phu Loi was the head air strip and a maintenance base His job at Phu Loi was one of two physicians in dispensary that would function as an office that would take sick calls (24:45) o There were several thousand people on the base There was not very much enemy activity at Phu Loi (25:39) They treated mostly American military people and occasional civilians (26:08) He was at Phu Loi for a couple of months when he heard that he was going into the 101st Airborne Division (27:25) He never recognized the drug abuse if there was any around him o The soldiers realized that they could not come to work drugged �• • o The soldiers were doing their jobs properly (28:32) He moved to the 101st after the middle of May He joined them at Camp Evans (30:08) Active Duty – Firebase Ripcord – (30:12) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • He then went with his unit [2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry] to Firebase Ripcord (30:22) o He knew very little about Ripcord at this point When soldiers did not go to the firebases, they would hang around aid stations and rear areas (31:36) Unlike many of the other soldiers, he was not resistant to going to Firebase Ripcord (31:54) As he approached Ripcord, it looked like a sand pile on the top of a hill The mountains were not high but they were steep (32:39) o The nearest American road was ten miles away o The nearest North Vietnamese road was four miles away The aid station was divided into three areas o There was one room that was just big enough for a stretcher o The other rooms were slightly larger – one of them held supplies and it was where they would sleep (34:25) At the aid station, he had a one year medic, several field medics, and himself (34:37) He gets to Firebase Ripcord at the end of May of 1970 At this time he had heard about everything, but they did not take much incoming resistance o He was told that “you are at the firebase, but the firebase is not the field.” (35:33) Before the siege proper began, he would go out on the hill and look around Casualties on the field were medevaced to other areas (36:18) o The casualties that he dealt with were those on the firebase He was able to get to know many of the soldiers at the firebase pretty well (37:09) The weather was perfect on top of the hill (38:16) Initially it did not seem like it was a bad place to be Around the 1st of July the first bombardments began taking place (38:50) o It was several days before anyone on the hill had been injured (38:52) Nearby on Hill 902, the Charlie company was being hit hard o Hill 902 was close to Ripcord o Some of his men had been in Charlie company (39:55) If medics were in the field for six months, they would try and pull them out (40:35) After the fighting on Hill 902, the last three weeks on Ripcord, soldiers rarely went outside (41:12) �• • • • • • • • His aid station was blown up by a Chinook Helicopter that had crashed (41:16) When the Chinook crash occurred, he was outside and could hear the impact of the bullets hitting the side of the helicopter (41:49) o He could see the Chinook falling and knew he had to get cover Before the Chinook crash there were many casualties that came in o They would receive them in bunches (43:40)  There were three days that were particularly bad o The casualties log book burned when the Chinook crashed (44:03) o He suspects that twenty men were killed on the hill and nearly one hundred were injured (44:13)  The hill only had roughly three hundred men As time went on, the bombardments occurred more frequently and they were increasingly more accurate Because the aid station was blown up, they worked off of large metal canisters that had aid supplies (46:51) o The used the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) as the new aid station (47:09) The aid station simply gave soldiers basic treatment before they were flown out He believes that it would have taken an entire brigade to reinforce them if they were to stay They were then ordered to pull out (48:52) Active Duty - Firebase Ripcord Evacuation & Remainder of Service – (49:24) • • • • • • • During the evacuation, there were still many casualties He remembers his experiences with Colonel Lucas that he was an excellent leader, communicator, and would give up his life for his fellow soldiers During Ripcord he was injured the day before they evacuated (55:06) o There were some casualties from a mortar round so they loaded them up and saw a mortar round hit where the helicopter was  He realized that the NVA would send the next mortar round right where they wanted it o They then loaded a second helicopter full of casualties  An NVA mortar round hit exactly where that helicopter had been (55:58) o He was running away from the site when he was hit in the back of the leg with a small piece of shrapnel (56:04)  He never told anyone about it until later There was a lot of confusion during the evacuation (56:55) There was a ten second time span between mortar rounds o Soldiers would wait for the ten second period and load up the helicopter and then take off as quick as possible (57:15) He remembers jumping into his helicopter and having to pull someone else on with him (57:51) He was in one of the middle crews to evacuate �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The helicopter that he was on had been hit with a frag and was leaking hydraulic fluid (58:20) o He landed in Camp Evans At Camp Evans, the soldiers just sat around for a day or two and then went back to work (59:22) He still had four months remaining in his time of service (59:57) He then went to Firebase Katherine for nearly a month (01:00:04) o He was then sent to Firebase Rakkasan before going on R&R for a week (01:00:12) On R&R he went to Hong Kong o He was able to go around and buy camera lenses, take pictures, and enjoy his time (01:00:55) o It was not very tough for him to get back on the plane to Vietnam (01:01:01) There were casualties after Ripcord, but the war had quieted down quite a bit There were many men that had jungle sicknesses and cuts on their hands from grabbing wildlife in the jungle (01:02:10) He was not expected to take care of the really bad situations Near the end of his service, the majority of the men in his unit were new (01:02:40) o It was a different war at that point (01:03:37) Many of the men realized that using drugs in the field would get them killed (01:04:01) o There was an amnesty program that began for soldiers for drug abuse Heroin showed up in his place in the beginning of September in 1970 (01:05:01) o There was no heroin use in his unit o Many did not realize that cocaine was addictive  Some of the men could not even stand up when they went into the amnesty program (01:05:26) o It was 95% pure o Many of the men thought that it was cocaine and did not realize they were snorting heroin o Soldiers could buy drugs just outside the gate to Camp Evans (01:06:09) o Drug abuse could not be prevented When he was at the end of his tour he was not counting down the days until the last few (01:06:56 He leaves around Thanksgiving of 1970 (01:07:25) He traveled from Cam Ranh Bay to Seattle and then on to Minneapolis (01:07:34) o He traveled by plane until Minneapolis and then drove home He did not experience any protestors at the airports (01:08:01) When he gets home he is on holiday leave On January 4, 1971 he had to report to Fort Lee in Virginia (01:08:14) o He was supposed to be there on the first or second of January but called to see if he could stay at home longer �• • He spent some time at Fort Lee before spending nearly four months at Fort Pickett in Virginia (01:09:40) o There was only one doctor at Fort Pickett o During the summer, it was a National Guard training area o He would treat soldiers with field injuries from field exercises (01:10:27)  There were men that had to be treated from breaking their legs playing baseball o One of the troops took part in a local rodeo and got gored by a bull (01:10:53) He virtually dismissed any anti-war movements (01:11:26) o They did not respect the movements After the Service – (01:12:35) • • • • • • His day to leave for home was in October of 1971 (01:12:41) He began his Surgery Training Program in January at the Hennepin County General Hospital (01:12:44) The Army did not make an effort to get him to stay in the service o He one day felt pressure when the hospital commander wanted to talk to him The Surgery Training Program was five years long (01:14:18) After he passed his boards, he started his own practice o He is still a practicing doctor in Worthington, Minnesota (01:14:42) He feels that war can conditions a person's attitude (01:15:24) o You have a different attitude of what is important and what is not o You also have a different attitude of what is risk and what is not � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Harris, James (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harris, James Description An account of the resource Jim Harris was born in South Dakota on December 29, 1941, and later moved to Minneapolis. After college, medical school and a year of internship, he was drafted into the Army in 1969. He trained at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, and was then sent to Vietnam. He served initially in a MASH unit with the 1st Division at Lai Khe, and when the division pulled out, he was transferred to Phu Loi, and then to the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Evans. In May, 1970 he voluntarily set up the battalion aid station on Firebase Ripcord, and stayed there until the base was evacuated in July. He remained with the battalion for the rest of his tour, serving on several different firebases, and went home late in the year. He completed his enlistment at Fort Pickett, Virginia. 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng 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 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-06-01 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HarrisJ1445V 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> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/0ddca108327b9407310471839aa7fa1a.mp4 fdef60fa3ff6c333f1899d3405f8334f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7e534765b5bbb87ceb287dad2a555f6d.pdf 247c58b87f14929056809627ff24246c PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW BEN HARRISON Born: 1928 -Arkansas Resides: Fieldton, Texas Interviewed by: James Smither PhD, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, August 5, 2013 Interviewer: Can you start us off with some background on yourself, where and when were you born? I was born in July of 1928 in Arkansas, during the Depression. My father was an MD and he was sixty-two when I was born, which was very nice, but unfortunately he died at seventy-two, so at ten years old I had only my mother, who was thirty-nine when I was born, so I started off with very old parents, and I had a sister a little older than me. WWII started right after that and I saw what was called a draft board taking care of their friends and neighbors and drafting those they didn’t want in the community. I saw how that worked from an early point of view. Interviewer: You were still—now did you finish high school? No, I—we had a very small high school in Truman. 1:02 And in the big red brick building there was one water fountain on the main floor and no inside plumbing. We had a wooden john for the girls at one end of the block and one for the boys at the other end of the block. It was a two story building and it was very friendly school. I got a chance to go to Jonesboro High School, which was a much larger, nicer high school, and in 1944 the Air Force said they had too many pilots, so they took eighty thousand aviation cadets out of the aviation cadet program and sent them off to the infantry and stopped the program. So, Arkansas State College desperately needed students and they sent out the 1 �word that any junior in high school that the principal will recommend can go to college, so I went to college when I was sixteen. One semester at Arkansas State, one summer session at Arkansas State, and then I transferred to the University of Mississippi in Oxford when I’d just turned seventeen and was a sophomore at “Ole Miss”. 2:03 I got there and, of course, no money, my mother couldn’t work, my father had been a country doctor, but never got paid, so I desperately needed the GI Bill if I was going to finish school, so in February 1946 I enlisted at the age of seventeen. I enlisted for eighteen months and I really wanted to spend more time in school than what the GI bill provided, so I extended another eighteen months. I got out of the Army in January of 1949, went back to “Ole Miss” and graduated in 1951. Interviewer: Now, back up a little bit. What was your initial experience in the Army like? Well, as an enlisted man it was very interesting. Of course, I was a skinny little undernourished little runt and made it through basic training, had to dig one six by six foxhole for punishment from the platoon sergeant. 3:03 I went to clerk school and then got involved as a records clerk in personnel. I got in bad trouble with the first sergeant and he put me on permanent KP, so I had a friend of mine in personnel transfer me to the holding company and got transferred to a machines records unit in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, so I could go to Europe. I got down to Fort Oglethorpe and they disbanded the machines record unit and I got sent to the AG school and they moved to Pennsylvania where I was again in personnel and then I started teaching. Then we moved to Fort Lee, Virginia with the Adjutant General School and after three years I got out and went back to “Ole Miss”. 2 �Interviewer: What did they have you teach? I was teaching personnel management. Interviewer: Which you just had learned by practical experience at that point? Yeah, I had been the officer record clerk and I’d been in personnel for a year and a half, or so, so I had some experience, and then, of course, I’d been to the schools and all of a sudden I’m an expert. 4:06 I was promoted to sergeant first class at age nineteen, well actually I was tech sergeant and then they changed it to sergeant first class, so I had a permanent warrant that I was sergeant first class at nineteen. Interviewer: And this is in the post WWII army. Where there were no promotions. Interviewer: Right I was pretty proud, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Interviewer: So then, let’s make sure we got the sequence right, and then you go back to college at this point? I went back to college and took ROTC because I needed the money. Interviewer: When did you finish college? Two years later, in 1951. Interviewer: Now, at that point—you finish and you do the ROTC, do you get another round of officer training next, is that the sequence? Well, in this case I had been, of course, to the Adjutant General School. 5:03 And I had already been accepted at the Harvard Business School where I wanted to go to, so I had a choice, do I marry my sweetheart or do I go to Harvard Business School? If I marry my sweetheart I can’t go to Harvard Business School, so I’ll go on active duty in 3 �the army, so as an ROTC commission, I applied for active duty as a military personnel psychologist. I’d majored in psychology, and that’s all it took in those days. ‘Okay you’re a psychologist” and went up to Adjutant General School at Fort Harrison right here in Indianapolis, and then my first posting was in Alabama. It was pathetic, this was the Korean War, everybody getting drafted, and thirty-five guys come on a bus, none of them pass the mental test, send them all back, so my boss comes to me and says, ‘We got a real problem, because Willie Mays flunked the mental test”. 6:03 I said, “Well, I’ll get a hold of his records”, so I got a hold of his record and in those days it took ninety two questions on the exam and you had to get twenty eight right to get CAP 4 to be eligible for the draft. He got twenty--twenty five right, not twenty eight, so I knew he wasn’t malingering, or he wouldn’t have cut it that close. I said, “Call him back for re-exam and I’ll take care of it”, and they said, “What do you mean?” I said, “I have the authority to take him in, just on my word’, and the Colonel said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Yes sir, I’m sure”, so I called Willie Mays back up, I accepted him, he was drafted and went to Fort Eustis, Virginia and played baseball until the end of the Korean War. I got tired of all that after just a few months of examining guys, after guys, and not enough of them ever passed, so I applied for my Army commission, which I was eligible for as a distinguished graduate and they put me back in the infantry. 7:03 I wanted to go to the 82nd since I was Airborne qualified as an enlisted man, so I went to the 82nd Airborne Division. Interviewer: Where were they based at the time? Fort Bragg Interviewer: Now, had you wanted to go over to Korea? 4 �Oh yeah, I applied several times, but they said, “You’re in the 82nd, a priority unit, strategic reserve”, he loses the application, so I never got to Korea. Interviewer: What was the Army, at that point, worrying about, the politicians above them, why were they keeping you there? Well, the 82nd was in strategic reserve, and in the Korean War they were still worrying about the Soviets coming in Europe, so they didn’t want to get the 82nd Airborne under strength. They wanted them to be combat ready to go to Europe in case the Soviets came across, so I couldn’t get out of the 82nd. Interviewer: Okay, then how long did you stay with the 82nd? 8:00 Well, I was assigned as infantry platoon leader for a very, very short period of time and finally they found out I could read and write and that’s the reason why I became assistant adjutant of the regiment and I was the courts and boards officer, so I did all the special court martials. I didn’t have to be a lawyer to do it. I didn’t have to be a lawyer there, I just summoned Court Martials and the Court Martial Board and everything. I really didn’t like that, so I asked the regimental commander for an interview and I told him, I said, “I’m depriving all these other Lieutenants of any experience at all in the courts and boards business, so I recommend that you demolish my position and when you need a Court Martial officer you appoint one and rotate it, so all the Lieutenants get this experience”. He said, “Okay”, so they eliminated my job. The greatest thing I ever did in the army, I eliminated one job. Interviewer: Now that you’ve eliminated your job, what assignment do you take next? 5 �I went back to the rifle company, I was there about a week and they made me the battalion adjutant, still a 2nd Lieutenant with a Captain's job. 9:03 So then a friend of mine said, “How would you like to be an aide to camp? I said, “What’s that?” He said, “Well, that’s your aide to the General”, and he was an aide to the General. He said, “The General wants another aide and he would like to interview you”, so I went up for the interview with General Aubrey S. Newman, who was a 1928 Olympic champion. He said, “I’ll give you a thirty day trial and if at the end of thirty days I still want you, you’ll be my aide, if you still want the job, and in the meantime keep your regimental brass, you’re not going to be transferred, you’ll just be up here on special duty”. So, in about two weeks later he said, “I’ve seen enough, do you want the job?” I said, “Yes”, so I was the General’s aide and this was Aubrey S. Newman, and a few months after that, did some exercises and he got transferred to Fort Benning as the deputy commander at the infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia. 10:00 So, he asked me to go down there and help him move, so, “Yes sir, I’ll do that providing you let me go in no more than ninety days”, and he said, “Oh yes, that’s fine. I’ll get you a job on the faculty, because you shouldn’t be an aide too long”, so after the ninety days he let me go, and I started teaching operations at the infantry school. By this time I’m a 1st Lieutenant, not very old for a 1st Lieutenant, so I get a message that he wants to see me and that was about four months later. So, I want to see him and he said that he just got orders for Germany and he was going to be the assistant commander of the 5th Infantry Division in Germany and he wanted me to go with him as his aide and help him move him and his wife over there. I said, “Sir, I don’t think I can do that”, and he said, “Why?’ I said, “Well, when I left you, you told me I did a good job for you, but with my personality I should never be an 6 �aide”. 11:02 He said, “Oh yeah, that was just for me, I meant the for somebody else, You’ll be alright for me”, and I said, “Well sir, I still can’t do it because I’ve just been trained to be an instructor, I’m teaching now and I owe my loyalty to my current boss, so I’m sorry, but I can’t go to Germany”. He said, “Well, I understand”, so he went back around and a couple days later my boss came to see me, Lieutenant Colonel, and he said, “Harrison I understand you went around to see General Newman”, and I said, “Yes, he sent for me”, and he said, “What did he want?” I said, he wanted me to go with him as his aide to Augsburg, Germany”, and he said, “When are you leaving?” I said, “I told him I couldn’t go”, and he said, “You couldn’t go, why?” I said, “Because I owe my loyalty to you now, I need to teach here, I’ve been trained to teach”, and he said, “You dumb son of a bitch, get back there and tell him you’re going” , so I went back around the office and told him I was going, so I went to Augsburg, Germany. 12:00 Interviewer: Now, did you go and stay as his aide? No, he said he would let me go after three months and then I could go to a rifle company, which I did, and went with the 2nd Infantry down in Munich. The headquarters was in Augsburg, but the 2nd Infantry was in Munich, so I was a rifle platoon leader in the company there. Interviewer: How long did you stay in Germany? Well again, with my typical screwed up career, they decided to gyroscope, so the 5th Infantry Division was going to gyroscope with the 11th Airborne Division. They were coming over to Germany and we were going to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This time I got myself transferred to a tank company and in those days they had one tank company per infantry division and I wanted to learn about tanks too, so I was the exec of the tank 7 �company and they sent me as the advance party for the tank company for the 2nd Infantry Division. We were the first ones to get to Fort Campbell, got there, got married housing, got the TV antenna up on the roof, started checking the property books, and they weren’t right. 13:04 The tank company, a very complicated book for a tank company, and they just weren’t right, and I told my boss, “I’m not planning a problem, but somebody screwed up here”, and he said, “Well, you ought to work with it”, and I said, “Sir, I can’t, I can’t accept this property”, and he said, “God damn it Harrison, why do you make trouble everyplace you go?” I said, “Sir, this property is screwed up, I can’t do it”, so he said, “Okay”, so he reported it to the 503rd regimental commander that I couldn’t accept the tank company property, so they did an investigation, and they sent the supply sergeant to prison and they relieved the company commander, because they were lying and screwed up. Then about another week later they said, “Uh, you’re supposed to be in Fort Ord, California, so the 5th Infantry division did not stay at Fort Campbell, the 5th Infantry Division went to Fort Ord, California. 14:01 I got out there and then I was assistant S3 like I’d been before and we got the rifle company out at Fort Ord and we were the first company TOE company to train raw recruits, so we took them all the way through the basic cycle, advanced cycle, and by that time I finally got promoted to Captain, because they said, “You’re the only Lieutenant commanding a company in the whole division, so I stay with my company, got promoted to Captain and then went to Fort Benning to the infantry advanced course. Interviewer: Now, when was that that you went to Fort Benning? I went there in December of 1956 and the advance course started in January. Interviewer: Now, you’ve been married all this time. 8 �Oh yeah, married Interviewer: Now, did you take your wife place to place, or did she go sometimes with others? We were always together. We had one child born at Fort Bragg, and we had another child born at Fort Ord, so we took two children to Fort Benning to the infantry advanced course. 15:00 Interviewer: What did the infantry course consist of at that time, what were they making you do? Well, the infantry advanced course was just one of those things that every infantry officer has to go through. Your first one is basic, or associate, depending on when and how you were commissioned, but if you’re a regular officer, in all branches, after about four or five years you go to the advanced course and now they call it the career course, or something, I don’t know what they call it, but at one time it was about nine or ten months long, ours, I think, was six or seven months long. By that time I had applied to the Harvard Business School while I was on active duty and they said, “We don’t send Lieutenants to the Harvard business School, reapply when you’re a Major”, so, okay give it up, so I applied for flight school five times. 16:00 Just as I got to the infantry advanced course my application for flight school was approved. I have a tendency to get airsick, so I took flight lessons there in Columbus, Georgia, soloed and got my private pilot’s license, so when I threw up going through flight school they would say, “Well, he still can fly”, so after the advanced course I went to flight school down at San Marcos, Texas, and graduated number one in the flight school. Interviewer: Now, this was regular fixed wing flight school, right? 9 �L-19 Bird Dog fixed wing, tail dragger. I still got airsick and I always carried a plastic bag with me, so my flight instructor said, “You need to go on sick call and tell them that you went to a party because everybody can see you carrying this plastic bag filling up”, so through that. 17:02 In a fixed wing you go up and you cut the power and you do a spin. Okay, the instructor showed me how to do a spin and he said, “Okay, now you take it up and do three, three hundred and sixty degree spins and pull out”, so I took it up, turned in the spin, scared to death, pulled it out, and when I pulled up smoke rushed up into the front of the cockpit and I said, “Holy cow”. I turned around and my instructor had lighted a cigarette while we were in a spin. Interviewer: I guess that was one cool customer then. Yeah, he was quite a character. Anyway I graduated number one in flight school and I was supposed to be teaching tactics at the flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, but I wrote a seven page critique of the course about all that was screwed up in that flight school, so they threw me out of the aviation school and put me in an infantry unit at Fort Rucker. 18:02 Interviewer: I guess you were a troublemaker then. Yeah, and I was still a 1st Lieutenant too—no, no, I was a Captain by then. Interviewer: Where are we talking to in time now, what year is that? This is 1958 and I graduated from flight school, number one in my class, and at that time Lebanon happened, they blew up the Marine barracks, so we got a top secret message down at Fort Rucker that they wanted to send the 7292nd Air Combat Reconnaissance Company alerted to go to Lebanon. They were a bunch of instructors and other guys that just put on demo’s and didn’t know anything about tactics, didn’t know how to arm 10 �helicopter companies, and the first one in the army, so since I was the only one they could find that had a top secret clearance and could understand all this, instead of becoming the battalion adjutant, I became the trainer for 7292nd Air Combat Reconnaissance Company. 19:00 Interviewer: They were using helicopters you said? Yup, armed helicopters Interviewer: Now, did you have any experience in helicopters at this point? I wasn’t a helicopter pilot. Interviewer: I didn’t think so, yeah okay. I trained this and I took them over to Fort Stern and I took them over to Fort Benning, we planned exercises and got them combat ready and then they didn’t go. By that time the infantry manager was telling me, “You should be getting a short tour over with because you should be going to Leavenworth pretty soon, but we can’t send you until you get your short tour”, and I had the long tour, supposedly, in Germany, only eighteen months, but a long tour. So, I hitchhiked to Washington and volunteered for the hardship area. No vacancy, and I said, “You surly go to need somebody someplace for a short tour”, and he said, “The only thing we got one requirement up in Iceland”, and I said, “Okay, send me to Iceland”, and he said, “I got three records on my desk here that they’ve been back from a long tour a lot longer than you have”. 20:04 I said, “You got a volunteer?” He said, “No”, and I said, “Okay I volunteer”, and he said, “Okay, you’re going to Iceland”. He’s looking at my records and said, “You’re not helicopter qualified, we got helicopters up there”, and I said, “Great, send me to helicopter school”, so en route to Iceland I went to helicopter school. 11 �Interviewer: Having done regular fixed wing aircraft, how hard was it to learn helicopters? Not a problem, it’s a little tricky, but it’s not a big deal. Interviewer: Now, do you get sick in helicopters? No, never Interviewer: That’s a good transition then? Yeah Interviewer: How long did the helicopter training take? Since we were already qualified aviators to start with, I may have been nine weeks, it may have been twelve weeks, it wasn’t really any big deal--it was just a lot of fun flying around. Interviewer: then what did you end up doing in Iceland? Well, I was the commander and chief of army aviation North Atlantic, two helicopters and one Beaver. 21:06 It was an infantry combat team of thirteen hundred people, had an engineer platoon, a tank platoon, an aviation section and an infantry battalion, and we were the Army troops there. There wasn’t anything to do, there wasn’t any place you could go, so I set up the training program and I taught everybody in the battalion air mobile operation, how to hook up and load in and out of helicopters, and with my two helicopters I took every person up in the entire combat team for a flight around Iceland, a great stint. I took them to the geyser; you know there are three places in the world with geysers and they start at Geyser, Iceland, that’s the name of the town, and we flew over the geyser, just took them up and took the families up, you know. Nobody knew, I was 12 �the commander and chief and nobody knew anything about aviation and I could do anything I wanted to. Interviewer: Were there many of the men assigned there that had their families with them? No, because it was a short tour, it was out of country tour, but you could come up on a tourist visa and bring your family, which I did. 22:06 There were probably ten or fifteen families up there and there were also quarters on the base, but you had to stay two years to get quarters on the base. Interviewer: So, where did everybody else live? They lived in a hole in the wall there in a little bitty village and it’s very, very primitive. Interviewer: How did the local population treat you people? They hated the Americans. They hate everybody. They hate each other. Iceland is the oldest republic in the world, the oldest republic in the world and never had a majority government, it always a coalition. They just can’t get along with anybody. Interviewer: It started with a bunch of quarrelsome Vikings and stayed that way. Yes, they’re all of Scandinavian descent, and the women are absolutely beautiful. It’s a beautiful bunch of people, but they don’t like each other. 23:00 They certainly didn’t like the Americans. And another weird thing, it was 19—where am I now—1959-1960, and our state department signed a status of forces agreement that would not allow any blacks to be stationed in Iceland. Iceland didn’t want any blacks, 1959-60, no blacks allowed, weird. Interviewer: So, you have a short tour, how long is a short tour? 13 �Well, it was twelve month, but fortunately they decided to pull out of NATO and move back to the states, so I only spent nine months there, lucky. Interviewer: Alright, so what do you get next? Well, since my wife came up on a tourist visa, I didn’t take the ship back home with all the troops, I bought a commercial ticket and we flew there and sure enough, I’d been selected to go to Grand General Staff College, so we went from Iceland to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 24:03 Our son, who was our first born, went to three different first grades. Interviewer: So, how long does the course in Leavenworth go? Well, I was there as what they call a “snowbird”, because I got there in about March and the class didn’t really start until the end of August, so they assigned me to the allied personnel section to help bring in a hundred foreign students from all over the world. Most all of them were top graduates of their staff college in their army and I taught an English class to those that already knew how to speak, but they needed some improvement. I asked my boss about speed reading and he said, “Yeah, we used to teach that here, go get a Tachistoscope and you can do it yourself”. Do you know what a Tachistoscope is? Interviewer: No 25:00 It’s a little panel about like that and you set the speed and it uncovers the lines and you can set it for how fast you want to read or whatever. It covers the lines up, so you have to read or you miss the lines. I finally located the Tachistoscope’s; they were stored in the closet someplace over in the lab, and he said, “That’s great, I want you to set up a speed 14 �reading class for all the advanced English speaking people”, so I taught speed reading until the class started in August of 1960. Interviewer: How well did that work? It worked pretty well. I had a Dutch officer that—he tested out at two hundred and fifty words a minute and finished at seven hundred words a minute. Interviewer: Now, you actually get to take a course yourself? Yeah, see I enrolled with all the rest of the students and went through the regular course, and then they kept me on the faculty. 26:01 It spite of all my protest, I wanted to go back to crew, but they kept me on the faculty. That lasted for about a year and a half and then they started the air assault tests in Fort Benning and I was one of the aviators that could read and write, so they sent me down to test headquarters to design the test, the air assault test, so I did the reconnaissance clearance and functional areas. It was the first test of that kind they ever did on functional areas, logistics, reconnaissance, security, artillery, fire support and that sort of thing. It was a very interesting tour. We tested the 11th Air Assault Division, which later became the 1st Cav Division. Interviewer: So, you’re kind there on the ground floor with a lot of organizing of airmobile operations and all of that. Yeah, I wrote a lot of the final report. Interviewer: Did you stay on down there after you finished that, or what did you do next? 27:00 No, I went to the Armed Forces Staff College. Interviewer: Where is that? 15 �It’s in Norfolk, Virginia, it’s in the air/naval base, and I was just telling Mike I got a haircut there and the Navy has regular seamen that give, they’re barbers, and they do that on ship, and it cost me thirty cents. Interviewer: What rank have you made it to by this time? By that time—I was a Major when I went down there. Then while I was in the Armed Forces Staff College, I think it was in there, I was selected for a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. Interviewer: Once you complete the staff college training, now what are you eligible for and what do you go and do next? I had a friend in personnel, of course, there in Washington, and I got him to assign me to Hawaii. 28:01 I was on the staff of commander-in-chief of the Pacific, Admiral Sharp, in Hawaii, and I was in the Southeast Asia section of the policy division J5, so we had Cambodia and Vietnam in my little section. There were four of us there, one from each branch of the service and I was kind of the ground guy for the policy section. Interviewer: So, when did you arrive out there? That would have been in the summer of 1965. Interviewer: Okay, that would probably be a fairly interesting time to walk into that job. It was very interesting, and the 1st Cav Division was deploying by boat at that time and I saw some of the guys when they stopped there for a rest stop in Hawaii. They were headed around to Southeast Asia. Interviewer: If Southeast Asia was your territory, did that mean that you actually go over to Vietnam yourself at this point to take a look at things? 16 �I was supposed to, but there was always something and they would never let me go. 29:01 I had to do this and do that and different thing. Like, I had to rewrite the plan for defending Thailand and I had that reviewed and I had to write a plan to invade North Vietnam, which I did and that was reviewed, so I just had to do all kinds of stuff like that. One of the guys that I had known during air assault test was now the commander of the 1st Aviation Brigade in Vietnam, Fitzsimons, Major General, and his wife was there in Hawaii, who we knew before, so he came back to visit every once in a while. He said, “I’ve got a battalion that really needs a command change and I would like you to volunteer to come to Vietnam, and I want you to command the battalion”, and I said, “Yes sir’, and I volunteered for Vietnam right after I got to Hawaii. I didn’t know it at the time, but it took them months and months to decide that, because when you go through a joint assignment It’s stabilized and you’re there for three years. 30:06 Well, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Harold J. Johnson, said, “Anyone in the army that volunteers for Vietnam will go”, so I knew nothing about this, but for months they argued over that policy and they finally let the Army have its way. Stabilized tours don’t count, and if a guy volunteers for Vietnam he can go, so after a just little less than a year staying back in Hawaii, I went to Vietnam. After bringing my family back to the states I go to Vietnam. Interviewer: Where do you arrive in Vietnam? In Saigon, at Tan Son Nhut, the big base Interviewer: What was your impression of Vietnam when you got there? Screwed up, busy, everybody going in different directions, and you know, this was the start of the big buildup. 17 �Interviewer: What units, specifically, were you assigned to? To the 10th Aviation Battalion 31:00 I was processing in and an old friend of mine was there and he was assigned Lieutenant Colonel and we had been class mates at Leavenworth. I said, “Well Ben, I guess you want a battalion?” He said, “I’m supposed to get a battalion”, and I said, “Yeah, you and everybody else”. So, I had lunch with him and that afternoon he sent for me and he said, “You really are going to get a battalion. General Senna has sent a helicopter for you to take you out right now”, so I went right up and took immediate command of the 10th Combat Aviation Battalion. Interviewer: Can you describe, a little bit, what the makeup of that battalion was and what its mission was? Yeah, it a—the aviation brigade had all separate aviation units. There was an aviation battalion in each division at that time, now they got a brigade in every aviation battalion and then they had several battalions, and at that time they had, probably, six other battalions and they were under the 1st Aviation Brigade commanded by a two star aviation brigade commander. 32:00 He assigned me to the 10th Battalion, which was up near Nha Trang and one of my companies in the 10th Battalion OPCON to the 5th Special Forces group and the other four companies. I had command of the other three, so that’s what we did and I supported the 1st Brigade of the 101st as my first priority then the two Korean divisions, and a Korean marine brigade and all of the ARVN units in a two corps area near Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang. Interviewer: What kind of aircraft did you have in your battalion? All Hueys, and had one company of Chinooks, but all Hueys after that. 18 �Interviewer: And were these all used for transportation purposes or did some of them carry guns? Each company had a gun platoon and I think there were eight guns in each company. Interviewer: So you had sort of your own gunships that could go to protect the other ones. Oh yeah, each company had three platoons to lift and one gun platoon. 33:00 Interviewer: And what sort of stands out in your mind about your operations that got performed or did a useful job or got screwed up, or whatever? Early on when I got there a crew took off at about nine or ten at night, in the dark and light rain and crashed and killed everybody on board, and I asked if his instrument ticket was up to date, if he was instrument qualified and they said, “No, no, in Vietnam you don’t have to keep your instruments up to date, that’s all waived and we don’t take enough of them”, so I immediately established a policy that everyone would be instrument qualified and they must be instrument qualified to be the command pilot and in command of that helicopter, and, also, that we would all have night training, because they took off at night, poor weather, crashed and killed everybody, so that was a big change for everybody and here this new chickenshit Colonel’s going to make everybody take their flight exam, when the army says you don’t have to do that, but in my battalion they did. 34:01 So, we took night training and we took instrument training. Interviewer: Did that have a notable effect? Absolutely, we had super qualified guys and another thing, the way the Huey is designed the best instrument is in the right seat. Well, by practice over there the senior pilot, command pilot, would sit in the left seat and the new guy would sit in the right seat, so I 19 �had to change that and said, “During weather and at night, the most experienced pilot sits in the right seat where the instruments are”, and I kind of got that going, and there were a lot of interesting little things. Interviewer: Now, helicopter pilots have a reputation as being kind of a crazy, or maybe, undisciplined bunch. How easy, or hard, was it to convince them to go along with that kind of regulation? I wasn’t hard Interviewer: Could they see the logic of it? They pretty well saw the logic of it, but there was no room for argument. They did what I told them to. 35:03 If they didn’t like it they’re out. Interviewer: And overall, how would you kind of rate the performance level or efficiency of your unit while you were running it? Oh, they were superb, really, really good. Like I say, you got an experienced pilot and then the junior pilot and they work up and everybody wants to be the first pilot over there, but they were highly motivated. The problem was, there was a pilot shortage and they didn’t have enough pilots to fill all the seats, in spite of the fact that in the news conference in Saigon, McNamara was asked the question, “What about the pilot shortage?” He said, there’s no pilot shortage in Vietnam. Every aircraft flying has a pilot”, that’s what he said. Interviewer: I suppose it did. The Army had to have programs in place, and they’re trying to train more pilots at this time, right? 36:01 Oh yeah, they’re pushing them through as fast as they could, but, you know, they would arrive in the country with a minimum of two hundred and fifty and some of them four 20 �hundred hours, and, of course, by that time I had a couple thousand and I really learned how to fly helicopters in Iceland. High winds, bad weather and I was very arrogant and proud of my ability to fly helicopters. Interviewer: Were there any particular difficulties, or challenges involved when you were working with the Koreans? With who? Interviewer: The Koreans Oh, they were great, great troops, they were very disciplined, and no, it was much easier working with them than with the Americans. Interviewer: So, how long have you spent commanding that battalion? As far as I know, I’m the only one that commanded a battalion twelve months. Normal was six months , but what happened was, my boss in Saigon, when my six months was up, he was worried about me getting killed or wounded or something, because we’d lost a couple of battalion commanders. 37:04 They were wounded, so he sent my replacement up and the 1st Brigade commander of the Airborne, Joe Matheson, looked at him and said, “You don’t have any jump wings on”, and he said, “No sir, I’m an aviator”, and he said, “This is an airborne unit”, and he sent him back to Saigon. That happened a couple of times, not for the same thing, but the commander of the 1st Brigade of the 101st, would not accept any replacement, so my boss said he’d leave me in command if I promised never to leave this hall and never to mark a LZ, and I said, “No sweat sir”. Interviewer: How dangerous was your job? Well, I lost twenty nine guys and thirty five helicopters. 21 �Interviewer: And what was the normal full complement to the amount of helicopter you had at one time? 38:00 Let’s see, the total number of helicopters, which would have been over two hundred, but I can’t remember the exact number off hand. Interviewer: You notice as a whole, most of them come back, but stuff can happen, and at this stage you’re going into LZ’s all over the place and different parts of the country and people are shooting at you from anywhere. Yeah, the real dangerous places were when you go in a single ship to pick up a wounded guy and you have to stay up there or hover down and let a rope down, because we rarely had the medevac helicopters where we were. They were very rare, because we were always with the 1st of the 101st on some special mission places like Dak To, Pleiku, out in the boonies, so we did a lot of medevac. Interviewer: What’s the difference between a medevac helicopter and just a regular Huey? 39:04 Well, the main difference is, on a medevac helicopter you got an aid man there that can help out, so the preference is always a medevac helicopter, but if they’re not around, you get them out and get them to an aid station as quickly as you can. Interviewer: But, otherwise the physical machinery is in the interest of how you load them up possibly and so forth. Yes and the medevac helicopters have a winch out on the side where we didn’t have that. Interviewer: So, because you were somebody who came in as a very experienced helicopter pilot and fly a lot of conditions, were you putting yourself in situations that were pretty dangerous? 22 �Every day Interviewer: So, you would go right into the LZ’s. Yeah, yeah, well, what I would do is, with each company, I would tell my S3 to take command of the controls and run the operation and I would go as “Peter Pilot” and we’d land in formation with the other troops. 40:01 Just to show them I could do it and to let them know that I knew what they were going through and that I could be as scared as they could. I flew with every company, including the Chinooks. Interviewer: It’s really the equivalent of what a line company commander would do and take the same risks his men do. Oh yeah, and again, I had a requirement for night training and I made each company conduct their own night training, as least one assault a month and then we would do one whole battalion night assault, just for training, no troops on board, just for practice, and I was told by the Chinook company, “We can’t fly at night, particularly in formation”, and I said, “Why not?” They said, “The windscreen is at such an angle that the light reflects up and it’s hard to see the instruments”. I said, “No problem, I’ll fly the lead Chinook”. I wasn’t Chinook qualified, I flew the lead Chinook, scared the shit out of them and I never had a problem again and they were ready to go the next time I told them to. 41:02 Interviewer: Now, you got to the end of that year's assignment and were you sad to see that come to an end, or were you ready to go on to something else? No, I was ready to go home. Interviewer: How much contact did you have with your family while you were over in Vietnam? 23 �None at all--on my second tour I got a chance, when I was flying one time, to get an air patch with some guy in Peru and make a telephone call back to my wife and that was the only contact I had, other than the daily letters. Interviewer: You would write to each other. They didn’t get them daily, but we wrote daily. Interviewer: So, when do you leave Vietnam then on that first tour? The first tour--that would have been July of 1967. Interviewer: What assignment do you get then when you come back? Okay, from there I went to—again my friend gave me a good assignment—went to McNamara’s office so I could get the joint staff duty and all that sort of thing. 42:02 I was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, in the training division of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower. Interviewer: Were you at the Pentagon? I was at the Pentagon--yeah, there were four of us, one for each service. Interviewer: What was that experience like? Well, it was pretty disgusting, and the first thing I was disgusted about it—McNamara had this thing with, “I’ve got a civilian staff”, so we were not allowed to wear our uniform to work, so we had to buy a whole wardrobe of civilian clothes to go to work every day and we were used to going to work at six thirty or seven o’clock, seven thirty at the latest, and I’d get in the office and the civilians would start dragging in about eight thirty or nine o’clock, so I said, “Okay, I’m going to do that too, I wear civilian clothes”, so the guy across the street from me there at Norfolk, Virginia, he was an Air Force two 24 �star General and he went to work at six thirty and I went to work at eight thirty, so I just went along with the game. 43:06 Interviewer: How much of what you were doing was political as opposed to practical, or how much political stuff did you have to deal with at your level? Not so much political because we were in the training part, but Project One Hundred Thousand was going at that time and the guy that did that was a civilian across the hall from me and that was pretty disgusting. Interviewer: Can you explain was the purpose of Project One Hundred Thousand was? Political—equal opportunity for all the dummies that come in and screwed up all the military and it was really a disaster. It cost a lot of extra money for training and it did cause a lot of problems—it was a total failure in my view. Interviewer: Did it basically take people who did not qualify for the service on the aptitude tests? Not aptitude, it was intelligence tests. Interviewer: Intelligence, yes—and then somehow or other, in principle, making them qualify at least. Did they get any kind of training or education? 44:02 Yeah, yeah, they had training programs for them and some would turn out okay, but I would say the majority of them were a problem, and we were better off without them, that’s for sure. Interviewer: In terms of investment of resources maybe not that great a idea. Exactly 25 �Interviewer: So you’re seeing that from the inside in terms of how would actually play out. Yeah Interviewer: How long did you have to do that kind of work? Well again, they’re lucky; I was there for a year and was selected to go to the War College. In those days, once you’re selected for college you went out of the Pentagon. Now, and not long after that, you have to do your full three years, get deferred and go to college and do another three years, but I got to go after one year, so I got out after one year of my first tour at the Pentagon and got out after one year of my second tour at the Pentagon, and then I had a third tour and that’s later on. Interviewer: Now, when you’re going to the college are you going there to teach at this point or study some more? 45:04 It’s a—everybody goes through the advanced course and everybody’s going to get promoted that goes to the war college, and you may go to your service war college or some other service war college, in the meantime you may got to the Armed Forces Staff College, but that’s not something that’s in the line that you have to do, but everybody that’s a professional career guy goes to the advanced course and then the war college. Interviewer: Is this sort of the process to get you from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel? Oh yes, definitely, and it’s just part of the professional military education system. Interviewer: All right and when did you complete that course? I completed that in 1969 and went to the Air War College which was totally unchallenging. It—the air force had a policy that everybody would go to Southeast Asia 26 �before anyone would go the second time. 46:01 All the top guys, the professional level, the air force people they were with there with all of the army, navy, coast guard, marines, was below standard, it was a snap course, and so much so that I enrolled in Auburn University and got a master’s in business while I was going to the Air War College. Interviewer: And the Air War College, is that at Montgomery? Yeah, and they had a little way you could do that, so I went to night school and we had Saturdays off, so I went to Auburn and got my MBA at Auburn. Interviewer: Was that any harder than the air force program? Yeah, oh yeah, because I had to take business statistics and in those days, we’re talking 1968, they hadn’t invented little calculators yet, so I had to do all the calculations with a slide rule. 47:00 That was my biggest challenge. Interviewer: Having gone and done all that and gotten to that level, what did they send you for next? I got assigned back to the Pentagon and this time I was chief of doctrine. This time I had come out on the promotion list as a Colonel, so I was the branch chief and assistant of air force development. They have a doctrine division there and I was chief of doctrine. Interviewer: And doctrine for all kinds of air units or helicopters? No, Army Interviewer: So it’s Army Air Doctrine? Army wide yeah Interviewer: Were you making an effort to try to adjust doctrine, or whatever to fit what you learned in Vietnam? 27 �Just kind of routine stuff, special consideration and this and that, no big deal, and then I volunteered for Vietnam to command an infantry brigade as soon as I got there. 48:02 A friend of mine who was in charge of assigning infantry Colonels said, “Man, you know we got guys that have been back from Vietnam a lot longer than you have and we’ve got hundreds of guys that have applied to command a brigade in Vietnam, you’re never going to get to go”, and I said, “Okay”, so I sent a message to my old mentor, General Senna, telling him that I wanted to go to Vietnam and I would appreciate some help. So he contacted his friend who commanded the 101st Airborne Division and I was requested by name to command the 3rd Brigade of the 101st. So, I found out that my boss turned it down and didn’t even let me know when the request came in, so I called the secretary and asked for an appointment and the secretary came back and said, “He knows why you want to see him and he doesn’t want to see you”, and I said, “Tell him that I really need to see him”. 49:03 So, he finally lets me come in and he said, “Don’t bother to sit down because it’s not going to take long. You want to go to Vietnam, you’re not going to go”, and I said, “But sir”, and he said, “I’ve got thirty two Colonels in this building and you’re my best Colonel and you’re not going”, and I said, “But sir, I want to command an infantry brigade”, and he said, “I will guarantee you command an infantry brigade”, and I said, “Sir, combat might be over then and number two, I’m an aviator”, and he said, “Oh, that’s right”, and he said, “Well, okay, but if you don’t go to that brigade command, I’m going to get you”. So, he let me go after one year there and then I went to the 3rd Brigade of the 101st. Interviewer: And when did you arrive to take command? In June of 1970 28 �Interviewer: 1970, and what was the situation there of the brigade, or the brigade's mission, at the time you joined it? 50:00 The brigade was given orders to conduct an operation in the A Shau Valley area where the North Vietnamese were bringing all there troops and supplies and everything else down to. The North Vietnamese were bringing all there troops and supplies down there and it was called “operation Texas Star” and we were the brigade to conduct it and my predecessor knew they had gotten the orders and prepared for that just before I took command. Told the division commander that’s a bad area and we need more troops and he said, “Nah, nah, just one brigade, so go out there”, so that was it, that was our brigade assignment, “operation Texas Star”, and we established, before I got there, they established Firebase Ripcord and that was in April. When I got there in June there was a lot of fighting going on, it wasn’t really massive, but there was fighting going on out there and then they really started concentrating on Ripcord and I would get extra battalions. 51:03 At one time I had four of the eight battalions in the division on my operation control, I always had at least three battalions, but we just didn’t have enough troops out there because the NVA were all over the place. It was their area, their supplies and their weapon caches and they just didn’t want us there. Interviewer: At the time the Ripcord operation was going on how much did you know about enemy strength in the area, or what did you think they had at the time? Well, we knew they had a lot there, but we didn’t know where--like one time we got word that 29, I think it was 29, NVA regiment were coming across the line and the Air Cav squad went out and just wiped them out, caught them out in the open, so we knew 29 �there were a lot of them there. We didn’t know exactly how many, but we had a good idea that there were lots of them there. Interviewer: Now, were there manpower issues in the line companies by this time? Yeah, yeah, a typical company would have ninety five people in the field instead of a hundred and sixty. 52:08 Interviewer: At Ripcord some of them eventually had less than that too didn’t they? Oh yeah Interviewer: Were you getting fewer replacements coming in than they in earlier years? Well, we were getting in country transfer replacements, so we were getting fewer replacements than—we were just short of people, everybody was. Interviewer: How much contact did you have with the people on Ripcord, or how often did you go out there? Oh, every day, every day and then when they started the siege on the first of July--and I saw the buildup we were getting around there. We lost a Chinook in the middle of it, a guy killed right there and blew up a 105 battery and that was on the seventeenth of July as I recall [actually July 18]. 53:00 And then I decided to spend the night out there every night, so the last five nights we were there I stayed on Ripcord during the night so I could talk with the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines air guys and speak their language and tell them that, “No, we’ve cut the artillery off, you don’t have to worry about artillery fire, come on in and hit the targets or whatever”. Interviewer: Physically, what was that experience like? You’re on a base that’s under siege; describe a little bit just the layout of Ripcord and the terrain around it. 30 �Well, it was a sharp hill and it had been cleared off and Captain Vazquez's was the first rifle company that had to go in there and had to set it up. He was an absolutely superb rifle company commander and he just worked the hall out of his troops. Barb wire, trip wires, claymore mines and in fact, that base was never penetrated, not a single enemy ever got onto that base. 54:03 Interviewer: No sappers got inside the wire or anything like that? No, in fact none of my bases, in basecamp, were we ever surprised, because I read the action reports of all these disasters and they were always someone was sleeping and a complete surprise, so I established the policy of no overhead bunkers so they could go to sleep in and the upset a lot of people, and also that a NCO had to walk the perimeter every hour and an officer had to walk the perimeter every three hours. This was all night long, so that if you’re standing up awake and walking you’re a lot more alert. Interviewer: Those were procedures that Captain Vazquez was using with his own company before you’d gotten there. Did you pick that up from him, or did you just know that anyway? No, I just knew that’s what you had to do. I read all the action reports and they were caught napping. Interviewer: Now, you’re there, so physically what was—I guess you’re on top of this hill, where was the enemy relative to you? 55:09 Completely around us, plus we were on Hill 923 or 937, something like that, and just adjacent to us within mortar range was Hill 1000, so they had optimum terrain and they were dug into that hill and we never got them out. We bombed, and bombed, and bombed, and bombed used mortars and attacked the hill; we could never get them out of 31 �the hill. There was a bunch over there at Hill 805, the other side of them, they had troops over there, they were all around us , Hill 1000, they were in there and we were on Hill 917, or whatever, Hill 923, but we were a little bit lower and, of course, our hill was totally barren because we had the 105 battery and the 155 battery and it was all cleared out and we had bunkers and the battalion command bunker of the 2-506 was underground and sandbagged and was the aid station. 56:09 So, it was pretty well fortified up there, but there again where the troops were, no overhead cover and what we had were things they could crawl under if we got incoming mortars, but they couldn’t stand up and be covered and they had to stand up to be able to see out, so they could see. It was pretty barren and, of course, the disaster was on the seventeenth of July, I think that’s when it was, when the Chinook came in and blew up and wiped out the whole 105 battery, and a lot of shells. Interviewer: And then were they also firing certain direct fire rounds on the base with those rifles and things like that? Yeah Interviewer: They couldn’t force you off the hill by ground assault, but they could just shoot down into the position and make it—57:03 A lot of mortars and rockets and particularly the 120(mm) mortars, the 120 is really, really bad. Interviewer: And they could also hide a lot of their ordnance inside of caves and bunkers built into the side of the mountains. They had a huge supply depot right at A Shau. 32 �Interviewer: So, your artillery, or air strikes, by and large when falling, it’s not going to get them. You needed the right kind—these days we have the self-guided missiles that night go in from the front, but we’re not quite there yet. Yeah Interviewer: How close did you come to getting hit yourself? You’re on that firebase at the end of the siege. Well, I was standing just outside the TOC with four ammo boxes filled with sand and on the other side there were sandbags and a 120 mortar landed right in front of this where I was leaning and it threw me back and they guy I was talking to back about eight or ten feet, just right straight back into the bunker. 58:02 When we got up and shook off he had blood coming out of both ears and he was evacuated. I had a rather bad headache and the guy to my right who was standing behind a bunker just like that, he was killed instantly, and that was the closest call I had. Interviewer: Now, while you’re there at the end of the operation, Lieutenant Colonel Lucas is the battalion commander, so you’re right there with him pretty much? It was his TOC I was standing in front of and I slept in his TOC. Interviewer: How did he handle the situation in the last days when they were under siege, what was he doing at that time? Well, of course, we were all up very, very early. They made an early daylight extraction of A Company and he came back to Ripcord, looking around, and he was standing out in the open and not behind a thing like I was, watching the artillery over there and a round hit him in the leg and they took him out and he died before he got to the medevac. 59:03 33 �Interviewer: Before that when his—earlier on in the campaign he’s up in the helicopter observing and so forth, but then as the line companies are sort of more down—in the book he’s spending a lot more time on the ground on the firebase. Who is? Interviewer: Lucas He was in the helicopter all the time. Interviewer: Even in the very last days? Yeah, he’s in the Hiller’s H-23, which has one person and then the pilot and there’s a seat in the back. He was out there in that all the time flying at low level and right down in it. He was in the action all the time. Interviewer: You still have line units out there in the hills and in between them still? Yeah, they were patrolling and we had another battalion out there on the ground with him. We had an extra company that was OPCON to his battalion on hill 805. He was very, very much out with it all the time and he scared the hell out of his pilot. 00:03 Interviewer: You also got—now General Berry was the assistant Division commander at that time. Yes, he was the acting division commander because Hennessey was on leave in the states. Interviewer: What role did General Berry play in things, or how much did you see of him? Interviewer: Every day, didn’t miss a day chewing my ass. 34 �Interviewer: Was he able to—I guess one of the wider issues around Ripcord, sort of, that was the place where eventually a decision comes down to evacuate, and now the question is do we put more people in and actually try to secure the area and chase the enemy out, or take ourselves out? And, at least in the book version of things, most of the officers, Lucas, yourself, and Berry, were of the inclination, of course we should keep going, and eventually it goes the other way. 1:01 Was there a point where you decided, just yourself, that it just doesn’t make sense for us to stay? No, I never came to that conclusion, we had the mission to push on in to A Shau and that’s what we were doing. Closing the base never occurred to me until Berry came to that decision, and one of the main reasons he came to that decision was because we lost our 105 battery. They took them out and we couldn’t have that direct fire support that was very important and as soon as that happened that day, I requested another battalion, artillery battery, and opened up the firebase right next door there, the firebase, it started with a G—Gladiator, and I requested an engineer platoon go in and check it for mines and booby traps and requested another battery, and by about six o’clock that night we had 105 support, so we were without 105 support for just a matter of a few hours. 2:06 Interviewer: And once you have Gladiator set up, does that alleviate some of the need to be using Ripcord? No, you need both of them, we had the 155’s on Ripcord because it was a bigger place and they had the aid station there. Interviewer: Was Ripcord also becoming kind of a dangerous place? Oh--- 35 �Interviewer: Kind of hard to work out of? Oh yeah, it was very hard, because, you know, we had mortars all around us and when they started getting the 120 mortars that was when it was really bad. Interviewer: We’ve been talking about—kind of the end of firebase Ripcord and the withdrawal form there and then sort of the prospects for what might have happened. Now, having left Ripcord, I guess on some level it kind of stayed with you, because well afterwards you managed to locate your Vietnamese counterpart from that battle. 3:02 And you actually talked to him about the Vietnamese side of what went on. Now, can you describe a little bit your contact with him and what you learned from him? Yes, I got in touch with a fella by the name of Frobenius, Courtney Frobenius, and he had gone back to Vietnam and studied Vietnamese and he was there about six years and married a lovely Vietnamese lady whose father ran an English school in Saigon. He traveled all over the country by motor cycle and he was the guy who could possibly find some of these people for me, so he set up a tour for me in 2001 to go and visit the people who had been fighting against us and I made a number of contacts there, called the Ambassador and all that sort of thing, but I could not get the commanding General of the 324 NVA Division to meet me. 4:02 He was living in a little town up on the Chinese border two hundred miles north of Hanoi. It was a little dirt road, it wasn’t all dirt, but it was a little road, and no airport there that I could fly into. I got a message to him that if he would come to Hanoi that I would pay him a consulting fee and I would pay his expenses and he sent a message back to me, “If you want to talk to me you’ve got to come to my house”. There was no way I could do that, I didn’t have time and it just 36 �wouldn’t work out, because it would take at least three days to do that. A day to get up there, a day to talk to him, and a day to get back, so that was it. Then in 2004 I was contacted by the University of Southern Mississippi again, and they asked me to be one of their visiting professors and take a group of their graduate students over on a tour. I said, “If you can guarantee me that I’ll be able to interview in Hanoi, I’ll go”. It took them a while, but Courtney Frobenius said he had it set up, and he did. He provided the guide and everything for the whole tour of Vietnam. 5:02 I went back in 2004 and I left the group of students and flew up to Hanoi and got a driver. We drove two hundred miles up this little road and got to the hotel, which was so far up there they wouldn’t take credit cards and they wouldn’t take American money and that’s pretty far out in the sticks when people won’t take American money. I went out, and I had prepared a nice gift for his wife, beautifully wrapped--they think more of the wrapping than they do of the gift, and also, a gift for his daughter and I got about a sixty dollar bottle of brandy for him. So, I took those gifts out to him in the evening and he was still a little formal, a little cold. We sat around and talked and he didn’t open the brandy, we drank beer, so he probably is going to sell the brandy. 6:00 But, we talked and we talked and he got a little more friendly, so he agreed, okay, he would come to the hotel tomorrow for the interview. The next morning he came to the hotel and he said, “I can only stay one hour” through an interpreter, who was my driver so, after about three hours he said, “I must go”, and I said, “ Chung Nuy, If we had not left Ripcord, what would you have done?” He said, “Well I still had one battalion left”, he said, “We would have kept pushing in, just like we did at Dien Bien Phu and we would have kept coming in”, and that’s when he admitted that we 37 �destroyed eight of his nine battalions and it hurt, but he still had one battalion left, but that made my whole trip. Interviewer: So, the operation cost them quite a bit. Oh yes Interviewer: While they may have interfered with our own plans to go into the A Shau Valley at that point, it also interrupted whatever they were sending. Absolutely, it was very, very costly for them. 7:02 Interviewer: Now, once the Ripcord operation was over, what happened with you and the brigade? Well, we just kept on going to another firebase and we took over O’Reilly for a while, which was a joint base, and we just continued to operate, and just pulled back because, number one, the monsoon season was coming in and that helped us pull back and it got a lot quieter. Interviewer: So, you’re basically there with them for a six month tour, so you’re there until the send back? We opened a firebase in a lot closer in to Camp Evans because of the weather, it was raining all the time, and that’s when I had a little problem with the battalion commander, who wasn’t doing a good job at all. 8:00 He didn’t take the right equipment out there, he would come into basecamp, to Camp Evans, just and just stand out there on the firebase with his troops, and then I found out that two of the company commanders just happened to run into each other in Thailand, Bangkok on R&R and my exec comes to see me at the six o’clock briefing with a smile on his face and said, “Sir, we got a problem”, and I said, “What’s that?” He said, “One of your battalion commanders is queer”, and I 38 �said, “Okay, I know which one”, so I went to see the division commander, tried to call him on the emergency channel and finally got him on the emergency channel, and told him I needed to talk to him and of course, he was mad as hell and he said, “Okay, meet me back at Camp Evans”, so I went to Camp Evans. 9:03 I saw him coming down and I came alongside with my helicopter a little bit and I let him land and then I landed mine. He saw me and he put his hands on his hips and said, “Okay Harrison, what is so God damn important right now?” I said, “Just a minute sir”, so I came up to him and told him that one of my battalion commander was alleged to be queer and is making mover on his company commander. “Jesus Christ you have to talk to him. I’ll appoint the IG to investigate this and I’ll have him personally investigated”, and I said, “Sir, I need to relieve the battalion commander today”, and he said, “What do you mean? We’ve got to investigate it”, and I said, “Sir, I have two rifle company commanders and I don’t have any others and they refuse to go in the field with him. I’ve got to relieve a lot of company commanders and other people because of the battalion commander, and I recommend the battalion commander be relieved”, so he relieved him that day. Interviewer: Aside from that particular situation, how would you rate the overall effectiveness or quality of the officers in your command? 10:06 Very high, very high Interviewer: And do you think that extended down to the level of the enlisted men as well? Was the performance level of the brigade pretty good? At the company level, by that time, NCO’s are coming back for a second tour and were smart enough to avoid a rifle company, so you had to “shake and bake” the young guys being squad leaders and we suffered for NCO’s in the rifle companies because the guys 39 �on their second tour knew how to get out of it, most of them, not all of them. I didn’t even have a Sergeant Major, a brigade Sergeant Major. He was killed in fighting over Firebase Henderson. Interviewer: Now, at what point did you really start to notice the effects of this, was this event when you first got there? Every day, every day 11:01 Interviewer: This is also a period when the Americans are still drawing units out of Vietnam at this point, and my impression is, at least, that they would then take the units that were left and assign them more and more responsibilities, or larger and larger areas to cover, is that what happened? Oh sure, sure, we were covering an area that had been covered by the 101st and two Marine divisions and the two Marine divisions were gone. Yeah, we were short of people and we were short of people in our unit- more area, more problems, more NVA coming down. Interviewer: In principle, it was supposed to be happening in the Vietnamization process, was that Vietnamese army, the ARVNs, would be coming in and filling in for, and replacing American units, and to what extent was that happening? Well it happened with Lam Son 719, this was going to prove that the Vietnamization program was working and they were going to go into Laos and destroy the two big major supply areas there in Laos. 12:05 So they assigned the 1st Division, the airborne division, and the marine division to make that invasion, and the U.S. provided all the fire support, not all, they had their own artillery, but we provided all the helicopter support 40 �with air cav and lift ships and everything, and this was going to be the big proof that Vietnamization was working, well it didn’t work too well. Interviewer: What connection did you have with that operation? Well, my reward for commanding the 3rd Brigade in the last major battle in the war for U.S. forces was to be the senior advisor of the 1st Division to go into Laos. Interviewer: That was in the spring of 1971 when that’s happening? Well, I turned over command in December, came back the first of January, and became the senior advisor for the 1st Infantry Division, and by that time, the operation had already been compromised down in Saigon, the North Vietnamese knew we were coming and they poured everybody in there to greet us. 13:07 Interviewer: How well would you say that the Vietnamese 1st Division performed in that, that’s the one you had contact with? The 1st Division, where I was the senior advisor, did a superb job. They were very well trained, highly motivated, unfortunately they lost their divisional commander and two battalion commanders, they took a lot of tough fighting and the airborne division, they got across the line a little ways, but they didn’t perform all that well, and the marine division, the same way, they got across, took a hill or two, but didn’t go very far. The rangers did real well, and the marine division and the airborne division were commanded by Three Star Generals. 14:00 I Corps, who was supposedly running the operation, was commanded by a three star, but the marine division commander and the airborne division commander refused to come to the field, they stayed in Saigon. They sent the division up there, but they never came up there, so that was a little lack of leadership, and then the I Corps commander, General Lam, was a “limp dick” if there ever was one, he didn’t do 41 �anything, so he located his forward command post in the same little hole in the mountain where we were with the 1st Division, so the 1st Division kind of ran the operation, because that was the I Corps headquarters and the 1st Division, so it lacked a lot of leadership from the top, and I’d say the whole thing was compromised. Interviewer: Were you in a position to do anything to help in any way, or did you just watch? I spent a lot of time around the TOC, because the I Corps commander, General Sutherland, came to me, punched his finger in my chest and said, “You or none of your advisors will ever go across that line, not even in a helicopter. We have direct orders from Congress there will be no advisors in Laos”. 15:12 I couldn’t go out on the battlefield, but General Thieu, who was commanding the 1st Division, he went out every day and he did a lot, he did a good job. Interviewer: So you could see, in places, where the Vietnamese, if they had the right kind leadership and material they could be effective? Oh yeah, the 1st Division was as good as the 101st in my mind, they were good. Interviewer: When did your assignment in Vietnam come to an end? One year later in the fourth of July. Interviewer: So, that’s in 1971? Yeah, 1971, you know when we got back from Lam Son 719, instead of taking an hour and a half or two hours for lunch, they took three hours for lunch, so I just didn’t have much to do after Lam Son 719. 16:05 Interviewer: Now, at this point did you think the writing was on the wall for South Vietnam or what did you think was going to happen? 42 �Well, I didn’t know at the time, but in 1972 when they had the North Vietnamese Easter offensive, the 1st Division performed superbly and drove them out a way, finally, and they defended all across South Vietnam, so they proved that with U.S. air support and U.S. supplies, they could beat the North Vietnamese invasion, and they did., they defeated the 1972 invasion. Then Church and that bunch of his idiot ass holes in Congress cut off all their supplies, cut off all their equipment, and our support, and we reneged on our agreement, we let them down. We caused the defeat. Interviewer: Ultimately the politics caught up with the whole thing. 17:02 All right, now once you left Vietnam then, at the end of that tour as an advisor, you were still in the army a while longer after that. Yeah Interviewer: What other kind of assignments did you hold? Well, my mentor and my old boss, General Senna, said that he would like me to come to Fort Hood, Texas to Project Master and I said, “Sir, Fort Hood has never been on my preference statement, but I’ll be there”, so I volunteered for Fort Hood and I went down worked for him for two years when we reconducted the air assault test when the formal testing then created the air cav brigade, the 600 Air Cav Brigade, and I was in charge of field tests for the project master, the Colonel. Interviewer: And after that? Well, I got asked to be chief of the infantry branch, which I would have been the first aviator to be chief of an infantry branch and I thought that was pretty neat, so I went to my boss, general Senna, and told him about it. 18:06 He said, “Oh, bullshit, you’re 43 �going to be promoted to brigadier next summer anyway”, so he wouldn’t let me go and fortunately I was promoted to brigadier the next summer. Interviewer: Did you stay on Fort Hood or did you get another assignment? I went to Leavenworth, Kansas to be the deputy commandant running the Infantry Staff College. Interviewer: Was that your last assignment? No, almost though, and the reason I was there was because Joe Hennessey was the commandant, he was my boss in Vietnam and he asked me to be the deputy commandant, so I got to prepare for that. Then he was replaced by General Kuschman, who was a pretty wild man and I was running the college as his deputy and he had the whole combined arms center there and then what was normally a one or two year tour, I spent three years there, Kuschman left and then I ran the college for a while. I was the acting commandant and then it was finally decided that I could go to Fort Rucker to be DCG and then the CG at the Fort Rucker and run the aviation center. 19:13 So, after my three years at Fort Leavenworth, I went to Fort Rucker. I was there for about five months when they said, “Nope, you need to go to Washington”. My congressman called me and said, “Ben, I’ve done everything I can, but I can’t stop it”, and I said, “Stop what?” He said, “You haven’t heard? Well, you’re being transferred to Washington”, and so, I went to Washington and did a special study for the chief of staff, Bernie Rogers. I did a review of the educational and professional growth program for officers. So, I did that for a year and then I was supposed to command the 25th Division in Hawaii and that got changed while the commander en route to Fort Harrison, when he was on leave, decided to retire, so they changed my orders and instead of going to command the division I got a phone 44 �call from the director of the staff, a Three Star General. 20:08 He said, “Ben Harrison, you’re going to go and command Fort Ben Harrison”, and I said, “Thank you sir”, I got up and turned to my wife and said, “Were going to Indianapolis and I’m retiring next summer”. I was pissed and that was it, so I retired the next summer, several years early, about seven years early, actually. Interviewer: But you didn’t necessarily stop working at that point? Oh, no, no Interviewer: What did you do after that? Well, I did some training studies that created some simulations for unit training and working for the Department of Defense, the DOD, Department of Defense and DRE, research and engineering. Interviewer: So you’re doing this on a contract basis? Yes, yes, defense contract consulting and traveling all over the country, doing that sort of thing. 21:00 Interviewer: So, were you also signing up with Southern Mississippi University? No, no, Southern Mississippi was just to take those tours to Vietnam that was just a short tour. Interviewer: Now, to look back on things and you look at yourself as a seventeen year old army recruit and if somebody had told you at that time that you were going to have the kind of career in the army that you wound up having, would you have believed them? Of course not, even when I was a lieutenant I wouldn’t have believed it, because my idea was to just go on active duty, marry my wife, get out after a short term of active duty, and 45 �go to the Harvard Business School. I had already been accepted and I’ll tell you about getting accepted to the Harvard business School, I was only a student at the University of Mississippi, I applied to the Harvard Business School and I got a letter saying that you have to appear before the board of admissions, but instead of coming to Harvard, we have a representative who is going to be in New Orleans on a certain date and if you like you can go to New Orleans and be interviewed there. 22:06 I went down to New Orleans, interviewed and the guy said, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I can guarantee that you’ll be accepted in the Harvard Business School”. Well, my head was really big and then he said, “We like to have geographical representation, and right now we don’t have a single person from Mississippi at Harvard”. Okay, so I’m the token for Mississippi. Interviewer: You get an award for showing up. Then finally the army sent me to the Harvard Business School. Interviewer: So, you did manage to get there at some point? Yes, but only for one semester for, they call it the advanced management program, but it was fun. Interviewer: Well, it makes for a heck of a story here. Is there anything else you want to throw on the record before we close out the interview, is there anything else? I’m happy. 23:48 46 � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Harrison, Ben (Interview transcript and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harrison, Ben Description An account of the resource Ben Harrison was born in Truman, Arkansas in 1926. After first attending Arkansas State College then the University of Mississippi, Harrison enlisted in the Army because he needed the money from the G.I. Bill to help finish his school. After finishing his first enlistment, Harrison returned to school, where he enrolled in the ROTC before eventually graduating. Once he graduated from college, Harrison re-enlisted into the Army as an officer and held a variety of positions, including as an aide-de-camp to a general in a variety of locations, including Iceland and Germany. Eventually, Harrison deployed to Vietnam to take command of the 10th Aviation Battalion. Once his first tour in Vietnam ended, Harrison went to Washington D.C. and worked in the office of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Eventually, Harrison returned to Vietnam as commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. While Harrison was commander, part of the 3rd Brigade fought in one of the last major battles involving American forces in Vietnam, the battle for Firebase Ripcord. After his tour as the brigade commander ended, Harrison served as deputy commandant and commandant for several military colleges and bases throughout the U.S. before retiring. 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng 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 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-10-07 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HarrisonB1273V 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> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/0e220abb9f0c0367e5a7fe65368693a3.jpg b9f77bc055daf13cd7f9ac01af6eda29 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 HarrisonEdith_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harrison, Edith Description An account of the resource Edith Harrison Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History 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/ecf51b25cbe764ee591a865bcdf9d8c4.jpg 10bfd92ea56795ea2fdd6b603b536efb 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 HarrisonEdith_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harrison, Edith Description An account of the resource Edith Harrison Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History 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/fd57d009e993cbf389d064fd7e37b8de.jpg 361a5e85aff28550693e28862928df2e 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 HarrisonEdith_Photo03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harrison, Edith Description An account of the resource Edith Harrison Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History 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/8dea2e23d438b4a1039d0539960eb5ec.jpg dbd69fd1ae6be2d42c4b8c5a0da69d36 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 HarrisonWilliam_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harrison, William Description An account of the resource William Harrison, Anthropology and Archaeology 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/eee73cf75434c942397599345f09f76f.jpg 8381bdf758cb5a06d57b68b92ca45721 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 HarrisonWilliam_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Harrison, William Description An account of the resource William Harrison, Anthropology and Archaeology 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/0cede813881518c6b1a5cb59f9e0ca0b.mp4 4b8e0e92ca462d0c4e919138aa91b2e2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1900dc3078474ed82f5aaa430982c1c1.pdf 0856db4386c7c04c0cc0bf4b71970484 PDF Text Text Interview Notes Interview Length (18:00) William Harrison Korean War US Navy Pre-Enlistment Was a grocery store clerk before joining the Navy (0:45) Joined the Navy at 17 years old (0:45) Enlisted because he wanted to serve his country (1:00) Family lived in Michigan (7:50) Training Had 13 weeks of basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois (1:20) Worst 13 weeks of his life (1:25) Had marches, learned about ships, learned about the Navy (1:40) Food was good during training (1:55) Enlistment Served from 1950-June 1954 (0:10) Served in Europe aboard ship (0:30) Wrote home every day (2:20) Spent most free time going to see movies, doing laundry (3:40) Spent holidays eating traditions holiday foods (3:45) Learned about engines and steam (4:25) Was very happy to leave the Navy (4:40) Passed a Russian battle cruiser, and had to rush to battle stations (7:00) Saw the Russian sailors at their battle stations, as well (7:30) Made water for the Navy (10:00) Bring seawater in, condense it. Repeat as necessary until it’s distilled (10:45) Was assigned to a landing party in case they needed to go ashore for battle, but never had to go (14:00) Served on a Light Cruiser, USS Worcester (16:30) Post-Enlistment Met many friends in the Navy (5:00) Had a job as a steel worker in Boston, Massachusetts after he got out of the Navy (5:30) Wasn’t too close to the war, but glad to be of service to his country (6:10) Meets up with his shipmates once a year (9:00) � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Harrison, William (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harrison, William Description An account of the resource William Harrison served in the US Navy from 1950 to June of 1954. During his time in the Navy, he served on the Light Cruiser, the USS Worcester, in the North Atlantic. He was a machinist on the ship, and distilled sea water for use aboard the ship. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Risner, Shantel (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Navy Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng 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 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-06-06 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HarrisonW 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> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 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/794c8e0ad06839cdb0178a744d779573.jpg 38375bb3bcdc83521d7421e612121a39 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 GVSU Concert & Event Posters Subject The topic of the resource Posters Events Michigan Universities & colleges--Michigan Description An account of the resource Division of Student Services provides programs, services, and environments that enhance the personal, social, and intellectual growth of undergraduate and graduate students at the University. Events including concerts were managed by the office of Student Life. Posters for music, speakers, poetry readings and other campuswide events are included. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Division of Student Services Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/106">Student Services concerts, events, and posters files, (GV028-06)</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 2017-07-17 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 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 GV028-06 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1963 – 1981 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 GV028-06_HarryChapinCrik Title A name given to the resource Harry Chapin with Cabbage Crik, May 27, 1976 Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Grand Valley State College Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities & colleges--Michigan Events Posters Description An account of the resource Harry Chapin with Cabbage Crik, in the GVSC Fieldhouse, May 27, 1976 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/106">Student Services concerts, events, and posters files, (GV028-06)</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image 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/6313b03e0f58544f24571fa1647d8296.jpg 677d5f32b6e7a29cc65ac6f227b2d125 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 1960s 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_000652 Title A name given to the resource Harry Jellema Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Colorama Description An account of the resource Harry Jellema, Professor of Philosophy. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Faculty 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/128bf649684c53bb6697c4e2ac2cff19.jpg 85399b046b343f9135d2ac514989e684 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 HartThomas_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Hart, Thomas Description An account of the resource Thomas Hart, WGVC-TV Alumni Relations Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History 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/1369d2046accfe10602cc7eb4bfc3767.jpg b1aba215811b8ccafa5b8c4d2b55c70d 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 HartThomas_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Hart, Thomas Description An account of the resource Thomas Hart, WGVC-TV Alumni Relations Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History 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/549becc61aced883011176265a7b1918.jpg 17e94fedc9ef623b94906c03a55c1ad1 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 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 DC-07_SD-Pie-Factory-21 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lloyd J. Harris Pie Co. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940 Title A name given to the resource Hartman Drug stores Description An account of the resource A correspondance addressed to Shelby Johnstone at the Lloyd J. Harris Pie Co that is addressed from Hartman Drug Stores. It expresses that Hartman Drug Stores has seen a 256% increase in pie sales since the company started to sell exclusively Lloyd J. Harris Pie Co. pies. It also expresses hope that the two companies will continue to work with each other. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Factories Bakeries Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> 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 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/58f8a93d5fd03cf65b38ae2662e2c1cd.mp4 1b6201a66426978816e8ddc0a5c1bf37 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c2f0330218d0ae3f596495232d21d39e.pdf 9e1132e0c9f89298cf15e751ea7256c6 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW Born: Chicago, Illinois in 1919 Resides: Battle Creek, Michigan Interviewed by: Frank Boring, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, December 26, 2011 Interviewer: Bob, if we could start out with what is your name and where and when were you born? I’m Bob Hartman and I was born in Chicago, Illinois. Interviewer: What year were you born? 1919 Interviewer: Can you tell us what your early schooling was like? Well, I went to school in Muskegon through the kindergarten and stuff like that, and the Hall School here in Grand Rapids, and I wound up at South High School where I graduated from in 1937. Interviewer: How did you first hear about the Guards? My brother talked me into it. He was in the Guards, and he said it’s a good way to make a buck or two a night, so—things were tough back there, so—I’d been in a CCC camp for six months, so later on, in 1938, I joined the Guards with him. Interviewer: What is a CCC camp? Civilian Conservation Corps Interviewer: For those of us that don’t know what that is, what is that? Well, it’s a group and they take you up in the forest up here and you plant trees. 1:28 That was our main objective, planting trees. We got thirty dollars a month for going to 1 �camp, and they sent twenty-five of it home to our parents, so we lived on five dollars a month, and we enjoyed it. Interviewer: What was the appeal of the National Guard? Just being there with all the guys, talking and learning things. You start right from the beginning, you learn how to take a rifle apart and put it back together, and drill, and march in step, and obey commands. One of the bad parts of it was that we use to wear the old wrap leggings in those days, and they were from WWI. They were wide bandages that you wrapped around your legs all the way up to the knee, and then you tied them and tucked them, which is fine, but when you were in a parade, and you were scared they were going to come unwrapped. That was the worst part of it, when you’re marching down Monroe Avenue, and you’re so afraid that thing was going to come loose, and they did if you didn’t do it right. 2:38 Interviewer: How old were you when you joined the guards? Eighteen. Interviewer: Tell us a little bit more about you experience with the National Guards. This was seven days a week or was it four days? One weekend a month, and other times they would call us up and we would report, and go on maneuvers like down in Holland, which is thirty miles away, or to Muskegon, and we would interact with the troops from down there, and be gone for the week-end, and we enjoyed it because that meant extra money for every day you were gone. 3:21 Interviewer: Was there a sense of danger going on in Europe? Did you have any feeling there was a war coming on? 2 �Not that we thought much about, and being that age we didn’t think much about it, and we didn’t read the paper. We didn’t get the coverage, you know, like they do now. We had radios, of course, but most people read the paper. Interviewer: What was the training it’s self like? You mentioned the leggings from WWI, was this more of a training for WWI type tactics? Yes, they trained us to fight like they did in WWI, trench warfare, and that was the idea, if we ever got into combat we would fight in Europe like they did in WWI. Interviewer: When did things change for you in terms of the actual war starting in Europe? What was your reaction to that? 4:24 Well, when they started things in Germany they said we were going to go away, we had our choice. We could go away, and they were going to draft everybody for a year, and they told us if we wanted to go now and get our year in we could go for a year and come back and evade the draft this way, so most of us said, “we’ll go now”, and in fact, I planned on getting married, so I said to my wife to be, “I’ll go and put my year in now, and after I come back we can get married”, and she said, “ok”, so I went for the year, we thought, and it was five years later that we came back. 5:14 Interviewer: Let me ask you about—at this point were you formed into companies yet? Yes, we were all in companies. Interviewer: Could you tell us, before you were telling us about the individual companies and where they came from? That was wonderful, and I wonder if you could go through that again? 3 �Well, in the 126 we had three battalions and ABCD were the first battalion, EFGH was the second battalion, and the milk battalion was MILK. A Company was from Coldwater, B Company was from Adrian, C Company was from Kalamazoo, D Company was from Holland, E Company was from Big Rapids, G Company was Muskegon, F Company was Grand Haven, H Company was Ionia, and MILK Companies were from Grand Rapids, plus Service Company, the band, and the medics were all from Grand Rapids. 6:19 Interviewer: What Company were you with? I was with Service Company to start with. Interviewer: What was the Service Company? Well, they had the trucks, most of the trucks, and they moved troops around, and they also furnished all the clothing. They we like a small quartermaster outfit only in the regiment, and we supplied the ammunition and the food, clothing, and everything else that was needed. Interviewer: What did you do specifically? I drove a truck part of the time and part of the time I was Supply Sergeant. Interviewer: So, you had already achieved the rank of sergeant by this time? Oh yes, when I got married I was a sergeant; a year later, I was made sergeant. Interviewer: Well, this might sound like a stupid question, but what were your duties as a sergeant? At that time, I just handed out supplies from the supply tent and that was mainly clothing and ammunition, and rifles. We took care of all the rifles and all the armament. 7:19 The only armament we had in the Supply Company was rifles. Some companies had 4 �machine guns and mortars, but we didn’t have any, and we had side arms, a lot of us had side arms. Interviewer: Try to give us an idea of what daily life was like at this particular time. You got up in the morning, you went to breakfast, tell us a little bit about that. Well, if you were in a line company, you got up in the morning, stood in line for breakfast, and depending on how long you might be in line, anywhere from ten minutes, to forty-five minutes, depending on the amount of time it took you, and then after breakfast you got in line and you marched out in the field and you went through a lot of training. It was basically a round of fire, and fall down like they did in WWI. 8:17 Interviewer: Give us an idea of what the food was like at this particular place. In Louisiana? Interviewer: Yeah The food was pretty good, and it depended on your cooks. The meat they served was good meat and it depended on what the cooks did with it, and we had men that went to baker’s school and could bake bread, and pastries, cake and doenuts. If you had good bakers and good cooks, you got good food. Ours would vary depending on the mess sergeant and the cooks. We would go from poor to good, but most of the time it was fairly good, and we didn’t have very many complaints. Interviewer: Was there any kind of schooling going on besides the training? Was there any kind of training about where you were going? No, never a word, never a word, except for the training. 9:16 We went out on maneuvers, and that lasted a month or two, and we ranged over in Texas, Louisiana, and as far over as Alabama and back. It was truck movements and you had the red army and 5 �the blue army fighting each other. Out of this came a lot of good officers that went to Europe, like Patton was in the maneuvers, Bradley was in the maneuver, Eisenhower was part of the maneuvers, and I can’t think of all of them, but it helped these officers, plus we had a lot of officers from WWI. We had, our company commander at that time was Captain Henry D. McNaughton who was the principal at Ottawa High School here. Our Chaplain happened to be Reverend Dorr, who was the principal at South High School when I went there. 10:25 We had Colonel Howe, who was a teacher over at Union High School, and we had a lot of other men that were involved in the city of Grand Rapids that went with the Guards. Interviewer: Just so people have a better understanding of the guys that you were with, were some of these people you knew or at least you knew their families? No, I didn’t know anybody or any families. Well, I had a friend that I met his family, and I knew his family. His name was Clayton, Clayton Van Amberg when he was drafted. Our first draftees came in April, and we were there in October and our first bunch of draftees happened to come from the Grand Rapids area, and we were lucky there because a lot of guys met their friends. I was told that Clayton was going to be in the draft, so I went over and saw him, and I got him transferred to my company, so we became buddies. 11:25 Interviewer: When did things change for you in terms of the training and all that, now that you got the word that you’re going to go to war? Right, and that was December 7th of Pearl Harbor day and Clayton and I were up in Jackson, Mississippi to they use to come by and give us free ticket to go to different places, so we got some tickets to go up to, and another fried of ours had a car, and so the 6 �three of us went up to Jackson, Mississippi, which was a hundred miles away, and we saw, in Jackson, “Old Miss” play football. We came out of there and later we found out they had bombed Pearl Harbor, and for everybody to get back to camp as soon as they could. 12:18 Interviewer: What was your reaction? The same as everyone else, “oh, oh, we’re in for it now”, so we headed back to camp, and they just scattered us around. A lot of troops were put guarding various bridges and water supplies and things like that. We stayed there for a few months and then they shipped us up to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Interviewer: What happened at Fort Devens, Massachusetts? Well, we were there for about a month and then they turned around and put us all on a train and sent us back to Frisco. This was a fiasco because we landed in Frisco and they had no place to bunk us, so they had the Cow Palace, which was an arena where they have rodeos. It’s all dirt floor and seats all around, and it’s all cement. 13:24 They said, “you’re going to stay here for a while”, so the troops that were lucky got set down on the floor, some were in the aisles around there where the refreshment stands use to be, and our company was told we were taking the seats. They gave us folding cots and said, “spread them across these seats”. Now if you’ve ever been in a place where you sat down in these folding seats and tried to put an army cot across them, it’s impossible, so we tried it and it was just ridiculous because they stick up and there was no place for the legs, so we would up sleeping sitting up in the seats for the ten days we were there. Interviewer: Give us an idea of the number of people that were at this Cow Palace. Probably five thousand, that was our regimental strength, roughly. 14:17 7 �Interviewer: So this is a lot of people in a Cow Palace basically? Right, and some were in the dog track, which was next door, and they only housed about three or four hundred people. I don’t know what the dog track was, just a building where they raced dogs, I guess. Interviewer: What was the “scuttlebutt” going around during this time? You were anticipating getting into war, but what were you guys talking about? There was not much that we could talk about, we were just waiting our time and wondering when we were going to go. We knew we weren’t going over to England like they planned and we had never heard of Australia, much less New Guinea. Then they took us over to Angel Island, which is an embarkation point, and we were loaded on the Lurline there. 15:18 Interviewer: What were you told before you got onto the Lurline? Were you told where you were going? No, we had no idea, they told us part of the time over there, and I think it was quite a ways out before we ever found out we were going to Australia. Interviewer: So lets talk about getting on this Lurline. Describe what this Lurline was. Well, the Lurline was a luxury liner like they have today; only it was not as high class. The cabins were small, and they had two bunks in them, and they had a small bathroom and a sink, and that was about it. I was lucky, my company, we were put up in the ballroom, and they were making the ballroom into a first aid room to bring back wounded, so they had double bunks, which were nice hospital type bunks that were stacked two high. We had huge windows which you could look out during the day, and 8 �the floor was magnificent, it was a dance floor that we were setting on, and it was nice during the day, but at night they had the windows all painted and you had to pull it up, and you couldn’t see anything out. 16:32 the only thing is, most of us were seasick. I got on board and by the time we had gone under the Golden Gate Bridge, I was seasick. I was seasick almost all the trip over, and the only thing I could keep down was bread and coffee. They steamed the food in this place, and just the smell of steamed food made me sick, but I wasn’t alone, and my CO said, it’s just in your mind, and you guys just think you’re seasick, but two days later he was leaning over the rail just like the rest of us, so we had no problem there. 17:16 Interviewer: There was an understanding that a buddy of yours decided that he thought he had a cure for it and it was called “lemon drops”? Oh yes, that was Ed Szudzick thought lemon drops—and the Purser, I think, was making money off of selling lemon drops because they were a good deal, and they would sell you a jar of lemon drops for a buck and a half, and I put down four or five of them and just got sick on lemon drops, and I’m heaving up lemon drops instead of everything else, but Ed swore by them, and they helped him, so there must be something in the lemon drops. They had no Dramamine, they had no Dramamine in those days, in fact, we had very little supplies like they have now, and so we were not too lucky there. Interviewer: When you crossed the Equator, and you had not crossed it before, there’s a ceremony that goes on, an infamous ceremony, and I wonder if you can tell us about the King Neptune ceremony? 18:16 They shave your head and you’re a Pollywog until you get your head shaved, and all this, and then you became a, what is it, I forget the term now, but it’s quite a ceremony 9 �and one of the sailors dresses up like Father Neptune, and he has a spear and a thing and they go around and they drag people out of the crowd and they shave their heads, and I didn’t get my head shaved then, but I liked it so well that I had my head shaved and I kept it shaved ever sense. Interviewer: So, the trip over is quite difficult because of the seasickness and all. Where did you land finally? We landed in Adelaide, and it was thirty one or thirty two days for this trip because we had to detour out around, way out around, and don’t ask me how, but we detoured way out around and came in at Adelaide, which is at the other end of Australia, because the battle of the Coral Sea was going on with the Navy. 19:24 Thank God we had a Navy out there to stop them because we’d have probably been torpedoed. Then you zigzagged every day. They had two or three ships carrying troops. The 126 was on one troop ship I know, the 127 was on another, and the 128 was on the other one, so there were three ships all from the Matson Line carrying troops and later on they took these same ships and practically dismantled them and put on these old, these standby things where you bunk five or six deep, one on top of the other, but we were lucky there. Coming back the troops slept like that, but I came back on a hospital ship. Interviewer: We’ll get into that later. When you arrived in Australia did you have any interaction with the Australians? Not too much, we landed and we were dressed up in our full wool uniforms, we had these old army coats that hung down to your ankles, we had army wools on, we had winter underwear even, that they issued us in Massachusetts because we planned on going over to England. 20:38 It was going to be cold over there and we got to Adelaide and it was 10 �like eighty-five or ninety degrees in Adelaide because you’re close to the equator. It took us a few days before we could get the regular type of uniforms. We liked the Aussies, the men, the Aussies, were real good fighters and they were good friends to us. Interviewer: Is this the group that came from Tobruk? Yes, they called them “the rats of Tobruk”, and they fought in Africa. For a couple of years they had been fighting the Germans, and they stopped Rommel, and they were practically wiped out. They came back to Australia and reorganized, and then they were sent up to New Guinea. 21:29 They were up to New Guinea ahead of us. We were not the first troops in New Guinea, the Aussies were there and they went over the Owen Stanleys ahead of us, and they also helped—we used them as guides over the Owen Stanley. Interviewer: Now did you go through any kind of training or maneuvers at this time? Not very much—we trained a little bit, but not too much because I don’t think they knew what to train for. They had no idea—they would go out in the morning and train, but the training was minimal. Interviewer: The interesting point here is, the actual training you had was WWI trench style warfare and here you are about to embark in the jungles. Right, and then when we moved from Adelaide, we went by train up to Brisbane, which is on the other side of Australia, and they had—the trouble there is they have different gauges of trains, so you have to unload everything. 22:34 You go so far—they have five states in Australia, and you go to one state and you have to unload because the tracks were a different gauge. You would have to take everything off and go around and carry 11 �it, put it on another train, go so far, and we had three stops like that going to Brisbane. Now I understand it’s all one gauge they had the same problem here, back in the 1800’s. Interviewer: So, in Brisbane then—I have a note here about the uniforms and the camouflage. What kind of camouflage did you have or what did you do? Well, we had no camouflage, just old green fatigues they didn’t want us to wear dress khakis, of course, so we wore our green fatigues, and somebody came up with the fright idea, this came down from headquarters, they brought down some paint. 23:34 What kind of paint it was, I don’t know, but they made us stand in line with our fatigues on and they took brushes and they would dip them into the red, and they would splash some here, and they would splash it around, green, blue, yellow, just enough to make us camouflage. The only thing is that is you get paint on cloth it just stiffens, and then later on when you sweat, the paint goes through and winds up on your skin and itches. It drives you crazy. There were one or two companies that did that, and my company was one of the ones that had to go through this painting thing. We finally dumped all these old things and went back to wearing our old green fatigues in the jungle. 24:25 Interviewer: So you’re now in Australia, you still don’t know where you’re going, when was the turning point? When did you start to get into battle? When they took us up to Port Moresby. We landed at Port Moresby, which is just a couple of shacks, and one of them was a hotel, and a bar, the hotel had a bar in it, and the other was a small grocery store. I think there were three buildings there, and now they’ve got motels ten stories high and everything else. Interviewer: Well, lets get an idea of the numbers here. This is still the entire regiment arriving here, five thousand of us? 12 �Yes, it was the entire division, but the 127 and the 128 came up behind us, the spearhead of the spearhead. They picked the 32nd—let’s see—there were three outfits that were picked to go. 25:23 The 32nd, the 41st, and the 37th, three divisions, and they made the 32nd the spearhead of the three, and then they came along and said, “ we’ll pick the 126 to be the spearhead of the division”, and then they came along and they said, “we’ll pick the 2nd Battalion to be the spearhead of the battalion”, and then they came along and said, “we’ll pick E Company to be the spearhead of the battalion”, and it wound up like that, so we were the spearhead of the spearhead, of the spearhead. Interviewer: We had talked before about your being a sergeant and involved with trucks. What was your rank at this point and what was your responsibility? Platoon sergeant, which was a staff sergeant in those days, and then they elevated it to tech sergeant. Staff sergeant had one stripe underneath, and a platoon sergeant had two. 26:18 Interviewer: So, you have a lieutenant above you? Yes Interviewer: A captain above that? Half of the time Interviewer: Let’s get back to you then, what were your specific responsibilities? To make sure my platoon did everything right, and I looked after them like you would anybody that you’re in charge of. You are in command of the platoon and the lieutenant gives you the orders. I had buck sergeants underneath me and they each had a squad and I had four squads when we were full strength. We would up with—my platoon, at one time, was a total of twenty men, and three of them were sergeants, you know. My buddy 13 �that was killed was a sergeant at the time, and he was a squad leader, but we had no squads really, we were just fighting men. 27:17 Interviewer: We’ll get to that as well, I’m trying to get an understanding of what the whole structure was before you actually went into battle. So, you arrived at this small little island [town] with a couple of shacks and that. I’m just trying to get a vision in my own mind of five thousand plus men arriving at this place. How did you actually get to the beach? It was the beach. Interviewer: Right, but how did you actually get there? Oh, E Company flew, and they were the first company. They would fly into combat, and of any company during WWII, they never heard of it, but they needed somebody in a hurry, so they flew us up to Port Moresby, and then we moved over to, we called it Kalamazoo because we couldn’t pronounce the name. That was our base camp going over the Owen Stanley, was Kalamazoo. 28:18 At that time the tune that was popular was Kalamazoo, “I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo”, and that’s why they picked it. Another reason we picked it was—see we picked all code names for passwords with an L in them because the Japanese could not pronounce L’s. I don’t think it did us any good, but we used the word “Roosevelt” more than we did any other word for a password. Interviewer: Now that you’ve arrived with this whole group of people on this beach, where did you go? We went five miles—we were just—there was an airport there that the Aussies had, and then of course the Americans took it over, and it was called “a five mile strip”, and from 14 �there we had a base down at the end of it, and we started walking over the Owen Stanley Mountains. 29:17 Interviewer: So, you’re literally getting off an airplane and starting a march. Yes, that’s about it Interviewer: So, tell us about the walk across the Owen Stanley. Well, it was a nightmare, and it’s like climbing up a steep mountain. It was just a trail that was probably made by the natives for years, for the thousands of years that the natives were there. They had one place there at Kalamazoo; they had a mission there, a small mission and a couple Aussie missionaries, and they started us out. We had native guides and a couple Aussies leading us, but you clawed your way up this thing and you would slide back down. Three steps forward, two stops back, and it took us thirty some days just to travel this distance. 30:22 Interviewer: Let’s give an idea to people who have never been there. First of all, when you started the trip was it in the morning, the afternoon, the night? When did you actually start? About noon when we first started going because we landed and then we started right away. Interviewer: What was the weather like? Well, when we first started it wasn’t too bad; it was rainy because we were on that side of the cliff, but the higher up you got it rained all the time. You couldn’t even light a fire to warm your food, so you ate it cold. We ran out of food—they used to drop C rations, and they would drop them out of the sides of these planes, but they would crash and break. Then they tried parachutes, and we lost a colonel who was on a plane like that because 15 �the parachute got wrapped around the tail fin, so then they came and asked if anybody knew how to pack a parachute, and it turned out that we had—in our company we had a fellow named Doc Slaughter, and his father and him use to have the balloon ascensions out at Reeds Lake here in the summer when I was a kid. 31:37 Doc was probably in his thirties at this time, but he knew how to—his dad use to take this balloon and these hot air balloons would go up and his dad would parachute out in the water or on the land. So, doc was promoted to sergeant and all he did the rest of the time was pack parachutes for the air corps, and they dropped them out of the parachutes, which was a lot better. Interviewer: What was the terrain like? Oh, jungle types all the way up and down, and you just grabbed a tree and pulled yourself up, and just kept on going. You slung your rifle across back and you kept your cartridge, but you threw away everything you didn’t need. 32:22 Interviewer: Let’s get into that—you’re fully packed when you actually get off the airplane, so give us an idea of what started to happen as you go through the jungle with a full pack. The first thing to go was our gas masks because they were useless, and the next things to go were your blankets. We had what they called a shelter half, and maybe some of the guys held on to them, but I threw mine away because I was wet all day long and you couldn’t sleep hardly at night anyway, so we threw away our shelter half’s, we threw away our tent stakes, we threw away everything but our ammunition and our rifles. We even threw away—they use to give us big Machetes, and those were cumbersome, so I threw mine away and kept my bayonet, and I sharpened that in case I wanted to cut my way through and cut something, I could use my bayonet, and that’s all I used my bayonet 16 �for. I don’t think I ever put it on my rifle like we were taught back in the states. Put it on your rifle and charge forward with the bayonet. 33:32 We had to go through bayonet drills, stabbing and thing like that, we didn’t use them for that. Interviewer: We’re still looking at thousands of men going through this. Try to give us an idea of—can you see the people around you? You could see the guys ahead of you and behind you, and that’s about it, that’s about all. It wasn’t thousands, it was just one battalion—the rest of them flew up. When we got over there we took the airstrip, the old airstrip that they had over there, and fixed it so that they could land planes on it, and they started flying in the rest of the outfits. Interviewer: Were there any casualties or skirmishes or anything as you were--? No, the bad part was—I was lucky I didn’t get—some of the guys got malaria and they just suffered along with the rest of us going over. 34:34 But, there was no way to evacuate them; there was no way to evacuate anybody. If anybody had broken a leg, I don’t know what they would have done, but as far as I know, nobody was—we had a lot of small injuries where the guys would fall and hurt themselves, but as far as—climbing up was—once you got to the other side you kind of slid down on your rump. Interviewer: What happened after you got to the bottom? Well, then we got—some of the companies got into combat, but the Aussies had kind of cleared out most of it, and then a couple days later we were taken over to the Bloody Triangle. 35:22 There was a pillbox there, and we were supposed to take this pillbox. Interviewer: Before we get into that, let’s back up just a little bit. You said some of the companies got into battle. Did you actually hear the sounds of battle? 17 �Oh yes, we weren’t that far apart. We couldn’t see each other, but you could hear gunfire all the time practically. Interviewer: So, this might sound like a stupid question, but what did you hear? I know this was many, many years ago, but do you remember the first time you heard gunshots, and the sounds of battle knowing you were literally about to get into battle? Probably about that time, and that’s when your stomach starts to knot up, and if anybody thinks they weren’t scared, they’re crazy. We were all scared, but the way I looked at it—I was scared just as well as anybody else, and most of us were, but most of us hid it. We acted like, “what the heck, this is nothing”, you know, and especially being in the position of platoon sergeant, I had to let my men know that I was their leader and I wasn’t scared. 36:30 If they only know how scared I was we’d of all ran, you know, you just hide it and you act as if this is an everyday thing, you know, and you cuss, and things go on as normal. Interviewer: So, as you’re approaching the battle—the thing that I think is really important for people to realize is this is dense jungle. Dense, you couldn’t see twenty or thirty feet ahead of you. There were times when you could see—there would be patches of Kunai Grass where you could see across them, but you never knew what was on the other side of that. See that was—what we found at the Triangle. There was a Kunai patch there and right at the other end of it was a pillbox and we’re trying to take it. 37:22 Interviewer: For people who don’t know, what’s Kunai Grass? 18 �It’s a grass that grows anywhere from two feet to twelve feet high, and it’s sharp as a razor. If you don’t watch yourself you can cut yourself and make you bleed. I mean, it can make you bleed, and sometimes if you went through there fast you come out of there with cuts all over your hands and face, and most of the time they show pictures of these men in the jungle without shirts and bare to the waist, and it’s just the opposite, we covered ourselves up for that simple reason that we kept the bugs and everything off of us, and it was as warm with a wet thing on as it was with nothing. We’d go through this Kunai Grass and we’d have scars all over our body from it. Interviewer: So, you’re now approaching this pillbox. Now, you were told to take the pillbox or did you just come upon it? 38:26 No, I was told to take it. “Sergeant, there’s a pillbox out there, go get it”, so I went out there with my men, and I’m leading them, and I come across—they pointed in the general direction, and I came across a path that was cut. It was cut way down low, and I said, “Why am I going through this tall grass? Now I can see where I’m going”, so I started crawling down this path that had been cut like it had been mowed, and all of a sudden it dawned on me that this is not a path, this is a precut path. It’s a fire lane, and at the other end of it is a machine gun trained on me. 39:26 The minute this thought hit me I just instinctively dove for the other side, and as I did they cut loose with their machine gun, and I got hit in the arm, but they clipped my bandolier and knocked that off. Luckily I had my rifle like that, and they hit the stock of the rifle, and that might have been dangerous. I got to the other side, and I knew I was hit. I’m laying on my arm, and all I could think of is, “How bad am I hit?” I knew I was hit, and it turned out it was just a minor flesh wound, and I’ve still got it right there. [points to his forearm] It’s scary, you 19 �lay there and you’re afraid to look. So, finally I lay there, and I hollered at my men, “don’t come out here, don’t come out here, it isn’t safe, for Christ's sake, don’t come out here”. So, finally I made a mad dash across, and I got across before they could fire again. Then we went up through the tall grass, but it got so bad we had to pull back, and we lost a couple men there. 40:26 Interviewer: From the gunfire? From the machine gun, so we pulled back. Interviewer: What happens to the guys that get shot in a situation like that? We dragged them back, and then the burial unit took over. Interviewer: This group that you were leading, approximately how many men? Started out with about thirty Interviewer: At the pillbox there were thirty guys? Yeah, I had no lieutenant at that time either. Interviewer: Why not? Well, they put him somewhere else. I mean, they were so short on officers, the officers— when we first got up there the officers use to wear their badges and insignias, there second lieutenant bars, and their captains and all that, and finally everybody smartened up, and they took these off and dressed like the regular men because the Japanese were told to pick off the officers first. 41:30 That’s what we tried to do, to get their officers first because when we got their officers they were disorganized, and they didn’t realize that in the American army, you might get an officer, but you have men qualified and we could think for ourselves. The Japanese were not allowed to think for themselves, and I think that made a big difference, plus out firepower was greater than theirs. We only had 20 �the M-1 rifle, which fired eight rounds at a time, one shot at a time, and they had—we trained with the old 03 where you pulled the bolt back and slammed it in, fired again, and pulled the bolt back, which was a fine rifle for target practice, but it was no good in combat because it was too slow. 42:23 Just before we got to Australia they issued us the M-1’s, which were—one clip held eight shots, and you could pull off eight shots without doing anything, and then the clip would fly out, and you would throw another one in, and you were all set. The M-1 never jammed either it was a good gun. Ed Szudzick, my friend, carried a Tommy gun and we wouldn’t carry one because they jammed. Ed said that one time his jammed when he needed it bad because—they were the old Tommy guns that the “G Men” use to carry, and that type of thing, that’s what we had, and they weren’t too good for jungle warfare. Interviewer: We’re not talking just hours, we’re talking days that this is going on, give us an idea of—it wasn’t constant battle every single moment, there were moments you could sit down to eat. What were you eating? 43:26 Three months it went on, and we ate C-Rations, which was, one can of beans, one can of stew, and another small can that had three or four hard cookies, plus a can of instant coffee. It wasn’t as good as the instant coffee today, and pieces of sugar, and a couple pieces of candy. We got to the point where we were living on one can of C-Rations a day, which was four ounces, but we couldn’t carry more, and we didn’t want to carry more. When you dive for the— when we were out on patrol, or something, and all of a sudden they cut loose, you want to hit the ground, and you don’t want anything between you and the ground. In fact, there were times when you didn’t even want to carry a pack 21 �of cigarettes because it kept you away from the ground. 44:22 It might sound silly, but not when you got bullets flying at you. Interviewer: So, there were several skirmishes throughout this period of time? Oh yes, we were in combat all the time. We would go back maybe a day—one guy would go back, and this is another thing we did—I did it a couple times myself, we’d pick one guy and take his helmet, and we’d go back and get some canned heat, it was hard to get, otherwise if we could build a fire with something we would, and we’d use his helmet for a cooking pot. The first thing you had to do was cook all the paint off the inside of the helmet, because you didn’t want to eat that. Then we would throw in a handful of rice and a can of beans and mix them up and four or five guys would share it. one time I went back and I was going to really do something good. 45:26 I took a can of beans, I got one guy to give a can of stew, and a can of hash from another, and two handfuls of rice. It was all over the place, but it was a mixture of all these things with rice, and we ate it. Anybody told me today that I would eat that I would tell them they were crazy, but when you’re hungry you eat what you get. Interviewer: Where did you get water? Oh, out of the streams, out of the rivers, out of anything. We had canteens, of course, and we would fill our canteen, and we had chlorine tablets we put in there about—if you got a chance, or got any time off, you would knock the mud out of the bottom of your canteen because you would probably get a half inch of mud in the bottom of the canteen. One time , and this wasn’t the only time, we were drinking this water, and come to find out there were some dead Japs in the stream up ahead of us, but this wasn’t isolated, this was common. 46:24 We drank any water we could, no water was carried in, we drank the 22 �water that was there, and most of the time it was pretty good. You got to hate the taste of the chlorine in it, but you weren’t going to take any chances. Interviewer: Now, what about change of clothes, socks, boots? You took them down to the local Laundromat? We stayed with the same clothes all the time, and we didn’t bathe, we didn’t shave, we didn’t—I didn’t shave for almost three months. Everybody grew a beard because they kept the mosquitoes and that off your face, and that helped with malaria. I didn’t get malaria until almost towards the end of the campaign. Interviewer: Let’s go into that, in addition to the danger of fighting the Japanese, and in addition to just getting through the jungle, infections, diseases, and all that, tell us about the effect of malaria and dysentery on your group. 47:33 Dysentery, you just put up with. You just had it, and with malaria, at first they were just sending them home with a 98, 99, or 100 fever, and then it got up to 102, and they were sending them back to Australia. Some of the guys we got our worst casualties from was malaria, and I got up to a fever of 103, and by that time they just took me to the first aid tent, it was a canopy, and laid me down, and gave me 25 grains of quinine. I took that and I was practically delirious from the quinine and the fever, and I was there for twentyfour hours and the fever broke, and I went back to the line. 48:27 We all did this, that were left, because they couldn’t afford to send us back. If they had sent everybody back we would have been over run and been annihilated. We were told, in fact General Harding, who was out first general, wanted to pull the 32nd Division out, and he told McArthur, these men have gone through too much to stay here. McArthur pulled Harding back off the line and sent up Robert L. Eichelberger, who was a three star 23 �general, and he told Eichelberger, and I found this out later because I was at the hearing. Eichelberger was told to either keep going or don’t come back, and Eichelberger had no choice, but we realized it later, anybody that had any sense realized it later, that if we’d have stopped fighting, and waited for reinforcements, that the Japs would have overcome us. 49:29 We just kept pushing, pushing, pushing, and that’s the only thing that saved us, because we were outnumbered about seven to one [the Allied forces at Buna actually outnumbered the Japanese], but like I say, our firepower was better than theirs. Interviewer: But, you didn’t know you were out powered seven to one. We knew we were out powered, we didn’t know what the number was. We just knew there were more Japs there than there was of us. Interviewer: What is it like to have malaria in battle? Oh, your ears ring, and your eyes water and you just keep going. It’s like having the flu or something, you just keep going, but it’s worse than the flu. I had reoccurring malaria after the war, and for every thirty days I would come down with malaria, and I had that for about five years, and it decreased every year until finally it went away. 50:22 Interviewer: Now, I’ve talked to some of your fellow Red Arrows who talk about the heaviness of the rifle when you’re sick like that, it’s so heavy. Oh yes, but it only weighted –was it seven pounds or something like that, I forget what it was now, and it seemed a lot heavier, but still you hung onto it, that was—that was your bread and butter, you didn’t get rid of your rifle, and that’s one thing we liked about the M-1, you didn’t have to clean them very often, you could drop them in the mud and pick them up, wipe them off, and they would still keep firing. I didn’t hear of a one that stopped, and even some of the marines used the M-1, and they swore by it too. 24 �Interviewer: In your opinion, how did you adapt to jungle fighting when your entire training has been trench WWI type warfare? It’s either you adapt or die, it was that simple. 51:34 You make up your mind you’re going to do it, so you do it. Interviewer: Did you see a lot of men around you getting killed? Not too many because you’re in your own little battle, and it’s that way though Vietnam and all those other wars. There might be a huge—for instance, Normandy, these men don’t see all these men down the beach dying, they see just this group that’s ten feet on either side. You lose your peripheral vision, you just focus on going ahead and doing what you please, you watch the guys on this side, and you watch the guys on that side. You don’t have time to look around and see what the other guys are doing. And that’s the way it was, but I saw a few men dying, too many. 52:24 Interviewer: In terms of this jungle warfare, you’ve got the guy on the right, you’ve got the guy on the left, and you can hardly see anything in front of you, what was the sound like? I’m picturing bullets whizzing through the leaves. I mean, what was the sound of the battle like? There was a lot of noise, and the Japanese rifle, they shot a 25 caliber, and it was faster than ours, it moved faster, which didn’t make any difference, but it cracked, it made a cracking sound almost like a firecracker, and it wasn’t a loud sound, but we could tell. We could tell when the machine guns were firing, just from hearing them, which machine gun was the Japanese, and which was our 50 caliber, and which was our 30 caliber. They had a little thing there they called the knee mortar, NEI was printed on this thing, and it was a little mortar about eighteen inches high with a little tube like that. 53:34 We 25 �overtook some Japanese that had these mortars and they had the shells in there, and somebody was looking at these and said it’s a knee mortar. On the base, it’s oval shaped on the base like that, and somebody thought a knee mortar you could put on your knee and fire, but I think somebody did try to fire it like that and broke their leg, but it was just the manufactures name was NEI. You could put them against a tree, is what it was, they put them against a tree and fire the mortar shells. They used--their hand grenades were not as good as ours, they were just as dangerous, but they had a wooden plug in their hand grenade, and they had a pin through it with a string around it. They would take and unwind the string and pull the pin out, and they had to turn the hand grenade over and hit it on something hard, and drive that pin on the end of that wooden plug into the explosive to set it off, and then they had about three seconds to get rid of it. 54:39 Where ours, we just pulled the pin and let the handle fly, and threw it, but we liked the Aussies' better than ours because the Aussies'—our grenades were five second grenades, and if you pulled the pin and threw it, sometimes the Japanese would pick it up and throw it back, so we used the Aussies', which was another three second grenade, and you pulled the pin on theirs and threw it, and it went off when it hit. With things like that you learned to count, but most of the time when you pull that pin you don’t want count. You don’t want to take time to say one thousand one, one thousand two, you’re afraid it will go off in your hand because some of them would premature. 55:26 The same with our mortar shells, our mortar shells had little packets that you dropped down in there and they ignited and shot the mortar fires up. Those things got damp in the jungle and half the time they would only go half as far as they were supposed to, which was the only heavy weapon we had in the jungle was the mortar. We had machineguns, 30 calibers, and 50 calibers, but 26 �no cannon or anything else like that, mostly just rifle. One time up there— I went up there one time we got a shipment in, where it came—I think it was supposed to be for the MP’s—they got in some crates of rifles, but they weren’t rifles, they were shotguns, and we thought, “this is the best weapon they ever came out with”, and the minute they found out they came and took them right away, and took them back because it was against the Geneva Conference. 56:25 Can you imagine what a shotgun would have done in a jungle compared—it would have been ten times better than a rifle. Interviewer: You were injured the first time with superficial wounds, which I assume they just patched you up and they had to heal by themselves, what was the next incident? It was when we made a beach landing at Aitape. First we made a landing at Saidor, and our beach landings were nothing like Normandy. The navy came in and shelled the beaches, and the planes came in and dropped bombs on the beaches and that, at points where the Japs had congregated. The Japs, they didn’t know any more than we did, they were waiting to be picked up by the Japanese navy, and the Japanese navy was not around to pick them up, and they weren’t going to. As far as the Japanese were concerned, these were all dead men on the—but the Japanese didn’t know they were dead until—they were left there and finally surrendered. 57:35 There were too many of them at Saidor, so when we landed there was some skirmishing and some fighting, and a few guys got killed, but mostly Japanese. We pushed them right back, and then a month or two later we landed at Aitape. I was behind the lines then, I was walking up, and all of a sudden I got hit, and I think it was a sniper, I’m not sure if it was a ricochet or what, but it went through my cartridge belt, and it’s lucky it didn’t set off any of the ammunition in 27 �there, went through my web belt, my cartridge belt, my regular belt, and my clothing, and lodged in my stomach, right in here. 58:23 They took me out on a stretcher and took me to the hospital, the base hospital there, and they operated on me. They took the bullet out, and apparently it hadn’t gone in too far, or something, and then they took me back to Australia, and from there I went back to the United States, and I was in the hospital for various times at various camps. I started at Brooks General in San Antonio, I was in the hospital up in Illinois, and I wound up spending about six months down here in Percy Jones, which is here in Battle Creek. Interviewer: Now, when you returned back to the sates, your family was informed that you were ok? Oh yeah Interviewer: So, there was no worry that you were dead or anything like that? No Interviewer: When did you first see your family again? When I got back—when they let me out of—they let me go home, I was able to go right back home, and I had to report right back to Brooks General in San Antonio. 59:30 Interviewer: What was the reaction of your family when you came home? I guess they were glad to see me, but we had no brass bands or anything like we have now. The only ones that met me at the depot were my mother and father, and my wife and her mother and father. It was that way with all of us, and we didn’t care, we were back and we didn’t care. It was two and a half years later. 28 �Interviewer: There are a couple more questions I wanted to ask you. What is the distinction of the Red Arrow compared to any other battle unit? What is the one big distinction? 0:10 We put in more combat time than almost any other outfit in combat, and we went through some of the toughest of the fighting without any experience at all. We were green troops, and I heard a commentator say one time on the radio that the troops are green and going over to Iraq, and what they need is experienced troops. That’s not true, you’re going to fight, just to save your own life, you’re going to learn and adapt. Steve Janicki and I both agree that you’re not fighting for your country, you’re fighting for yourself, is what it comes down to. If somebody had come up to me halfway through Buna and said, “hey Bob, you can leave here now and go home”, I’d have gone home, so would everybody else. You stay because you have to stay; nobody’s going to say you can go home. You adapt, I mean, and we got some time off in Australia, and we learned to make beach landings in Australia 1:18. Then we went up, we landed at Milne Bay, and then we went over to Goodenough Island. There was a little set to on Goodenough Island. I was in charge of, and I knew the colonel, Colonel Schnepke, and we were there at Thanksgiving in 1943, and we had just landed there and it was a couple days before Thanksgiving, so we went back to the quartermaster because we heard they were giving out turkeys, and the quartermaster said, “you guys can’t get turkeys because these are for the base people here, and you guys are going to be leaving in a few days”. I went back and told the colonel, and he was furious. He went to General Harding, and General Harding blew his stack. It wasn’t General Harding, but it was the general, and they went back down there and we got the turkeys that were meant for the base people. 2:17 We 29 �had turkeys up the kazoo. We had cooks—everybody was cooking turkey, and there was like a turkey for every two men. They gave us every turkey they had on hand. That was before we made our beach landing at Saidor. Interviewer: Bob, to wrap up here I just wanted to ask you a question. It’s more of a personal question. What do you feel personally, what was the effect of your being in the Red Arrow, the battle experience you had, the experience you had in the military, how did that affect the rest of your life? Oh, it didn’t affect it much except I found a lot of buddies, we all had the same thing in common, and we had a kinship that nobody else can have, and that’s why--we’re a dying outfit, you know, and we don’t want to bring in anybody else. 3:15 They talk about bringing in our sons and that, and I have a son, but I’m not going to ask him to become a member of this because we have something that even by son could not achieve, you know. I have a son-in-law that was in Vietnam, and I lost a brother in Korea, and he was in the infantry. He wasn’t in the infantry, he was in the combat engineers, and I lost him in Korea, and it’s been tough on my mother. Interviewer: I have been very honored to meet all of you when you got together the first time, and I was very pleased the museum was able to put on that symposium that all of you were at. I am very honored sir that we are here and that your family, and your future family, is going to be able to have the same kind of joy of saying that I had a chance to know you. I appreciate it 30 � 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 HartmanR0341V2 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartman, Robert Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-12 Title A name given to the resource Hartman, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2003 Description An account of the resource Bob Hartman was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1919. He graduated high school in 1937 and joined the Michigan Army National Guard in 1938, assigned to the 126th Infantry Regiment, Service Company. His company’s task was to transport troops and provide them with ammunition, food, and clothing. He began as a truck driver and later became a Supply Sergeant. His regiment went on maneuvers that lasted up to two months, traveling to places such as Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, Hartman was in Jackson, Mississippi to see a football game and was ordered to go back to camp immediately. He was then shipped to Fort Devens, Massachusetts for about a month before taking a train back to Frisco, Texas. After that, he was shipped to Angel Island and boarded the Lurline to head for Australia. He landed in Adelaide and then took a train to Brisbane. Later, he flew to Port Moresby where he marched across the Owen Stanley Mountains and saw jungle combat as a platoon sergeant. Hartman suffered from malaria during battle, and the sickness continued to recur every month for about five years. Hartman later was flown to Papua New Guinea. He made a beach landing in Saidor, where he experienced a few skirmishes before arriving at Aitape a month or two later. At Aitape, he was shot in the stomach presumably by a sniper. He was hospitalized on base before being shipped back to Australia and eventually the United States, where he spent time at several hospitals in San Antonio, Illinois, and finally back home in Battle Creek, Michigan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Brockschmidt, Kelli (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States—History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945—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 video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng