427 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc22371c980be2d57186253fbde52dd5.pdf 3ae00ef02de5da1e7a1d87de94e726e5 PDF Text Text ���� https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/84cf15d1cb45d899f78e58003bd2d970.pdf b5d01430d6072eeb0b7e2a3004fdc4dd PDF Text Text [Page 1] Mobile 8 May 1839 My Dear Sir, You will be surprised at what I am about to write. You were advised by me from day to day & even from hour to hour of my negotiation with the B.U.S. [Bank of the United States] in May last, & if I am not greatly mistaken will remember that I told you that the object of the B. in advancing the additional sum of 100,000$ was as to improve the account ground mortgaged to them as to raise the amt equal to the interest & then to sell out as fast as time would admit without transferring the property & that as to that the B. would not expect me to pay faster then the next 2 weeks from the property would give me means, now I returned [?] & in less than six mos. invested the money & raised the amount 28,000 But lo! it now seems that the B. looks to its Bond & demands of �[Page 2] me 2/5 of the whole debt & the inst [interest], & in default thereof which have command a foreclosure of the mortgage, & threaten to sell me out unless I will at once deed the whole property to them & let them sell it out at public auction the first of July next ½ public the first of March following & the rest in 1 & 2 years at 8 pr ct inst half yearly all payable in N. York a compound [?] has been going on between me & Mr F- & in Dec. in which I have insisted that I had no expectation they would press me beyond the amts & the [?] of voluntary [seeks?] at fair prices, I suspected in Dec. that all was not fair on their part & offered them property at once at very low rates, they refused to take it, but threatened suit, I in March appealed personally to Mr. Biddle, but �[Page 3] he slipped out of the [impossibility?] of the answer by resigning & Mr. F is made to reply in which he denies all knowledge or recollection of any conversation authorizing me to expect delay beyond the Bond & they have filed their [bill/bile?] – There is now no doubt in my mind that they intend to take all the proof [?] & turn me into the street. Under these circumstances my course is taken I have told their solicitor that I will at once pay the debt in property at low prices but that before they shall have a dime I will plead the usury of the case & deficit them, - The debt is wholly void principal & inst, & I only want to pay the amount to [share?] it, on this point [I] shall [sound?] if they press me, but [?] then I shall do the same & pay them, I wish however to procure a copy of the usury law of Pena [Pennsylvania] in form on the 25 May 1838. The debt is forfeited by their own charter they having – over 6 pr ct inst, but I may want to use the usury law of your state, I will thank you to �[Page 4] send me a copy of it. – I shall not defraud them out of their debt nor shall they defraud me out of my estate, I have literally been under this which for the last 12 mos in improving this property & making it valuable I have added over 150,000 to it over & above the improvements, & to sell it now at short audits will sacrifice it, in short there will be no bid on but the bank. Yours truly H. Hitchcock [Cover] � 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-44_NS1-15465 Title A name given to the resource Nathan Sargent from Henry Hitchcock, May 8, 1839 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1839-05-08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hitchcock, Henry, 1829-1902. Description An account of the resource Letter discussing Hitchcock's recent negotiations with the Bank of the United States. Subject The topic of the resource Sargent, Nathan, 1794-1875 Clayton, John M. (John Middleton), 1796-1856 Whig Party (U.S.) United States--Politics and government--19th century United States--Officials and employees Compromise of 1850 United States. Congress Delaware Kansas Cuba Mexico Canada 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 <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent papers, (RHC-44)</a> 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/4739087d25646afe11f960274d98adae.pdf e0c2f966821d4dc5f073ab25b4029a09 PDF Text Text 1 Grand Valley State University Special Collections Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23 Mrs. John Hodgen Interviewed on October 4, 1971 Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010 – bryant@wellswooster.com Tape #29 (26:43) Biographical Information Ruth A. Grinnell was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 26 September 1890. She was married to Dr. John T. Hodgen in Grand Rapids on 28 January 1921. Her husband, John was the son of Harry A. Hodgen and Agnes H. Hart and he was born in 1884 at Rye Beach, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Ruth was Secretary-Treasurer of Grinnell-Row Company for 62 years. Her death occurred 2 March 1978. Her husband preceded her in death in 1954. Ruth Grinnell’s father was Charles L. Grinnell born in August 1857 in Grand Rapids. His death occurred in July 1925. Her mother was Meena Baker, born in Canada about October 1860. Her death occurred in September 1931. Ruth’s brother, Henry L. Grinnell died in Reed City in October 1932. The mother of Charles Grinnell was Henrietta Squier. He was grandson of John Wickliff Squier who built the Squires Opera House that operated in Grand Rapids from 1859 until it burned in 1872. ___________ Interviewer: This interview with Mrs. John Hodgen was recorded on October fourth, nineteen seventy-one….. (put this on the floor.) You were saying you were born in Grand Rapids. Mrs. Hodgen: Yes, I was born in Grand Rapids and my father was born in Grand Rapids, Charles Lawrence Grinnell. And my brother was born in Grand Rapids, Henry Lawrence Grinnell, Olive Grinnell Merrell. And then my Grandfather [John W.] Squier built the first opera house in Grand Rapids which was Squire’s Opera House down on Monroe and it turned into the Grand Opera House finally. And that, I remember that, don’t you? Do you remember it? Interviewer: No. Mrs. Hodgen: Anyway, it was still in existence some years ago and then my Grandfather Grinnell built the Grinnell Block and it was one of the first sprinklered buildings in Grand Rapids, at the corner of Monroe and Crescent. Interviewer: It was a sprinkler building? �2 Mrs. Hodgen: Yes. It was sprinklered afterwards and it was one of the first sprinklered buildings downtown, so they told me anyway. Interviewer: What does that mean, sprinklered? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, it was the sprinkler system all through the building and if it caught fire the sprinklers worked. It was one of the first buildings in Grand Rapids and it was occupied by Wurzburg’s store for a great many years. And then when Wurzburg’s moved on into the Fuller Building which was built before they moved up on Monroe Street, let’s see here…Say Eloise, do you remember who were the people that were in the Grinnell Block Building, a men’s, men’s and boy’s store? Eloise: I know who you mean but I can’t think of the name. Wasn’t it George Booth…wasn’t in there was him on Monroe Street afterwards? Not the MBM? Afraid I couldn’t help you. Mrs. Hodgen: Well, then that’s terrible, because they bought the building…. And they owned it when it was torn down for the complex in there. Interviewer: Was that on the east side of the street? Mrs. Hodgen: It was on the corner of Monroe and Crescent, on the east side of the Monroe and Crescent. Interviewer: I don’t remember who that was either. But that’s, that’s not important exactly who was there. Mrs. Hodgen: Isn’t it? Interviewer: No, that’s alright. Mrs. Hodgen: Then the house on College Avenue was built, about eighty-two or three years ago. And is still is in very good condition. But that’s apartments, two or three apartments in it, I think now. Interviewer: Whereabouts is that house? Mrs. Hodgen: Forty-five North College, it’s in that Hill District there, between Fountain and Fulton. That was the loveliest part of Grand Rapids that many years ago. Interviewer: You grew up there as a child? Mrs. Hodgen: Yes. Interviewer: What was it, what was it like, growing up in that neighborhood? �3 Mrs. Hodgen: Well, it was just perfect, I mean everybody knew everybody else and it was beautiful houses all lovely houses in there and everybody went to Fountain Street School in those days. All the people belonged to the Gamma Delta Tau Sorority in the high schools would walk every Saturday night to Gamma Delta Tau Town meeting if you could believe it now. All the girls walked alone to that meeting. And everybody was interested in what everybody else was doing and it was perfectly delightful neighborhood to belong to. In fact, you knew everybody in the block and the next block and the next block. Interviewer: Was that a paved street then... College Avenue? Mrs. Hodgen: It was paved ever since I can remember it. But I remember after school we all used to, all used to catch bob-sleds first to home and take off our good clothes and put on old clothes and catch and catch bob-sleds. Interviewer: What were the bobs used? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, they were delivery wagons on, on a delivery wagons that had runners, I mean on bobs. We used to that was one of the things, and then I remember going out to the Wilcox’s, the Wilcox’s lived across the street and all that property there which was their farm. And… Interviewer: The one on Lake Drive? Mrs. Hodgen: Yes, on Lake Drive, that was their farm and then we used to go over to the end of the street car line then walk out to their farm for Saturdays. It was a farm. Interviewer: How far did their land, extend out there? How big of a farm was it? Mrs. Hodgen: Oh, I don’t know. It was all the property that they have now out there. All, Mrs. Wilcox gave the children their five houses out there now. And some of the Wilcox family, one of the Wilcox family I think, there’s one of them still lives there on the property. Interviewer: Who, which Wilcox is that, do you know off hand? Mrs. Hodgen: Well her, name isn’t Wilcox, she’s Mrs. Perkins, Mrs. Voigt Perkins was a Wilcox. Interviewer: OK. Mrs. Hodgen: She’s the only one that lives out there. Interviewer: I think she’s, they use that old house, the little old cottage. Mrs. Hodgen: Yes, she does. Interviewer: When you’d go out to that farm on Saturdays what …? �4 Mrs. Hodgen: Well, we used to ride the donkey and play on the way kids do on a farm. Interviewer: Was Lake Drive there at that time? Was that a street? Mrs. Hodgen: Well it was a street but we went, we went to the end of the car line and out there then walked the rest of the way. Interviewer: Where did that carline run? Did that, did that run along Wealthy Street? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, I would say it ran along, yes, I think it ran up Wealthy. It went Cherry to Wealthy. Interviewer: Then you’d walk up….? Mrs.Hodgen: Walk out from the end of the car-line. It went by, by the car barns there by that time, the car barns is on Wealthy now, isn’t it? Interviewer: Was, when you get off at Wealthy was, was that, did you get off where the Old Kent Country Club was? Mrs. Hodgen: No, that’s on Plymouth in and, that’s on Plymouth and Wealthy, isn’t it? No, to tell you the truth I don’t know where, I don’t remember where we got off. You see I have a very, I’m not. I can’t remember anyone’s name. That, and annoys me so not to think of that store that everybody knows in town, if fact I’m not sure that’s still in business. Interviewer: They are still in business somewhere else? Mrs. Hodgen: Well they’re up on Monroe, up, Upper Monroe, for a long time. I don’t know. Of course just as soon as you go, I’ll probably remember it. Interviewer: Did you go to college? Mrs. Hodgen: Yes, I went to, I graduated from high school and I went to Wellesley College. And then I came back here and was treasurer and president of our organizations and I went back and took a post-graduate course at Simmons and came to the office and I’ve been in the office fifty seven years. Here at Grinnell….Company. Interviewer: Who started the business, did you…? Mrs. Hodgen: My grandfather. Henry Grinnell and my father was in it, Charles Grinnell and then I came into it and then my brother had, Henry Grinnell came into it and he was killed in an automobile accident when he was only 38 years old. I’ve been here every since. In fact we have our hundredth anniversary in, in seventy-five. Interviewer: It’s always been selling insurance? �5 Mrs. Hodgen: Yes. It was Henry Grinnell and Son. It’ll be a hundred years old in seventy-five it’s over ninety years old now. Interviewer: Was your brother Henry older or younger than you? Mrs. Hodgen: He was younger. Interviewer: How long ago was that automobile accident that he was in? Mrs. Hodgen: I can’t tell you… a great many years ago. The family are all, all married and that, I don’t know whether you know [Henry’s daughter] Sally (Verney?) Do you know Sally (Virney?) Priscilla Miller was his wife. (?) is now Priscilla Miller. Interviewer: No, I don’t know them. Mrs. Hodgen: And [Henry’s daughter] Mary Swain, do you know the Swain’s? Interviewer: No. Mrs. Hodgen: Well, Sally’s married now to Herb Boschoven who’s one of the vice-presidents of the bank here. And Mary’s married to Bob Swain. Interviewer: I know… Mrs. Hodgen: Do you? Interviewer: Yes. Mrs. Hodgen: My niece Sally Grinnell just married Herb Boschoven, a couple of weeks ago. Interviewer: I think I saw something in the paper about that. Mrs. Hodgen: Yes, they both were…. Interviewer: His daughter is Nancy? Mrs. Hodgen: Nancy’s the one she, she is with the State Department over in Thailand now, I think. Interviewer: We went to the same high school together. Mrs. Hodgen: Yes. Interviewer: What was, what was insurance like when they first started the business? Did it operate on the same principles that it operates today? Or was it….? �6 Mrs. Hodgen: Everything, everything was done by hand, then there weren’t any machinery and everybody I remember my father used to go down and deliver every policy. And it was just the way change, everything has changed from a family affair to machines. Interviewer: Who were some of the people that lived on your block? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, the Steketee’s, we were surrounded by Steketee’s . The old original Steketee there is Paul Steketee lived on the corner, around the corner, and Dan Steketee ,one of the sons lived on the corner of College and Fountain and John Steketee lived two houses from that and Paul Frederick lived next to us and Paul Steketee, senior lived on the other side of us around the corner on the corner of, the house is still there, Fulton and Prospect, Peter Steketee lived. In the next block the Putnam’s, Putnam house was a Lew[is] Withey house and the Waters, all the Waters’ property was the next lot down. And the Cole house which Howard Sherman, Howard Sherman still lives at the corner of Fulton and College is still, they still live there. The Waters’ house is torn down, the Putnam house is, and the Wilcox house, which is now the YWCA building. In fact I, remember somebody coming and telling me that if you ever wanted to be in Grand Rapids that you had to live in the property bounded by Union, Cherry, Lafayette and (Union) Fountain. They were all in that little district. Everybody that you knew lived in there. Interviewer: What was, what was that group considered? Were they considered the society of the town? Mrs. Hodgen: I would say so, they knew us…Yes. Interviewer: Is there a society today, right now? Mrs. Hogden: No. Interviewer: Why do you think that is? Mrs. Hodgen: Everything has changed, I mean all you have to do is to, of course in those days when the, all you have to do is go out to clubs like the Kent Country Club and that you. In the years when the country club was started Mr. J.C. Holt, Mr. J.C. Holt was probably a very prominent person … he was considered very high brow at the time and they started, and my father and other people to the country club. And you knew everybody out there. Now you go out there and don’t know anybody. I mean it’s just different people have taken over the different things, that’s all. There is no society like there was. The old timers, we often laugh about it, reading the Sunday society news and don’t know a soul in it. Well, it’s just changed that’s all. Everywhere. Interviewer: What were, what, what were the characteristics of society in those days that might not be characteristic of society today? Mrs. Hodgen: Elegance. �7 Interviewer: Can you tell me about that? Mrs. Hodgen: No, I can’t tell you about it. I mean everybody, everybody had a party in their own house you had everybody, everybody had loads of help and it was very dignified, very lovely and all the young people if you weren’t there at seven o’clock, they sat down without you and you, they used to the country club, if anybody, if anybody drank at the country club they wouldn’t be invited again. Interviewer: So there was very little liquor ever served at parties and stuff? Mrs. Hodgen: Very, just none. I don’t ever remember any when I was young. Interviewer: What was the most elegant party you ever went to? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, everybody used to have at Christmas time when they came home for vacation, everybody had a party. The Bissell’s always had a terribly beautiful party. And Mrs. Lowe always had a beautiful party. Those were the two I remember. Perfectly beautiful ones in Mrs. Lowe’s house which is now Aquinas College. That was their house and they lived there. Interviewer: Can you describe the parties to me, can you describe how they were, how they went. Mrs. Hodgen: I don’t remember one thing now, I haven’t any idea. Interviewer: What did people wear? What kind of outfits? Mrs. Hodgen: Very beautiful and very beautifully made. Everybody had a home dressmaker or a dressmaker. And they were very, very elegant, beautiful material and elegant. Interviewer: What about the men? What did they wear? Mrs. Hodgen: Tuxedos, I think they wore tuxedos. But I suppose different than they are now I don’t know, I don’t see them anymore. Interviewer: Were these, were these parties dinner parties or were they dances? Mrs. Hodgen: Dinner parties. Dinner and dance, yes. Interviewer: How many people would attend a dinner like that? Mrs. Hodgen: fifty or a hundred I don’t know one-hundred in the house, fifty at least. I mean all the young people, I mean there were younger, there were Bissell’s children and another thing that they did now is call. You properly, you weren’t invited again if you didn’t make a party call on anybody. You went around and had calling cards and made a party call on everybody or you weren’t invited to the next party. Interviewer: What’s a party call? �8 Mrs. Hodgen: Just going and thanking them for the party and making, make a calling on people. I mean they called them party calls then. Interviewer: If you were going to a party out at the Lowe’s, which was, I imagine out in the country then wasn’t it? Mrs. Hodgen: That’s where Aquinas College is, that was their house. The main part of the college that they used for the main building was the whole house. All that property the Aquinas owns now was the Lowe, was the Lowe property. Beautiful gardens and very elegant I mean. There was a great deal of help. Everybody had a great deal of help. There wasn’t anybody without help. You entertained in your house. Everybody entertained at home. In the, I guess the Saint Cecilia was in existence then, that was a very prominent place. And there was a German Club, which my mother was the president of all its existence which was a very, very interesting organization; and there was a French Club; the Ladies Literary Club; Women’s University Club which was started under Mrs. Clay Hollister’s who was one of the very prominent people in town. Somebody who can remember much about her, she was a great friend of Mrs. [Charles] Bender’s mother. The [Willard F.] Keeney’s were very prominent people. All the pop, all the people that were prominent then were, there were very few of them in existence even now. There aren’t any of the Lowe family here. John J. Blodgett is the only one of the Blodgett family here. There aren’t any of the Lew Withey family, well, one , maybe the younger Withey I don’t know where he comes in somewhere. Very few of the old families are left. Interviewer: What happens to families….? Mrs. Hodgen: What happens to what? Interviewer: What happens to families like that that are very prominent and have a lot of money and then suddenly they disappear? Mrs. Hodgen: Well, I think most of the Withey’s have died off. Most of the Waters family, I mean Tom Waters just died, the Waters family, they were, they were very well known in town, and had their estate there, used to be called an estate there on the corner of College and Fulton. Oakhurst, they call it, and the Barnhart family. There are few, there’s Helen Barnhart ,…. Only few of those left. Oh, I don’t, I don’t know if there are very many of them left. That’s all. Interviewer: Who was Edmond Lowe? Mrs. Hodgen: Who was what? Interviewer: Who was Edmond Lowe Mrs. Hodgen: Edward Lowe? Interviewer: Edward Lowe? �9 Mrs. Hodgen : Edward Lowe was the one that was, who was, he gave Butterworth Hospital or Butterworth or Edward and Susan Blodgett Lowe I mean. Edward Lowe, I think, I don’t know what, I don’t know what business he was in but he was married to Sue, Mrs. Blodgett, Susan Blodgett was the listed as the foundation of Butterworth Hospital, Edward and Susan Lowe Foundation or foundations for at Butterworth Hospital. And I don’t know anything about the Butterworth’s, but the Butterworth’s were very prominent people a long time ago. One of them gave Butterworth Hospital. Of course, the Blodgett family were a very, very prominent family that gave Blodgett Hospital. Interviewer: They, they actually just gave the hospital, and they built it themselves. Mrs. Hodgen: To start with, yes. Blodgett Hospital was given, or Butterworth was given by the Butterworth family to start with and Blodgett Hospital was given by the Blodgett family to start with, that’s, the reason they’re named after them. Of course, a great many people have contributed a great deal since. What they gave then would be just be a minor amount of what it takes to run a hospital now but they were the ones who started the hospitals. Oh, I don’t know, I’m not fair, there’s so many more, there were so many prominent people, well, well known people in town. But, like all older people, you forget everything. Interviewer: Why, why did you day that J.C. Holt was the high brow? Mrs. Hodgen: ‘Cause he was. Everybody knows…. Interviewer: What, what does that mean exactly? Mrs. Hodgen: Very exclusive. They lived on Lafayette Street and, and anybody he didn’t want in the Kent County Country Club, he would keep out. He wouldn’t let belong to the Kent Country. Interviewer: How could he do that? Mrs. Hodgen: Because he was boss, that’s why. I don’t know how he did it but he did. That was the reputation everybody had from him. You ask any of the old people, older people who, knew the Holt family and all and they know that’s the reputation he had all over town. Interviewer: Are they still here? Mrs. Hodgen: No, there isn’t a single one of the family left. Tom Holt, John Holt, .Bill Holt, Kate Holt and Harry Holt, all those families have all, they all, none of them in Grand Rapids anymore. The [W. O.] Hughart family was another prominent family, they don’t live in, there’s none of the Hughart’s live in town anymore. They owned the house at the corner of Fulton and Lafayette there where the insurance building is now. Mr. [John S.] Lawrence lived across the street from there. He was a very well known person in town. He used to have Sunday afternoon readings, use to read to people on every Sunday afternoon. Interviewer: Used to what? �10 Mrs. Hodgen: Used to have a read, read good books to people Sunday afternoons. Sunday Afternoon Reading Club, I guess you’d call it. Sunday afternoons. And then the Howard O’Brien’s lived across the street, I mean out there on Lafayette Street. And he was the Ambassador to Japan. Not the Howard O’Briens, what was his name? His [Thomas J. O’Brien’s] son was Howard O’Brien. Then the [Charles S.] Hazeltine’s and, some of that that family are still here. Karl Montgelas? The Hazeltine’s were very prominent people. They live on, big house on John Street. Hazeltine and Perkins Drug Company. I can tell you families that were prominent in those days but I can’t tell you much about them. Fanny Hazeltine was the one who married Count [Adolph] von Montgelas when she was visiting Mr. O’Brien who was the ambassador to Japan, to Japan. Interviewer: Count Montgelas? He was a count? Mrs. Hodgen: He was. Do you know who Karl Montgelas is in town? Karl Montgelas is their son. Interviewer: Who? Mrs. Hodgen: Karl Montgelas. Interviewer: Is whose son? Mrs. Hodgen: Mrs. Fanny Hazeltine and Count Montgelas. more than I did, she’s younger than I am. Jo? [Josephine Bender] remembers Interviewer: Well, everybody has like different reminisces and remembers different kinds of things and a lot of things that she remembered are different things than you might remember. Mrs. Hodgen: Oh really? Interviewer: Yes. Mrs.Hodgen: Well she was younger, she was a bit younger than I am. I think she was nearer my, my brothers age. She was between us, I guess, my brother was four years younger than I. She was just between us. She went to Vassar and I went to Wellesley. We were the same vintage; we’d all go to the same parties and everything together. Interviewer: Why did most of the girls here go up to Eastern schools that went to college? Mrs. Hodgen: That was the thing to do. Nobody went to Michigan. Michigan was looked down on in my day and age; I didn’t know anybody who went to the University of Michigan. That was, Vassar was very prominent, I was there only, Miss Mary Hefferan of the [Thomas W.] Hefferan family here were very prominent people in town. Mr. Hefferan was the president of the bank. Both Hefferan’s were presidents of the bank. And Miss Mary Herfferan was the first person from �11 Grand Rapids who ever went to Wellesley. I think and I was about the second person. Nobody went to Wellesley in those days it was considered high, too high brow. Everybody went to Vassar, in fact Grand Rapids is a great, great Vassar community. Interviewer: Why was it considered high brow? Mrs. Hodgen: Oh, it was considered too hard. I mean it was considered too difficult, I mean it was, well they used the word greasy-grind. I think that everybody that went to Wellesley was greasy, a greasy-grind. Interviewer: Well. Mrs. Hodgen: Well, that’s all I know. I don’t know what good that does you. INDEX Aquinas College · 7, 8 Hefferan Family · 11 Hollister, Mrs. Clay · 8 Holt, J.C. · 7, 10 Hughart Family · 10 B K Barnhart Family · 9 Bender, Josephine · 8, 11 Bissell Family · 7, 8 Blodgett Family · 8, 9 Blodgett, John J. · 9 Boschoven, Herb and Sally · 5 Kent Country Club · 4, 6 A L Ladies Literary Club · 8 Lowe, Edmond · 9 Lowe, Mrs. · 7, 8 F Fountain Street School · 3 Frederick, Paul · 6 M Montgelas Family · 10, 11 G Gamma Delta Tau Sorority · 3 German Club · 8 Grinnell, Charles Lawrence (Father) · 1, 4, 6, 7 Grinnell, Henry (Grandfather) · 4, 5 Grinnell, Henry Lawrence (Brother) · 1, 4, 5, 11 H Hazeltine Family · 10, 11 P Perkins, Mrs. Voigt · 3, 10 S Saint Cecilia Music Society · 8 Sherman, Howard · 6 Squier, John W. (Grandfather) · 1 Squier’s Opera House · 1 �12 Steketee Family · 6 W U Waters Family · 6, 9 Wellesley College · 4, 11, 12 Wilcox Family · 3, 6 Withey Family · 6, 8, 9 University of Michigan · 11 V Vassar College · 11 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/67aad407a29d5f56b4ec2b803dc8a4ec.mp3 3936df59b82bb3c11f12c7c92bcd4059 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 Rapids Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Local histories Memoirs Michigan--History Oral histories (document genre) Description An account of the resource Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Various Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf; audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text; Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-23 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1971 - 1977 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. 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-23_29Hodgen Title A name given to the resource Hodgen, Ruth Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hodgen, Ruth Description An account of the resource Ruth Grinnell was born in Grand Rapids in 1890. She graduated from Vassar College. In 1921, she married Dr. John Hodgen. She was the Secretary-Treasurer of Grinnell-Row Company for 62 years. She was involved with St. Cecilia's, the Ladies Literary Club, and the Woman's University Club. She died on March 2, 1978. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan--History Local histories Memoirs Oral histories (document genre) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Grand Valley State University Women 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 Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf audio/mp3 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1971 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/7027e481a98279f4ccde70b8bec2d618.mp4 8c3305ddf53117f2ffd872b02d756685 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/293a30d05597f79a14bf978fbe7a7bc7.pdf 594f2b401888186673acb197f0888d00 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Vietnam War Jim Hodges Interview Length: (01:32:58:00) Preenlistment / Training (00:00:11:00)  Born in Houston, Texas in 1951 (00:00:11:00)  Dad was a radio/television repairman and owned his own business for 26 years and his mother helped his father with the business (00:00:17:00)  His family stayed in Houston, although he was pretty active himself and he stayed in the outlying communities and worked on the ranches, training horses and working cattle (00:00:31:00)  Graduated high school and thought about college (00:00:50:00) o Across the street from his house lived a Dr. Derm, a well-known doctor in Houston, who offered to pay Hodges to go to medical school (00:00:59:00) o All of his sisters were already nurses (00:01:09:00)  His vocation always seemed to be on the soldier side and he decided to join the Army and make it a career (00:01:30:00)  Enlisted in July, 1970 (00:01:40:00) o Assumed that he would be going over to Vietnam and although Hodges was a sole surviving son and did not have to go to Vietnam, he went anyway (00:01:50:00)  Grew up with not only the Vietnam War, but also the Cold War and every day in school, they had air raid drills, hid under their desks and were afraid of nuclear destruction (00:02:07:00) o Learned that you do not mess with bullies; when a bully raised his head, you better hit him and hit him hard and he saw a bully beating up on Vietnam (00:02:30:00) o His enlistment was the talk of the family (00:02:45:00)  Dad had served in both World War II and Korea, which gave Hodges a different spin on the story of the wars (00:02:47:00) o If you were going to be a soldier, you better do something and if there was a fight, you had better get in it (00:02:55:00)  Purpose was to help the Vietnamese people secure freedom, and being a cowboy, he knew what freedom was, better than anybody else (00:03:03:00) o Could not stand the sight of Vietnamese people on the television being bullied by a government (00:03:21:00) o Always been about people; could care less about governments because they come and go (00:03:30:00)  Father told him that he knew Hodges would enlist and he was not going to discourage him, but if Hodges enlisted, he had better be the best there ever was (00:03:46:00)  First stop in training was Fort Polk, Louisiana, where he did his basic training at the “North Fort”, where everyone knew where they were going (00:04:02:00)  Most of the soldiers were enlistees; they had a handful of draftees (00:04:18:00) o Rumors he heard when he got back from the war was that all the soldiers were drafted and used as cannon fodder, which was not true (00:04:27:00)  Some of the volunteers did very well, including being helicopter pilots (00:04:54:00) o Back then, being a helicopter pilot was good stuff because there was a good market for aviation jobs following a pilot’s enlistment (00:05:01:00) �              Some of the soldiers went into specialized fields that eventually helped them with business (00:05:11:00) o A friend of Hodges got his JD and worked as an attorney in the Army, even though he had never though about doing that; he enlisted because he had a low draft number and after a couple a years, someone influenced him towards the law (00:05:18:00) Some men enlisted and eventually realized that they were not what were needed to be a soldier (00:05:48:00) Did eight weeks of basic training (00:06:02:00) o At Fort Polk, they had North Fort and South Fort, which were separated by about 15 or 20 miles (00:06:06:00) o Infantry walked everyday with full pack and rifle in 114 degrees, 100% humidity, chewing 15 to 20 salt tablets a day (00:06:12:00) o Joked that if they were eating C-Rations and they wanted salt on their food, they just dusted of their normally green uniform, which was white from the salt (00:06:27:00) o Did the marching to get in shape for where they were going (00:06:39:00) Did PT everyday (00:06:45:00) Separated the men from the boys starting on the very first day (00:06:52:00) o Got called every name in the book (00:06:56:00) o Was rough and strict because they were at war (00:06:58:00) Did something that he noticed that the Army recently dropped (00:07:05:00) o Part of their focus was bayonet training, which not only taught them how to fight with the bayonet but also instilled a spirit that they do not quit or lay down; if their arm was blown off, they fight with the other one and they do not stop or fall (00:07:08:00) o Sorry to see the Army give the training up because it is an integral part of the spirit of a warrior; it has nothing to do with bayonets, it has to do with an idealism of what they were going to do and how to save their life and those around them (00:07:26:00) Broke down weapons; took them apart and put them back together (00:07:44:00) o Learned every light weapon in the military services, from the .45 pistol to the 106mm recoilless rifle (00:07:48:00) o Went to the firing range everyday and fired mostly the M16 and M60 machine gun (00:07:58:00) Had quite a bit of stuff to learn, including the Military Code of Justice (all the paperwork side of the military) (00:08:06:00) Marched in formation and learned all the cadence calls (00:08:16:00) If they were lucky, they got 15 minutes in the mess hall; if there was a long line, then they were out of luck (00:08:29:00) o Learned very quickly that they could do without a meal and not die, but they had to take care of themselves, including how to conserve water and do all the things that survival entailed (00:08:37:00) All of his drill instructors had been in Vietnam, so they knew what the trainees could expect once they got to Vietnam (00:08:58:00) Vietnam was far worse than the training; they could take somebody there, put them through what ever they could design and call it “hell” and they would not know what “hell” was until they got to Vietnam (00:09:07:00) All of the drill sergeants were well-seasoned, had been in the Army for years and were not only Vietnam veterans, but they were also combat veterans hand-picked by the brigade commander for outstanding service (00:09:20:00) After basic training, he split off and went to leadership preparation school at Fort Polk (00:09:47:00) �     o Went through eight more weeks of AIT (Advanced Individual Training) in infantry and when he got out of AIT, he was a Specialist 4th Class, light weapons specialist (00:09:57:00) Left Fort Polk and went to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he went to NCO school, which was an intense course (00:10:08:00) Halfway through the NCO course, he got in contact with a previous mentor who helped Hodges decide where he was going and who was a contract operator through the intelligence community (00:10:22:00) o They took a group of soldiers that they had been watching through training, the first group that Hodges had heard of, and cross-trained them at Ranger School at Fort Benning and at the Special Forces Camp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (00:10:37:00) Finished the NCO course and graduated as a sergeant E-5 (00:10:52:00) o Told by the mentor and his group at the end of the course that at some point they might be called do some other type of mission and the group wanted to be sure that there were people already trained and ready in reserve so that when the mission came up, the soldiers had the special skills (00:10:57:00) o The mountains in northern Georgia seemed like the perfect place for the training and they practiced repelling and orienteering, among other things (00:11:15:00)  Went to the jump school and the other parts of special forces training, including a remarkable unit in hand to hand combat and bayonet fighting (00:11:25:00)  Proudest day of his life involved a drill sergeant named Rosas, the toughest guy Hodges ever met, who although small, was solid and was a bayonet fighter (00:11:40:00)  Hodges wanted to be like him, listened to him intently and they took the sheathed bayonets and covered them with shoe polish to simulate a cut (00:12:03:00)  Hodges got good at it and they day they left, Rosas stood in front of him and instead of saluting, put his hand on Hodge’s shoulder and said, “bayonet fighter”, which was the greatest award Hodges ever got (00:12:19:00) o The confidence course and orienteering course were the most difficult parts of training because in some cases, it was raining or the weather was bad (00:13:03:00) o Hodges had trouble with things that were high up because of a fear of heights and they would race to the top of the structure because if they were the last, then they would have to do the assignment again (00:13:18:00) Another difficult part was at Fort Polk going on the forced marches at night because the dried salt on their uniforms from the die acted like sandpaper, rubbing the skin raw (00:13:37:00) o The sand in North Fort was so deep that they would sink almost to their waste and if they lost sight of the other soldiers, then they were lost (00:14:04:00) A final difficult part was an infiltration course when they had to crawl under barbed wire while live rounds were shot over their heads from a mounted M60 (00:14:36:00) o The trainees did not know the fire could not hit them, which looked like strings of red kool-aid from the tracer rounds and things were blowing up everywhere from grenade simulators (00:15:00:00) o The course at Fort Benning was an eye-opener and prelude to the what Hodges would be getting involved in because one of the trainees panicked, crawled out of the main part of the wire and when one of the grenade simulator blew, it got him (00:15:16:00) �    Hodges ran over, grabbed the man, ran back and began performing first aid on the man, which was the first indication not only to himself, but those watching him, the Hodges was the man they wanted to do other things (00:15:39:00) Command was in a hurry to get Hodges to Vietnam because they had invested a large amount of time and money into him and they wanted a return on their investment (00:16:21:00) From his specialized training, he went back to Fort Polk and was a drill sergeant assigned to the 5th AIT training brigade (00:16:30:00) o Was there only on a temporary duty status, meaning that he was not a “true” drill sergeant, although he still did the job (00:16:40:00) o Was only there for five or ten days when, while at the machine gun range, a sergeant told him to report back and the company commander told him the levee came down and Hodges name was on it (00:16:47:00) Left Fort Polk for Houston, saw his parents and girlfriend, then head to Oakland and shipped out to Vietnam (00:16:59:00) Deployment (00:17:18:00)  They flew from Oakland to Vietnam via Alaska, Japan, and Saigon on a commercial airline (00:17:18:00) o The flight was long and nobody knew anybody, so they just sat there (00:17:49:00)  The very first time they flew in, they had to circle the runway because the enemy was mortaring the airfield (00:18:15:00) o Hodges looked out his window and saw a cratered surface below and all his expectations of high promotion went out the window (00:18:20:00) o Thought about what he had gotten himself into and how the hell he was going to get out of it (00:18:32:00) o When they landed, it was chaos; people were wounded, smoke and gunpowder in the air and the landing was rotten and everybody was scared to death coming of the plane (00:18:38:00)  They took the men immediately to a reception area where they did a quick physical, including pulling a group off to the side and giving them fluoride treatments for their teeth (00:18:58:00) o Gave them their jungle fatigues, helmets, and everything but anything to shoot with (00:19:22:00)  From the reception area, they took Hodges and six or seven other guys over to another airfield, where they were put on a C-130 and flown to Da Nang and from Da Nang, they flew by Huey helicopter to Hue (00:19:47:00)  From Hue, they split the group up and assigned them to different units, along with issuing them weapons, ammunition, and grenades, as well a C-Rations (00:20:31:00) o Being new in country, Hodges disregarded his training and loaded up with more food than water or ammo, which came back to haunt him a couple of days later (00:20:45:00)  They put Hodges into a jeep and he and the jeep driver left the camp in Hue and drove out into the countryside (00:21:01:00) o Ahead, he saw a hill ahead of him that looked like it had eroded off and he could see the cannons on the top of it; this was Firebase Birmingham (00:21:14:00)  They dropped him off at Firebase Birmingham and although Hodges looked around for someone to talk to, no one wanted to talk to him because he was the new guy; there was not a great deal of respect for the new guys because the respect had to be earned (00:21:23:00)  Eventually helicopters started coming in and on the first helicopter that came in, the soldiers motioned for Hodges, who ran over, and the soldiers pulled him in (00:21:40:00)  The helicopter took off without touching down (00:22:04:00) �         o Hodges, trying to figure out what was going on, yelled at the man next to him, but no one said anything and the next thing that Hodges knew, they were landing out in the middle of the jungle (00:22:10:00) When they came into the LZ, they knew that Hodges was a new guy, so the others grabbed him and threw him out of the helicopter (00:22:30:00) o He did not expect to be thrown out and he went out of the helicopter not very gracefully and in the process, lost his weapon (00:22:39:00) o The others hit the ground and everyone was shooting, so Hodges jumped up and after figuring if he had the barrel fixed the right way, tried to figure who was out in the jungle (00:22:46:00) Someone would yell at him but he could not hear them because the helicopters would have the door-gunners firing, along with the other soldiers (00:22:58:00) o Hodges did not fire immediately but he decided he ought to, unless everyone else think he was a chicken, but afraid to hit someone friendly, he waited and then fired where everyone else was firing (00:23:10:00) o Eventually, everyone else gradually quit firing and the other soldiers rolled onto their rucksacks and some either got out their pipes or rolled cigarettes (00:23:26:00) Hodges tried to see who was in charge and he realized that he was a sergeant and maybe they were expecting him to do something (00:23:53:00) o He was sitting there and asked where the men had come from but nobody answered and they ignored him (00:24:13:00) Later, they stood up, rucked-up and everyone else started walking (00:24:25:00) o Hodges watched as several men started walking and noticing a man with a radio on his back, walked up and asked if the radio operator was in charge, who told him to get back in the ranks and shut up (00:24:34:00) They walked and walked and finally, they stopped and someone told Hodges to eat (00:25:09:00) o Hodges thanked him and told the man that he was just trying to figure out what he was supposed to do; the other man said to start by staying alive (00:25:34:00) o Learned very quickly that he had to do it on his own (00:25:42:00) Hodges finally got it and that night, it rained and was freezing and the next day, the radio operator told Hodges to walk slack, the position directly behind the point man (00:26:01:00) o Hodges was to do everything the point man did, when he did it, and not to talk; if he talked, the radio operator would shoot him himself (00:26:19:00) The man giving Hodges directions turned out to be another sergeant, the squad leader (00:27:06:00) o Nickname was “Dutch” and he was only there a few months because he was short time and getting ready to go home (00:27:12:00) o Hodges discovered that both he and Dutch were from Texas (00:27:21:00) After about the third day, they had a little contact outside of Firebase Birmingham (00:27:34:00) o They were setting up ambush patrols around Birmingham to keep the fire base from getting hit (00:27:40:00) o The patrol found some rocket tubes and Dutch thought that the enemy would come back and arm them, so they set claymores on the tubes and bobby-trapped them (00:27:47:00) o Hodges helped set up the booby-traps, which he was good at; the special forces training helped and when Hodges showed the others how to set up a good trap, it endeared him to the other men (00:28:07:00) Dutch told him after a few days that he was short timed and when he left, Hodges would be the one taking over (00:28:34:00) �        o But he told Hodges not to think that he could ever get away with telling any of the other soldiers what to do because they will kill him (00:28:42:00) o Each man stays alive because each man does his job and they did not tolerate mistakes because mistakes mean somebody dies and Hodges had better not be the one who makes mistakes (00:28:52:00) o He watched Dutch and learned how to call artillery and air strikes (00:29:10:00) Learned from the first day that the men were not only hardcore, but they were like machines; everybody did exactly what their job was and there were no mistakes (00:29:34:00) They always worked in squads and the only time they worked as a company was during a Chinook helicopter crash when they went to it on Thanksgiving, 1971 (00:30:01:00) o Served as part of Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (00:30:19:00) o Was part of 2nd platoon and he went from 2nd to 4th squad leader because they changed around a lot due to men getting injured (00:30:27:00) o Sometimes they combined squads and had a squad leader run both squads (00:30:44:00)  Squad size ranged from seven men to four men, depending on the combat strength at the time (00:30:47:00) Stayed around Firebase Birmingham for about a week, although a week there is like seventy years in civilian life (00:31:01:00) Focused on an azimuth drawn straight from Hue west into the A Shau valley (00:31:12:00) Earned the nickname “the King of the North” because he knew the country better than anybody (00:31:34:00) o Most people did not study terrain maps, but going back to his cowboy days, he already had a good foundation for reading maps and the land (00:31:42:00) o Knowing, more than knowing what they had to do, where they were at and where they were going and how to get out if needs be (00:32:16:00) o These where his three keys, which he drilled into his guys, something that upset the other soldiers (00:32:27:00) One of Hodges's mentors, other than his father, was General Patton (00:32:49:00) o Liked not only Patton’s hands on methodology but the fact that he was not afraid to lead and let everybody know that they need to put effort behind the preparation if they wanted to complete the mission (00:32:53:00) o Hodges instilled this ideal into his men which they did not have at the time; the soldiers lived in existence mode, stumbling around from day to day (00:33:11:00) o Goal was to not only live through the war but to accomplish their missions each and every time, just they way they had been laid out (00:33:28:00) Looking back, Hodges’ mentality distracted the men enough from the sheer terror and inspired them to set goals in their mind (00:33:41:00) Was with this group of soldiers only to get his feet wet and he was eventually pulled out for his special-ops missions between January and March (00:34:08:00) Special-Ops Missions (00:34:46:00)  Someone came out and flew Hodges back to Firebase Birmingham, then on to Da Nang for another briefing (00:34:46:00) o Briefing was in a room full of guys who were not in uniform and were not military (00:35:12:00)  The man who had originally mentored him was there and he said that this was where Hodges would see what he was really made out of (00:35:34:00) �       o Nixon was trying to pull the troops out but they were afraid of the possibility of another Tet offensive like the one in 1968 which would damage the credibility of the Americans and of Nixon (00:35:45:00) o Their job was to be inserted into Laos disrupt supply lines and give the enemy “hell” (00:36:05:00) o They did not want American troops involved, so the teams were dressed in Viet Cong outfits and used Viet Cong weapons (00:36:38:00) They had intelligence about specific unit movements and gave the team the coordinates and where they would be inserted into, where they would have to hump to immediately, and what they were going to do (00:37:03:00) o The rendezvous point was the key because they did not have a radio and if they missed the specific day and time, then they were left over there (00:37:20:00) o Everybody in his unit look the same; nobody over 5’8”, everyone had black hair and dark features (00:37:36:00) o They did not have any dog tags and if the enemy somehow identified he or his team as Americans, his commanders could say that they were selling drugs and they had been looking for the team (00:37:53:00) Did the special missions for a few weeks and came out; the missions did do their job (00:38:13:00) o They would follow an enemy unit, which was in larger groups because in Laos, they did not expect to encounter a formidable opponent (00:38:30:00) o Because of their mass numbers, it lulled them into a false sense of security (00:38:43:00) o They used elephants, mules, big trucks, and tanks in some cases (00:38:48:00) Hodges’ team would follow a unit for several days, see who they were and mark their vulnerabilities (00:38:57:00) o I.e. If the enemy had a couple elephants with a lot of equipment on them, the team could plant a pound C4 on each of the elephants (00:39:05:00) o In the morning was when they usually hit the enemy because that was when everyone was getting up and packing everything and their minds were not alert (00:39:15:00) The team mapped out directions if they saw movement in a particular direction and they would sneak in at night and set up a horseshoe ambush for the column (00:39:33:00) o They would have claymores around the road and two men at the rear with M60 machine guns, two men at the front with M203s and one man at the point with an M203 and if they had AKs, then they did the same thing (00:40:01:00) o Hodges always took the point (00:40:21:00) o They would set the detonators for self-detonation and each team member had one detonator (00:40:25:00) o By the time that the enemy got a hint, the M60s were the only things firing while the other three members of the team had run in separate directions so that if the enemy caught one, they only lost one team member versus losing the whole team (00:40:34:00) Everyone knew how to orienteer to get back to the rendezvous point and if someone made it to the rendezvous point, fine, if not, then they moved on (00:40:56:00) With a lot of the elephants, if they either laid on the ground at night or slept standing up, the team were able to walk up and hide the C4 in the straps of the pack used to haul the equipment (00:41:10:00) They would run the detonator out, which they could set to time-detonate, allowing the team to play “tricks” on the enemy (00:41:32:00) �  o One trick involved unscrewing the delay fuse on a hand grenade, putting a smoke grenade fuse in and spray painting it green to make it appear to only be a standard grenade (00:41:41:00)  When someone pulled the pin and released the spoon, the grenade exploded because there was no time delay and the team would lay a few of the special grenades around (00:41:59:00) o Another trick involved syncing the pin up to the elephant’s saddle straps and when the saddle was tightened, the grenade exploded (00:42:12:00) Darkness in the jungle varied in degrees and the team’s old saying was “everyone dies on a full moon” (00:42:39:00) o Hodges and his team had the same size and build as the enemy, so the elephants paid them little attention (00:42:51:00) The enemy was very laid back; they played music, sang, had campfires going and were cooking food (00:43:00:00) o Some units moved very quickly and expediently and they ate on the move and other units, especially ones with high ranking officers or important supplies, would cook elaborate meals (00:43:09:00) Seventy-Two Days Alone (00:43:45:00)  Hodges and his team ran about ten of these ambushes and on the last mission, Hodges made it to the rendezvous point and no one else did (00:43:45:00)  He waited about two days and nobody came for him; he realized that no one was coming for him and he needed to take off because the enemy was all around him (00:44:03:00)  Decided to orienteer, which was not hard because, being due west of Hue, all he did was turn due east and start to head back (00:44:16:00)  He made it seventy-two days by himself and got back to a road, QL-9, and the Army had brought up some artillery and ARVNs to support to border with Laos, who Hodges saw while he was walking (00:44:24:00)  He got excited when he saw the ARVNs and originally he was going to run over and ask them to get him out of there but he caught himself because he did not have a shirt left and he was in the black pajama pants with his NVA boots on and no dog tags (00:44:47:00) o He had blood over every square inch of his body and he was pretty filthy, with a long beard and long hair (00:45:03:00)  He was afraid that the ARVNs would shoot him even if he yelled out to them because he was in a free fire zone, meaning that the others shot anything that moved (00:45:11:00)  Finally, he figured that if he was going to get out of there, he was going to have to do something, so he followed the units for a little bit and saw some of the soldiers seemed jovial (00:45:21:00)  While they were taking a break, he went up to the ARVN unit first and walked up with his hands held high, saying that he was an American, and singing Yankee Doodle (00:45:38:00)  The ploy worked, although Hodges scared the ARVN soldiers and he was afraid that they were going to shoot him, they did not and finally relaxed before asking Hodges some questions, which he answered (00:46:06:00)  When the ARVNs finally took him in and gave him something to eat, they told Hodges that they had some trucks going back, so he stayed with the unit for one day before getting a ride on a deuce-and-a-half truck back to his base (00:46:20:00) o The truck got out onto another road and there was a large convoy of tank trucks, which Hodges hitched a ride on the back of one (00:46:34:00) o At the time, he had an M1903 Springfield with a Starlight 4x scope as his weapon and this was all he had left from the mission (00:46:48:00) �      When he got back to camp and the guards saw him on the back of the truck, they all “jumped to”; an MP ran back into his guard shack, grabbed his M16 and told Hodges to get off the truck (00:46:59:00) Hodges did and he tried to talk to the MP, who said that he was going to call one man and Hodges told the MP to call his commander, a colonel, and tell the colonel that Hodges was there and he wanted to know why he was left (00:47:15:00) o Hodges was mad, so the MP called the colonel, came back out and said that although he did not know who Hodges was, the men on the phone said they would be there (00:47:32:00) When the MPs came up, it was comical because they looked like Keystone Kops, white faced and weapons waving as they drove up (00:47:43:00) o They ordered Hodges to drop his weapon but he told them that he was not going to do that, making a tense moment because Hodges was mad and he might have killed them (00:47:54:00) o Hodges and the MPs had a little standoff before they finally took him to see the colonel, where he was told to shut up, sign an agreement, and that he did his job (00:48:15:00) They transferred him out of the base that day, reoutfitted him with a new uniform, rucksack, and M16, and flew him out to Da Nang, where he was assigned to the 196th Infantry Brigade (00:48:30:00) The seventy-two days of survival involved a lot of walking and a lot of mountain climbing (00:49:04:00) o One blessing was that up in the mountains, the water was crystal clear and he could drink right out of the streams; as well, there were large amounts of fish in the streams (00:49:08:00) o He would describe it as almost prehistoric because there were parts that people had never been in (00:49:20:00) o Hodges ate fish raw out of the streams, which is why he does not eat fish now, and he had to eat them like an animal would eat them, meaning through the scales and uncooked (00:49:29:00) o If he threw the fish down and the NVA found it, they would be able to track him and he did not have time to cover his tracks (00:49:42:00)  He was wearing NVA boots, so he was not worried about that, but if they saw the fish carcasses, they would know that there was a SOG group working in the area, who the NVA knew very well (00:49:51:00) o He survived off eating that fish, although there were times that all he had was sand, so he drank sand, just to keep something in his stomach and to keep going (00:50:04:00) o He would hide from the NVA during the daytime and would move a lot a night, at least when he could see at night (00:50:16:00) o Was very careful that the areas he went into were not marked areas, did not follow trails, and cut his own way with a machete he carried (00:50:27:00)  Still, he did not try to cut a lot of trail, instead he tried to slip through the jungle, so that if anyone was following him, it would slow them down and make it hard to catch him (00:50:42:00) o Getting angry helped, as well a being determined never to give up and lay down and to get the mission done, no matter what (00:50:56:00) While alone, he had someone step on his hand and trip over him in the middle of the night (00:51:09:00) �    o The bad part was that he was bleeding from shrapnel wounds in both arms and in his face, although he did not know about the wounds in his face until years later because when he had blood all over him, he did not know where it came from (00:51:16:00)  He did not care at the time; if he was vertical and breath, he did not ask any questions (00:51:32:00)  The infection in the wounds was bad and he got a serious infection to the point that it was burning him up and he was getting delirious (00:51:41:00) o All he remembers was laying down and the next thing he knew, a Montagnard or some other native tribesman stepped on him (00:51:51:00)  They did not speak English and he did not speak their dialect, although he knew a little Vietnamese (00:52:05:00)  The two groups had a strange understanding; Hodges knew they were trying to help him, which they did (00:52:17:00)  The potion that the women in the tribe created was unusual and it burned, but they packed it into the wounds, doctored Hodges up and sent him on his way (00:52:23:00)  They offered Hodges some food, but although he had been surviving off of eating raw fish, scales included, he could not bring himself to eat what they had in their pot (00:52:42:00) The natives were a big part of his survival and he does not think he would have made it past that day without their intervention (00:53:03:00) When everything was blowing up on their last mission, Hodges had exchanged his standard M203 for the M1903 Springfield and was taking potshots at the enemy, mainly to reach out and harass them (00:53:20:00) o More importantly, the Springfield gave him the ability to care more claymores and explosives, meaning that he could do his job better, indirect warfare and making booby traps (00:53:41:00)  Hodges’ team found out that booby traps worked more effectively against the enemy and made their job easier (00:53:51:00)  They had a pretty close mission prior to his last mission and there was a rumor that the team heard when they went back to get resupplied; another team had been completely decimated, which Hodges had on his mind (00:53:58:00) On the last mission, the team wanted to try to move back from the enemy because they realized that the enemy would eventually become wise to their tricks (00:54:12:00) The last mission went terribly wrong (00:54:23:00) o He imagines that because of the explosions, a couple of the team members were killed outright (00:54:24:00) o What happened afterwards he does not know because it turned into pure chaos and he was never aware that he was hit or had any injuries until several days later, when he started running a fever (00:54:34:00)  When he would lay down, the pain finally started to creep in (00:54:48:00) End of Tour (00:54:58:00)  The Army stopped the covert missions after the incident with Hodges’ team, although if they ran any more, Hodges was not aware of it (00:54:58:00) o He was not privy to the information and he did not know how many teams they would be using or if they were in close proximity to Hodges’ team (00:55:04:00) o They did not talk about those things and they did not use real names, only code-names and nicknames (00:55:12:00) �      You learn a lot about yourself when you go through an experience like that, as well as your enemy, making it not as clear cut as people would think (00:55:27:00) o Hodges’ belief is that it was not the warrior that started the fight, but the government and politicians and they left it up to the people to finish the fight (00:55:42:00) o He saw a lot of cases where NVA soldiers should have been killed but they happened to run into the right patrol, which allowed the NVA to live (00:56:01:00)  They were not supposed to take the NVA prisoner but the patrols did it anyway (00:56:12:00) o The human element creeps in when they would run into situations when they could see the raw soul of a human (00:56:17:00)  They found out real quick what type of character they had when nobody else was looking (00:56:37:00) He had been a cowboy all his life and he learned to focus, be his own man, and take care of himself (00:56:54:00) o For his first job when he was fourteen, he showed up on a ranch that he wanted to work at because the boss was a tough guy and everybody respected him (00:57:02:00)  The boss kept some nice horses and Hodges wanted to get his hands on them because he liked horses as well (00:57:13:00) o Hodges took the job and the first day he was there, he rode up next to the boss, trying to impress him; the boss was concentrating on the cattle operation and writing information down and when Hodges rode up next to him and asked what he want Hodges to do, the boss, with a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth, spit on Hodges's horse and said that he could start by shutting up and doing what he was told, when he was told (00:57:22:00) o It was still a great day because Hodges got to talk to the boss, although he was only told to shut up (00:57:59:00)  This was the type of men that Hodges grew up with (00:58:09:00)  If he fell off his horse, he did not sit there and whine, he knew better than to even open his mouth; if something was wrong, he got up, got on his horse, and went to get help (00:58:13:00) o Doing this type of work was the precursor for the soldier that appeared and was able to do the job the way it needed to be done (00:58:38:00) Spent around five to six months with the 196th Infantry (00:59:18:00) Before he was assigned to the 196th, he got to go to the United States and the Army said that he would have a two week leave (00:59:24:00) o The rumor was that he was going home (00:59:35:00) o He got on the plane and this time, it was the first time he ever flew on a 747 and they flew a different route, from Vietnam to the Philippines to Hawaii and then to Oakland (00:59:41:00) o He went home for a week and a half before the Army said that he had to go back (00:59:57:00) When he loaded up, he went back and when he got back, the Army explained that they needed some men to lead the last infantry company in the field around Da Nang (01:00:04:00) o Da Nang was important and the military needed time to pull the units out (01:00:22:00) o The company ran ambush patrols, which was Hodges’s forte, and he and the other officers taught the men in the company (01:00:30:00) When Hodges got to the company, it was in terribly bad shape and he even wrote a letter to his dad saying that they needed to do a Congressional investigation because the company did not get resupplied on time or medevacs on time (01:00:40:00) �     o Hodges’s father wrote the letter to the president of the VFW post he belonged to and the president wrote another letter to President Nixon (01:01:01:00) o President Nixon initiated a Congressional investigation, although it was odd because Hodges did not receive any information until four years later (01:01:10:00) o The investigation substantiated the claims, but in typical military fashion, at the end of each allegation, it said that the commander was reminded of this and steps were taken to ensure that it would never happen again (01:01:18:00) o They were already out of the country, so what was the point (01:01:35:00) o The Army did eventually give the company assistance (01:01:42:00) Things were not terribly active then, everything was gearing down, and Hodges believes that the NVA realized that the U.S. was going to go with a different strategy (01:01:46:00) o Their new strategy was to let the U.S. pull out and they would deal with the South Vietnamese on their own terms (01:01:58:00) o The NVA were beaten down and one of the NVA generals questioned why the U.S. pulled out, because they had the NVA on the ropes (01:02:09:00) The last combat soldiers left in the field in 1972 were the 196th Infantry (01:02:34:00) o The 196th flew from Da Nang into Hue and they helped clear out the city during the North Vietnamese offensive in 1972 (01:02:48:00) o The 196th pushed the ARVNs in front of them while they supplied covering fire and American pilots flew bombing runs (01:02:55:00) o They then pulled the 196th back to Da Nang and the mission to Hue was short-lived; Hodges believes that the mission went off “half-cocked” because someone got the wrong orders from somewhere (01:03:06:00)  The NVA gave up too easy, although they were known for standing and fighting (01:03:22:00) They finished working at Da Nang and the Army pulled them and all the support personnel out of the field and two years later, the NVA moved into Saigon (01:03:32:00) He saw some of the ARVN units that looked similar to the U.S. units and others where, generically, the soldiers would throw down their guns and run (01:04:05:00) o The ARVNs really did not have the will to fight as determinedly as the NVA or the VC (01:04:15:00) o They had special forces units with the ARVN and they were good and they worked well with the American units (01:04:28:00) o The regular line infantry were questionable and they did not have a lot of artillery to speak of (01:04:40:00) o Some of the pilots did very well; a lot flew single-engine aircraft and did close-in support for some of the special ops missions (01:04:51:00)  Others flew helicopters and the Americans did not like flying in their helicopters (01:05:05:00)  They made the Vietnamese pilots wear white helmets and if the men saw a pilot with a white helmet, they would tell him that they would take the next helicopter (01:05:09:00) o The men respected the Vietnamese as people and they tired to help the Vietnamese out and give them the idea of free men and what they could be (01:05:20:00) They were all out in the jungle and he can count on the number of hands the times he saw a base camp or fire base (01:05:42:00) o If they were at one, they were there for thirty minutes to an hour to get resupplied before flying back out (01:05:48:00) �     He was in love with Joey Heatherton, a blonde bombshell, and he found out that she would be at the division's base camp at Christmas, 1971 (01:06:06:00) o Hodges was out in the field doing push-ups to get buff to impress her and telling everyone that he was going to get a date with her (01:06:12:00) o The day that they were supposed to come out of the field, he was waiting for the helicopter to come pick him up when his Lieutenant called him back and told him hold the units position and they would be doing patrols in the “rocket belt” outside the camp to make sure no one rocketed the show (01:06:25:00) o He never did get to see Joey Heatherton, although everybody else got to (01:06:48:00) He felt sorry for Vietnamese people because the war was a hard thing to watch (01:07:05:00) o They had no hope, not matter which way the war went because one way or another, they were still going to be in the same condition as before the Americans ever arrived (01:07:18:00) o They were people victimized by others who had a lot of money and they treated the Vietnamese like dirt, although they were so used to it, Hodges believes it is engrained in the culture and in some cases, they did not seem to mind it (01:07:28:00) o The men saw humans that never truly lived; they just existed from one day to the next (01:07:46:00) o Now, they are capitalist and are prosperous, although there are people in the remote areas that are in poorer conditions (01:08:02:00) o Rough to watch humans suffering and being powerless to do anything for them and doing the little things, such as running the VC out of a village or an area, were important (01:08:21:00) The situation at that time was stopping the domino effect from taking place, which his friends in intelligence explained from the beginning (01:08:57:00) o When they looked at an outline of Vietnam and saw China right above it, and the Soviet Union next, they knew that they had made since that day and their efforts to take over the Eastern Hemisphere (01:09:10:00) He still calls Russians “Soviets” because it is a mentality that there is one side called freedom and another side for something else and in his book, freedom is the only side he would be on (01:09:49:00) o They can call him or themselves whatever they want, he is going to stand on the side that he is on, the side of freedom and human dignity, and if they gave him any other thing on the plate, then they have got a fight (01:10:05:00) o Believes that the NVA understood this because the United States defeated them in every conflict they had, especially the Tet offensive (01:10:18:00) o Armies that are brainwashed into following are like bullies and the only way to deal with bullies is to smack them hard whenever they show up (01:10:38:00) o If they had to do it again, he would be the first in line and if they would let him, he would be with the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan (01:10:55:00) When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, he still had about nine or ten months left on his tour, which was like torture because of the assignments they had done and who they had become (01:11:16:00) o They were about the farthest thing from garrison soldiers there were; they were probably closer to mad dogs than anything (01:11:28:00) o The military “threw” away the soldiers at Fort Hood, which served as a repository for everyone like Hodges; their military careers were done because Nixon had started the new “volunteer” Army and there was no room for men like Hodges, the old school (01:10:05:00) �  o Made Hodges mad at the time because he did not understand what they were doing, although he understands it now (01:12:00:00) The politicians wanted to manipulate the military, specifically the Army, and the men were resistant to it, although there was no longer a function for them and their special skills were no longer needed (01:12:10:00) o The politicians put a lot of pressure on the men by making them sit in a motor pool all day, although they lived in barracks quite modern compared to the ones they had trained in and had a mess hall that was almost like gourmet food (01:12:33:00) o The men were like an old work horse on the ranch; they got whatever the could out of it and in the end, they forced it out into the field because he had become a liability (01:13:22:00) Finished out his tour, although it had a pretty rough ending (01:13:40:00) Post-Military (01:13:46:00)  Once he got out of the military, then the real horror started with the way that other people treated them (01:13:46:00) o The men were told to keep their mouth shut and not let anyone know that they had served in Vietnam because the people did not like the war (01:13:58:00)  That sentiment has not gone away and Hodges’ has four clients at his current job that resent him for having served in the military, let alone Vietnam (01:14:06:00)  One of the men said that when he heard Hodges had served in Vietnam, he did not want to hear about that crap and that those baby killers need to take their due and go on home (01:14:17:00)  The old clichés and believes are hard to die because people believe it is a fact and they have been misinformed (01:14:32:00) o If he went to apply for a job, he never put Vietnam veteran on the application or resume and every time others talked about the war, they got the hell beat out of them (01:14:47:00)  He started drinking a fifth and a half of Jack Daniels a day, chewed tobacco all day, smoked about four packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day and was on a collision course with himself (01:15:16:00)  He technically was homeless because he could not go home to his family because he was no longer himself (01:15:33:00) o He could not eat anything except for Jack-in-the-Box tacos; everything else he threw-up, so he bought C-Rations from a surplus store in Galveston, Texas and would fill his truck, eating only them (01:15:44:00) o He roamed around for a while before he had to sell his truck and then he thumbed rides and killed coyotes for bounties at one point (01:16:04:00)  All of the sudden, he got into security work, which he liked and got into armored car operations (01:16:20:00)  He worked every phase of security that he could and then left there and went into law enforcement, were he stayed for twenty years (01:16:33:00) o He became a lead investigator in the Alamo Bay incident when Vietnamese and American shrimpers went to war of the Vietnamese coast (01:16:43:00) o Worked on the federal task force for about sixteen years as an intelligence officer and as a detective (01:16:56:00) �    o Had a lot of very great jobs and some unbelievable experiences that were brought to him because of who he was and he got to use the experience that he though at that time was a bad thing and turn it into a good thing (01:17:07:00) o They say about warriors that they continue to march and this was how Hodges continued to march (01:17:30:00) He might not have been able to retire from the military but in a way, he had spent all of his life soldiering, which is what he started out to do (01:17:36:00) When he first got into law enforcement, during training, an instructor was teaching how to go through a building to get the bad guy with the gun (01:18:27:00) o The instructor was showing dramatic moves with the gun and a flashlight and Hodges was sitting and looking and wondering what was the matter with the instructor (01:18:35:00) o Finally, on a break, the instructor talked to Hodges and said that he had noticed Hodges’ sour look on his face (01:18:45:00) o Hodges said that he did not know why they were teaching the trainees this; the instructor said that he was trying to save their lives and Hodges said that the instructor might be taking them because when they turned the flashlight on, the bad guys will know how many cops there are and where the cops are (01:18:53:00)  Hodges said that he did not care how tactically they held the flashlight and gun, all the bad guys had to do was start spraying bullets and the cops would probably get hit (01:19:07:00) o That method was not in Hodges’ book on how to do it, so the instructor backed up and asked Hodges how he would do it (01:19:16:00) o They went and Hodges told them to put a man in the building; a man did and the instructor offered Hodges his flashlight (01:19:24:00) o Hodges declined and when the instructor asked how Hodges would find the man, Hodges said that he would sense him (01:19:36:00) o He went into the building and came out with the man in handcuffs with no shoots fired (01:19:42:00)  When the instructor asked how Hodges did it, he said “the same way Ray Charles plays the piano, without looking” (01:19:47:00) o They sense things, although they use their eyes too much, and this was the one thing that Hodges learned during the war, the majority of his senses were not used because before there was never a need for him to use them (01:19:57:00)  People are brainwashed as kids into they need to see something when they really did not (01:20:16:00) o He started teaching law enforcement officers and he was surprised that the instructor who thought he was being a smart-ass wanted to learn right then (01:20:23:00) o Hodges showed him and the others and this lead him to one of the most successful entrepreneurships he had, which was designing some of the first formulas for pepperspray (01:20:35:00) He used his summation of what he had seen tribal women in Vietnam and he figured it was what his grandfather had used on himself and horses, a mixture of chewing tobacco, cayenne pepper and whiskey (01:20:50:00) o He developed on that and came up with a formula that sold like hot cakes (01:21:19:00) He also developed the first decontamination spray for the people who had been sprayed by pepper spray (01:21:32:00) o He remembered an old woman who gave him a salsa after he had gotten hunger over and told him to eat and he would be sober (01:22:00:00) �        o The salsa was hot and so the old woman gave him a cup of coffee and a chocolate bar, which Hodges later realized help limit the heat, which he used in the decontamination spray (01:20:25:00) o The first time he tried it, the spray did not work and on a flight home from Phoenix, it hit him to balance the Ph of the spray and the next time, the spray worked (01:23:16:00) These endeavors all came directly from the war and he began to realize that even though he is not fighting the war anymore, he can still fight by using the techniques and tactics he had learned in a quasi-military role (01:23:40:00) o Law enforcement and security paved the way and he still does that type of work today, including counter-terrorism and cyber warfare, which he took a month long school for and learned how to be a systems administrator (01:24:00:00) o They bring a lot of baggage out of the war zone but at some point in time, they had to get their head straight and realize that some of the stuff could be used (01:24:27:00) He sat silent for thirty-six years and never told anyone what had happened (01:25:00:00) Eventually he met the director of the Hauenstein Center in the middle of cow pasture working cattle when the director’s family went to Hodges's ranch for a vacation (01:25:08:00) o The director and Hodges became friends and the director and his family went down to Hodges’ regularly (01:25:22:00) The only reason that Hodges talked to the director was that the director could tell that Hodges had something bothering him and vice versa (01:26:03:00) o The two played cat and mouse, telling each other their stories (01:26:12:00) o The director’s dad had been in World War II and he had questions about why his dad acted certain ways, some of which Hodges was able to answer (01:26:19:00) Eventually, Hodges gave up a little more of his story and the director had Hodges come up to Michigan in August, 2006; Hodges originally refused, saying that he was not supposed to talk about what he had done but the director kept prodding (01:26:31:00) o Hodges talked with his dad and he told Hodges that if he had kept the secret for thirtysix years, he was doing better than the rest of them and the dad did not think anybody would care anymore (01:26:49:00) o Hodges’ dad told him to come up Michigan and tell the story (01:27:11:00) o This was the first time Hodges had ever opened up to anyone and he thinks that no one was more shocked about it than his family because they never knew what he had done and his dad knew better than to ask him any questions (01:27:15:00) o His family just left his story alone and figured that he would eventually come around (01:27:28:00) He kept those things inside and some people wanted to know what had happened and some people did not because his story either helped from their beliefs right or wrong (01:27:37:00) It was thirty-six years and it was the greatest day that he could remember and he came back in 2008 to do a PTSD conference, a three person discussion and a Q & A session (01:27:58:00) The things became so powerful and during his speech in 2006, a lady in the audience and as he kept talking, he kept watching her sitting in the middle of the room (01:28:19:00) o The woman was fiddling with envelopes, which made Hodges think she was a reporter and when Hodges finished speaking, they had a Q & A session (01:28:44:00) o The woman had either the third or fourth question and it became apparent that she had heard Hodges talking on the radio before the speech (01:28:52:00) o Her husband was dead and she never knew what had happened, so she brought his letters home with her and Hodges went off the stage, gave her the microphone, and she read the letters out loud (01:29:08:00) �   Her husband mentioned that she would be the first woman on the block to know that her husband was in Laos, so Hodges’ presentation made it full circle for her and she understood (01:29:34:00) o The woman reinforced the idea in Hodges that if he did not tell the stories, then he does not help other people that are out there (01:30:17:00) The first presentation lit the fuse and Hodges now has two books started, one on PTSD and one on himself and got invited back to Michigan to do another presentation (01:30:31:00) o He has recontacted the only people that he knew the names of in one of their operations and is trying to get the whole team back together on film and get them to discuss what they had done, so that it is not just Hodges’ story, but their story (01:31:10:00)  This is the way that Hodges would rather tell it, because that is the way that it was (01:31:27:00) o It is important for Hodges to know that someone fifty years in the future will not pull out some book where the author has his own agenda (01:31:38:00) He appreciates projects where people can hear it “straight from the horse’s mouth” and they understand the emotion and the compelling reason why the men did what they did (01:31:54:00) o His destiny was to be a soldier and that was what he was and in the process, they help other people (01:32:16:00) � 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 Hodges, Jim (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hodges, Jim Description An account of the resource Born in Houston, Texas in 1951, Jim Hodges worked on ranches as a teen before enlisting in the Army in 1970. During his training, the Army selected him to cross-train for special operations missions and following the completion of his training, the Army shipped him to Vietnam. After several months, he began to perform the missions. He performed several special-ops missions in Laos and when his last mission went wrong, Hodges spent seventy-two days alone working his way back to a friendly location. He spent a further couple of months in Vietnam, serving with one of the last infantry units in the field, before returning to the United States and eventually receiving his discharge. 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 2010-07-01 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HodgesJ 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/8594c172309ea1e69f49201101d736f8.mp4 c9e4a9f798dc7bb79ba847665999e62c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1b9e35a3c0bfba4628a8cbd8517fb769.pdf 1101c78e2fd9301735d5f77ae1319c86 PDF Text Text Hodges, Terry Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Vietnam War Interviewee’s Name: Terry Hodges Length of Interview: (58:23) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Chelsea Chandler Interviewer: “Okay, Terry. Begin with some background on yourself. And where and when were you born?” I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. January 1st, 1948. Interviewer: “Okay. Did you grow up in Baton Rouge, or did you move around?” I spent my whole life in Baton Rouge up until the graduation from high school, and then I went to college at Hammond, Louisiana at Southeastern Louisiana University. Interviewer: “Okay. Now what did your family do for a living when you were a kid?” My mother was an executive secretary for the Department of Conservation for the state of Louisiana. I grew up with three brothers, and we all grew up in our grandfather’s house. My parents divorced when I was six, and Mother never remarried. Interviewer: “Okay, and then when did you graduate from high school?” 1966. Interviewer: “Okay, and then where did you go after that?” (1:00) I went to—on a football scholarship to Southeastern. Interviewer: “Okay, and then how long did you stay there?” I was there three years, and that’s where I was at when I was drafted. Interviewer: “Okay. Now was it a four year school?” Oh, yes. Interviewer: “So you had another year left. So how was it that you came to be drafted?” I went there on a football scholarship and always wanted a vehicle of my own. So after my junior year of spring training, I dropped out of school. Went to work. Worked the rest of that spring and �Hodges, Terry that summer because I wanted an automobile for my senior year. And worked, made enough money, bought a car. Used car, but my car. And was actually back at school. Football practice always started—two a day—on August the fifteenth. And I was there for approximately a week practicing football and got a draft notice. (2:05) Interviewer: “Okay. Now what did you do once you got that notice?” Well, I’d been drafted. Interviewer: “Okay. Did you request an extension or anything, or did you just do what they told you?” I just did what I was supposed to do, I guess. Is how I felt about it. Interviewer: “All right. So where did they send you for basic training?” I went to basic and advanced infantry training both at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Interviewer: “Okay, so relatively close to home anyway.” Yes. Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Now describe the basic training experience. What was that like?” Regimented. Getting up earlier than I was used to getting up. But it wasn’t a bad experience. I mean, I was physically active all my life, so it wasn’t any kind of physical problem or mental problem or anything like that. Just went through basic. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. How did the drill instructors treat you?” Okay. I still recall my drill instructor for our barracks was—Sonny we called him. But he was a really nice guy. Fairly young fellow. But got along with him fine. As a matter of fact, in basic, I was one of the guys in—for whatever reason—I was elevated to barracks leader. You know, platoon leader, what have you. Interviewer: “Well, you were maybe a year or so older than a lot of the guys there.” Yes, I was, and I was somewhat more proficient in the athletics of it. Interviewer: “Yeah, yeah. I mean, football player, so yeah.” Yeah, but see, I didn’t realize that that was not a good thing for me at the time. I should have been saying, “Hey, I love to type,” and things like that. So I wasn’t the brightest bulb on the tree at that point in time. �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Yeah, but they kind of wanted a lot of infantry men at that point, so I don’t even know if that would have helped you.” I agree, I agree. Interviewer: “All right. Okay, so you get through it, and how long was the basic training?” I think it was six weeks. I believe that’s what basic was. Interviewer: “It’s usually eight.” Okay, eight weeks. That’s probably—You know. Interviewer: “Yeah, but not all that long in the whole.” (4:05) No, no. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, and then you stay then. And then for your advanced training, is that infantry training?” Yes. Yeah. At Fort Polk. Interviewer: “Okay, and how was the advanced training different from basic?” Well, weapons were involved. You know, becoming acquainted with the M16 and the .60 caliber machine gun. Going to firing ranges instead of just going on long walks, so to speak. And, of course, it was geared toward getting you prepared. Everyone knew that pretty much—that we were going to be going to Vietnam. So that was the end of ‘67. Interviewer: “Yeah. Now did they make any effort to teach you how to deal with the Vietnamese themselves? I mean, do they have a mock village or anything like that?” I don’t recall that. No, I do not. Now I do recall that we were introduced to a Vietnamese fellow who was a sapper as they call them, and he was showing off his skills as far as stealth and what they were capable of doing and so on. I remember that. Other than that… Interviewer: “But nothing about the society or the people or…?” Oh, no, no. There was nothing that I recall. It was primarily geared toward, you know, patriotism and being the best soldier you could and so on. Interviewer: “Yeah, and just how to function as an infantryman in the field.” Exactly, exactly. Be the best soldier you could, which would give you the best chance of being successful. �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Okay. Now were a lot of the instructors Vietnam veterans?” I believe they were. Yes. Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Now did you have any sense of who the guys you were training with—where they were from or why they were there or…?” They were from all over. There was a large contingency from New York that were in my barracks. (6:02) But there was a lot of people that were from Louisiana. Palled up with a guy from Port Allen, which is across the river from Baton Rouge. Ronnie Gisler. We became good friends. Also met a fellow named Browning. Robert Gwinn Browning who actually ended up in Vietnam with me. He was my bud, you know. So you make relationships and go through, but we all kind of enjoyed all of the rappelling and firing weapons and so on. Interviewer: “Okay. Yeah. So at that point you’re still kind of playing soldier for the most part.” Yeah. There was an ominous overtone always, but, well, there was a reality that was there. But, I mean, I grew up—I was a Boy Scout. Had always spent time in the woods. So it wasn’t that foreign to me. Some of these guys from New York—It was quite a bit of culture shock for them. Interviewer: “All right. How much did you know about Vietnam at that point?” Other than the fact that we’re involved in a very bad—what I thought to be a very stupid war… Interviewer: “Okay, so you had an understanding that maybe the war wasn’t such a good idea.” Oh, I knew for sure it wasn’t a good idea, and I knew for sure that there were people that were getting killed or maimed that—for what I thought were fairly political reasons. And I’ve always held that belief. And I always had the realization that once I had got drafted, that, boy, I had really messed up. And actually my brother—one of my younger brothers—ended up getting my car. So I did a lot of that for nothing as it turned out. Interviewer: “All right, so you complete AIT, and that’s probably the same length of time as the basic was.” Yes. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, and then do you get orders for Vietnam, or do you go somewhere else first?” (8:01) No. In typical army fashion, there were—I don’t know—twenty something guys, I think, in the entire company that had signed up to go to NCOC School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Shake n’ Bake school. And they took thirteen or fourteen of us that had not signed up and sent us. And I don’t think any of the guys that actually signed up actually went. Got orders to go. And we were �Hodges, Terry somewhat apprised of what Shake n’ Bake school was all about and so on. And Ronnie Gisler from Plaquemine hadn’t signed up as well, but he was sent also. And so we were, of course, flying out of the same airport. Going to Fort Benning to start Shake n’ Bake school. They flew us up. We arrived there on base on a Friday, and the school actually started on Monday. So once you got in and got settled in, they actually gave you a weekend pass. So we went into town and, of course, do what young men do, you know, in a town you’re not familiar with. We hit all the— every bar we could and so on. And Ronnie and I both decided that we had no desire to go through NCOC School. So we reported back in, you know, Saturday evening. Sunday evening. And the first formation on Monday morning Ronnie and I went up to the attic in the barracks and hid. And they had the formation. We could hear them. They were right outside in the company area, and they were looking, you know.“Where’s Hodges? Where’s Gisler?” And everything. And we were just sitting up there saying, “I ain’t going to do this. I’m not going to do this.” And so they ended up getting everybody there in formation, and they marched them off. They were going somewhere, you know. I don’t know. But when they left the area, we came down into the barracks, went in through the CO’s office, and he said, “Well, y’all missed the first formation, you know. You’re going to be—It’s not necessarily court-martialed, but you’re going to be busted. Back to E1.” And he said, “At E1 you can’t go through this school.” (10:17) So we said, “Mission accomplished.” That was great, you know. But then we got—Shortly after that, we got orders for Vietnam, which is where we knew we were going to go anyway. So when we got to Vietnam, we were automatically made E3 again because I don’t think you could be in country without being at least a PFC. Interviewer: “Yeah, yeah. That was a standard thing. Now why did you decide you didn’t want to do the NCO training?” What I—What my belief was was that it was a very serious place, and I didn’t think—from everything I had heard—that NCOC—Shake n’ Bake sergeants weren’t that well thought of. Didn’t necessarily know exactly what to do. And I didn’t want to be in that position. I just—I felt if I were going to tell men what to do that I should—I should go through it first, I guess. And I did not think that a pretend NCOC School would prepare me to do that. I just didn’t—I didn’t think it was right to show up over there and start telling men what to do when I wasn’t apprised of what actually was happening. So that’s the reason that Ronnie and I both decided not to go through it. We were the only two that didn’t go that particular day. Interviewer: “Yeah. Of course, it was—I think you’re the first people I’ve ever heard of who were sent to NCO-School when they didn’t actually sign up for it. So that wasn’t a normal circumstance to be in.” No, we did not sign up. We did not. We did not. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Did you get a leave home before you went overseas?” (12:01) A few days, yes. Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. And then—And how do they get you to Vietnam?” �Hodges, Terry Flew to—What base was it? I don’t really recall. Interviewer: “Did you go to Seattle?” It could have been Fort Lewis. Interviewer: “Yeah, Fort Lewis, Washington would be—If you went up there, that’s where you went.” And then went from there over to Cam Ranh Bay. Interviewer: “Okay. What’s your first impression of Vietnam when you get there?” Hot, hot. The day I arrived—Went out on the steel tarmac. It was 114 degrees, and you could see the heat waves coming off the tarmac. So it was—It was quite warm. Interviewer: “Even for a man from Louisiana that was a little—” It was quite warm. Interviewer: “All right.” Yeah, it was hot. Interviewer: “Okay. What did they do with you once you get off the plane?” You got off the plane with your duffel. Well, you got issued your—you know, your gear and stuff like that. And then they started calling people’s names and assigned you to a company. I think I was in Cam Ranh for like two days. Got my orders to report to Delta Company. 1st of the 506. Interviewer: “Okay. In the 101st Airborne Division.” 101st Airborne, yes. Interviewer: “All right, and then how did you get up to join them?” Helicopter to the rear at Camp Evans, and then they later—Helicopter again out to Firebase Kathyrn. Interviewer: “All right, and so when was this that you got out there?” Early June. It was early June. Interviewer: “Okay. Early June now of 1970. All right, and then when you join your company, what kind of reception do you get?” �Hodges, Terry Cordial. Nice. I mean, people were, you know—They were helpful. Got my first squad leader. Was Randy Beek who I thought the world of. Really nice guy. Concerned about people. And got issued a bunch of gear. (14:08) What have you. But the—And then you’ve got to get into the flow of things. The very first job I was given was to burn a bucket of shit. So that’s the first thing I did on Kathryn. Was to mix fougasse in with a pile of shit and burn it. That was my first job. I guess they figure if you’ll do that, then you’ll probably be responsive if they ask you to do something else. Interviewer: “Well, yeah, that and you’re the low guy on the totem pole, so you get the ugly job.” Exactly, exactly. And you’ve got to realize that. Interviewer: “Okay. Now how long did you stay on Kathyrn before you moved out?” We weren’t there probably another three or four days, and we rucked up and we’re sticking to the jungle. Interviewer: “Okay. Now did you walk out, or did they fly you someplace else?” No, they flew us out. They flew us out. Interviewer: “Okay. Had you ridden in helicopters—except for the trip up?” No, no. Interviewer: “Okay. This is all new. And then that first trip out in the field. Do you remember anything about that?” No, it was rather uneventful. It took me—When I first stood up with my full gear on, full sack, I remember I was thinking to myself—And I was in fairly good shape. And I said, “Man, there’s no way I’m going to be able to walk around with this on my back.” I mean, my legs were wobbling almost. But by the third day I was hupping with the best of them. As a matter of fact, I was starting to—I walked point. And I walked point for most of my time over there. Interviewer: “Okay. Walking point is something a lot of people don’t always want to do.” I wanted to watch after my own butt. I didn’t want somebody else watching. Plus, it—There’s an added benefit if you walk point. You don’t have to carry as much ammunition. So there was an ulterior motive as well. Interviewer: “All right. Okay. Now you said you had—Growing up, you had spent a lot of time in the woods and that kind of thing. Did that sort of help you at this point?” (16:03) �Hodges, Terry I was acclimated to the woods. Not so much thick jungle, but I had always loved being in the woods. Became a Life Scout. Always hunted and so on. So I was quite comfortable in the woods. Interviewer: “Okay. Now at this point, sort of—Now it’s June 1970. Were you encountering many enemy? Did you have much contact, or was it quiet?” No, no. Nothing prior to that day. That was the first interaction with an enemy that I had. Interviewer: “Okay, so before that—And this is getting into the latter part of July when you’re sent out to the Ripcord area, and your company gets in trouble. So before that, basically are you just patrolling in the jungle? And how long would you stay out if you’re— When they take you out, would you be out for a few days or couple weeks or…?” A few weeks. It got to be the routine that we were out for forty-five days or thereabouts, and then back in the rear for seven. There were a couple occasions during the monsoons where we stayed out much longer than forty-five days because they just couldn’t get to us. Everything was socked in. Interviewer: “Okay, and so when you’re out there, what would be sort of a typical thing to do in a day? Were you usually in the jungle areas, or…?” Yes. Yeah. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, so you have stayed someplace for the night. You get up in the morning. Now what happens?” You put your sack on, and they tell you which direction they want to go in that day. And you start matriculating that day. Interviewer: “Okay. Now would the company usually operate as a unit, or would you break down into platoons?” We would break down into platoons more often than not. (18:00) The company didn’t do anything that I recall as a single unit going in one, you know—Everybody went in the same direction, but we were—We weren’t one after the other for 125 men or something like that, which, I guess, tactically didn’t make any sense. Interviewer: “Okay. Well, I guess the other thing would be were the platoons within contact of each other and able to support each other.” Certainly. Yeah, yeah. Interviewer: “Yeah. Okay. All right, and so now who was your company commander at that point?” Workman. �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Okay, and how would you describe him?” I didn’t have a whole lot of contact with him. You know, as far as captains go, I guess he was just fine. Interviewer: “Okay. Did you see more of your platoon leader?” Yeah. LT Thompson. I thought he was a great guy. He was a great guy. Interviewer: “Okay, and about how large was your platoon?” I don’t really know. I really don’t know. We had what? Four squads? Probably ten men per squad so thereabouts. I didn’t pay attention to a lot of that. Interviewer: “Well, a lot of times a lot of the units were pretty badly under strength. Now maybe when you came in, did some other new guys come in with you?” Oh, yes, yes. I think, as a result of the conflict in May, they were undermanned. So there was— Yeah, there were several people. Browning and I both were put in the same platoon. Interviewer: “Yeah. Okay. All right, so initially—And so, I guess, then—So you’re—You basically—You’d advance. You’d go to wherever you’re supposed to go to. And what would you do at night if you’re out in the field?” You always set up an LP at night, and nobody enjoyed doing that. But you took your turn. Interviewer: “LP being a listening post?” Listening post. Other than that, you spread around. If it were possible to dig a hole, you dug a hole. If not, then you just made do with what was available to you and try to protect your position. (20:12) And hunker down and go to sleep. Interviewer: “Okay. When you first went out in the field, did you keep thinking there were RAD guys out there, or did you hear things? Or were you jumpier, or were you just…?” I knew I was in a war. I mean, I knew that there were people out there with bad intention. And you try and steel yourself to that, but I didn’t—I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. I just knew that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. It was my job to take care of myself and everybody else that I could, and if something were to happen, then to—It’s time to man up and do your job. Interviewer: “Okay. Now when you’re moving through the jungle, would you go on trails, or would you make your own?” No, we tended to stay off the trails because there were booby-trapped trails, and so we learned very well—I was taught very quickly that your best avenue through the jungle is to make your �Hodges, Terry own way through the jungle, which, of course, makes for very long days because it’s thick, and everything gets hung up. And it’s hard, and it’s hot. And it’s humid, and it’s pretty miserable. But that was—That’s what we did, day in and day out. Always tried to do my job as point man looking where I was supposed to look. Interviewer: “Okay, and when you’re point man, about how far would you be ahead from the next man behind you?” Not that far, but then, if you’re in triple canopy jungle, you’re not going to be very far away from anybody. There’s just—It’s not like an open trail where, if somebody’s lagging back a little bit, you get a little space in there. Everybody’s kind of trying to—And you’re punching a hole so people can follow, but everybody gets hung up. (22:07) So there may be spaces at times, but they always close it up. So I wouldn’t say very far away at all. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Now did you have rules, especially when you were camped? Light discipline or noise discipline?” Oh, yeah. No, you didn’t make any unnecessary noises. You know, that’s common sense, I guess. Interviewer: “Would people smoke in the field?” Sure. Sure, they would, but you always cup your cigarette. You don’t ever light a cigarette in the open. You know, you used common sense about that. Interviewer: “Yep. Okay. All right, and how much food would you carry or water?” Six canteens I think it was. Maybe sometimes a little bit more. As much food as you could stuff in your sack. I remember getting—Sometimes we had a resupply with a whole case of food, and that was great. And you carried all of it, but then you’re also responsible for carrying your own ammunition. Sometimes you had to carry extra .60 ammunition for the M60, so, you know, it was about an eighty-five pound sack on your back. Interviewer: “Okay. Now did you—What did you do with the C-Ration cans or things like that? Your garbage, basically. Did you have to bury that, or did you take it with you? Or just leave it?” We just left it. I mean, we weren’t overly neat about that or anything. We did. I guess there were times when we buried it. I don’t think it would stay buried. I think the critters—As soon you’d leave, they’d go dig something up, you know, because they would smell it. But no, we didn’t. We certainly didn’t carry it with us. You’re always trying to shed weight. Interviewer: “Okay. Now did you have a Vietnamese scout with you?” (24:01) I’m sorry? �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Did you have a Kit Carson scout? Yes, yes. I did. I did. As a matter of fact, mine walked slack for me sometimes. Interviewer: “Okay. Now some of those people were actual ex-NVA or Viet Cong and knew what they were doing, and others seemed to be staying out of the South Vietnamese army. Was this guy actually good at his job?” He seemed to be. Seemed to be very conscientious. Interviewer: “If he’s walking slack with you, that says something already, I guess.” Yeah, well, it—No, he was—He was concerned about what he was doing. He always seemed to be doing his job. And then I told him. I said, “If somebody ever shoots me and it’s your fault, I’m going to shoot you.” Interviewer: “Okay, so you spend about a month and a half or something like that out there—been patrolling around—or maybe, I guess, like June and into July. And then, while that’s going on, the siege of Firebase Ripcord is getting more complicated, and the more and more NVA are concentrating around that. And then your company is sent in.” We were sent in from the rear from Camp Evans. Interviewer: “Yeah. Okay, and so, well, tell me about that expedition. You get the orders to go out. Now what happens?” We kind of knew this was not going to be good. I had heard that actually our captain, Workman, had volunteered us for this even after another company captain had declined to take his company in there. So we knew this wasn’t, you know, an ideal thing to do. And as we—And leaving the firebase. Everyone was pretty tense about that, I think. I was. I know I was. Interviewer: “Okay. Now were the more experienced guys acting different, too? Because the young guys—You hadn’t really been in anything big yet, but the older guys would have been in firefights and things before. Did they seem—” Well, I think it was probably the older guys that were telling me, “This is not going to be good. You need to really tighten up.” (26:13) Interviewer: “All right. Okay, so you head out there. Did you take fire as you went in, or…?” Yes, we did. We did. They were firing on us as we were landing. All the birds. And, of course, it’s a known fact if they’re shooting at you when you’re landing, they don’t care if you know they’re there or not, which is not the norm. Normally, it—I mean, if they’re around, they don’t want you to know. But if they let themselves be known like that, that’s not a good situation. �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Okay, and then do you recall where you’re—You had a string of helicopters come in to bring you in if you’re coming in on Hueys. Do you know where you were in the string or how far back?” You know, I don’t really recall that. Probably the third, fourth bird. I know that we were told that the birds would definitely not be sitting down. They’ll be getting you close to the ground, and when they yelled, you jumped. And it was a pretty good jump. Interviewer: “About how high up do you think you were?” Probably six, eight feet. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. You hit the ground, and now what do you do?” People were yelling, “Over here, over here! Move, move, move!” So we moved in that direction. Interviewer: “Okay, and then that day now do you get into any actual—any other action, or do things quiet down after you land?” Things did sort of quiet down after that. And we were at landing zone, and we started moving down a finger in the mountain to set up. And it was not early in the day. It was more afternoon, so we started trying to set up a night position, which is the first thing that we did. (28:05) Our platoon there. And when you’re setting up a position, of course, the first thing you—Once you decide that, you know—The powers that be decide we’re setting up here. My squad went out from our perimeter to do a recon of the area. So we were—started going out so far, and I was up front. And I saw smoke off to my left, and I knew—Didn’t know if it was a spent shell or what, but we radioed in and said we were going to go make our turn now and go check this out. So we did. It was nothing. It was a spent shell. And we reconned all the way around the left side of our perimeter. And we came back to 180 degrees, and then we came back in the back side. The other squad—Another squad went out, and they were to—responsible to cover the right side. And I don’t know whether they just hadn’t set up yet because they didn’t know where we were setting up. Whatever reason. The second squad out got hit. They got ambushed. And that’s when my good friend, Browning, got hit. Little Bit. Patrick DeWulf. Got hit. Several guys got hit. So that’s when it all really broke open and started. (30:00) It was bad, and we could hear them down there screaming, you know. We didn’t know what was going on. So I—For whatever reason, I said, “Well, I’ve got to go see if I can get to Browning. Get to Little Bit.” So I got on my belly and started going down the finger, and a .60 caliber machine gun was firing over my head. Got a little too close, so I screamed back, “Get the fire up!” You know. “You guys!” From here to the camera I had a sixty round hit, and I said, “Get it up.” And I said—And they did, you know. But I went down. And going down, going down. And I found Browning who was dead. I don’t know if he had—I don’t know what happened, but his—All of his stomach was gone. He was definitely dead. We had support—air support—that day, and the jets were doing their ordinance down there. And they had knocked trees over. A tree had fallen on top of Browning, and I could not get him out from underneath it. Couldn’t stand up. So I got his dog tags and his wallet and personal stuff and started to go down some more. And I heard Little Bit again, and then I heard rapid fire. And that was that. So I made my way back up to our perimeter. And we ended up �Hodges, Terry staying there that night. No. Excuse me. We didn’t. We moved our perimeter because we were getting chewed up. (32:06) Interviewer: “Were you being hit with mortars or with small arms fire?” Small arms. Our own grenades. At least, we figured they were our own grenades. RPG. So we moved up past the LZ up onto—higher onto the finger of the mountain, and that’s where we stayed the night. It got—For whatever reason, there wasn’t that much going on that night. I mean, you didn’t sleep or anything. And right at very first light—It was dusk, and I remember I was—For whatever reason—I don’t know. But I was cleaning my weapon. Because I was firing it the day before, and I said, “Well, you better clean it quick.” And I almost had it all the way back together, and we started hearing boop, boop. And we knew mortars were coming in. So I slapped my gun together, and I recall a mortar round hitting in front of me. It did not go off through gravel and dirt and everything, you know, on me. But I was on the ground anyway. But it didn’t go off. But a lot of others did. And they knew exactly where we were. They knew— They didn’t miss a single shot, I don’t think. Normally with mortars, you try and adjust. They were right on from the very first one. So we were up and getting off that—getting off the mountain, and I remember seeing—Of course, we were trying to pick up the guys that were wounded, hurt, or worse, and get them down to the LZ. And I remember, you know, there were quite a few people that were very physically messed up. But we got down, and that’s where we formed our perimeter again. (34:10) And fought through the day. I don’t know about the other guys, but I found that they had trees there that had big wings that would come out for roots or whatever. And I found a hole in the—in between the wings, and we had a lot of ordinance from people that we’re not going to use it. And I put claymore mines out in front of me, and I put—I had ample supply of grenades. And if you wanted to come at me, you better be getting down, you know. But we fought through the day, and, of course, we took casualties through the day. And they would attack at one side, attack at another side. Interviewer: “And when they’re attacking, could you ever actually see them?” Yes, yes. Interviewer: “Okay. How close were they getting to you?” Thirty yards, forty yards. Something like that. And you’d take them out, you know. There seemed to be a lot of them, so… Interviewer: “Okay. Now were there at this time—Now I think we’re talking here kind of—This is about July 21st, 22nd because I think you were pulled out the day before they pull out of Ripcord itself if my chronology is right. So it’s about that point.” We were pulled out that next day. Yeah, that morning. Later that afternoon we were—As a matter of fact, Workman said, “Buddy up. When dark comes, try and slip out into the jungle.” Then they would have birds patrolling the area for the next few weeks trying to find you and pick you up. (36:04) �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Okay, so you were actually expecting to have to disperse into the jungle.” Yes. Interviewer: “Now had there been—Because there were efforts to bring in helicopters, and they were having some problems with that.” Yes, they were having large problems with that. Interviewer: “Okay, and what do you know or recall, or what did you see of that?” We were told—And it was late in the afternoon, and we were told the Ghost Riders were coming in. And I have utmost respect for those guys because they knew they were going to get chewed up. They were, you know, the first birds in the previous day. They already had everything zeroed in, so they knew they were going to get chewed up. And they came in anyway. And first bird got out. Was taking fire. Everyone was taking fire. I ended up being on the third bird out, and then the next bird they shot down. And that’s where—To my memory, that’s where Captain Workman caught the prop—the blades—and was cut in half. But I was on the third bird out. Interviewer: “So you got out of there.” Entirely fortunate to. Interviewer: “All right. Now the—Did the—Was part of the company left behind and stuck there until the next day, or did they all get out eventually?” No, I think they all got out. They left bodies. They left—I’m sure they left a lot of ordinance, but I think most everybody got out. I think three or four helicopters were shot down. Interviewer: “Because there’s a point where C and D companies of 2/506 come out to help with the evacuation and that, I think, was after you left.” Yeah, we were gone. We were gone. (38:09) Interviewer: “Yeah. Okay. Now through all of that did you get hit?” No, no. To my recollection, there were thirteen or fourteen of us that were not wounded. Interviewer: “And that was out of the whole company that—” That was out of the entire company. Yes. Interviewer: “All right, so once you get back to Evans, now what happens to the company?” �Hodges, Terry There was a colonel, general, somebody—Came in and told us that they didn’t want us sitting around and dwelling on what had happened and that they were going to send us right back out to the—And they sent out back out to Firebase Kathyrn, and then we got started getting new guys in, you know, in subsequent days. But we did not stay in the rear. Interviewer: “Okay, and do you think that wound up being a good thing for the company?” I don’t know. Interviewer: “Well, how did the men react to all of that?” I think they would have liked a little time just to be able to commensurate with each other. To talk things out. And we did somewhat on the firebase, but it—That was, as far as firefights go—I was in several firefights, and that was by far, in a way, the worst day I would encounter in— during my tour or duty over there. Interviewer: “All right. Okay. Now how long do you think you stayed on Kathyrn before you went out in the field again?” (40:03) I guess a week. Maybe two weeks. I don’t really recall to tell you the truth. I know it took them probably a week or longer to get back into that area to get the bodies out. And Browning’s wife had requested that if he were killed that I accompany the body, which I didn’t know about. But we were off the firebase, so it had to be several—you know, a few weeks that we were on Kathryn. And we were actually back out in the field, and we were actually involved in a firefight. Nothing like that day. But they sent a Loach out, and I was up firing and, you know—and so on. And they crawled up to me and said, “Hodges, that bird’s for you.” And I said, “Really?” And he said, “Yes.” And I said, “Well, then I’m out of here. I’m gone. I’m going to wish you guys luck.” You know. But went and got on the bird and never will forget. He went straight up in the air hundred or so feet and just buzzed the treeline all the way down. It was—And it was great. I was getting in—But he took me straight to Camp Eagle, I think, where they took my weapon, ammo, you know, all that type of thing. And then I—They—I got on a—I guess the C-130 went from there to Cam Ranh, I think, and from Cam Ranh—And I still hadn’t—We’d been out in the field for almost two weeks, three weeks, and I hadn’t bathed or anything. (42:16) From there I went to Osaka, Japan. Browning’s body—Turns out was already back in the States, and they were trying to catch me up to the body. And actually put me on a commercial flight out of Osaka. Not having bathed or anything in a few weeks. But I would say the people on that plane were just—They were marvelous. They were very, very, very kind people. Flew from there to the West Coast and then from the West Coast all the way over to Dover, Delaware, which is where Browning’s body was. Interviewer: “Right. Did you get a chance to change clothes or bathe or shave along the way anywhere?” Yeah, in California. In California I did. Or it might have been not until Dover. I don’t really remember. I remember getting my patches and all that kind of stuff in Dover, so now I’m not �Hodges, Terry sure. And then took a truck ride. Browning was from Georgia, and we took a truck with his body in the back from Dover, Delaware into his hometown in Georgia for the funeral. Interviewer: “Okay, and what—Was anything running through your head through all of this, or were you…?” No, I was just bone tired. I mean, I was just really tired. I was really glad to be where I was. I was not happy at all about why I was there. I thought it was all a total waste. I always thought everything over there was a total waste of some very good men, but I met some outstanding men there. (44:01) Interviewer: “Had you ever met Browning’s—his wife?” No. Interviewer: “Okay. She just heard enough about you that…?” I think Browning and I talking one time—I think we kind of made this deal that if something happens to me, I’m going to ask your wife, and if something happens to you, you know. We kind of made that pact. But we were probably sitting around drinking beer, and you know how that goes. But after that my wife flew up to Georgia and met me, so I was able to spend a few days with her before I had to start matriculating back to Vietnam. Interviewer: “Okay. While you were in Vietnam, how much contact did you have with your wife?” Well, we were out forty-five days, and then one night of the seven days we were back you would stand in line and wait for the MARS Radio. And they would place a call, and you got to talk to her for fifteen or twenty minutes or five or ten minutes. Whatever it was. But that was the only contact that we had other than letters. Yeah. Interviewer: “Yeah. All right, so—But now you’ve got to go back to Vietnam, right?” Correct. Interviewer: “Okay. Was that just something you accepted you had to do, or…?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Yeah? Okay, so…” But my wife became pregnant, you know. So that’s—And that’s my only job. So my daughter came out of Browning passing away. Interviewer: “All right, so now you head back out again. When you rejoin your unit, where are they?” �Hodges, Terry They were back on Kathyrn, I think. I think they were. They might have been in the rear. I think they were in the rear. (46:03) Interviewer: “And has the monsoon started yet, or was it still dry at that point?” It was still dry at that point. The monsoons were—Well, I don’t know. I think the monsoons had just started because it was very wet in the mountains. I remember that I had a very hard time the first day getting up and down the mountains. I remember that. Wading through a little river. I remember falling face-first. My legs weren’t underneath me again at that point in time, but that didn’t take long either, so… Interviewer: “Okay. Now in these later months was there much contact with the enemy, or were they largely gone?” We didn’t have too much action after that. Little skirmish here and there. Maybe a sniper. Something like that. But nothing anywhere near, you know, the episode in June at Ripcord. So it wasn’t that bad, and not too long after that I got my drop of two weeks and processed out. Interviewer: “All right. Now while you were in Vietnam—let’s see—did you ever spend any time in areas where there were civilians, or were you always out in the field someplace?” No. By the time I had gotten on the 101st Airborne Division, we had been banned from the city of Huế, which was the largest town. You know, a very large town in Vietnam as far as Vietnam goes. But no, they were—They wouldn’t allow us in the town anymore. Interviewer: “Okay, and there were not really civilians in the hill country where you were operating.” No. No, there weren’t. It wasn’t like the lowlands where you had farmers and so on. No. Saw very few civilian people. (48:14) Interviewer: “Did you see any of the South Vietnamese military?” No. Not that I recall. Interviewer: “Yeah, so it was really just largely Americans, and you had your, you know, Vietnamese scouts or whatever.” Chiêu Hồi Scout and up and down in the mountains constantly. Interviewer: “All right. Now there are a variety of stereotypes about Vietnam and what happened there, and so we’ll ask about that just to see what you think of them. One of them has to do with drug use. I mean, was that something that you were aware of or saw any of?” �Hodges, Terry Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. When we were back in the rear, blacks got really involved with heroin. I would smoke pot. If it weren’t illegal, I would smoke it again honestly. But mostly just drank beer. Alcohol. You know, hard alcohol. Interviewer: “Now when people were out in the field, did anybody smoke anything, or…?” No, absolutely not. That’s a good way to get lit up. Interviewer: “Okay, and in terms of just sort of racial issues and so forth—” Well, I say no. I was talking to Dale Tauer earlier, and there were occasions where people were smoking out there, but I did not. Interviewer: “Yeah. It seemed to have happened occasionally. It just—” Yeah, obviously so. I wasn’t aware of it. Interviewer: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that’s kind of what I’m asking. Okay. Yeah, and another issue has to do with race relations and things like that. And in the rear did the blacks and whites kind of segregate themselves, or…?” Yes, they did. Yes, they did. (50:08) Blacks thought they were being entirely persecuted and fodder. Meanwhile, some very good white guys were getting killed, and I didn’t see the distinction. Interviewer: “All right. Now in the field, if you had black and white soldiers out there together, did everybody work together?” Yes. Yeah. It actually—Toward the end it actually got to the point to where the black guys weren’t actually going out into the field, which I didn’t—I thought a large degree of that decision was because they—The most of them were starting to have drug problems, but I think it was also that the army made a conscious decision. They reacted to pressure. Political pressure. That the blacks were being disproportionately maimed and killed, so they allowed them to stay out of the field, which I wasn’t really happy about. Understatement. I wasn’t happy about it. Yeah. Interviewer: “All right. Now did the army make any effort to encourage you to stay in?” No, they did not. They did not. Interviewer: “Okay. In fact, you get an early out. Did they just offer that to you, or did you request it?” Nobody ever mentioned it to me. I got to Fort Lewis, Washington and just processed out as everybody else did. Nobody ever came up and said, “Hey, we’d like for you to re-enlist,” or anything, which would have been a large waste of their time, effort, and energy. But no, they never did approach me about that. (52:08) �Hodges, Terry Interviewer: “Yeah. At that point, you’d had enough time in service. They were starting to let people out early on a fairly consistent basis, so I think a lot of other guys went out in a similar deal. If you had been in long enough, and you had put your year in at Vietnam, then…” That was—That was it. Yeah. I had put about a year in prior to that. Eleven months, sixteen days days over there, and they were more than happy to let me go home. And I was more than happy to go home. Interviewer: “Okay, so what did you do once you got out?” I went back to school. Went back to school. Actually, when I got out, my daughter was only seven days old. And, of course, we resided in Baton Rouge. My football to my college—My football team—My head coach offered me my scholarship back. I had one year remaining and also another year of being the student, you know—the coach. You know, the assistant—Not assistant coach, but—To work with the program for another year. And my wife said, “You either go back to school there, or you be a dad.” So I stayed home and was a dad. Interviewer: “Okay, and did you find a job?” Yeah, I went to work for Mabel. I went to work for the—It was, what? Southwestern Bell at the time, I guess. Installing telephones and climbing poles and doing that sort of thing. Interviewer: “Okay. Did you have any trouble readjusting to civilian life?” No, but that’s not me. I kind of—Just like I didn’t have that much trouble going into the army, I just—“That’s where I am. I’m going to make the best of this. Do the best I can.” And I didn’t fret over a whole lot. (54:20) Interviewer: “Okay, and once you were back, I mean, would you talk to anybody about Vietnam, or…?” No. No, I did not. Had no desire to do that. I didn’t think they would understand. I’ve got three brothers. Never really discussed it with them. My marriage, you know, fell apart, and I ended up going back to LSU and finished school. So it’s kind of roll with the punches, I guess. Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Did you stay with Southwestern Bell, or did you go on to other things?” No, I went on to other things once I graduated. Actually, I quit working for Bell when I went and I started the GI Bill to go back to school and had a part-time job. And one of my younger brothers and I shared an apartment, so it worked out. Interviewer: “Okay, so what kind of job did you wind up doing then after you finished?” �Hodges, Terry I ended up in marketing, so I got a sales job with old Sperry Remington when they had actually dealerized about that point in time. And the fellow that was given the state of Louisiana—I went to work for him in the Baton Rouge office. Eventually transferred to the New Orleans office and then back to the Baton Rouge office. But I was thirteen years with him. Interviewer: “All right. Now to kind of look back on things, how do you think your time in the service affected you, or what did you learn from it?” (56:06) I already knew how to play with weapons, so I didn’t learn that from them, I don’t think. And I enjoyed the bigger guns and the explosives. I enjoyed fooling with that. I didn’t really learn a whole bunch as far as—You learn about things you don’t want to know about. I learned about war. I learned about the human capacity for sacrifice and, I guess, a lot of bad odds to do what, in your mind, says you’re supposed to do. People caring about people. It’s probably the one thing that I’ve gathered from getting back with these guys just for the last two years. The last two reunions. Is that they’ve filled in a lot of pieces of what went on that bad day, but it’s also—We also have a camaraderie that you’re not going to find anywhere else, and we’re also commensurate with the fact that there was some really, really good young men that were wasted. And you feel a loss about that, but then you also feel very fortunate to have reconnected with them because they’re some great guys. They are just truly great guys. Feel about them more— I’m not one that has a lot of friends. Don’t need a lot of friends. Never wanted a lot of friends. I consider each and every one of them a true friend. And I’ve got a few of them back home, you know. But that’s who I pal with. That’s who I play golf with. My circle’s not that large, but it’s a good circle. Interviewer: “Yeah, well, it is certainly a good group of men here. I’d just like to close up by just thanking you for taking the time to share this story today and help fill in another piece of it.” I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you, Jim. (58:23) � 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_HodgesT2281V Title A name given to the resource Hodges, Terry (Interview transcript and video), 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11-02 Description An account of the resource Terry Hodges was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1948. He graduated high school in 1966 and attended Southeastern Louisiana University for three years before he recieved his draft notice. Hodges attended both basic and advanced infantry training in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and rejected then opportunity to attend Noncommissioned Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then sent to Vietnam in 1970 where he was stationed at Camp Evans and then Firebase Kathryn with Delta Company, 1st Battalion of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. He remembered his unit coming under fire during the siege on Firebase Ripcord after which his unit suffered heavy losses. He also had to accompany his friend's body back to the U.S. for the funeral in Georgia. Having served eleven months and sixteen days in Vietnam, Hodges was eventually given an early-out in April of 1971 and returned to his home in Baton Rouge. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hodges, Terry Lynn Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> 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.) Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e29409d27fa6b7fe4ed50404d1b3d4e2.mp4 fa7e810f6acbde1c1861e4b3c9120d8d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/40d8119588306586a2f4291883461873.pdf dd77429cdec7d2688d98bea1c0d7b545 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Doug Hoekzema (20:58) Notes: „ Lived in Kentwood, Grand Rapids, Grandvillle. (:15) „ Knew Gerald Ford, raised his children a block away from Ford's childhood home. (:20) „ Worked for his father in a food distribution plant as a minor (1:15) „ Worked mostly in the summers and on Saturdays during High School (1:59) „ Enlisted in the service, was not drafted. (2:15) „ After graduating high school, he and a friend went on a hunting and fishing trip in Alaska. The trip lasted approximately seven months, at the end of which they were out of money and had to seek temporary employment to pay there way back home. (2:15) „ Enlisted in 1953, in the Navy as he thought it would be the safest branch of the military. (2:43) „ First assignment was to re-commission a destroyer which had been retired due to age and damage. (3:09) „ Started out active duty in either Guam or Midway, he is unsure (3:42) „ Truce was signed early on in the Korean War. His ship was then put on patrol duty along the coast for two months. He recounts that they were so close to the coast that he could see the Army maintaining order in Korea. (3:45) „ After patrol duty ended, the ship then was sent on a world tour. (4:08) „ Later on, he was transferred to Florida, where his first son was born. (4:19) „ He stayed on the naval station at Florida for about a year. (4:28) „ Discharged in 1955. (4:31) „ Most of his time on ship was taken up with military maneuvers and practices. He does not recall much free time while on ship (4:45) „ He had some free time while shore, during which he explored the different cultures. (5:02) „ During most of his period in the Navy, he was not involved in active duty. (5:20) „ He recounts that the most important event of his time in the service was the peace treaty. His comrades at the base were excited to hear the news of the treaty, and he recalls being relieved. �(5:45) „ He recounts that he made a few friends in the Navy, most of which he has lost contact with over the years. (6:35) „ He expresses grief at being unable to find his best friend from his Navy years, although he has not tried Navy or Veteran contacts as of yet. (6:35) „ He recounts that he and his friend watched out for each other during there shore leave. (7:58) „ Tried to sightsee while touring the world, but had to moderate due to his low pay and the money he sent home to his wife. (8:20) „ He recalls that of all the places he visited, he found Japan the most enjoyable, especially the food. (9:05) „ He doesn't believe that his time in the service impacted him very much. He was happy to be out of the service, and did not join the reserves. (9:34) „ He believes that most people, aside from those aiming for military careers are glad to be done with their time in the service. (10:04) „ He is somewhat bitter about his experience in the Navy. (10:19) „ After finishing with the Navy, he re-joined his father in his business. (10:33) „ Moves to East Grand Rapids. (10:54) „ He recalls that there were few life-threatening encounters during his period in the service. He did have some anxiety initially on his way to Korea, but the treaty served to allay his fears. (11:21) „ Doesn't remember celebrating any significant holidays. (12:00) „ Recalls his frustration with the cramped ship conditions. (12:18) „ He explains that during his time on ship he was in charge of accounting, and food services as a result of his prior experience in food services. (16:11) „ During his time in the Navy, he believes he was helped by Gerald Ford. He had known Ford through groups such as the Freemasons, Foundry Club, and the Lion's Club of which they were both members. After spending three years at sea, he had become sick of life on the “dumb ship” and wrote Ford a letter asking if he could somehow have him put on shore leave. Approximately six weeks after the letter, he was transferred to shore leave in Florida. Ford never sent him a letter confirming he was involved, but Mr. Hoekzema is certain he had something to do with his transfer. (13:04-16:49) „ During his time in Florida, he took advantage of the hunting and fishing of the area. (17:00) �„ Bought a new trailer, and raised his son during his stay in Florida. He also notes that he and his wife got their first dog. (17:35) � 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 Hoekzema, Doug (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hoekema, Doug E. Description An account of the resource Doug Hoekzema served in the US Navy between 1953 and 1955. He served on a destroyer in the Pacific, and his ship patrolled the Korean coastline shortly after the armistice there. The ship then toured the world, and Hoekzema got reassigned to shore duty after that, possibly due to the intervention of his congressman, Gerald Ford. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Novak, Hailey (Interviewer) Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy Korean War, 1950-1953--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 2007-05-30 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HoekzemaD 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/34ec3e8b4d0d71c56407e316bd0ff820.mp4 237f8a12410fa3fa5b5f4bf9a8856110 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/144371f920aad62c24dbbad7ecb04925.pdf 469918e1758d87324720d9b1f17f0372 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project James W. Hoerner (01:29:00) Pre Enlistment • Born in Fort Wayne, IN • July 20, 1918 (0:17) • Attended St. Patrick’s Catholic in Fort Wayne and Catholic Central High School (0:40) • Attended International Business School in Fort Wayne for 2 years (0:40) • Attended U of M for 2 years after the war (1:00) • Intended to own a business or have a career in banking • Went into the service before he was able to finish school (1:50) • Was drafted in June of 1942 (2:00) • Was in his car driving through Ft. Wayne, IN when he heard about Pearl Harbor (2:20) • Knew America would go to war before Pearl Harbor (3:00) • Had no interest in getting involved in the military (4:00) Draft/Induction • Just received notice that he had to report for duty (4:30) • Given a date to report, and rode a bus with 40 or 50 guys to Toledo, OH (5:15) • Processed in Toledo, and then rode a train to Fort Harrison to be inducted (6:00) • Sworn in in a large group (6:17) • Took intelligence tests, and health testing (6:30) • Had no idea where he would be assigned (6:50) • Spent the first 5 days on KP (7:20) • First job was lining up the salt and pepper shakers and ketchup bottles in the mess hall (7:35) • Did it for 3 or 4 days (7:54) • Cooked for about 5,000 people, but then was a cook (8:30) • Cooked massive volumes of food, and couldn’t eat turkey for about twenty years after (9:00) • Officer told him to report to Finance School because of his IQ test (10:00) • Never underwent Basic Training (10:40) • Schooling took 3 months, with the intent to learn military finance (11:00) • A finance officer is always attached to an Infantry Division (11:20) • Was able to get reports of the war at school (13:00) • Did not dwell on the facts of the war, just on what needed to be done (13:30) • Most of his barracks buddies were from the Mid-West (14:20) • Had a graduation ceremony and a certificate (15:00) • Was bumped up to a T4 rank, a technical grade (15:20) Finance Officer �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • After graduation, went to Camp Blanding to set up a finance office (15:50) Adjusted fine to military life (16:16) Had desks, typewriters in the office (16:50) A major was in charge (17:00) Sergeants ran the office (17:15) Jim would calculate the pay for a regiment or battalion by each man (17:30) Paid once a month (17:45) Took 2-3 weeks to get the payroll together (17:50) Had to determine how many individual bills to get from the bank (18:00) Gave the total pay for regiment to dispersing officer to pay the men (18:50) Stayed at Camp Blanding for 5 months (19:20) Army assigned him to a brand new division at Camp Howes in Texas (20:10) Camp was still under construction (20:25) Trained new men from the school (20:50) Formed friends and had time to visit places during the weekends (21:20) Wanted to be an officer to not wait in line at movies (22:15) Officer Candidate School • Volunteered and was accepted to go to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning (22:25) • Army probably looked through his file to establish eligibility (23:00) • No longer in Finance, but an Infantry environment (23:30) • Before training, there were 200 people in the class (23:50) • First Thursday he was there, they posted jobs for everybody, and Jim was assigned Company Commander (24:40) • An old Sergeant from Boston took him under his wing for the weekend before class started to help him (25:00) • Went to the woods to show him how to make his voice carry, and gave him a piece of paper with the instructions (25:30) • Everything went smoothly on his first day (26:50) • Until he put the men on trucks (27: 20) • Officers came and brought him to talk to the Major (27:40) • Major was unconcerned after he heard the explanation (28:00) • Jim was Company Commander for the rest of his time at school (29:00) • Jim was the assistant ammunition carrier for maneuvers (29:20) Training • After school, the Army sent Jim to 90th Infantry Division in the Mojave Desert (31:45) • Was not used to the desert (32:00) • Took him two weeks to find the unit, finally found them in November (32:50) • Was a second lieutenant (32:55) • Was first assigned to 357th Regiment, 1st Battalion (33:30) • Was in A Company, 1st Platoon, which was 39 men (34:15) • Still had no clue where they were going (35:00) • Carried a canteen, wore khakis, carried an M1, wore a pack (37:20) �• • • • • Did maneuvers against the 94th Division (38:00) Had no idea about the danger involved in warfare even while training, everything was put on (39:30) Training lasted until December 24th of 1943 (40:25) Division was moved by train to Fort Dix, NJ (40:45) Took 5 days to get from the desert to Fort Dix (41:45) Europe • Knew he was going to go somewhere in Europe by this time (42:20) • Traveled overseas on a British ship with the whole regiment (44:30) • Was in a convoy, which travels at the rate of the slowest ship (45:00) • Convoy had merchant ships, destroyers, submarines to protect the convoy (45:10) • Took 21 days to cross the Atlantic (45:15) • Arrived in Southampton in England (46:00) • Battalion was stationed on a huge farm called Gattacres (46:41) • Slept in two man tents (46:50) • Did calisthenics, took road marches (47:00) • Only interacted with the British in the pubs (47:15) • Received notice they were going to France (48: 15) D-Day Invasion • Still had no idea as to the scope of the invasion he was involved in (50: 40) • As soon as he stepped on the ship, he realized why he was trained to use the cargo net to depart the ship (51:30) • People would fall off the net, get knocked around by the LCI (52:00) • Day of invasion, suddenly realized the danger (54:00) • Had full packs (54:05) • Some of his guys slipped off the net getting into the LCI and drowned (54:50) • Had about 35 out of the original 39 men in his LCI (54:55) • The LCI gets in a waiting circle pattern until the whole group is ready to go then heads to shore (55:25) • Finally realized the scope of the invasion (55:40) • Still imagines the look on the Germans faces when they woke up on June 6th (56:00) • Every unit had a designated area they had to get to on the beaches (57:15) • Had Brig. Gen. Teddy Roosevelt as a commanding officer (57:35) [Ed. note: Gen Roosevelt was the assistant commander of the 4th Division, which landed at Utah Beach on D-Day. Elements of the 90th Division, including Hoerner’s unit, landed there in support of the 4th Division, and Roosevelt had command of them until the rest of the 90th landed on D+1.} • Navy put Jim’s group a mile and a half off the designated drop zone (57:50) • Had no fire coming at them (58:00) • Turned the whole unit around and headed to the fighting (58:30) • First round he heard thump into his area, he truly became an Infantry Officer (59:40) • Still had to land in the water and struggle ashore (01:00:20) �• • • • • All 35 of his guys made it ashore (01:01:30) Never kept people less than 5 yards apart so a mortar round would take out less people (01:02:15) Got to the assembly place and waited a day until they received orders (01:03:15) D-Day +1, but still could hear sounds of battle (01:04:00) Assigned to get organized and wait for further instructions (01:05:00) Fighting in Europe • Assigned to a sector, and had to attack in that sector (01:06:30) • Still lobbed shells in from ships (01:07:30) • Had one tank battalion attached to the division (01:08:30) • Had two tanks in his company (01:08:50) • Encountered heavy opposition as they went through their sector (01:09:05) • Was in hedgerow country for about a week (01:09:15) • If they gained 100 yards a day they were lucky (01:09:30) • Germans knew they could use hedgerows for good defense (01:10:50) • Used grenades, knee mortars to clear out the hedgerows (01:11:15) • Had a lighting outfit, and reflected the lights off clouds onto the battlefield (01:12:00) • Eventually stopped because they needed sleep (01:12:20) • Stayed light until 10 or 11 at night (01:12:50) • Hard to get weapons in position, mostly used grenades (01:14:00) • No artillery in this area because everyone was too close to each other (01:14:30) • Was in hedgerow country for weeks (01:14:45) • Received C, K and sometimes D rations (01:15:20) • Had officer meetings every night. Reported casualties and position and outlined the plan for the next day (01:16:15) • Casualties were evacuated very quickly (01:16:40) • After hedgerows, a line formed from Periers to St. Lo to Caen (01:17:45) • 2 Divisions would be on the line and bombing would happen in front of them (01:18:00) [refers to carpet bombing in St. Lo sector] • Happened in July (01:18:20) • Had a smoke line to show where Allied forces were, but wind blew the smoke back and accidentally bombed some Allied forces (01:18:50) • 5th and 79th Infantry Division b • Now fighting in open country (01:19:20) • Once Patton arrived, things moved quicker (01:19:50) • Mostly rode in trucks to the next point (01:20:00) • 4th Armored Division went crazy (01:20:22) • Not a massive front going forward, but usually a Division or so (01:20:30) • Got really excited to receive socks (01:22:00) • Germans took their casualties back, as well (01:23:05) • Moved in to the area that had been bombed (01:23:45) • Enemy was so stunned, they couldn’t fight back (01:24:00) • There was a constant stream of bombing (01: 24:30) • Went to LeMans, but ran out of gas there (01: 25:00) �• • • • • • Injured at Bocanraille on third or fourth day (01:25:12) Was evacuated (01:25:30) Out for a few days (01:25:50) Had a local boy that collected things from the 90th Division (01:26:30) He put museums and plaques up wherever the Division went (01:27:00) Wrote down things that happened in a book (01:28:00) � 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 Hoerner, Jim (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hoerner, Jim Description An account of the resource Jim Hoerner was drafted in the US Army in 1942, received financial training, and then attended officer candidate school. Upon graduating, he was assigned to the 90th Division as a platoon leader. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day and fought in Normandy, across France, through the Bulge and into Germany, although the interview mostly focuses on his experiences through the Normandy campaign. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans 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 2004-09-08 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HoernerJ 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/18aee6790398d9815da14ce3ab6b3bf6.mp4 f5780e9716679f932f7f66dc6ee43c1d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/16630ebeeecae13da335a75c3d052573.pdf 3c841239b092fc6e8364d2e5243a11bc PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Charles Hoffman World War II Total Time: 1:11:30 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (0:00:12) • • • • • • Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924. Father worked as a printer before the depression, however he lost his job during the depression. However, he was able to find work eventually. Also lived on an island in Jamaica Bay, New York for a time. He remembers that he was playing football when he heard about Pearl Harbor. He had a brother that was already in the service, so his parents refused to sign his release while he was underage. He heard that the Navy was about to stop enlistments, so he went to sign up in April 1943. Training (0:04:30) • • • • • • • • He was sent to Sampson Naval Training Center in upstate New York. They learned to march and swim while at Sampson. (0:05:25) They learned to swim in water with burning oil on the surface. He knew how to swim and row before he arrived. He had some trouble adjusting to the discipline of military life (0:08:04) He was then shipped to Newport, Rhode Island where he attended gunnery school. There, they had classes and practiced on the gunnery range. (0:10:15) They had some limited time off while they were there. (0:10:23) He was then sent to Norfolk, Virginia where he was trained in the practical aspects of being aboard a ship. (0:11:43) He experienced segregation for the first time while he was on liberty in Virginia. He sat down in the back of a bus and was looked at in a strange way. Active Duty (0:13:42) • • • He was assigned to the USS Garfield Thomas (DE-193). The ship was approximately 306 feet long and had a beam of 36 feet. They had a crew of around 200. The ship was brand new. He went from Norfolk to Brooklyn Naval Yard where they had a commissioning ceremony for the ship. His parents were able to attend, because they lived in Brooklyn. (0:15:45) The ship went for a shakedown cruise to Bermuda. During the shakedown, they fan into a terrible storm. (0:18:40) His first cruise was to Recife, Brazil where they were sent to deliver some ships and protect them from submarines. His ship was involved in anti- �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • submarine operations, and they encountered several on the trip, but were never fired upon. There were 6 ships escorting the convoy. (0:20:30) He specifically recalls there being a lot of prostitutes in Recife. (0:22:10) His ship also took several trips to North Africa and England. He remembers there being a lot of submarine activity in the Mediterranean Sea. (0:24:05) At one point, they destroyed a Japanese submarine off the coast of South America. (0:25:05) His job was to work the forward gun. They had 8-hour shifts, and they would change the hours of the shift each week. (0:26:35) Each man on the ship had a small bunk that they slept on. (0:28:40) They did have a man go overboard at one point. The ship rolled while the man was on the railing and he fell off into the ocean. They tried to get the man, but the ship was unable to get to him. (0:32:02) He did see German submarines on a number of occasions. (0:32:25) They never lost a ship when his boat was on convoy duty. (0:33:50) He did sustain one injury on the ship. His hand was cut fairly badly at one point. (0:36:20) During his time in England, he recalls specifically the blackouts and going to the pubs. (0:38:20) When he traveled through the North Atlantic, he recalls the weather being fairly rough and stormy. He remembers a number of storms on several different crossings. (0:40:40) He was sailing off of the coast of Spain when D-Day occurred, and he was not part of the operation. (0:41:10) His ship stopped in Cherbourg and Le Havre after D-Day, but he did not go ashore. (0:42:50) He went through the Panama Canal after VE day, and proceeded on to San Diego. (0:43:40) When he crossed the equator for the first time, he was subject to some severe hazing, including electrical shocks. (0:45:10) He was then sent across the Pacific, and encountered some Japanese submarines in the process. (0:46:15) His ship would have participated in the invasion of Japan if the Atomic bombs had not been dropped. (0:47:00) After the war officially ended, his ship served as a weather ship in the Aleutians, where they were fired upon by some Japanese soldiers that were unaware the war was over. (0:49:10) After the war, they would sometimes spend their free time on the deck of the ship watching films. (0:52:50) He remembers icebergs making it difficult to maneuver and navigate, although the ship was easy to steer. (0:52:59) The ship had several African-American crewmen who worked for the officers doing daily tasks. (0:54:08) He did make a number of friends while he was on the ship. �• (0:54:35) He was shipped to Brooklyn Receiving Station, New York and then to Lido Beach, New York where he was discharged. Post-War (0:55:00) • When he got out of the Navy, he flew to Detroit, Michigan where he met the sister of the man who had fallen overboard, because he was good friends with this man and after he died he began corresponding with the man’s sister. While he was in Ann Arbor, his friend’s father offered him a job in construction, and he eventually married the sister. He eventually switched jobs and worked for AT&T. � 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 Hoffman, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hoffman, Charles Description An account of the resource Charles Hoffman was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, and served in the Navy during World War II. He was assigned to a destroyer which was used to guard convoys from submarines. He served initially in the Atlantic, but moved to the Pacific after VE day. He sailed to many places, including Brazil, North Africa, France, England, and the Philippines. 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. Navy World War, 1939-1945--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 2005-08-29 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HoffmanC 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/f570b9fbe195a804d4d0adf76700688b.mp4 44e73035134f2e42f3b4c6c37a416d14 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5b0bf48f326d2e41ad987f0807f7df36.pdf 50534eee3c0f9ce20c96703293bbbd30 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Mort Hoffman World War II 51 minutes 18 seconds (00:00:31) Early Life -Born in Rochester, New York -Most likely in 1926 -Grew up in Rochester -Attended George Washington High School and Ben Franklin High School -Graduated from high school in June 1944 (00:01:05) Enlisting in the Navy -He enlisted in the Navy after graduating from high school -Sent to Naval Training Station Sampson, New York -A lot of his high school friends joined the Navy at the same time that he did -Had been in the New York National Guard from 1942-1944 -Got sick of being a foot soldier -There was also a patriotic duty to serve one’s country during World War II -He felt a personal duty to help stop the spread of fascism due to his parents’ heritage -Mother had been born in Ukraine -Father had been born in Belarus -Father had served in the Russian Army in WWI -Moved to the United States after the war (00:04:47) Deployment -Sent to Camp Parks, California to receive his overseas assignment -He was given a week leave home before being deployed -Upon returning from leave he wound up in a naval hospital due to a severe fever -His original unit was shipped out to the Marianas Islands at this time -He was reassigned to another unit and deployed with them -On December 7, 1944 he was aboard the SS Carl Schurz bound for the Aleutian Islands (00:06:10) New York National Guard -In the National Guard as a high school student -Only had to be sixteen years old to be in the National Guard -He received Army basic training -Drills and marching -Would go to Camp Smith near Peekskill, New York for maneuvers -Several of his friends were in the National Guard as well -Helped prepare him for when he enlisted in the Navy (00:07:29) Basic Training and Assignment to the Seabees -Basic training lasted twelve weeks -Basic training consisted of a lot of marching -Went out for drills on Lake Geneva -He was in good shape during basic training -There was an emphasis on discipline and following orders �-Wasn’t too difficult for him to adjust -There were 144 men in his barracks -He was not allowed to leave the base during the twelve weeks of basic training -Parents were allowed to visit him after four weeks though -He had worked for an auto parts store in high school -He had experience with putting things together which led to assignment to the Seabees (00:10:00) The Seabees -The Seabees had been established in 1942 -Navy’s version of the Army Corps of Engineers -Duty of the Seabees was to do construction work -Building docks and airstrips -Destroying enemy coastal defenses (00:10:52) Stationed on Adak -Constructed a spare parts depot for vehicles on base -He was part of the 114th Naval Construction Battalion -He had been assigned to the Navy side of Adak Island -Maintaining refrigeration units for the mess hall and the medical facilities -His unit finished a landing strip in only nine days -The men in his unit got along together well and did their work well -Primary duty was to maintain construction vehicles for the construction of that air strip -In early 1945 he was reassigned to the Marine camp on Adak Island -Trained with the Marines -Carried the twenty pound Browning Automatic Rifle -Went on marches with them across the tundra -It got down to -55oF one night while they were bivouacking -There was a fleet assembled to prepare for the planned invasion of Japan -British ships, Canadian ships, and Russians ships were assembled there -NOTE: The Russians did not declare war on Japan until August 9, 1945 -The planned invasion was cancelled after the atomic bombs were dropped -The rest of his time was spent doing maintenance work (00:15:33) Coming Home Pt. 1 -In early July 1946 they flew back to the continental United States -Landed at Seattle, Washington then took a train to Lido Beach, Long Island, New York -There was an attempt for the men to reenlist -He declined (00:16:53) Living Conditions on the Aleutian Islands Pt. 1 -They lived in Quonset huts -The snow could get up to nine feet high -There was a major snow storm that was the result of a typhoon near Hawaii -During that time you were not allowed to walk anywhere without another sailor -There were ropes strung between the buildings -Both of these things were to avoid anyone getting lost during the storm -This storm had 107MPH winds -They had “foul weather gear” -Heavy, fur lined, insulated jackets that the soldiers envied -Some soldiers would trade their beer ration for a coat �(00:19:11) Downtime on the Aleutian Islands -The normal shift was eight hours and everything after that was downtime -There was a movie theatre that they could go to -There was a beer hall -There was a recreation center -Had pool tables, shuffleboard, etc. -A lot of downtime was spent sleeping -There was no alcohol abuse that he was aware of -Used downtime to write letters home every day -His parents would send him corned beef, cookies, and cake sealed in cans -It was far better than the processed meat and powdered eggs they were served (00:21:17) Contact with other Military Forces -He met Russian, Canadian, and British troops -The Russians could speak a little English and he could speak a little Russian -This was because of his parents’ heritage -Found that it was actually harder to communicate with the English due to their accent (00:22:11) Living Conditions on the Aleutian Islands Pt. 2 -There were sixteen men to one Quonset hut -Also could sleep in an insulated tent -They would keep their food in a box in the ground as a sort of improvised refrigerator -Also allowed to cook their own food on an oil stove (00:23:18) Contact with Friends after the War -He had a lot of friends while he was in the Navy -He still maintains contact with some of them -There has never been a formal reunion for his unit though (00:24:45) Life after the War Pt. 1 -He went to Des Moines, Iowa for college at Drake University -Started college in January 1947 -He joined the American Veterans (AMVETS) -His roommate had been in the Army and had landed at Sicily and Anzio, Italy -He and his wife visited Anzio after the war -He met a man that knew a man that Mort worked with in Grand Rapids -He saw the American cemetery that had been established at Anzio -Now works as a civilian contractor for the Navy -He worked for Wolverine-Hushpuppies Shoe Company -Opened 128 specialty stores around the country -Worked with foreign distributors -Established a store for the company in downtown Charleston, South Carolina -He set up locations for the Navy -Due to his job he has gotten to travel around the United States and around the world -He has been to Japan three times, Italy two times, and Spain one time (00:30:24) Morale -The morale was good in his unit -Everyone knew they had a job to do and did it -There was only one casualty in his unit -Man killed himself after learning that his first wife knew about his second wife �(00:32:08) Indigenous People and Animals -The only other living things on Adak were foxes and some trappers -There was also salmon and king crab that they could go fishing for (00:32:39) Revisiting the Aleutian Islands -He has since gone back to Kodiak Island -He tried to return to Adak but it has since been returned to the Native Americans -It is also basically inaccessible (00:34:00) Famous People -He saw President Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt when he was in the Navy -Got to see actor Don Ameche -Saw Phil Spitalny and His All Girl Orchestra -He had gone to high school with one of the girls -Got to go to dinner with them -Saw actor Tyrone Power (00:34:56) Logistics -There were a few thousand men on Adak -Ships would come in periodically to deliver supplies and refuel -There was an Army Air Base nearby and planes would fly patrols from there (00:35:50) Life after the War Pt. 2 -The summer of 1946 he worked for a local gas and electric company doing construction -He attended Drake University because some friends were going there and it wasn’t crowded -He majored in marketing and accounting -Worked for the Edison Brothers’ Shoe Company -From there he went to work for Utica Shoes and became the manager -Worked there for ten years -Worked on his master’s degree but didn’t complete it -GI Bill took care of that -Moved to St. Louis in 1958 and got married there -He worked for another shoe company in St. Louis -It was strange to go from being the one taking orders to being a manager (00:41:14) Veteran Group Involvement -He joined the AMVETS -Eventually became a post commander -Still receives their newsletter -He has attended AMVETS conventions in Iowa, St. Louis, and Grand Rapids (00:42:38) Life after the War Pt. 3 -He has one daughter -Moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1976 and got the job with Hush Puppies (00:42:58) Reflections on Service -Taught him about camaraderie -Always thought positively about their contribution to the war effort -It was difficult to visit Japan the first time after the war in light of their war crimes -Taught him people skills -Learned how to get along with a lot of different types of people -Taught him teamwork -Learned that sometimes some jobs can’t be done by just one man �-He did face discrimination due to being Jewish -Some men beat him up solely for being Jewish -Just tried to ignore the people like that -Otherwise he and the non-Jewish soldiers got along and took care of each other -There were three Navajo Native American soldiers in his unit -They faced some discrimination as well -Remembers that one wasn’t allowed to go home for his parents’ funerals -Felt that it was a worthwhile experience and is grateful that he came through it okay -Reflects on the men that didn’t make it, especially some of his friends that didn’t make it � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HoffmanM1755V Title A name given to the resource Hoffman, Mort (Interview outline and video), 2015 Description An account of the resource Mort Hoffman was born in Rochester, New York in 1926. He grew up in Rochester and graduated in June 1944. From 1942-1944 he was in the New York National Guard and after graduating from high school decided to enlist in the Navy. He trained at Naval Training Station Sampson, New York and was deployed out of Camp Parks, California. He was sent up to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and served on the island of Adak with the 114th Naval Construction Battalion, helping to maintain vehicles and equipment as well as take part in construction projects. He stayed on the Aleutian Islands from December 1944 to July 1946, and was discharged shortly after his return. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hoffman, Mort Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Moore, Deb (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. National Guard United States. Navy Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text 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/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-04 Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) 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/54c416bd4bac87e967d635d79dded21c.mp4 cd0e6c3ec664469ed89d0a4be6531d28 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7d5e780391ab26d0cfd940d1e48e546d.pdf 9e706a6c9e98054259c1d135b7a20102 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Vietnam War Robert Hogue Interview Length: (00:52:09:00) Pre-Enlistment / Training (00:00:26:00)  Hogue was born on October 12th, 1950 in Salem, Ohio where his father was a farmer and his mother worked as a paraprofessional in the local school district (00:00:26:00)  After Hogue graduated from high school, there was nothing in the area job wise apart from coal mining and steel mills, but those all went down and the family farm was not big enough to supply both Hogue and his father, so Hogue went to live with an uncle in Detroit, Michigan (00:00:37:00) o Hogue’s uncle was an executive for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and Hogue went to work for him (00:00:52:00)  Hogue eventually ended up working in Lansing, Michigan, for Goodyear when he became eligible for the draft and in 1969, he was drafted (00:01:01:00) o Hogue was officially drafted through Ohio because he had been born in Salem; although the military drafted him while he lived in Michigan, Hogue had to go through the Ohio draft boards (00:01:18:00)  Hogue remembers that everyone who was drafted with him were trying to get out of their obligations but Hogue was young at the time and he did not understand why they did not want to serve their country (00:01:30:00) o The biggest method draftees used was taking a bottle of Pepsi and putting a lot of sugar in it to intentionally fail the tests (00:01:42:00) o There were a lot of draftees who did not want to go and they tried all sorts of methods to try and get out of the obligation, including get girls pregnant and several others (00:01:52:00)  Hogue went to serve his country and out of his entire family, including his own children, as well as his father, his brother and his brother’s children, Hogue is the only one who served in the military (00:02:02:00) o Although Hogue was willing to go, it was still a hard time for him and he believes that it was only through the grace of God that he managed to make it through the experience (00:02:17:00)  When he was drafted, Hogue’s only information about the fighting in Vietnam came from the news and what he heard from different people (00:02:41:00)  Hogue was the twelfth in line to be drafted and when he was, he was ticketed to go through infantry training and on to Vietnam; within four months of being drafted, Hogue was nineteen years old and in Vietnam (00:02:51:00)  Hogue went through basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky for eight weeks; the training was hard, strenuous, and all geared towards the infantry, such as how to kill others, how to defend yourself, etc. (00:03:09:00) o The soldiers received weapons training but fortunately for Hogue, he had been raised on a farm and he had done a lot of shooting on his own; while most kids �o o o o were spending their allowance in candy stores, Hogue was spending his allowance in ammunition stores (00:03:24:00)  Not a single day passed in training when Hogue did not shoot and he even attempted to get onto the Army’s marksmanship team; however, the Army needed infantry, not shooters, in Vietnam at the time (00:03:46:00) The instructors were very strict towards the trainees; they would tell them in the face that if the soldiers did not pay attention, then they probably would not come back from Vietnam alive (00:04:07:00)  Adjusting to military life was not that bad for Hogue because his parents were very strong people and he had been taught to obey and do the best he could do; he had been raised in a Christian home, which helped instill these values in him (00:04:26:00)  On the other hand, the service was awful because they had different rules and tasks the soldiers had to do; for example, the soldiers would go on fifteen miles hikes with fifty pound backpacks (00:04:39:00)  At that time, Hogue only weighed one hundred and thirty pounds, although he was in pretty good shape from growing up on the family farm (00:04:56:00)  Hogue does not want to speak ill of the service and the instructors because they were only doing their job, but that did not make the experience any less difficult (00:05:11:00) The rest of the men Hogue trained with were split about fifty/fifty between draftees and enlistees (00:05:47:00)  At the time, there was a lot of money for people joining the service; for example, the standard enlistment was four years but someone could sign up for a six year enlistment and receive ten thousand dollars (00:05:59:00)  Upwards of seventy-five percent of the soldiers in training did not want to be there and they did everything they could to get out; Hogue had never heard of some many conscientious objectors in his life (00:06:23:00)  There were people who did not believe in carrying guns or fighting and they came out of the woodwork (00:06:35:00)  Around sixty percent of the people who started training with Hogue actually finished (00:06:59:00) The training was rigorous, strenuous, and Hogue would dare say it was one of the most difficult things he had ever been through (00:07:10:00)  The soldiers knew they were lined up to go to Vietnam and if they did not know how to fire a weapon or how to use their senses, then they were not going to survive (00:07:15:00)  Hogue knew some of the soldiers were from the city and they did not even try to complete the training; instead most ended up simply using drugs (00:07:30:00)  Hogue never used marijuana and he never had any use for the drugs because he was there every day to make sure that he was going to be able to come home (00:07:46:00) The drill instructors were lifers in the military and they had served in Vietnam already (00:08:02:00) �   Although they were only doing their job, the instructors were still hard people to understand or deal with (00:08:12:00)  The instructors knew they had a job to do and some of them got their jollies out of bossing the other people around, making it seem like they were in charge; although they were in charge, the instructors sometimes did go overboard (00:08:22:00)  The instructors tended to pick on the soldiers who put up the most fight and they knew how to buffalo the soldiers in an effort to get under their skin (00:08:46:00) After completing basic training, the Army sent Hogue to Fort Polk, Louisiana for another eight weeks (00:09:12:00) o The experience at Fort Polk was totally different from the experience Hogue had at Fort Campbell, although training was still rigorous and difficult; instead of carrying fifty pound backpacks, the soldiers had to carry one hundred pound backpacks (00:09:22:00)  It was more of a setting that the soldiers knew their next stop was going to be in Vietnam and in fighting (00:09:33:00) o During the training, the soldiers had to go into the Louisiana swamps, where the instructors had set up silhouettes to simulate what the soldiers would be experiencing once they got into Vietnam (00:10:22:00)  Hogue remembers between six and eight different courses set up for training and although the instructors did everything they could to protect the soldiers, at a certain point, it was expected that a soldier’s senses would click on and make him ready (00:10:46:00) o While he was in Fort Polk, all the instructors told Hogue to watch the children and civilians because they would be the worst enemy, more so than the people Hogue was actually fighting and ultimately, the advice rang true (00:11:06:00)  The children were trained starting at five or six years old to know how to kill Americans; they would have their hands out and simultaneously try to stab the soldiers in the back (00:11:25:00) o Hogue knew that if he did not survive the training at Fort Polk, then he would not be coming home, although Hogue feels his prior experience with firearms greatly helped prepare him for the task of killing the enemy (00:11:49:00)  The training in Louisiana prepared the soldiers as much as possible for the task of fighting the enemy (00:12:20:00) o All the instructors at Fort Polk had been in Vietnam as part of the infantry, they had all been leaders in the infantry, and they all had a large period of experience, which Hogue estimates around ten and twenty years for all of them (00:12:27:00)  The instructors were good at their job but were hard and the soldiers had to decided whether or not they were going to listen to the instructor’s lessons or risk being on their bad list, something Hogue did not desire to be on (00:12:41:00) After completing the eight weeks of training at Fort Polk, Hogue was not allowed to go home (00:13:06:00) �o There was a ceremony marking the completion of the eight weeks and within seven days, he was out of the country, although he does remember his parents coming down to see him (00:13:10:00) Deployment (00:13:37:00)  From Louisiana, the soldiers went to Fort Lewis, Washington, where they boarded airplanes, with around one hundred soldiers to a plane, and from Fort Lewis, the soldiers flew directly to Vietnam (00:13:37:00) o Hogue’s first impression of Vietnam was that it bore some similarities to Fort Polk, in the sense that it was extremely hot and dry (00:14:21:00)  As a nineteen year old who did not fully understand the politics of why he needed to be in Vietnam, Hogue simply followed whatever directions he was given (00:14:34:00)  Although he had been trained in infantry, Hogue had an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) for mortars and long-range shooting (00:14:51:00) o However, although he had a mortarman MOS, Hogue almost right away became a platoon leader; while as a platoon leader, Hogue walked both point at the front of column and drag, at the rear of a column (00:15:14:00) o He remembers seeing soldiers wounded by claymore mines, which forced a constant shuffling of soldiers in and out of the platoon because the Army tired to keep each platoon’s compliment around fifteen soldiers (00:15:33:00) o For those first six months in Vietnam, Hogue went with out a bath or a shower (00:15:54:00)  When the soldiers first arrived in Da Nang, they were all brought into a large room and their individual assignments were pointed out on a map; the Army had between six and eight different locations to divide the newly arrived soldiers amongst (00:16:07:00) o Hogue ended up shipping directly into the field to join his unit, 434th Infantry Regiment, Americal Division (00:16:22:00)  From Da Nang, Hogue traveled to the Vietnamese settlement of Chu Lai and the surrounding area, which was where the 434th was positioned (00:16:37:00) o While the soldiers were in the field, their commanders would periodically call and tell them to move a certain distance or to a certain location; the soldiers would be scared whenever they received these calls because they did not know what exactly was going on (00:16:57:00)  Whenever a soldier would use drugs, the smell would get into the air and Hogue had a hard time with the soldiers using it; at one point, Hogue even caught his commander smoking (00:17:11:00) o The commander was supposed to be their leader but he justified his smoke as it did not hurt anyone and it was merely a stress reliever (00:17:33:00) o The soldiers who smoked marijuana tended to do so whenever the unit was encamped at a location for the night (00:17:42:00)  When the soldiers had encamped at a location, they would go out for a couple of hours then return to the main camp and they repeated this process several times during any given night (00:17:45:00) o There would be bombs flying overhead and the soldiers would dig foxholes for protection and the defend themselves from any attack (00:17:54:00) �       o Whenever Hogue dug a foxhole, he knew never to dig one only as deep as his hands would go; he wanted one that was six to eight feet deep (00:18:01:00) There was a large firebase a Chu Lai that acted as the command center for the regiment and from there, Hogue and his men were assigned patrols or to smaller bases in the region (00:18:22:00) o During Hogue’s first patrol, the soldiers were expected to do some scouting in the area and it was an experience to see the culture and the different kinds of people the soldiers would have to deal with (00:18:38:00)  It was probably one of the scariest times of Hogue’s life because he did not know what was going on or what exactly the soldiers were supposed to be doing; they were supposed to listen to their sergeant or platoon leader but the soldiers did not know whether to trust them or not (00:19:00:00)  When somebody was smoking drugs or doing this and that, their minds were not always there and ready for action (00:19:15:00)  In Hogue’s opinion, a lot of the people who died in Vietnam died as a result of stupidity and doing dumb things (00:19:47:00) When he first joined his platoon, no one made an effort to show Hogue what to do; he was told they were to going on a patrol and to get in line and he had to do it (00:20:05:00) o They expected Hogue and the other newly-arrived soldiers to watch the more experienced soldiers and imitate whatever they happened to do; the newly-arrived soldiers caught on pretty quick because if they did not, then they going home on their backs (00:20:18:00) o A lot of people did not want to do the right tasks while in the field and they were either sent home or killed; however, Hogue was determined to get an honorable discharge, so he stuck it out (00:20:37:00) The first time he came under fire, Hogue was in a Vietnamese village and the first time the enemy started shooting, there were kids everywhere (00:20:53:00) o The Viet Cong came out of a house and began firing while everyone else took cover (00:21:04:00) o The entire experience was horrible all the way around and Hogue remembers two or three of the soldiers in his platoon were killed in that first fight (00:21:14:00) Often, the soldiers would be in the field somewhere and the enemy would be coming out of the trees and everywhere else to attack the soldiers (00:21:40:00) o From what Hogue saw, the enemy soldiers were mostly kids and younger people, meaning they were skinny and able to move around easily (00:21:48:00) During his entire year-long tour in Vietnam, Hogue had thirty-three conformed kills to his name and although he is not proud of them, he did so to defend himself (00:22:05:00) While in Vietnam, Hogue was armed with a machine gun and he ended up purchasing another gun while he was over there; the soldiers could buy anything they wanted to so long as they had the money (00:22:25:00) o The Army issued Hogue an M-16 but he purchased a .22 pistol because it was something he was familiar with; although the .22 was a light-weight weapon, it was good enough to do the job at close range (00:22:41:00) Most of the fighting occurred at close range; Hogue estimates that there were no more than thirty feet dividing the fighters (00:23:01:00) �       o Nevertheless, it was terrible to see people die; they might see a soldier who needed help but there was nothing the other soldiers could do and although help might eventually arrive, it would be six hours later (00:23:12:00) o The length of the fights Hogue was involved in tended to vary; some were quick and some would drag on for days (00:23:33:00)  During the longer battles, the unit was told to move a certain distance and the enemy would fight them the entire way; once the unit had covered the distance, then they were expected to turn and out-smart the enemy (00:23:50:00) One of the soldiers in the platoon had lived off the land before joining the military and was a self-professed “mountain man”; between he and Hogue, they felt that they could conquer the world (00:24:05:00) It was a terrible war and although a lot of people died, Hogue does not believe it was senseless; it was just a series of small, depressed villages full of people trying to merely survive (00:24:42:00) o People worked in the rice paddies but Hogue remembers not being able to differentiate between the people who were allied with the Americans and people who were the enemy (00:25:05:00) Hogue’s platoon did not have any South Vietnamese soldiers or interpreters in it; they were strictly an American unit (00:25:32:00) As far as Hogue could tell, the majority of the enemy combatants were the local Viet Cong; the soldiers did have some encounters with North Vietnamese regulars but not much (00:25:44:00) o It was mostly villagers fighting against the Americans; on occasion, the soldiers would believe they had secured an area but when they would travel through a couple of days later, villagers would be fighting again (00:25:58:00) Hogue’s platoon went through the usually rounds of replacement and as far as he can remember, the platoon leader and sergeants stayed with the platoon until they were either injured or something else happened (00:26:22:00) o Hogue tended to stay near the platoon leader and so long as he stayed off the drugs at night, he was a pretty good leader; the platoon leader knew what he was doing and the different stuff (00:26:49:00) During some operations, the platoon would be dropped off at a location around fifty miles away from the primary base (00:27:33:00) o At one point, Hogue went six months without see the inside of the main base and during that time, he never had a shower or anything (00:27:44:00) Whenever the platoon stopped for the night, they would set up a perimeter with guards in the four different areas to watch for the enemy and the guards would work in two-hour shifts (00:27:59:00) o Although they tried to keep the platoon around fifteen soldiers, Hogue recalls a time when there were only six soldiers in the platoon due to the number of casualties (00:28:12:00)  New soldiers would come in from the United States and sometimes they listened to the older soldiers and sometimes they did not listen (00:28:26:00) �    When the platoon had only six members, the soldiers returned to the base but only for a day or so before going back out into the field (00:28:43:00) o When the soldiers stopped at night, they came under enemy fire and on some occasions, the soldier on guard duty had either fallen asleep or did not hear the enemy, which made the attack more effective (00:29:04:00) o The other soldiers would sleep under tents, although sometimes it was nice enough that they did not need the tents; on the other, there were times it rained constantly and Hogue remembers many times being soaking wet for several days, often a week, because of the rain (00:29:16:00) o Although it was dangerous to smoke at night because the enemy would be able to see the glow, soldiers did it anyway; they would put their hand over the glow and cup it, but they forgot about the smell (00:29:33:00)  They could tell the soldiers not to do something but if they were going to do it, then they were going to do it (00:29:47:00) When the platoon was on the extended patrols, the Army would have to helicopter supplies in for the soldiers (00:30:30:00) o The re-supplies took placed during the day and they often contained packages of the soldiers’ mail, although it still took anywhere from two weeks to a month for a soldier to get a letter (00:30:38:00) o The food was all K-rations, meaning everything was dry and they had to cook it with water they gathered from a stream (00:30:47:00) o Those six months in the field were an experience and by the end of them, the soldiers were very experienced in fending for themselves (00:31:06:00) During the patrols, the area the soldiers operated in was a mixture of jungles, rice paddies, and hill country; the soldiers went wherever they needed to go to fund the enemy (00:31:28:00) o Hogue remembers one firefight in the jungle when although it was raining, the temperature still made it a hot, sweaty day, akin to the weather in Florida; at some point, people started shooting and it caused a total mess, with the platoon lose two or three soldiers (00:31:35:00) o The enemy would come from all directions when attacking the soldiers and on some occasions, the soldiers were killed by enemy mines (00:32:11:00)  The children tended to be the ones responsible for setting the mines; the soldiers would see children in the field and believe they were good but in reality, they tended to be the soldiers’ worst enemy (00:32:24:00) o On the other hand, when the soldiers would set up a perimeter for the night, they would use claymore mines and booby-traps as part of the defense (00:32:47:00)  Sometimes, it was just a terrible thing to see what could happen because of the mines (00:33:03:00) One time, Hogue’s platoon got called back to the main base; the commanders felt they had the enemy in a good position, so they called the units in the field back and began attacking with mortars (00:33:18:00) o Hogue remembers there being a large number of mortars going of for hours on end; the mortarmen had different grids where they would shot and the next day, the soldiers would hear reports that people had been killed at a specific location on the grid (00:33:32:00) �      The commanders would then send a patrol out to see how many people had been killed (00:34:00:00)  The mortars used had a range of twenty to thirty miles and the mortarmen needed to receive special training to use them (00:34:06:00) When Hogue’s platoon went into the field, it tended to be the platoon by itself and they would have smaller mortars with them (00:34:38:00) o Hogue had both his .22 pistol and M-16 rifle but he tended to do more shooting with the .22 because he felt more secure with it (00:34:45:00) For the entire year he was in Vietnam, Hogue did not receive any R&R; he was in the field for ten and a half months before being pulled back because he had received the designation of a “short timer”, meaning he had less than forty-five days until his tour ended (00:35:10:00) o Hogue was scheduled to come in and the helicopter was waiting when a fight broke out and Hogue was left behind in the field (00:35:31:00) o Another twenty days passed before they came around again to pick Hogue up; by that point, Hogue only had twenty days left in Vietnam and he was pretty scared (00:35:49:00) o The theme of a soldiers staying with the unit until he got hurt or finished his tour was commonplace in Hogue’s unit (00:36:11:00)  From what Hogue could tell, R&R consisted of a soldier receiving a twenty-four or forty-eight hour pass and being able to do what he wanted, so long as he stayed on base (00:36:15:00) o Hogue’s platoon was either in the field for six months straight or they would return to the base, spend a day or two, at the most three, in the base before returning to the field (00:36:49:00) The year-long service was hard but it helped open Hogue’s mind to the experiences of death, survival, and anything else related to combat (00:36:55:00) On the occasions when Hogue was on the larger bases, such as the base at Chu Lai, there were Vietnamese civilians working on the base, although in his opinion, they were attempting to do a lot of underhanded things (00:37:15:00) o The Vietnamese civilians were doing dishes or cleaning the soldiers’ hooches where they slept (00:37:38:00) o There was a lot of stealing going on; the soldiers would set down their money to take a shower and the money would be gone (00:37:58:00) o By that time, Hogue just simply had a hard time trusting the Vietnamese, feelings which had lingered to this day (00:38:09:00) o Overall, Hogue did not have positive interactions with the South Vietnamese because he saw all different underhanded things they did (00:39:14:00)  He did not understand why they allowed a Vietnamese onto an American base when they were fighting the enemy, who were often the relatives of the people working on the base (00:39:22:00) With around twenty-five days left on his tour, Hogue came in from the field and returned to the rear area, where he worked as a CQ runner and did any other tasks that his commanders had for him (00:40:11:00) o Around fifteen days to go, the Army placed Hogue in a room and tried to get him to re-up his enlistment with an offer of ten thousand dollars (00:40:22:00) �   They kept pressuring Hogue to re-enlist but Hogue eventually said that he did not want to stay in the service; he was tired of fighting but he would stay in if he could be an MP (00:40:40:00) o Hogue eventually traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he continued to work as a CQ runner for a general; for two months, Hogue acted as the general’s quasimaid, including picking up the general’s dog’s droppings (00:41:11:00) Hogue finally got out of the service the week after Thanksgiving, 1971 (00:41:59:00) Hogue got back from Vietnam in August 1971 and he and his wife married in September, after which they went to Fort Benning so Hogue could finish his enlistment (00:42:23:00) o While Hogue was in Vietnam, he received a letter from his fiancé about once a month (00:42:42:00) Post-Military Service / Reflections (00:43:02:00)  After getting out of the service, Hogue went back to Michigan and began working for the same company he had worked with before being drafted (00:43:02:00) o The company soon transferred Hogue to work in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which he did until 1973; however, a recession hit the United States and Hogue ended up losing his job (00:43:18:00) o Eventually, Hogue overheard that the school district in Byron Center, Michigan was hiring while he had been shopping, so he got a job working as a janitor for the school district in October 1973 and still has the job (00:44:04:00)  Overall, the experience in the military was good for Hogue; however, like he told his own son, if someone wanted to go into the service, then chose an occupation that the person would like (00:44:29:00) o Hogue believes that the only reasons he survived his service was because he had some experience with weapons and through the sheer will of God (00:44:43:00) o Hogue rolled the dice when he enlisted and although they worked out well for him, it was still a difficult experience; it was hard trying to get through the experience (00:44:57:00)  The Army was great and the instructors were great but sometimes, they would go overboard with authority; the instructors knew how to get into people’s minds and mess with them (00:45:15:00)  When he returned home, Hogue did tell people that he had served in Vietnam and the most common reaction was that “Hogue was smarter than that” and he should have tried to get out of serving (00:45:45:00) o Hogue remembers people point out that their son or someone else son did not have to go and Hogue remembers he being one of the few, if not the only, man from Salem, Ohio who served during the war (00:45:54:00)  All of Hogue’s friends either got girls pregnant or did something else in order to get out of serving (00:46:12:00) o Hogue remembers taking his physical in Detroit and while others tried to get out of serving, Hogue did not because he felt it was dishonest to do so (00:46:36:00) o The anti-war protest also had a tremendous impact on Hogue; the protestors considered Hogue a killer and when he only said he was defending the country, they somehow managed to get a hold of his service record (00:47:03:00) �  Hogue still remembers that they made signs calling him a “baby killer” or a “child killer”; while Hogue admits that is true, he did so to defend himself and his fellow soldiers (00:47:14:00)  While he was in the service, it was not about being a higher rank, it was about surviving; Hogue cannot remember anyone that enlisted with him signing up for more time (00:47:30:00) o Hogue’s parents did not fully understand what he had gone through, so he took them to see a movie about the war (00:48:19:00) Hogue did not have much understand of why he was in Vietnam to begin with; the commanders tried to explain the situation as best they could but even today, forty years later, Hogue still has a hard time understanding why (00:48:50:00) o The older Hogue got, the prouder he was that he served his country; while he is not proud of the people he killed or specific episodes that occurred, it is what he had been trained to do (00:49:55:00)  Hogue recalls walking during a patrol one time and the situation did not feel right; he stopped and had he not, his entire platoon probably would have died (00:50:28:00)  The enemy had set out a string of claymore mines in an ambush and the mines would have decimated the platoon (00:50:38:00)  Had Hogue gone another step further, he would have blown up everybody (00:51:01:00)  The common saying is that a person has five senses but in Vietnam, a person needed twelve senses because they did not often know who to trust or what to do (00:51:12:00)  Hogue recalls many a night during the six months he was in the field sleeping under the stars (00:51:21:00) o While people say that just the Vietnam War was senseless, Hogue believes that any wars is senseless (00:51:52:00) � 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 Hogue, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hogue, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Hogue was born on October 12th, 1950 in Salem, Ohio. After graduating from high school, Hogue moved to Michigan to work of the Goodyear Tire Company because there were no jobs in the Salem area. In 1969, Hogue received his draft notice and after completing basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Hogue deployed to Vietnam to serve with the Americal Division. He served as an infantryman in a rifle platoon and spent most of his tour in the jungle engaged in patrols and small unit actions. Following a yearlong tour in Vietnam, Hogue returned to the United States in August 1971 and received his discharge. 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 2011-03-15 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HogueR 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/71f5b60d70673a09dbede19ead918b42.mp4 87c7beb1afa3b92be3dc8df0bdcfcd3e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ec3ce5a7399af1d8f98be0ee376aef1.pdf c26cbf6ecb0d4926a633784494254574 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW JOAN HOLDERNESS Women in Baseball Born: Kenosha, Wisconsin, March 17, 1933 Resides: Interviewed by: Frank Boring, GVSU Veterans History Project, August10, 2010, Detroit, MI at the All American Girls Professional Baseball League reunion. Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, February 6, 2011 Interviewer: “What is your full name and where and when were you born?” I was born on March 17th, 1933 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Interviewer: “And your full name?” Joan Holderness Interviewer: “What was your early childhood like?” I can recall that my dad played a lot of ball and my grandfathers both played and they used to go out to the lake when I was a little tot, so I played ball all the time. I had a bat and a ball and they had those flat gloves and I can remember doing that as a little kid. The first time I heard about the league was when my mother took me to a ball game of the Kenosha Comets with a friend of hers, and man, I just loved that. 43:11 Interviewer: “About how old were you when you saw them?” I was probably in the fifth or sixth grade. From then on I wanted to be one of them, but my mother was very strict and I didn’t go to any more ball games until I got into junior high and I use to go down and watch them practicing. We could sit in the left field free as fans, so I got to meet several of the ball players and they would play catch with or me. 44:05 In 1947 I was fourteen years old and they asked me if I wanted to be their batgirl. They didn’t have batgirls, so I got a uniform and I was a batgirl, and of course, I was with them in town I’d see them. 1 �Interviewer: “So, you were going to school and then during the summer is when you would be a batgirl?” Yes Interviewer: “Did they pay you?” No Interviewer: “But you got a uniform?” Yeah, in 1948 they started a farm system for the league and they played in Chicago and my dad agreed that he would drive me down there once a week to play. They had four teams, so I got to play. 45:14 I played shortstop and I really loved that, but we had to drive all the way to Chicago and there were no Interstates or anything, but you would get there and get into the game right away. I enjoyed that for the whole year in 1948. In 1949 they invited me to go to spring training in Indiana, so I went to spring training and I ended up getting a contract and my dad signed my contract. 46:01 Interviewer: “Because you were underage.” Oh, yeah Interviewer: “How old were you?” In 1949 I was sixteen, but my mother wouldn’t let me travel. Half of that year I couldn’t—I could go to Racine, and I think that’s the only place she would let me go, so how are you going to get on a team when you can’t go on the road, so it was tough for me to get on the team and on a position. They liked me and they were very nice with me. Anyway, in 1950 I played quite a bit. They use to put me as a pinch hitter a lot and I played right field once in a while, but they had established some players that wouldn’t give up their spots, so it was tough. 47:08 About in July of 1950 Grand Rapids needed a 2 �player in right field and I guess—Johnny Rawlings was the coach and he had watched me when I was practicing with them and I had a good arm and so they wanted me to go to Grand Rapids. Well, Grand Rapids was in town playing at Kenosha and when they were leaving Kenosha they went to Racine, so they brought me up to Racine with my mother and my mother was sitting and talking with the chaperone. Then they brought a girl down that I was going to room with and they met her mother and so my mother finally let me go. 48:11 Then I got to play all the time, but every night in right field, so I really loved playing for them. I really enjoyed playing with the Chicks. And that was a lot of nice girls. Interviewer: “What was your—now you’re living in a house or something during the season? You’re not living at home anymore right, for the Grand Rapids Chicks? Where did you live when you were playing for Grand Rapids where were you living?” We were first in a home with a family and we just had a room. We couldn’t cook there or anything. We could wash clothes, but we couldn’t cook or anything, so it was just a place we could sleep. 49:08 We had twin beds and it was a nice place, and nice people. Interviewer: “Was that your first time living away from home?” Oh yeah Interviewer: “By that time you were maybe seventeen or eighteen?” That was in 1950, so I was seventeen. We ended up getting an apartment and that was nice because we could cook and everything and it didn’t cost so much. I couldn’t go to a lot of restaurants because I wasn’t old—if they had any booze they wouldn’t let you in and they always had the best cooks. 3 �Interviewer: “How were you as a hitter?” How was I? I don’t remember striking out, but I think they got a couple places where I struck out, but I don’t remember striking out. 50:17 I wasn’t a three hundred hitter or anything, but I was good at meeting the ball. Interviewer: “How about strawberries? Did you slide into bases at all?” Not real good. Too many legs you know, but I did all right, I didn’t like sliding. Interviewer: “Did you think, at that time, that you were going to continue playing baseball as a professional? You were sixteen, seventeen, years old, were you thinking about playing?” 51:15 I played 1951, but I felt like the league was kind of busting up. Kenosha let their team travel all the time and a couple tournaments they were going to different teams and Grand Rapids was losing their fans. They just—they had other things to do then. They had gasoline and they could go where they wanted to go, but we had some nice crowds for a while, especially in Grand Rapids. Rockford was a nice place and Fort Wayne had good fans. 52:11 Interviewer: “What were your plans in terms of—were you going to go to college or did you think going into the work world or were you going to get married? What were you thinking about?” Well, I was planning on going to school, but I never did. When I went back home I had to go back into school and some teachers didn’t like that I left early to go to spring training and when I came back they wouldn’t let me make up my studies, so I had problems with them. I ended up—I didn’t graduate when I was supposed to graduate, so I was disgusted with that, so I ended up going back and getting a job with the 4 �government. 53:06 Then I didn’t want to go back to play ball anymore. It was hard to get a job with the government and I worked at Great Lakes. Interviewer: “Did you make the decision not to play anymore?” Yeah, they called me the next year, but I decided not to play. I couldn’t because I didn’t want to leave that job and my dad had signed for me to get a car, so I had to pay for the car, so I couldn’t quit the job. Interviewer: “Did you miss it?” Well yeah, I did miss it and the first couple years I really did, but after that-Interviewer: “How did you find out that the league had folded? Do you remember how you found out?” 54:07 Well, the last year I played a lot of the teams were busting down you know. They were running out of money and they were losing money and they just quit. The girls had to go to other teams and it was just traveling, traveling. Buses bothered me; I got tired of bus rides. I didn’t ride a bus for a long time, many years, I was sick of them. Interviewer: “After you quit the league, did you ever talk to people after that, years later did you ever talk about the fact that you played professional baseball?” Not really, we didn’t discuss it. No, sometimes I would see the girl that I was living with. She got married and she would have a child, every year she would have a child. 55:14 I would see her and I was bowling quite a bit and I would meet several of the girls that were ball players and were bowling, so I got to see some of them, but I really didn’t—I loved playing baseball, and I’ve been a Cubs fan all my life. I just—it was done you know. 5 �Interviewer: “Now, you’re at a reunion after many, many years, what prompted you to come to a reunion?” Oh, to see people. I went to the first one in Chicago and to see everybody again was really great and we had a lot of fun. 56:10 We got to play golf and whatever, so it was fun Interviewer: “What was your reaction to getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame?” Oh, I thought it was great that they accepted our league. At the time I was a computer worker with the government and I built a database for the league and I helped Cooperstown to get all the names up, and that was nice to find everybody. Interviewer: “Did you go to the Hall of Fame?” Oh yeah, I’ve been there two or three times. Interviewer: “Did you go there when they actually had the opening ceremony?” Yeah Interviewer: “What was that like?” 57:04 That was super and when they opened that curtain, oh, we were all excited and I took a lot of movies of that. Interviewer: “Did you see the movie, A League of Their Own?” Did I see it? Oh yeah, I’ve seen it a lot of times. Interviewer: “What did you think of that?” I thought she did a great job. There was a lot of Hollywood stuff in there, but I thought she did a wonderful job, and everybody I talk to about it today, people say they have seen that movie so many times, not the players or fans, just people. Interviewer: “I’ve seen it maybe five or six times myself.” 6 �It’s on TV quite a bit, so they really enjoy that movie. Interviewer: “Do you think the movie, the movie itself when it came out, did that get you thinking more about your time in baseball or were you already thinking about the baseball anyway?” 58:14 At the time it came out I was president of the association, so I was pretty excited for everybody and I think Penny did a wonderful job. I met her in Chicago and I met a couple of the stars, Rosie and Madonna, they were there, so I got them, but I thought Penny did a wonderful job with it. She had a couple of our girls there helping her. Interviewer: “Were you at all surprised at the big—this huge outpouring of affection for your league that didn’t really happen before that, right? Before the movie?” 59:13 They didn’t know about us, they just—of course the girls were from all around us, east and west, but the league itself played right in the Midwest. People just didn’t know about us, they just didn’t know about our league. Interviewer: “Were you surprised at this? It’s big, and you probably didn’t think it was going to be this big when you were playing ball. Were you surprised at how big it’s become?” I think I am, yeah, I think it’s wonderful, especially for kids, they just think it’s wonderful and they wish they could play. It’s surprising they are so happy. Interviewer: “Do you think that the fact that you played, that the league played, had an affect on young people, on young girls? Do you think there was an inspiration from what you did?” 7 �Perhaps, yeah and they realize that women can play in sports and I think that helped a lot of people. Tennis was wonderful for women and they just went for everything, soccer, it’s great, and a lot of ball players are out there, I just don’t see them that much. I don’t see them anymore, but I know there’s a lot of them playing ball. :55 Interviewer: “Were there any particular games or events that happened during your playing that stand out? A home run or stealing a base?” No, I didn’t make it—I had a triple once and I got to third base and I couldn’t go any farther. I told John, “I guess I wasn’t breathing when I was running across there”, but he was motioning me to go home and I couldn’t make it. That was in Fort Wayne and that was funny, but he was mad that I didn’t go. Interviewer: “How did the manager treat you?” Every manager I had was very good. Johnny Gottselig from Chicago, he was a hockey player and I never thought about him as a baseball player, but he was nice. 2:00 Interviewer: “Did the managers treat you like a woman or did they treat you like a ball player?” Both I guess, yeah. John was wonderful, John Rawlings. I’d be in the field and he’d be standing—you know when you’re warming up prior to the game, and he would hit a fly ball and then he’s hit two ground balls to right field and he’d put his bat down near the ground and that’s what he wanted, for me to throw that ball right at that bat and man, I would make him move it because I had a good arm. He thought that was funny, the way I could hit—that I could throw that ball so well, but I could do anything for that guy, he was great. I really enjoyed playing for him. 3:03 8 �Interviewer: “Some of the other girls said that they knew how to play baseball from playing on their own or playing with neighbors and things like that, but the managers taught them specific things that professionals knew. Did that, did they teach you certain things that you didn’t know before, on how to play better?” Well, I think John did if we were in the infield or whatever, he would—don’t take steps and things like that or how to be in position to flip. My dad taught me a lot about throwing from the field, my hand close to my head. I had a good arm. 4:00 Interviewer: “Were you playing the standard baseball when you played, or was it the larger baseball?” It was overhand when I played, but it wasn’t down to a nine inch, which they ended up with I guess. I think we were around ten or nine and three quarters or something. It was a good fast ball and it was—I thought it was a good game because it was fast. Interviewer: “What did you think of the uniforms?” The uniforms didn’t bother me, but you know, it was kind of wide at the bottom and I’d cut mine down a little bit. I had long legs, but I didn’t flip them out you know, but they were ok, and they never bothered me. 5:12 Interviewer: “Looking back on that period of time, how do you feel about that period of your life?” Oh, it was great, I was making about ninety dollars a week and that’s more than my dad was making. When I think about when I went to a job with the government, I wasn’t making nothing, it was terrible, but I spent over thirty years with the government and by that time I got up a little bit. It was good money for a lot of the girls. A lot of them—a lot of my friends went to school and it was great. 5:58 9 �Interviewer: “Did you help support your family when you were playing?” Yeah, not that I wanted to, I was saving money so I could go to school and they needed money for taxes, so in a couple years I lost it, so anyway-Interviewer: “How do you like the reunions?” The reunions? Oh, they’re great, but we’ve lost so many girls now. Especially the last couple of years ooh. When I was the president you know, I think I had gotten over five hundred and seventy some players in the league, but we couldn’t find about a hundred and thirty people, so I don’t know where they’re down to now. 6:57 Boy, it was tough finding them. Interviewer: “We’ve had the same problem trying to find you to be able to get an interview with you, so I understand. It’s important that we get these, and I’m glad you sat down with me. I did a wonderful interview with Beans Risinger and a couple of weeks after that she went to Oklahoma and she passed away, but I got calls from Cookie, I got calls from others saying they were so happy I got that.” 7:34 She was a wonderful gal. Interviewer: “She was a wonderful gal.” She was a good pitcher too. Interviewer: “Yeah, and tall too.” She was taller than me, that’s for sure. Interviewer: “Were there very many tall girls like you? Because you’re big.” I’m about five ten, but I Beanie was over six foot. Another girl from Duluth was about six two or three. Barbara Rotvig, she died of Cancer when she was thirty-five years old 10 �and she was like a big sister to me. 8:11 I was the oldest in my family and I have two sisters and a brother, but she was my big sister. She was a great pitcher too. Interviewer: “When you first started in the league you were very, very young and you were mentioning the chaperone. Were you carefully watched because of your age?” Oh yeah, especially when I went to Grand Rapids. If you wanted to date anybody, she had to know and when you couldn’t go to these restaurants, you ate at the huddle house or something. 9:14 Interviewer: “You can’t go where they serve alcohol, right?” Yeah, it was terrible. We didn’t—the girl I was rooming with, she was only a year older than I was, so we had to be careful what we were doing. She had a car and she was from Chicago, so we had a good time. Interviewer: “Whenever I get together with you, because I was in Milwaukee, we were in Milwaukee doing interviews too, and you hear certain stories. What’s your story? What’s the one you tell?” 9:55 I don’t really have any stories. Interviewer: “Well, you hit a triple once you said.” I can remember when I was at Kenosha, John would put me in as a pinch hitter and I would get a hit and win the game and the fans went crazy you know and that was wonderful. Two or three times that one year, so I remember those times, but it was a lot of fun for me to play because I really enjoyed baseball. My brother didn’t like to play ball. 10:51 11 �Interviewer: “You played, you said, with your father, right? Did you just play catch or batting too?” With my father, sometimes he would take me out and he would throw and if we would go to the park he could hit a ton and I couldn’t find the ball you know. Yeah, he spent a lot of time with me hitting balls. My mother was a pretty good athlete too and they didn’t have a lot of organized leagues in Kenosha when I was a kid, but they did have about four teams for the city and I ended up being a pitcher for softball and my mother was in the backyard catching for me, but I don’t remember her going to the games. 11:53 My dad would go to the ball games when we were in town, and my grandfather, my dad’s father, he would come to the ball games if I was there. It was nice, but when you’re out there you’re worried about if you’re going to throw the ball away or something in front of them and I would worry about that. You know a lot of my friends were there and it was embarrassing if you did something wrong, but I really enjoyed playing ball. 12:39 Interviewer: “Thank you very much.” Well, thank you. 12 �13 � 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 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, during World War II to fill the void left by the departure of most of the best male baseball players for military service. Players were recruited from across the country, and the league was successful enough to be able to continue on after the war. The league had teams based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and operated between 1943 and 1954. The 1954 season ended with only the Fort Wayne, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Rockford teams remaining. The League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball. Many of the players went on to successful careers, and the league itself provided an important precedent for later efforts to promote women's sports. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-58)</a> 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 Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Oral history Baseball players--Minnesota Baseball players--Indiana Baseball players--Wisconsin Baseball players--Michigan Baseball players--Illinois Baseball for women--United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) 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-58_JHolderness0369BB Title A name given to the resource Holderness, Joan (Interview transcript and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holderness, Joan Description An account of the resource Joan Holderness was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1933. She learned to play baseball from her father, and after the Kenosha Comets came to town, she started going to their games and became their bat girl, and was recruited to join the team as an outfielder in 1949, even though her mother would not let her travel farther than Racine for road games. The next year, she got to play full time, and was traded to Grand Rapids. She left the league after the 1950 season and took a regular job at the Great Lakes naval base in Illinois. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Baseball for women--United States Baseball Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Baseball players--Michigan 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 2010-08-10 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)</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/b7d22fa595e80eac986512249167761f.mp4 941b4df7b60939020aa3faaa944ba388 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/84236a5645f804f7ae4848fba521fa3c.pdf b4e1698232b600a95b3c5604cf40e1e8 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee name: William Holl Length of Interview: (00:14:25) Childhood and Pre-enlistment (00:00)      Born in Orange, NJ in 1927. Mother was a homemaker and father owned an ice company and worked at General Motors He had 3 brothers and sisters. (01:25) He had taken courses and had just graduated High School when he enlisted. He enlisted in the Navy at an early age because of his brother’s service in the Air Force. Training (02:59)   Remembers boot camp involving basic military procedures (03:20) He was part of the Naval training program for Naval Aviation Electronics. The program took a year, and took place in Gulfport, MS and Corpus Christi, TX. Active Duty (05:10)      He was stationed at Banana River, FL after training, where they practiced blind landings for carrier aircraft on the beach. (06:26) They would be on the beach controlling the aircraft by electronics. He made a number of friends while he was in the service. (07:55) When he was off duty, he would surf in the Atlantic Ocean. (08:35) He was stationed in Corpus Christi, TX when the war ended. Post-Service (10:20)  He attended college after the war to become an engineer. � 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 Holl, William H. (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holl, William H. Description An account of the resource William Holl was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1927 and served in the Navy during World War II. He worked in Naval Aviation Electronics for the war, and served in the United States for the duration of the war. He did a number of tasks, primarily involving electronics. He attended college after the war. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Babcock, Nicholas (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) 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. Navy 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 2009-06-01 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HollW 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/cdf793ae08d32e7a91a3cc1897f3d8d8.m4v 52e9425c531a55314520b4ff078f01c8 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9b34bcf5ec08dfe687e133f00812004.pdf 175ab9e34447e6ef3c83d3df59bb25aa PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Dick Hollebeek World War II 1 hour 17 minutes 09 seconds (00:00:11) Early Life -Born in 1924 in Sanborn Iowa. -Father a minister -Moved to Lynden Washington in 5th grade. -Frequently listened to radio, even speeches from Mussolini and Hitler. -Heard about Pearl Harbor attack on the radio at home. -After hearing this news he informed people at the church. No one believed him. -Hadn’t followed world news too closely. -Offered numerous jobs that could keep him out of military. -Refused and instead asked for an early calling from the draft board. -Father was not an isolationist. (00:03:47) Basic Training and the Salvage Repair Company -Entered service on March 17th 1943. -Sent to Camp White Oregon for basic training -Nicknamed “the Alcatraz” of Army camps. -The desert environment made for red clay and rain that kept boots heavy with debris. -Made training difficult. -Drill instructors were previously in Panama. -Some training involved: 80 mile long hikes in four days, swimming across a river, compass work at night. -Captain was around 40 years old. -Training at Camp White lasted about 6 months. -Assigned to the 216th Salvage Repair Company. -As part of a battalion that would repair equipment and materials that could be repurposed. -Received infantry training and repair work. -Training continued once in England. (00:10:00) -His particular specialty was running the sewing machine to repair clothing, tents, etc. -Medford Oregon was nearby. -During downtime many would go to bars. -Went to chapel at Camp White on Sundays. -Congress had recently passed a law requiring a furlough before going overseas to War. -Received a six day furlough. -Informed only his father, and no one else, that he was being sent overseas. -Devised a coded way to send letters to his father that could inform him of his current location. -A certain letter of a certain number word of every third sentence. �-Shipped out from Camp Shanks New York. -Arrived by train, an old coal fired train. -Trip duration of almost five days. -Stopped at North or South Dakota where they were given a drill and fed. -Stopped at Chicago stock yard. -At Camp Shanks about a week and a half. -Speaking about the medical shots he received entering basic training. -Received twelve shots. -Shown a film about hygiene. -At the end of the night he passed out. -Spent one night in New York City in his time at Camp Shanks. (00:18:21) Ocean Crossing and England -Departed on the Queen Elizabeth. -It was next to the Normandy which was damaged. -Crew of 15,000 troops. -Two meals a day: stewed tomato, and a “blind robin” (dried fish). -Good weather for the trip. -Route went south of Azores, then straight north to Glasgow Scotland. -Took a train to Wales England. -Stayed in Wales until a place was found for them in Liverpool. -One instance: a drill done in the rain resulted in most the soldiers coming down with a cold. -Next they were sent to Seaforth Barracks near Liverpool England. -Barebones with straw packed mattresses for beds. -Interacted with locals, very nice people, went to church with a local girl. -Liverpool had many British and American troops. -British and American troops didn’t like one another too much. -Damage from German bombings was evident. -Didn’t experience bombings while in Liverpool. -Experienced three air-raids during a furlough in London. -First, in a Red Cross building. -Another at 10 Downing street where there was a crater. -Germans used regular bombs. -Third time, at a theater where he decided to stay for the movie. (00:28:30) France -Travelled to France in July. D+39 -Crossed the channel on the SS Invicta. -Climbed down rope nets to water and waded ashore. -German prisoners of war were being held on shore. -Landed on Utah Beach of France. -He was a rifle grenadier. -Grenades were kept strapped to his legs. -In the confusion of the night the unit was spread out and not collected again until three o’clock the next day after hours of marching. -Estimated to be about 5-6 miles from the front lines at that point. �-After about a week and a half, their trailers arrived and were able to commence salvage repairs. -Digging foxholes during the day. -Took a piece of shrapnel as a memento, one that he still owns. -Timeline of their advance from his personal records: -July 19th landed on Utah Beach. -July 20th in Isigny. -August 3rd at Saint-Lo. -August 20th at Vire. (00:36:26) Belgium -Longest stop on the route in Vivier Belgium. -From October 26th to December 24th 1944. -Stayed in a paper factory that was damaged but out of the weather. -Germans were V1 buzz-bombing the area. -One nearby knocked him against a wall. -Among locals the children were most friendly. -Encountered fleeing locals as the Battle of the Bulge was starting. -Evacuated on December 24th in trucks. -Temperatures were below zero and ~16 inches of snow. -Arrived in Gistoux around 2:30 AM. -Stayed in Gistoux until February. -Worked to return to a normal routine making some repairs. -One instance of a German attack: a plane dropped “butterfly bombs” near a slit trench. -About seven members of their unit were injured. -One suffered severe damage losing both of his feet. -Previous events of injuries: someone diving onto barbed wire, and a suicide. (00:48:52) Germany -Proceeded toward Germany to Aachen. -Went through Aachen after it was captured. -At a paper factory in Duren Germany they were sprayed with DDT to keep rats away. -Proceeded to Castle, Calder, and Hersfeld where they were located when the War ended. -Witnessed thousands of German POWs as they advanced. -Some SS prisoners wished to be perceived as regular military and the other Germans had beaten some to death. -SS members were arrogant. -German military soldiers as young as twelve. -Witnessed a group of Russian women, likely laborers, being sent back to Russia. -Remained in Hersfeld Germany from April 25th to August 6th. (00:55:15) End of the War, Return to the U.S. and Misc. -Once the War ended they no longer needed to do salvage repair work. -Their unit was given various options to go to Switzerland, Paris, England. -Went to Switzerland where he was treated well with respect. -Went to Paris, saw Notre Dame and other cathedrals. -Sent to Camp Boston in France to await orders. �-Secretly they were being considered to be shipped to Japan or the Pacific. -However Japan surrendered four days before embarking. -Bound for Boston once again. -Arrived in Boston on November 22nd, Thanksgiving Day. -The ship ride back to the US was very rough with high winds. (01:00:00) -Arrived in Buchenwald concentration camp about 2-3 weeks after its capture. -By that time it was “cleaned up” although still quite terrible. -Gallows, ovens, just a few remaining prisoners. -Back to the return home Boston in the US. -The one millionth soldier to return home was given the key to the city in celebration. -The man had to be carried considering he was drunk. -Celebration dinner was just about any food you wanted. -After his father’s death, his family moved to Grand Rapids. -And so his discharge came out of Camp Atturbury Indiana. -Father died while he was in Hersfeld Germany. -No viable way to return home at that point. -Wished to see his uncle in the Netherlands but the Army insisted it was too dangerous. -He was granted a day off with his friend where they attended a local church service. -Discharged from Camp Atterbury Indiana and proceeded to Grand Rapids Michigan. -His mother and two sisters were living in upstairs of his aunt’s home. (01:10:00) -Work life: -Found a job at a local factory -Worked with a photographer and went to school for photography. -Went to work at Steelcase for 32 years. -Married in 1948. -Currently married for 66 years. -Appreciates the role of discipline the Army imbued in him. � 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_HollebeekD1881V Title A name given to the resource Hollebeek, Dick David (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-09-17 Description An account of the resource Dick Hollebeek was born Iowa in 1924 but moved to Washington during his youth. He enlisted in the Army in March 1943 and was sent to Camp White Oregon for basic training. Dick became part of the 216th Salvage Repair Company, and his particular focus dealt with patching clothing, tents, and sewing material. When the time came he shipped out from Camp Shanks New York on the Queen Elizabeth. In England he would spend time at Seaforth Barracks near Liverpool, and witnessed a number of air raids. After D-Day his Company traveled to Utah beach in France where he was a rifle grenadier. After a grueling march they spent an extended time in Vivier Belgium, and later Gistoux. Finally their Company made it to Aachen Germany, and all the way to Hersfeld where the European portion of the War was called to a close. This included Buchenwald concentration camp as well. Post-war, Dick was eventually sent to Camp Boston in France where he waited to be sent home. After returning to the US, Dick was discharged from Camp Atturbury and stayed in Grand Rapids as his family had moved there to Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hollebeek, Dick David Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army 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> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/27c0f43bea1a5873526d8e07d5745099.pdf 51e042ecc8daa577f0523b11898e4da9 PDF Text Text HOLLY TOWNSHIP MASTER PLAN ;: =--/ ·. , •. __ _; ,,. ,~ ... ,: .....":.._ ~ :-. ;*;e;/ ,.,.,..-- ir,;. .:-:.:.:-- •.• __ . ,. _:. ... ~ ~ ........ (· ~ / ·•·., .. Assisted by: Carlisle ~ates 123 North Ahley, Suite 203 Ann.Arbor, MI 48104 �HOLLY TOWNSIDP PLANNING COMMISSION • Jackie Waugh, Chairman Jack Sutliff, Vice Chairman Susan Stenson, Secretary Larry Leazenby Russell Haddon James Stone Ken Hecht Adopted by Planning Commission on February 12, 1990 HOLLY TOWNSIDP BOARD • James Greig, Supervisor B. J. Goulish, Clerk Bernice Alexander, Tresurer Harold Mitchell Ken Hecht • �TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 What is Planning? How is the Plan to be Used? How is the Plan Organized? BACKGROUND STUDIES SUMMARY 3 GENERAL GOALS AND POLICIES 6 General Goals Specific Policies IAND USE PLAN 12 THOROUGHFARE PLAN 14 IMPLEMENTATION 18 BACKGROUND STUDIES APPENDIX A NATURAL AREAS STUDIES APPENDIXB �. INTRODUCTION This document represents the revision and up-date of the Holly Township Master Plan, adopted in 19 77. Since adoption of the original plan, a number of changes have occurred both within the Township and the surrounding area. To ensure that development policies reflect current conditions in the Township, it is essential that the Master Plan is periodically evaluated and kept up to date. What is Planning? Planning is a process which involves the conscious selection of policy choices relating to land use, growth and development in the community. Tbe Plan ia the oaly official Township doc,nDCat 'Which sets forth policill for tbe fwure of daa ~ c::nity. w.... The Township derives its authority for the preparation of a Master Plan from the Township Planning Act, P.A. 168 of 1959. Section 6 of the Act states: The planning commission shall make and adopt a basic plan as a guide for the development of unincorporated portions of the township. As a basis for the plan, the planning commission is hereby empowered to ( 1) make inquiries, investigations and surveys of all the resources of the township and (2) assemble and analyze data and formulate plans for the proper conservation and uses of all resources, including a determination of the extent of probable future need for the most advantageous designation of lands having various use potentials and for services, facilities and utilities required to equip such lands. How Is The Plan to be U scd? The Plan serves many functions and is to be used in a variety of ways: 1) The Plan is a general statement of the Townships goals and policies and provide a single, comprehensive view of the community's desire for the future. 2) The Plan serves as an aid in daily decision-making. The goals and policies outlined in the Plan guide the Planning Commission and Township Board in their deliberations on zoning, subdivision, capital improvements and other matters relating to the land use and development. This provides a stable, long-term basis for decision-making. 3) A third function the plan serves is providing the statutory basis upon which zoning decisions arc based. The Township Rural Zoning Act (P.A. 184 of 1843, as amended) require that the zoning ordinance be based upon a plan designed to promote the public health, safety and general welfare. However, it is important to note that the Master Plan and accompanying maps do not ~lace other Township Ordinances, specifically the Zoning Ordinance and Map. £ S I!J;;,lf the 4) S) Holly Towmhip 1i~ '!tt• tJlf 1. , § I 1 ■n: I ffl · d . d e an attempts to coor e pu 1c unprovements an pnvate eve opments. For example, public investments such as road improvement should be located in areas identified in the Plan as having the greatest benefit to the Township and its residents. Th Finally, the plan serves as an educational tool and gives citizens, property owners, Pap 1 Muter Plan �developers and adjacent communities a clear indication of the Township's direction for the future. In summation, the Township Master plan is the only officially adopted documents which sets forth an agenda for the achievement of goals and policies. The plan is not a panacea for the numerous conflicting desires of citizens and Township officials. It is a long range statement of general goals and policies aimed at the unified and coordinated development of the Township. As such, it provides the basis upon which zoning and land use decisions are made. How is the Plan Organized? The Holly Township Master Plan is comprised of three basic sections. The BACKGROUND section discusses current situations and projected trends, illustrating the point from which planning must begin. The GOALS AND POLICIES section outlines policies which provide a framework for a final plan. The LAND USE PLAN and THOROUGHFARE PLAN are the end result of combining current situations with future concepts. While the starting point is unalterable, the end result can be changed according to the policies applied. Holly Township Papl -- Master Plan -- - -- �.I BACKGROUND STUDIES SUMMARY A number of studies were conducted to determine existing and expected conditions in the Township. Background studies are summarized below and presented in full in Appendix. Access Access into the Township is a severely limited. 1-75 is accessed only at Grange Hall Road at the eastern border of the Township; Dixie Highway cuts across the north-east comer of the Township, providing access to a few east-west local roads; and US-23 provides limited access approximately ten miles to the west, through Fenton. Natural Characteristics Holly Township bas considerable areas of twelve percent slopes which should generally not be developed because of their uniqueness in south-east Michigan. More than 35 lakes are scattered throughout the Township, occupying 6% of total land area. Extensive wetlands surround the many water bodies as well, although it is estimated that only 22% of presettlement wetlands remain. The predominant soils types in the Township are Pipestone, Eau Clair, and Wixom, which are not strongly suited for septic tank development as they are mostly clay. • · .• , A complete survey of natural characteristics in Holly Township was completed by Oakland County Planning, including mapping of soils, vegetation, wetlands, flood plains, and topography. The complete map series is on display at the Township offices. Natural Areas In 1988, a complete survey of natural areas was completed in conjunction with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory Program. Significant natural communities were mapped and evaluated for rare species. Twenty-two sites were deemed worthy of protection because of one or more values, and further studied in consideration of preserve design and format. A summary of the report, prepared by the Michigan Nature Conservancy, is provided in Appendix B. Population ud Housing 1980 census data showed Holly Township's population to be 3,612. SEMCOG Small Area · Forecasts project a 40% increase in population, to 5,207 by the year 2005. Holly Township is slightly below the median income in Oakland County at $24,057, and Holly Village is considerably lower at $21,327. Home values in Holly Township appear to have kept up with area increases in value over the past five years, while Holly Village remains with the lowest average home values in the area. In Holly Township, 89% of residents own their homes, while 76% of Holly Village residents are owners. Holly Township Pqe3 Master Plan �Economic Bue The tax base in Holly Township declined by an overall .4 million between 1982 and 1986, but increased by 4.8 million between 1986 and 1987. Between 1987 and 1988 figures show an increase of over 1.5 million, to a total of $45,402,040. In relation to townships surrounding Holly in Oakland County, tax base figures are low. Roadways There are roughly 23 miles of primary road in Holly Township and 36 miles oflocal road, with a majority of road surfaces being gravel. Primary north-south routes in the Township include North Holly Road, which is paved, and Fish Lake Road, which is only partially paved. East-west access is provided by Grange Hall Road, a class A, all-weather road in the southern portion of the Township, and Belford Road, a gravel surface in the northern portion of the Township. Strategic Planning Reports of the Oakland County Road Com.mission note that rather than paving gravel roads, increased maintenance on existing roads is the highest priority for Holly Township in the future. Land Use Patterns Existing land usc patterns arc described by the following text and graphic: Single-Family Residential - Most single-family housing is concentrated in the Village of Holly. Expansion into the Township has been sparsely scattered along major road frontages. Small groupings have developed around some lakes, with one large subdivision surrounding Spring Lake in the east. Single-family is the largest single developed category of land use in the Township, although it is expected to remain a relatively low density community. Multiple Family - This type of residential development has been confined to the north end of Holly Village. No Multiple Family exists within the Township itself. Institutional - Institutional uses arc scattered throughout the Village of Holly but have not grown extensively into the Township. CommerciaJ,Office - Commercial,Office land usc in the Township is concentrated on Grange Hall . Road, the major east-west connector accessing I-75 and U.S. 23. There is very little CommerciaJ,,Office elsewhere in the Township. Industrial - While industrial land is scattered along rail corridors in Holly Village, industrial development in the Township is limited to the Grange Hall/Fish Lake Road area. Recreation and Conservation - An unusually large amount of land is occupied by this category. Seven Lakes State Park and the Holly State Recreation area are located on either side of the Township, constricting east west expansion from the northern half of the Village. However, Holly Village is built on a major north-south axis, likely to influence growth in that direction. Agricultural and Open Space - Holly Township has consistently ranked in the top five communities holding land under the Farmland & Open Space Preservation Act, which serves to preserve productive farmland. Holly Township Pap4 Muter Plan �z --m I Q . . ~,onca Holly Township PqeS Master Plan �GENERAL GOALS AND POLICIES The following pages outline the goals and policies of the Township. Goals are the general statements that define the direction and character of future development. Policies set forth the framework for action and form the basis upon which more detailed development decisions are made. Adoption of policies docs not commit the Township to any particular recommendation, but docs commit it to take actions that arc consistent with the policy guidelines. The followma aaatementa reflect the primary aoala of the Towmilip, u ..... la the most general tmu: Goal 1: Goal 2: Maintain tile abundance wl ..Uty eC-uaa adnowleclae the raultlng Jbnitlem to Jtetaill the uaique nnl llli4eatial place to Hve, wolk, and plat; Goal 3: ca widlill the Township, and _ · - ~-;·_~M-tjlitf of die Township as a :. . . onwoa choices. . Promote economic growth, commensurate and compatible with the existing conditions within the Township, and in cooperation with the Village of Holly. SPECIFIC POLICY GUIDELINES Policy I: Land Use Intensity Specific guidelines governing the intensity ofland use should be dependent on the natural capability of the land to support various degrees of development. • Low intensity land uses should be located where natural resource conditions are least capable of supporting development, existing roads are inadequate, and existing low density land use patterns currently exist. Compatible land uses would generally consist of low density residential, open and agricultural land, and recreational land. • Medium intensity uses should be located where natural resource conditions are moderately capable of supporting development, adequate rOB(U are accessible, and existing medium density land use patterns exist. Suitable land uses would consist of medium density residential with complementary local commercial, office, public, and quasi-public uses. • High intensity uses require access to major thoroughfares and expressways, existing medium to high density land use patterns, and natural resource conditions most capable of supporting development. High density residential, office, industrial and general commercial land uses would be consistent. Policy 2: Natural Resource Capability All development shall respect the following natural characteristics and constraints: Holly Township Pap6 Master Plan �Wetlands • The protection of wetlands is essential in order to preserve water quality, stabilize stonnwater runoff, recharge groundwater and provide fish and wildlife habitat. The highest priority is for the preservation of wetlands in their natural state. • While the actual boundaries and the significance of specific wetland areas must be determined at the time of development review, three aspects of wetland protection should be recognized in reviewing proposed developments within and in the vicinity of wetland areas. 1) Wetland area itself. 2) The adjacent fringe or buffer area. 3) The remainder of the watersheds which drain into and out of the wetland area beyond the fringe or buffer area. Woodlands • The conservation of woodland is imperative to protect water and soil quality, increase air quality, buffer noise pollution, moderate local climate and storm haurds, preserve wildlife habitats, and preserve aesthetic values and community beauty. • Development which is pennitted in and around wooded areas should be planned, constructed, and maintained so that existing healthy trees and native vegetation are preserved. The objective should be to preserve native trees rather than to rely on removal and subsequent replanting. The diversity of woodland areas should be protected to ensure long-tenn stability, and the variety of species preserved. Slopes • The existing land fonn should be made a part of land use planning and design. The primary objective should be preservation of the natural contours rather than alteration through mass grading. • Careful planning of slopes is necessary in order to reduce erosion, maintain s1ability, and control amounts and velocities of runoff. Grouadwater Protection and Recbarge • Groundwater recharge areas restore water levels in underground storage areas and supply water to lakes, rivers and streams. Due to the reliance on individual wells, retention and protection of groundwater resources is important to both Holly Township and surrounding areas. Since recharge areas extend beyond Holly Township boundaries, County and regional cooperation will be needed to effectively manage this problem. • Recharge areas are best kept as open space, or low density uses, to retain as much of the penneable surface as possible. Land grading should be controlled to retain Holly Township Pqe7 Muter Plan • �... the water holding characteristics of the land. Vegetation essential to the water holding characteristics should be preserved, or where necessary enhanced as part of a development program. • Recharge areas should be protected from pollution by controlling all uses which discharge wastes into the hydrogeologic cycle. Especially critical for monitoring are uses which handle hazardous materials which might leak or spill. Drainage • Protection of slopes, woodlands, and wetlands within the watershed and proper management of land use and development are essential to maintaining the quantity and quality of storm drainage. • Natural vegetation and topographical features along stream corridors and waterways should be preserved. Uses should be restricted to those which offer no danger of topographical disturbance to the corridor, degradation of water quality, increased runoff, sedimentation, or stream channel alteration. • Surface water runoff should not exceed the rate which occurs under existing, undeveloped conditions. Control of runoff prevents overloading of streams and long-term erosion from uncontrolled, high velocity discharges. • Agricultural practices should respect stream corridors and waterways and the natural drainage and runoff patterns associated with them, in concurrence with the development constraints listed above. Natural Area& • The preservation of natural areas identified through the Michigan Natural Features Inventory and the supplemental study conducted for the Township by the Nature Conservancy of Michigan is essential to maintaining the Townships unique heritage and clwacter. • Protection and management of the identified natural areas should be consistent with the recommendations of the Nature Conservancy Report and is best achieved through a public-private partnership. lleaidential Land Use Policy 3: Dependent on the capability of the natural resource base and availability of public services, the opportunity for a range of residential densities and styles should be pmvidcd. •1111•111 'It t IIM I .. 1riD Irie If 111,wd ~ ,-venti.na the iuata • _. I r.pdw tmfflc paaans. Residential land use is broken down into three density clmsifications: • Holly Township clllil•rllilll _ Low density single family provides for one ( 1) dwelling unit per five (5) acres. Master Plan �• Medium density single family provides for one ( l) dwelling unit per one (1) acre. • High density single family provides for two (2) dwelling units per acre. • Multiple Family provides for five (5) dwelling units per acre. • Low Density Residential is planned for areas compatible with existing low density development and capable of supporting additional low density development due to natural resource and road conditions. It is unlikely that such areas will be served by improved roads in the near future, which would allow more dense development. In addition, the maintenance oflow densities in certain areas is intended to provide for the continued preservation of open space, natural areas and the rural atmosphere of the Township. • Medium Density Residential is planned for areas with existing medium density development and moderately capable of supporting additional development due to natural resource conditions. Such areas will also serve as a transition between low and high density residential area. • High Density Residential and Multiple Family is planned for areas most capable of supporting additional development due to the availability of utilities, natural resource conditions, and the adequacy of roads. Areas especially suited for high density and multiple family development are located in close proximity to the Village ofHolly. Sanitary Sewers and Water Policy 4: ~ Plans for the extension of sanitary sewer and water facilities are limited to areas only where existing population densities and natural resource conditions warrant it necessary for public health, safety and welfare. • Such areas will be primarily in close proximity to the Village of Holly. • Cost of implementation should be borne by benefiting property owners. Policy 5: Roads The road network within the Township presents both opportunities and constraints for development. The capability of the road network is emphasized as a primary consideration in land use planning decisions and is reflected by the Thoroughfare Plan. Road improvement priorities are based upon a hierarchy established by the function each road serves. The allocation of improvement dollars shall give priority towards roads which function to benefit the greatest number of Township residents or provide the greatest economic benefit to the Township. For example, it makes little sense to improve a collector road which empties onto a major thoroughfare which is in a state of disrepair. No attempt will be made to propose costly road relocations or alter basic road patterns which have been established for years. Holly Township Pap9 Muter Plan ,_:. qa Y �• Maior Thoroughfares - The function of major thoroughfares is to carry larger volumes of traffic either between activity areas within the Township or through the Township. They also provide access to the expressways which serve the Township. The improvement of major thoroughfares rate the highest priority with the Township. • Minor Thoroughfares - The function of minor thoroughfares are much the same as major thoroughfares, although more moderate volumes of traffic are carried. The improvement of minor thoroughfares rate the second highest priority within the Township. • Collector Roads - The function of collector roads are to collect traffic from residential areas and carry it to major or minor thoroughfares. Traffic volumes arc generally low. The improvement of collector roads rate the third highest priority within the Township. • Local Streets orRoads- The function oflocal streets or roads arc to provide direct access from individual properties. Traffic volumes are very low. The improvement oflocal streets or roads rate the lowest priority within the Township. Parks, Recreation and Open Space Policy 6: A significant asset of Holly Township is the availability of quality open space, parks, and recreation facilities. Every effort shall be made to protect and enhance the system of open space and recreation within the township. • Intergovernmental cooperation between Townships, Village, County, Regional, State and Federal authorities is essential to the development of a system which balances the preservation of open space and environmental amenities and the provision of active recreation programs and facilities. • Higher real incomes, better educational opportunities, greater amounts of leisure time, and continued population growth will lead to greater and greater demands for recreational facilities. To meet these needs, open space programs should be made an integral element of all land use and zoning provisions in the township. • The special role of the township will be to encourage the preservation of unique features and woodlands by ordinance and to encourage private developers to preserve their most unique lands in proposed developments. Commercial Development Policy 7: Due to the low population density in the Township and the availability of commercial development in the Village of Holly, Fenton and Grand Blanc, the amount of planned commercial land use in the township should be minimized and based on serving the convenience needs of Township residents and capability of the land to support such development. • Commercial use shall be located with direct accessibility to a paved thoroughfare in areas which have minimal impact to neighboring residential areas. • Strip commercial development will be discouraged. Holly Township Pap 10 Muter Plan �• Planned shopping centers which provide clustered commercial environments will be encouraged. • Special emphasis should be placed on aesthetic as well as functional standards providing for less dense developments and allowing for greater green open space , and landscaping and parking requirements appropriate for the size of the development and land area to be utilized. Policy 8: Industrial development Provide for a limited amount of industrial land use to enhance local tax base and provide employment for Township residents. The location of new industrial areas will be based upon the capability of the land to support such development and the need to minimize public expenditure to serve such development. • Due to the availability of sewer, water and other public services in the Village of Holly, a cooperative effort is essential. • Primarily clean, light industry will be encouraged. • The use of available rail and paved thoroughfares will be emphasized. • Accessibility and the suitability of natural features, such as topography and soil characteristics are as important as the availability of land. • Protect other uses particularly residences from the intrusion by industry, both physical and visual. Policy 9: Public Education The Township must serve not only as a regulator ofland use and an administrator of policy, but as an educator as well. It is the duty of the Township to educate it's citizens regarding sound and reasonable land use practice and policy, and to strive to include residents of the community in the process of Township planning to the greatest extent ~ible. • Involvement and cooperation with individual citizens, citizen groups, and other special interest groups shall be encouraged by the Township at all levels of the planning process to insure the inclusion of a comprehensive range of community values and priorities. • Holly Township Provisions shall be made for public education and involvement in all issues involving or relating to the creation of, or revision to, general township planning and land use policy, by means of public education workshops in addition to whatever public hearings which may be required required by law. Paa• 11 Master Plan fl �LAND USE PLAN The land use plan is designed to recognize existing development patterns, and acknowledge relevant demographic trends, while taking into consideration long range goals and objectives of the Township as outlined by the goals and policies. Residential Land Use Low Density Residential/Agricultural A majority of the Township has been reserved as very low density rcsidcntiaVagricultural at one ( 1) dwelling unit per five (5) acres. Virtually all of • wdlcm balf of the Township west of 1-75 ia to remain in this category, fadlitating 1lrp lot l'llideDtia1 and the praervation of valuable · farmland. A lack of public sewer and water eUmiaatea the 1Ui1abilfty of dda land for any more intense land uses. Medium and High Density Residential Recent growth trends along the I-75 corridor have created explosive development in southern Genessee County, to the north and west, and will create a demand for more housing development in Holly. This has been reflected in the designation of medium density residential in the southern portion of the Township. Fenton, to the west, is already substantially developed by high density single family residential and is proposed to continue in this manner. In Holly, Grange Hall Road, west of Fish Lake Road, has begun to establish similar land use patterns in association, and has been planned for medium density residential. Medium density residential is planned at one ( l) dwelling unit per one ( 1) acre. Medium and high density residential is also planned surrounding the boundaries of Holly Village, providing a gradual transition from the dense development of the Village to the less intense land uses in the Township. High density residential is planned at two (2) dwelling units per one (I) acre. High density residential development is highly dependent up on the availability of utilities and public services, and relationships with adjacent land uses. For these reasons, high density residential has been located, in limited amounts, adjacent to the Village of Holly, and cast of I-75, in the northern section of the Township, along Dixie Highway. The more intense land uses here arc compatible with apparent growth trends in Grand Blanc Township, and arc dully separated from the rural character of Holly by the I- 75 border. Multiple Family Multiple family residential, currently non-existent in the Township, is proposed between the west village limits and Fish Lake Road. Multiple family residential is planned at five (5) units per one ( 1) acre. This location provides an appropriate transitional land use between and around high density residential in the Village and commercial development at the intersection of Fish Lake and Grange Hall. It is important that the opportunity for a variety of lifcstyles is available within the Township. Holly Township Pqe 12 Master Plan �Commercial and Office Land Use The intersection at Fish Lake Road bas been established as the community commercial center. Current land development trends indicate expansion of commercial land use along Grange Hall Road, moving westward towards growth pressures from Fenton. · The intersection of Grange Hall Road and I-75 is proposed commercial, currently developed only by the St. Julian Wine Tasting Center. While this is a significant major access point into the Township, there is strong potential for highway commercial and recreation/tourism support services. Commercial land use has also been suggested on Dixie Highway in the north-east comer of the Township. It is intended to serve as neighborhood commercial in support of surrounding industrial, commercial and residential neighborhoods. Mixed Land Use Mixed Use development has been proposed specifically for the Adelphian Academy site. The unusual property size and existing development of the site warrant special consideration for future development. Mixed use provides limited flexibility and is intended to provoke creative and adaptive land uses which would be compatible with surrounding uses. Industrial Land Use Industrial land use is planned in the northeast comer of the Township because of the access to 1-75 and Dixie Highway. Herc again, the effects of intense land uses are substantially barricaded by the 1-75 corridor, allowing economic expansion within the Township without harming the rural recreational character. Holly Township Pap 13 Master Plan 1t �THOROUGHFARE PLAN The Thoroughfare Plan proposes major transportation routes serving and resulting from future land use patterns. Based on existing road usage patterns, the land use plan, and estimated population and traffic increases, these routes will be relied upon as major or minor arteries, collector streets or local roads. As defined in the Goals and Policies section, a "Major Thoroughfare" carries large volumes of traffic across or through the Township and often provides access to state trunklines and expressways. Most major thoroughfares are Class A all-weather roads, and carry the brunt of industrial and truck traffic. These roads receive the highest priority for maintenance and repair. A "Minor Thoroughfare" serves much the same purpose as a major thoroughfare, but carries a lighter volume of traffic. The primary function is to connect major activity centers within the Township and provide access across the Township. A "Collector" Road transports traffic from local and residential streets to major and minor thoroughfares. Traffic volumes are moderate. "Local Streets" and Roads provide direct access to individual properties and typically have very low speeds and little traffic. Major thoroughfares in Holly include North Holly Road and Grange Hall Road. Grange Hall provides the only paved direct east-west artery and accesses both US-23 and 1-75. North Holly Road is the only paved direct north-south artery. Both roads rurrently carry heavy traffic volumes relative to the area. Current land use trends indicate future high intensity land uses to be focuscd along these axis. Minor thoroughfares running north-south include Fish Lake Road which is only partially paved, and Rood Road which is all gravel. Fish Lake provides access to Seven Lakes State Park and Bramblewood Golf Club, two major recreational attractions in the Township. Rood Road provides access to parts of the Holly State Recreation Arca including several boat launch sites, and connects to Grange Hall Road, bypassing the Village. Minor thoroughfares running east-west include Lahring Road, connecting North Holly Road and Dixie Highway, and Belford Road, which traverses the entire northern portion of the Township. East Holly Road is also a minor thoroughfare providing direct access between downtown Holly Village and the Holly Road/I- 75 interchange. Collector Streets which provide access from local and residential roads to major and minor thoroughfares include Tinsman, Kurtz, Quick, Elliott and Fagen. Holly Township Pap 14 Muter Plan �THOROUGHFARE PLAN Major Minor Collector Local Holly Township I -·••··· I ■■■ Pap 1S Muter Plan �r .~ Muter Right-of-Way Plan The Holly Township Master Right-of Way Plan, prepared by the Oakland County Road Commission, was updated and adopted by the Township in 1989. There arc four county road classifications, including super-highway, urban super-highway, thoroughfare, and collector: With the exception of a few, all county roads are proposed for 120 foot right-of-ways, classifying them as "Thoroughfares". Addis, Gage, Grundyke, Evans, McClelland, Hess and Shields are classified as "Collectors", having a proposed right-of-way of 86 feet. These classsifications are adequate to meet the needs of future development in Holly Township as they allow for a wide range of capacity expansion improvements to all existing roadways. Holly Towmhip Pqe 16 Muter Plan �MASTER RIGHT-OF-WAY PLAN QENflff CO. COUNTY LINE RO . ,....-, ~ . F' _Lf.G..END_ 204 FOOT (APl'IIOX. 12 UO FOOT (A,.,.IIOX . 41 120 FOOT IA,.,.IIOl. J7 H FOOT IAl'PIIOX. 24 IIOVTf UNOIII sruo, Utfl'TfO M(T(IISI M(TUISI MET[IIS) M[l[IIS) SUl'tfl -HICHWAY IJIIUN SUl'lll-HICHWA f THOIIOUCH,Allf COUfCTOII STATl 01 tltCHtCAN TIIUNIIUN(S • • • • • • l'IIOl'OSfO STA Tl Holly Township Pip 17 o, tltCHtCAN fllUNIIUNfS Muter Plan �,. IMPLEMENTATION The Township Master Plan serves as the broad framework within which the Township will guide future land use. Implementation of this plan will require the ongoing efforts of Township officials, planning commi~ioners, board of appeals members, neighboring agencies and citizens. The effectivencss of the plan relics upon the diligence with which its provisions arc acted upon. Specific strategies available to the Township for implementation of the Master Plan and the policies include the following: • Existing Township ordinances - zoning - subdivision • Building code provisions • Adoption of separate Township ordinances - wetlands woodlands site plan review • Development of a Capital Improvements Plan • Publication of a "Development Guide" infonnation handbook outlining Township development policies and guidelines. • Cooperative efforts with adjacent communities, county, state and federal agencies. • Township or private acquisition of scenic easements and/or property. • Voted millage or special easement to finance desired improvements. It should be noted that the list of strategics is not in any ranked order. These are the most common and feasible options currently available to the Township in implementing this plan. As new legislation and court action occurs it is entirely feasible that new options will be available while some existing ones will be altered or eliminated. The plan was designed to be flexible by being adaptable to changing circumstances without weakening established goals and policies. The effective implementation of this plan will require long tenn cooperation and effort on the part of Township officials, staff, developers, landowners and citizens. An infonncd and involved citizenry is therefore essential to the success of this plan. Holly Township Pqe 18 Master Plan �APPENDIX A �BACKGROUND STUDIES Holly Township Master Plan �LOCATION Holly Township is located in the northwest quadrant of Oakland County. The Township is comprised of approximately thirty-three square miles and is bounded on the cast by Groveland Township and on the south by Rose Township, both in Oakland County. It is bounded on the west by Fenton Township and on the north by Grand Blanc Township, both in Gcncssee County. It is approximately 50 miles north of Detroit and 15 miles south of the City of Flint. ACCESS Roadways Although 1-75 runs along the eastern edge of Holly Township, access into the Township is one of its greatest constraints. 1-75, connecting northern Michigan with southern Florida, links Holly directly with Detroit and Flint as well as the upper peninsula. The only interchange from I- 75 however, is located at Grange Hall Road at the eastern border of the Township. The Dixie Highway cuts across the north-east comer of the Township, providing access to a few cast-west roads, but even this access is limited. US-23, running through adjacent townships, is approximately two miles to the west, connecting Holly with Toledo, Ann Arbor, and several statewide cast-west arteries. Access north-south within the Township is provided by Fish Lake Road and by North Holly Road which traverses Holly Village. East-west access across the state is satisfied by 1-96, 1-69 and 1-94. 1-94 traverses the southern portion of the state, connecting Detroit, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Chicago. It is approximately 60 miles south of Holly Township, accessed by US-23. 1-96 ties Detroit to Lansing, Grand Rapids and the south-west coast of Michigan. It is 35 miles south of Holly and again, is accessed by US-23. 1-69, 15 miles north of Holly, runs from Port Huron on the East, through Flint, and is a primary route to Lansing. Within the Township, Grange Hall Road is the major cast-west route linking Holly Township and Village with Holly State Recreation Arca to the cast and the City of Fenton to the west. It is generally more difficult to traverse the Township when traveling cast and west, than when traveling north and south. This is particularly true in the northeastern half of the Township. Railroads The Grand Trunk Western Railroad crosses through the lower part of Holly Village, running · . northwest of Detroit. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway also has a line which runs north-south through the Towmhip traversing the Village of Holly. Airports Complete airport facilities arc available at Bishop Airport in Flint,and Oakland Pontiac Airport to the south. Private air fields or landing strips include the Adelphian Academy airport at Holly Village, as well as others in the northeastern part of the township and adjacent townships. Detroit Metropolitan Airport is approximately 60 miles south. Holly Towns/Jip AppeadizA•Papl Mutf!l'Plan �~ Figure A REGIONAL MAP ~ ~ , ~ 1-7' J/1 I J M-27 I ~------M-2◄ 1-96 , «, L1~an1~in I ------L~l-7'5 i ~ t> ' Holly Townsbip \ . // ,, ~...___Jac~.k~n~~n Arb AppradirA•Pa.-2 ' I ' \. (/) 011 US-23 .\ ( / - ;' �PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Inventories The Holly Township offices bold a comprehensive set of natural resource maps, prepared by the Oakland County Planning Division at the request of the Township. Outlined in a series of color overlays arc: water resources including surface water, wetlands, floodplains; land resources including slopes over 10%, land containing prime fanning characteristics, and lands that arc unsuitable for development; vegetative resources including deciduous and coniferous woodlands; and natural features from the Michigan Natural Features Inventory Program. The Michigan Natural Features Inventory Program identified the most natural, unaltered examples of natural plant communities in Oakland County, three of which are located in Holly Township. A five acre prairie fen located at Cady Lake, a 103 acre dry-mesic southern forest located within Seven Lakes State Park, and a six acre prairie fen, also within Seven Lakes, were recognized as warranting protection at the county level. In 1988, a Township-wide survey was conducted which identified twenty-two locally valuable natural communities and further considered protection and preservation methods for each. Key excerpts of this report arc provided in Appendix B. Geology Holly Township is situated within one of two broad zones in the southeast Michigan area; the hilly zone. The largest surface geological form in Holly Township is the area of till plain, closely followcd by the morainic form. The outwash plain accounts for the least area. landforms arc the result of prehistoric glacial movement and deposits mainly of sand and gravel. Soils General soil mapping indicates that there are seven broad soil types in Holly Township. These have been defined as follows: Dronko: Hilly, knob and basin topography sandloams. .Eau Claire: Gently rolling clay plains. Pipestone: Deeply rolling clay land. Indian Lake: Sand-gravel plains, pot holes, lake basin. &ebe: Swamp land; mainly muck and rifle peat types. Novi: Flat plains and drainage valleys, clay semi-wet. W.aan: Flat plains and drainage valleys, wet, underlaid by sand and gravel. The most prevailing soil types is the Pipestone with the Eau Claire and Wixom soil types forming the next two soil type classifications, respectively. The Village of Holly, and the most intensively developed portions of the Township, lie within the Wixom soil type and the area of outwash plain. Neither of these natural features are supportive of septic tank development. Holly Towrubip Appmdiz A • Pa.- J M.uttrPlan ~ �, Vegetation and Wetlands Northern Oakland County lies in a deciduous forest zone in which the climax forest is Beech and Maple. After the retreat of the glaciers, uplands became forested by oak communities. The kettle depressions developed into tamarack or hardwood swamps, and sometimes remained as lakes surrounded by meadows. The channels gradually became extensive swamps or meadows, and were often cut by rivers and streams. More·than 35 lakes of varying size arc scattered extensively throughout the Township, occupying 6% of total land area. Large areas of wetlands surround the many water bodies as well. It is estimated that only 370 acres or 22% of pre-settlement wetlands remain today. Lowland forests total 230 acres and upland forests 370 acres, both less than 10% of what originally existed in the Township. Topography In Southeast Michigan, slopes of twelve percent ( 12%) or more should generally not be developed because of their uniqueness in the area. Holly Township has considerable areas of twelve percent (12%) slopes, distributed throughout the Township, quite a few of which are part of a wetland environment. This is most significant for water quality purposes because of the high incidence of potential surface runoff from these lands if developed and concurrent pollution of waterbodies from urban runoff. • •· Holly Township Appeadu A • Pap 4 Mast«- Plan �POPULATION & HOUSING Trends Population trends are shown in Table 1 and Figure B. The Township experienced a surge in population of 139.1% between 1950 and 1960, making it the 9th fastest growing community in the county for that time period. In the following decade, the Village of Holly also experienced an uncharacteristically high growth rate of90.8 %, causing it to be the 7th fastest growing community in the county. Since these jumps, population growth returned to it's previous rate. Table 1 POPULATION TRENDS HOLLY TOWNSHIP AND HOLLY VILLAGE Holly Township Holly Village 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 918 2252 1036 2343 1367 2663 3269 2282 3041 4355 3612 4874 Source: U.S. Bureau of Census Figure B 1930-1980 POPULATION TRENDS HOLLY VILLAGE AND HOLLY TOWNSHIP 5500 p 0 p u L 5000 4500 4000 3500 A 3000 T I 0 N 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 YEAR ~HOLLY TOWNSHIP Holly Towmbip .,...., c HOLLY VILLAGE AppmdixA•~5 Master Plan �Characteristics Age Composition The median age in Holly Township of 32.0 years, is close to the county median of 30.0 years. This number has jumped significantly since 1970, when median age in the township was 24.8 years. The Village however, has a noticeably younger population, with a median age of 25.9. This is an increase of 2.4 years since 1970, compared to an incrca.sc of 7.2 years in the township. Median age in related areas ranges from 26 years to 30 years. (Sec Tables 2 and 3 for age and household characteristics of related areas.) Households According to 1980 census data, I, 178 households arc located in Holly Township, with another 1,616 within the Village limits. Table 2 GENERAL POPULATION AND HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS FOR 1980 HOLLY TOWNSfilP AND RELATED AREAS IN OAKLAND COUNTY Total Population Age Characteristics Median Age % of 65 and older % of 60 and older % of 17 and younger Total Households Oakland County Groveland Township 450,449 4,114 30 Holly Holly Township Village Rose Township 3,612 4,874 4,465 32 11 15 29 26 8 11 32 26 13 29 26 4 6 36 8 37 355,187 1,238 1,178 1,616 1,307 9 5 Source: U.S. Bureau of Census Holly Towmbip AppmdixA •Pap6 M.ast« Plan �Table 3 GENERAL POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS FOR 1980 HOLLY TOWNSIDP AND RELATED AREAS IN GENESSEE COUNTY Total Population City of Fenton Fenton Township Gcncsscc County Grand Blanc Township City of Grand Blanc 450,449 11,744 8,098 24,413 6,848 27 8 29 6 9 36 29 12 15 34 30 30 8 11 32 Age Characteristics Median Age % 65 and older % 60 and older % 19 and younger- 11 36 5 8 35 *Note change from 17 and younger in Table 2. Source: Bureau of Census Educational Attainment Holly Township and Holly Village exhibit gcncnilly the same educational characteristics. Approximately three quarters of the population have a high school education, 14-17% have 1-3 years of college, and the remaining 12-14%, 4 or more years of college. On the whole however, the education level in the Holly area is lower than that of the county. While 52% of the county population has an education of more than high school, the Holly area has only about 25%. (Sec Table 4.) Tablc4 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT Holly 4 Ycars High School College 1-3 years · 4 years 5 years Village ~ 2,466 0.77 0.17 0.03 0.03 536 101 .lQ2 Holly Township 1,835 342 173 ill 2,528 3,212 Oakland ~ County !li 0.73 0.14 0.07 0.07 268,610 141,081 80,157 73,792 563,640 0.48 0.25 0.14 0. 13 Source: U.S. Census Bureau Holly Townsbip App«xJiz A • Pa.- 7 Master Plan ~ �Income The median household income in Oakland County in 1980 was $25,325. Holly Township was slightly below that at $24,057, and Holly Village was considerably lower at $21,327. Ownership In Holly Township, 89% of residents own their homes, while only 76% of Holly Village residents are owners. Housing Value Average sale value for single-family residential homes for Holly and related area are shown in the figure below. Holly Township appears to have kept up with normal increases in value in the past five years, while Holly Village, the lowest average value in the area, has increased at a substantially lower rate. Table 5 AVERAGE HOME SALES VALUE HOLLY AND RELATED AREAS Total fill Holly Village Holly Township Groveland Township Rose Township Springfield Township 42,300 58,700 72,900 50,000 61,600 ~ ~ fill Increase 42,854 65,973 79,182 64,476 80,097 43,938 73,505 88,634 61,760 19,055 4% 21% 18% 20% 22% .1ill. 42,000 40,200 59,000 63,800 73,300 70,500 51,200 60,200 67,000 77,500 Source: Oakland County Planning Age Of Housing Stock Holly Village is characterized by an exceptionally old housing stock. A majority of the buildings were built before 1939. Holly Township on the other hand is relatively new, with a majority of the buildings built after 1970. (See Table 6 on the following page.) Holly Township APl'ffldi.z A • Pap 8 �Table 6 AGE OF HOUSING STOCK (Number of structures) Holly Village 2.9. Holly Township ~ 451 322 204 132 604 1713 0.26 0.19 0.12 0.08 0.35 508 334 0.41 0.27 0.12 0.05 0. 16 1970-1980 1960-1969 1950-1959 1940-1949 1939 or earlier 144 59 1Q.l. 1246 Source: U.S. Census Bureau Building Activity Building activity in the Village of Holly appears to be decreasing steadily. This is probably due to a decrease in the amount of vacant land available for development. An average of 5.4 permits have been is.sued per year since 1970. Building activity in Holly Township on the other hand is increasing gradually. A high of 33 permits were issued in 1982. Including this uncharacteristically high year, and average of 9. 75 permits have been is.sued per year since 1980. Figure C BUILDING ACTIVITY IN HOLLY VILLAGE AND TOWNSIDP 40 p E R M 36 32 I 28 T 24 s I 20 s s 16 E D 8 u 12 4 o,-1-~----l------l~-----1~-.....:Jii!==~.t===::jL---..!1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1986 YEAR <>HOLLY TOWNSHIP Holly Township c HOLLY VILLAGE ~A•h.-9 Master Plan " · �Projections Population projections prepared by the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments Small Area Forecast Program (SAF) for Holly Township and Holly Village arc presented in Table 8. The SAF projections for Holly Township indicate approximately a 40% increase in population from 1980 to the year 2005. The SAF projections arc slightly less than the population projections prepared by the Oakland County Road Commission in their recently published strategic plan for economic development. While the SAF projections indicate a population of 4,199 people in 1995, the County Road Commission projects a population of 4,965 people in 1995. However, both the SAF and the Road Commission's projection of the percentage change in population fall in the range of 37 to 40 percent. It is clear that the Township is expected to grow at a moderate and steady rate throughout the remainder of the century. The SAF projections for the Village also predicts a moderate growth rate to the year 2005. While the Village will not grow as much as the Township, an increase in population to 6,263 in the year 2005 is expected. This represents a nearly 29% increase over 1980 population. Table 7 POPULATION ESTIMATES FOR 1987 HOLLY TOWNSHIP AND SURROUNDING AREAS IN OAKLAND COUNTY 1980 Census Population Groveland Township Holly Township Holly Village Rose Township 1987 Population Numerical Change Estimates 4,114 3,612 4,874 4,465 4,798 3,908 5,514 684 296 640 612 5,011 Percent Change 16.63 8.20 13.14 13.70 Source: Oakland County Planning Division Holly Townsbip Appmdiz A • ~ JO Muter Plan �Table 8 PROJECTED POPULATION HOLLY TOWNSIDP AND HOLLY VILLAGE Change % Change 1980- .filQ lill illQ 1980- ~ ZQQQ ~ ~ ~ Holly Township TotalPopulation 3612 Households 1178 Persons Per Household 3.07 1239 2.95 3909 1409 2. 77 4199 1592 2.64 4531 5027 1815 2071 2.50 2.43 1415 893 -.64 39.2 75.8 20.8 5066 5396 1673 3.03 1910 2.83 5102 2136 2067 5911 6263 2351 2546 2.51 2.46 1389 940 -.57 28.5 58 .5 3654 Holly Village Total Population 4874 Households 1606 Persons Per Household 3.03 -18.9 Source: Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. Holly Town6/Jip Appeoclu A • Pap 11 Master Plan �• ECONOMIC BASE Labor Force Characteristics Labor force characteristics for Holly Township and the surrounding areas are presented in Table 9. The following section summarizes the labor force characteristics of Holly Township presented in the Tables. • The predominant occupations of Holly Township residents who are in the labor force are evenly split between white collar positions such as managers and professionals and blue collar positions such as operatives and laborers. • In Holly Village the predominant occupations are technical sales, administrative support operatives and laborers. Thus, the people who live in Holly Township have more diverse occupations than those who live in the Village. - • Holly Township and Holly Village have similar types of industries. • Both Holly Township and Holly Village have a higher percentage of operatives and laborers than the county-wide percentage. • Both Holly Township and Holly Village have a lower percentage of managers and professionals than the county-wide percentage. • Both Holly Township and Holly Village have a higher percentage of employees in the manufacturing industry than the county-wide percentage. Table 9 LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS Oakland County Occupation (% of employees): Managers & Professionals Tech., Sales, Admin. Support Service Fann,Forest,Fishing Skilled Workers Operatives, Laborers e Industry(% of employees): Manufacturing Transp., Comm., Util. Wholesale & Retail Finance, Insurance, Real Estate Business, Personal & Entertainment Professional Services Public Administration Other Holly Townsliip 31 32 11 0 11 14 29 5 23 6 8 22 3 4 Groveland Township Holly Township Holly Village Rose Township 23 26 13 3 16 19 24 19 13 2 20 22 12 27 12 15 33 21 28 13 0 19 18 39 4 18 3 6 19 4 7 39 41 3 24 1 27 6 18 7 AppmdixA •Papl2 s 13 2 7 26 2 6 l 7 7 18 1 21 2 12 5 M.uterPJsn �Tu: Base In 1988, holly Townships S.E.V. equalled $45.4 billion, an increase of 14% since 1982. This figure dipped in 1983 and 1985, but made a strong increase between 1986 and 1987. The S.E.V. of Holly Village totalled $40.3 billion. Dipping in 1983, the S.E.V. increased only slightly until 1987. The S.E.V. of the total Holly area increased by 17% since 1982. Industrial land uses have increased from 2.0% to 2.8% of total, while commercial has increased from 9.0% to 12.6% in 1988. Since totals are not available for the Village and the Township separately, it is difficult to estimate the rate and areas of growth within the Township. Table 10 COUNTY ASSESSED VALUATIONS HOLLY TOWNSffiP AND RELATED COMMUNITIES IN OAKLAND COUNTY Holly Village HOLLY TOWNSHIP Springfield Township Rose Township Groveland Township 1982 fill jjM .l.ill. .l.lli ill1 32.3 39.3 92.4 54. 1 50.7 31.5 38 89.6 51.8 49.5 32.1 38.4 90.6 52 50.5 32.2 38.0 91.6 52.3 51.5 32.5 38.9 96.8 53.8 53.7 36.5 43. 7 106.2 55.1 54.7 ;~ - Figure D COUNTY ASSESSED VALUES 110 102 M 94 I L L I 0 N 86 s 78 70 62 54 46 38 :-- Ii ~ • 0 0 0 1982 1983 1984 1985 i • • 1986 1987 30 o HOLLY TOWNSHIP Holly Towmbip Cl SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP ♦ ROSE TOWNSHIP ■ GROVELM MMtwPlan ~ .... �• COMMUNITY SERVICES The Charter Township of Holly, governed by the Township Board, provides a variety of community services. Fire service in the Township is provided by a volunteer fire department on a tri-party system with the Village of Holly and Rose Township. Each area has their own fire hall, but they arc organized to work together in the event of a large fire. Police protection is contracted through the Oakland County Sherifl's Department and the Michigan State Police. Utilities At the current time, no central municipal water or sewer is available within the Township. Both gas and electric service is supplied by Consumer's Power. Holly is the only Township in the county that does not have electricity supplied by Detroit Edison. Parks and Recreation Holly Township is supplied with a wealth of all-season recreational resources. Several outstanding regional facilities arc located within their boundaries including two state recreation areas. A large private ski resort is located next to Holly Township· in Groveland Township. The preservation and enhancement of these vast resources is an integral part of the future of Holly Township. State Parks Holly State Recreation Area Holly State Recreation Area consists of 7,470 acres ofland, shared with Groveland Township to the East. Winter and summer sports arc equally provided for, including skiing, snowmobiling, hunting, boating, fishing, hiking and horseback trails. Seven Lakes State Park Seven Lakes State Park is made up ofl,378 acres and provides a multitude of activities similar to the Holly State Recreation Area. County Parks Groveland Oaks County Parle Groveland Oaks County Park is 400 acres of parkland focused towards family camping. Six hundred modem and primitive campsites are available in addition to picnic areas, a waterslide, and swimming beach. It is open year-round but provides no actual site developments to facilitate specific activities. Township Parks Holly Township Park and Beach Holly Township Park and Beach consists of 2.5 acres offering swimming, picnicing and play areas. Holly Townsb.ip Appendix A • Page 14 Mute-Plan �Ho11y Township Park #2 An additional Township Park is proposed in the Holly Township Master Recreation Plan ( 1988). Plans for the 75 acre site include nature study, hiking, camping, fishing, tennis and baseball among others. With a community focus, the park will have three pavilions and an amphitheater to house community events. The park is planned to compliment existing facilities by adding activities currently not available elsewhere, or that constitute a county shortage. Village Parks Holly Village has five local parks, totaling 20 acres, including Lakeside, Crappo, Cyclone and Morris Fein and Ganshaw parks. Most parks offer picnicing and play areas, with ballfields provided at Cyclone and fishing available at Morris Fein Arboretum Holly Towmbip Appendix A • Pa.- 15 �Table 11 RECREATIONAL FACILITIES -c .,, "O C vO.. V .:X - cC _J r-- Camping Picnic Areas Shelters Playground Ball Diamond Swim Beach Canoe-Boat Launch Canoe-Boat Rental Hiking Trail Horse Trail V') : Pro- 160 : posed • • ... C Hunting • • • CD ~- .!!.! C = ·- > ... -0 CD - 0 >-. 0 ...JI • • • • • • • ~~ >--_ =0 +-V IC -.·-... > ~~ • • • • • • • Downhill Ski X-C Ski •- ~ (U OU Q) C cn '"O ·- ·> U) >-. 0::::) ... 0 • • • • • • • • • • C CD= co.. .52>-. v-C > Nature Center Fishing QI en Ol C 600 • • • • • • • • - - ~ .:x • • • • • X-C Rental Sledding Snowmobiling Ice Skating • • •• •• .:•• Holly Towmbip A.ppendiiA•Pa,-16 Mut~P/1111 �Public Access Boat Launches Public access boat launches, operated by the state parks, arc available throughout the township. The table below lists the amenities available at each. BOAI LAUNCIIlNGS Water ~ Location Restrooms Parking Acres Heron lake Crotched Lake Crystal Lake Holdrcdge Lake Big Seven Lake Dickinson Lake HollyR.A. Holly R.A. HollyR.A. Holly R.A. Seven lakes SP Seven lakes SP YES YES YES NO YES NO 48 10 10 10 12 20 132 14 12 16 170 44 Golf Courses Bramblewood Country Club Open to the public at a daily fee, Bramblewood offers 9 boles. Community Education Recreation Opportunities The Holly Area Community Education Council has set up a variety of educational programs including recreational activities. Aerobics, tennis lessons and ski club and basketball team membership are available to residents of the Holly Arca School District. These activities take place at schools in the Holly School District and at Mount Holly, a private facility. School Facilities Outdoor recreation is also available at Holly area schools on an individual basis. The outdoor athletic fields and courts are accessible to the public when they are not in use by classes. School facilities offering recreation opportunities include the following: SCHOOL RECREATION AREAS Benjamin H. Sherman Middle Patterson Elementary Adelphian Academy (Private) Holly Elementary M.D. Bennett Junior High Holly Senior High Holly Towmbip Holly Village Holly Village Holly Twp. Holly Village Holly Village Holly Village Appeocfir A • Pa,- 11 Mute-Plan �• Private Facilities Mount Holly Mount Holly is a private downhill skiing facility located in the western side of Groveland Township. Mount Holly has 13 ski slopes, 7 chairlifts, 6 ropetows and a ski lodge. Instruction for beginners and intermediate skiers is available. The vertical drop is 327 feet at Mount Holly, and the longest run is 1,850 feet. It is pos.sible to cross country ski around the Mount Holly area, however facilities are not specifically set up for this activity. Yogi Bear's Holly Hills Campground Holly Hills Campground is located just east of Holly Township on Grange Hall road in Groveland Township. It is a 39 acre campground which offers rccrcationa activities such as mini-golf and swimming. It is situated near both the Holly State Recreation Area and Groveland Oaks County Park which offer further recreational activities. Camp Copncconic Camp Copneconic is a 400 acre YMCA camp run by the Flint YMCA. It is located just beyond the north-west comer of Holly township on Lake Copneconic. The camp offers a range of recreational activities, from swimming and boating to horseback riding and a high ropes course. The camp is not open to the general public except on the weekends in the winter for cross country skiing. Special Facilities and Events • Holly Holidays. Holly Holidays is a juried art and craft show that takes place the first Saturday in November at Sherman Middle School. The focus of the show is on folk art and annually attracts antique dealers from throughout south-eastern Michigan. The event is sponsored by the Holly Community Education Council and the Northwest Oalcland County Historical Society, and bas free admission. Carry Nation Festival The Carry Nation Festival occurs annually during a weekend in September. It is organized by the Carry Nation Festival Corporation in cooperation with the Holly Village Government and the Board of Commerce. The Festival features a play depicting the life of Carry Nation, a prominent temperance leader in the late l 800's as well as craft booths, food stands and other entertainment. Theme Days and Weekends At different times during the year, there arc theme days and weekends in Holly Village. In July, the theme is railroad days. Merchants dress up in costumes and events are organized by the railroad club to celebrate the influence of trains. In December, the theme is Dicken's Olde Fashion Christmas. Characters from Dicken's novels walk the streets of the elaborately decorated Holly Village. • Holly Townsbip Mutf!!T Plan �ROADWAYS According to the Oakland County Road Commission, there are roughly 23 miles of primary road in Holly Township and 36 miles of local roads. A majority of road surfaces are gravel. Since the Township is encouraging tourism and recreational expansion rather than commercial and industrial development, there is no direct need for an increased percentage of paved roads. Strategic Planning Report of the Oak.land County Road Commission notes that increased maintenance on existing gravel roads is the highest priority for Holly Township in the future. Better grading, drainage and winter maintenance are specific goals. A second priority is the elimination of safety haz.ards, in particular, intersections with limited site distances and dangerous curves. Holly Townsbip �• LAND USE Although it has grown moderately over the past 10 years, Holly Township has remained at a relatively low density in its rural and natural environment. Nearly 40 percent of the land area in the Township is catagorized as "vacant", with another 15 percent of the land classified as "outdoor recreation and conservation". In addition, 25 percent of the land is in agricultural use, resulting in 90 percent of the land area of Holly Township either undeveloped or in a low level of development. An inventory of existing land use in Holly Township and Holly Village are pr~ented in Tables 12 and 13. Land use data was provided by the Oakland County Planning Department. Definition of terms are as follows: Single Family Residential: Improved single land parcels having .tw or less families per unit in predominate residential uses plus adjacent residential or local streets and alleys. Multi-Family Residential: Improved single land parcels having fQy[ or more families per unit in predominantly residential use, including apartments, condominiums, row houses, terraces (excluding commercial dwellings such as hotels, motels and camp grounds), plus mobile home parks . • Institutional; Improved land parcels and facilities which are held in the public interest and are exempt from real property taxation, plus any local streets or access way, contiguous or associated with such parcels. Examples of this category are churches, schools, universities, governmental offices, hospitals and cemeteries. Commercial and Office: Improved land parcels used for wholesale, retail, office, entertainment or services, including those uses predominantly at street level on multi-functional structures, plus related contiguous parking, service ways or alleys. Industrial: Improved land parcels used predominantly for manufacturing or on which materials or articles are processed or semi-processed, but not retailed, including related storage areas, and warehousing, plus commercial waste disposal sites, land fill operations and junk yards• • Holly Townsbip Appendix A • ~ 20 Muter Plan �Outdoor Recreation and Conservation: Public and private land parcels, either improved or unimproved, used for nonintensive recreational activities, including parks (county, state, local, private or subdivision), golf courses, gun clubs, swim clubs, ski areas, riding stables, etc. Transportation. Utility and Communication: Improved land parcels containing above-ground utility or communication facilities, including electric and gas generating plants, transmission lines, booster and transformer stations, related storage yards, etc. Parcels devoted to transportation uses, such as airports or railroad yards, are included in this category. Buildings related to utility companies, such as Detroit Edison, Consumers Power and Michigan Bell, plus Waste Water Treatment Plants and Water Works, are also inlcuded. Agricultural: Land parcels used predominantly or wholly as cultivated farm land, orchards or for livestock activity, with or without related farm structures. Water: Unimproved areas of inland depressions, consistently filled with standing water which are supplied by streams, ground water or artesian springs. Rights of Way; Land parcel corridors which are used predominantly for transportation, including constructed public roadways, railroads and those drainage or communication uses which are contiguously related to the transportation use. Vacant: All parcels or part of parcels not included in one of the above defmitions. These are non-improved areas not in a committed use. Holly Townmip A.pp,ndir A • Pa,- 21 MMlt!rPlan �- Table 12 EXISTING LAND USE HOLLY TOWNSHIP Land Use Classification Single Family Multi-Family Institutional Commercial & Office Industrial Outdoor Rec. & Cons. Agricultural Trans., Utility & Comm. Rights-of-Way Vacant Water Community Total 1984-1986 Changes in Acres 1984 Acreage 1,600 0 388 40 276 3,186 5,412 153 1,088 8,066 1,297 +31 0 0 +42 0 +22 0 21,506 1986 Acreage 1986 % of Total 0 1,631 0 388 82 276 3,208 5,412 153 1,088 7,971 1,297 37 6 0 21,506 100% 0 0 -95 8 0 2 1 15 25 1 5 --less than one percent - Source: Oakland County Planning Division Figure E Holly Township Land Use 1986 ■ Single Family lnsti tutional ■ Commercial ~ Office l,;;J Industrial ■ Outdoor Rec. ~ Cons. fH Agricultural ■ Trans., Utility g. Comm. Cl Rights-of-Way 1111 Vacant ~ Water la Holly Township Appmdiz A • Pap 22 7 .6~ 1.8~ 0.4~ 1.3~ 14.9~ 25.2~ 0 .7" 5. 1" 37.1 ~ 6 .0" Master Plan �0 Table 13 EXISTING LAND USE HOLLY VILLAGE Land Use Classification Single Family Multi-Family Institutional Commercial & Office Industrial Outdoor Rec. & Cons. Agricultural Trans., Utility & Comm. Rights-of-Way Vacant Water Community Total 1984 Acreage 1984-1986 1986 1986 % of Total Acreage Changes in Acres 550 88 551 91 209 71 61 60 0 8 64 441 154 32 208 71 61 12 0 8 64 494 154 +l +3 +l 0 0 +48 0 0 0 -53 0 1,710 0 1,710 100% 5 12 4 4 4 0 4 26 9 ---less than one percent S:' Source: Oakland County, Planning Division Figure F HOLLY VILLAGE LAND USE 1986 ■ Single Family Multi-Family ■ Institutional. □ Commercial ~ Office ■ Industrial EB Outdoor Rec. ~ Cons. ■ Trans .• Utility ~ Comm . ~ Rights-of-Way 1111 Vacant ~ Water B Holly Towmbip Appmdi:cA•~2J 32.2"5 .3~ 12.2~ 4.2~ 3.6"' 3 .5~ 0 .5"' 3 .7~ 25.8~ 9 .0~ Muter Plan , 1 �• Patterns Single-Family Residential - Most single-family housing is concentrated in the Village of Holly. Expansion into the Township has been sparsely scattered along major road frontages. Small groupings have developed around some lakes, with one large subdivision surrounding Spring Lake in the east. Single-family is the largest single developed category of land use in the Township, although it is expected to remain a relatively low density community. Multiple Family - This type of residential development has been confined to the North end of Holly Village. No Multiple Family exists within the Township itself. Institutjonal - Institutional uses are scattered throughout the Village of Holly but have not grown extensively into the Township. Expansion to the cast of the village is improbable due to lakes and wetlands. CommerciaVOffice - Commercial/Office development is expanding westwardly also. Holly Township is experiencing growth pressure from Fenton and Flint in the west and northwest , causing development to be drawn in that direction. CommerciaVOfficc land use in the Township is concentrated on Grange Hall Road, a major thoroughfare connecting I-75 to Fenton and U.S. 23, to the west of the Village. There is very little CommerciaVOffice elsewhere in the Township. Small districts arc located at the I-75/Grange Hall Road interchange. • Industrial/Mining - While industrial land is scattered along rail corridors in the center of Holly Village, industrial development in the Township is focused around I-75 in the northeast. Access and exposure to a state highway makes this an economical location. The highway also creates an insurmountable border between high intensity uses and park lands on the other side. Recreation and Conservation - An unusually large amount ofland is occupied by this category. In the southwest section is Seven Lakes State Park. Running along the eastern border and northward along 1-75 is the Holly State Recreation area. These areas are essentially located on either side of Holly Township, constricting east west expansion in the northern half of the Village. However, Holly Village is built on a major north-south axis, likely to influence growth in that direction. Agricultural and Open Space - As was stated earlier, agricultural and open space account for almost 90% of total land in Holly Township. Holly Township bas consistently ranked in the top five communities holding land under the Farmland & Open Space Preservation Act, which serves to preserve productive farmland, a valuable commodity in the state of Michigan. In 1986, 931 acres in Holly Township received the tax benefits of this classification. Only one other Township in the county held more land under this provision. In sum, most development bas occurred in Holly Village. Development bas been limited by the lack of access into the Township from 1-75 and more densely populated areas, and a desire to remain a rural recreational community. • Holly Townsbip Appendix A • Page 24 Mastttr Plan �APPENDIX B �SURVEY OF NATURAL AREAS IN HOLLY TOWNSHIP, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN Harvey E. Ballard, Jr. The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Chapter December 13, 1988 Th~ ~ollowing report contains only excerpts of the or1g1nal report prepared for Holly Township. A complete copy of the original report is available at the Holly Township offices at 102 Civic Drive Holly, Michigan 48442. ' �HOLLY TOWNSHIP LAND USEPAST AND PRESENT Holly Township lies in a bewildering mosaic of hills, depressions and wide channels resulting from the actions of the last glacial advance around 16,000 years ago. After retreat of the glaciers the barren landforms were slowly colonized by migrating plant and animal species that developed together to form a predictable complex of communities. Eventually, the uplands became forested by oak communities. The kettle depressions developed into tamarack or hardwood swamps, and sometimes remained as lakes surrounded by meadows. The channels gradually became extensive swamps or meadows, and were often cut by rivers and streams. The prcsculmient landscape, with the preserve designs in Appendix m and reconstructed from the General Land Office surveyors' notes for Holly Township, must have awed the native Americans who first inhabited the area. It is estimated that approximately 1,600 acres of wetlands, 2,900 acres of lowland forest tracts and 17,000 acres of upland forest (mostly oak openings) made up the original vegetation cover before EW'opeans sealed the 10wnship. Like native Americans in other regions of North America, Holly Township's first human inhabitants learned to use fire regularly 10 ''clear' ' or open up preferred areas of forest or meadow to flush game and to improve visibility around their campsites. In a real sense they were the first natural area managers; their use of fire maintained, and even encouraged the development of fire-dependent communities such as oaJc openings and prairie fen/wet meadow complexes. European settlement of Holly Township, like seulement elsewhere in Michigan, gradually stripped natural features from most of the landscape. Clearing, timbering, cultivation, livest.ock pasturing and residential development dramatically altered the natural landscape in a very shon time. Settlement also scattered native American tn"bes and put an end to fires that often swept across the land and maintained the vigor and open aspect of certain communities. Even before clearing of the land proceeded very far, the absence of fires over the landscape lowered the quality of oak systems and wetlands as a result of shrub invasion and ecological succession. Crop cultivation altered natural drainages whose panicular hydrological pauem had supported swamps and meadows. Ditching, channelizing, draining and damming changed the critically balanced hydrological regimes that had previously inhibited shrub encroachment and succession of open meadow communities 10 shrub carr or swamp communities. Raising livestock often meant pasturing livestock in meadows and upland forests, which quickly reduced the diversity and quality of understory vegetation. Selective timbering of upland and lowland forests provided essential firewood and building materials but reduced many remaining forest tracts 10 even-aged sapling stands which grew into dense thickets. Fragments of natural areas that remained were soon diminished in quality through selective logging and grazing; others suffered secondary degradation through lapse of periodic fires and disruption of hydrological balances. Today in Holly Township, only about 22% (370 acres) of its original wetland component survives and still bears a resemblance to the original vegetation. Only 8% (230 acres) of its lowland forests and only 2% (370 acres) of its upland forests resemble Holly Township's original forests. Much of Holly Township's current landscape is currently used for agriculture or grazing land. A smaller percentage is suburban residential area. while a still smaller proponion is owned by the State of Michigan and maintained for recreational use as a natural area. Part of the appeal Holly has for most of its residents is its distinctl y rural flavor despite its proximity 10 major urban centers. Commercial and residential development has encroached upon 1LS northern, western and southern borders. Without directed, considerate action by the local community, Holly will lose its unique character and become yet another suburb in the developing Bay City-Saginaw-Detroit megalopolis. 5 �• MNFl's Oakland County Natural Areas Inventory · During 1986-87 the Oakland County Planning Department contracl.Cd the Michigan NalUral Features InvenProgram ("MNFI") IO conduct a systematic inventory for high quality, relatively undisturbed natural areas in Oakland County. Potential natural areas were identified on aerial photographs and re-evaluated through airplane reconnaissance. Apparent natural areas were later visited by field ecologists and botanists who assessed the quality and condition of natural communities present. and sought for rare plant species. The entire inventory process yielded 36 top-quality sites out of 308 potential natural areas that were identified initially through remote sensing and aerial reconnaissance. Sixty-two natural community OCCUJTCnccs--encompassing 16 of 30 nawral communities believed to have existed prior to European seuJement--were represented at these sites. Nine of the community occw-renccs were considered statewide ("exceptional") in significance, while the remainder were considered regionally or locally significant as natural areas. Acreage comprising all these highest quality sites iotallcd 2911 acres ( 1/2 of 1'Ii of Oakland County's original natural landscape). MNFI's repon described the nature of Oakland County's last remaining, top-quality natural areas and provided recomendations for protecting them. Their repon provides a critical direction for municipal government planners and others who seek protection of the county's few best natural areas. tory Additional surveys, preserve design, and locally significant sites • MNFI's comprehensive Natural Areas Inventory identified Oakland County's top candidale natural areas for protection. However, the objectives and scope of the inveniory did not include intensive field investigations for biota 01.her than plants and communities, special focus on preserve design and management issues, or evaluation of lower quality sites which might deserve second priority protection for their educational or outdoor recreation values. Such additional information would certainly not alter the nature or significance of sites recommended by MNFI's report. Nevenheless, data on other organisms often changes the configuration of preserve design boundaries and management plans. Information on a diversity of species groups also increases educational opponunities for some sites. A clear direction is now defined for natural area protection in Oakland county as a whole. The first step, a comprehensive inventory of existing fragments of natural landscape and priority assignments to the highest quality sites, has been accomplished. The next logical steps in the progression from initial county inventory to protection of all natural and semi-natural areas are: (1) inventories for other biota (birds, insects, etc.), (2) surveys addressing preserve design and management concerns, (3) assessment of lower quality sites with educational or outdoor recreation values, and (4) municipal-level protection recommendations for specific iracts at each site. These studies will provide specific objectives that incorporate protection of significant natural and quasi-natural areas into a township master plan . • 6 �II PRESENT SURVEY Holly Township Supervisor Bill Swarthout and the Holly Township Board contracted Preserve Design Ecologist Harvey Ballard of The Nature Conservancy's Michigan Chapter to survey nawral and quasi-natural areas in Holly Township, Oakland County, Michigan. The survey would use the Michigan Natural Features Inventory's Natural Areas Inventory for Oakland County as a springboard. (A copy of the original bid proposal is included in the Appendix.) The survey was designed to put MNFI information for the township into a context of existing natural and quasi-nawral areas which deserved preservation for protection of natural features, educational/natural history value or non-c.onsumptive outdoor recreation opponunities. The survey would also result in a preserve design with protection and stewardship recommendations for each identified site. Results would be in a formal useful to municipal government officials and local conservation groups, particularly as an aid to township planning. Objectives The following objectives were proposed for the survey. 1) Survey all natural and quasi-natural areas in Holly Township, including sitcS identified by the MNFI program's Natural Areas Inventory. Also survey other sites with potential values that did not meet MNFI criteria as top quality nalW'al areas. 2) Visit each site at least twice (once in mid-summer, again in early fall) and conduct extensive inventories for plants, birds and major insect groups, focusing on additional rare species populations and important natural communities. During field visits, address preserve design issues and management concerns. Assess natural and quasi-natural sites not identified by MNFI for values such as significant geologic features, cullW'al history, second-priority natural area protection, outdoor education, amateur natural history (birdwatching) non-consumptive recreation (cross-country skiing), or as critical buffer for quality natural areas lying immediately outside the 10wnship border. 3) Produce preserve designs and protection/management recommendations for each site identified as significant from field surveys. 4) Compile inventory data in the form of species lists for each recognizable natural community. 5) Investigate presculcment vegetation and current landscape cover by interpreting General Land Office survey notes and 1930s aerial pho10graphs of the township. Put identified sites into the context of Holly Township· s last remaining nalW'al vegetation. 6) Develop a general strategy for protection of private and public lands encompassed by the primary and secondary boundaries of site preserve designs. Distinguish land protection methods useful to municipal government and the private sector. Methods Twenty-seven sites were identified in Holly To wnship from aerial photographs and Ml\rl's Oakland Count\ l"-atural Arco~: lnvcmon · a<; dcservin; fi ;:ld survey~ . E.1ch ,!t,' \\' ;? , \' isitcd in mid-July and aga in in earl y Sq 11cmt>cr Cert.Jin sites were visited more th:m once. \\'here po s~ 1bk . ~Iles \\ ere visited al different lim es o! dJ~ fur u: :1e· ~~·ns niw rn sc, : arid bir,1 ~j',:..: i..: ~. L ~·h \ ' J~ · : c,, n~istc,! ,11 1: , , ,· 11.> Lir bird :- (t,y sight and s0 n f 1, p!Jnt, .11 .~ nu insect group~ 1,buucrnic s. cri;;kc.: ts . kat ydid~ ::inj !!ra~, ,F' l'f"',· r, II\ , 1~11 : Jnd son~). 1: : . , ; 7 111 ' ·-:=,. �• During visits, observations were made on preserve design needs and management concerns including hydrol- ogy, soil erosion, damaging exotic or native species, shrub invasion, ecological succession, surrounding residential and commercial threats, ownership paucrn and current land use, suuctural liabilities and natural hazards. pesticide and fertilizer contamination. Sites not identified by MNFI as top-priority natural areas wt.re evaluated for other values including second-priority natural area protection, natural history, outdoor education and non-consumptive recreation. Identified sites and special features A total of 22 sites proved wonhy of some level of protection because of one or more potential values. Communities and rare species are mapped in detail in the preserve design packages. Global and state ranks representing the rarity of Holly Township's rare species and communities arc given in APPENDIX I: GLOBAL AND STATE RANKS OF RARE SPECIES AND NA TI1RAL COMMUNITIES. Generalized species lists by community are included in APPENDIX II: CUMULATIVE SPECIES LISTS FOR MAJOR NATURAL COMMUNl1Y 1i'PES. Proposed land uses were ranked according to the following criteria. Table 1. Proposed land use categories for Holly Township's identified sites USE CATEGORY 1 2 3 4 S 6 • Table 2. Sites, special features (most important in bold) and proposed land uses SITE MAJOR SPECIAL FEATURES USE CATEGORY 1: Copncconic Lake hardwood-conifer swamp southern swamp 2 2: Gage Road prairie fen southern wet meadow southern swamp southern swamp dry-mesic southern forest southern floodplain forest southern swamp southern wet meadow southern swamp prairie fen southern swamp dry-mesic southern forest Panjcum mjcrocarnon (panic-grass, special dry-mcsic southern forest dry-mesic southern forest southern swamp prairie fen prairie fen southern wet meadow conifer swamp soulhcrn wet meadow southern wet m~dow southern wet mcado" 2 3: Kennedy Lake 4: Mitchell Lake S: Belford Road 6: Kurtz Road 7: Cady Lake 8: Iroquois Woods 9: Seven Lakes St Parle 10: Shiawassee River 11 : Wilson Lake • PROPOSED LAND USE <SUCCESSIVE CATEGORIES JNO..UDED} top-priority natural area (state or regionally significant) second-priority natural area (locally significant) natural history (birdwatching, botanizing) outdoor education (grade-school nature studies) non-consumptive outdoor recreation (skiing) critical buffer for natural area outside township I'.! : La:::ey Lake drainage 13: Mackey Road q : Burns- Crystal L:iJ...cs prairie fen conifer swamp 2 3 3 3 1 concern) 3 3 2 6 2 �Table 2 (cont.) SITE 15: Tooley Lake 16: Crotched Lake MAJOR SPECIAL FEATURES USE CATEGORY 3 conifer swamp southern wel meadow prairie fen prairie fen 2 southern wet meadow Cypripedjum candidum (white lady-slipper, threatened) Calcpbclis mutjs;um (swamp metalmark, special concern) 17: Minnock Lake dry-mesic southern forest southern swamp 3 18: Liale-Honon Lakes conifer swamp 2 dry-mesic soulhem forest southern wel meadow 19: Gravel Lakes Chain southern swamp hardwood-conifer swamp 21: Swartz Creek Swamp prairie fen southern wet meadow dry-mesic southern forest conifer swamp southern swamp 2 22: Slack Lake great blue heron rookery southern wet meadow 2 20: Holly Road Woods 3 prairie fen conifer swamp southern swamp Certain communities arc well represented in Holly Township. The township's best examples of southern wet meadow arc sometimes associated with small pockets of a globally rare community, the prairie fen. In these sites lhrive populations of rare plants such as the white lady slipper <Cxmipedjum candjdum) and rare animals, including the rare fen buuerfly Ca)Cl)hc)js mutjcum. the swamp metalmark. The best southern wet meadow/prairie fen complex found in the township surrounds Big and Liule Crotched Lakes in the Holly State Recreation Area. The most impressive stand of upland forest seen was the dry-mesic soulhem forest of Seven Lakes State Park, nestled between Seven and Dickinson Lakes. The most extensive lowland forest proved to be the southern swamp encompassing Gravel, Strawberry and Mud Lakes. The best conifer swamp lies on the southwest side of Slack Lake. Preserve design principles and format A preserve design delineates the boundaries of two basic types of land. The "primary" or "core" area encompasses all land that suppons natural, physical or cultural features that arc the focus of the site, for instance highquality plant communities or rare species. The primary boundary includes all land supporting the special community , or land used for growth and seed dispersal (in the case of plants), or land used for foraging, resting, reproduction and hibernation (in Lhe case of animals). The · ·secondary•' boundary surrounds the primary land; it includes buffer--all property necessary to protect and maintain the special features of the primary area . Secondary land should include buffer against current and future impacts (direct and indirect ones) of nearby residential and commercial development, hydrological alterations. local water and air contamination. The second:iry land should also include a 1/8- to 1/4-mile broad smoke zone to allow for fire management of fire-d..:pcndcnt cornmuniuc~ such as ual- for..:!>l~ and wcl me;.idow/fcn complex<.: ~.,, here su, I·, nlJllJf:<.:ment CC'n;::crns cx :st. 9 7 �I Preserve designs wei-e produced for sites recognized as wonhy of protection during this survey. The base map shows imponant landmarks such as roads, lakes and rivers: as well as natural communities. Overlays show ownership tracts and primary and secondary boundaries. Where rare species have been found at a site, what communities are present. and which tracts of land require some level of protection, are questions that are addressed by the preserve design for each site. Protection levels will be dealt with in section III: NATURAL AREA PROTECTION. Threats and management concerns Threats to nal.UJ'al areas are diverse and varied in impon.ancc. Some of the most significant threats arc classified below according to their impact on conditions of a natural area. Table 3. Generalized threats to natural areas, and management COMPONENT water quality (affects vigor and composition of vegetation, animal communities) water now (affects presence of certain wetland species, maintains shrub-free aspect) community integrity (affects composition of communities and survival of species that cannot compete; lowers longterm survival of natural area) community stability (affects composition of community, persistence of rare habitatspecific spe.cies) THREAT MANAGEMENT NEED contamination from sewers and nearby industrial sites; ferti.lizet and hericide runoff; salt runoff from major highways select areas away from heavy residential, commercial cencers; urge farmers to use minimal chemicals on crops and road commissions to use only sand channelization of streams for cultivation and residential development; road construction across watcrsheds include water sources or local watcr table in preserve design; roll back shrub invation with bum management; encourage road commission to install more culverts in straLCgic places to improve water flow invasion by exotic species from nearby gardens, roadsides sides and dumpsites; parasitism of native species by exotic or aggressive species; fragmentation of habitat by; development (roads, etc.) remove sources of exotics by pulling, herbidicing or burning; or introduce aggressive but "safe" native species dW ow.compete the exotics; acquire con1r0I of surrounding buffer and allow natural succession (or active habiw restoration) to replace undesirable habitat a natural process, usually slow over centuries but sped up where natural maintcnance such as regional fires have have ceased and extensive tracts have been reduced to fragments shrub management (herbicide and cutting), mowing or bwning; focus on larger sites that have several interacting communities that still function as a "landscape" rather than single, small communities �Ill NATURAL AREA PROTECTION Land protection includes a variety of methods ranging from landowner contact ("regisuy .. ) that has no legally binding protection, to acquisition with full legal control. Appropriate or minimal levels of protection for each tract depend on the type of land (primary or secondary) and ownership (private or public). The following table provides guidelines for tract protection according to land type and ownership. The minimum level of protection for a particular site overall can be decided on the basis of its quality, proposed land use and potential threats. The acwal level of protection that can be applied to individual tracts in a given site vary according to the techniques available to the protecting agency and the willingness of the owner to participate in negotiations. Table 4. Land type, ownership and protection levels TYPE Primary OWNERSHIP SUFFICIENT Private X X X PROTECTION LEVEL · acquisition conservation easement lease management agreement municipal regulations municipal z.oning landowner registry Secondary Public X X X natural area dedication master plan public registry Private X X X X X X X acquisition X X X natural area dedication master plan public registry Public conservation casement lease management agreement municipal regulations municipal z.oning landowner registry For secondary land the full range of protection techniques may potentially be used. However, certain tracts may be less significant that others (if ownerships. for instance, have only a small portion of secondary buffer); in such cases a lower level of protection may be appropriat.e. For primary land, complete control is often desirable, particu larly in the case of wetland sites w ith nearby development, or with management problems which may need burn or olhcr managemenL Strong or complete legal control of tracts wilh primary land will permit protection or management activities at I.he protecting agencies discretion. Similarly, a top-quality natural area wilh populations of rare spec ies and good community representation may deserve stronger protection than a lower quality sit.e designated for out.d oo r recreation . Acquisition of primary land and landowner registry and municipal zoning could be effective levels for differeni IJ"acts in the first case; lease could be the most appropriate lc\'cl for prmcction in the ~ond case. Leve( , of protec tion m:w vary w ith the pro1cct1n~ arrn cy: for inq:incc . conservation easements and land o wner re gistry coupled with illun1cipal zoning may be Lhc most u~dui set 01 prut,:~ uun "' toob" i01 rrai 11 i .ipJ : f:tl\crtJ· ni. r.· . . . ~,~~-'.:1!' r ~ut. :~ t,,,:. p f rliP '.\ ' lo:.:~tl n~u ur~1'. ~:rt..:~, . I!. sp ~·c ?~.1 c:1<:.:-~. ~u~: h ni ~H1i c 1p:! '. 1tl ;.'~ cou!--: ~!~ _h ·. r ur~t1· ff'l:r.1 ~1j 1 ~tl ;f.:q ui :.,iiun ol pri vaic Lr;1~ L': wl11.,; h nic..:t the lundmg c.:nt<.:ri ;.! ol Ll ,c !\;itural R,·~uur..:..:·, -: :w,I h;, 1d An o.:111pl , 01 ,;1,'. 11 �f • acquisition in Oakland County--purchase of Elizabeth Lake swamp by Waterford Township with assistance from The Nature Conservancy and funds from the NRTF--is currently in progress. Brief' descriptions of protection levels Acqujsjtjon--reccipt of ownership for a given tract by purchase, outright donation or crust of privately owned tract; in the best case, complete legal control (interest) is transferred with acquisition. • Conservation easeroem--permancnt limitations volunwily conveyed to a qualified public or privaae organization by a private landowner, that prevents certain uses of the land: title and right to possess the land are not given up by the owner. ~--rental agreement from a private landowner to a land management agency for t.emporary possession and unrestricted, exclusive use of the land for the specified duration of the agreemenL Management ap:eement-legal contract between a private landowner and a conservation agency, obligating the landowner to manage the propeny in a particular fashion during a specified amount of time: many management agreements are voluntarily granted by the landowner. Munjcjpal regulatjons--local ordinances governing waste disposal. stonnwaaer runoff, etc. developed and administered by township or city govcrnmenL Munjcipal zonjng--local zones developed and monitored by the township planner u an aid in directing or locating residential and commercial development in a township. Landowner rcgjstry--program of notification and education conducted by a conservation agency to honor private [and public] landowners with special features on their land. and solicit their assistance in protecting those features: protection is strictly voluntary and carries no legal power. Natural are,a dedjcatjon--highest level of protection for state-owned properties, prohibiting all but nonconsumptive recreation and proper management for natural features, granted by the Natural Resources Commission; proposals arc submitted by interested panics to the Wilderness and Natural Areas Advisory Board, which reviews proposals and makes recommendations to the NRC. Master plan--rccommendations made to a managing public agency to include protection and/or management of certain special features in the masaer plan for the public tracL Pµbljc rcgjstry--same technique as landowner registry but takes place between a conservation agency and administrators responsible for public lands under consideration . • l:! � 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 Wyckoff Planning and Zoning Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Planning & Zoning Center (Lansing, Mich.) (Organization) Wyckoff, Mark A. Description An account of the resource Municipal master plans and zoning ordinances from across the state of Michigan, spanning from the 1960s to the early 2020s. The bulk of the collection was compiled by urban planner Mark Wyckoff over the course of his career as the founder and principal planner of the Planning and Zoning Center in Lansing, Michigan. Some additions have been made to the collection by municipalities since it was transferred to Grand Valley State University. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Michigan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960/2023 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/870">Planning and Zoning Center Collection (RHC-240)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">No Copyright - United States</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Comprehensive plan publications Master plan reports Zoning--Michigan Zoning--Maps Maps Land use--planning Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-240 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng 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 Holly-Twp_Master-Plan_1990 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holly Township Planning Commission, Holly Township, Oakland County, Michigan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-02-12 Title A name given to the resource Holly Township Master Plan Description An account of the resource The Holly Township Master Plan was prepared by the Holly Township Planning Commission with assistance from Carlisle Associates and was adopted by the Planning Commission on February 12, 1990. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Carlisle Associates (consultant) Subject The topic of the resource Master plan reports Holly Township (Mich.) Oakland County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/870">Planning and Zoning Center Collection (RHC-240)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf 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/4510c6ebff405ecab268db61e04eb1bd.mp4 7b4f6556dcb3dd8bf4aab4501ec12526 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3776c3b2aa92dddc9ac60eadba295f3.pdf a9ea3f770e1b5fe7c7bf99f607fe29f7 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Vietnam War Donald Holthausen 43:44 Introduction (00:50)      Don was born in South Amboy, New Jersey on April 6, 1949. He has a brother that is three years younger. Don’s father worked as an electrician and his mother was a registered nurse as well as being a housewife and a mom. He took many industrial type classes in high school, and later worked for Johnson and Johnson for twenty four years after he got out of the army. (02:30) During his senior year of high school, Don remembers hearing about Vietnam from one of his teachers. He did not pay too much attention to it until he got his draft notice. He graduated from high school in June 1967. Don was working as a machinist for Lockheed Electronics, and in January or February 1969 he received his draft notice. Military Training (04:23)             Don reported to the draft board office in Newark, New Jersey on June 2, 1969. They were sworn in there at the office and then bussed down to Fort Dix for basic training. The first day of training they all got their hair shaved off, plus they were issued all their military clothing and boots. After their fourth or fifth week of training, they were given a weekend pass; which Don used to go home for a couple of days since his house was only an hour’s drive from base. Don was the first member of his family to be in the military except one uncle that served at Fort Dix in the forties as the fire chief. Basic training was very physical, which was to get everyone in shape. They marched to the rifle range and gained some familiarity with shooting. Don was a hunter and was already familiar with guns and shooting. (06:20) Basic training was two months long, followed by a one week leave before being shipped to Fort Lewis, Washington for AIT (Advanced Infantry Training). Out of his entire training platoon in basic, only ten to fifteen percent were sent to the infantry. The majority were sent to military police or made cooks. Just about all of the instructors at basic training were Vietnam veterans. Most of the training was also geared towards their coming experience. Overall, Don’s training experience was positive. At the end of basic training they asked if anyone wanted to go to jump school, which Don did not. That school lasted for two weeks. (08:36) Don qualified with the M-14 rifle in basic and did not see his first M-16 until AIT. They arrived in Washington during the middle of August, and training began immediately. AIT lasted for another two months. Once AIT was completed, Don was given a thirty day leave. AIT was more infantry training that included lots of weapons training. �    They fired M-60 machine guns, rockets, M-16’s and .50 caliber rifles. They also threw hand grenades and took escape and evasion courses. One of these courses lasted twenty hours. (10:34) This consisted of land navigation with a map and compass to a point about 15 miles away, with instructors running around trying to capture the soldiers. Instructors were armed with balloons filled with flour, which they threw at the men. At the end, if you had flour on your uniform you were considered captured. Don and only a few others made it to the finish without being captured. He was given orders to Vietnam during the last week of AIT telling him to report to McChord Air Force Base. Vietnam (12:35)                The flight over was very solemn because they knew they were not going to a nice place. His family was upset and they always told him that they would be praying for him. To this day, Don believes that those prayers are the reason he made it home. When he left for Vietnam, he was engaged, and he received letters from his fiancé everyday. They landed in Cam Ranh Bay and stayed for one week pulling guard duty along the bunker line at night. After that, he was told that he was being sent to the 101st Airborne. When he first got off the plane in Vietnam it was around 1 or 2 am so the whole town was asleep. Don and about four others were loaded into the back of a deuce and a half truck and transported to the reception center. (14:55) When he was sent up north to join the 101st, they boarded a small plane and flew into Da Nang. From there they were trucked to Camp Evans. Upon arrival, he was signed in to the company and he again pulled guard duty for another week. He was received well, everyone was helpful and friendly. After a couple of days he was able to get to know everybody; several guys were more helpful than others, but they were all like brothers after a few months. (17:12) Before he joined his unit, he did not have any special training besides zeroing his rifle. Don met up with his unit at Firebase Birmingham, the mud was two feet deep and it rained everyday. He operated out of Birmingham and Firebase Bastogne, which were located in the lowlands on the edge of the mountains. During the monsoon season, they spent most of the time in the field. It would rain all day and at night they would curl up in their poncho to sleep. When morning came, they were all dry. (19:07) Many men caught jungle rot and developed painful sores from being wet all the time, but Don never did. Captain Hale was the company commander when Don first arrived, but around Christmas Captain Vazquez took over. Out of all the men he met in Vietnam, the unit received the best training from him. He made all the men do things by the book, which helped the men protect themselves. Don believes that he saved a lot of lives because of it. (21:18) They made no enemy contact from November till April, and once the monsoon season was over, they started making contact with the enemy, followed by another month of lull. It wasn’t until Ripcord did they make significant contact with the enemy. �Ripcord (22:10)             They moved into the mountains around Ripcord after the monsoon season. The first couple of months on Firebase Ripcord were pretty quiet with only a few incoming mortar rounds. Don was apart of Charlie Company and they were in charge of pulling security for the artillery batteries at Ripcord. At night they watched to make sure no sappers got through the wire. A couple of weeks before the battle on Hill 902 Captain Vazquez was replaced by Captain Hewitt. They were ordered to stay on 902 for two nights, which was questioned by the men who knew that it was not good to stay in the same location for two nights in a row. (25:42) During 902, Don was in a foxhole that was about five and a half feet deep. Once the enemy breached their perimeter that night, sappers began throwing satchel charges in their foxholes. About a half hour of being attacked seemed like hours and hours. After that, things began to settle down. Don was the radio operator and he later learned he had the only working radio. (27:30) He keyed his microphone using their call sign, and got a response from someone at Camp Evans. Don asked for gunships to come and help them. After twenty minutes two Cobra helicopters came out and began to circle their position. Don and another soldier fired flares above their position to let the gunships know where to fire. They used mini-guns and rockets to help clear the area. Each chopper fired about a dozen rockets and used all their mini-gun ammo. (29:15) The next morning they were extracted and relieved by another company. After that battle, they were pulled back to the rear because they were under company strength and had to regroup. They were given many new men to fill in the ranks. After 902, another big battle happened on Hill 1000. Captain Wilcox was in charge then. (32:39) The top of Hill 1000 was very rocky with large boulders. The enemy dug in under these which protected them from the airstrikes and artillery that were used to prep the hill for the infantry. After the failed first attempt, they were ordered to try again to take the hill. Captain Wilcox refused to send his men up another time and lost his command because of it. Don later found out that the Battalion intelligence knew they were going to be hit that second night on Hill 902 and did not pull them out. (35:45) After Hill 1000, Don was only in the field for a month before he was called back to Camp Evans. He then pulled bunker duty for a few weeks before being sent home fourteen days early. Don spent a total of fifty weeks in Vietnam. Back in the States (37:08)  All the men going home celebrated as they flew home on either Southwest or Frontier Airlines. They flew out of Da Nang, which was a pretty nice town in 1970. They stopped at Guam to refuel and while there men went to the PX and bought drinks. The stewardesses were all happy that they were coming home as well. �     They flew into McChord Air Force Base and were given a steak dinner at 1 am. From there, they were given a new set of Class A uniforms. They did not arrive to the Seattle Airport until about 10 or 11 the next morning to go home. Don received orders to report to Fort Riley, Kansas after a fourteen day leave at home. (39:36) While there, he had to make the 7 am formation, and then if they did not have guard duty they just went home in the evening. Don got married when he first arrived home from Vietnam and had his wife, Linda, move back to Kansas with him. (41:04) Don was at Fort Riley for six months and was discharged from there. He was promoted to sergeant while there, and asked to re-enlist several times but he always turned them down. � 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 Holthausen, Donald (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holthausen, Donald Description An account of the resource Don was born in South Amboy, New Jersey on April 6, 1949. He graduated from high school in 1967 and worked for two years as a machinist before being drafted into the United States Army in 1969. He attended basic training at Fort Dix and AIT at Fort Lewis. Don was sent to Vietnam in 1969 and was assigned to Charlie Company, 101st Airborne. He was in the battle of Hill 902 and Hill 1000 and operated around Firebase Ripcord. Don spent a total of 50 weeks in Vietnam. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McGregor, Michael (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 2013-10-10 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HolthausenD1536V 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/34d7f3fa88b9612de4b684bd32ddaabe.mp4 68b5f5449ebbc07797731c1102cfb553 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dc740b15f7c41949f1b3d43c064f2476.pdf 286210e5e9d6a20ea4430ea619ec1818 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Oral History Interview Veteran: Will Holton Interviewed by James Smither Transcribed by Grace Balog Interviewer: We are talking today with Will Holton of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project. Okay, now Will, can you start us off on some background on yourself? And to begin with, where and when were you born? Veteran: I was born in Crockett County, Tennessee. Interviewer: And your date of birth? Veteran: January the 19th, 1919. Interviewer: Very good. And how long did you live there? Veteran: When I was 4 years old, my parents went to Blytheville, Arkansas. And they stayed at Blytheville, Arkansas until I was 14. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, and so at that time, when you were in Arkansas, what was your family doing for a living? Veteran: Oh, farmer. We were farmer. Interviewer: Alright. And did you rent land? Or did you own land? Veteran: Well, before we went to Arkansas…Okay, my father was raised by Arleyy Loud and Book [?] Loud, so far as I know, I am just going by what I am told because see I don’t know. He owned, you know like—He was their guy so he run things. So I say, when I was four years old, �then he left and went to Arkansas. We stayed there like ten years and then we come right back to where we left. Then we stayed there until I was 16, then we went to Alamo. That’s the county, the biggest town in Crockett County. Then there, I started to work for the county. (00:02:00) Interviewer: Okay. Now, how much schooling did you have? Veteran: 10th grade. Interviewer: Okay. And so then, you started working for the county? Veteran: At 19 years old. Interviewer: Okay, and what work were you doing? Veteran: Back then they had what they called a WPA and so you wasn’t supposed to get on the WPA until you were 20 years old, but I got married when I was 18 years old. Before I got married, I signed up. They had a program that’s called you work two days and you go to school three days. That’s what I signed up for. But I got married before the card come back. When it come back, it said the WPA. So, my daddy didn’t sign up for me… Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: So, they had to—I wasn’t old enough but beings I was married, they had to let me work so they give me the water—I was a water boy until there was a man that…A hard guy that knowed my parents. He seen after the tractors and things. When he found out I was, you know, he took me—then I worked with him, gas up the tractors and caterpillar and put the new regular tracks on and everything. And so, I worked there for three years. Then after that cut out, I went to Paris, Tennessee. And they were building an army camp, and I worked up there all winter. �And when that job was played out, I come back to Alamo. And then I went to work at the fish plant in Malvern. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: But then I worked at—my wife died. And then, about 6 months after my wife died, I had to go to the Army. (00:04:01) Interviewer: Okay, you got a draft notice then. Do you remember how you heard about Pearl Harbor? Veteran: I heard about Pearl Harbor after I got out to the Army. Interviewer: Okay, so when that happened, you didn’t have— Veteran: I mean, Pearl Harbor? Oh yeah. Interviewer: The attack, yeah. Veteran: Pearl Harbor, I said they bombed Pearl Harbor in ’41. I was at home then. It was in ’42, I went to the Army. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: I thought you was talking about the bomb. Interviewer: No, no. That comes later. Veteran: I heard about that after I got out to the Army. Interviewer: Right. Okay. Now, when the war started, did you expect that you would have to go in the Army? Or did you think that because you had a family to take care of and everything else, they’d leave you alone? �Veteran: Well to tell you the truth, I just didn’t really think nothing about it at all. Interviewer: Okay. Now, did you notice other people getting drafted or going off? Veteran: Oh yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, now when they drafted you, how did that work? Did they send you a letter? Or…? Veteran: Yeah. Well see, I lived right there in the town, and so I passed the draft board—I was ready to hit the draft board. Interviewer: Oh Okay. So, you are right there anyway… Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah, and so you— Veteran: So, they just knowed—they didn’t have to send me the letter, they just called me because they all knowed. Interviewer: Alright, they said “Hey Will, you’re going in the Army now.” Veteran: They called me and then they gave me a piece of paper then I read it. It said what time to be at the, you know, draft boards. Interviewer: Okay. Where did they send you for the first part of your training? Veteran: Fort Benning, Georgia. Interviewer: Okay. And then how did they get you to Fort Benning? Veteran: On the train. �Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Veteran: From home, I caught the bus to Jackson, Tennessee. Then from Jackson, Tennessee, I had to catch a train to Fort Benning, Georgia. Interviewer: Alright, now this is 1940s, and the south is still segregated. So, did you have to ride on the back of a bus or in a separate train car or…? Veteran: Well you know that’s…A lot of folks said that but at that time, at Tennessee, I had never rode the bus. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I never went nowhere. Whenever I’d go, I just sat wherever I wanted because I never rode the bus. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: You know, I have heard a lot of people talk about that but…See in Crockett County, in Tennessee, you know I heard stuff said like Jim Crowe? I never experienced it. Interviewer: So, this is just sort of small towns and small communities and people know each other… Veteran: Yeah. Well no, I wouldn’t say they love each other, I just say I never experienced it. I don’t know what the other folks did. Around my hometown, most of the people, they knowed me. Lot of them said I did every a good self. (00:07:08) Interviewer: Alright. Okay. �Veteran: Because I did, I guess I like this example. The white people raised my daddy. Well, in that town, I would help, you know, I didn’t care if you were white or black. I just didn’t see color, I see person. I don’t care what color you is. If you’re nice, I would be nice. But if you wasn’t nice, I wouldn’t be nice. Interviewer: That makes sense. Alright, okay well now you’ve gone and joined the Army. Now… and you get to Fort Benning, and what happens there? Veteran: Well I said and then they sent us down to Cusseta, Alabama [actually Georgia]. Interviewer: Well, talk a little bit about the training at Fort Benning. What did you learn there? Veteran: Well I said you do infantry training. Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: You learn how to shoot a gun, lay out at night and sleep in the blankets and things. Just Army… (00:08:10) Interviewer: Okay. And then, they also have to teach you how to follow orders and how to march and those kinds of things? Veteran: Oh yeah. Well, I got most of that after I hit—they didn’t teach you much. Would take us to camp south of Alabama. That way before you returned, you had main training. At Fort Benning, Georgia they just—you didn’t get around just keep your upside, you didn’t just sit around in the bed. But the captain said at Alabama, they start doing the real training. You know you lay out at night and sleep in the shelter there. And I tell you…And then we got to Texas, then they issue a rifle. Then they make you have—you go to bed at night, you keep your rifle in �bed with you. You could move but if they caught you moving without your rifle, you got extra duty. Interviewer: Do you know where you were in Texas? Veteran: They said west Texas, but I forget what camp it was. Interviewer: Alright. Well, there were a lot of camps. So there is Fort Bliss in El Paso, or do you think you weren’t that far over? Veteran: Well, all I know is that we were right outside Abilene. Interviewer: Okay, so— Veteran: I don’t know what name of the camp. Interviewer: Alright, well there were a lot of them so…Actually no, somebody researching that could look that up and they’d figure that out. Veteran: I told you it was around Abilene, Texas. Interviewer: Okay, now were all of the men—was this an all-black unit that you were training with? Veteran: We had a couple of—we had a guy named Elwood Lorett—we had a couple of white guys. Well, let’s say it like that. When they come to the state, they settled as white. But see they Frenchmen. When they back in France, they settle as Africa. But see now, what they was, I don’t know. (00:10:10) Interviewer: Alright. But the Army itself was segregated, so you would get put into an allblack unit? �Veteran: Yeah, I would say so. Interviewer: Okay. Now the people who were—now the drill instructors as they were training you, how did they treat you? Veteran: Well they were…they was black. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: We had the captain, and most of the lieutenant, most of them was all white. But they didn’t train you. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: The first sergeant and the sergeant and the staff, all of them would train you. Interviewer: Mhmm. Okay, so the non-coms were black. The non-commissioned officers, the sergeants and the corporals, those were all black. Veteran: Right. Interviewer: Okay, so they were training you. Now, how did they treat you? Veteran: Well they was really nice, and like I said, in the Army I wasn’t really that nice because I was trying to get a dishonorable discharge. But I said, they treated me nice. We had a few little frictions but I say…they had me a couple of times but I’d say I had good sense. Interviewer: Well, what were you doing to try to get a discharge? Veteran: Some orders, I wouldn’t follow. Interviewer: Okay. �Veteran: Like if they put me on extra duties, some I’d do, some I wouldn’t. And they said “they going to put you in the guardhouse.” And I said “I don’t care.” Interviewer: So, did they put you in the guardhouse? Veteran: No, they wouldn’t. I said the captain asked me…I was corporal of the guard and I had an apartment in town, so when you go out at 5 o’clock in the evening, you can’t get off until 5 o’clock the next evening. But, when I took my meal off a guard at 5 o’clock in the morning, I asked him for his sergeant. I had an apartment in town, and there was something I wanted to go get. And I asked him, “Could I go?” And he said “No.” I told him I was going anyhow. So he told the captain. The captain called me into the office, and I went in the office, saluted him. He says, “Did you tell the sergeant you going to town?” “Yep.” He said, “Don’t you know you could be court martialed?” I said, “Yep.” He says, “You going?” “Yep.” “If I gave you a pass, will you go and come back and make a good soldier?” “Yep.” I just wanted an hour but he gave me a 12hour pass. But I was going in the house. (00:12:50) Interviewer: Okay, sure. That’ll help. Okay, so maybe you were actually good at your job? Veteran: Oh yeah, I’d say. Interviewer: Okay, now when you were in Texas, were you now training as an engineer unit? Veteran: No, truck driver. Interviewer: You were a truck driver at this point, okay. Veteran: I got pitched so well. I trained down there as a truck driver. �Interviewer: Okay. But were you now training with the unit that you had served with overseas? Or had you not joined them yet? Veteran: No, no. Interviewer: This is just general training still? Veteran: When they sent me to Alabama, they take so many—after you train at this for 18 weeks…I forget, however…Then they bussed us up. They put you where they think they need you. You know, you didn’t—I’d guess I was in about 5 different outfits. The last outfit was the end of the year one when I went overseas. But I went from infantry training to truck driver training. Then I went for that big gun. The ringing, I don’t hear so good. Interviewer: Okay, so you had artillery training? Veteran: What? Interviewer: Artillery training then? Veteran: Yeah, 155 millimeter. Interviewer: Yeah, those are big guns. (00:14:12) Veteran: Yeah, so that’s the reason I don’t hear so good. Interviewer: Okay, now do you remember where you did the artillery training? Veteran: Yeah, Camp Wilson, Louisiana. Interviewer: Okay, that’s in Louisiana. Alright. Okay. Veteran: And then from there, they sent us down to Camp—Camp Shelby, Mississippi, where we took engineer training. �Interviewer: Alright. Now, with the engineer training, what were they actually teaching you to do? Veteran: Build a—we had to, like I said, pontoon—you know what a pontoon bridge is? Interviewer: Mhmm. Veteran: And then infantry rafts and things. They teach you how to. In other words, we stayed between the field artillery and the infantry so in Germany when they’d go put bombs in the highways, you know, and mines. Our job was to clean out the mines. And we had a bridge brought in on a truck. We put out a bridge—we’d have to blow up a bridge, then put our bridge down and let the truck go by until we could get another built. Then we’d take our bridge up and put it on the truck. You know. Interviewer: And then do it again. Veteran: That was our job. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: Until I said we had to go up for reinforcements. Interviewer: Right, but that comes later in the story. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: So, we are going to try to follow things in order. So, you are bouncing around a lot in the west, from one camp to another, and one training assignment to another? Veteran: Yeah. �Interviewer: So, this would be going on probably through much of 1943. So, you’re spending probably the better part of a year doing this? Veteran: Yeah, because you had 13 weeks. At each place, you spent 13 weeks. Interviewer: Yeah. And you’ve got about 4 different places, so. Veteran: Until I was in Mississippi. Interviewer: Right. Okay. Veteran: So, when they…they sent one lieutenant down…one they had sent to Fort Benning Georgia. I mean from Camp Wilson, Louisiana to Mississippi. They sent a lieutenant and said he was training us to go overseas. So, we went through the 13 weeks of training. And at first, when it got time to take a test, the first sergeant told us to flunk the test. He said if you didn’t—if we didn’t flunk the test, we was going overseas. So, we flunked the test. So that lieutenant left and they sent another, Captain Emerhoe. He looked like he was around 60 years old. So, the sergeant said we had to go back over that same test. And he told us we could pass the test because he was too old to go anywhere. So, when the test come up, we would all pass the test. Then a week after we passed the test, they quarantined us. That means you couldn’t go nowhere. So, then we asked sergeant “what’s the matter?” He said, “I don’t know.” In about another week, they said “You’re going to Camp…Camp Shanks, New York.” He told us then, “Now we know where we’re going.” (00:17:40) Interviewer: Yeah. Because that was one of the main places for sending people over across to Europe from. Veteran: Yeah. �Interviewer: Alright. Now, during the time when you are at these different bases, were you always able to move around off base without any trouble? Was it— Veteran: Oh yeah, we didn’t have no trouble. When we was in Mississippi, they issued us all knives. And they told us men, two of you three stay together. So, MP—the police, the regular police, couldn’t arrest us. (00:18:16) Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: After one MP—we didn’t—they didn’t have nothing to say to us. So, they told us you’re going over-seas, you may get killed, so don’t take nothing off of nobody. That’s the order we got from the Army. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: Till… then the police didn’t mess with us, unless there was an MP with them. If the MP with them, they can say something to us. But if the MP wasn’t with them. Interviewer: But if anybody was going to arrest you, it would have to be the MP? Veteran: Right. Interviewer: Right, okay. So, okay, so they worked better than maybe most people think they did. Okay. Veteran: Well I heard a lot of people saying things went on in the Army that I don’t know nothing about. Interviewer: Yeah, well, the idea here is we want to know what you saw and what you did and what you remember. So that, that’s good. Okay, now, so they send you now to Camp Shanks, New York. Now, what unit are you with now? �Veteran: 1697 Engineer Company. Interviewer: Okay. So, you are now with your engineer battalion, and you have been training with them in Mississippi and now you are moving as a group…Okay. What kind of ship did they put you on? Was it just a regular transport? Or an ocean liner? Veteran: It was the USS Bliss. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I ain’t got the picture but it… Interviewer: Well, was it a really big ship? Veteran: Oh yeah, it was a very big one. Interviewer: Okay. Did you have—was it just your battalion on that ship? Veteran: Oh no, there was a thousand of us. Interviewer: Okay, so that…So it’s either a big Army transport or a converted ocean liner. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. So, a big ship. Okay, so in the meantime, when your ship sailed, were you in a convoy? Or were you by yourself? Veteran: No, my whole company, my whole outfit. Interviewer: No, was the ship with a lot of other ships? (00:20:14) �Veteran: No. Well it was, as far as I could see, because I said once you get on the ship, the ship is so big, you know. But when you, when we got…After we left the dock, they let us come out on the top. I could see two other ships, like a convoy, but I don’t know how many. Interviewer: Yeah, but that would be part of a convoy, because you wouldn’t see that many of them at once. Veteran: No. Interviewer: But if there were other ships there then you had an escort. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay, do you remember what the weather was like when you went across the ocean? Veteran: Well the weather was good, if you could say, how the water with the waves flying, if you could say that is good. But it wasn’t raining or nothing. Interviewer: Alright. Do you know what time of year it was when you went over? Was it, you know, when you got over to England, was it warm or cold? Veteran: It was kind of cold. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: You’d have your cold days. I would say it was in the fall of the year. Interviewer: Okay, that makes sense. Alright. Now, when you were crossing the ocean, did you ever have any…Did you have any U boat scares? �Veteran: Yeah. Yeah, a lot of them. Because the ship we was on, the motor went bad and all those other boats went up and they left. Loaded up about two of those little U boats, and they would take them…Because they said one time that they came on the ship that the Germans was trying to tow the main boat. And them little U boats, they were like ducks, going around. (00:22:05) Interviewer: Yeah. But those— Veteran: And then they would drop those ash cans over the back. Interviewer: Okay, so they left a couple of escorts with you, and they were protecting you against the Germans. Alright, so you survived that. Veteran: And after they got that motor fixed, what they said was “oh, you can’t go by what you hear” they said. Then they, they said, they run into top knot then we caught back up, because we took about a day or so to catch back up with them. Interviewer: Alright. And then do you know, do you remember where you landed in Britain? Did you land up in Scotland? Or did you land in the south— Veteran: In England. Interviewer: In England. Veteran: Uffcott, England. Interviewer: Okay. And what happens after you get there? Do you go to a camp or…? Veteran: Well, we head back to a…Like a big place where the rich folks stays. Interviewer: Okay. So, a big estate of some kind. �Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And at there we was, they say 50 miles from London where the Germans were dropping their rockets and… Interviewer: Yeah. Veteran: So, we could, you know. They said we was 50 miles from there. I didn’t go, some of the soldiers went but I didn’t because the Germans were dropping some of them rockets in London. Interviewer: Okay. So now you are getting into 1944, because that is when they are sending the buzz bombs in and all that. Okay. Now did you—and so what were you doing, what was your unit doing at this place where you were staying? Were you training more? Or just sitting around? Veteran: Mostly we were sitting around. Well, we’d do a little but you know, most days we were just sitting around. Interviewer: Okay, and then did you get to go into any of the towns in the area or go to a pub or something like that? Veteran: I said I didn’t, but some of the soldiers I said. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. Veteran: They said we were 50 miles from…We was in Uffcott, England, and they said it was 50 miles from there to London. Some of the soldiers went. I didn’t. (00:24:06) Interviewer: Okay. �Veteran: Because they said they were dropping them bombs. Interviewer: Right. Okay, but did you go into the local town? Did you go into Uffcott or…? Veteran: Well that, there ain’t no time. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: They have a little here what they call a pub, maybe one year. There wasn’t no town or something like that. It’s a village. That’s what you’d call a village. Interviewer: Right. Okay, so not a lot going on there? Veteran: No. Interviewer: Okay, now was it just your battalion that was on that base? Or were there— Veteran: Right. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: It was just us out there. Interviewer: Alright. And within that battalion, did you have a particular job? Or did you just do whatever they wanted? Veteran: Let’s see, I was…At the time, I was a Corporal. You had to go on guard, but you didn’t—we didn’t do no kind of work. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: But you had to stand guard. Well, I didn’t stand guard, but I had to put people on guard and stuff like that. �Interviewer: Alright. Okay, and so then—but if the unit is actually doing engineer work, if they are building a bridge for instance— Veteran: That’s after we went into Germany. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: After they said the Germans broke through the American line, then we, after reinforcement, then they sent us into Germany. Interviewer: Okay, now— Veteran: Then we started building, you know… Interviewer: Yeah, then you go to work. Okay, now probably, given the timing of things here, the big German breakthrough happened in December of 1944, and that was the start of the Battle of the Bulge. And the Americans in fact sent a whole bunch of engineer battalions in there as reinforcements. Okay, now do you remember—okay, how did they get you across the English Channel? Veteran: Through the ship. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And then there, right where we were, there were a lot of other ships that were sunk, they say a lot of the soldiers were still in them boats. Of course, some of them we went through, passed some of the ships to cross the channel. Interviewer: Okay. And then, did you go into a harbor and get off at a dock? Or did you land on a beach somewhere? (00:26:18) �Veteran: On the beach. Interviewer: Okay. Because they were still using Omaha Beach and places like that still. Okay, and then when you land there, then how do they move you forward? Veteran: So, we had our own trucks and things. Interviewer: Okay. So, you just drove? Veteran: Yeah, they got the orders and we moved. I don’t know what kind of orders they got. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: But our captain was in on them so went he said, and we went. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Veteran: Let’s see, we had, we didn’t have just one company. It was 1697 in that combat battalion. So, we went by ourselves, wherever they sent us. We didn’t send with no other thing. Interviewer: Right. So, they had, they split—the battalion has several different companies in it. Veteran: Right. Interviewer: So, your company, with your captain, kind of goes by itself. Veteran: Yeah, in a company. Interviewer: Right. Okay, and so you drive across France and probably, did you stay in France? Or did you go into Belgium? Or did you go straight to Germany? Or do you not really know? �Veteran: When we left Uffcott…After we crossed the English Channel, I don’t know where we went! Interviewer: You wouldn’t know where you were. Okay. Do you have an idea of how long it was before you started to build bridges? Or how long it took you to get towards the front of the line? Veteran: Well, I said, after they got reinforcements, well I guess about maybe a week or 8 or 10 days, then we fell back and started doing that. Interviewer: Okay. So probably what is happening is you are being moved up toward where they think the front line might be, and if the Germans came that way, you would have had to fight them. (00:28:04) Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: So, when you first went forward, did you have to dig fox holes or anything like that? Or did you just camp? Veteran: No, we didn’t. They should be done, but we didn’t dig no fox holes. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: I said it should be done, but we didn’t dig—I guess some part, some soldiers did, but we didn’t, no. Interviewer: Sure. Okay, so they weren’t, that—the Germans weren’t getting that close to you then? Veteran: No. See, we went to work. We went and relieved these guys so these guys could go up to the front. �Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, we were close enough to see the flashes from them guns and things but we wasn’t exactly on the front. We left these guys so they could go up to the fight, until they could get reinforcements, and we fell back. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. But now they have got you over there and now you start building then. Did you spend most of your time building bridges, or were you doing mind-clearing or…? Veteran: That’s what we did, we cleared mines out of the street, we built bridges, and we cleared mines. That was our job. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, the goal was to bring the ammunition and stuff through. We keep the road clear and things. Interviewer: Alright, now when your unit was building bridges, what were you doing? Veteran: I said I was a guard. I had a .30 caliber machine gun. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I had a .30 caliber machine gun, the guy in the first battalion had a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on to the back of the truck. I was in the second battalion and I had a .30 caliber machine gun that was on a tripod. Interviewer: Mhmm, yep, and so you were protecting…? Veteran: The guys working. �Interviewer: The engineers, yeah. Okay, so you didn’t have to do the heavy lifting? Veteran: No, not me. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: I wasn’t big enough. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: I was very small back in them days. Interviewer: Okay, now as you are doing this work, did you look around much at the countryside? Or see anything of the people? Or…? (00:30:08) Veteran: No, I didn’t. Interviewer: Okay, you just— Veteran: I couldn’t speak their language so I just didn’t. Interviewer: So, you just didn’t. Now— Veteran: A lot of soldiers did, but me, I just didn’t. Interviewer: Okay, you just mind your own—Okay, now, you had mentioned before that you had been married, you know, your wife had died, but you still had children at home at this time? Veteran: Yeah, I had one kid, and she was just all of 3 years old. Interviewer: And who was she living with? �Veteran: Well, I left her with my mother. But when I was going overseas, I got a letter from my sister. She said she had her so… Interviewer: Okay. Alright, now did you—and did you write home very much, or did they write to you? Or did you just…go away? Veteran: They mostly wrote to me when they wanted something. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, so now you are over in Europe, you are building bridges. Now, when you started doing this, was it during the winter? Was it cold? Veteran: Yeah, I would say it was winter in England. Yeah, it was cold. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. And then, did you move around a lot? Were you moving forward regularly? Or did you stay in one area for a long time? Veteran: I forget. We stayed in one little village until we get the work done. Then we move up. We always moved up. Interviewer: Okay. So, you keep moving forward and advancing. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Alright, and did they tell you much of anything about what was happening in the war, or did you just…? Veteran: Well, I said mainly—Me? Not me, I didn’t get any word. Interviewer: Okay, so your captain might have known something. Veteran: Yeah, yeah, they knew everything. Interviewer: Okay. �Veteran: The Sergeants the same but… Interviewer: Alright. Now, were you normally—did you sleep in tents or in houses or on the ground? (00:32:04) Veteran: On the ground. We had shelter halves. I had a half a shelter and the other half, and you put them together and you just… Interviewer: Make a little pup tent. Okay, alright. Veteran: Or sleep on the truck. Pretty much wherever you wanted to sleep, but you couldn’t sleep in no house. Interviewer: Okay, so you didn’t get to borrow somebody’s house to sleep there. Veteran: Oh, no. Interviewer: But some guys did. Veteran: Well, the captain, he might have but we didn’t. Interviewer: Okay, now while you were doing this work, did you ever get hit by enemy artillery or aircraft? Or ever see any of that? Veteran: Yeah. We were guarding an ammunition dump. Before we—when we first got into Germany, well they had the little black out light on the truck, and they told everybody don’t turn your light on, just use the little black out light. So, we traveled mostly at night, when we were going on up to the front. And one night, some guy turned his light on and the Germans dropped one, they said, this like personnel bomber. It hit close enough to the truck to turn the truck over on one side. �Interviewer: Okay, so maybe German artillery that shot at you or something? Veteran: Yeah, I said after we got into Germany, we was camping in the woods and on our side. Every night at 10 o’clock, there was a guy, I would come over…When you were talking about…you know what I mean? We know the different sounds of every different plane. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: We knew when it was an American plane, we knew when it was a German plane. One night, we got the truck stalled at…and a couple of them weren’t very nice so we called them Bed Check Charlie. If you got a line going, he would turn the machine gun on and shoot at us. So, every night, we’d be out, we’d hear the plane, so we’d say here come Bed Check Charlie. So, we turned out all the lights. So, one night we got a truck stalled, and we had a light on, trying to get the truck un-stalled, and he come over and turned his machine gun on the truck. (00:34:21) Interviewer: Did he hit the truck? Veteran: Well, didn’t, he shot at the truck but he didn’t—that, you know, he couldn’t keep it from running, he just shot. So, they finally…We was on one side of the woods, and he was…But we didn’t know that. But you know, every night at 12 o’clock, he’d come over. So, they finally called him, I guess to—the whole outfit went off and left him. And they said he run out of petrol. I guess he couldn’t run his plane no more and that got him mowed down. Interviewer: Alright, so eventually, that’s not a problem. Alright. Veteran: But he, every night, we had a little plane so we named him Bed Check Charlie. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, now you are, you’re kind of working your way—Now, do you remember crossing over the Rhine River into Germany? A really big river? �Veteran: Yeah, I said when we crossed over, there were a lot of boats that sunk, and they said a lot of soldiers were still inside. Interviewer: Well, I think that was the English Channel. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: But then, when you go into Germany, the Rhine River is a major river that’s inside Germany. And there were—that was an obstacle, a major obstacle when we crossed it in March of 1945. But, do you remember crossing any really big rivers after you were in Europe or not? Veteran: No, I don’t. Interviewer: Alright. Veteran: The English Channel was the biggest I’d known. Interviewer: And then, as you are getting into the springtime and the Allied armies are moving forward, you’re going to move forward, you’ll build more bridges. Did the scenery change at all? (00:36:00) Veteran: Yeah, I’d say. A lot of towns we went to…I remember in Stuttgart, Germany…And we were building bridges in Stuttgart, Germany. One place when we was in Germany, like we was in this little village and we had to go through another little village to build a bridge. It was evening when you’d come back. They said that a squad of German prisoners was hid in the building we went through, in the little village we went through. So, when they got back, on our way back, they called the infantry in. They wanted them to wipe out the squad of Germans. So, �we went through, I guess they was hid in the buildings. But when we come back, we had to wait for them to get through fighting before. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Now when you went to Stuttgart, could you see damage from the bombing? Veteran: Oh yeah. It was pitiful. There were kids on the road, asking for something to eat. They was sleeping in them old buildings. It was pitiful. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I’d see kids peeking around, begging for something to eat. So, we’d give them a lot of our rations. See, we had a C-ration. Interviewer: So that was mostly canned goods and dried things and, yeah. Veteran: Yeah, you had canned ration and C-ration. Sometimes, you’d get enough…So they gave us a box for your breakfast and your dinner and your supper. You carried it with you. But every night they would…As I said, a lot of the times, kids would be coming by, asking, what it means in Germany, for essence. So, a lot of time we, the soldiers just gave them something. Interviewer: Alright. Okay, now did you also go through villages that were still in good shape that hadn’t been bombed? Veteran: No. (00:38:02) Interviewer: Okay. So, you mostly saw areas that had been hit pretty hard. Veteran: Mhmm. Interviewer: Alright. And do you remember seeing any German prisoners of war? �Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay, and what did they look like? Veteran: Just ordinary white folks. Interviewer: Okay, well did you notice if some of them were kind of older or younger? Or you didn’t— Veteran: Well, I’d say mostly younger. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: I’d say after the war, after Germany surrendered, they sent us to Nancy, France. And we stayed there about 10 to 15 days. Then they sent us to Le Havre, France. Then they gave us 100 German prisoners to put in a water line. Interviewer: So, you’re going back, you’re doing more engineering work now? Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: But you have German prisoners to work for you as laborers? Veteran: Mhmm. Interviewer: Alright. And what impression did you have of them? Veteran: Oh, just ordinary people to me. Interviewer: Okay. How did they behave? Veteran: They just did whatever you told them to do. Interviewer: Okay. �Veteran: There wasn’t nothing, they didn’t raise no sail or nothing. A lot of them were like us, I guess: glad it was over. Interviewer: Yeah. Alright, and then at that point, now do you see more of the French people now? Veteran: I said, when we were in Nancy, France. After we left Nancy, France…But to tell you the truth, I didn’t care for the French more than nobody else. Interviewer: Okay. But I meant were there a lot of civilians around now? Veteran: Oh yeah. Interviewer: Now, were the French doing any better than the Germans? Or, were they hungry too? Veteran: No, they had their own country I guess. They seemed to be doing… Interviewer: Okay? So, there was a difference there? Veteran: Yeah, they was a different race of people. See, over there, they call French African. In Nancy, France, they called French African. When they come to the states, they’re called Moroccan. I could never tell the difference. (00:40:05) Interviewer: Mhmm. Alright. Veteran: See, we had some in our outfit, called Moroccan in the States. When you get into France, they’re called French African. Interviewer: Well, the French had colonies in Africa, and so, including in North Africa, including Morocco. �Veteran: Yeah, well that was in Nancy, France. Interviewer: Right, but they just think of you like the people from their colonies. Veteran: I guess so. Interviewer: Or something like that. And so, it was a little different. Okay. Now then you said you got assigned Germans to help you work. And then, do you have a sense of how long you stayed in France? Veteran: Well now, I’d say I was there…Okay, when did the Japanese surrender? Interviewer: That’s in August of 1945. Veteran: Well, when the Japanese surrendered, we was a day from seeing the Pearl Harbor—I mean, from seeing the Statue of Liberty. We was on our way back to the states. Interviewer: Okay. So, they loaded you—they took you to Le Havre for a while, they put you on a boat. So now, summer of ’45, you’re on your way home. Okay, now what happens when you land in New York? Veteran: They sent us to Fort McPherson, Georgia. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: And we stayed there…They gave us a 30-day leave, and then they say they’d give you three months jungle training. They was supposed to go—that’s why we left, that was our assignment. But I say, the Japanese surrendered so we didn’t have to do that. Interviewer: Okay. �Veteran: We got a 30-day leave and we went back to the camp. Then they sent us down to…Where I got discharged…What’s the name of the camp? In Georgia… Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: With Fort Benning on one side… Interviewer: Okay, but it’s somewhere down in that area, but you are in Georgia and… (00:42:07) Veteran: Yeah. Alexandria, Louisiana. Fort Beauregard on one side of the town, and a camp on the other side of the town. Interviewer: Well at, Fort Benning, I think, is kind of close to the border between Georgia and Alabama. There’s a river in between. Anyway, okay. But, basically, you get discharged? Veteran: Huh? Interviewer: You get a leave home, and then you come back, and then you get a discharge? Veteran: Mhmm. Interviewer: Okay. So then, you probably are getting out of the Army in 1945. After the— Veteran: No, after that. I got out in 1946. Interviewer: Well, the war ends in August of ’45. And you were almost back to the states. And then, if you’re not spending a lot of time any place after that… Veteran: Well, I am sure they sent us to…We got back to the states, they sent us to Camp Shank, New York—No, they sent us to… �Interviewer: You went to Fort McPherson. Veteran: Yeah, in Georgia somewhere. And we stayed there. We got a 30-day leave. Interviewer: Right. Veteran: We were back to camp. We hung around camp. I don’t know exactly how long. Then they sent us down to Louisiana. Interviewer: Mhmm. And how long did you stay in Louisiana? Veteran: It was about the whole winter. Interviewer: Oh okay. That would take it to ’46. So that’s where it wraps up, okay. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Now, when you were in Louisiana, did you have any work to do? Or were you just sitting around? Veteran: Mhmm. After we come back from overseas, after you got back to camp, you just sit around. Interviewer: Okay, now when you had that 30-day leave, what did you do? Veteran: I went home to see my kids. Interviewer: Mhmm, alright. Veteran: That was my biggest thing. Most of my mind was on my kids, you know, I just. Interviewer: Right. And did she know who you were when you got home? Veteran: Oh yeah. (00:44:01) �Interviewer: Okay, good. Veteran: She knew who I was. Interviewer: Alright. So, after you got your discharge then, what did you do? Veteran: After I got my discharge, I went up—They didn’t pay me yet, see, when I got my discharge. They didn’t give me all my money. And then they asked me to stay around Alamo. They owed me $1040. They asked me to stay around Alamo. They sent me $100 a month. So I got that. And then they had this thing called the GI Bill. So I signed up to go to school on this GI Bill until I got all my money. Then I left to come to Benton Harbor, Michigan. Interviewer: Okay. So, when you say you went to school, were you finishing high school? Or getting a GED? Or? Veteran: No, agriculture school. Interviewer: Okay, agriculture. Okay so vocational school. Okay. Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Alright. And then, how did you wind up going to Benton Harbor? Veteran: I went there to gather fruit. But after I got there…After I got there, I got working on an asparagus farm, cutting asparagus. I didn’t like that job, so a couple of days and then I quit. There was a guy there…He mowed the lawn and he killed chickens for the rest of them. And he asked me would I like to work with him. 90 cents an hour and he gave me a place to stay. You know, to live in the house with him. He had a wife and two kids. And I told him I’d rather do that than cut asparagus, so I left with him. So, I went and lived with him and his wife. Every �other night, I’d stay home and keep his little girls, him and his wife would go to the show. Next night, I get the car and go where I want to go. (00:46:15) Interviewer: Okay. Did you have your daughter with you or was she still with your sister? Veteran: No. No, I didn’t. They wouldn’t let me have her. That’s the reason I didn’t stay around home because… Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: See, she was about 6 years old then. You know, she knowed me but you know…It had been three years and so. And I think two families can’t raise no kid. Like if she asked me to do something, I say yeah but they may say no, see. And I couldn’t hurt her like that so I just told them they just take her. Wherever I’m at, if she needs something, let me know. You know I wouldn’t doubt that they’d have tried to raise the dead for her. And so, I just left, come to Benton Harbor, Michigan. And then after I got there, then after I started staying with him, then I would work in flower yard for people. Then one lady asked about trimming trees and things for the flower yard, and so. I didn’t say anything. After we left, he called me to tea and said if we had done that job, we could have made money. And I told him well, I know how to trim trees. So, we went around, bought all pf the equipment. He bought all of the equipment. Then before long, we started trimming trees all summer. When the snow started falling, then I left and went to Benton Harbor, Mich—I went to Cleveland, Ohio. Interviewer: Okay. And what did you do in Cleveland? Veteran: I run an elevator, a freight elevator at a paper company. Interviewer: Okay. Now, did you eventually settle down into a job, a long-term job? �Veteran: Oh, well… Interviewer: Or did you just bounce around a lot? (00:48:08) Veteran: I just bounced because I worked there all winter. Spring come, my mama asked me to come back down. I had a baby brother. He got himself into debt or something, she…Well. I’ll say it like this: I am a little odd kid in the family, you know what that is. My mama, bless her soul, if she wanted something did, I am the fifth child. If she wants something did, she’ll call me. But when I get it done, she want me to move out. That’s the way I was raised. There was ten of us kids, but I was just the hardball in the crowd. Interviewer: Alright. Now, did you eventually get married again? Veteran: Oh yeah, I’d say about…I got married. I say, I went back home. I stayed there three years until I got him out of debt. Then I come to Chicago. Then I got married in Chicago. Interviewer: Mhmm. And what were you doing in Chicago? Veteran: I worked at the paper company. I worked there 18 years. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: Then I left that, come over here. And I worked at Ottawa Steel 18 years, before I retired. Interviewer: Alright. Well, when you look back at the time you spent in the Army, do you think you learned anything from that or if it did you any good later on? Veteran: Well, what do you mean by it? Interviewer: How do you think your time in the Army affected you? �Veteran: Well, I guess…I guess, I don’t know it affected me any kind of ways. Because I said most of my mind was in just getting back to my kids, you know, and whatever I had to do, I just did it you know. So, I don’t think it hurt me nowhere. It taught me to be more ornery or what. Most of the time, I look back and say… (00:50:34) Interviewer: Alright. So, you were the same man when you came out— Veteran: Yeah, it seems. Interviewer: --then you were when you went in? Veteran: You know, because I say mostly, I don’t know if you people can understand it or not but I say you go off leaving your 3-year old child, and she had never spent time with nobody but you and her mother. And you go off and leave her. You people don’t know how that hurt. So, my mind was just—I say when I first went with the Army, I did everything I could think of to get a dishonorable discharge, but after I found out they weren’t going to discharge me. I just did what I was supposed to do. Interviewer: Alright. Okay, did you learn anything about different kinds of work or equipment that helped you later? Or, did you already have all the skills you needed? Veteran: That’s what I was going to say, I didn’t do nothing in the Army I thought that. I mean, I didn’t do nothing in the Army. Interviewer: That’s right, you had the machine gun. Veteran: Except drive a truck. When I went to the Army, I didn’t know what a spark plug was. But they sent me to schools, teach you all about how to maintain a truck and everything. Interviewer: Alright. �Veteran: And the big gun, 155 mm. I didn’t know nothing about them. But I say, after I got out of the Army, then I, the only thing I worked in was on cars. I went to mechanic school, and after—Well, I finished mechanic school right there in Letit and Bold. You know they used to have it out there? I finished mechanic school out there. Interviewer: Mhmm. (00:52:18) Veteran: So, I worked part-time, working on cars. Also, I worked at Ottawa Steel, but as a hobby, I worked on cars too. Interviewer: Okay. Veteran: So, I went to welders school. In other words, everything that Uncle Sam paid me to go to school for, I did it. Interviewer: Okay. So, maybe that’s the one thing you got out of the Army? Veteran: Yeah. Interviewer: Uncle Sam paid for some school. Veteran: I finished barber school, agriculture school, I finished welding school, I finished mechanic school. Long as Uncle Sam paid me, I did it. Interviewer: Alright, sounds good. Veteran: But also, I worked. I said, I worked at Ottawa Steel out there on, you know where that used to be? Out there on…What used to be out there? You know where Ottawa Steel used to be? Interviewer: No, I don’t but… Veteran: Let me see… �Interviewer: Was it close to Grand Rapids, or…? Veteran: Yeah, right on the line. Interviewer: Alright, well. Veteran: I got to think of that street. It was right where the border of Comstock Park and Grand Rapids join. Interviewer: Okay, that would be out on near Alpine Avenue area. Veteran: Yeah! Interviewer: Okay, very good. Veteran: It used to be Ottawa Steel. Half the plant was in Grand Rapids, half the plant was in… Interviewer: Some part of Comstock Park, okay. (00:54:03) Veteran: I worked there 60 years before I retired. Interviewer: Alright. Well, it makes for a very good story, so thanks for taking the time to share it today. (00:54:13) � 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_HoltonW2098V Title A name given to the resource Holton, Will (Interview transcript and video), 2017 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-02 Description An account of the resource Will Holton was born in Crockett County, Tennessee, on January 19, 1919, and was likely drafted in either late 1942 or early 1943. After Basic Training and advanced training, Holton was then sent to Camp Barkeley, Texas, for trucker training, and was then sent to Louisiana for 155mm artillery training before winding up at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, with the 1010th Engineer Company. Holton was then assigned to the 2nd Platoon, A Company, 1697th Engineer Combat Battalion and was deployed to Europe, supporting the ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944-45. He guarded the other engineers while they cleared mines, opened supply routes, and built temporary bridges, continuing this construction work in France after the war. Holton later returned home and was discharged in 1946. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holton, Will Thomas Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> 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.) Language A language of the resource eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant World War II https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/00742d554ecb1e06c73453d387786ed7.mp4 bdc4845edd6d0a8f3de374328cacd2f1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/93f182a123748898654f086d776105f1.pdf d7bcef247e919e26f1cad5adb0f49dcf PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee name: Wellington Francis Homminga Length of Interview: (01:20:15) Background (00:00:10) Wellington Francis Homminga Born in Cadillac, MI; April 7, 1923 Raised in Grand Rapids 32nd Division, 126th Infantry, Company I, 3rd Battalion; a machine gunner (00:01:35) Started off in the National Guard Training (00:02:02) Went from Boston, Massachusetts to California for Cow Palace  One of the greatest train rides of his life Arrived in San Francisco where they stayed at the Army Post for 3 or 4 days Cow Palace was a giant arena, similar to a baseball stadium (00:03:50)  Slept in the bleachers; stayed there for two weeks Homminga had been ordered to Europe, but was sent to San Francisco instead (00:05:12)  Didn’t know or even think about where he was going; considered it an adventure One morning, was sent out to an unknown destination Boarded the S.S. Lurline, a luxury ship converted into a troop ship Sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, where the waters become rough  Caused a lot of seasickness for others Knew he was heading out into the South Pacific (00:07:30)  Sailed for three or four days � Crossed the Equator, King Neptune’s Ceremony (came down with the German measles during this celebration)  After recovering, went up on deck only to see ships surrounding them Was now a part of a convoy with hundreds of ships (7 days into the voyage) (00:08:27) Off to the North, could see land, the Hawaiian Islands, but did not visit them (00:09:38) Australia (00:10:06) One week later, it was announced that they were going to Australia  Took three weeks to land in Adelaide, South Australia  Rode a train into Sandy Creek, a small village  Did this at night in complete secrecy In Sandy Creek for two months (00:11:11)  Did training everyday  Everyone was given train passes into Adelaide one week in When arriving in Adelaide, Homminga met a girl there who took him to meet her family in Port Noarlunga (00:12:25)  Homminga used her home as a “base of operations” whenever he was in town Training: rifle fire, rifle range, machine gun range, practice throwing hand grenades, “mock war”, battle situations (00:14:40) Brisbane (00:15:17) After leaving, they went by train to Brisbane  In Australia, every state has a different gauge railroad, so they had to go through Melbourne and Sydney to get to Brisbane Jungle Training began in Brisbane (00:16:08) Stayed in Fort Tambourine, in the Tambourine Mountains, a wooded area outside of Brisbane Had to clear the area of gum trees and jungle to make camp  This was during July of 1941, Homminga was 18 years old (00:17:03) � Was 17 when he joined the National Guard; some of his group were only 16 years old when they joined For Jungle Warfare Training, they would be given compass readings after being put somewhere in the middle of the jungle, only certain number of paces were allowed (00:17:34)  If done correctly, someone would be at the designated point to meet you  If done incorrectly, you would have to “wander the jungle all night long” No Artillery Training; worked with their own guns, dug fox holes, held “mock wars” (00:18:28) The camp was like being dumped in the middle of a pine forest in which you had to make into your home (00:19:23)  Dug their own latrines and wells, set-up kitchens and tents; like a Unit on its own  Weather was cool in the winter and, when they left Brisbane in the summer, it was hot Port Moresby, New Guinea (00:21:00) Stayed in Brisbane until the end of October, then was shipped off to New Guinea  Was not aware New Guinea was their destination at the time  Put on landing ships, LST’s, “Victory Ships”; all steel, loaded with 500lb bombs, trucks  10 ton cruiser in the back for the Australians to use when patrolling New Guinea border  Not allowed to be on the deck at night   One night, Homminga snuck up on deck to sleep between life boats, due to the heat; next morning, it was one of the only things on the deck. A hurricane had hit during the night which he was completely unaware of (00:22:24) He went from a Private to a Corporal overnight (00:23:19) Was on the ship about 10 days (00:23:41)  Pulled into the harbor of Port Moresby, New Guinea; full of ships that had sunk  Had been bombed by the Japanese Brought to camp next to the ocean by trucks (00:24:16)  Completely different landscape to Brisbane; jungle, mountains, an airfield �The Japanese would sometimes fly over and shoot (00:25:37)  First casualties happened because of this; Japanese were trying to bomb the air field but overshot it and hit some men There for three or four weeks doing Jungle Training (00:26:04)  One night, they attempted to get a man out from the trees, but it was actually a branch. Had it riddled with bullets from machine guns  Had been told by Americans that the Japanese would climb trees and shoot from there (00:27:09) No contact with the Australian Soldiers One morning, troops from E Company passed by their camp to go over the mountains Two days later, his troop was flown over the mountains Jungle (00:28:26) Brisbane jungle was easier to navigate while New Guinea jungle was easy to get lost in  Never met any wildlife besides a 15ft. Rock Python  Saw a lot of natives who would bargain with them  Interacted with the natives with “sign language”  Did not encounter much Kunai Grass in Port Moresby until Buna (00:32:00) Popondetta (00:32:10) The flight over the mountains was 40 minutes long, landed in a cleared field of Kunai Grass  Was put on a trail called Popondetta-Pongani Trail near the village of Pongani  At noon started on the trail Had on khaki uniforms, full field packs, helmets, ammunition, guns, rations; each man had a sack of rice and corn beef at night and C-rations in the day (00:33:07)  C-rations: candy bar, instant coffee they would chew (because there was no hot water) Trail made by the natives for traveling between Popondetta and Pongani (00:34:40) Did not know where they were going, but knew they were going into combat (00:35:22) � Took 13 days of walking, did not hear any sounds of battle, no Japanese encountered Reached the village of Popondetta where there were American Troops and some Australian Troops (00:35:52) Australians had captured one Japanese Soldier, they shot him and buried him (00:36:58) Next morning, set out into the jungle and swamps (00:37:16)  Water was up to their knees or their chest; there for three of four days  Slept where they could, sometimes slept in the mangrove trees  Didn’t eat, no place to stop and prepare food, maybe eat some C-rations  Drank swamp water by putting chlorine tablets in their canteens  In the swamps for about week Started running into the Japanese in the swamps (00:39:51)  Japanese would shell them with mortar and artillery fire  Once, while tending to his feet, Japanese opened fire; so Homminga ran barefoot  Jungle Rot- when you don’t take your shoes and socks off when walking in water you get a disease that “rots” your skin off (00:40:43) Went to a staging area where the troops gathered, a couple hundred (00:41:23)  There for three of four days, went on patrol and ran into some Japanese  Never took prisoners because it took five men to watch one prisoner  Never set up tents, always out in the open or in the swamps Arrived at the Sanananda Road between Popondetta and Buna (00:42:46)  Capturing Buna was their mission  Drove into the road that was in the middle of a Japanese hospital � Flushed the Japanese out of there and used it as a base, there for 21 days  Acted as a road block behind Japanese lines to prevent supplies from crossing The Japanese would try to cross over at night, but were shot by Homminga’s troop (00:43:54)  A couple times, they found a Japanese soldier in only their undershorts but they shot them; may have been trying to surrender One morning, 300 natives from Buna had come in, without being heard (00:45:07)  Japanese had taken their village, Buna  The natives were going to Popondetta Australians had a contract with the natives that for every Japanese head they brought in, they received $5 (00:45:41)  They had to make them start bringing ears, instead, because of so many heads being brought in  There were some head hunting tribes in the mountains  Met some hunters that tried to make one soldier laugh so they could see his gold teeth, the soldier was told not to do this because of the danger it posed (00:46:21) On the 21st day of being on the trail, Australians relieved them (00:47:23)  Went back to staging area to be fed  Threw up most of the food because they hadn’t eaten in 21 days  Next morning, Homminga went to the first aid tent; had a fever of 104, Malaria Recuperation (00:48:25) Sent back to Port Moresby by plane Malaria (00:48:32) A disease transmitted by anopheles mosquito, which settles in your liver and kidney; severe fever and chills; takes about 15 days of intensive care to treat it; will always have it in your system (dormant)  Very disabling and everyone had it � Were given Quinine (old remedy) and Atabrine (can turn complexion yellow) (49:40)  Eventually ran out of these supplies  Took a lot of troops out of commission, more than injuries  Couldn’t go back to the Med Station during those 21 days; when they could, people with 5 consecutive days of 104 fever were sent to the hospital (00:50:47) Homminga was sent to Port Moresby by plane from Popondetta (00:51:24)  Hadn’t bathed in a month until reaching the hospital  There for a week, then loaded on an A-20, Combat Bomber, to go to Townsville, Australia (00:52:10)  During his weeklong convalescence, Homminga rested and ate “extremely good” food  He once sleepwalked into an ammunition dump, 2 miles away from the hospital; was in the middle of an air raid, ambulance took him back Flight in the bomber took about two hours, flew extremely low to avoid detection (00:54:08)  Flew so low that the water from the ocean hit the plane’s nose Loaded onto trains upon arrival, ended up in Brisbane (00:54:52)  Taken to the hospital to treat his Malaria; still had a fever, also developed sores on his full back (since the road block on the Sanananda Road) Got hold of a doctor in Brisbane who biopsied a sore on his side (00:56:04)  Diagnosis: had larvae, similar to the dog and cat tapeworm, colonizing causing the sores  Doctor decided to freeze them off his back, sprayed twice a day; was really painful  Took two weeks to get rid of the sores  Played cards, ran a cigarette store one day during his recovery Coolangatta (01:00:00) �Was in the hospital for about one month Sent to Coolangatta, near Brisbane, on the coast; a small village with a rest camp  The camp had soldiers from the Red Arrow Division who were recuperating  Homminga swam often until spotting sharks in the reef when whale watching  Would go into the village to “romance” the girls Coolangatta now-a-days is very populated with many attraction, then, it was mainly beaches and houses; lots for $25 per acre After Coolangatta, he was sent back to his outfit in Camp Cable (01:02:46) There for a couple weeks then was sent to Newcastle to train for beach landing (01:03:02)  The first night, Homminga had an attack of Malaria so he was put in the Navy hospital Sent to a hospital in Sydney by truck from Newcastle, then flew from there (01:03:30)  Had a temp. of 103; avg. temp., when afflicted with Malaria, is 104 or 105  In Sydney for about one month then was sent back to the U.S.  Was given Atabrine to treat his Malaria, but no Quinine (01:05:05)  Australian soldiers had Malaria, too; especially those in New Guinea  Could go out into town; more like a recover center  Lost a lot of weight in New Guinea, 180lbs.-106lbs (01:06:27)  Had been in New Guinea from late October to early January, celebrated Christmas there U.S. (01:07:11) Sent back to United States through Brisbane to board the S.S. Mauretania  Had made his own hammock, learned from a sailor onboard Took about two weeks, then landed in Panama and went through the Panama Canal (01:08:41) �Had to dock on the Atlantic side of the canal, Panama City, because of German Subs in the Gulf of Mexico  Stayed in the hospital there for three weeks, still had bouts of Malaria  Couldn’t go out on pass, but could go on tours during this time (01:10:01)  Got to see many churches; saw the Church of the Golden Altar Went back through the Canal up to San Francisco (01:11:05)  Went to Letterman General Hospital  Was given quite a greeting and celebration  At the hospital for three or four days Sent to a hospital in Temple, Texas (01:11:55)  Went back home, in Michigan, for Christmas by train  Had been gone for about three years and six months (01:12:35)   Parents were glad and excited, had six siblings, as well  Never met his two younger brothers Went back to the hospital after two weeks (01:14:32) Went to a rehab center in Waco, Texas then was assigned to 99th Division, in Company A 393rd Infantry (01:14:45)  His clothes didn’t arrive with him  There for two weeks  Was a part of the K.P. (Kitchen Police)  His captain came back from the South Pacific and wanted to put Homminga in a Training Cadre but he had another attack of Malaria (01:16:10) � Had applied for the Air Corps to get out of the Infantry (01:16:58) Had gone back to the hospital Was given the choice of transferring into the Air Corps or a discharge; chose to be discharged (01:17:28)  Waited 24 hours to be discharged, went by bus  After arriving home, Homminga met his wife in May; proposed on the first date Will always remember and have dreams of what he did during the war (01:19:23) � 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 Homminga, Wellington Francis (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Homminga, Wellington Francis Description An account of the resource Wellington "Bill" Homminga served in the 126th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd "Red Arrow" Division during World War II. After training in Australia for Jungle Warfare, his unit served in New Guinea in the Buna campaign, where his company spent 21 days isolated at a roadblock behind Japanese lines. After his unit was relieved, he came down with malaria, and continued to suffer from malaria and other tropical diseases until his discharge in 1944. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American 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 2009-02-19 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HommingaW 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/5e580ba47dee6be41394e934a3c347e3.m4v a9d84f549dc31020b7843e9806d5fbf9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/77ea7b643a29ffc8149d1ea55ea3a25b.pdf 501c690005ed8d9c52ef688d1e73bbb9 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans' History Project Ernest Homrich World War II-Postwar 44 minutes 43 seconds (00:00:11) Early Life -Born at his family's home in Alpine Township, Michigan on April 13, 1925 -Grew up on the farm there -Second-to-last child in the family -Family was able to keep the farm during the Great Depression -Had enough food, but had to ration it -Father had a stroke -Bedridden for 15 years -Ernest and his brother had to run the farm -Milked the cows in the morning -Fed animals and did chores at night -Stayed in school until the 11th grade -Went to school off and on -Took Fridays off and went fishing -Mother was a great help in taking care of the farm and Mr. Homrich after he had his stroke -Father lived to be 75 years old -Had his stroke when he was 60 years old -Ernest was 15 years old at the time -Grew produce and raised animals they could sell (00:03:58) Start of the War -Driving in the car when he heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed -Paid attention to the news coming out of Europe and Asia before Pearl Harbor -No one in his family was in the military when the war began -He was 16 years old when the United States entered the war (00:05:04) Getting Drafted -Registered for the draft when he turned 18 in 1943 -Deferred for a while because he worked on the farm -When he got drafted his younger brother took over the farm -Got drafted in late 1944 after being deferred twice -Went to Detroit for a draft physical when he first registered for the draft (00:06:42) Basic Training -Went to Chicago -Sent to an Army base in Texarkana/northeast Texas -Went there by train -Ride was smoky and there was soot everywhere -Stopped along the way to let other trains pass -Took quite a while to go from Chicago to Texas -Went on hikes during basic training -High emphasis on discipline -Whatever your superiors told you to do, you did -Men that couldn't keep up with the training were discharged -Because he grew up doing farm work he was in good shape and kept up with the training �-Received rifle and grenade training -One time a sergeant dropped a live grenade -Obviously, everyone ran away -Fortunately, the grenade didn't explode -Thought that that was the end of his life -Had a little rifle experience from bird hunting on the farm -Trained with men from all over the United States -Didn't receive any specialized training -Felt sorry for the men that couldn't do the training -Men that couldn't adjust were discharged, recycled, or transferred -Training lasted 17 weeks (00�:12:17) Deployment -After basic training received a leave home -Reported to San Francisco -Didn't spend too long there -Boarded a troopship -1700 men on the ship -Had to share bunks -Didn't know where they were going -Stopped in Pearl Harbor because of boiler trouble -Remembers the song “Sentimental Journey” playing as they left -A lot of men got seasick (00:15:54) Stop in Pearl Harbor -Broke convoy to stop in Pearl Harbor because the ship's boiler needed repair -Stayed in Pearl Harbor for a month -Spent the time in Pearl Harbor with training -Fed pineapple and all of the men got “GI Trot” (diarrhea) -Limited outhouses, so some men had to defecate in the open -Next day they got up early -Men were still sick, so they were given a pill to alleviate the illness -Went out for a drill -He spent the entire day in an outhouse -Went into town once or twice -Found an old Japanese motorcycle -Pearl Harbor had been cleaned up -Saw the sunken ships left in the harbor (00:18:50) Arrival at Okinawa & End of the War -Sailed to Okinawa alone -Went in a straight line -Trying to catch up with the convoy -Dropped anchor away from Okinawa -Preparing for the invasion of Japan -All of a sudden, the war ended -Off of Okinawa for a week then the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan (00:20:48) Supply work in Inchon, Korea -Went to Inchon, Korea -Had to sleep in a partially built building -Given a cot and blankets for sleeping -Went out every morning with the high tide and came back in at night with the tide �-Used a Landing Ship Medium (LSM) to go to the ship to bring supplies to shore -Supervised Korean workers -Had to watch them closely -Had problems with them stealing beer -Had pretty good living conditions and had pretty good food -Found abandoned, one-man Japanese submarines -Note: possibly kaiten suicide torpedoes -Crudely built and made of recycled metal and wood scaffolding -Japanese had a lot of old American cars being used for scrap metal -About 40 acres of old cars -No Japanese soldiers left in Korea -Found a lot of Japanese rifles -Dumped them in the nearby river -Got his hand hurt -Two of his nails were ripped out of his hand by a winch -Unloaded trucks, tires, and lumber from the ship -Material prepared for the invasion of Japan -Burned any material they didn't need -Some soldiers sold the material to the Koreans (00:28:00) Hospital Stay in Inchon -After hurting his hand he went to a hospital in Inchon -Spent 45 days in the hospital -One of nurses baked a cake for him -He was mobile, so he could walk around (00:29:04) Working with Amphibious Engineer Unit -Set traps to catch rats -Caught a few, but not very many -Collected wood for burning in the officers' rooms (00:29:57) PX work in Korea -Reassigned to work in a post exchange (PX) -Note: Army general store -Worked in the PX for nearly a year -Had to make sure nobody stole anything -Slept with his M1 carbine to ward off thieves -Koreans mostly wanted to steal cigarettes, but would steal anything -Only American soldiers were allowed into the PX -Went out to dumps to get rid of spoiled food -Korean civilians tried to get the rotten food -Had to beat back Koreans and fill in the pits of food so they didn't get the bad food -Never wanted to see that again (00:32:45) Korean Civilians -Koreans lived in straw huts -There were open ditches that the Koreans used as toilets -Rice farmers went to the ditch to get human waste to fertilize their crop (00:34:25) Contact with Home -It was a long time before he got any mail from home -Sent money home -Mother saved it for him -Had a quite a bit of money saved up by time he got home �(00:35:15) Coming Home Pt. 1 -Went home with a group of men from different units -Pulled into Seattle -Delayed and put into barracks -Selected to clean out mess cars -Had to wait because his records were lost -Sent to Chicago -Still couldn't find his records -Sent home for a couple weeks of leave -Reported back to Chicago and got discharged (00:37:10) Life after the Army -Worked on a farm for one season -Worked for 75 cents an hour then got raised to $1 an hour -Worked in a shop for 95 cents an hour -Married in 1952 -Stayed on the farm, but worked other jobs -Younger brother hauled coal to the veterans' home (00:39:57) Reflections on Service -Learned discipline and how to follow orders -Learned a lot in Korea -Snow in Korea was the same as Michigan though -Shocked that Inchon never experienced a major fire due to all of the straw and wooden buildings -Saw a lot and learned a lot during his time in the Army (00:41:53) Downtime in Korea -Visited Seoul -Got cold showers -Luxury because they didn't get showers in Inchon -Went to Seoul quite often -More built up than Inchon -Drank a little sake -Tried 190 proof alcohol -Cut it with sugar and water to dilute it (00:44:03) Coming Home Pt. 2 -Fed really well upon his arrival in Seattle -Given whatever food he wanted � 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 HomrichE1917V Title A name given to the resource Homrich, Ernest Q (Interview outline and video), 2016 Description An account of the resource Ernest Homrich was born in Alpine Township, Michigan on April 13, 1925. He was drafted in late 1944 and went to Texarkana/northeast Texas for basic training. After 17 weeks of basic training and a short leave home he went to San Francisco to board a troopship. En route to their destination they experienced boiler trouble and had to stay in Pearl Harbor for a month for repairs. From Pearl Harbor they sailed to Okinawa and were offshore for a week then the atomic bombs were dropped. They went to Inchon, Korea where he helped unload material and discard Japanese weapons. He injured his hand and after recovering in a hospital was assigned to work with an amphibious engineers unit then at a PX where he worked for nearly a year. Upon completion of his time in Korea he returned to the United States and was discharged in Chicago. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Homrich, Ernest Q. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army 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 2016-02-09 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/37da505303bdf2473f2ee1ea702a926c.mp4 c03e32f8211cad8162927dc803a96ab5 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e86a951f8384632ec6445b264223b1e1.pdf 87104b474837c5478ca04ccb0c6c1e0a PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Leo Homrich World War II Total Time: 1:02:00 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (0:00:12) • • • • Born in Wyoming, MI in January, 1925 Wanted to join the army at 17, but his father would not let him. Father was a farmer Drafted into the Army at 18, but this time he didn’t want to go. Training and Deployment(0:04:40) • Completed basic training at Camp Robinson, AR. • Went then to Camp Fanning in Tyler, TX where he completed advanced basic training. • During basic, they wore World War I style legging uniforms. • He was trained to carry the Browning Automatic Rifle. • He was trained as a replacement, and he was supposed to go to Europe. • He was then allowed leave, and then after leave reported to Maryland and then to Camp Shanks, NY. Was at Camp Shanks for a couple of weeks. • He was sent to the harbor, and then was sent to the harbor, however he was taken off the ship and away from all of the men that he trained with. • He sat around for a further couple of weeks, then was put on a ship in New York for the Pacific. Active Duty (0:19:18) • • • • • • • • • • He was transported on a converted cattle ship through the Panama Canal. He slept a lot during the crossing, and the weather was rough at times. They went across in a very small convoy. (0:23:40) He landed in New Caledonia after 43 days on the ship. Was in New Caledonia for training in jungle fighting. He also worked for a time as an orderly of sorts for his platoon leader. He was assigned with training units at this time. (0:26:50) Was shipped to New Guinea from New Caledonia. He was an Infantryman with the 43rd Division. While in New Guinea he went on patrols and was under sniper fire quite often. (0:29:44) He got Malaria and Dengue Fever in New Guinea, and was sent to a field hospital to recover. They patrolled in the Jungle for the most part. �• (0:31:40) Mentions incident in which Indian soldiers, who had been captured by the Japanese at Singapore and were put into the Japanese army, came into their lines and surrendered. • After his sickness he rejoined his unit while they were in the Philippines. • (0:34:35) He was involved in fighting in the Philippines, and he got wounded there. • (0:37:30) His unit landed at Lingayen Gulf, taking the beachhead. • He was wounded by a shell that exploded and gave him a shrapnel wound in the legs and back. He was in the hospital for this for about 2 months. • (0:41:40) They liberated Clark Field in the Philippines, which was where the Japanese kept American prisoners. • Had some interaction with the local population. • Was in the Philippines for the end of the War. • After the war ended, he was sent home but he was not fully discharged until December 1945. • Earned three bronze stars for his service. • He also worked as a radio man during his service in the Philippines. • He only fired his BAR if it was necessary. • Their unit took very few prisoners, but he did have to guard some of the prisoners. • (0:57:40) Even after the war ended they were still doing some fighting in the Philippines, but for the most part the Filipinos took care of that duty • Also spent some time in New Zealand. Post War (0:58:05) • • Developed a case of malaria when he got back from the Philippines. Worked in a factory upon his return. � 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 Homrich, Leo (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Homrich, Leo Description An account of the resource Leo Homrich served in the Army during World War II. He was born in 1925 to a family of farmers, and was drafted into the Army at 18. After training, he was shipped to the Pacific, where he served in New Guinea and the Philippines. He worked as a both a radio man and as an operator of the Browning Automatic Rifle while he was in the Pacific theatre. 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 Video recordings United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--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 2009-03-10 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HomrichL 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/b59dd5db3abdb09038d7c83323688d85.mp4 2772061620a2b490499b66e625325ef5 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1153ba7f5b57b7d7d7d2e871d19e9b89.pdf 52ab4dc5c9729057635bd910730727d7 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Marvin Honderd (00:45:18) (00:25) Background Information • • • • • • • Marv was born in Byron Center, Michigan and still lives there today His father was a furniture/cabinet maker in Grand Rapids, Michigan During WWII Marv was too young and his father was too old to be drafted Marv graduated from high school in 1945 and went to Calvin College in Grand Rapids for 2 years He took pre-med classes and then transferred to Ferris State University when he decided that he wanted to be a pharmacist Marv dropped out of school after a while and went to work at the furniture factory with his father for three years Marv felt that he would soon be drafted and did not want to be drafted into the Army, so he enlisted in the Air Force (4:10) Basic Training in Texas • Marv had basic training for 6 weeks and then went to radio school in Illinois • After going through radio school, there was no room for advancement so Marv went through basic training a second time • He was then sent to Columbus, Mississippi for flight training • He was sent to the very deep South and it was a very different environment • They sometimes trained through cotton fields and pastures • Marv would go to ground school in the morning and flew in the afternoons • He spent 6 months in Mississippi and was then transferred to another base in Texas • Marv trained with T-6 planes in advanced training and went through acrobatics, longer flights dealing with different weather conditions; this lasted another 6 months • Most of the people he was training with wanted to be fighter pilots, but Marv wanted to work in transportation so that he would not get shot at; his lieutenant told him that he had to be a fighter pilot (9:45) Kansas • Marv began training with F-80 jets, flying with an instructor for about 6 weeks • The jets were very quiet and fast compared to other planes • Marv was then sent to Las Vegas, Nevada to train for 6 months with advanced F-86 jets • Each has 6-50 caliber machines guns and they were supersonic • They focused mostly on air to air combat and dive bombings �(12:10) Korea 1953 • Marv had a 12 hour flight from San Francisco to Hawaii, another 12 hours to Wake Island, and then another to Tokyo • They stayed in Tokyo for 2 weeks and the area was hard to get used to, but Marv found that he really liked Japanese people and that they were very family oriented • They were briefed on what was going to happen in Korea; basically they were supposed to keep the enemy away from the DMZ • They were sent to a camp near Seoul where they practiced runs for about a month (15:20) Air Fights • US jets could reach about 45,000 feet and North Korean jets got to about 50,000 feet • The Koreans were a little faster but the US had better armament • Korean jets had 2-23 mm guns and a cannon while the US had 6-50 caliber machine guns • Marv worked as a wingman, protecting a shooter that was watching over dive bombers • The US pilots were trained better and had a 10-1 ratio in kills • They later found out that many of the Korean fighter pilots had actually been Russians • They were all supposed to fly 100 missions, but the rules were later changed that stated if you were married, you only had to fly 70 and Marv was married (21:30) Average Days • The men all wore G-suits so that if they had to dive, it would fill up air and keep their blood above their waist • Every day they had tons of scrambled eggs, bacon, and coffee • They had briefing every morning after breakfast, were told their next mission, and assigned a plane • Some days men would not be assigned a mission, but would sit on alert in case of an emergency • They focused on attacking the supply lines of the Chinese near the Yalu River • They did not actually attack the Chinese because they did not want to antagonize them and pull them further into the war • Marv liked to wander around in the country side on his time off and learn about Korean culture • There were many orphans and most of the people worked on rice paddies, living in shacks; the weather was similar to that of Michigan (31:30) Ohio • Marv arrived back in the US the same day that a good friend had gotten back from Korea as well • Marv was sent to an Air Force base [Wright-Patterson] in Dayton, Ohio and trained with advanced models of F-86s �• • • • They flew them as much as possible to work out all the problems with the new jets Sometimes they would have “air alerts” where they would have to be ready to fly 4 minutes after waking up in case of a Russian attack They could fly anywhere they wanted and Marv often traveled back to Byron Center [where he’s famous locally for buzzing the town] They had many night alerts of UFOs, but found nothing once they were in the air (41:50) Discharged • Once Marv was discharged, he received job offers from three different major airlines, but his wife wanted to go back to Byron Center • He used the GI Bill to go back to school in Michigan • Marv now thinks that everyone should be in the military for at least one year to learn some discipline �Page I 01'2 II1<U V Marv Honderd Approximately March of 1950, I peeked in my mailbox and saw a draft notice for the Army. I quickly shut it, knowing what it meant. After thinking it over, I had some years at Calvin Collage, which meant I had a chance of getting into the pilot program in the Air Force. They took me in the regular Air Force with no promises. The Korean war was very intense at this time. I was sent to Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas for basic training. Everyone goes to basic training to teach us farm boys how to march and take orders. I was on my way to radio school and SUddenly ordered to flight school. I was then sent to Columbus, Mississippi for six months of basic flight training. Our days consisted of Y2 classes and Y2 flying. I had never even been in a plane before. Our practice fields were usually in grass fields between cotton fields. We had a large audience of cotton pickers on all sides most of the time. I was then transferred to Lubbock, Texas for advanced pilot training for six months. This involved much navigation. weather, acrobatics, and instrument training. I graduated from here and received my wings and a 2 nd Lieutenant commission. I was then transferred to Wichita. Kansas for jet training. Here we flew the F-80 Shooting Star. This was a whole new ballgame. The F-80 was much faster, quieter and flew higher. From now on we always breathed oxygen in flight. We then transferred to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Nevada to learn to fly the super-sonic F-86 Sabre Jet. Here we practiced gunnery, air to air, and air to ground, aerial combat, close formation flying and more instrument and navigation flying. It was so hot here we could only fly in the early morning, so ground school was held in the afternoons. It was here that they picked who was to be a fighter pilot. About one in three pilots where picked for this. After graduation, I was sent to Seoul, Korea. There I received about three more months of combat training and the sent into action. By this time, we were ready! This is where I was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. After completing 100 combat mission, you could go home to a safer flying job. These combat mission were spread out over roughly one year, depending on how the war was going. Every two monlhs we went to Japan to replace lost aircraft. This was a very hectic, intense time when a person's faith was very important to him. There were numerous close calls and at times you say "This can't be happening to mel" More then once I came back with a crippled jet, but always made it back safely. Lew Kerkstra was down below us allhis time as a P.O.W. These prisoner of war camps were not visible to us. r ..""1,...." ..... ~ h~;,..-:-...-- ••. _ ... __ .11 I' •• _.-~--- •..·_·"".·~(i'> �Page 2 or 2 Finally, our mission came to an end and I was spared. It was a long pleasant ride back to the states. Also at time the North Koreans released Lew Kerkstra. Most POWs didn't come home. Lew and I were furloughed together and we decided to go fishing for a day and talk over our experiences. We went to Swan Lake in Allegan County. We didn't even care that the fish weren't biting. That was the most enjoyable fishing day we ever had. Lew was sent to an Army Hospital for recovery. (He was skin and bones) His experience in Korea was much more traumatic then mine. After the war, I was assigned for two years to the Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio to tile Air Defense Command. These new fighter planes had 36 rockets instead of six guns. We also had radar scanners in the nose of our jets to see enemy planes in bad weather. Our squadron had armed and on five minute alert at all times. This was my job, and numerous times we were scrambled during the night to intercept Unidentified Flying Objects. And last but not least, Dayton was only 30 minutes from Byron Center and some people say they saw a jet, flying low over Byron a few times. The Pilot had a nose like mine. This rumor just won't go away. This closes on big chapter on my life. Marvin Honderd. Home email UC 1st C RC � 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 Honderd, Marvin (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honderd, Marvin Description An account of the resource Marv Honderd was born in Byron Center, Michigan and enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 to avoid being drafted into the army. After starting out in radio school, he switched to pilot training and became a fighter pilot. He flew 70 missions over Korea in F-86 fighters in 1953, before he was sent back the US. Afterwards he continued flying more advanced F-86 jets in Dayton Ohio. 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. Air Force Korean War, 1950-1953--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 2007-10-16 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HonderdM 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/6fe3e1fe98fbe0b92a12d707386680b1.jpg c28b845bd15428f917fe89b530823377 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 Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) Scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Science--Study and teaching East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) University of Michigan Description An account of the resource The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately 12 states by 1962. In 1966, Grand Valley State College took over the program, changing its name to the Honors Institute for Young Scholars. The scrapbook includes articles and photographs of the Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) in Grand Rapids. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (RHC-38)</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 2017-03-28 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 RHC-38 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-1966 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. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) scrapbook, RHC-38</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 RHC-38_HIFYS01 Title A name given to the resource Inside cover of Honors Institute for Young Scientists scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Honors Institute for Young Scholars Honors Institute for Young Scientists East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Valley State College Science--Study and teaching University of Michigan Science Description An account of the resource Inside cover of Honors Institute for Young Scientists scrapbook. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0ab4676fafb1518a51e60d8ad51dab96.jpg 07bef13ba3899f427ecb284f7d329cca 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 Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) Scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Science--Study and teaching East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) University of Michigan Description An account of the resource The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately 12 states by 1962. In 1966, Grand Valley State College took over the program, changing its name to the Honors Institute for Young Scholars. The scrapbook includes articles and photographs of the Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) in Grand Rapids. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (RHC-38)</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 2017-03-28 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 RHC-38 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-1966 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. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) scrapbook, RHC-38</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 RHC-38_HIFYS02 Title A name given to the resource Title page of Honors Institute for Young Scientists scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Honors Institute for Young Scholars Honors Institute for Young Scientists East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Valley State College Science--Study and teaching University of Michigan Science Description An account of the resource Title page of Honors Institute for Young Scientists scrapbook. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6bd4e4bac7439b64734ff600e29054a.jpg 5d113ec05ab84a6c44d2a79aecd4ab21 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 Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) Scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Science--Study and teaching East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) University of Michigan Description An account of the resource The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately 12 states by 1962. In 1966, Grand Valley State College took over the program, changing its name to the Honors Institute for Young Scholars. The scrapbook includes articles and photographs of the Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) in Grand Rapids. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (RHC-38)</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 2017-03-28 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 RHC-38 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-1966 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. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) scrapbook, RHC-38</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 RHC-38_HIFYS03 Title A name given to the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists scholarship information Subject The topic of the resource Honors Institute for Young Scholars Honors Institute for Young Scientists East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Valley State College Science--Study and teaching University of Michigan Science Description An account of the resource HIFYS scholarship information. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e341af5953ffceb8cd2296bbc9b2ef2.jpg 109a8ea3dd6c2f820654635ca4d70dcf 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 Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) Scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Science--Study and teaching East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) University of Michigan Description An account of the resource The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately 12 states by 1962. In 1966, Grand Valley State College took over the program, changing its name to the Honors Institute for Young Scholars. The scrapbook includes articles and photographs of the Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) in Grand Rapids. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (RHC-38)</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 2017-03-28 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 RHC-38 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-1966 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. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) scrapbook, RHC-38</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 RHC-38_HIFYS04 Title A name given to the resource Grand Rapids to aid aspiring scientists Subject The topic of the resource Honors Institute for Young Scholars Honors Institute for Young Scientists East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Valley State College Science--Study and teaching University of Michigan Science Description An account of the resource Grand Rapids to Aid Aspiring Scientists, article in News of the Week, March 7, 1958. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c8f3038029e476dc5c28ec541bf1fc6c.jpg 66e6561068a51f544b4035647d68b29c 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 Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) Scrapbook Subject The topic of the resource Science--Study and teaching East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) University of Michigan Description An account of the resource The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately 12 states by 1962. In 1966, Grand Valley State College took over the program, changing its name to the Honors Institute for Young Scholars. The scrapbook includes articles and photographs of the Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) in Grand Rapids. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (RHC-38)</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 2017-03-28 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 RHC-38 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-1966 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. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/465">Honors Institute for Young Scientists (HIFYS) scrapbook, RHC-38</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 RHC-38_HIFYS05 Title A name given to the resource Unique science education plan set at East Grand Rapids Subject The topic of the resource Honors Institute for Young Scholars Honors Institute for Young Scientists East Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Grand Valley State College Science--Study and teaching University of Michigan Science Description An account of the resource Unique Science Education Plan Set at East GR, newspaper article, April 27, 1958. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Honors Institute for Young Scientists Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image