695 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/01a9b72c8e38b8bf64dc9851d46395c0.mp4 adafe6ce687dddf0aa90a1b5f2c21fdb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/460550fadb17eb06437e669c506767af.pdf f146a0902b7cd84808890b6738d6dbe3 PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW BRUCE WHIPPLE Born: Lansing, Michigan Resides: Lansing, Michigan Interviewed by: James Smither PhD, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, May 5, 2013 Interviewer: Bruce, can you start us off with some background on yourself. To begin with where and when were you born? I was born in April, 1949 right here in Lansing. I went to school in Lansing and I spent a little time in my early years in Holt, we lived in Holt for a while and then we moved to Lansing. I went through the Lansing schools, my mother was an assistant to the principal at Dwight Rich, so I knew all the teachers and could get away with a few little things and she was always quite behind me with everything I did. She was always pushing me to do better and to know people and that. I graduated from Everett High School in 1967. I‘d gotten my draft notice just prior to that and went down for my first physical. 1:01 In February of 1969 was when I had my actual draft induction notice, and at that time I went out to a Red Cross Center and took a bus at 5:30 in the morning down to Detroit and went through the induction process. Interviewer: Okay, at this point, how much did you know about what was going on in Vietnam and all that? Absolutely nothing—in high school I was into cars and girls and just having a good time and partying. I never paid any attention to the newspaper or the television or anything like that; we were just out to have a good time. Interviewer: Did you know anybody who had been drafted or had gone off to Vietnam already? 1 �I had, because I was working at an auto trim, Schubel's Auto Trim. 2:00 And my neighbor across the street, his brother had just been drafted and inducted and he asked me to come down and help him out at the shop and doing that, I had no idea, I was still in high school. I went down there and talked to Jack and this was on a Friday and I told him I came down to help out if I could. Ken‘s brother was being drafted and I was going to take his place and Jack said, ―Okay‖, and handed me a key to the door and said, ―Come in Saturday and open up for me‖, and I‘m thinking, ―I don‘t know anything about this‖, and he said, ―Just answer the phone and tell them I‘ll be in when I get in. Sweep the floors and take care of things‖, and that‘s how it all started, and I‘ve been there over forty years now. It was in 1965 that I started, and Ken‘s brother came back and I had a real good friend of mine that I grew up with, Dale Hildebrand, he had joined the navy. 3:06 he was just getting out of the navy, he was actually in the reserves, but he needed a job, so I said, ―Come down and work with me‖, so there were the three of us that were Jack and Doc and I. Interviewer: So, when you when you finished high school you didn’t have any plans for college , at that point, or anything like that? No, I had this job that I loved doing, and I loved working with cars, I loved—I mean it was just such a natural, I mean, I couldn‘t believe that I could do this and they paid me for it. I made money doing this and I just loved working on ―hot rods‘ and custom cars, and meeting all the big guys from the custom—you know, Carl Casper and Big Daddy Roth, I mean all these guys, they‘re California people, all these big names you see on TV and you know, I can do this and enjoy it and I don‘t even have to work the weekends if I don‘t want to, you know. 4:05 2 �Interviewer: But, they don’t give draft deferments for that. No, they didn‘t. At the time, when I first got my first induction notice, my girlfriend worked down on Main Street at the draft board down there, and that‘s where you went to sign up and get all your papers and that, and she said, ―Well, I‘ll just put your card back‖. It wasn‘t a number lottery thing, but just your name on a card, and she put my card back. Well, that lasted about three weeks and I ended up getting my notice to go. 5:00 The guys that I went to school with , Bob Taylor, his father was big in the National Guard, so at the time, towards the end of—we‘re talking about graduating, and now we‘re hearing—we got our draft notices and our cards are all 1-A and we‘re just waiting for our induction papers and Bob was trying to get everybody to join the National Guard, and just down the street from my house, two blocks, and thinking about it, we were all thinking seriously about it, and think out of the five of us that ran around as a group—of course Bob enlisted in the guard and his dad was a commander there and I think one or two of the other guys joined the guard. Well, I‘m thinking, ―If I join the guard, that‘s six years, and if I get drafted that‘s two years‖. 6:06 In high school I was taking up architecture and engineering and drafting and that sort of thing, and I thought maybe they could use somebody like that. I did auto upholstery and I thought they‘re going to need people to patch tents and fix Jeep tops and seats and that. I thought, I‘d take a chance, and I could do two years standing on my head, now that‘s what I thought. I got to thinking, ―Six years, two years, I can do two years standing on my head‖, and boy was I wrong. Interviewer: So, now you go down and you get the physical and so forth, now where do they send you for basic training? 3 �We went down to Fort Wayne in Detroit, that‘s the induction center and we were all processed through, just naked guys in a line getting shots. We‘re all fine and they couldn‘t find anything wrong with anybody, I don‘t think. 7:00 Interviewer: At that point, were there any people trying to find ways to beat the physical? Oh, everybody was trying to beat the system. Everybody, I mean, ―I got one leg that‘s shorter than the other‖, and it doesn‘t make any difference. ―I can only see out of one eye‖, ah, it doesn‘t make any difference, and we ended up going through that process and then they put you in a room and have you raise your right hand and swear you in as being enlisted in the service and they have you count off, 1,2,3. They had everybody in line and had you count off 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, and 3 and then they said, ―Everybody who‘s a number three step forward‖, and they said, ―Congratulations, you‘re a marine‖. They talk about the marin‘s never drafted, well, yes they did, and I was lucky to be a two that day, because all these guys, and I didn‘t want to be a marine, they were really in the deep stuff, you know. So, we left there and got on a prop plane at the Detroit airport, Willow Run, and it was the first time I‘d ever flown in a plane. 8:08 I‘d never been in a plane or ever been near one, and we get in this prop plane and one of the kids, the guys I want to school with, Craig Redman, we rode the bus down to Detroit together and talked and we sat together on the plane. I mean, he was like, even, my big brother at that time, I mean he was the one I---held me together, the first time I‘m on a plane, I‘m a nervous wreck, we‘re going—and I‘m just totally wiped out. We fly down to North Carolina because, normally, people from Michigan would go to Fort Knox or Fort Campbell, or someplace like that. Well, they were full, so we ended up at Fort Bragg down in North 4 �Carolina, nothing but sand and pine trees and I‘m thinking, ―I‘m kind of used to this being a Michigan guy, going up north, being at the beach, sand and pine trees‖, and man, was that a workout, sand and pine trees. 9:05 To this day if my wife says, ―Let‘s go to the beach‖, or ―The family‘s going to the beach‖, I said, ―Well, once they get all that sand cleared off the beach I‘ll be happy to go‖, because I do not like sand. Interviewer: What is the basic training experience like down there? Oh, I was a little guy, I only weighed--I was about five eleven and weighed a hundred and ten pounds and it was scary, I mean I was the small guy and you know, you gotta do all these big guy things and something you‘re really not used to. Big guy things being things like being able to do all these ladder bars and all these push ups and I wasn‘t conditioned for that. I did grow up out in Holt, on a farm, so I was used to farming and hunting and fishing and being in the woods. 10:03 As a kid we‘d go out and spear frogs and fry frog legs or catch some—swim in the river and catch fish, or go ice skating down the river and as a kid that‘s what I did. I was good with a rifle and we‘d go out with the bows and arrows and sling shots, and everybody had their twenty-two rifle, and that‘s what you did. That was my big downfall, I‘m thinking, I‘m not going back on my experiences as a kid, I‘m going on my experience as going through school and the job I had, you know, that would keep me out of being in the infantry. Well, needless to say, my youth came into play and I was good on the rifle range, so I ended up in the infantry unit. Interviewer: Now, when you were doing the physical training parts was there stuff they were telling you to do that you couldn’t do the first time? 11:00 Oh, definitely, yeah 5 �Interviewer: What happens to you at that point? You just try to do more. I mean, you‘re in this barracks with—this huge building with two floors and somebody‘s got to be up at night watching to make sure a fire doesn‘t break out. You get up at five o‘clock in the morning and go out and do calisthenics, then you run to a class, then you run to that class and then you come back for lunch and do calisthenics before—you have to do calisthenics and ladder bar before you can even get in the mess hall, and then you eat and run to wherever your next class is, and then you‘re out on the rifle range or some other range practicing, or you‘re doing pugil sticks where you‘re battling one another. You come back to the barracks and you‘ve got to clean, you got to scrub the floors, clean the latrines, and everything‘s got to be spotless. You‘ve got to polish your boots and then when the lights go out, then you have to write your letters home. 12:04 Just to put something in the mailbox, because there‘s not enough time, there‘s just not enough time, you‘re running just ragged. Interviewer: How much emphasis did they have on military discipline? Oh, everything was military discipline. You didn‘t talk to—you had to go through your little chain of command even from—you had to go to your squad leader, to your platoon leader, you couldn‘t just voice something unless you were asked, you didn‘t speak to anybody higher than that, you spoke to them first. The squad of five to seven guys, your squad leader was the one you went to, but your squad, everybody had to hold everybody together, because if one guy didn‘t then the next guy didn‘t do well. 13:05 The whole squad then falls and that puts you on another list and then you‘re doing KP and you‘re out picking up cigarette butts, just every nasty little thing you can think of they got you doing. You‘re trying to sneak food in because you‘re hungry and you want something. 6 �You know, I got caught sneaking in a can of coke to the barracks and had to do pushups, and then they tried to take the can away from me and at that point I‘m so annoyed that I‘ve done all these pushups and I want this can of coke. I grabbed it out of his hand and started drinking it, and, of course, that made things even worse, so that put me on KP for a while and a few more pushups every time and at that point I learned, ―Just be the little quiet guy in the corner‖, you know, keep your mouth shut, just follow the guy in front of you and don‘t look around. 14:01 That was what they wanted, that‘s what they wanted you to do, you follow the guy in front of you and do what he does and whoever‘s in front of him tells him what he going to do and the biggest thing was kill this and kill that. Everything you did was scream, holler and kill and that just worked you into that form, that form that they wanted you to be. I mean, at nineteen you‘re so—you‘re taking in everything you can and you‘re so impressionable that you just eat that up and then they tell you how big a man you‘re going to be and you‘re invincible, and that just sticks with you. The guys that are training us, the guys that are running us through all this are Vietnam vets that have just come back. 15:00 So, when you‘re having your breaks and you‘re sitting around and having a little BS session, these guys are in the middle and your eyes are this big around and just glued on them. Interviewer: Were they trying to give you some idea of what to expect? Oh yeah, and they said, ―What you learn here is nothing, you‘ll end up not using what you learned here, but you want to remember what you learned here because by being in that group is safety‖. If one guy does something and you know that‘s what he‘s going to do then that covers you, because if he‘s going to do this, you know he goes right and you 7 �could go left, you know, that‘s the way it‘s going to be. You had to have this line of first guy, second guy, everybody does what they do and you follow what they‘re doing. 16:00 Interviewer: They’re trying to prepare you to learn the stuff that you’ll really need. What they‘re preparing you for is the fact that things are going to die, people are going to die, it‘s going to be a lot going on, but they‘re preparing you just to be tough, I mean everything‘s about fight and kill and even the guys when you get in with the punji sticks and that fighting, you‘re out there to kill that guy, to do him harm and he may be your friend. He may be your friend, but if he can‘t take it, or you can‘t take it, somebody‘s going to die, that‘s what they put in your head. You gotta be physically fit and the road guards they had when you ran down the company—you ran everyplace you went, nobody walked, you ran. You ran down the company street and at the cross of it, where the street crosses, you had to have a road guard. 17:00 And he‘d run out, block out—one on each side of the road to block any vehicles or any traffic, so you guys could run through. They took the real big guys, the guys that were overweight, they were the crossing guards, so they had on these vests that lit up, reflected, but they‘d have to run up to the street and block it then you‘d run through. Well, they had to run up to the front again and catch everyone , so you could get to the next street, there wasn‘t the next guy in line that did that, those guys, that was their whole thing, and that was how they got them in shape. These guys, I had a guy that, Dipple was his name, I can‘t remember his first name, he was our crossing guard, I mean he was a big guy and he got into fantastic shape. Twenty years later I‘m out mowing the yard at home and he‘s moving into the house across the street. I looked at him and I thought, ―Gosh that guy‖, and I looked at him and it came to 8 �me, you know, here we are neighbors, you know, twenty years later I think it was at that time. 18:08 Interviewer: Now, were most of the men who were training along with you from Michigan and the Midwest, or were they from a lot of places? No, that was my biggest downfall as far as getting to reunions and that kind of thing. By being in North Carolina there was only one platoon of us that were from Michigan. Everybody else was from Tennessee, or Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, so that was all their area, so then when you went on with your service you were still—everybody was still in that same block. So, when we got done at Fort Bragg for basic, we went up to Fort Dix in New Jersey for AIT, which they called Advanced Individual Training, but it‘s Advanced Infantry Training, I mean that‘s all Dix was, and so, I‘m still with all these guys from down south. 19:03 I don‘t like sweet tea and banjo music, and I wasn‘t a country fan, country music fan, but here I am in the middle of these guys, you know. Interviewer: What kind of backgrounds did they have? Did you learn much about them? Oh yeah, I mean the guys from North Carolina, Bennett, Lyman Bennett, he saved my behind. He worked in a furniture factory. They had huge furniture factories and they would take up four or five blocks and they just built all this furniture. He worked in a furniture factory and a lot of them were just there because there was nothing else for them to do. We had guys that just got bumped out of school and the judge gave them a choice, you can do thirty days or three months or whatever, or join the military the end of the month. 20:05 9 �Interviewer: Did you have any guys that were a little bit older, maybe in college for a while and then out? We had-----in Vietnam and John Henrich was his name, but most of the guys I was with in basic and that, we were pretty much all the same age. Not too many college graduates in the south and maybe that was because we were in the south, but most of them, we were about the same age. I can‘t think of anybody, actually, that was a college graduate. Interviewer: There were a lot of guys that I run into that had done a year or two of college and then left for one reason or another, or their grades get bad and they wind up there, but in the south, even among the white population, not too many were necessarily going to college at that point, so that wouldn’t happen. What proportion of them were minorities do you think? 21:01 I would say, all but one or two of our drill sergeants were black. I guess I‘d have to go through and take out a picture. At that time I was just basically a farm kid that moved to Lansing and race had—I had no perception of race. I mean, one of my friends, Terry, in school, Terry, and just a few years ago we got back together for a class reunion and he‘s telling me he‘s black and I‘m thinking, ―Wait a minute, you were my best friend in school and you‘re not—―, well he was mixed race, yeah, and he said all the kids gave him a hard time in school and I said, ―Terry, I don‘t remember any of that. I don‘t remember us being that way‖. 22:01 I would say, in basic, probably a third were colored and it made no difference. They ran right along beside you, they crawled over mud right along beside you, they puked after coming out of the gas chamber with you, and like I say, our drill sergeants, all but one or two of them were colored and they were the nicest guys in the world. I mean, they were hard on us, but we knew shy they were hard on us. They 10 �were trying to prepare us for what they had already been through and they did a heck of a job. Interviewer: Now, how was Fort Dix different from Fort Bragg in terms of the training you got and the experience you had? Fort Dix was more parties, and Fort Bragg was by the book, straight up. At Fort Dix we flew home every weekend. 23:01 I mean, we‘d only have like a fifty mile pass and we‘d fly back to Michigan and there were five of us that flew back and forth to Michigan every weekend. Interviewer: How could you afford to fly back to Michigan? The ticket was sixteen dollars and fifty cents and it was thirty three dollars going back because coming to Michigan we‘d fly standby, so we‘d go on military standby for sixteen dollars and fifty cents. Coming back we‘d buy a regular ticket. Interviewer: You had to be sure you’d be back on time. Yeah, we had to be back on time. We got stuck in the air one time in a snow storm and we got back late, but nobody stayed on base as far as on the weekend and if they did, all they did was drink. I mean, you‘d come back on Sunday night and it‘s like being in a park atmosphere. 24:04 They got picnic tables and benches littered with beer cans and that kind of thing. Everybody at that point, everybody knew where they were going, because when you go to Advanced Infantry Training you‘re definitely low man on the totem pole. Two of my friends from basic, one guy, Don Wilhelm, slept above me and Steve Woodard slept in the next row of bunks, and Don was always upset, he lived in Petoskey, he was a ski instructor in the winter, his dad had a housing construction company that was there, so he worked there in the summertime building homes and had it 11 �made. Lived in Petoskey, beautiful, ski instructor in the winter, how much better can you have it? He was all upset about going. 25:00 When we got our orders to go, Steve and Don both got orders to be engineers and go to Alaska. I was pleased because of Don, you know, that‘s what he needed, somebody‘s looking out for him was my feeling. Interviewer: So, once in a while the army does something intelligent. Yeah, and the bad part is that it doesn‘t necessarily work in your favor. I got in probably—I was at a car show, of course working at the trim shop after coming back, probably about five years later, I was at a car show and ran into Steve. Weird, he was at the car show and we were talking, hadn‘t seen each other, and he said, ―You heard what happened to Don didn‘t you?‖ I said, ―No‖, and Steve-- it was the first time I ever seen him or wouldn‘t know Don, or have seen him, because of him being in Petoskey. 26:00 He said, ―Well, he came home on leave to get his car, he‘d just bought a new El Camino and he was driving it back up to Alaska and was hit by a train and killed‖. I still have pictures of the three of us outside the barracks. I still have that picture that I always set out and I always think about that. Interviewer: What did the training at Fort Dis actually consist of? What were you doing there? Well, at Dix I trained more into mortars, so most of our time, again, was physical, running here to there, learning to shoot the mortar, going to classes to shoot the mortar, learning to shoot the [M]60 machine gun, your rifle, qualifying with your rifle. 27:00 We didn‘t get to throw grenades, we threw rocks because the group that went through in front of us, the group that went through in front of us, somebody dropped a grenade in the pit and the guy was killed. They have a sergeant in there with you and he‘s teaching you 12 �how to throw the grenade because you‘re not supposed to throw it like you‘d normally throw something, you‘re supposed to do this special movement and everything. One went off and it killed the trainee and the sergeant was badly wounded. So, at that point they wouldn‘t let you throw grenades anymore, so we threw rocks out of the pit and see how close you could get to whatever it was you were throwing the rock at. Interviewer: Did you get to go to New York City at all? No, we went into Philly. We missed our flight once and we went into Philly. Not the good part of Philly. Around an airport you figure it‘s pretty much—but you can‘t believe the row houses, house on house, on house, and there‘s street, sidewalk, house and nothing between them and nothing that I‘m used to. 28:06 I‘m figuring I‘m a city boy, but the houses here in Lansing, they got room between them and you can move, and you‘ve got a little greenery, you know. There it was—and it was a pretty rough place there, but we spent most of the time going from bar to bar and being in uniform, we had to be in uniform to fly standby, military standby, and the bars, as long as we were paying they would give us beer. Interviewer: Now, this was 1969, did you ever get hassled by anybody because you were in uniform? No, because we weren‘t really out in the open. I mean the people in the bars, it was dark and they didn‘t—I don‘t think we went to the bars, actually, dressed in uniform. 29:00 I‘m trying to remember, I think we all had a ditty bag and we had shirts and pants in there. We had to go through the—well, after they got to know you, you didn‘t need to be in uniform, but we always—it was a race, there were five of us that always went from Michigan, so we‘d get in a cab outside the base and tell the cabby, ―There‘s an extra 13 �hundred dollars in it if you can get us to the airport on time‖ , because we just minutes from the time we got out until five o‘clock on Friday when the flight left. We flew Alleghany Airlines most of the time and we‘d run past the counter and toss our stuff to the ladies and they‘d have waiting there for us at the counter, because they got to know us, you know, eight weeks of doing this. We‘d run for the plane and they said, ―Hurry up‖, because they were getting ready to pull the boarding ramp. We‘d run to the gate and get on and there were only about three or four stewardesses on the plane and us, so we just, on the way back to Detroit, drink and talk to the stewardesses. 30:08 There would be nobody else on the plane. Interviewer: Now, was AIT sort of your last stage of training before Vietnam? Right Interviewer: So, at the end of AIT did you get to go home first? We got a thirty day leave. Towards the end they run you—they have what they call a mock Vietnam village, so they run you through that and you kind of do a little war game and that‘s sort of the highlight of your training at Fort Dix. Yeah, then we went home. We graduated from that, flew home and had a thirty day leave, and then my orders had me—I had, on this particular date, go to Fort Lewis in Washington and I was on my way. Interviewer: Now, at this point are you going in as a replacement, so you don’t know what unit you’ll go to or anything like that? 31:04 You have no idea, you‘re just a guy in an army uniform and they could be—even when you process. I went to the airport, got on a plane and flew up to Seattle, Washington, we spent the night in ta hotel again, there was the five of us, and we ended up going to the hotel for the night, and then the following morning we had to report, like six o‘clock 14 �in the morning, at the Fort Lewis, and at that point they process your paperwork and make sure your inoculations are all up to date, and give you—I don‘t think they give you any fatigues, I think you‘re still in your dress greens when you get there. 32:00 Interviewer: How long did you spend at Fort Lewis? Did they get you out right away or did you stay around a few days? We were gone that night. Yeah, we were out at the airport late in the night, one or two o‘clock in the morning. Interviewer: Where did it stop, or did it stop? It did, it stopped and I don‘t know just exactly which ones we stopped at, most of the time I slept. When I get on a plane I sleep most of the time. I know we stopped at Clark Air Force Base, and we stopped in Hawaii, I believe. Other than that, the only thing I remember is coming into Cam Ranh Bay. Interviewer: Were you on a military aircraft or was it a commercial one? It was a commercial aircraft and the stewardesses were all about sixty years old, because going into a combat area it was a high priority, high paid flight, so here you are a nineteen year old and you‘ve got all these forty and fifty year old stewardesses. 33:05 We were kind of bummed. You have to kind of laugh, because here we are going to a war zone and thinking, ―I‘m never going to see another woman and I‘ve got to spend twenty-two hours on a plane with my grandmother‖. That was the feeling. Interviewer: What kind of a day was it when you got into Vietnam? Did you land during the day or at night? We landed during the day, and I‘m not sure, but it was in the morning, I guess, around ten. 15 �Interviewer: What was your first impression of Vietnam when you got there? Oh, it stunk. It was hot, and it stunk. The humidity, I mean they opened the door to this plane and it just hits you right in the face and would like to blow you right over. The heat is unbelievable, the humidity--and again, nothing but sand. Cam Ranh Bay, all you see is these huge sand dunes and everyplace you look is just all sand, nothing green. 34:08 You step out of that plane and the smell hits you and that place just stunk. I mean, it was the nastiest smell; it was like walking through a garbage dump, that‘s what is smelt like. Interviewer: Now, what time of the year was it? Was it about June or July? This is in July, July 12th. Interviewer: You get in and what did they do with you once you get off the plane? Basically they ran you through a place to get—kind of like a big—they call it a pole building now days, a big steel roofed building, and they give you clothes. You know, you got jungle fatigues and you‘ve got to get out of your dress greens, which was half the reason why you were sweating. 35:01 They gave you a duffle bag, clothes, underwear, socks and stuff. You could work through the line and get that and they had you go someplace, wherever you wanted to go, to barracks. Well, they didn‘t really have barracks, but they had like a big latrine washroom, kind of, where you could go and change and put your other stuff back in the duffle bag and it was just gone at that point. Interviewer: How long did you spend there? We were by that evening, I would say four or five o‘clock in the afternoon, we were on a bus out of there headed for—we went to Bien Hoa. You got on this bus and the first thing—all of a sudden you‘re dressed as a soldier now, and you‘re not looking spiffy, and you‘re thinking, ―They gave us all this stuff, but they didn‘t give us any weapons. 16 �What‘s going on?‖ 36:11 I heard how bad this is, we‘re in a war and they put you on this bus and it‘s got steel mesh, chicken wire, over the windows. You‘re wondering, and everybody starts talking, and all the rumors you hear, ―Well, that‘s so somebody doesn‘t run up and throw a grenade or something in the window‖, or whatever, and okay, were taking this bus and we ended up going to Bien Hoa and that was starting—it was outside—it was a big base camp and there were villages all around it outside of town. They had like these wooden hooches that were raised up off the ground a little ways and there‘d be about three laps of board and the rest of it was screen with a metal roof. They had these big old army tents, the JP Mediums and whatever is the largest they can get. 37:05 If they have the same sizes everywhere, I don‘t know, but it was like having to be in your underwear there, because inside the temperature is hot and those tents don‘t breathe. And again, we spent the night in there, no weapons, and this whole planeload of guys inside these tents and all this stuff going on around you and things. That night the ammo dump got hit, they mortared the ammo dump and that went up. You have nothing; you‘re running around, everybody‘s---Interviewer: What did you guys do? You just sit there and shiver and wonder what‘s going to happen. I mean, you pucker up real good on that, everything gets real tight. Interviewer: Nobody sends you to a bunker or anything like that? There‘s no bunker, you‘re in a compound and the bunkers are way out beyond where you can see where you‘re at. 38:02 We were in those tents all night long, bugs, mosquitoes, the heat, it was just nasty. Everybody was hot and sweaty and you couldn‘t hardly get a breath it was so heavy, the air was so heavy. The next morning came and they started 17 �lining us up, and you know, and say where you‘re going to go and who you‘re going--they‘re checking your paperwork again and filling out all your paperwork. You‘re going to be assigned to—Greg ended up being assigned to the 1st Cav, he was the one that I buddied up with and we were both from Lansing and our wives new each other. Our family—we knew from thirty days of leave time we spent a lot of time picnicking and cookouts at his house and his parents‘ house, and my parents‘ house, so we got to know each other and we got split up at that point. 39:03 He went with the 1st Cav and I ended up with the 101st. Then it was a matter of, you have your group, ―you guys are going to the 101st, wait here and the truck will come and get you‖. They put you on a plane, they put you on a cargo plane, and we ended up going up to Camp Evans, which was up by Phu Bai, and that was out major basecamp for us. We got there and everybody—people were there, there was a clerk, five or six of them, calling out names, ―You go with this company, you go to this side‖, so I ended up by myself, going with Echo Company, the 2nd of 506 [2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101Airborne Division]. That‘s how I got to that company. Then I got in there and they—into the company area, and then I started getting all my equipment. 40:02 They started loading me down with all my equipment, rucksack, finally got a weapon and, ―What do you want to carry? My stupid behind, I picked a M79 grenade launcher and thought that would be really neat. I was trained in mortars and I was one of the best that went through the class, and I‘m thinking, ―Bump gun, mortar, things blooping out of a tube, I got it made‖. Interviewer: Did you get assigned to a mortar unit? Oh yeah, Echo Company was mortars and recon and crew served equipment, light crew served thing, meaning it took more than one person, like with a machine gun you had 18 �your gunner and your ammo bearer, so it was that kind of a thing. When I got to Camp Evans , I got assigned to Echo Company and they loaded me up with all my gear and stuff and said, ―go out to the chopper pad, they‘re going to take some mail out to the firebase, a firebase called Berchtesgaden in the A Shau Valley. 41:05 It was the worst place you want to be. On a firebase in the A Shau, the only thing worse than that is walking through the A Shau Valley, no different. Got you out to the helicopter pad, you wait for the helicopter, and go out with the mail. I‘m setting out there and some guy, one of the guys that were out there had come in for medical reasons, or something, or came in to get something, I don‘t remember, but we sat and talked. He‘s telling me, ―Oh, you‘ll love it out there. I‘m going to introduce you to Suzy when we get out there‖, and I‘m thinking, ―Suzy, a female?‖ On the firebase he‘s always telling me about Suzy, he‘s always telling me about Suzy, and finally--we sat there like three days until dark and then we‘d go back to the hooch and spend the night. 42:02 Then we‘d come back out and sit on the chopper pad. Now, this is steel planking you‘re sitting on and it‘s called PSP, perforated steel planking, it‘s got holes in it, so when the helicopters land on it they don‘t blow stuff around, dirt and that. When you‘re sitting on that it‘s a hundred and seven degrees and there‘s no shade. Interviewer: So, you’re just sitting there waiting for a helicopter? Just waiting for a helicopter and sweating. Getting used to the atmosphere and sweating, and getting a little more used to the atmosphere and sweating and trying to find something to drink. Interviewer: Didn’t you get sunburned sitting out there? 19 �Oh yeah, you get sunburned and you get dark and you just stay dark after that. Finally we got a helicopter to go out and that‘s the first time I‘d ever flown in a helicopter. I‘m thinking, ―Hop in the helicopter, close the doors, no big deal‖. That‘s not going to happen either. The stuff goes in and then you go in and then you‘re sitting on the edge of the helicopter with your feet hanging out. 43:01 Interviewer: so this is a Huey or a smaller helicopter, not a Chinook? It‘s a Huey, not a Chinook, and most of the time we flew in Hueys, but you‘re sitting there and just hanging out, and you got your rucksack on you. When you tip you‘d think you‘d fall out and it‘s a weird feeling, but you‘re hanging on and your knuckles are turning white. You‘re hanging on and the door gunner is just getting a kick out of it because we got a newbie, we got a cherry here, everybody was called cherries when they first came in country. Scared shitless, I mean, just unbelievable, and you‘re flying along at treetop level and you got nothing out there but the tops of trees and the jungle. Flying along and up all these mountains, and Berchtesgaden was up there and I think it was like 870 meters high, and that‘s pretty tall. 44:02 You get out on the chopper pad and you sit out there and you‘re in the middle of two mountain tops with a saddle in between it and artillery was on this side and mortars was this side with bunkers around it and concertina wire, and that‘s where all the grunts pulled guard, that‘s where you pulled guard and stuff. You get out there and finally get to meet Suzy, which his name was actually Roland and everybody just called him Suzy, and that was the big joke of the—everybody had the big laugh on the new guy, ―Oh yeah, he thought we were ―, okay. So, they put me in hooch and I buddied up—they put me in my squad, which George Bourdwyn [?] was the squad leader, and he was the gunner. There were only like four of us on the gun. 20 �45:00 There were three mortars on the mountain top, on our side of the mountain top. Two H-E with high explosives in it and we had, down in the saddle where the helicopter land, we had a mortar pit down there, but that just fired lamination, so when something happened you‘d fire lamination to light it up and see what was going on. The H-E pits didn‘t have that and they didn‘t have H-E down at the lamination pit, but I worked with George up in the mortars and H-E pit. It was right on the side of the mountain, I mean, you look over the side, concertina wire, and just nothing but air, right straight down the mountain. George and I got along really great, you know and he was the best there was at the time. Then we had Bennett who came in with me, he was already out there, we went through AIT and basic together. 46:04 Bennett was from North Carolina and he worked in a furniture factory. He was my ammo bearer, I ended up being the gunner, and George ended up being the squad leader. Interviewer: At what point did you become the gunner? Was that right away? It was that day, right that day. This whole thing—at that point, right then, it was in top pitch with George, he was the best, and I‘ll get to George in a minute, but I had a lot to live up to. I mean, he was the best, and of course, I just came from the states and I was the best, so I was the gunner that day. Bennett, he would fire, he‘d cut the charges off the rounds and drop them down tube, I‘d set the gun up and we fired right from that moment. I‘ve got a picture of George and I standing together because we both carried our thump guns. 47:02 The picture was taken on George‘s birthday and he had just turned seventeen and he‘d been there six months. Interviewer: How did that work? 21 �His parents signed him up, and he‘d turned seventeen in the picture, and I‘d just gotten in country and he‘d been there six months, but George was good. He taught me everything I could possibly know about Vietnam. If you didn‘t buddy up with somebody when you were there your chance of making it was, maybe, two weeks. Interviewer: Not everybody got a very good reception when they joined a unit, and had a lot to do with what unit you were with and what the guys were like. In this case you had people right away telling you what to do and giving you some responsibility and so forth. Were you firing the mortars from the very first day? From the very first day, yeah, and what we had out there, we had a thing called a mad minute. 48:03 At this particular time every night you‘d fire everything, so that‘s where I got my experience. You‘d just fire a mortar just to fire it, it didn‘t make any difference, chopper in some more when you got done the next day and you‘d fire it. Our pit was built right along the edge of the mountain and like I say, it was right straight down to the valley from there. We‘d fire them up at zero charge and try to catch them as they went by outside the pit, which the stupidity of a nineteen year old the first thing is if you hit the end it‘s probably going to explode, and if you do catch it, it‘s probably going to rip your arm off because there‘s fins, tail fins and those things are going to mess you up. I was just the idea, you know, that maybe we could do this. We‘d have a mad minute, and it would be dark, usually around nine or ten o‘clock at night. 49:02 Everybody on the bunker line would start and open up, throwing grenades, firing their 60‘s and their 16‘s and thump guns, I‘d fire my thump gun and fire the mortars. Interviewer: Did they tell you what the logic was in doing that? 22 �No, we just figured it was so we could get practice firing things and maybe whatever was there we might scare away. This went for—I was there less than a month and we did that, and I had the bright idea, ―Okay, we‘ve been doing this every night‖, and this came down from the big guys, and artillery‘s firing too, ―If we do this every night at the same time. Let‘s screw them up and do another one‖, so they decided ten minutes after we do the first one, we‘ll do another one, just to screw things up. Sure enough—we always sat up a bunker line every night and watched Kirby down in the valley, they‘d get overrun every night, and they‘d get hit every night. 50:04 You‘d watch the green tracers, and the mortars, and the red tracers going in and out, and all the flashes from the grenades and artillery and everything. We‘d sit on the bunker line and watch that every night down the hill. They were down in the valley and we‘d sit and watch them every night and this night it didn‘t happen and we were all bummed and we were back in playing cards. Mad minute time, time for our mad minute came up, we had our mad minute and we all went back in the hooch and we were going to play cards again. We‘d get five or ten minutes and we‘ve got to get back out and everybody‘s getting everything, and getting back out there, and we started having our next mad minute. Well, the gooks were coming after us that night and when we had our mad minute, they thought we‘d spotted them, that they‘d been seen, but they hadn‘t. They were coming up through the garbage dump and all around the mountain and coming up after us. 51:02 Interviewer: So, how did you know they were there? When they started shooting and when things started coming back. You know, ―Wait a minute; this isn‘t all something going out‖. I could actually sit and hear the mortar rounds come. They were walking like a zee down the mountain and they got our number 23 �one gun at the top, the A-T gun at the top, and they were trying—mine was kind of over, but they missed it and were coming down, and I don‘t know if they ran out or decided to change, but they just—that‘s as far as they got. So, they‘re coming after us, coming up the hill, and a matter of fact, they‘re in the light, they‘re so close you could see the muzzle flashes. Now that our number one A-T gun is out, it‘s been hit with the mortars, Bennett and I now went down to work the illumination, and Bennett‘s popping illumination and I‘m running up to the A-T pit and getting some mortars and bringing them down to that gun so I could help fire that gun besides firing illumination. 52:08 So, I‘m running up and down the side of the mountain and we got ammo crates put in like steps, and the pit wall is about yea high and it‘s sandbagged. I‘m running up and grabbing three rounds and running down and putting them down there and George is firing that gun and I‘m running back up and getting three—Bennett‘s firing the illumination while I‘m bringing the rounds down too. Things get tight, you know, we could get from the other pit and do that, and I‘m running back and forth, I come running down with three and throw them down and go to run back up and somebody grabs my leg and I trip and fall on these boxes we‘ve got for steps. I mean, I‘m hurt and I‘m pissed, what the hell, you know; somebody grabbed my leg and tripped me and put me down. By the time I got done rolling around Bennett‘s looking around the corner and he said, ―You can‘t do that, they‘re shooting at you every time you run up that hill. 53:05 Sure enough, there‘s the dump and it‘s right where I‘m running, the opening for our illumination gun. So, by him tripping me he probably saved my life. Interviewer: How did you know what to shoot at with the mortar at that point? 24 �You have what you call D-T‘s, delta tangos, and they‘re designated targets. So when you‘re not doing something, which is not very often, but on a firebase, you‘re shooting these delta tangos and you got them all numbered. Somebody will say, you know—you don‘t have to have it, you got it on your board, you know where this one—they‘ll say, ―I need a double tango right‖—whatever, and you know where that is and you got it right there. I need it a yard from there or two yards, whatever, so you just fire it, because everybody out there‘s coming at you and there‘s nobody out there you‘re going to kill that will make any difference to you that could get you into trouble. 54:11 You set them up and fire, you don‘t necessarily wait. What you do wait for is if you get a call and they say that they‘ve seen a mortar, or somebody—an area where there‘s a group of guys, Vietnamese coming after you, or coming up there, or if they see a mortar tube that‘s firing at you, then your job is to take the tube out, to take that stuff out, so in all of this you‘re doing all these things. You‘re shooting illuminations that light up the firebase, so the grunts can see, the guys in the bunkers can see if somebody‘s coming up, and then you‘re firing the other ones to keep whoever‘s coming up away from the edge of you, but you know how far out you can fire, I mean you don‘t have any friendly‘s out there, so as long as you clear the bunker line, you got to be so many yards out past the bunker line, ―danger close‖ is what they call it for the other ones and you can‘t fire within that area. 55:10 Interviewer: How long did the fire fight last do you think? It started around dark, probably about—we wrapped our first things—probably around ten o‘clock, I think it started, maybe and lasted until about daybreak. Interviewer: It was a pretty serious ongoing thing? 25 �They were sending a good sized group came up and we ended up with thirty seven bodies inside the wire. They were going after artillery, so that was the other mountain top, so they were coming up from that [side] trying to get over to artillery, although they were shooting everybody. They had thirty seven guys in the wire, bodies inside the firebase. They were going after the artillery TOC, which is the control. 56:00 They did wound the artillery commander, but most of them, a good share of them were found around our artillery, but there were thirty seven. Then in the morning you‘re out policing everything and cleaning everything up. We took all the bodies and laid out cargo net and piled all the bodies up on the cargo net and I mean it was probably six or seven feet tall with all these body‘s we had piled up there and it was like mannequins, wax mannequins, you don‘t think of them as being anything more than that. Interviewer: You had never seen a dead body before had you? No, no, other than in a suit and tie in a coffin. That‘s quite a—this was—I had only been in country maybe a month. You go through a week of P training when you first get there and that‘s when they get used to you sending you to your unit when you‘re at Bien Hoa and then setting on the chopper pad for three days and then getting out there. 57:02 Yeah, about a month and we were overrun. I was in a place and, of course, now I‘m not a cherry because you‘ve been in a firefight and that. Interviewer: Was that the only major fight you had while you were at Berchtesgaden? Yeah, right after that they pulled everybody. The monsoons were coming, so they pulled everybody. They were taking everybody off of the valley, out of that area of the country because they couldn‘t get helicopters in. it would cloud up so bad that you couldn‘t see . 26 �I mean, you could stick your arm out into a cloud and it was like your arm was gone. You couldn‘t see from your elbow down that was a cloud. That‘s how thick it got, and between that and the rain you couldn‘t resupply you. It was really hard to hump in the jungle in the rain and everything was just so slimy, dead and slimy and rotted and everything was just crummy. 58:06 Back to the guys—we put all the guys, the bodies we had we put them in a cargo net and put our death cards on them, and hooked the cargo net up to a Chinook, a Chinook came in and we hooked the cargo net up to the Chinook and had them fly them out over the valley and let go. It rained bodies for quite some time. Interviewer: You said death cards, what? You had a—at that time, before they banned them, it was a card saying who you were and a lot of them were—they were like playing cards. Our playing cards had—they were all the same card, the ace of spades. Wow, being the 2nd of the 506 our unit designation is a spade, like the 502‘s is a heart. During WWII this happened, they had it painted on the backs of their helmets so they could designate the unit that you were from. 59:04 Ours was spades, so we had the ace of spades. Interviewer: Sending a message to the enemy, in effect, by attaching the cards to them and then just depositing them. Literally, through the whole jungle because I‘m sure they covered a fifteen or twenty mile area by the cleaning. Yeah, we put them in their mouths. Once we‘d done that and collected a few odd items they were taken away and then the next day is when I got my really best sunburn, my whole body, I mean, I was sunburned because they brought in all this ammo and it is helicopter after helicopter bringing in ammo and a new gun. We had 27 �to rebuild the pit and you‘re talking humping up these stairs we built from these ammo boxes up the side of the mountain. 00 :04 Your carrying a carton, a box—mortars come in a box that weighs fifty six pounds and there‘s three mortars in there and you‘re carrying one on each shoulder and when you got good, you got one crossways, so you had three mortar boxes on each shoulder once you got your strength. I could do two, so the thing goes on, the physical part of it. You‘re running these all day long, opening them up and putting them in—all out tubes—all our guns were –one wall was nothing but mortar tubes, empty tubes, and you put new mortars in them, so that way they were all open and they were covered with a sheet of plastic, but then you‘d pull them out to fire them. Interviewer: Now, did you run through that ammunition before they abandoned the firebase? If you leave the firebase did they blow it up behind you? 1:05 Yeah, we left the firebase and it was just—it was probably three weeks to a month after we were overrun that we left and they took us back to Camp Evans Interviewer: About how long, overall, do you think you were there? Six weeks? I don‘t even think six weeks. No, I would say four or five; maybe it was close to six, I don‘t know how long we were there. Interviewer: After that big attack, did the enemy try again? I don‘t recall anything going on after that. Interviewer: Would they just periodically lob mortar rounds at the base, or snipe at it? 2:05 Generally they‘d send in—they‘d hit you with mortar rounds and then they‘d send in sappers. What they would do-- these guys would run up to the concertina wire and one of 28 �them would just lay himself on top of it and the rest of them would run up in back to get through the wire. That stuff about them crawling through the wire, that‘s, maybe, when they were first starting to do it and they were trying to be a little bit sneaky, but when it came to a sapper attack, they‘d just run up and one guy would throw himself on the wire and if he had a satchel charge , or something, they‘d blow it, but generally speaking they all just carried satchel charges and they‘d run from hooch to hooch or where they thought the TOC was at, you know, to get bigger name people rather than just the lowly grunt on the bunker line. 3:01 Interviewer: Okay, so they didn’t necessarily attack you on the perimeter, they would go in and look for the main TOC? Yeah, they‘d kind of get you going on one side or the other and then kind of sneak in. It‘s a lot like when you get into an ambush. I—after we did Berchtesgaden, they closed that out, and then they probably just bombed most of it into oblivion. Then we went to Eagle Beach and spent a week at Eagle Beach and that was just—it was during a typhoon. They have these big towers you‘re standing in and they‘re like these huge telephone poles, there‘s four of them and then there‘s a deck with a little thatched roof on it and I don‘t know if you‘re watching for submarines or what, but you had to pull guard and I happened to get it the night the typhoon came through. So, we just tied ourselves to the big poles and went through the typhoon that way, and I mean, everything was blowing over. 4:03 At Eagle Beach there were Seabees and there were large petroleum containers and that‘s where they kept a lot of the fuel and that was down by Hue, that‘s south. Interviewer: So that was basically in country R&R or was supposed to be? 29 �Kind of like in country, yeah, but that was actually—they‘d have these Vietnamese and Korean groups come in and sing all these American songs and free beer, all the beer you could drink. It was good food because there was a Seabee base there, so you could go through their mess hall. We broke into it a couple times to get stuff from there. Then we ended up going back up north and going to different firebases. We worked out from a firebase Jack and that was kind of in the lowlands with mountains on one side and flatlands on the other side. 5:09 Waiting for the monsoons you‘d kind of--then we came and kind of circled our area of operations and headed up and took over for the marines up at the DMZ. So, we worked the Rockpile and Camp Carroll. The marines were pulling out at that time, and the 3rd Marine Battalion [Division?] was leaving and we were taking over for them, so we ended up being up there at the Rockpile, which supposedly the marines had been overrun four or five times, or six times, or something. We couldn‘t even stay on it, let alone have somebody running it. It was just straight up and down with this red clay and if you got out of your foxhole, or your bunker, you had to tie a rope around your waist. 6:04 We‘d have guys that slipped right down the side of the mountain, through the concertina wire and everything, it was just so slippery and you couldn‘t get a footing, so how—there was only one way up there and that was on a ridgeline, there was only one way up it and I don‘t know how they built a huge chopper pad on top of it. Well, they had to build this—it looked like a deck, a huge deck from now days and enough to land a helicopter on because it was so pointed you couldn‘t land a helicopter on the top of this mountain because it was just so steep. So, they built this huge chopper pad on top of the mountain, so they could just land and drop supplies off. Interviewer: How long were you staying at these places? 30 �It would all depend, we‘d go in there and work the area and see how much activity was going on, what we‘d run into. Like at the DMZ you‘d kind of see how many—if there was a big force building up there, then you‘d go and work on that, then they‘d rotate you out and bring in another unit. 7:06 The way we worked our unit is we went in first and set things up as far as securing the area, so just recon the area to find out what was going on, and find out if—well work was—well, that was your job. Your job was to walk around the mountains and walk around the jungle and find out who was out there. Find people and kill them, basically that was work. That was what the government was paying us for. Interviewer: As a mortar crewman, would you normally stay on the firebase when the men would go out, or would you go out with them? Well, normally we‘d go from firebase to firebase, we‘d be one of the first ones out to set up the firebase, as far as for security. 8:01 I mean, they‘d bring other people out there digging bunkers, but you‘d go out there and dig a hole to put your gun upon, or your tube, and you‘d just be out there with the line company and they‘d start bringing people in and you‘d move off, and we used to hump our mortars with—we helped a lot with Chuck Hawkins from Alpha Company, and Chuck liked us and he called us his mobile artillery, so we did a lot with humping mortars with him. But, we‘d go out and hump and you may be out for thirty days or four, five, six weeks, and then they‘d bring you back into a firebase and that was kind of our little R&R, and they‘d send another tube out to be with them, so we kind of—we‘d get—it was kind of our refresher kind of thing. Get a break and get our act together, clean clothes and a shower, maybe, and just some normal food sometimes. 9:06 31 �Interviewer: Now, would this just be your squad that would be attached to a unit, or would the whole platoon go? No, it would just be my squad. Interviewer: So, you bring one mortar tube with you and the four guys, and you’re just attached, so you’re the portable artillery for the companies that are out there patrolling, you are out there with them. So, then you had all these people you‘re out fighting against, the Vietnamese, that didn‘t like you, but you‘re with all these U.S. Army guys that didn‘t like you, because every grunt, all the line guys, had to carry two mortar rounds. We had to carry the same thing, but everybody had to carry two hundred and fifty rounds of machine gun ammunition. That came down to us too, we had to carry a rifle, and I started out with a thump gun and then I went to a sixteen, I went to an XM-203 over and under. We had to do the same thing; we had to carry a full load of ammunition, a twenty one magazine if you had an M16. 10:06 Twenty one magazine, a dozen grenades, two blocks of C-4, two claymores, a law, if you were humping the mortar you had to—I was the gunner, so I humped the sight, and Bennett humped the base plate and Dave McCain humped the tube. I mean you're talking—the base weighed sixty pounds, you put that in your rucksack and your rucksack‘s already eighty five to a hundred pounds, so you‘re carrying a lot of weight. It doesn‘t—you get on a helicopter—you get on a helicopter with that stuff and you get off with that stuff, it doesn‘t come later, it‘s not individually wrapped. If you don‘t have it, you don‘t have it, and if you‘re missing one of the parts of your gun, you might as well have left everything behind, because you don‘t have everything. So, we went out with Alpha Company, with Chuck Hawkins, and we humped that and everybody would hump 32 �two mortar rounds and they didn‘t like it, so they didn‘t like us. We really didn‘t get to know them. 11:07 We didn‘t know the line guys that we were with, we were out with them for months at a time, but, basically, it was more along—the only way you really got to know them was trading food and cigarettes, you know, that kind of thing. Interviewer: When you’re out there in the field with the line company, about how many soldiers would these companies usually have? A normal company would have a hundred and twenty I‘d say. We were never normal, you might be out there with forty five, not very many guys. Interviewer: You were also involved in the Ripcord operation and some of the companies that were fighting around that firebase were down to thirty and even fifteen at certain points, not really big groups. We got down to where it was just three of us at the mortar. George left and then it became—Bennett left, they took him out of my squad and took him down to the 1st Cav. 12:05 They needed guys down there and we needed them too. I lost Bennett, and I had—it was my self and McCain. Interviewer: Did they give you a replacement at that point? Did you get a new guy? No we didn‘t, we dealt with who we had, so you became everybody. ―Pops ―was a— ―Pops‖, I was going to tell you about the older guy, he was our FDC, fire direction control, and he was a college graduate, so when he came, we were all nineteen and he was twenty five, so that‘s how he got the name ―Pops‖. To this day when he calls, ―Hey this is Pops‖, whenever we get together everybody calls him ―Pops‖, it‘s him that‘s the whole thing. But, most of the guys that we were with; ―Pops‖ didn‘t hunt for the best spots at the fire range. 13:00 I was trying to remember, he was at the last reunion and 33 �we had dinner with him, Kilgore, James. I didn‘t know his first name until we had a reunion. Kilgore, everybody called him Kilgore and everybody had a nick name, nobody was called—I was always called ―Whip‖, and even today. Everybody had— ―Tennessee‖, I think his name was ―Tennessee", and McCain, we just called him McCain you really didn‘t get to---you were close, but yet you were distant. You didn‘t want to know anybody that well because they were just going to die and you didn‘t need that extra burden, and for me, my burden being the squad leader and those my guys. 14:04 It takes a real load, I mean you don‘t want to be a squad leader because then you‘d have to—I had to not only take care of myself, but I had to take care of them and make sure they had what they needed and I didn‘t want them to get hurt, it‘s a real hard thing. Interviewer: Did you spend a full twelve month tour in Vietnam? I spent twelve months in Vietnam, I had an R&R, a week's worth of R&R, which actually ended up taking up ten days. My ―P‖ training, which was a week coming in country, the three days I sat on the firebase, and the seven days I spent—at the middle of my tour they brought us back for what they call a refresher training to tell us what was going on in the area and who we were up against and what they were doing, the kind of booby traps they were using, and weapons. A total of all but thirty one days I was out in the jungle. 15:00 Interviewer: Now, after that initial assignment down by the A Shau, were you pretty much in that northern part of Vietnam the rest of the time? We just—we took over for the marines up there , cleared that area, got things back in kind of operating order and then they brought in ARVNs, and they brought in people from other parts of the 101st or different units to take over up there and then we‘d go to someplace else. We rotated back down—the problem with the monsoons, the monsoons 34 �kind of go around the country, and now were kind of at the top of the country, in the north and the monsoons are coming back down, so we‘re coming back into the valley, so now we‘re working—coming in like Camp Carroll and then Khe Sanh, and we started in at—actually we started in at the bottom of the country and they wanted to build a road up through the A Shau, so we started out at Birmingham and went to Bastogne. 16:05 All the 101st firebases were named after WWII battles. The firebase, when you first came to it at the bottom of the valley was Birmingham and then you went Bastogne, and we went up the valley. We went up with the line company and they were going to try—we were going to clear the area and they were going to come in with engineers and build a road after we checked out the area and made sure that we got whoever was in there out and find out who they had to fight against, the of battle they will have. Interviewer: That’s still pretty far north in South Vietnam, so you’re not by Saigon or the Cambodian border, you’re pretty much up north? No, you divide the country into five different courts and we were in I court and actually, we were in northern I Corps, so if I Corps is this big we were just in this part of it, and that was just---from way north. 17:04 Interviewer: Now, over the course of this year that you’re with the unit, how would you characterize the morale of the men in the ranks at this point? We were good, we were so good that—we loved what we were doing. The morale—we were never in the rear where we had problems. The cooks and the guys in the rear were the ones there were problems with, the guys in the field; it was a family, and again, you didn‘t want to be close, but you couldn‘t help it, you‘re a family. I don‘t care if you didn‘t know the guys first name, if something were to happen to him—you‘d be torn up if 35 �something were to happen to him. You were close, you were a family and we were good, the whole unit. We went through and we did what we were supposed to be doing. 18:04 Interviewer: Over the course of the year some men will become casualties, others will simply rotate out, so you’re getting the people coming in and you go from being a cherry to being one of the old guys and so forth. Did the unit’s performance stay pretty much at the same level the whole time? Yeah, and because we were good, not because of the quality of the guy coming in, it was because we were good and we could teach him, ―This is how you do it, and this is how to be good‖. How you‘re good is your morale is up, you know what you‘re doing, and you‘re family, I mean a new guy comes in and he gets a ton of ribbing, everybody‘s on him about being a cherry and all this other stuff, and he always gets—the big thing we did with them when we were out with the line companies, or even on the firebase, when you get a new guy in you tell him all these stories. 19:03 This one guy came in and they came in and cut off his—and did this, and all these nasty things, you know, and you got sleep because this guy was up all night, you didn‘t have to worry about pulling guard. This guy was so scared he wasn‘t going to sleep for a week, and that‘s what you did with a new guy and you actually cheated him out of his sleep, so you could have sleep. Normally you‘d get—you‘d be on guard for an hour and then you‘d be off for two and then you‘d be back on, and that was kind of a rotation. Usually there were three guys in a foxhole, or when you‘re out, and eight on the bunker line, generally three guys, so that way you got an hour on and two hours off. That was the total amount of sleep you get because when you‘re in daylight you‘re moving you‘re not able to and when it‘s nighttime you‘re not able to sleep any more than that. 20:01 So, when you get a new 36 �guy you use him and just give him everything to carry. ―Oh, you‘re going to need this and this‖, so you‘d load him down with everything you could find. Interviewer: You were giving him attention. Sometimes new guys would come in and get ignored. No, I don‘t think any of them got ignored, not in our set up, we were different, we were, like I said, we were really different. Interviewer: How much of a sense did you have of what was going on in the larger war or conflict during the time you were there? Did you have any sense of how what you were doing fit into a larger plan? We‘d get newspapers. I‘d usually get a newspaper in the mail and you‘d get an idea of what was going on in the world and what they were talking about, but it never matched what was going on. I always had to write letters home to let them know that this isn‘t really what‘s going on here. 21:00 It might be other places, but where we‘re at—but you never could tell them what was going on either because you didn‘t want to scare the heck out of everybody and in most of my letters I sent home I said, ―Oh, it‘s raining here, the weather's terrible, we don‘t get any sleep, things are nasty, the bugs‖, that‘s all you really dared to say. You couldn‘t tell about what was really going on. Interviewer: Now, did they send you stuff from home? Yes Interviewer: What kinds of things did they send you? Cookies and crumbled cakes and, oh, the church would send you cookies. By the time you got them it was just one big jumble of—but when somebody got a care package from home everybody was there to eat it, and like I said, that was family. You didn‘t—―You 37 �can‘t have any because you‘re not part of our group‖. No, when that was opened up it was gone in a heartbeat. 22:00 It didn‘t make any difference what it was, it could be— we‘d get Kool Aid because the water came in water blivets and it tasted like rubber, so you had to have something to pour in it, so you‘d get Kool Aid, gum, candy, just about anything. If it was food or anything like that, it would be destroyed before—nothing that couldn‘t put up with the weather would make it, because your mail wasn‘t necessarily, it wasn‘t a quick thing and you might get mail once a week rather than once a day. I don‘t think we ever go mail once a day. On the firebase you might get mail once a day because the choppers come in and out. They throw out a mail bag and clean clothes. One of our pictures inside one of our hooches you can see we got fresh onion and catsup and Tabasco and that was some that McCain had gotten. 23:02 Interviewer: Did you normally just eat C rations and K rations? Just C rations, that‘s all we ever had. We‘d get—if we had a body count we‘d get clean clothes and ice cream and that was—you‘ll see on one of my helmets, and on the other guys helmets, everybody had their own little slogan, or saying and mine said, ―We kill for ice cream‖, which was true, because if we had a body count they‘d send out helicopters and they‘d generally send out ice cream and clean clothes. Ice cream would come into— ice cream would come in marmite [cans] and by the time you got it, it was pretty much melted away. The clean clothes would come in a big bag and they‘d kick the bag out of the helicopter in the middle of the landing pad and everybody would run out there and grab it and dump all the clothes, so what you got was what you could grab quick, so if you were the last guy there, your clothes didn‘t necessarily fit you. 24:02 38 You may be �a big guy and have on some smalls until you can find somebody to trade with you wore what you had. Interviewer: Would the clothes deteriorate in that kind of climate? They would rot like there‘s no tomorrow. You didn‘t wear underwear, you‘d get socks. I never took my boots off ever. At night you always had your boots on and your clothes on, even going in the stream, you might take your shirt off to shower in the stream. Interviewer: What happens to your feet if you never take your boots off? Well, you‘d take them off as far as to clean your feet and to wash your feet in the powder room, but then you‘d put your boots right back on. The biggest thing you‘d want is socks. Socks were the biggest thing to have, but the clothes, in a matter of weeks your shirt and pants would be shredded. If you got into any kind of ―wait a minute vines‖, or anything like that—like these humongous rose bushes, no flowers, just thorns, and if you‘d get in those it might take two or three guys to get you out. 25:06 If you happen to walk into one of those and you get trapped it would take two or three guys to chop you out of there with machetes, and you don‘t dare move because you‘d get torn up and anytime you got a cut it got infected. That was one thing, and that‘s why you always had your shirt sleeves down and always covered up, just to keep from getting infected. You‘d get into leaches—you walk through the jungle and you‘d think it was raining, you‘d hear this pitter patter on the leaves and the floor of the jungle, and kind of darker than normal, you think it‘s raining and it‘s leaches falling from the trees. Interviewer: How do you get rid of the leaches? You have a real good friend, because you get leaches in places you don‘t want leaches and you can‘t reach the leaches sometimes. You got some friends and generally you can 39 �put a cigarette on them and make them let go, or you pour our insect repellent on them. 26:06 Our insect repellent was seventy five percent Deet, well now you buy insect repellent and it doesn‘t have more than seven percent Deet. You pour those on the leaches and it would make them get off, but it would go right into the sore that you have, so that would get infected, so that‘s why some guy‘s skin just rots away. They tell you this is going to happen. Because you don‘t have chlorine in the water your teeth are going to go bad and they tell you that, the government tells you this, and if you use the stuff--but you got to use the stuff to keep the bugs off, the leeches off of you, and you‘d see a lot of guys with stings, laces tied around their knees and that and their boot bloused. Of the leeches got past your boots and got up into your secondary defense, which was the string around your knees. 27:06 So, that‘s why you see a lot of those—they weren‘t holding anything on, it‘s protection to keep the leeches out. Interviewer: Is that the kind of thing the other guys teach you pretty quickly when you get there? Yeah, oh yeah, leeches, and checking you helmet and you take your boots off to check those for, not tarantulas, but scorpions, we had some guys bit by scorpions. You set your helmet down and you sit on it, normally, and if you don‘t they crawl in there and you put it on and they sting you. They weren‘t the kind that would kill you, but it would affect your nervous system, and you‘d go into convulsions. We had quite a few guys that they had to ship back and call in a medevac to get them out of there and get them back to the hospital--we didn‘t have the care for them. Interviewer: So there was a lot more out there that was dangerous. Not just the Vietnamese themselves? 28:00 40 �Oh yeah, everything Interviewer: Now, did you ever have South Vietnamese service men working with you either as interpreters, or anything else, that you can recall? At some of the firebases we did, some companies did, but we didn‘t. At one point we had one chieu hoi when we were out on Ripcord. There were Vietnamese out there. They tried to bring in ARVN‘S, but they never went out with us, we never—I never dealt with an ARVN my whole life over—my whole time there. Interviewer: What phase, or part, of the Ripcord operation were you involved with? The whole thing, from April when we went up the mountain—that had been a firebase before and then they abandoned it, and now we‘re coming back to work the valley again. Interviewer: The A Shau Valley? The A Shau Valley and that was the thing, you work an area and then you move because of the monsoons and gave it back. 29:05 At this time when we went back for Ripcord, they had stopped the bombing and the Vietnamese were bringing down a lot of big stuff and that was actually, what they called their warehouse area. We hit some cave‘s where there were brand new clothes in the caves, bunkers, the roofs on bunkers would be three great big logs on the top of the bunkers and three logs this big around stacked on top of one another, so a five hundred pound bomb isn‘t going to make a dent in that thing. That‘s the kind of things you ran into, a lot of bunkers like that. They came in through— they didn‘t mind the monsoons, they weren‘t flying helicopters, so they were building and they built this warehouse area in there and they built all these huge bunkers and they brought all these--122 mortars is what they brought down, big guns, artillery, and they 41 �were bringing artillery down. 30:06 They were bringing tanks down. We were out— one time when we were out with Chuck Hawkins we ran across a phone cable this big around running along the jungle floor. It was that heavy of an area and they had that much communication. I mean, it was huge. We ran into one cave and we found brand new Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. What are the odds you‘d find something like that? Mickey Mouse printed on the front of them. Interviewer: How intense was the fighting around there, in that operation? Ripcord was the worst we‘d ever had. They wanted it bad and we were a big thorn in their side. We had Ripcord and I think Ripcord was about eight hundred and fifty meters high [officially 927]. They had Hill 1000, so they were a thousand meters high. 31:02 We tried to get on 1000 and got nailed quite a few times, got booted back. I‘m going up Ripcord and got booted out quite a few times—finally got up there and they started building—we secured it basically, and they started building the firebase. They brought in another set of mortars, so we took our mortars out and went with Chuck and worked that area. I mean, everyplace you went—we flew in, helicoptered in, we‘re making a combat assault onto this ridgeline, and this huge mountain went this way and the ridgeline came down and the mountain was little on this side and went back that way. The ridgeline was only this wide, maybe a third of the skid would actually set on the ground, and the rest would hang over each end. We‘re getting out, and we‘re getting mortared as we‘re getting out of the helicopter. We‘re getting mortars and we‘re running out and the first thing we run into is bunkers. 32:02 We find mortar rounds laying all over the place, their mortar rounds, and they just left. We came in and they hauled ass, you know. So, we came in and secured that for a little bit, took a bunch of mortar rounds—we had a— 42 �they called in some—I thought it was a marine airplane. It was a prop plane like they‘d use in WWII. They called in a couple two hundred pound bombs, or something, and this ridgeline was so steep you could watch the waterfall, one of the most beautiful things you could see, like we‘d seen in Hawaii, this beautiful fall coming out of the mountain. I mean, it was steep and there was a stream down below and this mountain slid down to it, all just beautiful. We were getting mortared when we came in on that, so they called in this plane. I don‘t know who it was or who—I wasn‘t privy to that sort of thing, but he had a couple of two hundred pounders, I‘m guessing. 33:03 I thought they were both supposed to land out in front because that‘s where we were taking all the fire from. One landed out there and the other one landed behind us and fortunately this thing was so thin and narrow-- if it flat we‘d all have been in big trouble, but fortunately it just went down the mountain and blew up the side of the mountain a little bit, put a little pock mark in it. We went from there—we secured that, and the next morning we got up and we‘re starting to walk out through the jungle and we‘d gotten a new point guy and I find out later by reading in the book Ripcord, reading Chuck Hawkins‘s account of everything, we had a new point man and he‘d only been in country a few weeks and why they even had him up there at point wasn‘t real sure, but it was Wieland Norris, Chuck Norris‘s brother. 34:11 He walked up to a bomb crater and they had a 51 caliber set up on the other side and they killed him and the next man, so I know everybody went down and that was when I really got my first—we‘d been in situations like that before, but that was the first time I‘d got where I could actually see them—they were going to flank us. This was to take everybody to the front, everybody ran up to the front and everybody‘s hollering, ―Shoot up their weapons‖, the two that were down, shoot up their weapons and get up there, but 43 �they were running through the jungle down the side of the mountain and going to come around to the side, and that was the first time I‘d really seen that in action. 35:08 It‘s like a football play on TV, you know, you hear about this play and it was the first time I‘d actually seen something like that work out. We got a medivac in and nothing ever came of it. There was a little bit of fire fight, but I don‘t know how long it lasted or anything. I don‘t remember much about it other than getting the medevac in and getting those guys out. We were out again with them—it was just a rough time at that time. I don‘t remember much about that one. Interviewer: It’s kind of a blur, you’re out there trudging around in the jungle, and you’re under fire periodically? Yeah, because I don‘t know why, I don‘t remember leaving and getting back to the firebase. We went out again because we went out with the line company and I don‘t think it was Chuck Hawkins that time that we went out with, but we went out with another line company. 36:03 I could never figure it out, there was an illumination parachute in the next mountain over, in a tree. We were on Cuoc Mon Mountain and this was another mountain in the valley in between us. We were out there with a line company and it just got to be—they didn‘t like us, we knew they didn‘t, we got a bet going that we can shoot that, we‘re so good we can shoot that parachute out of that tree with three rounds. Everybody‘s putting their money together and just the three of us, we probably couldn‘t come up with more than seventy five or eighty bucks, or something and they were betting all this money saying, ―Hey you can‘t do that you guys‖. I always tell the story that we took it out in two rounds, pretty impressive when you do that. We were down to the Ripcord reunion and Pops was there and I was telling him that story 44 �and Pops looks at me and he says, ―You took that out with the first round‖, and I said, ―Yeah, but that sounds kind of brazen to say that I got it with the first round. 37:01 It sounds better if I say I got it with the second round, it makes me feel better‖. But that was just one—why of all—and I asked him, to this day. One of the things that really got me going when I had my PTSD was the fact that I went back to that day and here we‘re around Ripcord and why are they letting us shoot mortar rounds at a parachute? Now, some way or another we had to get some kind of clearance from above to be able to— unless you under attack in a firefight where you need to fire and waste three rounds. These guys hump these rounds out there, they don‘t like us anyway, do they just want to lighten their load three rounds and why were we even able to do this? 38:00 Interviewer: I’m not sure how tightly a company was going to be supervised when it’s just sort of marching around. I mean, you’ll get orders from above, or something, but you weren’t in an area that had civilians in it, so that restriction wasn’t there. It wouldn‘t have been anything like that, but it was at a time where, when you got into something they said if you call for more artillery they‘d say, ―You‘re almost at your limit, your allotment for the time‖. It doesn‘t make sense, you got all these Vietnamese around you why would you want to—I mean, I—granted we don‘t have lights up there showing them where we‘re at, but I think if a mortar going off don‘t tell them where to look for you what‘s going to, you know. It doesn‘t make sense, it never has made sense. That‘s one of the things I asked Pops and it must have come down from somebody that we could do that. 39:02 We didn‘t have, other than the—whoever was the—I can‘t remember his name, but it seems like it was Charlie Company that we were with. Whether the Captain, 45 �the commander of that company—why would he even do that? None of it made any sense at all. Interviewer: Company commanders rotated through there pretty quickly too, so maybe the guy didn’t know any better. You remembered that it seemed rather strange. You mentioned in the process that you’re starting to see kind of rationing of ammunition and resources, you have a quota of artillery that you can call and that kind of thing. Now, was that true throughout the whole time you were in Vietnam, or did that change over time? At that point in time at Ripcord they were really trying to downplay Ripcord. There was no mention of Ripcord until thirty years later. 40:00 I mean nothing , and now all of a sudden in the VFW magazine we were number one at being—having seventy one guys killed in one battle, more than they had at Khe Sanh and all of a sudden more than were killed at Hamburger Hill, we were number one, Ripcord was number one, in one battle we lost seventy-one guys, and I know for a fact that we lost a lot more than that, we lost almost five hundred, but it went on from April until July. So, in that time, I know for a fact, I got the paperwork that shows the names and places and what happened, but, why the distinction all of a sudden? You never heard about it, but they were trying to keep it low key. They were trying to make it look like the ARVNs were taking over, and the ARVNs weren‘t out there. There were four hundred and fifty, I believe, of us on the mountain top, on the firebase at Ripcord. 41:05 It was about the size of three football fields and I never really seen the other side. You get up and you take a tour, you go down to whatever you have to do, to the latrine or hump ammo from the chopper base, so I only got to see my side of the mountain. But according to books now, that have come out, 46 �there was like four hundred and fifty of us on the mountain and we were surrounded by 7800 NVA from their—and, of course, without the bombing all these things were coming down and we were being mortared regularly every day and every night. Tear gas, every day, every night, rocketed, shot at, sniper fire, every time. I built my hooch underneath the chopper pad. Pretty good thinking, they got PSP planking for the deck , steel roof—I got a picture of me laying there and there‘s the steel roof, while we were building our hooch underneath this chopper pad. 42:07 You build on the side of the mountain and fill sandbags and build walls out in front, so you‘re mountain on the sides, and I got a steel roof and mountain all around me and off at the front. Interviewer: Now, do you have places where you would be actually on the firebase and firing a mortar from there? Oh yeah, you‘d come back—you may go out with a line company and be out a week or two weeks or three week and then you‘d come back to the firebase and they would rotate another gun out if they wanted another gun out. I had the fortune or misfortune, we were liked, they liked us and we were good. I mean, just absolutely good and that was the beauty of it and why—it was hard to leave, leave the country and leave those guys there. I mean, you‘re such a good family and we were just good. 43:03 Chuck Hawkins didn‘t take anybody else, just us and we kind of volunteered, I guess and we liked him. We liked to get out beyond the firebase, on the firebase you‘re always having to do something, where out there it was like boy scouts, you‘re out camping and getting shot at a little bit more. Interviewer: What was it like to be out there at night though? You’re out there on patrol there’s a lot of enemy around in the area. 47 �What you do is you go out and you hump down a stretch of the jungle, depending on if you‘re humping up the mountain or down the mountain, across the ridgeline, or whatever. You‘d hump along and you had the line guys out in front of you and they‘re out there far enough you can—they‘re just not quite out of view, I mean that‘s how far spaced you are, you‘re not bunched up, so you‘re maybe, probably, fifty to seventy five yards apart individually. 44:01 You‘re humping along and you got your weapons and you‘re looking and watching everybody‘s—nobody‘s talking, it‘s all hand movements, hand gestures and that and then you‘d go by a spot and somebody would make the gesture and you‘d remember that spot. Then you‘d keep on going and you‘d wait for dusk and when dusk came you‘d set up, you‘re going to setup your perimeter and this will be your basecamp for the night. Well into, once it got dark then you‘d move back to that spot that everybody pointed to, so that if anybody had seen you set up you wouldn‘t be where they had seen you, you‘d be in a different area. So, in the middle of the night you‘d set up and you‘d spend all night setting up. You‘d set, generally, you‘d sit back to back, so if the guy you were with on guard went to fall asleep and doze off you‘d feel him, he‘d either startle you awake or you‘d startle him awake if you happened to fall off. 45:05 Generally speaking there‘d be three guys and everybody, when you‘re on guard, sat back to back depending on—if you‘re out on something like that you‘d have two guy out so you had less sleep and then you‘re out—you get up in the morning and have your cigarettes and fix your coffee and start on your way to someplace else. Interviewer: Did it matter which company you were out with in terms of how careful they were with all the security provisions and things? 48 �Some were a little lax on the—it didn‘t make any difference to what you did, but it made it a lot more tense and that‘s why we probably volunteered to go with Chuck and his company. We knew what they were and they knew what we were and we just meshed and worked together, because I know a lot of them were lax with the smoking and the noise, noise was a big thing, noise was a real big thing. 46:01 Interviewer: When you’re out there in the Ripcord area would you get attacked at night? Would the enemy try to come in after you? Oh yeah Interviewer: What would you do when that happened? Get as close to the ground as—wish you‘d dug a deeper hole. You dig your little foxhole and wish you‘d dug it a little deeper. ―I wish I would have made this a little deeper and I wish I were a little closer to somebody else‖. If something started happening your adrenalin starts pumping and you don‘t know what you‘re doing, I mean you just don‘t know what you‘re doing. Some guys don‘t do anything, some guys have their weapon and will be firing and some guys will just hold their weapon up and shoot, just to say they shot or something, I don‘t know. I was always leery about not having enough ammunition, so I was pretty conservative. 47:00 When I had the sixty [M60 machine gun] most of those guys, they didn‘t like it because I didn‘t—I was too conservative with it. I was always afraid of running out of ammunition and it‘s not like you can just go to the next corner and pick up—the chopper can‘t get in, you‘re in the triple canopy jungle and you don‘t know if they‘re going to drop it where you‘re at or what you‘re going to have and really you just need to lay down a basic firing when things start happening. You don‘t know what‘s going on, all of a sudden things just get so wild, nothing like in 49 �your wildest dreams. We‘d eat—everything you carried was on your back and most of it was water and ammunition. You didn‘t take a lot of food, everybody, usually, would get a case of C rations and you‘d trade off what you didn‘t like and your cigarettes, or whatever. 48:00 I usually carried mostly fruit and then you ate, maybe, once a day, make coffee and hot chocolate, you‘d have packets of hot chocolate and coffee. You‘d make those and you‘d eat up whatever you could find. Maybe somebody might have killed a snake and you have a little fry, snake fry, or monkey, or something, because you didn‘t—food wasn‘t that big an option and it wasn‘t something you really relied on that much. I mean, you could go a whole day without eating anything and then late in the afternoon have something, a pound cake and some crackers and that would pretty well do you. I think it also made for the fact that you were not always having to take a crap in the woods, you know, you‘re kind of on your own on that. 49:06 That one you have to kind of—―I‘m going to go over here while‖ and ―Be sure to holler this word before you come back‖, you know. I think your body kind of says, ―If you don‘t eat you don‘t crap though, so let‘s hold off a little bit‖. Interviewer: Now, in the time when you’re hit in the I Corps sector there by the Ripcord or elsewhere, are there particular kinds of events or incidences, things that happened to you , that kind of stand out in your memory, or have come back to you, that you haven’t brought in here yet? No, the shooting of the parachute was the biggest thing, I‘d always remember that and there were a few things that happened on Ripcord and I don‘t usually get into them. 50:00 We were getting hit and we were always getting hit, it was just a matter of— things start coming in and how quick you could get--- you‘d start firing back, so you‘d 50 �start firing—we‘d have the mortar up within seconds. It was already set up the guns and tubes are set and the rounds are setting there. They‘d call, ―We need‖, and we‘d have— Delta Company called in and they were pretty much annihilated. I think the CO got a satchel charge in his chest and I don‘t think, at the time we were talking to them on the radio, I don‘t think there were more than two of them that were actually alive at that point. That got you going and then Chuck Hawkins called in, I don‘t think it was Chuck, somebody called in for Alpha Company and they had some gooks coming after them. 51:10 They were fighting them off the best they could and then somebody else was coming along—I don‘t remember how that went. Interviewer: There were units patrolling around Ripcord all the time, so they would get into trouble and they would get fire support from wherever they could get it. Would you talk to them? They would call in for the TOC. The TOC was setup in its own bunker and we had these land mines that came out. The phones like the one I got in my trailer, in fact the picture I got in my album shows that phone and that‘s why I‘ve got them. Those are actual things we—the same things that we used. Interviewer: Would enemy bombardments take out the land lines periodically? Would those get cut or were those well buried? I guess it could happen, it never—nothing like that ever—most of your land lines and stuff were right in the ground along the edge of the sandbags, so unless it hit right on there—52:10 We had a lot of them, the top of my hooch—I‘ve got pictures of the top of my hooch, it was all sandbags and all this dirt would have been inside these green sandbags and the whole top of my hooch was brown because the sandbags were blown 51 �away, so it‘s all covered with just brown. The way we had built our hooch, I could stand—this was the chopper pad—I could stand in my hooch and my head would just barely be just a little bit to the chopper pad, maybe my chin could touch on the chopper pad, and the chopper would be—and you‘d be looking at the bottom and the tail rotors were going there and blowing all this stuff, but we could stand in there and our pit wall was here and the mountain went down like this , but we could stand in our hooch and watch the helicopters on top of the roof be shot up, watch the tracers come over our head. 53:04 You could turn around and watch the tracers come in and shoot these things up, but because of the angle they couldn‘t get us because of the way we were setup. All these choppers they‘d be up there—a Chinook came in one time and the whole side of it just started popping open and it just shuddered and set down, and then they brought in another Chinook and were going to take it apart so they brought in this other Chinook and they hooked up these big straps, pull straps, up to this big rotor on, four blades on the big rotor on the back end of it and the another Chinook came in and a guys standing on the other one and he clicks it onto the bottom of the Chinook and the Chinook pulls up and disengages the rotors and starts taking off. They got to have a kind of downward motion to get a forward motion to come off the mountain, that‘s why you‘re up so high, so they can get going, and they come off from that and this is trailing behind them. 54:05 It‘s probably a three or four inch strap, nylon belt strap, doubled up and everything. They come off the mountain and we‘re watching them and they start leveling out and this rotor‘s behind them, well, it‘s turning the whole time it‘s behind them and that strap is knotting right up like a rubber band knot up, and all of a sudden you could see the tail gunner, the guy on the—they got the back deck down and they got a 60 mounted on it 52 �and the guys laying on it as protection coming into Ripcord. You could see him and I think the whites of his eyes are like this and this rotors right behind him and it‘s getting closer and closer and he must have called in because all of a sudden the guys from the guns on the side, because they got 60‘s out the side windows on the Chinook and the guys from the side are out looking and looking and the rotors coming. 55:05 All of a sudden the Chinook did one of these, and it just nosed up like that, and the propeller from, the props from the other Chinook, came down underneath and you could see the release when they released the cable and that thing just fluttered through the air. That thing would have taken them out and the thing fluttered through the air and almost made it back to Ripcord. At that point they decided to just push them off the side of the mountain and burn them up. They were full of fuel-- they would shoot off a burning light for three seconds because it‘s made out of magnesium and they just tear up right away. That was one thing; you didn‘t want to be in a Chinook that crashed. Interviewer: Did you hear a lot, was there counter battery fire? Did you hit enemy mortars if you could, or figure out where they were? Yeah, if we got a call in--Pops would get the call and they‘d say ‗Troops in the open‖, or grouping, or mass of troops. 56:07 If we already had a VT set up for them, and they were in our VT, we were on them like that. One time they setup on a hill across from us and they were firing mortars at us and we were firing mortars at them. We tried to take out anything. We tried to take out anything, not necessarily troops, because the big things, the mortars and that would do more damage than just troops because everybody‘s fighting with just rifles. 53 �Interviewer: Would they move their mortars around and fire a couple rounds from one spot and then move it? Yeah Interviewer: Were they just trying to draw a bead on your mortar pits and take those out? They were trying to do any kind of damage they could. I don‘t know, generally—at Berchtesgaden they came down the mountain, they would zee the mortars down there, so they were planning on—I don‘t think they were moving their armor, they were on another mountain watching us and they came down the mountain in a zee fashion like that. 57:06 That‘s basically the way our guns were set up—we had a number one pit here and a number two pit, which was George and I, here and the other one was kind of directly below it at the illumination pit, I think that‘s what they were trying to do, just blow anything that was there whether it was a person, a gun or mortar, it didn‘t make any difference, they were trying to cover as much as what they could. Interviewer: Do you remember leaving that? The worst day of my life, it was terrible to leave those guys, I mean I felt bad. 58:03 Interviewer: Did you go out by yourself or did your whole squad go together? No, just, Oscar Utley and I came in together, he was from Texas and he worked for Dr. Pepper down there. He worked for Dr. Pepper, so he used to get a lot of care packages with Dr. Pepper in it, but him and I came in together, same day, and he ended up being a FTC and a matter of fact, I got a picture of him and I leaving my hooch and of course we‘re getting—to bring a helicopter in is life threatening, they had so many of them shot down, I mean just a bundle. What they did, the helicopters would come in and just be 54 �about a foot, or so, above the deck and they‘d kick the ammunition out if you needed it, when you needed ammunition, kick ammunition, food, or grenades, whatever you have to have. 59:02 Oscar and I are standing in my pit and we got everything and we‘re ready to go. We have two days left in country, we‘re leaving on the 12th and this is the 10th. Interviewer: Even though you’d become a short timer you were still out in the field. Normally a short timer is when they have forty five days left and you get a clerk's job or whatever. No, we were out there and we had two days left in country. Now they‘re worried about getting us out of there, because I don‘t know what comes up if you over extend somebody, I don‘t know what happens. I know your tour is three hundred and sixty five days and that‘s pretty much set in stone it seems like. We had two days left in country. They were bringing in some ammunition, some supplies, so Oscar and I ran to the helicopter and we dove over the ammunition they‘re kicking out and got on the Huey. 00:06 The pilot looks at us and says, ―You can‘t go, we‘re too heavy, you can‘t go‖, and I pointed my rifle that way and I said, ―We know how to lighten it up‖, and he took off and we were too heavy. We came down that mountain and the skids were in the treetops. The skids were in the treetops when we came down that mountain, and we went treetop all the way back, because it was too heavy. Interviewer: How long was that before they shut down Ripcord? That was on the 10th that I left and by the time I got home on the 23rd, Ripcord had been over run and they took everybody off and they left everything behind. 1:00 I got a letter from David that I‘ll show you and David tells what they could carry, what they had in their hands. A lot of guys didn‘t get their rucksacks out, they left all the radar units, all the equipment, all the big guns, the mortars, and then they brought in the biggest B-52 55 �strike ever, the United States has ever done, and just blasted the top of the mountain away. There were six guys left behind and they were killed. They were hiding somewhere and didn‘t get out. Then they went back in—I guess after they, even after— there were Vietnamese running all over the place when they were blowing it up, and even afterwards when they went back into there, there were Vietnamese all over the place. That was it—I got home, flew into Washington, Fort Lewis, and I was there twenty four hours sitting in the airport trying to get a flight back to Lansing. 2:06 I couldn‘t get one, we were flying military standby and there was a group of Girls Scouts that were flying just standby, but we bumped two of the Girl Scouts. Well, you‘ve never been cusses out until you‘ve been cussed out by a Girl Scout mother because she either has to stay behind with one of the girls or two of the girls, but they got bumped and they were irate. I said, ―I‘ve been gone a year, I‘m going‖---we got into Detroit like two in the morning, I think it was, it was foggy, it was so foggy you couldn‘t see even across the street. No planes were flying, you could have thrown a bowling ball through the airport, and there was nobody in the airport at two o‘clock in the morning. I mean, this is way back, I mean, this is nothing; nobody, and we got a cab ride home. 3:01 There were four of us coming back to Lansing and we got a cab and we each pitched in for the cab. Interviewer: So, we have basically gotten you out of Vietnam, back to Detroit in the fog and you took a cab from Detroit to Lansing. There was nothing flying and we were in the Detroit airport. We‘d been gone a year and at that point we would have walked. We all got together, pooled our money that we had and found a cabby and asked him, ―How much will it take to get us back to Lansing?‖ He told us and we all piled in his cab, and you couldn‘t see the car in front of you, and 56 �he‘s trying to go down the highway like forty or fifty miles an hour because he wants to get his money, get to Lansing and get back. We told him, ―Hey, we just all got back from Vietnam, take your time‖, and we all had our heads stuck out the windows feeling for curbs and it‘s just amazing we didn‘t have somebody sitting out on the front bumper watching the car in front, you know. 4:12 You couldn‘t see anything—it took us—we didn‘t get back in town, in here, until like five o‘clock in the morning. One of the guys lived out on Cavanaugh, so—I can‘t remember, we dropped them off as we came in and I was—Greg lived out on Cavanaugh, his mother-in-law lived there and still does, so I got out when he got out and took my duffle bag and I lived over here next thing and started walking home at that point. I get home and it‘s probably quarter to six in the morning. I got home, walked up on the front porch and the newspaper guy was delivering the newspaper, so I‘m sitting out in front reading the newspaper. It was my in-laws house and my father in-law came out to get the paper with coffee in his hand and just lost his cup of coffee, he spilled it. 5:05 I was sitting out there reading the paper and that was ―cumin home‖. I went over to visit my folks and Greg got back about the same time. He was the one I went through basic with and we drove home. We met up again, everybody got together and we had a little cookout and cake. I used to hang around with Greg quite a bit and then we both got divorced and he went his way and I haven‘t talked to him in quite a few years. I talked to George, I had—I went over to my mother‘s house, she called me one day, and she said, ―I got a letter here from a Boardwyne, Amy Boardwyne‖, and I never put two and two together, I didn‘t have any idea, and I said, ―Okay‖. Well, when I was in Vietnam, George Boardwyne, he didn‘t have a girlfriend, so I had him, the same age as my sister, I had him sending my sister Joy letters and they 57 �were writing back and forth. 6:05 Well, Amy, his daughter now, was going through some of his stuff and found the address and wrote a letter to me, to my old address, because that‘s where I lived, and my sister lived, to ask if I would mind if George called me, or would I call him and she‘d pay for the call, just call collect, or write a letter or whatever. I finally, about a month later I called him and what do you say to somebody? This is thirty years later, and we talked for a little bit, but we really had nothing in common and I haven‘t talked to him since, and now it‘s been another fifteen years. I was at a reunion and I happened to see a guy at the reunion that said, ―You were at Ripcord weren‘t you?‖ I said, ―Yeah‖, and he had a Ripcord newsletter, one of the first ones and Pop‘s name was in there, John Henderson. 7:06 I said, ―I know Pops‖, and he said, ―I thought you might‖, so I got his name and address from that and I called him. I called him and I‘m laying up in bed talking to him on the phone and ―Pops can tell you every minute, anything that went on. He was right in with André Lucas, our battalion commander and all the higher ups; he was right close with them. There‘s an article that was in Stars and Stripes, I‘ve got in on the trailer, where André Lucas, our battalion commander was setting in Pop‘s chair, which was made out of some ammo boxes and Pops was giving him a haircut. Pops gave everybody haircuts. André Lucas said, ―Where else can you get a haircut and watch an air strike at the same time?‖ He‘s sitting out there at Ripcord during a bombing run, you know. 8:06 André was killed on top of my hooch. His TOC, of course, was right behind the chopper pad and he and his XO were killed on top of my hooch. He was a great guy. From talking to Pops and I didn‘t know André personally, but just from in passing and the fact that his place was on top of my place, being tenants on the same mountain, he was a soldier‘s soldier. I mean, he 58 �looked out for his guys; he took care of us really well. When we needed something he was there for us and you don‘t get that from a lot of them. Like I say some of them above him—we got clean clothes and ice cream from our company commander if you had a body count. 9:02 Other than that, look at you, you can do without food and water for three or four days at least. We did that, we had that happen where they wouldn‘t resupply us and we had to eat whatever you could find. Interviewer: Now, when you got back home, did you talk to people much about what you had seen or done in Vietnam, or did you kind of put that in a box someplace? I went to a couple parties with some friends that we neighbors of—we‘d partied a lot of times before I went, when we were younger and stuff. We used to go—we‘d always have all these parties, and I went to those and nobody wanted to hear about it to being with and a lot of them—there was a gal from Ann Arbor, her and her husband came to parties and she called us baby killers. 10:10 it may sound strange, and I know you hear it, and you may think this is just another Vietnam vet saying BS and I hate it when people say it, that they called us that. She called me that, Greg and I were together partying at Mike‘s house and she was from Ann Arbor—she was a student at the U of M. We never got with the group after that. My kids all went to Everett High School where I went and Nick played baseball and he was a batboy for a kind of AAA ball team here in town, or ABC whatever they call it, so we‘d go out to the municipal, the ball park, and families would be there. 11:09 These guys were older than me and Nick was just a little guy, probably only six, seven, or eight years old and he was the batboy, he was kind of their little mascot kind of thing. He loved ball, he loved baseball so I got him in Raymon, I knew 59 �Rich and Rich, they played all over, we went to Battle Creek and we‘d go all over to play ball. I could go to the ball park and wear my jungle fatigue shirt and nobody would sit anywhere near me; I‘d have the bleachers to myself. There is a real stigma that goes with it. The first psychiatrist I went to see when—I had a bad time with my heart and blood pressure and I went—started in with the VA seeing—getting medicine and stuff and seeing a psychiatrist and my first psych told me, ―Well, you shouldn‘t wear green and you shouldn‘t watch war movies‖. 12:06 I‘m thinking—this is just like six or eight years ago and I‘m thinking--for thirty years before that a friend of mine was in—he didn‘t make the military because he was 4F, he had a hunchback and he was collecting. He collected from the Civil War on up, military things, and he‘s got all kinds—just tons, huge barns full of it, so he would take me to these gun and knife shows because he wanted to authenticate what he was buying for his Vietnam collection. So, it‘s not that the Vietnam—I would buy a few things, we were raising kids, and for three or four bucks I‘d find a dummy grenade or, you know, a patch or something like that and that‘s what started out the collection. Then it just kind of got out of hand, but we would do air shows. He got me—he had a deuce and a half and the trailers and everything and he got me taking my collection—I was helping him basically, I went along to help him. 13:07 then he said, ―Why don‘t you bring some of your stuff?‖ Well, we‘d unload one of the trailers and I‘d put a poncho liner down, or a raincoat, or something like that and I‘d put some of my pictures down there. Well, when you went to the military side , all of a sudden all the military people, and the people who were coming to see the military were coming to look at my stuff, and I thought, ―Well, that‘s really nice‖, they were interested in my things, you know, and ever since I got back and he got me going, I was always 60 �looking for something, and I don‘t know if it was a person, somebody to say something particular, or a piece of equipment, I never—ever since I got back I‘ve had this problem. I‘ve been hunting, hunting, hunting for this thing and that‘s how I kept buying all this stuff, thinking that—I‘ll go to these shows and run into guys and I run into military guys all the time. 14:07 I‘ve been just talking to them for thirty years, but I could never find that answer, but that‘s how everything started and then my second, the VA Psychologist I ended up with, the second one, her and I got to talking and I told her, ―I‘m hunting and I don‘t know what I‘m hunting for‖. I could never figure out what I was hunting for, but what‘s this thing that‘s eating me up and has for forty years? I can‘t get peace; I have not found that thing that draws the line and says it‘s ended, it‘s over. I‘m looking for this thing that finishes it. It‘s like a book and somebody ripped off the last page or chapter, what is it? What is it and how does it end? 15:00 I got to talk to her and I didn‘t like talking to her at the beginning because she was young. I‘m thinking—I‘m going through all this heart stuff and all these problems, PTSD‘s got me, my wife and I are—I‘m trying to kill myself—I mean, yeah, at two o‘clock in the morning I‘m leaving the house here and walking down through the worst part of town carrying a knife, just looking for somebody to fight. I would drink, I drank a lot and I‘d go out and I was funny when I first started drinking, but it just went away and I would drink and not drunk, but really drunk and trying to find this peace and whatever I‘m looking for and then I got ugly and all I wanted to do was fight, so then I had to stop doing that because Jennifer wouldn‘t leave when she was with me. I‘d toss her the keys and say, ―Go home, I‘ll be home in a little bit‖, and then I‘d go on about my business of getting into a fight. 16:05 At one point in time she said, ―No, I‘m not leaving‖, and at that point it clicked in my head that 61 �something‘s got to change. I can‘t do this anymore because now I‘m endangering her life, and that‘s what I‘m—all my life I‘ve been trying to protect people, you know, and it just carries through, it never leaves you, that being drilled into your head back when you‘re nineteen, it never leaves you. I went back to the same thing, so I quit drinking and started going to PTSD groups, and seeing a Psychiatrist. I see one a week, and Angela was the one, I told her, ―I don‘t have time to educate her‖. I told her at the beginning, at the first, I said, ―You know, people who deal with Vietnam veterans usually die. You should really find some other line and get away from the vets, it‘s not healthy‖. 17:00 When I came back my doctor, who was my age, died and the next person I got in touch with, he died. Not knowing, I‘m talking with Angela and she‘s getting me through this thing, she has cancer and she dies, and this was like just a few years ago. I was really-she found my answer and I lost her. Now I‘m starting in with, I got Bill, a new guy that has taken over our group, but if it wasn‘t for the group, I‘d of been back out there on the street walking with my knife again. Interviewer: And you wouldn’t be in a place where you can talk to me. Yeah, and any of the others, you know, that‘s what hold me to my firm space, is I think, ―All the guys that went through this and didn‘t come back, that‘s what my trailer‘s about‖, and that‘s what Angela told me. 18:03 She said, ―Your treatment doesn‘t make anything different for your PTSD, that‘s not the cause of your PTSD, that‘s not bringing on your PTSD, you could get rid of all the green in the world and it wouldn‘t stop your PTSD, that‘s not the problem. The problem you have is in your head‖. We started talking and I said, ―I know when we were in one of the firefights, everybody around me is getting shot or dying‖. I said, I told her, ―I talk a lot to God. I really feel bad because I 62 �don‘t dare to step into a church because I‘ve got a lot of promises I knew I couldn‘t keep and I think he knew I couldn‘t keep them too—God get me out of this, get me to—give us another day—give us something, somehow help us through this‖. 19:03 We were talking about the trailer and that and she said, ―That‘s what you‘re looking for‖. I said, ―What do you mean?‖ She said, ―This is your promise to god, in the trailer. That you‘re keeping all these guys alive, you‘re keeping them well, you‘re keeping them remembered, and that‘s what you promised God. This is your payment; this is how you‘re repaying him by doing this. That‘s why the trailer, you won‘t get better getting rid of all this and staying away from it, that has nothing to do with it. You can meet all the veterans you want, you can wear all the green you want. This is your promise to God and that‘s what‘s in your brain and that‘s what you‘re looking for‖. And I finally found peace. Interviewer: That makes a pretty good place for us to close this out, so I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I‘m glad we had this time to tell the people. 20:05 63 � 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 WhippleB1172V Title A name given to the resource Whipple, Bruce (Interview transcript and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Whipple, Bruce Description An account of the resource Bruce Whipple was born in Lansing, Michigan, and was drafted into the Army two years after high school. He trained as an infantryman at Fort Bragg and Fort Dix, and went to Vietnam in July, 1969. He was assigned to mortar platoon Echo Company, 2/506 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. His unit fought in the A Shau Valley, then near the coast around Camp Evans, then in the Ripcord campaign. He spent nearly all of his tour in the field, much of it attached to line companies rather than staying on firebases. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-07-27 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/2e94a1dc22bdcca681b9b3670a9ea3ed.mp4 8c30c0c0f1470bf49bfa106c339c5e61 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c141d5c16fef24b943e9878e3c1486c2.pdf 4a37c52b6b0d9bafc88d1785756f4776 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II Jacob Westra Length: 1:25:23 (00:20) Civilian Conservation Corps  Jacob was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on November 18, 1918  He grew up during the Great Depression and it was very difficult for him to find a job once he had turned 17  Jacob signed up with the Civilian Conservation Corps for one year and was sent to Camp Silver Creek  It was a very beautiful area and Jacob really enjoyed his time there  He often planted trees and also worked at the ranger station in the fire tower  At one point a girl scout camp caught on fire and it was a real mess; it took them 3 weeks to put out the fire and clean the area up  Jacob signed up for another year with the CCC and was sent to a lumber jack camp in the Upper Peninsula  Jacob then joined the National Youth Administration and went to Forestry School at Michigan State University  The classes were only 16 weeks long and Jacob was still bored when he was finished, so he signed up for another year in a CCC Camp in Grand Haven, Michigan (12:15) Enlistment  There were rumors that the US would be getting involved in the war and Jacob did not want to end up getting drafted  He had been under Army control in the CCC, so he was used to marching and drilling every morning  Jacob enlisted for a term of 1 year in 1939 and would not be called up until 1941  He was sent to Fort Sheridan in Illinois where he trained for 2 weeks and then went through more training in California with the Ordinance Department � Jacob was then sent to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for 1 week and then a staging area in Virginia (15:40) England  The men were supposed to go to Africa, but got orders at the last minute to stay behind  They waited in Virginia for 1 month and then took the USS Argentina to England  The trip only took 1 week and they followed a zig zag course with nice weather  They landed in Liverpool and then took over a GMC factory that they were going to use as a supply storage facility  Jacob worked with the assembly and inspection of tanks, trucks, Jeeps, ambulances, and anti-aircraft guns  They worked with the supply line in the factory for 2.5 years (21:45) France  The men were called out of the factory shortly before D-Day in 1944  They were put on a Navy ship and brought to Normandy after the battle  They set up a supply depot on the beach and put up their tents on a base 2 miles from the beach  Jacob took inventory on the beach every morning  He later received orders that he was to go through infantry training for 3 weeks  They were shipped in box cars through Belgium and Luxembourg, to Germany (25:10) Germany  Jacob became part of the 78th Infantry “Lightning” Division, 310th Regiment, Company A  They were fighting back and forth with the Germans over control of a town that had a dam in it; eventually the Germans surrendered � They moved along through the valleys, fighting along many rivers and taking small towns on their way  They received orders that they were to capture a bridge over the Rhine River to stop the Germans’ supply line (31:50) Rhine River  They attached to the 9th Armored Division and went ahead to find the bridge they were supposed to destroy  The Germans knew of their plans and were shooting at them and trying to block off their way  The Armored Division began blowing up the bridge and it slowly began sinking on its pillars  The engineers took out the demolition wires after the majority of the Americans had crossed and the bridge was destroyed  All the time they were being shot at with rifles, machine guns, and artillery from the hills (39:10) End of Service  They went North and found many German soldiers hiding in ditches; they took many POWs  The men continued through Germany for 128 days taking more POWs and small towns  Jacob then found out that he had enough points to return home  Many of the men had enough points and they were all very excited and so sick of eating food out of cans  They took trucks to Paris and then went to Camp Lucky Strike where they waited to be shipped back to the US  Jacob had furlough in England for 14 days (50:40) Reunions � After arriving back home Jacob had thought about going to Penn State for forestry, but his wife and daughter missed him so much and convinced him to not go  He got acquainted with the 78th Infantry Division and went to many reunions with them all over the country  On June 6, 1948 Jacob went through a D Day Reunion Tour in Europe  He spent 1 week on Omaha Beach where they was a big ceremony with the Queens of Holland and England, Duke of Luxembourg, and the Presidents of the US, France, and Prime Minister of Britain  There were many speeches and a parade with bands from all over Europe  Jacob also visited some cemeteries from WWII, traveled to Britain, Germany, and Holland � 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 WestraJ Title A name given to the resource Westra, Jacob (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Westra, Jacob Description An account of the resource Jacob Westra was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on November 18, 1918. He grew up during the Depression and was not able to find a job once he had graduated from high school. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and was sent to Camp Silver Creek where he worked in the ranger station for one year. Jacob really enjoyed working in the CCC and signed up for 2 more years until he enlisted in the Army in 1939. He was not called up to service until 1941 and went through basic training in Fort Sheridan Illinois. Jacob was then sent to England where they took over an old GMC factory and used it as a supply storage facility. He worked there for 2.5 years until right before D Day when Jacob joined the 78th Infantry "Lightning" Division. They traveled through France and Germany taking many small towns and POWs for months until many of the men earned enough points to return to the Unites States. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McCauslin, Kelly (Interviewer) Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, 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. 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 2008-05-17 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/4084378ac2a5eb6ee3f7b819905d24f0.mp4 e93c66fa5badca0536dd01613d4536d1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d414131540ed74fb9032e6338eee8fc.pdf 0c4220105c2cdda158740303267c176f PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of Interviewee: Clyde Westra Name of War: Vietnam War Length of Interview: (01:36:50) Pre-Enlistment • • • • • • • Born in Grand Haven, MI in 1948 (1:50) Attended Grand Haven Junior High, got interested in the Marine Corps at this time (2:20) Took a week off of school to make up his mind about quitting school and joining the Marine Corps (3:15) Ended up joining (3:20) Marines appealed to him because of his brother in-law’s involvement in the Corps (4:15) Did not have to wait until he was 18 to join because of his score on the aptitude test and his parents signed off (5:20) Joined on January 27, 1965 (5:30) Training • • • • • • • Went to Detroit for the basic physical, then home for 2 days and off again to California (5:45) Flew into San Diego and went to the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot (MCRD) (6:30) Took the enlistment oath and 16 weeks of boot camp there (6:45) Thought it was the worst possible thing in the world (7:05) Day started at 5:30 am, and got done whenever the drill instructors decided to be done (9:00) Came home for 30 days after boot camp was over (11:50) Already had orders to go back to Camp Pendleton, and knew he was being shipped overseas (12:10) Active Duty • • • • • • • • Two weeks after his leave, he received final orders to go to Okinawa (12:20) Scored well enough on his tests that he was a Combat Engineer (12:50) Was in Okinawa with an Engineer company for 4-8 weeks (13:15) Was shipped to Vietnam (13:45) Arrived in Vietnam via transport ship (14:25) First duty station was at a resupply company in a secured area (14:45) Stayed there for 6-8 months, training and doing support and logistics (15:15) Moved to Danang, and was trained to be a radio operator (16:25) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Life expectancy of a radio operator in combat is about 15 minutes (16:35) Was attached to different outfits as a Helicopter Support Team Member (HST) (17:00) Would go out into the field and call in resupply operations, bombs, food, whatever was needed for the outfit (17:30) Also had to call in Medical Evacuations, which was not his favorite job (17:45) Always two HST members tag teamed the radio, in case one was injured or killed (18:55) Saw all kinds of action: involved in all sorts of fighting (19:40) Traveled the A Shau Valley at least 6 times, nicknamed it the Valley of Death (19:45) Carried a map with him, marked all the places they had been (20:00) Would clear out the Valley, return home, but then something new would come up (20:25) During the Tet Offensive, he was sent to the city of Wei to set up an ammo dump (20:45) Was then sent to Khe Sanh during the seige of the city (21:00) Was shelled for 77 days, nonstop (21:15) When choppers were called for resupply, they wouldn’t land for fear of being shelled (21:30) The C-130’s wouldn’t land either, just slide their supplies out the back door and fly away (21:45) During the shelling, they would stay as far underground as possible (22:15) Stayed armed at all times. When he started out in Vietnam, he carried an M-14 and a .45 caliber pistol (24:00) Over time, he went from carrying the M-14 to the M-16, which he didn’t like initially (24:40) Never fully liked the gun (26:25) Slept on the ground in the field, but slept in a cabin on a cot while on base (26:45) Learned that war is mostly boredom, followed by 5 minutes of sheer terror (28:00) Would do anything they could to relieve the boredom (28:15) Played cards, had different clubs you could join, or just writing letters home, cleaning gear, etc (28:20) Could go into the field at any moment, night or day (29:50) Gear was always packed for 2-3 days (30:15) Carried his pack, weapon and a 25 pound radio (30:40) R&R • • • Was in-country for 26 months (31:20) Was ready to go home at 13 months, but had a 6 month involuntary extension because he was a radio operator (31:45) Packed up to go home again, but got extended again because he was a radio operator (33:00) �• • • • • • Put in for R&R to go to Australia, then to Hawaii (34:10) His dad met him in Hawaii (35:50) Flew into Hilo, where his dad met him at the gangway (36:15) Tried to rent a Camaro convertible, but he wasn’t 21 years old yet (37:45) His father rented the car for him (38:20) Won a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Vietnam Campaign and Service ribbons (39:00) Purple Heart • • • • • • • • • • Purple Heart was from Operation Swift (39:30) Was in the A Shau Valley, and came to a rocky outcrop and the VietCong started mortar attacks when they got there (39:40) Ended up separated from his unit when everybody ran for cover (40:40) Was hit by shrapnel, and took off through a hedge (41:25) Found 26 of his unit, finally found the rest of his unit (41:50) Despite the medic’s order, he tried to stay with his radio (42:30) Medic injected him with morphine and he followed orders (42:55) Found one of his good friends dying with the rest of the wounded (43:45) Was lifted out on the first chopper out of the area, then spent the next 4 months at the 12th US Air Force Hospital in Chu Lai(45:55) Doctors stopped counting at 17 holes full of shrapnel (46:45) Bronze Star • • • • • • • Setting up a new base, had trenches and tents set up (47:50) Vietcong started shelling from the hills (48:05) Had a brand new lieutenant who was standing in the middle of the compound (48:20) Clyde jumped out of his hole, tackled the lieutenant and brought him back to his hole (48:30) Received the Bronze Star for his actions (48:45) Was a TAV for a Vietnamese unit (49:00) Never had a whole lot of interactions with Vietnamese people, but generally found them to be friendly (54:10) INTERVIEW ENDED, PICKED UP LATER • • • • • Some drug use in the Marines, not as much as the movies would have one believed (49:30) Could buy beer in secured area once shift was over (50:45) Had a beer ration of 6 beers (51:10) Cigarettes were very common, at least 90% of enlisted men smoked (52:00) Occasionally knew exactly what was going on, but sometimes would only be given the information necessary to proceed with his mission (55:50) �• • • In Danang, the USO came to put on shows (56:50) Favorite show was from Martha Raye, who had a high fever at the time (57:00) Loved listening to rock and roll while in country (58:20) Post-Service • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Came home, got a job (59:30) Started hanging out with a motorcycle club, drank too much (59:50) A friend called him out on his change in attitude (1:00:50) During his second marriage on a home improvement project, almost hit his granddaughter with a hammer (1:03:20) Came back the next day, but has no recollection where he went (1:04:30) Wife suggested that he find help (1:05:20) This occurred 20 years after he was discharged (1:05:30) Started at the DAV, but it wasn’t helping too much (1:06:20) Then went to the Veterans Center, got the help he needed (1:06:35) They sent him to Chicago to a PTSD clinic for 35 days straight (1:08:40) Lived with 26 other veterans with PTSD (1:09:10) At the end of the clinic, started to realize what living with PTSD means (1:13:45) Continued with counseling at the Disabled Veteran’s Administration (DAV) (1:17:00) Has learned to control his rage (1:17:15) VA came out with a newsletter wanting Vietnam veterans tested for Agent Orange (1:18:40) VA later listed illnesses that stem from Agent Orange, of which he has one (1:19:20) Also has heart disease, poor eyesight, neuropathy of his legs stemming from Agent Orange (1:22:15) Has had some issues with the VA, but generally a good experience (1:22:40) Never took advantage of the GI Bill, and belongs to the VFW and the American Legion (1:30:00) Feels his military experience was both good and bad (1:31:35) Made him grow up, maybe too fast. Gained knowledge and got to travel (1:31:50) Only bad part was spending 26 months in Vietnam (1:32:15) Feels that everyone should spend some time in the military, but it takes the right kind of person to remain in a combat zone (1:34:40) Would do it again if he had to (1:35:10) � 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 WestraC Title A name given to the resource Westra, Clyde (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Westra, Clyde Description An account of the resource Clyde Westra was born in Grand Haven, MI in 1948. He dropped out of high school to join the Marine Corps at the age of 17. Clyde was initially trained and worked in Vietnam as a Combat Engineer, but was shipped to Danang and trained to be a radio operator. He served in Vietnam for 26 months, including at Khe Sanh and in the A Shau Valley. For his service in Vietnam, he recieved a Purple Heart, and Bronze Star. After Clyde came home, he was diagnosed with PTSD and other illnesses as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps 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 2009-06-17 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/bd16c2d85fd0a20bb957cfd49ae09996.mp4 0a9991351cb79c1257a2073706ed9906 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5afcc72d25cbeca645a656d04567b0bd.pdf a308ee048f290252ed586e3d5a08c9cc PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Virgil Westdale World War II Total Time: 2:10:10 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (0:00:40) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • His father was born in Japan, and immigrated to the United States because his stepbrother gave him money to do so in 1906 when he was 16. He started in San Francisco, California, moved to Denver, Colorado, then to Ohio after he married Virgil’s mother, then on to Indiana. Born in Millersburg, Indiana. Family raised peppermint in Indiana. His father then bought a farm in Michigan where they raised alfalfa. There were 5 children in his family all together. Finished high school. Played football in high school. Worked in trucking, and then attended Western Michigan College beginning in 1940 and Graduated after World War II in 1949. Obtained his private pilot’s license in 1942. Joined the War Training Service in 1942. (0:28:40) Legally changed his name to “Westdale” from “Nishimura” in 1942. Participated in air acrobatics in South Bend, Indiana as well. (0:30:10) Participated in a aerial acrobatics tour around the United States Lost his pilots license due to racial prejudice (0:33:30) Taught ground school before he went into the service. Training (0:35:06) • Went to Romulus Field, Michigan to join the Air Corps. • He got his license back in November 1941. • His training was very intense. For instance, he took commercial and instrument flying at the same time. • He took commercial flying because he wanted to become an instructor, and this required commercial flying. • He was chosen to be a flight instructor after training. Active Duty (0:39:58) • He instructed for 3 or 4 months before he got a letter stating that he was being transferred to the Army and that he would be given the rank of Private, which was essentially a demotion. �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (0:42:29) He was placed in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted entirely of Japanese-Americans. (0:45:45) Had basic training with the unit and then went to Unit Training. He learned to operate the M1, BAR, and Flamethrower. Their unit ate a lot of rice. Many of the men in his unit were from Hawaii, until the 100th Battalion unit split off. (0:52:30) Right before he was shipped overseas, his sister wrote a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt requesting that he be transferred to some pilot position. He then received notice that he was being transferred to the Artillery Battalion attached to the 442nd to fly the observation aircraft for the Battalion. (0:54:40) He was then selected to be in the fire direction center, because it turned out he could not be a pilot due to his rank. (0:59:00) He was shipped over to Europe in 1944 on a Liberty ship with around 500 men. They were in a very large convoy. (1:01:45) They landed in Brindisi, Italy, and moved to Anzio, and then to Naples. (1:04:15) They move through Rome, where the group in front of them encountered some resistance. (1:06:35) Their unit first entered combat just after leaving Rome. He was usually a stretch back from the line. His job was to work in the fire coordination center, where they would receive and give coordinates for firing artillery. They would usually shoot smoke shells into an area to gauge where a target was in relation to wind. (1:12:09) He was engaged in Italy and then were moved to Southern France, landing in Marseilles, France. (1:14:00) While still in Italy, he was involved in an assault on Hill 140 where his artillery unit participated in a bombardment, which killed all of the 120 Germans that were on the hill. (1:22:10) They were moved to Southern France from Italy specifically for the invasion of Germany. The 100th Battalion had so many casualties they earned the nickname “The Purple Heart Battalion.” One of the main things that he noticed when he moved through France was that it seemed to be a cleaner place than Italy. (1:29:05) He remembers moving through France being very difficult. (1:30:55) His unit fought to free a battalion of the 141st Regiment when they became lost and cut off from the rest of the Army. It took them 4 days total to break through, and it cost them 800 casualties. (1:39:40) Right after they broke through and saved the 141st, they continued on without a break. He did get sick on one occasion with flu-like symptoms. On one occasion while he was ill, a house he was staying in was hit by artillery fire.. (1:48:10) Oftentimes, they would fire so fast that captured Germans would ask where the automatic artillery was that they were using. �• • • • • • • (1:49:35) They were eventually brought back from the line, to the Nice area, because of the losses they suffered rescuing the lost battalion. They stayed there for the winter of 1944-1945. (1:52:25) The unit was split in two at this point, with the artillery going into Germany and the infantry going into Italy. (1:52:45) He was sent to Worms, Germany where he crossed the Rhine on a pontoon bridge. (1:54:30) They fought through Germany however the fighting was more sporadic than they had been previously used to. They encountered heavy fighting at times, because the Germans saw this as their last stand. (1:56:20) There was a moratorium on talking to German citizens over the age of 12, however he got to know a 9 year old girl, her mother, and her father, who was a regular infantryman in the German Army. He was hospitalized for some time, and he was supposed to be sent home, but he didn’t want to, and left the hospital to return to the unit. (1:59:19) His unit worked as part of the occupation force in Germany after hostilities had ceased. His unit was also sent home without him, and he lost touch with many of the people in his unit. He stayed on until late November 1945 after his unit had left in late September 1945. Post-War (2:08:40) • Worked as a Chemical Engineer after the War, and he also worked at the TSA. He is also working on an autobiography. � 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 WestdaleV Title A name given to the resource Westdale, Virgil (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Westdale, Virgil Description An account of the resource Virgil Westdale was born Virgil Nishimura in Millersburg, Indiana and served in World War II. He was trained as a pilot but because his father was Japanese he was demoted to an infantryman and placed in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted primarily of Japanese-Americans. He worked in the Fire Direction Center for his unit, and spent time in combat in Europe. His unit also worked in occupied Germany after combat. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army 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 2009-05-28 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/5c574ce1112ee8da8f23869d54d84208.mp4 52a09515db8916fb3f2145a3e972b4a8 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8aabc81fe020bdcad9a828037c1b8bfb.pdf a7aa7d9d04330d690d1d884268d72d8f PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II Tom Westbrook Total Time – (01:02:31) Background · He was born July 3, 1919 (00:38) · He was born in Ionia, Michigan Enlistment/Training – (00:49) · He enlisted January 3, 1942 (00:52) o He was twenty-two years old when he enlisted · He enlisted because he believed it was the thing to do o He was very unhappy with what the Japanese had done to Pearl Harbor (01:14) · For basic training, he was sent to Keesler Field, Mississippi (01:36) · In basic training he had to adjust to the new routine and discipline o Once he had been through his basic training, he had to do two weeks of KP (Kitchen Police) (02:19) § It was only for those that did not qualify for mechanic school · The food was very good in basic training (02:53) · The soldiers had to march back and forth to school · Basic training had eleven phases of schooling · There were 1,100 soldiers that graduated and 43 got sent overseas immediately (04:22) o They shipped in July of 1942 · The soldiers were in barracks during basic training · He was one of the 43 selected to go overseas right away (04:54) · He was sent to Angel Island near San Francisco, California (05:53) o They waited here to get on board their ships · The soldiers new they were en route to Australia (06:35) · His ship would change course every nine minutes (07:19) · He was on KP every other day that he was on the ship · Most of the men got seasick (07:47) · They first landed in Auckland, New Zealand and then went to Wellington, New Zealand (08:15) · The ship was the USS Mount Vernon (08:26) �· · · · o He was on D deck o His friend would get sick and he would take care of him He was on the ship for 23 days (09:44) There were roughly six thousand men on the ship (11:01) o It was a luxury liner during peace time In Australia, he was sent as a replacement o They received 90 more days of infantry training because the Japanese were pushing down on Australia (11:47) His specialty was to be an air mechanic even though he received all of the infantry equipment and training (12:01) o He received his training in the latter part of July of 1942 (12:43) Active Duty – (13:54) · His unit was guard duty for a large base that was being evacuated due to a large threat that the Japanese would attack Australia (14:03) · From there, his unit left for Brisbane, Australia · The American soldiers got along very well with the Australian soldiers (15:31) · After Brisbane, he left for Townsville, Australia where he worked to overhaul aircraft engines (16:12) o He worked seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day o He received an engine specialist rating (16:37) o When he left Townsville he was offered Staff Sergeant position · He wanted to leave Townsville because he wanted to see what his reaction to war would be · The soldiers would play cards and other activities to pass the time (18:36) · He got on a Liberty ship and left Townsville o The Liberty ships were primarily meant to transport goods · The first base where he worked after Australia was on Finschhaefen, New Guinea (20:07) o They were in Finchhaven for six weeks o It rained so much that the G.I. shoes would last only ten days · The wildlife in New Guinea was beautiful but the mosquitoes were terrible · They did not face any kind of combat in Finschhaefen (21:42) · He was then sent to Hollandia (Jayapura) in the Dutch New Guinea (21:53) · A lot of the soldiers came down with sicknesses o He came down with Dengue fever (22:30) · British New Guinea was his worst experience because of the rain and mosquitoes · When he was living in tents, lizards and rats would crawl into their spaces (23:53) · After leaving British New Guinea, he was sent to Morotai · He was in Morotai working for six weeks before any missions had been done (24:48) · He was there to build a camp for a fuel base · The first time he faced combat was when the Japanese bombed the fuel camp �· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · o There was a Japanese base twelve miles away (27:46) Because the Japanese and Americans were both trying to use Morotai, the Americans were attacked 7-8 times each night (28:21) o The Japanese never came during the day because the American antiaircraft was so good o The Japanese would drop phosphorous bombs It was close to 120 degrees in Morotai (31:03) After Morotai, he went on an LST that met up with a convoy en route to Okinawa (33:12) In Okinawa he helped take care of transit aircraft He worked primarily on C-47, B-25, P-47, or transport planes (37:37) o The pilots often flew some of the planes very dangerously There were times when planes could not make the trip back to the appropriate base because of damage and they would stop where he was stationed When casualties came back, the wounded or dead would get removed before he worked on the plane (42:06) Planes sometimes crashed on take-off (42:17) With time off, soldiers would play cards and do other competitions He had a fellow comrade who would go and fish when stationed on Morotai (46:21) o He used hand grenades to catch the fish (47:19) He remembers hearing that the Atomic Bomb had been dropped while in Okinawa After the Japanese surrender, he and ten went to an island off the coast of Japan called Kanoya Kyushu (50:11) The Japanese treated the Americans extremely well on Kanoya Kyushu because they knew that the Americans had won the war (53:05) o Of the 11 on Kanoya Kyushu, there were two radio operators, two American born Japanese interpreters, and two crew chiefs He received his discharge November 11, 1945 (55:18) On Kanoya Kyushu he witnessed prisoners being returned that the Japanese had held (57:13) o It was hard for him to see o They had been working in coal mines o He remembers one marine that was six feet three inches tall that was down to 130 pounds § He looked like a 70 year old man § A lot of the men were down to 150 or 160 pounds o One man had club foot (58:06) o It was evident that the Japanese had mistreated the soldiers The soldiers were ready to fight in Japan if the Atomic Bomb had not been dropped o They believed that their chances of survival were small (59:46) On his route home he flew over Hiroshima o It was nearly a month after the bomb had been dropped (01:00:32) �o He flew over on a C-46 o The soldiers were absolutely amazed that one bomb could create that much devastation (01:01:27) � 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 WestbrookT1319V Title A name given to the resource Westbrook, Tom (Interview outline and video), 2006 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Westbrook, Tom Description An account of the resource Tom Westbrook was born in 1919 in Ionia, Michigan. He enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor and trained as an aircraft mechanic at Keesler Field, Mississippi. Immediately after training, he was sent to Australia, where he worked at bases in Brisbane and Townsville, and volunteered for duty nearer the combat zones. He then went to Finschaefen and Hollandia, New Guinea, and then to Morotai, and from there to Okinawa and, after the war, to Japan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Weber, Mark (Interviewer) Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.) 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 Air Corps 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 2006-02-20 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/b1b06d51ec8ac6988243efd927e188f7.mp4 2f7aa52c591cccbdf72d3d359d502c43 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a33c5cfef34c571d3b7991f85bcf13e1.pdf 20e35c80d872ae0fde81cedb5c7d7584 PDF Text Text GrandValleyStateUniversity Veterans History Project World War II John Wessels (1:03:17) Background Information (00:25)        He was born in Grand RapidsMichigan, in 1924. (00:31) John worked a paper route on the Northeast and Southeast Sides of Grand Rapids. (00:50) He attended Central High school. He was set to graduate in 1942 but went into the Navy in January of 1941 [1942?] at age 17. (1:08) He was sent to DetroitMichigan, before being sent to basic training in Rhode Island. (1:52) John was inspired to join the Navy due to his love of water. (3:00) His parents were not upset about him joining the Navy. (3:47) When arriving at basic he did not see many people from Grand Rapids. (5:16) Training (6:30)       John liked the team attitude of basic training. (6:35) There were some men who washed out of the service due to extreme homesickness. (8:10) When asked where John wanted to serve, he selected submarines. He could not have this position however, due to poor balance. (9:06) He was trained as an aviation radioman. (9:40) For radio school John was sent to Florida and Virginia. (11:03) His training in total lasted approx. 1 year. (11:48) Service (13:00)      John served on a PBY [Catalina-a seaplane used for long range patrols]. (13:02) The first squadron assigned was BOB 208. (14:09) A squadron consisted of approx. 15 aircraft each with a crew of 14 men. (14:23) Because the missions were fairly long, the aircraft had a galley where the men made food and had several bunks. (15:00) After completed his training he spent 14 months in Key WestFlorida. Out of Key West the men would fly to several areas within the Caribbean. During this time, the men were looking for submarines. (16:00) Service in the Pacific (17:10)      John was transferred from the 208th to the 26th he was then stationed in Hawaii. (17:15) In the Pacific, John's unit was used for antisubmarine, anti-shipping, sea rescue, and reconnaissance missions. When an enemy ship was located, sometimes the PBYs would bomb the ship, but often it was simply reported to its location to a nearby U.S. vessel. (18:30) The men also dropped the reconnaissance buoys. (20:14) Using a buoy the men managed to locate a submarine. (23:53) John and his crew often saw Kamikaze pilots. While on a ship, John saw them approach the ship �    and realized there was nothing the men could do but get hit or watch other ships get hit by the pilots. (25:37) There were no weapons aboard the ship that John was on when he was attacked by Kamikaze pilots. (29:31) Every evening the men landed their PBY and went aboard ship. The aircraft floated and was attached to a buoy. There were always 1 or 2 men left aboard the aircraft to insure it was secured. (30:56) John served near Okinawa and, after the end of the war, in TokyoBay. John’s squadron was the first squadron to land in Tokyo Bay. (33:16) He believes that his entire time in the military was a maturing experience. He very much valued his Christian faith. (34:32) Life in the Service (35:30)           John’s wife often wrote to him. He wrote back but he does not believe that she knew what John’s service had entailed. (35:39) His parents, as well as people from his church congregation, also wrote John. (36:45) The men often played cards for entertainment. (38:00) While on the ship, men would catch flounder and cook them. (40:16) John served over 4 years (January of 1941-November of 1945). (40:41) He was able to make and maintain very close friendships from the service. (41:38) John has attended many reunions that were held across the entire U.S. (42:36) Due to the need to have his appendix removed, John was sent on sick leave to Florida. (44:26) While stationed and training in Hawaii the men were given some opportunity to explore but not a lot. (45:09) There were USO shows or people who came to see the troops. (46:12) End of Service (48:30)         When the war ended the men eager to count up their points to ensure that they could go home. (48:31) John was discharged in Great Lakes Naval Base and was sent there via train form California. (51:03) John was also given a bus ride from Chicago to Grand Rapids. (51:59) John completed high school after returning to the U.S. He started college but dropped out. (54:56) He attended many reunions across the country. (56:20) Although John does not believe he was changed when he returned, his wife believes that he was much more mature. (57:00) His son also went into the Navy and served aboard an aircraft carrier. (59:45) Their son was killed aboard the ship after a bomb accidently detonated aboard the ship. (1:01:38) � 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 WesselsJ1372V Title A name given to the resource Wessels, John (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wessels, John Description An account of the resource John Wessels, born and in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1924, served in the U.S. Navy from January 1941 to November 1945 during World War II. After having completed his basic training, John was assigned to be an aviation radioman. His first deployment was to BOB 208, a unit of PBY seaplanes, in Florida and the Caribbean. Here, John looked for submarines. John was then transferred to the 208th of the 26th and flew in the Pacific, mainly performing reconnaissance. His unit started in Hawaii, served in several areas, including off Okinawa, and flew into Tokyo Bay at the end of the war. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Moore, Debra (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 2012-03-23 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/ad2a03603c7b54aed68ea6006e1c68ad.m4v 60dd2a917cbe443322087e95d354f5e3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bcccc71bb3244fbbd36be006eeb1f46c.pdf 0f924a240b5d9d9cfcced00884029cf7 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Jake Werner Length: 1:14:36 (00:55) Background Information     Jake was born on November 29, 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan He went to Union High School and junior college in Grand Rapids After going to college Jake had no money and could not find a job so he enlisted in the Army in May of 1938 He enlisted for 3 years and was told that he would be going to Panama after training (2:50) Panama  After training Jake was stationed at Fort Slocum in New York  The area had lots of rain and his uniform was always wet and faded  They were constantly marching around in the rain and it was miserable  Jake was then sent to Panama and found that he did not like this either  The base was completely overrun with drugs and Jake decided to buy his way out of the service (5:50) Reserves  After paying a large fee Jake was sent back to the US and put in a reserve unit  He did not have to go through training again and was working as a civilian  Jake began working in a hardware store, but was not making much money  He was called back to active duty in February of 1941, but had not been expecting that he would fight in any war (7:10) Armored Division  Jake was sent to Camp Grant, Illinois and began working with the Military Police  They worked on chasing, town traffic control, and watching gates  He was offered a chance to go to Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox in Kentucky  Jake went through officer training for 3 months and then became a 2nd lieutenant  He was a lieutenant in the Armored Division, which was relatively new at the time with only 2 units  They began more training and were constantly running for about 3 months  Jake was part of the 10th graduating class, working with tanks and machine guns  Only about half of the men graduated and the others washed out  The division was growing; it started with 2 large armored regiments and then had 3 tank battalions �  Jake finally became Platoon leader of Company D, a light tank platoon of the 81st Battalion There were 79 tanks divided into 4 companies (15:44) Europe  Jake left from Camp Miles Standish on a ship within a convoy of about 60 other ships  They traveled in a converted luxury liner with no heat, but the AC worked; they were freezing the whole time with snow on the deck  They landed at Liverpool and began more intense training for when they would arrive in France  Jake worked on preparing a camp for the 29th Infantry Division before they left for France  It was in July when they began training in the Salisbury Plains and would soon be moving South (24:40) France  They crossed the Channel on July 22, 1944 and arrived days before their equipment  The area was covered with troops and they had to travel 80 miles to get their Division together  Jake’s job was to form a task force with Companies A and B  He did not encounter any fire while traveling with his task force  They eventually ran into German infantry and “cleaned them out”  They continued traveling and looking for German infantry and tanks; all the tanks they found were empty and abandoned  They were in Paris for 3 days getting the US tanks repaired  Jake and his men ran into some Germans on their way out of Paris  Wherever the towns were over ran with Germans, they could always tell because they were like ghost towns, with no civilians or animals (35:30) Germany  They traveled through Belgium, Luxembourg, and some British territory before arriving in Germany  The group ran into many Germans that would try to hold them up; they would shoot at the men for a while and then the Germans would eventually retreat  They then crossed the Siegfried line into the Ardennes area and the terrain was very difficult to run their tanks through  They traveled North through the Hurtgen Forest and their infantry suffered a lot in this area  There were only 28 men left of 185 and no officers; only 18 tanks left of 79 �  It was miserable and cold, the Battle of the Bulge was being fought in the South They were eventually replaced by the 102nd Infantry Division (44:50) Closing of War  Jake and his men were working with the 102nd and 84th Infantry Divisions and the 5th Armored Division in Northern Germany  They could absolutely tell that the Germans were losing and took some time to celebrate Thanksgiving in an abandoned factory  Many civilians were still convinced that the Germans would win  SS Troops were all very stubborn and would not cooperate while being interrogated  They made their way along the Elbe River and built bridges so the Infantry could cross (54:10) Nordhausen  Jake and his men made their way a little south to Nordhausen where V-2 rockets were being built  There was a large tunnel and 4 railroads that were all going into a factory within a mountain  They were given the job to go out and find German engineers and their families so that they could help shut down the factory  The area was eventually given control to the Russians, who seemed to be short on supplies and took apart many German trucks and used the parts on their old beat down vehicles  Jake said the Russians looked “like a bunch of gypsies” (1:00:20) VE Day  Everyone was very happy on VE Day, but also annoyed with the problem of rounding up German soldiers  2 weeks after VE Day Jake worked on Operation Tally Ho  They had to surround various towns, going door to door, and checking or Germans soldiers and ammunition  He later was sent to Camp Lucky Strike in La Havre, France  Many of the men were hearing rumors that they might now be sent to fight in the Pacific � 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 WernerJ Title A name given to the resource Werner, Jake (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Werner, Jake Description An account of the resource Jake Werner was born on November 29, 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and enlisted in the Army on May 1, 1938. After training Jake was sent to Panama and was not at all enjoying himself because of the drug problem in the area and decided to buy is way out of the service. He returned back the US and remained in a reserve unit until he was called to active duty in February of 1941. Jake went through Officer Candidate School and then helped form one of the first armored divisions, which were relatively new at the time. They were later sent to Britain for more training and then traveled through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany throughout the remainder of the war. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hinogosa, Rachael (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. 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 2008-06-01 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/e366e5a74edc261197e67cce360e2e4b.mp4 b13c8b9c251d0ad05d313db08f962cc7 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/499fd23b1e83bed156386a6f1a175bf9.pdf a6d2c6e591f0312e6a96d617926d7b9e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Jake Werner Length: 1:14:36 (00:55) Background Information     Jake was born on November 29, 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan He went to Union High School and junior college in Grand Rapids After going to college Jake had no money and could not find a job so he enlisted in the Army in May of 1938 He enlisted for 3 years and was told that he would be going to Panama after training (2:50) Panama  After training Jake was stationed at Fort Slocum in New York  The area had lots of rain and his uniform was always wet and faded  They were constantly marching around in the rain and it was miserable  Jake was then sent to Panama and found that he did not like this either  The base was completely overrun with drugs and Jake decided to buy his way out of the service (5:50) Reserves  After paying a large fee Jake was sent back to the US and put in a reserve unit  He did not have to go through training again and was working as a civilian  Jake began working in a hardware store, but was not making much money  He was called back to active duty in February of 1941, but had not been expecting that he would fight in any war (7:10) Armored Division  Jake was sent to Camp Grant, Illinois and began working with the Military Police  They worked on chasing, town traffic control, and watching gates  He was offered a chance to go to Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox in Kentucky  Jake went through officer training for 3 months and then became a 2nd lieutenant  He was a lieutenant in the Armored Division, which was relatively new at the time with only 2 units  They began more training and were constantly running for about 3 months  Jake was part of the 10th graduating class, working with tanks and machine guns  Only about half of the men graduated and the others washed out  The division was growing; it started with 2 large armored regiments and then had 3 tank battalions �  Jake finally became Platoon leader of Company D, a light tank platoon of the 81st Battalion There were 79 tanks divided into 4 companies (15:44) Europe  Jake left from Camp Miles Standish on a ship within a convoy of about 60 other ships  They traveled in a converted luxury liner with no heat, but the AC worked; they were freezing the whole time with snow on the deck  They landed at Liverpool and began more intense training for when they would arrive in France  Jake worked on preparing a camp for the 29th Infantry Division before they left for France  It was in July when they began training in the Salisbury Plains and would soon be moving South (24:40) France  They crossed the Channel on July 22, 1944 and arrived days before their equipment  The area was covered with troops and they had to travel 80 miles to get their Division together  Jake’s job was to form a task force with Companies A and B  He did not encounter any fire while traveling with his task force  They eventually ran into German infantry and “cleaned them out”  They continued traveling and looking for German infantry and tanks; all the tanks they found were empty and abandoned  They were in Paris for 3 days getting the US tanks repaired  Jake and his men ran into some Germans on their way out of Paris  Wherever the towns were over ran with Germans, they could always tell because they were like ghost towns, with no civilians or animals (35:30) Germany  They traveled through Belgium, Luxembourg, and some British territory before arriving in Germany  The group ran into many Germans that would try to hold them up; they would shoot at the men for a while and then the Germans would eventually retreat  They then crossed the Siegfried line into the Ardennes area and the terrain was very difficult to run their tanks through  They traveled North through the Hurtgen Forest and their infantry suffered a lot in this area  There were only 28 men left of 185 and no officers; only 18 tanks left of 79 �  It was miserable and cold, the Battle of the Bulge was being fought in the South They were eventually replaced by the 102nd Infantry Division (44:50) Closing of War  Jake and his men were working with the 102nd and 84th Infantry Divisions and the 5th Armored Division in Northern Germany  They could absolutely tell that the Germans were losing and took some time to celebrate Thanksgiving in an abandoned factory  Many civilians were still convinced that the Germans would win  SS Troops were all very stubborn and would not cooperate while being interrogated  They made their way along the Elbe River and built bridges so the Infantry could cross (54:10) Nordhausen  Jake and his men made their way a little south to Nordhausen where V-2 rockets were being built  There was a large tunnel and 4 railroads that were all going into a factory within a mountain  They were given the job to go out and find German engineers and their families so that they could help shut down the factory  The area was eventually given control to the Russians, who seemed to be short on supplies and took apart many German trucks and used the parts on their old beat down vehicles  Jake said the Russians looked “like a bunch of gypsies” (1:00:20) VE Day  Everyone was very happy on VE Day, but also annoyed with the problem of rounding up German soldiers  2 weeks after VE Day Jake worked on Operation Tally Ho  They had to surround various towns, going door to door, and checking or Germans soldiers and ammunition  He later was sent to Camp Lucky Strike in La Havre, France  Many of the men were hearing rumors that they might now be sent to fight in the Pacific � 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 WernerJ0918V Title A name given to the resource Werner, Jacob (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Werner, Jacob Description An account of the resource Jacob Werner served in the Army in World War II. He initially joined the Army in 1938 and served in Panama, until he was put on reserve. He was then called up in 1943, and served in Europe. He was a medium tank commander in an infantry battalion in France, the Low Countries, and Germany. Specifically, he served in the Hurtgen Forest and the Falaise Gap. He also served as a Special Services Officer in Germany after the war. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hinojosa, Rachael (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-10-01 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/df4935447055f4119414c68ef1a6d551.mp4 e85880f7fae1e03861bc7ff370a3c734 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d6e031797bed45fc0a48a2dd85ffe2f.pdf 8ef108addcb1b050105ffe784b1e5239 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Vietnam War Era Gary Wermuth (48:04) Introduction (00:21)   Gary was born near Ithaca, Michigan. His family lived on a farm, and in 1961 he went to Michigan State University. He graduated from college in 1965 and in January 1966 he was drafted into the United States Army. Military Training (01:01)    Gary was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training. After his basic, he then went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He spent six weeks there, and the top of the class were sent to Fort Gordon for communications school. Gary was at Fort Gordon until June 1966. 147 were in his company, and 7 were sent to Fort Dix, the remainder were sent to Fort Ord, California and deployed to Vietnam. Germany (02:04)        Gary was one of the seven to go to Fort Dix and deployed to Germany. Once there, he was assigned to the 6th Battalion, 10th Artillery, Headquarters Battery in Bamberg. His unit had 175mm self propelled guns that had a range of about twenty miles. Gary worked in the communications area, and they trained in Grafenwöhr which was 100 kilometers from Bamberg. They went there six different times for training for one month at a time. Their job was to conduct training on setting up the guns, communication tests, and surveying coordinates for the gunners. The first round they fired was to zero the gun, the second round was for effect and they could hit an eight foot diameter target at twenty miles. (04:25) Later, Gary was given a secret security clearance and sent messages and worked with cryptic technology. Gary spent 18 months in Germany and returned to the states in December 1967. Just prior to his being discharged, they allowed him to go home for Christmas. After that he was sent to Fort Ben Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana to be discharged. (06:25) Civilian Life (06:40)   Once he was discharged, he went home and resumed his job at Massey Ferguson working as a mechanical engineer. The second year he was out he was required to report to the National Guard in Camp Grayling, he did this for two summers. After the fourth summer, he was given his official honorable discharge. �Thinking Back (07:40)                        Once a month, they had an alert drill that caused everyone to abandon the post and report to a designated area. They would remain there from anywhere to a couple of hours to a day or more. When they returned they had to clean all their equipment and get things spit shined again. Moving out to the designated area, they often ran over the Germans property and other things with the big guns. He got up at 6am and worked till 5pm. Meals were good, and served in the mess hall. They also had a PX where he could buy personal items, and he also bought a cuckooclock there and sent it home. He never saw any live action, only training exercises. Gary worked in the message center and would get many 10- 49’s, which were a transfer request to Vietnam. Gary was happy where he was and never requested a transfer. He went in as a private and was discharged as an E-5 Sergeant. (11:16) His uniform has a 7th Army Patch on the shoulder (Seven Steps to Hell). In basic training when he was training on the M-14, he was the highest shooter in the training company with 78 out of 80 hits. Gary was given a medal and a special trophy for this accomplishment. Every one got a marksman medal, they had three different ranks: good, medium and marksman. When he was drafted, Gary was 22 years old. He and his wife have been married since August 1968; they lived and worked in the Detroit area. The one experience that he learned the most from was working together as a team with his fellow soldiers. When working with the 175mm guns, everyone had to have good communication and teamwork. It was not hard for him to readjust to civilian life once he got home. Since he was older and had finished college, he fit right back in to society. Also, because he did not see any combat, he did not have to worry about that sort of stress. (15:27) His unit was on standby and ready to go to Vietnam if they were needed. Since he was not infantry and the range that the guns could fire, he would have been away from the action, but anything could happen. Gary was able to write letters home, and was given free postage. He also bought a tape recorder and made tapes and sent them home, and his family would do the same and send them to him. They had no computers, but the tape worked well. Germany was an ally at the time and was apart of NATO. Some of the locals liked the military, and some were not as hospitable to them. Gary and his wife went back to Bamberg two years ago and visited. It was the first time he had been there since 1967. (19:21) It looked pretty much the same, except maybe a little cleaner. Bamberg was a small farming town with many private breweries that make beer and wine. �                        Gary keeps in touch with one man that he served with; he currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri. When he was first inducted into the service, he was in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was then bussed to basic training. (21:33) When he went to Germany, he took a train to Fort Dix and was there for only three days before he was flown over to Germany on a military transport plane. In Germany, he was able to take leave and travel over Europe by train. While there, he was given emergency leave to come home to the states because his father had a heart attack. The post was two miles from downtown Bamberg, so when the weather was nice they would walk into town. Gary was paid once a month. When he was drafted, he was paid $90 a month and when he was discharged, he was making $250 a month. (23:45) In Germany, he could go into town and get a big sandwich, fries and a one liter mug of beer for $1.75. His base also had an NCO club that had entertainment. They would also have softball tournaments and picnics. A battery was about 120 people. Total number of people on his base was about 1200 – 1500 people. (26:39) The ranks of the Army go as such: private, private first class, private second class or specialist 4, sergeant or specialist 5, staff sergeant and the highest sergeant is the master sergeant. The officers have: second lieutenant, first lieutenant, major, colonel and general. (28:20) In basic training, they get you in shape. They did a lot of running and also bayonet training, gas warfare training, night warfare, inspections, weapon assembly and cleaning. After basic training everyone was given a special training school such as infantry or motor transport. Gary was sent to communications. (30:28) At Fort Jackson, they called it Pole City, and they learned how to climb telephone poles and string telephone wire. When Gary was sent to Fort Gordon, he learned about class A rotary and field telephones. Fort Dix was only a transfer base, but they still had KP and Guard Duties. Guard duty was for two hour shifts starting at 6pm until 6am. (32:32) Gary also took classes on photography and developing film. He also did not learn to speak German while in country, because most of the people could speak English. When he was drafted, his family was concerned but he did not pay much attention to Vietnam and what was going on. At the time Gary was drafted, about 50 others were also drafted but he did not know them because he was so much older than they were. Most of them were right out of high school. (36:42) Many of these men wanted to see some action so they transferred to Vietnam. The weapons that he worked with in Germany were like a bulldozer with a cannon on the front. (40:31) Germany had many other American military posts in the area. (43:02) �   Each post had a different mission, such as infantry posts and artillery posts. They also had supply and ordinance posts. The weather was similar to Michigan, except no snow. Winter would have lots of rain. (46:38) Gary would have served anywhere his country needed him to, but is thankful he was sent to Germany instead of Vietnam. � 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 WermuthG1526V Title A name given to the resource Wermuth, Gary (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wermuth, Gary Description An account of the resource Gary was born near Ithaca, Michigan and later attended Michigan State University. He graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1965. Gary received his draft notice in January 1966 for the United States Army. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training and later attended communications school at Fort Gordon. Gary was stationed in Germany for 18 months and served with the 6th Battalion, 10th Artillery, Headquarters Battery located in Bamberg. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jansma, Samantha (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 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 2013-05-29 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/f63334befa6fab25e9cbd84d8ee5a7f2.mp4 7ae7939612e0a61b58a6982fe638025e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b562aff167c1618dc2beb8556948a6e7.pdf 9494a071f8d99dcc823885be9990d188 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Vietnam Name of Interviewee: Steve Wendt Length of Interview: 00:18:37 Background:                   Steve served in the United States Navy from the Fall of 1968 to the Fall of 1972. He attained a rank of E4 while he was in. He was an engine repairman. He served in Vietnam from February of 1970 to February of 1971. He was in the Brownwater Navy, which was Navy Gunboats. Most of his time was spent in the Mekong Delta. He would also run secret operations in Cambodia. The main job while on those gunboats would be to set up ambushes to catch the Viet Cong who tried crossing the rivers at night. He was in the Navy for 4 years. He got married while he was in the service, and his wife had come to live with him while he served in New Hampshire. He had 8 duty stations: Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, Great Lakes, California, the Panama Canal (3 times), Nova Scotia, Canada. He joined the Navy after high school. He would have been drafted if he didn’t join. He did not want to go to Vietnam, but since he was going anyway he signed up for the Navy because he did not want to join the Army or the Navy. His first opportunity that he heard about the boats, he volunteered to serve on them, and they sent him off right away. He has been married for 39 years and has 2 children. His summer job, before he joined the Navy, was a watchman for Michigan Consolidated Gas Company. When he came back from the Navy he worked at a Tool and Dye Shop. He enlisted because he did not want to get drafted. He chose the Navy because it seemed more exciting than the others. While he served in combat, over in Vietnam, he had been in severe combat. Active Duty (3:00)     One of the most memorable experiences of while he was serving was when he was in Cambodia. One day, he and the others that he served with actually caught a Viet Cong. He got a picture of him and he was in charge of him while the VC was on the boat. His unit did suffer some casualties. One time, there were two casualties, when an Army helicopter shot at them. He was told that the reason he was there was to replace someone who had been blown up by a rocket. In his unit, there were not many casualties beyond that. (3:40) �                 He was afraid a couple of time while he was serving. Once they had set up a little spy station over some rice paddies. Some guys were coming and they hid in the nearby bushes, and they walked right by. Most of the food they lived off of was C-rations. If you lucky enough to be on a base, you would enjoy the hot food there. They would also throw grenades into the water and knock fish out and eat them. Most of time, because he and the others worked 12-14 hour nights, was spent sleeping. If you weren’t asleep, you were getting the boat ready for the next mission. For the first three weeks when he was there, he did not have any sort of form of communication. But after that, the letters came frequently enough. He was a good letter writer. In the year that he was in Vietnam, he may have called home twice. He doesn’t remember doing much for recreation. Sometimes he and the other guys would go to the bar and talk, but there really wasn’t much to do there. Most of his holidays were spent at home, he planned it that way. He did spent one Christmas on guard duty at one of the bases he was at. He remembers being very lonely. He met his wife before they got out of high school. Jeanie would go to college while he served in the Navy. Just before he went to Vietnam, they got engaged. And when he got home, they had a small window of time, so they got married. (7:30) He doesn’t remember much of when he got out of the service, but he does remember coming home from Vietnam. None of the soldiers came home in uniform because they were afraid of the ridicule waiting for them when they got home. Instead, they traveled in civilian clothing. There were no parades or congratulations waiting for you. You just came home and that was it. He learned mechanical skills while he was in the service. He says that he can fix almost anything, though he did not use those skills for most of his working life up until the last 5 or 6 years. When the war ended, he and his family were living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He and his wife had just bought a house and he remembers watching the news, which showed people trying to escape the city before the communists got there. After he got out of the service, he looked for work. He eventually ended up at a General Motors company. They sent him to a supervisory school, and he was a supervisor on and off, in different factories for about 30 years. He has two very close friends. One was from high school, which had joined the Coast Guard. He sees him regularly. He did have another friend he made while in the Navy. And he would also have another friend who would marry his wife’s best friend. His wartime career did not contribute to his working career until the last 5 or 6 years of working. He is a member of the American Legion, a veteran’s organization, but he does not attend any meetings or clubs. Although he has not gone to any reunions, he does receive a letter and has not seen one available to go to yet. Otherwise he would like to go. (11:30) �       Next is shown a showcase of all the medals and awards given to him while he was in the service. If you were at a ceremony or something like that, you would wear the full medal. If you were just out on duty, you would just wear the ribbon. One was for good conduct, three or four were from the Vietnam Campaign, one is for a special merit award for a secret Cambodia operation, one is for Navy Marksman. There is also Vietnamese money in the case as well. This money has no value on the world market. You were not allowed to have real money while in Vietnam. Instead you would have to use a special certificate. One of his first missions was to help get a ship ready that would star in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! The ship had just been painted and he had helped prepare the ship. In the early spring of 1971, America was given permission by Cambodia and Vietnam to assist the Vietnamese who were told to go back to Vietnam from Cambodia. All the refugees were told to leave, and the VC and the Communists were trying to kill them as they went home. His job was to patrol the rivers and help the Vietnamese people get home safely. Other Memories (15:00)         While he was in Pearl Harbor one night, and one of his jobs was to give cable to Japanese ship that no one knew was there. The Japanese ship came in under the cover of night and they supplied them with cable and then left before anyone knew they had been there. They figured that Americans would be upset seeing a Japanese ship there, so they had to do it secretly. While on his missions, he would also be through a hurricane, a typhoon in Alaska. He would also be near the Elusion Islands, where the Russians would be everywhere around their ship. There would also be a day, a windy day, when he was working on a ship and one of the officers was killed in an accident. While he and his wife lived in New Hampshire, they took a vacation into the While Mountains for a few weeks. He volunteered for Vietnam, and he would not change his mind, and he would do it again. He believes that the reasons we are there were good and he would do it again. When he got home, his family was very supportive. But you did not come home looking like a soldier. You had to be very worried about people attacking you because of your involvement in the war. You came home quietly and went on to your next duty, whatever that might be. Most of the veterans from Vietnam will say that they are not appreciated and that they should not have been there. But most of them are still proud to have served their country. � 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 WendtS Title A name given to the resource Wendt, Steven (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wendt, Steven Description An account of the resource Steve Wendt served in the US Navy between 1968 and 1972. He did a tour in Vietnam as an engine mechanic working on river craft on the Mekong River. He went on numerous patrols and saw combat on a regular basis. His unit went into Cambodia on a number of occasions, and helped to escort Vietnamese refugees from Cambodia back into Vietnam. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Walsh, Mitchell (Interviewer) Wendt, Jason (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. 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 2010-05-03 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/c0b0ef8a3ba927671a46e89fdfe76a63.mp4 c72f282354b82541ed6f97f4001f13ec https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/19007b545353dd4e157612e64e98de09.pdf 15987f994f74829610f47472c414e874 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project John Wells Korean War/French Indochina War 47 minutes 55 seconds (00:00:39) Early Life -Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930 -Family moved to Michigan after he was born -Muskegon, Michigan in 1931 -Family lived there for five to six years -Moved to Manistee, Michigan -Father ran the Chamber of Commerce there -Wound up in Grand Rapids, Michigan -Father ran the West Michigan Tourist and Resort Association -Went to high school in Manistee and Grand Rapids -Graduated from Central High School in Grand Rapids in 1949 (00:02:02) Awareness of World War II -Older brother was in the Michigan National Guard -Part of the 126th Infantry Regiment out of Muskegon -He was stationed in Louisiana and then joined the Army Air Corps -Flew bombing raids on B-17 bombers -Shot down twice over Germany -Was a prisoner of war for a year and a half -Brother came home after the war and went to college (00:03:39) Army National Guard -He was attending Grand Rapids Community College and serving in the Army National Guard -Part of the Officer Candidate Program -Specialized as a machine gunner in the National Guard -Went to Camp Grayling for training -Went for three summers -Learned how to fire heavy weapons (machine guns and bazookas) -Enjoyed the time spent at Camp Grayling -Battalion and company commanders were WWII veterans (00:05:53) Enlisting in the Air Force -There was a possibility that National Guard units would be sent to fight in the Korean War -Father had a lunch with Governor Williams -Told that his (John’s) National Guard unit was next up to be sent to Korea -Transferred into the Air Force -Wanted better living conditions if he was going to be sent to Korea -Joined the Air Force in February 1951 (00:07:10) Air Force Basic Training -Sent to Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas for basic training -Taught the basics of marching and close order drill -Also had fire arm training with how to properly handle and fire a carbine rifle �-There was a heavy emphasis on discipline in basic training -Concept wasn’t foreign to him after serving in the National Guard -Made basic training easier for him -Stayed at Lackland AFB for about eight weeks (00:08:40) University of Southern California School of Aeronautics -Sent to USC School of Aeronautics for further Air Force training -Enjoyed training there -People were friendly -Able to hitchhike into Los Angeles on the weekends -Saw USO shows and given tours of Hollywood -Taught the basic aircraft maintenance fundamentals -Aviation electronics, engine repair and maintenance, how to check for problems -Given a large amount of hands on training -Had to take an engine apart, repair it, and put it back together -Worked with propeller engines only, jet engines were still being introduced into the Air Force -Course lasted fifteen weeks -Got college credit (00:10:34) Chanute Field, Illinois -After UCS School of Aeronautics he was sent to Chanute Field, Illinois -Given specialized training with the R350 engines used on the B-29 bomber -Larger and more elaborate engines than what he had worked with in the past -Training lasted nine weeks -He was able to visit Chicago on three day leaves -Also able to visit the University of Illinois and try to meet girls there (00:11:30) George Air Force Base, California -First deployment was to George Air Force Base north of Victorville, California -Located in the Mojave Desert -Stayed there for almost a year -Worked as a crew chief on a B-26 light bomber -Enjoyed the deployment -Hitchhiked to Los Angeles -Able to watch movies or see USO shows -Base was about sixty miles away from the city -Able to fly a lot during his time there -Regularly flown to nearby bases to repair aircraft there -Had to ride in the rear gunner position on the B-26 -Remembers flying over an atomic bomb factory (00:14:39) Visiting Home -Went home frequently while at Chanute -A few other soldiers were from Grand Rapids so they would car pool together -They would leave base on a Friday and get back to base on Sunday -While in California he wasn’t able to visit home (00:15:21) Tow Target Squadron -While at George Air Force Base he largely ignored the Korean War -Unaware of the situation there -His unit was a Stateside squadron that wouldn’t be deployed �-Pulled radar patrol missions in Canada to make sure the radar could pick up Soviet aircraft -He was a part of the 4th Tow Target Squadron -Worked as a crew chief -Duty was to tow a target behind a B-26 -Target practice for the anti-aircraft batteries (00:16:55) Deployment to Japan -Three or four men from his squadron were selected every month for an overseas deployment -Rotation system eventually got to him -Spent Christmas 1952 on a troop transport headed for Japan -Didn’t get seasick -Weather wasn’t bad -Sailed over with a couple thousand other soldiers -Voyage to Japan took about two weeks -Landed in Yokohama, Japan and kept at an Army holding base until he received his assignment (00:19:05) Ashiya Air Force Base -Sent by train to Ashiya Air Force Base, Kyushu, Japan -Southernmost Major Island in Japan -Fifty miles directly across from Pusan, Korea -Assigned to the 816th “Packet Rats” Troop Carrier Squadron -Used the C119 troop transport/cargo plane -About twice the size of the C-47 troop transport used in WWII -Used C119s to parachute supplies into Korea -He worked as an engine technician repairing C119 engines -He would get flown to Korea to repair engines there as well (00:22:10) Downtime during Deployment to Japan/Korea -Given three day passes while at Ashiya Air Force Base -Base was close to a small fishing community -Japanese were friendly -There was a movie theatre on base -Saw Bob Hope perform at the base a couple times -In Korea only stayed on bases long enough to repair engines and then fly back -Never got a chance to see any Korean villages that were nearby (00:23:24) Deployment to Vietnam -On a Sunday in May 1953 he received orders to report to base headquarters -Reported to Colonel Casey along with two other soldiers -Told they were being sent on a classified mission to Saigon, French Indochina (Vietnam) -Given proper vaccinations and a haircut -Flown to Saigon the same Sunday at 4 PM -Stayed overnight in Saigon -Woke up the next day to find the U.S. insignia had been replaced with a French one -Flew up to Nha Trang on the coast of Vietnam -Stayed in a French villa -Served complimentary beer and food paid for by the French government -From Nha Trang they were flown to Hanoi -Shared the airport there with Air France and Pan Am -Stayed in Hanoi for three weeks �(00:26:27) Duties in Vietnam -Assignment was to repair engines -Also had to help with basic aircraft maintenance and functions -Stationed there in the midst of the French Indochina War -Could hear artillery being fired outside of Hanoi -Saw maps that showed that Viet Minh forces were surrounding Hanoi -Aircraft were dropping troops and supplies into Dien Bien Phu to build an air base there -Surrounded by Viet Minh artillery -High susceptible to crippling artillery strikes -U.S. C119s were being used for supply missions to Dien Bien Phu -Flown by contracted civilian American pilots -Touch and go supply drops -Area was too dangerous to actually landed, just dropped supplies and took off -Moved out of Hanoi to avoid drawing attention from civilians -Moved to Haiphong -Also moved out of Hanoi because the supply chain was being destroyed by Viet Minh -Fuel trains were regularly being blown up (00:31:43) Conditions in Vietnam -Operating in Haiphong was more secure -Still took fire in the outlying areas around Hai Fong though -In French airbases they were served cognac and wine for a very low price -Rats were a common problem in Vietnam -Vietnam was very hot -Allowed to change into French military uniforms -U.S. troops were being recognized and attacked by Viet Minh soldiers (00:35:15) Leaving Vietnam -Only stayed in Vietnam for about two months -Dien Bien Phu did not fall while he was there -Not told why they were being taken out of Vietnam so soon -Later on told that it was due to keeping operations secret and for health reasons -Very high rates of dysentery in Vietnam -Flown back to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for a health examination (00:36:25) Redeployment to Japan Pt. 1 -After Clark Air Base he was flown back to Ashiya Air Base in Japan -Back in Japan he followed the French Indochina War very closely -Wasn’t surprised when the French surrendered at Dien Bien Phu -Area was too vulnerable to be sustained (00:36:57) Relationship with French and Vietnamese -Had a great amount of respect for the French Foreign Legion soldiers -Had a good relationship with the French troops -Remembers a colonial soldier from Senegal and had a good friendship with him -French troops could always recognize the American troops at checkpoints because of accents -Vietnamese civilians were very friendly towards Americans -Vietnamese children wanted to practice their English with American troops -No sign of animosity towards Americans -Only ever interacted with Vietnamese civilians in the surrounding areas outside of bases �(00:40:05) Redeployment to Japan Pt. 2 -After Korean War Armistice the focus shifted from Korea to Vietnam -Large amount of supply missions were being flown from Japan to Vietnam -Constantly repairing engines for the aircraft -Never got used to, or enjoyed, Japanese food -Didn’t really get off the base much during his second time in Japan -Remembers that the nearby fishing town had an 11PM to 6AM curfew (00:42:32) Hill Air Force Base -Returned to the United States on a Navy transport -Crossed under the San Francisco Bay Bridge -Greeted by horn blasts and water jets in the harbor -At the dock a band played “California Here I Come” -Sent to Hill Air Force Base, Utah -Stayed there for a year -Got an early release to go back to college -While at Hill AFB he was an engine technician (same job that he’d had before) -Still worked with transport aircraft -Job expanded to include bombers while he was in Utah (00:44:39) Leaving the Air Force and Life after the Air Force -Encouraged to extend his enlistment and stay in the Air Force by officers -Got out in January 1955 -Went to school for optometry at the Illinois College of Optometry -Visited the campus once during a trip from Chinook Field to Grand Rapids -Later when he applied he was accepted in immediately -In the fall 1955 he went to college -After three years he graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry -Returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan and started his own optometry practice -Shared his office with President Ford’s younger brother, Jim Ford (00:47:02) Reflections on Service -Still respects the Air Force very much -Had great officers that led him and extremely capable enlisted men he worked alongside -Appreciated the responsibility that he had to take � 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 WellsJ1590V Title A name given to the resource Wells, John (Interview outline and video), 2014 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wells, John Description An account of the resource John Wells was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930 and his family moved to Michigan in 1931, graduating from high school in 1949 in Grand Rapids. He then attended Grand Rapids Community College and served in the Michigan Army National Guard. After hearing rumors that his National Guard unit would be deployed to fight in the Korean War he decided to transfer to the Air Force in February 1951. He received training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas; University of Southern California School of Aeronautics, Santa Maria, California; and Chanute Field, Illinois. He was first stationed at George Air Force Base, California with the 4th Tow Target Squadron and then sent to Ashiya Air Force Base in Kyushu, Japan where he served with the 816th "Packet Rats" Troop Carrier Squadron flying supply and repair missions to Korea. From May to July of 1953 he served in Vietnam as an engine technician aiding the French air force at the time when they were building the base at Dien Bien Phu. He returned to Japan after his short stint in Vietnam, served a year at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, and left the Air Force in January 1955. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. National Guard United States. Air Force 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 2014-04-03 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/15138b6a72cf1c90b9404942bf5b043a.mp4 eb13bc324441ec39ec1538d5c2a3d56f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5f13d447149d3f0182d9d1573bf98f44.pdf f1f0c2b52a082dba651349e449bca01d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Gerald Wells (18:10) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Was in the service 1953-1955 (:07) Born 11/11/1932 (0:14) Lived with his father, his mother, and his elder brother. His brother was ten years older. (0:18) He lived on a small farm, he worked with the horses. (0:32) His father was a farmer, his mother was a practical nurse. (0:42) His father had been raised on a farm and decided to start his own farm after losing his job for political reasons. (1:00) His first car was a 1939 Plymouth convertible, it had two seats and a rumble seat in the trunk. (1:17) The car had no seatbelts. Seatbelts were not widespread until the 1960's. (1:53) He hung out at the Christian drugstore. The drugstore had a soda fountain, ice cream, and sandwiches. His favorite treat was the lemon malt, which cost ten to fifteen cents. (2:02) He had an appendix operation in high school. (2:35) His first job was a mason's tender for Barry Construction. He carried bricks, mixed cement and mud, and ran errands. (2:55) The job lasted a few months, in the summer. (3:07) Doesn't recall his wages, but probably under a dollar an hour. (3:24) WWII began when he was eleven. His brother served in WWII, and he lost some cousins in the war as well. (3:49) Everything was rationed, gas, tires, no cars were made. (4:00) Meats, sugar, flour, all the groceries were rationed as well. (4:11) Food was not a major problem for his family, due to the farm. Sugar, gas, and other staples not produced by the farm were sometimes problematic. (4:48) He had four years of high school, and two years of college at MSU. He majored in agricultural engineering. (5:00) He was drafted into the army. He had been in the Navy for two years prior to his Army service (5:27) Applied to serve in the Navy when he was drafted, but did not meet their requirements. He was able to meet the Army physical requirements, noting they had different doctors. (5:47) Drafted Feb 9th, 1953. (6:03) Went to Georgia for two years, where was an instructor. (6:17) Instructed troops on military code of ethics, and use of firearms. (6:31) Forts Gordon and Seward. (6:57) Went to the movies, bars, and chased girls in his free time. (7:06) Did not have a steady girlfriend while in the Army. (7:13) It was about fifty cents to go to the movies. (7:20) Had “army chow” in the service, which they complained about often. Notes that “it was good food, but the cooks ruined it most of the time.” (7:23) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Frequent meal was chipped beef and gravy on toast. Tasted bad, but was passable with enough salt and pepper. (7:57) Was a good shot, enjoyed shooting the rifles. (8:21) Integration was just starting while he was in Georgia. He did not experience problems in his classes. (8:34) Some problems related to race outside the classroom. (9:00) He was not outranked by any African Americans. Since integration had just begun, few had reached higher ranks. (9:14) He was a military policeman as well. Almost all of the MPs were white. (9:30) The white men were not allowed to go into “black parts” of town. Black MPs were sent to patrol that area. (9:38) Misfires with rifles were rare, but occurred. (10:02) No one was injured as a result of misfired. (10:10) His classes were similar to high school classes today. (10:21) Trained recruits with weapons to the best of their ability. Felt somewhat sorry for the troops, as they were sent to active duty (10:44) Had a teacher-student relationship with the recruits. (10:56) Spent about six hours per day teaching. (11:10) After the service, he used his accrued leave to visit his brother in New York. Next he went home. (11:30) His brother owned a paper box factory. (11:52) He went back to work at Beecher's Food company, as the clean up man. (11:56) He was trained to be the “swing-man.” This meant he covered other worker's shift if they were sick or otherwise unavailable. Sometimes this result in working two consecutive shifts, which was exhausting. (12:45) Enjoyed his work. Was paid perhaps $1.00/hour. Got married while working. (12:45) He and his wife made less than $4,000 per year combined. (13:03) Bough his first car for $2,600 new. (13:19) Re-adjusted to civilian life very easily. (13:34) Has five daughters dispersed throughout the United States. Has five grand-daughters, the youngest of which is a sophomore in high school. (14:00) Married 11/10/1955, a day before his birthday. Didn't want to forgot his anniversary.(14:40) Divorced 1958. (14:44) Believes every young person should enlist for two years, it would do them good. The military teaches people to be independent. (15:14) Military taught him to obey rules, and to take care of himself. Going out of the base required a pass, which meant he had to keep up on his chores. (15:41) Only regrets his divorce, which was the result of miscommunication. Despite the divorce, he is still on good terms with his ex-wife. (16:32) Believes the war in Iraq is a mess, but would serve again if he were younger. (16:40) A volunteer service leads to higher quality military. The drafted soldiers �• don't care as much.(17:08) Military had a rigid hierarchy. (17:47) � 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 WellsG Title A name given to the resource Wells, Gerald A. (Interview outline and video) 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wells, Gerald A. Description An account of the resource Gerald served as an instructor in the Army from 1953 to 1955, despite failing his physical for the Navy. Gerald focuses mostly on his home life prior to and after enlistment. He also briefly recounts the complications of integration of the armed forces. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Greenwald, Tegan (Interviewer) Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army Other veterans & civilians--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 2007-05-30 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/b645bf3abefd362470b628c9ec4b8db1.mp4 1e9a31585a94ebdb5ffa2e5378931293 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/401c74d5ba43e3e2548a627f801132ee.pdf 57c5c919dace38d57e60e25e36046f16 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Vietnam War Gene Welch Interview Total Time: 57:54 Background  (00:12) Born in June of 1942 on a small farm in Pennsylvania o Grew up here o Midland, Pennsylvania o His father was a welder, mother was a housewife but also did farm work  (00:55) Remembers working on the farm as a young boy  (1:05) Finished high school in June of 1960 o After graduating, looked for a job but knew the country was going into a recession at the time o In August of 1960, joined the Navy o His father was in the Navy and felt that it was a better service for Mr. Welch, because of his metal working background Training  (2:25) Great Lakes Training Center north of Chicago for basic training  (3:23) Got out there by train  (3:50) Describes the first couple of days as a “flurry of activity”  (4:13) Got a physical here  (4:48) No draftees when he was here, said the army was the only group who drafted at this time  (5:14) Says most of the guys were here to get some training for a job or to get away from family  (5:47) Training consisted of getting up early, marching, learning how to use a rifle o He knew how to use a rifle and a shotgun o Did paper and bookwork as well o Learned terminology later on  (6:35) Not a lot of emphasis on discipline, which was surprising  (7:20) Most of the guys who were training him were just a few years older  (8:00) Basic training was 9 weeks o Decided that he wanted to go to a welding school in San Diego  (9:06) Took a train to San Diego o Took about 4 days, very few stops �      (9:29) The base was located on a hill o The place he was at was a school for people who were going into jobs related to mechanical things o Machine and welding shops, etc. (10:38) Arrived here in November in 1960 and noticed that people were sunbathing – he really appreciating the weather (11:20) 8-5 schedule (11:40) He trained to be a welder/metalsmith o Did a lot of sheet metal work o Made ductwork for air conditioning, etc. o Welding high pressure steam lines from the boilers and outside of the ship, etc. o This was easy for Mr. Welch to learn o There were guys from all over the country here (14:20) In boot camp, about 10% of the recruits were black, 7-8% in the training school o There were also people who had Italian, Greek, Mexican backgrounds, etc. (15:31) This training school lasted about 12 weeks o After completing this, he had a choice to go home for awhile o Didn’t do this because he’d been home for two weeks after basic training Overseas  (16:30) Met a girl whose father was on the USS Klondike – which was a repair ship o This is the ship he went aboard o The ship was about 800 feet long, 150 feet wide  Deep draft because of all the tools on board  There was a full carpenter shop o Probably about the same size as a cruiser o (18:13) About 600 men in the crew  (18:31) Thought they’d be in port for awhile doing repairs, but they headed out to the Western Pacific two months later o Headed for Japan  (19:40) Once he got on the ship, went directly to the welding shop o Lived on the ship while they were in port  (20:41) On the way to Japan, they stopped in Honolulu o Stayed here about 4-5 days to refuel and restock o Got to go off the ship o From San Diego to Japan it took over three weeks  (21:24) First stop in Japan was Sasebo o At this time it was the largest American naval facility in Japan �o o o o          45 miles from Hiroshima At this time, Japanese accepted Americans pretty well Got to look around a bit 3 evenings off, had a curfew  If they stayed overnight, they had to give an address o Interacted with natives a lot o Had to stay in uniform at this time – had to get special permission to wear civilian clothes (25:16) They were organized in groups for certain jobs (26:25) After Japan, they went to Hong Kong for a week o This was like R&R o Went into mainland China and wore civilian clothes  This was an area they weren’t supposed to go in – Kau Lung (28:24) Went to the Philippines next; Subic Bay o Here for a couple of months o They stayed on the ship and sometimes went off base into the town o There were lots of bars! o They were here during election time and couldn’t leave the base for a few days during the election (30:10) While in the Philippines, they got warnings about how to behave around the natives o Some people were in trouble and got sent home for getting into fights (31:12) Mr. Welch said that if he had a choice, he would have stayed long term at Sasebo, Japan o The natives there were not so aggressive as the Filipinos o He liked the Filipino natives but said they could be hard to live with (31:44) Came back to San Diego after the Philippines – total time about 6 months o This was about 1962 (32:27) After getting back to the US, he got a job as a dishwasher, then a bartender, and then got an apartment (was still in the Navy and doing these things on the side) o Some of the barmaids wanted to be his roommates o He got arrested for “running a house of ill repute” (not exactly the case) o Two weeks later he got transfer papers to go to an oiler ship in Long Beach (34:00) The civilian jobs were at night o This was a common thing for people to do at this time (35:18) Life on the oiler was much different than on the Klondike o Oiler spends a lot more time at sea because their job is to refuel other ships o Went back to Japan �         o Filled up in San Pedro and refueled ships on the way over to Japan  A lot of this was practice  Constant training (36:33) He was directly part of the refueling as well (38:02) On the oiler ship, they never spent more than 4-5 days in port except for San Diego (38:11) Went from Japan to Taiwan, stayed there a few days, filled up with oil o US had a contract with Taiwan to buy oil at this time o Then they went to the coast of Vietnam (39:07) October or November of 1962 was when they arrived at Vietnam o They got shot at near the south shore of Vietnam o Near the DMZ (42:54) He was on the coast of Vietnam for no more than two days o Refueled in Japan and went to the Philippines, then to Hong Kong (43:35) Went to Hong Kong first, remembers that there were lots of women who painted the ship for them (44:31) Got orders to go to South China Sea and refuel Australian ships o These were the roughest seas he’d ever seen o Lost footing in the waves and at one point he was washed overboard – the rope was too long o Did lots of pitching and rolling o This was towards the end of his tour (47:20) Remembers having a cable break on the Chemung (oiler ship) and it took off a guy’s leg (47:58) Remembers getting offers to reenlist towards the end of his tour o Got a small pay raise offer o Considered going into underwater welding but he couldn’t do it because he had a few fillings in his teeth o Had two years in active reserves left Home  (49:20) Got back to the US in late 1963 o Before this, they wanted to rebuild the Chemung, so they had it in dry-dock o Mr. Welch participated in this  (50:49) Stationed at Long Beach and got out in July of 1964 o Had an apartment on shore after he was married  (51:50) Got a job in California doing metal work �  o Stayed at this company for a few years and then took his Navy experience and went to a refinery in Southern California for 22 years (52:26) Lived in California until 1989 o A few years earlier, he had the idea to move because of political and economic problems o Moved to Bellingham, Washington for 11 years o In 1999 they decided to move to Michigan, his wife’s family lived there  It was 2000 when they officially moved (55:00) He says that his time in the Navy taught him a lot about discipline even though they weren’t really strict about it o Still had a sense of what was right and wrong, etc. o How to be careful o He said he’d do it over again o Would recommend it to young people � 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 WelchG1330V Title A name given to the resource Welch, Eugene (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Welch, Eugene Description An account of the resource Gene Welch was born near Midland, Pennsylvania in 1942. After graduating high school in 1960, he decided to join the Navy. Mr. Welch received his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Academy, and then went to a training school in San Diego to specialize in welding and metal working. He worked on the repair ship USS Klondike and the oiler USS Chemung. He made cruises to Japan, The Philippines, and Hong Kong on both of them. After returning to the United States in 1963, he was stationed at Long Beach for another year while the Chemung was being overhauled. 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 Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-10-17 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/2c090d45e29f06aa8914ab6b725ff766.mp4 d839fe45523ee19e86de239075a2bc69 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/19b527bc8efa0124ff5be9223f858573.pdf 5448c84e41927a96333c06bb0370870c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Charles Weingate (00:46:21) (00:24) Pre-Enlistment • • • • • • • (00:30) Born in West Hazelton, PA Father was a coal miner Moved to Grand Rapids so father could work as a cabinet maker Remembers hardships of Great Depression Attended Union High School, Graduated in February, 1944 Drafted in November, 1944 Army Allowed him to graduate (04:20) Training • • • • • • • • • • • • • (04:35) Went to Fort Crowder, MO. Learned how to be in Signal Corps. Given comprehension test on signals such as Morse Code, and a good score on that got you into the Signal Corps. Was initially going to be sent to Asia. Loaded all of the equipment on to the train, and left. Got as far as Kansas before they got the information that they were going to Europe. Train had to turn around and head to New York instead. (09:10) Camp Crowder was location for Basic Training. (13:15) Was trained as a Radio Operator in Specialist Training. Four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening of practicing code. (14:40) 2000 men were taken in at Pine Camp, NY from Camp Crowder, MO, in June 1944. 200 were kept at the end of the program. Every man in the outfit had to learn how to drive every type of vehicle that the outfit used (16:20) The purpose of the outfit was to make sound so as to make the enemy think that there were more troops there than there were. Learned everything about sound, for instance the difference between day and night. (17:10) Worked with wire-mag to create the sound. Sound was projected through speaker in the turret of the M-10 tank destroyer. (18:20) Worked with the equipment in New York before they are shipped out. (19:20) Pine Camp was a location where they kept Italian POWs Lieutenant was replaced right before they were shipped over seas. �(21:50) Active Duty • • • • • • • • • • • • Transported on the Ship “Blue Goose” to Naples, Italy. Encountered a storm. Travelled in a convoy. (26:00) Was transported to Pisa, and stayed in a house that held 200 men for about a week. (26:50) Were then sent to Upper Apennines. Their job was to take tanks into mountains and make sounds so to make the Germans think that there were more tanks there than there were. (27:30) They had a battalion of British attached to them that used rubber tanks and canvas to fake the Germans into attacking the fake tanks, rather than the real tanks. (27:55) They were trying to weaken the German lines an allow the Americans to break through. They did this by tricking the Germans into thinking that there were more troops and tanks there than there were. They were fired upon on their first night. (30:50) He was in a ¾ Ton truck. He was a radio operator for the platoon. (32:25) After the Germans surrendered, they broke into the Po Valley, and captured some German soldiers. Stayed in the valley for a couple weeks. Moved then into the Southern Alps. (33:50) Given orders to move to Rome and be shipped to Asia, but that was cancelled after the war ended. Was then given the choice of what to do at the end of the war. He chose to go to the Air Force. He was shipped to Naples and helped catalogue and ship different items. Was promoted twice, achieved Tech Sergeant. (35:35) Then got enough points to be shipped home in June, 1946. During time in Naples, was able to gain some photography equipment. (38:30) Post-War • • • (38:30) Shipped to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin for discharge. Proceeded home to Michigan Got a job at a plating company after the war, then worked in die casting � 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 WeingateC Title A name given to the resource Weingate, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weingate, Charles Description An account of the resource Charles Weingate was born in West Hazelton, Pennsylvania and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan as a child. He was drafted into the Army in 1944 before finishing high school, but was allowed to finish. He became a radio operator in the Signal Corps. His unit's objective was to create a source of sound to deceive the enemy into thinking that there were more Americans present than there were. He landed in Naples and operated throughout the Italian peninsula. He spent some time in Italy working for the Air Force after the war was over. He was sent home in 1946. After the war, he worked several jobs, most of which were in factories. 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.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans 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 2007-12-13 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/404147b502e5b5a6842a26b31511c45a.mp4 e85de1c2d57b8ca1a521f2cb13e7883f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5b83014a6e0180b8552a0e80dc42a79e.pdf b74059e6bd0b459be467233ee834f2b4 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee: Fred Weidner Length of Interview: 00:39:25 Background              Born on November 25, 1922 in Muskegon, Michigan. His father was a metal pattern maker and his mother was home maker. He would grow up in Muskegon until he was 18 [19] years old when he joined the service. His father had to switch his occupation from one city to another, but they still lived in the same place. He was an only child. He would live with foster parents. He would learn about Pearl Harbor from the newspapers. He knew about what was going on in the world and he knew we would probably go to war soon, though not with Japan. His foster father had come from Germany and he would serve in the Pacific so as to not accidentally meet up with his family and friend while in combat. He went through high school and joined the military in 1942. He worked for a while before he joined the army, but would end up volunteering to join the armed forces. Since he wasn’t 20, he was able to pick the branch of service that he wanted to go into. He tried to get into the Navy but did not pass their physical exam. Instead he would join the Army. For basic training he was sent to Camp Hahn, in California. That is near Riverside. Training (4:30)        The camp itself was really nice. It was a new base, with new barracks and things like that. When they got there they would learn how to fire a rifle and did lots of marching and drilling. He would march 15 miles. Others with bad feet would quit, but he would go all the way. He was in good shape at the time. He would do his specialized training for anti-aircraft fire at Camp Hahn as well. He was learning how to use and repair the weapons during his training. He learned out to shoot the 30 caliber rifle, 50 caliber machine guns and the search light. He did not train in the larger guns. When he learned how to use the search light, they learned how to clean them and use them. He ran the district electric control system, which was used to position the search light. �          He would practice using the search light at night. They would practice finding drones at night. They were similar to the toy planes that people played with. He would spend a year at Camp Hahn. When he finished he was a Corporal at the time. He had been five times. He would get busted each time for insubordination for things like talking out of turn. After that he was sent to Florida and Georgia for training with the Air Corps. Here he would be able to train with the search light for real planes. He would be assigned to the 222nd Searchlight Battalion in Camp Hahn. He would stay down there for about 6 months between Georgia and Florida. While in training, he did not have much liberty to leave the base to do his own thing. But there was plenty to do in the Camps, like an obstacle course and a gun range. While he was there, Bob Hope came a number of times, especially while he was overseas. He would go home right before he went overseas, in 1943. He was sent overseas in 1944, early in the year. He left from San Francisco on a Dutch ship. The US would pay these ships to take the American soldiers over in there ship so they wouldn’t be noticed on the ocean. War in the Pacific (13:05)                The ship would sail by itself, and it would carry all the equipment as well as the soldiers over. The unit itself was at full strength, or 1000 people. When they were traveling, the pistons went out on the ship and they sat idle for 3 days. No one came to help, but they fixed it themselves. He decided before he set sail that he would not let himself be captured. Instead he would rather drown. He landed in New Guinea, which is where he unloaded. While they were there, they had to do some form of training; he chose boxing and swimming. The training they were doing would help prepare them for the invasion of the Philippines. While he was there, he was given drugs to help fight diseases like malaria. He took some, but not all of them. He would not catch any of the tropical diseases while he was there. He put a mosquito net around his bed and he kept himself dry. This would help a lot. He would then go from Finschaefen to Aitape. It was a nicer place than Finschaefen, a lot less muddy. He saw Bob Hope when he was in New Guinea. He put on a good program. It was funny sometimes and serious at other times. They kept him fed fairly well. While he was in New Guinea, he did not have any problems with the Japanese. Although he had been trained in the search light, there was not a whole lot for him to do there. From New Guinea, he went straight to Luzon. (21:00) He and the others tried to take a ship to Luzon, and it took 7 tries before they could get into Luzon. The enemy aircraft had kept them from coming in until then. �                 The enemy aircraft that he saw there were mostly bombers. Though on the way to the Philippines, he did see Kamikaze planes. He also saw them hit some of the American ships. None of them tried to attack their ship. He did finally land in Luzon. They would attack the Japanese in a place that was a surprise for them and he would land in Luzon while witnessing some of the naval bombardment that was going on. He remembers while he was there, the Japanese had tried to blow up the landing strip. They had dropped 23 bombs, but only 13 of them had gone off. They did not make very good bombs. He also remembered that they sent some bombers so close to their outfit that he could see the eyeballs on the pilots. They got bombed day and night. He would use his searchlights every air raid they had. Once he landed, the airfield there was mostly used as an emergency landing airfield. The Japanese had been chased away from the area that he stayed in. He would also see the natives as well. They Philippians did not wear any shirts. They went about their lives without the need to wear shirts. This however would make them a target for the Japanese. If a native crawled in a Japanese foxhole, and the Japanese felt that there was no shirt, it was too bad for them. The Philippians and Aussies were wonderful Trojans of war. They would help to fight in the resistance against the Japanese. He also remembers that you had to have your initials on your socks, or the native girls would take them. He would stay in the same place for the time he spent in the war. (28:00) When the war was over, he had an emergency furlough. His father had had a stroke back home. He would go to Manila on his way home. He would also see a lot of the city. There were not a lot of people there. He and a buddy had to carry their rifles around because there were Japanese snipers still in the city. He was in Manila when the war was announced to be officially over. While he was in the Philippines, he remembers his buddy’s dad died and his wife divorced him. He would not be able to go home for his father’s funeral and would be unable to defend himself in the divorce. Post Duty (32:00)      He would be flown back to the United States in a transport plane. When he got back to the US in November, he was discharged in January. He would go to work right away when he went home. He got a job in cabinet work. He would also work in a couple of other jobs. His time in the service would greatly change his life. He was married when he went in, which would cause enough problems for it to cause a divorce. He would rather not remember that stuff. His time in the service would teach him what was good for him and what was bad for him. �    When he was in the Philippines, their outfit never had a good commander. He did have one good battalion commander, one who really understood the soldiers. The platoon performed very well when they went into action. He did not receive any awards. Those who would lead the invasions would receive a bronze arrowhead, a campaign medal of some sort. � 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 WeidnerF Title A name given to the resource Weidner, Fred (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weidner, Fred Description An account of the resource Fred Weidner served in the 222nd Searchlight Battalion in the Pacific in World War II. His unit was deployed to New Guinea in 1944, and then to the Philippines in early 1945, where he witnessed enemy bombing raids and kamikaze attacks. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-03-03 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/5ab2a8b1b7f51fe728d22f6cc65061ff.mp4 faeb35555a71d04e53c94f211ce3883f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a3134c020cd78092caf5be73806c3b97.pdf 99366bd36761b16127425e1189c3e38c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Shirley Weber (00:52:53) (00:20) Kalamazoo, Michigan • Shirley was born December 11 1918 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. • His father worked for American Sign Company when Shirley was a child. • Shirley did graduate from high school • He joined the National Guard in 1938 because you could not find a job at that time. (2:00) Civilian Conservation Corps • From the Guard he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. • Shirley said they paid about $2.00 more. • They spent time in the UP cutting down jack pine trees and selling off brush. They also replanted trees. He was there for 6 months. (2:40) Kalamazoo, Michigan • Shirley rejoined the Guard. He was involved in the Guard part-time. They were trained on rifles and marching at Camp Grayling. • (4:00) He says at Camp Grayling it was at least his regiment (126th Infantry) and that the 125th Regiment (the other guard regiment from Michigan) might have been there also. • During maneuvers, they did carry weapons but they were scarce. He does remember them having mortars also. (5:00) Camp Beauregard, Louisiana-October 1940 • The Army sent his division here for training once the war broke out in Europe • Shirley remembers that this camp was a WWI camp and there were swamps and rivers around the camp. • He says that Louisiana was warming in the summer than Michigan and that they had different snakes. He remembers having to shake one out of his blanket one morning. • (7:25) Shirley was a Private First Class at this point. • They were continuously getting new recruits to the camp. • Once in awhile you were able to get 48 hour passes to go to town. Once a year you could go home for a week. • Once off base many of the guys would drink. • (8:50) When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the men were really excited and were told to pack and get ready. Then they were told to unpack and repack. They didn’t know what was going to happen. • They were receiving regular equipment at this time. They had all three rifles and they were more accurate. He said they had M1’s. They had 60mm mortars and D company had 80mm mortars. • (10:40) The men would be out for a week or so training. It was almost like war and that is the way the guys acted like. They learned a lot of fighting but the army �didn’t have anything like the woods in New Guinea that they were to deal with in real battle. (12:00) Boston, Massachusetts • Shirley’s company was sent to Boston on their way to Europe but the Normandy, which they were to sail on, burned so they couldn’t go. • MacArthur asked the men to go to Australia instead of Europe so they headed off to California to ship out. (13:00) Voyage to Brisbane, Australia • Shirley remembers the trip over to Australia as being a good trip. He remembers going through the Coral Sea about the same time that the battle was going on but didn’t see anything. The men aboard were given lemon drops to aid in sea sickness. • The weather was good the whole way across • The men would play jokes on people like cutting their hair as they past the date line. (14:30) Adelaide, Australia • The town was a big town with a lot of churches. The people were very nice. • This was during the winter but they would only get about an inch of snow. • They were invited to dinner by local people once in a while. (15:30) Brisbane, Australia • They arrived there on a train. You arrived on the side unlike our trains. • There were different gauges in each state, so they had to change trains at each border. • The men did maneuvers once they arrived. • The Japanese were trying to get to Port Moresby. They were dropping bombs attempting to scare them. The Australians lost many men here. • The men were being trained to battle in jungle terrain by this point. • (17:30) Shirley arrived at Camp Cable just outside of Brisbane. There were no Australians teaching the men how to fight that Shirley could remember. The Australians needed every man they had to fight in the war. • The surroundings were not jungle terrain just trees. (17:20) Port Moresby, New Guinea • Shirley took a boat to Port Moresby. It was only twenty miles away. The boarded a plane that flew over the Owen Stanley Mountains and landed at Pongani. There were not many air strips; they landed basically in an open meadow. • Shirley went to Buna by walking over mountains. Some of the mountains were so steep they would slide down them. They were given food but most was gone before they arrived. • It rained a lot while they were there. It didn’t hinder the journey there. They were carrying their packs which weighed around 30 lbs. Some were carrying heavy machine guns and mortars. • (21:44) The entire division ran out of food five days before arriving at the camp. • They ran into the enemy. There was a river with Buna on one side and Sanananda on the other side. Shirley was on the Sanananda side. �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Once on the trail, they were sent in right away. They didn’t get to rest or eat before they were sent out. They received rations afterwards which consisted of a can of bully beef, a chocolate bar, and a handful of rice. These were Australian rations not American rations. They ate this for two weeks. (23:15) After this they received C rations. Shirley believes these were from WWI since they were told to eat it but once you get down to the green stuff stop. Once in the area of the Japanese it was all jungle and they had to patrol to find where they were. They dug slit trenches and never received a real meal, just bits of food here and there. They were basically eating straight from a can. (24:55) Shirley first realizes where the Japanese are and that they were out there as soon as they started firing on the Americans. This happened 2 or 3 times that he remembers. Mostly the fighting was during the day but there were few men who were out at night. Japanese soldiers were trying to get into their camps but were not succeeding. Shirley said they had a sleep and holler system from camp to camp to prevent such soldiers from breaching the camps. There were men 3 or 4 miles down from the coast looking for Japanese soldiers but not finding them. (26:30) The Japanese were trying to get back to Buna but the Australians were pushing them back. There were more companies than Shirley’s out there as he remembers both sides of his men were other men fighting with them. (27:35) The Australians linked up with the Americans in fighting. Shirley says they were really good fighters too. He jokingly says they paid attention more to orders than they did; they were stricter than the Americans seemed to be. Shirley believes they were not more than 1500 yards from their front line. He remembers hearing them chop wood at times. (29:00) Toward the end, the captain asked the men to draw fire (get the enemy to fire upon them) and Shirley did not want his men to go since there were only two of them left in the squad and the other guys were new guys. Since the new guys seemed scared, Shirley told the captain he would go. The captain said no because he was a sergeant but Shirley said it was either him or the captain so they sent Shirley. Shirley took the 8 or 9 hand grenades with him that they had left and set them off and fired out at the enemy but nothing was returned. They then sent out five men to patrol and only two made it back. Many of the men were being stricken with malaria at this time and were given tablets to help stop it. Shirley’s was so bad they sent him back to be treated for it. Many of the men, including the Japanese, were stricken with jungle diseases. (32:00) The Navy set up blockades to stop the Japanese from getting supplies. Many starved to death while out there. You would have to have 105 fever people before you could go back and see a medic so many still fought on the front lines stricken with extreme cases of malaria. Shirley was eventually sent back to medics with 107.8 degree fever. To get him out of there the natives carried him out to the planes and they were flown back to �Australia to a hospital. Shirley remembers being in a daze at this time and wasn’t sure what they did to him at the hospital. • (33:45) The natives on New Guinea had large gardens and yams were their main staple. One of the natives had a long stick of bamboo and stuffed particular things from the ground into it including leaves and cooked it. When it was done he would cut it open and eat it. Shirley ate some also. It had fish heads in it, eyes and all. • The natives helped out the soldiers by carrying out men. They were paid to do this although not much. • (36:30) Shirley received a Bronze Star for his mission to draw fire from the enemy. • Early 1945, Shirley was sent back to the states after being sick with malaria. • (39:00) Shirley remembers a mission where they were traveling across the coast in chest deep mud carrying their rifles over their head. They walked through the mud for about 100 yards before setting in for the night. Shirley was woke in the middle of the night and told they were moving out. The enemies were shooting mortars at them but Shirley had been so sound asleep he didn’t even hear them. (40:40) Saidor and Aitape • Shirley remembers fighting here but you could not see much because of the jungle. • Provisions and food seemed to be more adequate as the fighting progressed. The soldiers seemed to improve on fighting in the jungles. • The division packed to go to the Philippines but because of Shirley’s malaria he was not able to go ahead with the men. (42:15) Shirley heads home • At this point, Shirley heads home on a ship. He returned on a Liberty ship and doesn’t remember eating too well there. • He is sent to Chicago at this point. Shirley worked in the office at a prison camp for Germans. He typed up their names and hours they spent working. Shirley remembers them as good guys and many of the prisoners wished to stay here after the war was over but were not allowed to do so. He didn’t get a chance to talk to them much so didn’t know where they were captured or how they got here. • (44:10) The prisoners were assigned duties such as fixing roads or paving roads. (44:30) Shirley returned to New Guinea later in life • A family member of Shirley’s took him back to New Guinea. • Shirley visited schools and were given gifts by the children. • He says all the kids knew about the war. They were all excited and wanted to shake Shirley’s hand. They gave him a carved alligator that he donated to the museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan. • He noticed the differences such as people wore clothes now and they had roads. • He also was able to meet a lady whose father carried supplies for the military during the war. (47:00) Home again • Shirley returns home to find it hard to find a job. • He eventually works for a paper company for about two years in the offices. �Shirley went to school to become a barber and spent twenty-eight years on this occupation. • Shirley started painting houses for the next ten years. (48:20) Affects of the military of Shirley’s life • Shirley feels it was a great experience and that kid’s right out of school should do some time in the military. • He feels that it teaches young people to behave and changes them. • While visiting New Guinea, Shirley met Japanese family members trying to find grave sites of their relatives. • �Company TROOP TRAIN ROSTER DFO Bat . , 32nd Di "C", 126th Lnf antrry , Lst, v.i s Michigan Arm}T i.on , National Guard. 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Cobb 7\t-."t.-.._"'7" ~_ ""J Merr~ers ,....n .Lll... I:" '"')-, V'-l-V.1.ICJ. T""t .... _"­ 4. J. r'\_.J--_'t-.._ ........ T"'\. ~·lalker II.. l?itzgerald J. .I":l..L L..UU.L _-:V""Io l-J.<;>..J..LL 48 . Kean, Thomas B. 49 . Tr":,_ L\.'C \... \....1..l.QUL I\.UUC.L. \... "'= __,_ Capt. Glen H. .J... .J- ........ Q'h.; ~..L ~__ '~T ..L."'-1 T ...n6 . ~ ~ nco,-ucu=,c, UVOC.!:JU 0.:>. r.T...:"'O"'.J­ __'t-.."· .......,...,, 7\'~ +­ r..T ,,,..L.1.J.\...C.LJ.JU.J...1.L, .l'"'1..L.U'C'.J.. \".. n. r..'T........ ~ ..-.rt......... T n.L ..L. ~.1..1 '- , .uC YY ..L 0 _ ........ ~ _ "I rt \,... .. �THE BATTLE RECOP~ OF THE 32nd (RED Tl\.T .J....." r"f"ITTTr-. .L J. J...L L) T('1 .L ..:JI ",TTT:t ..L J. i.e. 1iT:l"""'r'\T")T'"\ L\..c. ' - V,[\..lJ !! 1"&,.AnT T""\ r'tT7\T"AT:"r'\ 7\('1 r1.a.J 1".. .' 77\ "n '- .L.U"'1.L.....,I.!.":"U n'\T .LJ J. I"'f"ITTT:' .L J..1.1..:.. ~~ROW) T"'\T'tTTCWTA1\T J.J.L V .L L;J .J.. V.L 'lI I:r~FM~TRY DIVISIO:r~,"- -~'~ORLD 32nd DIVISION T T .L .L '-'.t"U"\. nvL"\..J...J.LJ 7\1\TT"'\ .l'":U.... J-/ vlAR T"')T':'InAnrt"'T:'In s: V.1\.. J.. J..:.U..J L\.~ ...... .L.L COMBAT TIME (B) 15,696 HOURS OF ACTION --MORE WAR! Tan~J ~~IT U.S. DIVISION IN (C) THIS IS 48% OF THE TOTAL TIME THE U.S. WAS IN WORLD W~~ ~~IT II THIRTY FIVE FORTY-O:r~E (F) ..... 1\1fr'\."'TI'T"ITTt"'1 l'lVl.'1 J. ni:> 0<:..1. OF T'dErw1 "'"I\"T .Ll.'1 COMBAT. (C) 49 LEGION OF MERIT, 845 SILVER t t» ,, 78 SOLDIER'S \~ .... --.... :. Mt:i'T"'In ........... .- .... T.C! ~- ST~~S. , 11,500 PURPLE HE~~TS ' DIVISION FIRSTS (~~) THE FIRST U. S. AGAINST THE JAPAl~ESE (n'I \ '-J THE !O'TPC!'T' .L. ..L..L,"~'" TT ~. C! LJ • ~..P~1\1Y T1t.T .Ll.'1 DIVISION TO FIGHT ~TT'r.'I J. n.c. rt'7\,..II"T""\'7\Tr'"'7\T (1\ , \ '-J I IT"1\ \J:1J) J.nJ:1J ~"T"T"\nrT'1 L'.Ll'\.i:>J. fr"l\ I ,., \ \ \;J" ) rnTTT;I u • o , ~~KE ( n·7\ nTT7\ 'l\T \ .. .r.i. ... V~ll A BEACH Ln~IDING IN NEW GUINEA ~!O''I\Tt:i'O 7\ T. "'-'.L.I.&. .. .L.I.L~~ M7\ rvr. P'T'UTTD , LJ C! ...- ............ ~'".a. ...... \oj.L'" BY-PASS STP~TEGY. ~'T"'TT"T"n'T''''''''T lJ.LV.L.::>.LVl.'l rn"" J.V T"1t1.II"""''7\T'"\T' J:1Jl'10iU'\.!\. T""'I"'T"\ L'Vl'\. ""'.,.T""T"\nT""'l'7\'" VVJ:1Jl'\..::>J:1Ji-lo..::> nT"1T"\'TT"T"r'tT""l .::>J:1Jl'\.V.LL.J:1J J.nJ:1J T~T .Ll.'l ""TT""I Vl.'lJ:1J AFTER DEC. 7, 1941. ~TT"nfT't rT'Ir'\ nTTT"\,.....T~r T:lI""\T,.,..... T""'TT:I-"''''Tf'T'''T"'''T r.'7\""'U"T"'7\TTr"\1I..Trt 'r'r'\'n rT"tT'.7r\ J.n.c. .L'.Ll'\.i:>J. J.V i:>urr.wJ. .L'VUl\. .Ll... .L'i-lo.l.'1J.l\.J. DrtJ.J..t"U.J.LV.L".:> .L'Vl\. J.wvv f"'f"'I'I\TC!!O'f"'TT'T'TUP 1\7\ VC! !O'Of"'lM 7\ O'T'TT.T .!O'pv T. T 7\ T C!f"'I'I\T "f"'TTn" rrr . 7\ 'l\T!O'C! '-'....., ...... ...., ........ '-'u~~v~ ....".c. ... ...., .L.4~......, ... · ... ~'" ........ ....., ................... 'I. ... ...... ..... .c:L ..... ...,......, ....... '-olJ..., .... ~ .. .&...Il.J ~TT,...., ~~CTION • EMPLOY co~n!oy \.L'} fr'l'"7\T'1""\r"\n\ \ i:>rt.LlJVl\.) THE OFFENSIVE DIVISION TO BE (C) THE FIRST U.S. DIVISION TO L..t-U'U:'rt.L\;7l.'1 ~~J SOt.i'T'n~-mST T""'1"T"T'"tn,.,.., L'.Ll'\.'::>J. ,.,..,,..., J.V T"TTT"1IT TnTT .l:'UO.1..J.L.::>n NEWSPAPER IN THE ~"'T i-lo.l.'l "7\ft,,~T"\"T""""''7\''k'" i-lo.!YI J:1J l'\. .L L.i-lo.l.'l SOL~HWEST nT"'lT'"lo ... T"T" ....... .,..,I\."7l."'-T' ,.., '::>J:1Jl'\.V .LL.J:1Jl'!i-lo.l.'l· .::> PACIFIC. (T .!O'V'T'P \ \.&...1...................... / �CM4E ON AUGUST 15,1945. (I) ELEME~ITS OF THE 32nd DIVISION WERE ALSO ~~n"nT~~~ A~~TTn~~TA~ ~nAAn~ ~"TTr"t'l'Trn ~"" .t"1.1• .l~.1\..L.'-.l"1.J.'J , '" \ \H.) ..... ~...:J ~ J.n~ v,-\-"ur~..L ..)L.HU .t'uU\oTnJ. -LVJ.'1 ~ .. T~ ..L.1\.vvrt.J' I""f "lrt""'l J.)H.~ .L.L I -LJ."4 rT'1TT~ "T"'It,T i:J ~~n~u u~r.l'U'J T"'\~ J.n~ .LJ.\I T"'\TT~""'T ....... '71. 'ft1f'f""\"I'I. "T"r"f"'''' .l:'H..I:'UH.J.\I 1.....t-U·l.l:'H..L\oTJ.'11 (PTThT1l. \...., _........ _Qn l\T1l. l\T1l. .a. l\m1l. \ FROM SEPTEMBER 1942, TO JF~~JARY ~.a..AJ AT':' MID DTI:FEATED (n\ 'T"'''''TTT'7\T'\',. UH.J.'1U.t"U'o.~ MORE , rn \ ..... J '7\1T" '7\Tr'T"'7\'T"\'r.'I rt.l. J FROM F~PRIL 'I\/lI""\'Mo'l.'l ""'TT'7\ 'trI.T VL' nr\. rtJ.Jov UJ.\I.I..loJ.J T'trI.T Ln~GEST .I.ilJ::l 'T'7\ T"'I n U rtr 0 r'\n L.;;I, -1nJlJl T1\T -LJ.'J r'TtTTT ~ ..LJ.J..J..tJ T'I.'I""'fT"I'r.'I 'r\T':"~T:"I'7\r'T'1'1.'1r'\ "''I\Tr\. .L;;I'±'± rtTTT"'-T'I.'I'7\ UU.loUJ::lrt, L~ITIL J.J~L'J::lrt.l.J::lJ.J rtJ.\IJ.J .I.ilJ::l ..., ""'\ __ ...:J JL.Uu. L'VUUil.l. AUGUST 23, 1944 T:'Ir\T"'l L'VL\. r-,.., ~ J ~~N ONE I"T"'ITTM J.JJ::l.L.l.J::l TO J~~J~~Y k'1l. Q'T' Tl\mTk'Q ..... .... ..., ............. J.Jrt.l.O 'I.'I""""'/f L'L\.Vl·l ,,.("'1 J.Jrt.l.O DEFEF.TED 1 PACIFIC ELEMENTS r'I'I.'IT"'\""'I.'I1\/fT"''I.'IT'''l.,r.L~, o.c.r.l.J::ll·lDJ::lL\. or ..,nAA .L;;I'±'± DEFEATED PT'1Tt"'\l\T .I.ilJ::l ~ ",,_...;2 'I.'Ir'\TTrtTTr'T"t JL.Uu. L'VUUil.l. 2, 1945, ~ID JI"" '± J "{,.n lJrt.Li:J T'\'7\ 'I.'IT'\r\l\/t L'L\.Vl·l 'tI.Tr'\"rT'I.'I'I\/fT':'lT"'l J.'lVVJ::ll·lJ::lL\. AND SPENT 78 UoA.:t.::> IN THE VI LL1"~ T'7\ T'\0 U.l"'1.rtJ • VEP~E OPEP~.TION 30, .1. . -o a.a._t:; JF~~J~~Y ~TT'T",,"'7\ .L.t-U·1rtOil.lo.l.rt, THE 32nd DEFEATED MORE .., 0' "'1 L..,OJ..&.. fTlTTT':' .L J.J.~ (G) IT WAS TO THE 32nd DIVISION PHILIPPINES, JAP~~ESE I ::iviOPPING UP:: JAP REiviNANTS IN NORTHERN LUZON. T"\TTn T1\.Tr'I .LIU.1\..LJ."4\.:1' -';:"'7\ 1\1r'7\ -t r: -1 n A it .LO, .L;;I'±'±, DEFEATED 6,700 MEMBERS OF THE {!.%L..PN LUZON THE 32nd FOUGHT FOR 119 DAYS FROM rT"Il""\'I\Ir'7\ ~"TTT}",T .I.Vl·1rt~ UL\..L 1"'"\ '7\ vr.L;t~..L .LVJ.'t. VJ.\1 o nnn O,:Jvv 41l.~ID SOL~HWEST ......a.......... ... T"'\'7\,"t"'" 7\,T7\ TT '7\nT T:'I .l""1. V .l"'1.-L.1.J.l"'U,.).LJJ...:.I T~ -L tJ r\nT:"lT"') " -t "" e­ .LL.~ 'I.'Ir\TTrtTT,.,., • NETHERLF~IDS L'VUUil.l. r'T'ITT'I.'I NOVEMBER 10,1944. rtI'"\Tn.,...,.,. '-VU.1.'1..L ..; 118 DAYS '7\T"'IT"1TT rtrL\..loJ.J DEFEATED IN T":"Ir"\TTrtTTr'T'1 JL.J.J.u. "I\'TI'"\ .1."4V r\'trI.T UJ::ln ~~JMBER -''''"\_...:3 ".,TT'I.'I 1\..T'r.'I'r.T .loU 22, 1944, n ., r'l r\ ;;I, J U V .I. nrt1\1 L~ITIL ('1.'1 \ TT'tI.Tr"T1TT ON MOROTAI IN THE r"\T':" \J::lJ '7\ T rt.lo.l.rtrJ::l, THE \~ -1nllA .L;;I'±'±, o a... _, < 1049 JAPS. Tan~T l·lVL\.J::l (n\ ~ L., 1 ..... r::' THE \ '-' J 22, n"" ~,UVU .. r·10RE V.I.' THE FIRST &~ONG .. '1'7\ T"'\'7\ SL~.RE~mERED Ta1l.~~ T\~ TF~T LIEL~EN~IT GENEP~L ~T~r'I'r."I urtrrtJ.\IJ::lOJ::l "T'J\ u~.rtJ t""'TTT"\""'~'I\,/f~ OUrL\.J::ll·lJ::l r"r-.'I\Ir'I\/f'7\ 'trI.~T:'IT"'\ .....Vl·J.1·J.rtJ.\IlJJ::lL\. ON SEPTEMER 2, 1945 T~T .loJ.'1 'T'1TTT":"J .I.ilJ::l �mE SOLDIERS WHO WIN mE BATTLES DO NOT MARCH IN TRIUMPH Honoring and in Remembrance of Members of I COMPANY "C", 1261NFANTRY I 32DMSION I World War n I I I I I Who Made The Supreme Sacrifice Upon The Field of Battle NAME ABBY, RUSSELL BARBER, AMOS J. BINNS, JACK M. BONA,ARmuR COBB, WllLIAM R. COFFMAN, CLARENCE COUNTER, PETE M. DEWITT, JAMES T. DRAPER, MELVIN W. EASTWOOD, HOWARD M. FAUNCE, LEIGH c. ""~OLKERSMA, JORIS GASELL, HAR~LD R. GORDON, ROBERT W. HAMMAKER, HAROLD 1llNMAM, CHARLES JORDAN, WESLEY W. KAAZ, ELMER.J. KALIN, JOSEPH F. JR. KEAN, JACK R. KING, HASKELL D. LAMBERT, CHARLES A. LEE, FRANK H. LEWIS, HERBERT L. LINGENFELSER, JOSEPH E. LOCHEY, JOSEPH LOCKARD, EUGENE J. McCAIN, FLOYD R. McCLEARY, LYLE C. McFARLAND, RAYMOND RANK ISfLt PFC CORP. PVT SGT PVT T/SGT PVT S/SGT PVT CORP 2ND LT. SGT PFC ISf LT. PFC PFC PVT PFC CORP. PVT PVT PVT PVT PVT S/SGT S/SGT PFC 2 NDLT PVT KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DOW KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DOW KIA DOW KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DOW KIA �McGREW, ORVILLE F. MELODY, RAYMOND A. MEISLAHN, CHRISTIAN NAHIMAS, HERMAN ORDEWAY, GAYLORD S. RINGLER, CECIL K. RINGUS, CHARLES RITCIllE, FERRAL E. ROBERSON, JOHN G. ROSS, ELBERT M. SCHEERENBERG,DURKP. SCHEIK, JOSEPH F. SIXBURY, LOURENCE STROUD, CHARLES F. THOMPSON, JOSEPH TOPEL, RICHARD L. VANECK, MELVIN VICKERS, GEORGE PFC PFC PVT PVT PFC PFC PFC PFC PVT PFC SGT SGT PVT PVT PFC PVT SGT PVT --------,---, ---,---------­ DOW KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA KIA DD DOW TRANSFERRED BEACH, CARGILL H. GRACE, ROBERT L. lSTLT lSTLT KIA KIA ----------------------------:-------------­ POST WAR DEATHS EMIG, CARL J. SGT ROSENBERGER, CARLTON S/SGT wAlKER, GLEN H. MAJOR -­ ,--­ -------­ ------------­ ------------­ Corrections, Spelling, Rank, etc. --Additions, Deletions should be given to WOSG Vern Trudell at Armory Without Delay �Btl·', . , , '" ... , . I. , '/ I. r. !. ,, '. ~ '. I ;. i. , ",, 'r • I : . ~.).:, ~~: '; ..~ . '~ ( ... ;. '" j . '. I . ", ' , ~ ., " •. • • , or. ' . .: . . < '; , I ! ,' .; :.'.~~ri~.,';>·' · ';:;, ii, . · " ~ · Mr"~ · ,: Shirley .,H. 'Weber . ' ~i~ t"' . i ·; :. ;: ; :; ~· .; ~·~,' a h4tt . t.:': ~di·, : : · ...., ,..:. ..>../~ ., 'j , . .~ . -.:;~\. '<'.. • " .. ,.::,;... t .. ' :1 i· , '. , ... :..,,\.~{ GALESBURG ~ ·: ~·MIOHIGAN . '.'.: ':>:" .', " ,t , ~ -.» 1 ' ,I, ... ~ /f .~ > ..: ,',J !" ...... ' . vi ' . J . ."1':: . ,~ .•~:t ... .. . . ., . .~ ••• " . ' • ~ 1· " \ I; . ~~ " .~ ,I• i :. r~ :.. Jo ' '' ,', »: ~. ',: . r. .. .. ..;.. .,:;::"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 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 WeberS Title A name given to the resource Weber, Shirley (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weber, Shirley Description An account of the resource Shirley Weber served in the 32nd Infantry (Red Arrow) Division during WWII in New Guinea. His company teamed up with the Australians fighting Japanese soldiers on the island. He spent time fighting in Buna, Saidor and Aitape battles. He received the Bronze Star for an operation to pull out fire from the Japanese hiding in the jungle. He contracted malaria on New Guinea, which eventually led to his being sent home, where we worked with German POWs at a camp in Chicago. Military papers appended to the interview outline. 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 United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-04-01 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/111810ad9ce6ec5649cea231ed5cdff9.mp4 c5d709fde54dc338ca4c8b446088967a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9703de570e2d52618bb3b3cb1a12ef99.pdf c3dd00ab58939ee813b4d3fa0d3f7ac6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Dale Weaver (00:50:0) (00:25) Introduction (01:02) Family and childhood • Born in Detroit, MI on Oct. 30, 1959 Weaver grew up in Livonia, MI and lived with his father, who had his own saw sharpening business, and his mother, who was a homemaker. • Attended Walk Lake Western High where he was seriously involved with football, baseball, some wrestling, and swimming of which he was state champion swim-diver his senior year. Each day after school, he spent 2-3 hours practicing with the swim team. He excelled in the making of small engines and mechanics. (07:26) Pre-enlistment • Enlisted in the navy as a junior in high school. The navy delayed his enlistment period until after he graduated from high school. • He had enlisted in the Navy by going down to the Service Center and signing up in the delayed entry program so that his enlistment was delayed until after graduation. (08:09) Enlistment and Training • Went to Great Lakes Naval Training Center where he was chosen for recruit training. Being the short and scrawny fellow that he was he was assigned to carry the company flag. Graduated the camp with Company 215. • Upon completing recruit training, he underwent boot camp training of which he did a lot of running, marching, and training with firearms. (09:09) • Weaver recounts a story regarding his gas chamber training. His superior officer would send 10 people into a gas chamber and then fill the chambers with tear gas and command them to take off their gas masks. The objective of this was to get used to breathing in the tear-gas so that one would be prepared for the experience if encountered. �• Was then sent to Lakers, New Jersey where he attended Aviation school for a month and a half and underwent aviation training. While there, his job it was to spot aircraft off the flight and hangar decks of aircraft carriers. (13:53) • After that he went to Philadelphia, PA where got additional firefight and aircraft-type training before going to the ship. (14:55) Norfolk, VA • Weaver talks about his four years serving aboard the USS Independence. • Gives a brief description of his work with V-1 division and how they were responsible for the launching and recovery of airplanes on the flight deck. At the time he had the Navy rank of an E-3. • In January, 1979 he made the first of two cruises which lasted 6 ½ months. During this time, they stopped at various ports around Spain, Italy, and Africa. While in port, he would go social-drinking with the guys at the local bars in the areas he was stationed. (17:58) • Upon finishing their first cruise they were in a standby period of about a month of which everyone took shore leave. (18:06) (18:15) Portsmouth, VA • Upon returning to duty, Weaver and his company were dispatched to Portsmouth, VA for 9 months while the ship underwent a complete over-hall. • Gives a brief description of how he met his wife, his married life, and then tells of the tragic car accident in 1985 that befell his wife and two of his kids. (19:03) (20:47) Norfolk, VA • Upon completion of repairs on the USS Independence, Weaver and his company return and go on their 2nd cruise which takes them around the Caribbean. Their cruise was cut short, however, when they returned to Norfolk. For a short time, Weaver mentions that he served aboard the USS Independence while waiting to be transferred. After about a month, Weaver is transferred to El Centro, California. (22:23) Trip to El Centro, California �• Weaver gives a detailed account of his journey to California. On the way, he stopped in Arkansas to visit his uncle and go fishing. (23:20) In Arizona, he blew his motor and arranged for his car to get fixed while he boarded a bus and journeyed the rest of the way. (25:10) Upon arriving in California, he found out that he had been transferred to El Centro for his next assignment. (21:20) El Centro, California • While stationed at the NAF base in El Centro, CA he got to know members from the RAF and the Blue Angels because they trained every winter at his base. He was assigned there to take care of the aircraft. • Weaver gives a brief description of jumping out of a RAF plane. In part it was this experience which made him want to join the Navy Seals. Upon jumping out of a RAF plane he made up his mind that he wanted to join the Navy Seals. After sending his application in and a 6-month wait he found out that he had been accepted. • Went to Pensacola, FL for SEAL training. (27:10) Pensacola, FL • Gives a brief description of how he had to do a lot of swimming, jumping out of helicopters and planes with parachutes, running, and physical fitness exercises. (27:10) • Upon completing seal training he went to Little Creek, VA of where he and his company did more training in-between assignments. (28:40)TOP Secret assignments • He couldn’t disclose the details of his combat missions but he did elaborate on where he went. • In 1983, he was involved with the hostage situation in the Beirut Airport. He mentions helping the NIS with a drug bust in Panama. (29:46) Along with this, he helped the British with something in the Falkland Islands. • Also mentions helping the Coast Guard with several search and rescue operations. • Gives a brief description of his experience aboard a submarine of which they would be dropped off in the ocean. They would then wait in their inflatable boats for the submarine to come and pick them up. (31:24) He recounts that as a Navy seal they never had to swim to shore because they had their inflatable boats. (34:50) �(35:41) Post-Service Experiences • For a brief time of about two months he mentions working at a golf course and getting paid to do yearly maintenance on golf carts. Upon getting laid off from that job, he and a friend worked on replacing wiring in conduits. While doing this one day, he gave some wiring a little tug and fell off his ladder breaking his neck and back. • He describes the difficult times that he had being a quadriplegic and the 9 months of hard work and physical therapy of which upon completing he regained the use of his arms. (38:15) • Since his injury, he was involved in wheelchair sports • Gives a brief description of his six-year history with the National Veteran’s Wheelchair Games. While participating in track and field for six years; the Wheelchair Games took him all over the U.S. They took him to Cleveland, OH, Palm Beach, CA, and Minneapolis, MN. • Went to the Para-Olympics in Athens, Greece and Torino, Italy. In fall 2000, he went to Athens where he won an individual bronze and team bronze while on the archery team. (39:44) He also participated in the 2006 games in Torino Italy where he was on the basketball team and took home a silver medal. • His health issues started around July 4, 2005 when he had a heart attack and had to go to the hospital. By August 8 of the same year he had his open-heart surgery. (43:40) • Afterwards, he was transferred to Ann Arbor V-9 for a short time before being sent to the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans where he’s been for 2 months. He briefly discussed his musical history in the service and remembers playing at the Hoedown in Detroit, MI. Finally, he wraps up his discussion by stressing that being in a wheelchair should never stop one from traveling the world. (49:36) � 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 WeaverD Title A name given to the resource Weaver, Dale A. (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weaver, Dale A. Description An account of the resource Dale Allen Weaver is a veteran and former E-6 who served in the U.S. Navy from 1976 to 1990. In this account, Weaver briefly discusses his pre-enlistment years, his basic training and other training in the U.S. Navy. Additionally, he discusses his service assignments around the U.S. and briefly discusses his secret missions as a Navey Seal in Panama, Beirut, and Lebanon. Finally, he discusses his athletic years with the Para-Olympics following his navy service. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--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 2007-04-02 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/b021b6ba5bd7c6b242a8760c12c04bfc.mp4 1321475171fd08962e5d0dfcd39a89a4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86283095a83a16a9e661628f62572323.pdf 0a45e0b89fcece92e54f8f0b08310e4f PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II Bruce Weaver 1:52:06 Introduction (02:15)         Bruce was born April 16, 1922 in Detroit, Michigan. He went to school in Fowler, Michigan, which is in Clinton County. Bruce grew up there and graduated from Fowler High School. His father played a lot of cards downtown, and when Bruce’s mother passed away his father did not do much with the family. The family operated the Fowler Gas Station. As a boy, Bruce worked there pumping gas using the old style visible gas pumps. (04:23) Bruce was about twelve or thirteen when his mother passed away. He was an only child with one sister who died at birth. His high school graduating class had about twelve or thirteen people. He lived right in the village of Fowler, and during the summers he worked out in the farms picking sugar beets. (06:16). They used machines to pull them out of the ground and Bruce would come by and throw the beets into the truck. Military Life (07:37)          Bruce was drafted into the Army Air Corps on February 12, 1942. For induction, he was sent to Fort Custer and remained there for about six months. This was a supply point and he worked at keeping the fires going to keep the barracks warm. (09:26) Bruce was there with a couple hundred other men doing the same thing he was. They did not have any uniforms, so they were issued a barracks bag and all of their uniforms. He was sent to Weems, Utah for his basic training. About fifty of the men from Fort Custer went with Bruce to Utah. They took a train until they reached Utah, then they were loaded into trucks that brought them into Salt Lake City. (11:25) They were met by a very prosperous man who brought them to the hotel and bought them the best steak they ever had. While in Weems, they did marching and spent time in the mud. Bruce pulled late duty one time with three other men, and patrolled around the water reservoir. After they were done, the sergeant came out and told them that they had done a good job but they had to do another shift because he didn’t have any one to replace them. (13:14) Weems was about 15-20 miles from Salt Lake City. They had a man from Brooklyn, New York and he had never fired a rifle before. Suddenly, bullets came from inside the barracks and the man was firing through the wall on accident. No one was injured. (15:22) Life at Fort Custer was like going to a basketball game. They all knew where it was and they simply waited there for a full unit to form. �          One of Bruce’s drill sergeants was named Frenchy. He really knew his business. Once, they had a wall they had to climb over, and Bruce couldn’t get over it. Frenchy came over and yelled at him and gave him ten seconds to get over the wall. He finally got over it after great effort. (17:25) One man that was his friend and that he served with at Weems was killed during a beach landing. The landing barge was riddled with bullets from the Germans. His name was John and he was the best soldier that Bruce ever knew. John’s wife called Bruce after the war and told him that he had been killed. One lesson that he learned while at Weems was that they couldn’t go after the Salt Lake City girls, because they were Mormons. (19:34) While at a casino, he started talking to a beautiful woman, and all of a sudden a man the size of an ox-cart came up and said “Soldier, that’s my daughter, leave her alone.” And he did. Some soldiers were not allowed to enter the casino, but Bruce was. Once at the casino, Bruce was approached by a woman about sixty years old, she bought the men breakfast; she then asked if they went to church and knew the Lord. (22:50) After church, they could smell the mutton being cooked at the mess hall. Instead of going there and eating it, most men, including Bruce went to the PX and bought food rather than eat the mutton. (23:41) Bruce was at Weems for about eight months. After the wall climbing incident, Bruce remembers that Frenchy came up to him and asked if he was a draftee. He answered that he was, and Frenchy told him that all the draftees had problems getting over the wall because they had been at home having their mothers take care of them. (27:08) One man named Jim bought cigarettes for everyone at the PX one day. Bruce told him that he didn’t smoke and went in and bought some rolls instead. While there, they could smell mutton stew being made at the mess hall and they both decided to eat at the PX again. (29:23) Coral Gables, Florida (29:42)         Coral Gables was an Air Corps base, and they were greeted by the lieutenant in charge and he welcomed them to the base. He told them to leave the nurses alone. Within twenty four hours, Bruce had gotten involved with a nurse from New Rochelle, New York. She was a lieutenant and he was a corporal. The nurses were well trained by Major Whitney. (31:31) Bruce was put into the Post Office and worked as a postal clerk. To get around the ban on dating the nurses, Bruce met her out in town. The nurse’s name was Kay, and Major Whitney treated them both well. (33:46) A stream went through the base, and it often had an alligator sitting there. One day, an alligator was chasing a nurse and her boyfriend. Bruce saw it, so he jumped in a golf cart and went after them. He came up on the alligator and picked up the nurse and her boyfriend. (35:24) They had a pool there at the base, and the enlisted men were not allowed to swim when the nurses were. Bruce checked for alligators in the pool before they went swimming. (39:42) �     Bruce was sent to Coral Gables to take his hospital training because he was a medic. At 7am he had to be up at the hospital as the medic on duty. He once went to the Nautilus Hotel in Miami Beach to train some new medics. (43:28) They learned nicely, some of them were already trained at Coral Gables. Bruce was lucky because all of his officers that he served with were real nice to work for. (47:03) One officer that he knew was very nice, and the man turned out to be a general and Bruce never knew it because he didn’t wear his rank. Overseas (49:31)                       Bruce was then sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey and spent six weeks there. While there, the only training he received was marching and drill. He later came back to Fort Dix when he got out of the Army. After leaving the United States, Bruce was sent to Scotland. There they received wounded from Europe. The flight nurses would take care of the wounded while they were being flown to the hospital. Bruce was assigned to take care of the wounded while in the barracks. (52:06) One of the men that he was watching hadn’t seen his brother in five or six years and he found him there at the barracks. Bruce also assigned flights home for the wounded soldiers going back to the states. Most of the men who were wounded were sent home and Bruce always thought that was very decent. (55:37) Bruce was in Selkirk, Scotland which was in the southern part of the country. He was there with about a dozen other soldiers. While overseas, he never saw any combat, he was never wounded, and he was never a prisoner of war. (57:40) His stepbrother, Richard Barnes, was on a landing barge that went ashore in Europe; everyone in the barge was killed except him. (59:34) Bruce was never awarded any individual citations or medals. He didn’t really have any family or friends back home, so he did not receive any letters so he did not send any either. (1:01:25) The food was good, lots of goulash dishes. Most people still went to the PX for food. His unit was always well supplied. (1:03:20) When the wounded would come in from Europe, they would stay in the barracks there for three to four weeks at the most until they could find a flight home for them. The wounded would come in on C-47’s. (1:05:22) While in Scotland, they were not able to see any USO shows. He was in Europe for about a month, and while there he saw Bob Hope. Three of them went and performed the same duties of assisting the wounded to get home. They assisted the flights going out. (1:07:54) Bruce was in Scotland for over a year and was in France for his month in Europe. He was never able to take leave or liberty. (1:09:05) When he went to Poland, he was there for about two months after VE-Day. The Polish women made the best meals for them. At that time, he wasn’t doing much. His C-47 �  crashed while flying over Poland because it ran out of gas. It was really more of a rough landing in a field. (1:11:18) Bruce was never able to take any photographs while in Europe. He has high regards for his fellow soldiers that he served with; he never had to worry about them not watching his back. (1:13:45) After the War (1:15:12)               When he came back to the United States, he was able to fly. His brother however, had to take a ship and he later said it was the worst trip he ever took. Bruce’s flight home was onboard a flight of twelve wounded, he is not sure exactly when he came home. He was given his discharge at Fort Dix, New Jersey and was only there a week or two. After that, he and another soldier went to New York City and toured around. He was discharged on February 12, 1946. (1:17:17) Thinking back on his time in Coral Gables, Florida, he was once approached by Major Whitney and she asked if he was from Michigan, he said that he was. She then asked him to take three black soldiers down to Miami, but told him to be careful because “They don’t like the niggers down here”. She sent a man to protect them; he was a shore patrolman with a rifle and bayonet. While down there some kids came up and started yelling “Niggers! Niggers!” The patrolman with them stepped forward and lowered his rifle and said, “Who wants it first?” and they ran away. (1:20:31) After the war, he went back to his job at Oldsmobile. He had worked there for about a year before he was drafted. The plant was in Lansing, Michigan. Bruce was the general foreman in the crankshaft area and then to the axel plant. Later, he was sent to the new plant north of town. (1:22:15) His boss came up to him and asked him to pick eight men to take with him to go to the new plant. Bruce was once taken down to Buick to interview some new potential foremen. They asked him why he was so successful, he told them to treat people the way they wanted to be treated. (1:25:10) He lived and worked in Lansing, and Bruce was married to a woman named Mary Lee. (1:29:12) She worked as a telephone operator but had to leave due to health concerns. After the war, Bruce joined the VFW in Lansing, and he also joined the American Legion Post 379. He wasn’t really active in the organizations. (1:31:20) They never had any children, but he does have a step-daughter named Susie Faulker, who did not get along with her mother. Today, she lives in Denver, Colorado and is a successful artist. She just sold one painting for $5,000. (1:33:31) In Bruce’s opinion, he feels that the military in general was okay. Going back to Fort Custer, they were shipped out on the oldest train they had. The smoke from the engine was so bad it went back into the cars. (1:35:29) Bruce has never attended any reunions or kept in touch with anyone that he met while in the service. (1:38:33) �   He sent two girls through Grand Valley State University. Their mothers had helped Bruce’s wife when she had trouble getting around. One of the girls is an English teacher in Paris, France. (1:40:20) Bruce’s wife passed away in 2003. When Bruce was young, his grandparents helped get him through school, that’s why he wanted to help these two girls with their college. (1:45:30) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context WeaverB1527V Title A name given to the resource Weaver, Bruce (Interview outline and video), 2013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weaver, Bruce Description An account of the resource Bruce was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 16, 1922. He grew up in Fowler, Michigan and was drafted into the Army Air Corps on February 12, 1942. Bruce served as a medic. He was sent to Scotland during the war and helped coordinate flights home for wounded troops. He also spent some time in France and Poland. Bruce was discharged in 1946, and moved back home to Lansing where he continued his job at Oldsmobile. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Erichsen, Wallace (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Air Corps 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 2013-06-17 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/990d6dcfa70a7538aa8cd9703d36c22c.mp4 df45e81997145e1afb6ef3c061235957 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1b0564904df3d50d547591ef1ba56ff5.pdf 84bdd856282918b2808fc21008537689 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II: Europe Ted Weatherhead Length of interview 1:14:54 (0:00:10- 0:04:25) Pre-Enlistment Ted was born in Columbus, Ohio on March 14th, 1923. (00:13- 00:19) He lived in Columbus for a short time until moving to Cleveland, Ohio. (00:19- 00:22) After living in Cleveland for a while he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. (00:29- 00:39) He then moved to South Bend, Indiana and later moved to Lakewood, Ohio. (00:41- 00:49) He graduated high school in Euclid, Ohio. (00:49- 00:55) Ted moved around a lot due to his parents being divorced. His mother went to go job searching and his father went to places not mentioned. (00:56- 01:07) He stayed with his mother. (01:09- 01:10) He had one older sister named Mary. Mary was sent to a private school while Ted stayed with his mother. (01:17- 01:27) He was a little above average student despite being frequently relocated. (01:32- 01:40) He finished high school in 1941 where he was an active member of the National Honors Society and many different sports such as: basketball, football, and track. (01:40- 01:57) After graduation he went to Ohio University where he wanted to play basketball. He went there for a short time until Pearl Harbor (02:02- 02:15) Before Pearl Harbor, Ted knew little about the war in Europe. He was more interested in the basketball world. (02:25- 02:32) Ted learned about Pearl Harbor coming home from church over the radio. Every radio in his dorm was playing the news full blast. (02:35- 02:54) Upon hearing the news Ted, like most of the men in his dorm, wanted to go out and get the Japanese. He went home and enlisted into the Army Air Corps. (02:58- 3:21) The recruiter told him that he was going to have to wait for a little while so he stayed in school until fall of 1942. (03:30- 04:05) (0:04:25-0:19:00) Enlistment and Training Ted was sent to the Classification Center in San Antonio, Texas. He was at the center for about eight or nine weeks and was put through many different physical and mental tests. He wanted to become a fighter pilot. From there they took him to pre-flight in San Antonio. (04:25- 05:55) The main things that Ted learned in pre-flight consisted of the physics of flight, the theory of flying, navigation training, and figuring weather patterns. (06:13-06:28) He was in pre-flight for nine weeks. (06:47- 6:57) He then went into primary flight, basic flight, and advanced flight. All of these lasted nine weeks. (06:57- 07:03) Primary flight training was in Uvalde, Texas. It was a very small facility with one hundred or less planes. (07:26- 08:00) He started off on a PT-19A. It was a low winged, single engine plane. (08:04- 08:14) �During the primary flight training about fifty percent of the recruits would wash-out. The main causes were flight nervousness and disagreements between training pilot and student. (08:5009:09) Ted remembers his instructors as good people, not the best pilots but average, good people. They were all civilian pilots but the flight check people were military. (09:19- 10:01) After primary training Ted was moved to Waco, Texas for basic flight training where he flew a BT-13A. This plane was a single engine plane with a five-hundred horsepower engine. This allowed Ted to perform slow loops and other acrobatics. (10:25- 10:52) He stayed with the same group of guys throughout training. (11:17- 11:19) All of his flying was done during the day. He would fly cross-country, stop for lunch, and then fly back. (11:48- 12:18) Ted was in group 44A for his advanced flying training. (13:00- 13:03) January 7th was his flight school gradutation. (13:04- 13:15) He was put into a two engine plane against his wishes. He flew this plane for three to four weeks. His next plane was a C-47 which he flew for three to four weeks. His next plane was a B-25. (13:36- 14:12) During his training, Ted had little time away from his studies because quizzes were common. (15:18- 15:43) He was not given any time off during his schooling. (16:51- 17:18) Before being deployed Ted was given four weeks of vacation. He was sick for the first three. (17:22- 17:36) He and his group got their new C-47s in South Bend, Indiana and flew the southern route to Europe. (17:36- 17:49) (0:19:00-1:02:54) Active Duty Pre D-Day Drop (19:00-29:19) Ted was not given the usual nine week transition period due to an incident over Italy where our Navy shot down nineteen C-47s filled with paratroopers. He was only given four and a half weeks. (19:00-19:42) Ted’s crew consisted of himself, a co-pilot, a radio operator, and a crew chief; though flying over seas he was given a navigator. (19:45-19:59) During his flight overseas German submarines would send out homing signals in order to lure planes away from base and shot them down with anti-aircraft guns. So having a good navigator was important. (20:18-20:30) From the first base he went to Marrakech, Morocco in northern Africa where he stayed for about a week. From there he went to Egypt and then to the base in Cottesmore, England. (21:0021:50) His training at Cottesmore centered mainly on night flying. (22:40- 22:55) To train the pilots for night flying they set up a night vision school in one of the gymnasiums. Each night they would tests the pilots vision while dimming the lights. (24:05-24:36) Ted and the other pilots were trained how to carry paratroopers and tow gliders. These gliders would sometimes cause problems with the plane by not staying in the propwash and spreading out. (24:40-26:00) �Every day Ted would go through the routines, without the path of flight, which he would have to do for his missions. They would have sessions to learn what to do in certain situations. (27:5128:21) Ted was not told the path of flight until the night of the briefing. This was when he found out that the routines that he had been doing were the exact opposite of what the mission was. (28:5629:19) D-Day (29:19- 37:35) Ted left the base at midnight with nineteen paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. (29:40-30:20) After taking off the planes took twenty or so minutes to get into formation and took off to Normandy. (31:27- 31:59) To avoid detection from the Germans each plane had only three blue/purple lights on top of each wing and three blue/purple lights on top of the plane. (32:26-32:50) They flew northeast to south west over the Cotentin Peninsula. (33:49- 34:00) The pilots knew to drop their paratroopers when the lead planes light turned from red to green. (34:14- 34:25) After dropping the paratroopers the pilots, flying low, went back to base. They flew low so then they were faster than the anti-aircraft guns. (36:23-36:57) They then went back to drop off the gliders, which was a lot tamer than the paratroopers. (36:5637:35) After the Drop: Normandy Campaign (37:35-48:16) After the drop, Ted did glider snatching. There would be two poles attached to the ground and around the poles would be the nylon glider cord. The plane would come in, lower a hook, and snatch the nylon cord. (37:30-39:04) He also transported injured troops. He would bring a flight nurse and pick up about fourteen or fifteen litter patients and take them to a hospital in England. Due to everywhere being closed in, Ted had to land in Lands End in the southern end of England. (39:17- 41:08) He also carried supplies such as: gasoline, ammunition, and food. He always had a load going over. (41:57-42:05) It took ten days or so after D-Day for the steel landing mats in France to be set up so Ted and the other pilots could send supplies and transport wounded. (42:57-43:07) Ted also pulled British gliders though he never went to a British sector in France. (43:15-43:46) This pattern continued until the breakout of Normandy in early August. (44:00-44:20) After the breakout Ted flew in many different parts of France and Belgium. As time grew on the destinations became a great deal different. (44:36-44:51) The most prevalent thing that planes would carry was gasoline though they also carried a lot of food and ammunition. (45:16-45:24) The C-47, according to Ted, was a marvelous airplane. It was hard to imagine a plane built more safely. It landed better, it took off better, and it carried heavier loads. That plane rarely caused you to have a forced landing. (46:20- 46:40) Market Garden Operation (48:16-53:01) While flying over the English channel to get to Holland Ted and his fellow pilots had an issue �with Germans who got wind that they were coming. So they complained enough to get P-47 and P-51 escorts who would rip the Germans to shreds. (48:24-48:59) For the operation Ted carried paratroopers for a couple of trips, then gliders for a couple of trips, and then more paratroopers. (49:24-49:30) He carried the men from the 101st Airborne Division and one or two loads of British paratroopers. (49:35-49:49) After two or three jumps his plane encountered a lot of enemy fire but due to its sealed gas tanks it was safe. No planes were lost due to loss of fuel. (50:46-51:06) Supplies were dropped every jump by using para racks. After the paratroopers jumped the pilots would release the para racks which were kept under the plane. (51:25- 51:45) During one of the jumps a para rack filled with landmines got caught up on Ted’s plane. After a few failed attempts at getting the landmine out from underneath the plane, the crew chief cut a hole in the bottom of the plane and shot the lines off with a small machine gun. (51:46-53:01) After the Market Garden Operation (53:01-58:42) It wasn’t long after the Market Garden Operation that the war in Europe was over. (53:16-53:22) During the Battle of the Bulge the weather was so rotten that he barely flew at all but when the weather first got better the pilots dropped their para racks as quickly as possible in order to reload more racks. (54:19-54:32) On the days that he was not flying Ted was playing poker on base and watch for the weather. (54:50-55:02) After waiting for a month to get his four day pass Ted would go into London and went sightseeing. (55:14-55:32) Towards the end of the war his base was switched to a base in France. He was there for the last three or four weeks. (56:51-56:56) On May 3rd or 4th, before the German surrender, Ted was on a ship to get a new plane to go to Japan. (56:59-57:09) His base in France was lousy. They lived in tents and the toilets were terrible. Everyone wanted to go back to England. (57:12-57:23) Back in the States (58:42-1:02:54) As soon as he got to the states he was transported to a base in Pope Field, North Carolina. (58:45-58:51) Before he got to the base Ted’s whole group spent about three or four weeks getting their teeth fixed because the dental officer lived in Lester or Nottingham the whole time he was in Europe. (58:54-59:15) On the base he would deliver packages and mail across the United States. (59:16- 59:32) He was in Richmond, Virginia delivering a package when the A-bomb hit. (1:00:07-1:00:27) He flew a total of eight combat missions and two hundred and fifty supply missions. (1:00:471:01:04) At the end of the war Ted thought he had enough flying for a while and chose to go back to school. (1:01:43-1:02:32) (1:02:54-1:14:54) After the Service �Ted married his wife on the eighth of September, 1945. (1:02:55-1:03:01) He went back to Ohio University even though his wife wanted him to go to the University of Michigan. (1:03:15-1:03:23) Ohio University was very good to its veterans. Their housing was flourished and living was good. (1:04:07-1:04:19) He graduated with an engineering degree with a specialty in industrial engineering. (1:04:211:04:31) Due to the flooding of veterans wanting to get an education, Ohio University had to build new buildings. (1:05:08-1:05:17) His father-in-law got him a job in a sheet metal company. He worked for him for three or four years and then he started working at his family’s company in Cleveland, Ohio. (1:06:091:06:32) He was transferred to a little town called Antwerp, Ohio where they were building a new cement plant that needed an engineer. So he started working at the cement plant. (1:06:33-1:06:54) He worked at the plant for thirty years. (1:06:54-1:07:10) Ted and his wife moved to the Grand Rapids area because eleven of their family went to Aquinas and they wanted to be close to their family. (1:07:35-1:08:22) Ted believes that his time in the service matured his thinking. (1:08:50-1:09:17) He remembers the segregation on the base. How blacks had different eating places and dormitories. This was strange for Ted since he was from Ohio. (1:10:30-1:11:39) � 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 WeatherheadT1169V Title A name given to the resource Weatherhead, Edward "Ted" (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weatherhead, Edward "Ted" Description An account of the resource Ted Weatherhead was attending college at Ohio University when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. He immediately enlisted in the Army Air Corps, but had to wait for some time before starting his training. After surviving the initial screening and tests at San Antonio, he made it successfully through pilot training, only to be assigned to fly transport planes rather than fighters. Assigned to a transportation squadron early in 1944, he flew his C-47 to North Africa and then to England, where he underwent an accelerating training program to prepare him to drop paratroopers into Normandy. Between June, 1944 and May, 1945, he flew eight combat missions as part of the D-Day and Market Garden operations, as well as over 250 supply missions. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Air Corps 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 2011-07-19 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/6650e91efc62242799848430324ed667.mp4 1225178fa45c6ba2be37de94908bad34 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eed84504c10a5a1f5d9b574df1009d07.pdf 199a9b0c7decc484f7b5f9da91aa2238 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Name of Interviewee: George Way Length of interview (00:32:12:23) ***horizontal blue bars appear across the screen in the first few scenes (00:09:06) [interviewer introduction] Mr.Way was born on September 27, 1915, and lives in Grandville, Michigan In The Army (00:38:22) Way was drafted in the last week of June in 1941; he was living in Dearborn, MI (01:02:16) he was “in the medics” and he liked it because he did not have to shoot anyone Basic Training (01:18:03) [response to interviewer question about his first day in the service] “it was a sudden change in my whole life, from civilian to military, and I suddenly realized that I was alone…except for the men that were around me” (01:43:05) [emotions during the first few weeks in the service—interviewer] he did not have time to think about himself (01:48:02) it “took a little bit…”: being drafted was not the same as going there willingly, trying to get into the army � “you’re doing it because you have to, but at the same time you do it because you want to be loyal and patriot”; once Way got into it, he “felt good about it” (02:44:00) he went from Detroit to Battle Creek, for four days; a cadre came from Camp Walters in Texas and took them back by a train; he was there for twelve to fourteen weeks, in boot camp or basic training (03:21:02) they started them out going on long hikes, “longer and longer,” five miles, seven miles, ten miles, twenty-two miles, or twenty-five miles—carrying a full field pack (03:37:25) “then little by little, they’d teach you to handle a rifle,” a bayonet, hand grenades, how to do close-order drill—marching in formation; then “extended order”—advancing on a skirmish line out in the field With The Medics In Europe (04:29:09) Way was in the 2nd Infantry Division, serving in Europe as a medic �(04:49:03) [how he felt arriving in Europe—interviewer] “it was mixed feelings”; it was “an awakening” � he spent several months in Ireland and in Wales (05:33:23) [his job in the medics—interviewer] basically they took care of the wounded; they went out into the field and practiced on wounded people Dow Chemical In Texas (05:49:10) soon after getting into the medics, Way was sent to a town in Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, where there was a Dow Chemical plant; it was feared that the enemy would come ashore and destroy it � “the infantry was there to guard it”; they needed four men to guard it, and they were there several weeks, were then relieved, and he went back to his outfit (06:54:15) in his unit, they might have had 15-20 casualties, but there were 36 men in the unit—about a 50% casualty rate (07:33:13) “Everyday was…it wasn’t one that wasn’t worse than the other. When you think you could, it was the worst, the next day was worse.” � he was wounded three times and “sent back to the hospital” (08:13:28) “the worst one,” the one that affected him the most was when he was driving his jeep, and he had the men “stacked like cord wood” not on stretchers up high because he was afraid that they would get shot, but on wood � he heard a roar to the side, and three German Messerschmidt’s came by; they turned and came back � there wasn’t a ditch, there wasn’t a tree, there wasn’t anything—I was right out like in like a desert � he jumped out of the jeep and unrolled his flag, a bedsheet with a red cross painted on it; � the planes circled and came down the road above him; if they would have shot, he would have got it first � the planes circled again; he faced them and kept waving the flag; the last one that flew by him “waggled his wings” in acknowledgement that he was a medic (10:54:12) [was he a prisoner of war—interviewer] “not officially”; Way was captured, but they let him go—in July of 1944; they let him go because “they couldn’t, they couldn’t do anything with us—they were in a bad situation themselves and they felt they’d better not be caught with us” (11:33:22) they had “v-mail”: they would take a picture of a letter on small film and send it home on a roll, “hundreds, thousands of letters”; back home, it was reprinted larger �(12:20:05) [what the food was like on the battlefield—interviewer] “very good, very good…even K rations were good…4 & 1 rations were really, really good” (12:49:28) [pressure or stress—interviewer question] “oh yes, yes” but he “felt it had to be done”—whatever they told him did not bother him, but getting it done bothered him (13:16:29) he read “a lot,” and “they played cards”; they also had some USO shows, “quite a few,” and they got “right up there near the front line” (13:53:17) after two years in the army, Way had a furlough: he was in Texas, and he came home to Detroit and got engaged � he had known his wife for five years, and she did not want to wait any longer � she knew he was going to propose before he did � he got engaged in 1942 and married in 1943 (14:52:19) then Way went overseas; one time when he was recuperating from wounds, he was in England, and his brother was there too, in the 8th Air Force, and they got together on weekends � once, they got perhaps a ten-day furlough, and they went to London (15:22:17) he had weekends off “a lot,” and he could go home when he was stationed in Wisconsin (15:51:00) he was in the United States from 1941 until ’43, then in Ireland, then Wales The Normandy Invasion (16:06:00) on June 6 of 1944, the invasion was made on Omaha Beach � Way was in France, he got hit once, stayed there, went back to his “outfit,” got hit again, then went back to England—he was there three or four months � then he got back to his “outfit” “just in time for the Battle of the Bulge”; he went through Europe until the end of the war th � [what he means by “outfit”—interviewer] the 9 Infantry Medical rd Detachment, 3 Battalion (17:20:13) [how did he feel knowing that they would invade and maybe turn the war around—interviewer] “scared to death…it was beyond exciting...you can only go so far in excitement and then it becomes terror” (17:48:13) this was the invasion of Normandy, about 5,000 ships” � Way was not in the initial landing—he went in at 5 p.m. when “things had settled down” � he landed on the ground “by barge”; his job was driving a jeep—they dropped the gate on the barge, and he drove out in his jeep �(19:02:16) recollections of especially humorous happenings [interviewer question] (19:35:18) Way had just finished delivering a baby for a French woman; he left the house, and was going down the porch when he heard someone yelling “comrade, comrade, comrade”—he realized it was coming from under the porch � “he wanted to surrender—he was about a middle-aged man”; Way did not know what to do with him, so he told him to get in the truck � he rode with Way into Leipzig, about five or six miles, where Way turned him over to those handling prisoners � the funny part was him [the German] waving at people: “they didn’t know what to think about him… that’s a German, what’s he doing sitting in an American truck?” (21:08:22) [the day his time in the service ended—interviewer] Way does not remember the day, but the time: in October—the World Series was going on and Detroit won; he was discharged and went home to Detroit Life After The War (21:49:23) Way worked at Burroughs before going into the army; Burroughs was an adding machine company and it is now Unison; they no longer make adding machines, they make computers “really for like space and big businesses” � when he got “out of the war,” he “went right back to work” [at Burroughs], and stayed with them for many years, until he retired (23:04:28) [close friends in the military—interviewer] some; there is a man who is “closer now” than when they were in the service because he was “in a slightly different outfit” but Way has seen him off and on during recent years � he did have a close friend, “but he’s gone” (23:42:12) Way joined the American Legion and the 2nd Division Association � the Legion meets once a month, they have social, dinners, activities nd � the 2 Division Association sometimes has reunions faraway, like in California, but when it is nearby, in “this part of the country,” he tries to go to the dinners (25:04:18) he is probably more patriotic now than before the war; he was not patriotic before the war— “nobody was” � once into it and involved, it was his life: he wanted people to back him up, to support him � “I’m, very pro-military” (26:06:17) the “biggest way” his experiences in the military affected his life [interviewer] �(26:17:13) Way did not really know how to answer this; he thinks he is more conscientious, willing to tolerate hardship � he is thankful for what he has � “without the Lord, I never would have made it”; “Time after time after time, I called on God…” (27:50:09) his pastor’s nephew is in the same unit now that Way was in sixty years ago � when they did Operation Fallujah, he sent home a combat video in night vision, and Way “had some things to say to the congregation at that time”—around Veterans’ Day � he [the nephew] is in Iraq in the army (29:20:10) Wounds He Treated On The Battlefield, Examples [2nd interviewer] (29:39:22) he would “go right up on the front line”; Way was in charge of litter squads � he was responsible for the soldiers when they were brought back to the jeep; they would try to stabilize them � “just about any wound that you could imagine, I had encountered”; he had men die in his arms (31:24:13) their priest, a Roman Catholic, ordained them, authorized them to give last rites in his place, and gave them the equipment � Way had “quite a few opportunities like that” (32:09:06) several photographs follow on screen, without audio commentary: � the first appears to be a military base or the barracks � the second is probably Way in uniform � the third is probably Way with his wife as newlyweds � 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 WayG Title A name given to the resource Way, George P. (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Way, George P. Description An account of the resource George Way grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, and was drafted into the US Army in 1941. He trained as a medic and served with the 2nd Infantry Division throughout the war, from the Normandy landings, through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dean, Ashleigh (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-05-18 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/d0cd715186951e6be3393ea860b6bacd.mp4 ab1a9bbf1ce7f521195640911829d28e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f309d41d158e5e5601803eb8e4027d25.pdf a7a62f16beccf78beaf19987782ba1c3 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Cornelius “Bob” Warners (00:46:39) (00:25) • Born September 15 1919 • Graduated from Davis Tech 1939 • Worked for a printing company in Grand Rapids (00:54)Drafted • Went to Battle Creek, Fort Custer for 4 days and on a train to Louisiana • Assigned to 3rd Armor Division • Combat Command B-33rd Armored Regiment • Bob was a T5 when drafted--technician 5th grade which was a corporal’s rank • Tour was from 1941 to late 1945 (3:20)Fort Custer • Bob was here for about 4 days • Came in on a Friday and by Tuesday they were processed and sent on • Billy Conn and Joe Louis fight was that weekend • They were given no information except that they were heading to Louisiana. Not even what branch of the service they were going into (4:40)Camp Polk, Louisiana-1 year • They were split up into different companies as they got off the train • Lived in pup tents, practiced maneuvers, supplied tanks, 25 mile marches, calisthenics • Bob drove for Colonel Strong (8:09)Mohave Desert-late 1942 • Colonel Strong lost his car so Bob stopped driving for him • Bob received his 35 millimeter anti-tank gun • Two man crew driving a half ton truck • Didn’t have a lot of ammunition at this time for the 35 mill so they couldn’t shoot it for practice • They were training in the Mohave Desert • It was decided that they didn’t need more troops in Africa so their division went to France • His division was the 3rd armored division • (11:00) His unit was to control the Colorado River and monitor people on the roads coming into the River. They spent 6 days straight on the river monitoring traffic which was difficult because of the tides and undertows. You had to swim well and row hard to be on this assignment. �• • • • While there a young star, Dinah Shore, sang for them. She eventually became a great star but at this time she was not well known. General Patton had come to his division and given them a harsh speech (13:30) Bob was in the desert for approximately 6 months They loaded up on flat cars all their stuff and the men and headed for Virginia (13:50 )Virginia • Their division was put on guard duty in Virginia which took about 10 days to travel back from the desert • This was a jumping off point out of the country but the coast was covered with submarines so they went to Hershey Pennsylvania (15:45) Hershey, Pennsylvania • Stayed here about 43-45 hours before heading out to England (16:00) Warminster, England • Their division stayed in various towns around Warminster but their company stayed together in one building • They maneuvered through the countryside and learned to drive on the opposite side of the road • The English troops were not happy to see them. Bob said it was because the American troops had extra money to take the girls out • (17:20) Bob was able to get off base and see London, Birmingham, and meet the Queen. The King and Queen came to a place where the guys were in the parking lot with their trucks and she stopped and shook hands with the guys. Bob says that had a lot of respect for her because she wouldn’t hide behind the King, she just came out. • The soldiers at this point knew they were in training for combat but had no idea what exactly combat would be like and once subjected to combat they wished they had paid more attention while they were learning. • The boys were not prepared for combat once they were involved • (19:40) June 6th they all gathered around the radio and heard about D Day and they assumed they would be going back to Omaha. They waterproofed all the vehicles and a storm hit. They had to take the vehicles off, throw them in the ditch, and wait for the storm to pass. Then take them back out and waterproof them and reload them on the ships. (21:30) Normandy • The traveled across the channel with exceptional weather. When they landed on the beach, the mess was cleaned up. They landed far enough in that they could unload the tanks and went right into action digging foxholes. • For a few weeks, the service company didn’t have much to do. The guys were well equipped and all was in working order. Once things were used the service crew was able to assist in fixing and servicing machinery. • (24:20) They had no idea how close to the front line they were because it would consistently change �• • • • • • • • • • • • • (25:30) Bob was here when they had a 3000 plane bombing attack against St. Lo and General McNair was killed by friendly fire when some of the bombs fell off target. At this point they were forced to use the fields to travel since the roads were well bombed (26:39) Bob says he remembers one day that they traveled with their tanks 100 miles which was considered the longest tank battle in history. Once on the move they were able to be more aggressive They lost their commander in Belgium, General Rose. He was a well liked commander. He was always in the front of the forces. (29:20) The service company didn’t change much because they took few casualties (30:47) His company had 147 days of continuous actual combat while on duty as their longest campaign without rest There was not much time of actual rest. Most of the time was spent in combat and waiting to enter combat with the longest stretch of time waiting was about 1 ½ weeks. (33:10) Bob says that the Bulge was the most difficult time for his division during the war. During this battle the weather was horrible. It was winter and conditions were harsh. One battalion was cut off from the rest, one was completely killed, and sugar was put into gas tanks. They were in Spa Belgium at the time and the entire company was being used to guard corners in town. This was the one place where he was ordered to deploy his anti-tank gun, but then a cavalry officer came by and told him to get it out of the road before he got run over, the gun being too small to do anything to German tanks. They were there for about 10 days in the Bulge (36:20) The fear was that somebody would break the line and if done would be disastrous. They had bombs tied to every tree along the roads and the trees partially cut so they would fall across the road if needed. It seems that morale was high during this time and the men were ready for a quick end and a quick return home (37:50) The final days of the war • Bob’s unit was planning on meeting the Russians but it was decided to let the Russians take over the area • Once they had the Elbe River they basically sat and waited • Bob said that the part of Germany they were in was very dirty and unlivable. Even the government wouldn’t let anyone live like that. • (39:40) The German people seemed tired and ready for the war to end • The guys spent much time raiding houses for ammunition and equipment • Bob found postcards in one house they showed the bones of dead Jews. They are in the Jewish museum in Detroit. • (41:15) Bob remembers seeing a lot of the Jewish prisoners wandering around wearing striped pajamas • (42:30)The division was broken up according to how many points each had. Bob had to stay a month by Sensei River before being evacuated. He drove jeeps around while he was there. • Bob was officially discharged back in Pennsylvania before VJ Day • Bob returned to printing once discharge and didn’t take his 20 weeks of pay after the war. �• • He said he was an athlete before joining the military and had never drank or smoked before. Once in he learned quickly how to do both He feels he had a contribution to the efforts and would not change them but would not want to do it again. � 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 WarnersC Title A name given to the resource Warners, Cornelius (Bob) (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Warners, Cornelius (Bob) Description An account of the resource Cornelius "Bob" Warners served in World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and Normandy in the 3rd armored division service company that assisted the men in battle. He served time in battle that at one point extended 147 straight days of combat duty. He discusses training in Louisiana and in the Mohave Desert and his experiences in France, Belgium and Germany. 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 United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-06-22 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/5c43899a8b022f6fe40b8eaa6131a32c.mp4 b2f72dc143d39e4351c4852158d95c81 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c3a40785e6f9d62271b2c8b561a30af5.pdf 04d021aa7ed4fe5011d10f8b4f5bd421 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Frank Warner (01:14:53) (00:15) Background Information • • • Frank was born in Michigan in 1918 and grew up during the depression His father died four months before he was even born His mother played the organ and piano for movies and his grandparents helped raise him (4:45) School • • • • He lived near the city and went to a larger elementary school, which he walked to He was into music and played the drums and also sang In high school he loved football and also ran in track He hated school and did not like to study; he got bad grades (10:40) Michigan State University • • • Grand did not have enough money to attend college right out of high school He got a job sailing the Great Lakes to help ship iron ore and worked his way through college Frank studied forestry at MSU and also met his wife there (17:15) Pearl Harbor • • Frank said that he will always remember Roosevelt’s speech the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked Frank was still in college at the time and then thought that war was inevitable and terrible (19:15) Joining the Service in 1942 • • Frank was pretty sure he was going to be drafted, so he took an exam for pilot training because he wanted to have a choice if he was joining the service He had never been in a plane before (21:40) Training in the Air Corps • • • • Their motto was that you have to take orders first before you can give them He had to wake up every day at 4:30AM Training was very disciplined and rigorous They were in Georgia for primary training and then they went to basic training in Arkansas �• • • • They never took a break from different training forts and they traveled to a different state every nine weeks He went through advanced training in Indiana and worked with 1810 twin engine planes Frank was then sent to Idaho to meet his crew All the missions that Frank went on were in 1944 and they flew P-24s, which could carry lots of bombs (30:50) Fresno, California • • They simulated the war conditions and flew over the desert Frank learned to use the Norton bomb sight (34:00) The Bomb Runs • • • • They would drop boxes of tinsel over the enemy to distort their view Frank flew a total of 41 missions in B-24s and many were very dangerous There was a very high rate of casualties There were psychiatrists that worked with the men because they had problems caused by their very dangerous missions (36:45) The Plain Caught on Fire • • • They were en route to France from Italy The engine caught on fire so he dove down to try to put it out The engineer told him that it was impossible (40:00) Contacts with the States • • • • Frank wrote to his wife every night Officers went through their letters to make sure that no important information was being leaked His wife worked for a telephone company in Lansing Frank was never able to call her or anyone else (43:40) European Missions • • • • • Their tail-gunner was shot on their first mission The navigator’s propeller exploded and he ejected, but his parachute did not open Frank’s plane was the only one still able to drop bombs He flew over the Adriatic Sea many times They bombed oil fields and refineries to slow down German movement (48:40) Life After the Service �• • • • Frank did not serve a second time because he had a young son and wife waiting for him, but had he stayed, he could have made lieutenant kernel Frank worked as a commercial fisherman in the Florida Keys for 14 years They had to file a report every day with the government and keep track of all the fish that they caught and sold so that the area would not be over-fished The area contains the only living reef in the US (55:35) Back in Michigan • • One of his children was born in Texas and the other two were born in Michigan All three of his children graduated from Central Michigan University �Crew Position Frank ~'larner, First Name last Name 2nd Lt. Rank E. MI '0-811476 A. S. N. Pilot 1024 MOS Job Title HISTORICAL RECORD Dote . No. Award Time Date Recoa Total I GO No. 17 Apri}. 44 GO #433 ir Ha1~thAF adal .$tL~ ..rei B 1'( "Ja;)' .tel nd ..fOl B Tota! ReaKKk ~lgt~ 44­ ~l~m 6 Jun 44· 12 May . 44' I Remarks GO No. . 26 Jun 44­ 30 Jun 44 VICTORIES " ',' Destroyed - Credit No & Type Adt No. Date .. .; I ';~';~ ~ Damaged ProbaMe - Credit Date No. . No & Type Adt Date No. No. & Type Acft �" .: HEADQ,UbRTERS 46l3T BOii3Af.D1:ENT GROUP (h"V) AAF lIPO 520 c/o PI\.: 13 Deoember SUBJECT: Unit Citation TO All concerned 1. The 45lst Bombardment Group (fW) was cited> in General Orders 4187, !~adquarters Fifteenth Air Force, APO 520, US brmy, 26 October 1944, tor outstanding perforlliance of duty in armed co . . . ith the enem.y on 15 July 1944. This citation was approved by 01 iried letter 330.13 Subject: Unit Citation, Headquarters United Army Air Forces luediterranean Theater of Operations United 3tate Army, APO 650, dated 22 November 1944. Whereupo~ the inclusion a Unit Citation in :iar Department General Orders becomes aut.omat Lc Cir 333 - 1943). The plain blue streamer was presented to the 46 BOflbardment Group (rN) on 3 December 1944 by Brigadier General C Bo:cn... Dep.u.ty CCUIllIlat\.d.a.:c:f "ii:fte.~~t.h. Ai.r ~o.rc~. 2. 2nd L~ J'ra.ok E. warner 0EU1.47& was an assigne member or this Group on 15 ;U1,.. 19M ana is, pursuant to authori contained in par 4a (I) War Department Circular 333 (1943), auth to wear the Distinguished Unit Badge. By order of Colonel HAaEa: R. FOS'!'FRB-GOTT kajar, Air corp. OFFICW: ~f~~t8~~ RICfIbRD L. RUSSEY :Vc;JG USA. J Assistant Adjutant. Adj utant, � 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 WarnerF Title A name given to the resource Warner, Frank (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Warner, Frank Description An account of the resource Frank Warner was born in Michigan in 1918 and attended college at Michigan State University before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1942. Frank was sent to a different training base in the United States every 9 weeks before flying to Europe, where he flew combat missions from bases in Italy. Frank trained with B-24s because they could carry quite a few more bombs than the older planes. Frank stated that there was a very high mortality rate for the type of missions he had worked on and that a psychologist had to stay with the men to help their mental health. Frank has many stories from flying over Europe that includes being shot at and planes exploding. Military documents appended to interview outline. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army. Air Corps 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 2005-09-01 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/f25a7cd92c186c9b1995429b7d63bd40.mp4 74ae454f93f40c82e2e1864426c5dc8d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b5cfa220b4bff244a822128f502674b7.pdf 904298a7a37816b4bb194edc6fa033eb PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Vietnam Interviewee: Jack Ward Length of Interview: 00:28:57 Background          Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on December 14, 1949. His father was an Army Air Corps veteran. He was a bombardier and navigation systems tech on B-29 Super fortress. He served in WWII. His mother would stay at home while his father was at war. They are both deceased now. He has one sister, who is 5 years younger than him. He graduated high school in June of 1968, from Kentwood High School. He had a week off after high school before signing up for the draft. The next day he was being sent off to Fort Wayne, Detroit for his physical and induction. He entered the service by volunteering for the draft. It is considered to be enlistment. He would sign up for two years. He did not know that it was considered enlistment until he read it in Parade magazine. He wanted to join either the Marines or the Army. He figured he had a better chance to get into aviation if he joined the Army, so he did. Training (3:15)        After the physicals and inductions were completed, they were put on a bus for an allnight ride to Fort Knox, Kentucky. When he got there, he would have to take a couple of tests for placement purposes. This would take a couple of days. He would then start his basic training with Company B-19-3. After the completion of his basic training, he would be at the mercy of the Army to place him where he would go next. Had he signed up for 3 years he would have got to choose where he would go and what he would do for specialized training, but he had only signed up for 2 years. He expected to be put in the infantry, which he would have been fine with, but he ended up being placed in the mechanical side of things and would work in repairing helicopters. He found adapting to military life fairly easy. When he was in high school, he was told what to do by his athletic coaches, so he knew how to follow orders. He really liked his training. He really enjoyed the field training they had to do, like learning how to shoot machine guns. Active Duty (5:15)  After training, he would depart from his home in Grand Rapids on December 12, 1968 to Chicago, then by airplane to San Francisco, and then was placed in a cab to Oakland, CA. �                     He would be housed in the Oakland Army Depot. He remembers the bunk beds there were 6 or 7 high and he was on the very top. After about 3 or 4 days in Oakland they were shipped out, at night, to Travis Air Force Base in the San Francisco area. There he would be put on a commercial air liner and be flown to Hawaii. They would only be there for 2 or 3 hours for refueling and would then go to Guam. From Guam, it would be a non-stop flight to Bien Hoa, Vietnam. It would be north of Saigon. From Bien Hoa, he would be taken to the 89th Replacement Company. He was housed there for about a week, until they figured out where they wanted him to go. He remembers them telling him that he would probably end up in Pleiku, also known as “Rocket City.” He would then get on a cargo plane and be flown to Pleiku. He remembers landing there and hearing all the things about it, but it turns out he was at an Air Force Base there. There was a swimming pool, a PX, real building in construction. There were also paved driveways and grass and flowers. He thought he had it made. Unfortunately, the Army guys were sent to their camp, Camp Holloway, a few miles away. It took a while to get there and it was nothing like the Air Force Base at Pleiku. He was never on the front line. In fact, there never really was a front line. The closest he ever got to the front line was when he had to go out at night to serve in his defensive positions on the perimeter on Camp Holloway. Vietnam was not scary during the day, but at night it was. The Viet Cong, in his area particularly would like to fight. It was a series of flares, mortars, and rockets coming in. They had gunships out on the perimeter trying to suppress them. This was happening pretty much all the time. He did not see any heavy combat, as he was a mechanic. But when he did, he would mostly fire his weapon into the tree line or at muzzle flashes. It’s not like in the movies where they run out in the middle of a field and then get shot. They were a lot smarter than that. Neither side would expose themselves needlessly. He remembers the casualties he saw were things of a stupid nature (10:25) For example, in the early morning they had taken “bloopers” which were M-79’s he thinks, to a training camp. They were not gone an hour before they had to go back because one of the instructors shot a grenade straight up in the air. It would come back down and cause a lot of casualties. He remembers having to pick them up and take the injured and dead to the hospital. He would see a lot of his own casualties as well. A young man would join in 1969 as a co-pilot, and after his first or second day in he would go out on a mission and come back with an NVA 51 caliber round right through the head. There wasn’t much left of him. Since he got out in January of 1970, he hasn’t heard from anyone who he served with. It’s not like today where you go over in a company with a bunch of guys you know. You go over by yourself and you come back by yourself. He learned to depend more on himself more than other, so he did not make any lasting friends. He would get in trouble while staying in touch with family and friends back home. There was plenty of time to write letters back home and he did not have a girlfriend, so he only wrote home to his family, which was his mom, dad and sister, and his grandma. �              He would be so tired after working 12-14 hour days and then have to work 2 hours on, 2 hours off in defensive positions; he would sometimes go a month and a half or two months without writing a letter. His mother or father, he could not remember which one, had contacted the Red Cross to make sure that he was still alive because they hadn’t heard from him in so long. He got called into his CO’s office and got it from him. He had to sit there and write a letter to his family back home and had to promise his CO that he would write one letter a week, which he did the rest of the way in. He would bring some civilian clothes with him, though he did not know if he would ever get the chance to wear them. He could not wear them off base, but in certain time he could on base. He would also bring his mitt and ball with him, along with a few other guys. He would play catch 4 or 5 times a week. He would also shoot some hoops, as they had that available to them too, though not anything like in the US. He would also jump rope for fun as well. They soldiers would also have PT exercises they had to do in order to stay in shape. Everyone that was there, whether it was Marines or Army would get a 7-10 day R&R. (15:45) There were 8-10 destinations that you could choose from to take your R&R. The closer it was to Vietnam, the sooner you could go. The farther it was, the longer you had to wait. He was only interested in Sydney, Australia. Most of the married men would go to Hawaii and meet up with their wives. Most of the single guys would go to Bangkok or Japan because it was closer. He wanted to go to Australia because he wanted to see what it was like. He would have to wait 10 months before he took his R&R. Between December 1968 and the middle of October 1969, he had not had any time off. So he learned how to work hard and not complain. Eventually he would make it to Sydney and he would really enjoy his time there. He would serve his 12 months, plus a 1 month extension and would leave in the middle of the war. When he got out he would go from Pleiku to Da Nang at a marine barracks there for a couple of days before getting shipped on a commercial airliner to Japan. A lot of the wounded soldiers would be shipped to Japan, so many of the men on the plane were in pretty bad shape. He would spend the night in Japan and then go home to Fort Lewis, Washington, where he would be discharged from the Army, in the middle of January in 1970. Post Duty (18:40)   In 1973, when the conflict ended, he was fully civilianized and not thinking about the war so much at all. All of the people he knew went in ’67-’69, when the heat of the war was at its most. So he did not hear much about it. He had received his training as an airline transport pilot and was working in Grand Rapids as a pilot when he heard about the end of the combat in Vietnam. �                In 1975, when the war officially ended he had bought his first house, he had just got married and was a chief pilot for an airline service. When he left Fort Lewis, he had a non-stop flight to Chicago. When he got to Chicago, he had just missed his flight back home to Grand Rapids so he had to spend the night in the terminal building. He didn’t care. He was so happy to be home and alive that he would have stood on his head for 12 hours if they told him to. At the time, the only way you could fly home for free is if you wore your uniform. You could not put civilian clothes on and show them an Army pass and go for free. While he was waiting for another flight to Grand Rapids, he would sit in the waiting terminal. Each time he would sit by a group of people, they would leave five or so minutes later. It didn’t bother him, because he was so happy to be home, but he did notice that people did not want to sit by him. When he got to Grand Rapids, his dad had come to the airport with an 8 mm camera but he was so happy that his son was home that he couldn’t hold it steady. So the videos were everywhere, it was pretty comical and they all got a good laugh out of it. He was met by his mother, father, sister and his grandmother at the airport. Adjusting to civilian life was rough at first. He took a couple days to go see his friends, which was great. He was eventually invited to a party down at Western by a girl named Sue Miller. She was cute so he went. He really stuck out like a sore thumb at this party, as he was tan and had no hair. It being the middle of January, he really stuck out. And people knew where you had been. When he got there, he had a run-in with a lady in the parking lot for a parking space, but that was no big deal. He was only at the party for about 10 minutes before he left. He could tell that besides her, no one really wanted him there. It didn’t bother him. He knew he wasn’t welcome there, so one he went. She would call the next day to apologize for her friends’ behavior. (24:50). A group of his friends would go to a sand dune in Grand Haven, just before the 4th of July. They had hiked up the sand dunes and laid out some blankets to relax. When it got dark, he had heard firecrackers that had been lit by another group of people nearby. It sounded just like an AK-47 and he freaked out a little bit. His friends, who had not served, got a good laugh out of it. He would laugh with them, and that was the end of that. He always felt that after the experience of serving, he felt he could handle anything. Consequently, he doesn’t let things get him down and once in a while he would get in the dumps, but it would be nothing compared to his time in the service. What he learned from the service was to be self-sufficient. He would also learn that training and education are important, but you need them both, or they mean nothing. He would also learn out to deal with people that he would work with the rest of his life. � 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 WardJ Title A name given to the resource Ward, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ward, Jack Description An account of the resource Jack Ward enlisted in the US Army in 1968. He trained as a helicopter mechanic and was sent to Vietnam in 1969. He was stationed at Camp Holloway, outside of Pleiku. He spent most of his time on the base because of his assignment, but endured regular mortar and rocket attacks, and took turns manning the perimeter, where the Viet Cong would often make trouble at night. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ward, Samuel (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 2009-10-05 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/e986c4bbb4c7964761dbd9e42d9556d3.mp4 c086686a930d07504708cbaabb43a153 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/511c6c586b5000dfe0396f6f0f7a1a07.pdf 797db08f3d801d670bbf8737331e2916 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Ester Maxine Warber (00:59:10) (00:14) What is your full name? Ester Maxine Warber (00:20) Where were you born? Grand Haven Township, MI, near Grand Haven City (00:30) What is your birth date? March 21, 1923 (00:40) That is quite a few years ago, isn’t it Ester? 80 years ago. (00:43) Isn’t that something. As you were growing up as a young girl, do your remember any of the things that happened in grade school? Anything that stands out good? I started in pre-school but they said I was too small…too young to fight the snow drifts and all so I started when I was six (6) years old in first grade. I missed two (2) years of grade school. They shot me ahead so that I was eleven (11) years old and out of school and the superintendent says you have to do something to keep her busy. I started high school at age twelve (12). (01:33) Can you recall any of your friends or any of the things you did besides study in high school? It was a very small school. We only had thirteen (13) kids in the school in Grand Haven Township. (01:51) In the high school? Oh, in the high school we had a total of 168 graduating. It was the biggest class that had gone through. I graduated from high school in 1940. (02:07) As you graduated from high school, what were your plans? What did you do then? �Oh I wanted to be a nurse, I thought. (02:20) You mentioned you looked forward to going to the lower rung bomber plant, could you tell us about that? I applied when I was nineteen (19) after having worked in Detroit. First of all, I worked at the Farm Crest Bakery and then Sealtest Creamery. I then went to Willow Run when they first started recruiting. Henry Ford owned that place. It is a huge place. The largest it had ever been in the world or course. It was building big planes also. One a day came off the line. I had to wait until I was nineteen (19) years old to work there. I worked there a little over a year. (03:15) What did you do at the bomber plant there? I was on machines in the machine shop with Henry Ford’s old cronies who made his bicycle with him. (3:20) Did you ever meet Henry Ford? He came there a lot because those were his friends in the machine shop. (03:28) Can you tell us about anything of Henry’s friends that you remember? They were as old as he was and that was quite an age. He might have been about 80 years old when he went around to various people on the machines and talked to them; he was very friendly. He was very knowledgeable. He put me in the apprentice program up on the loft at Willow. He didn’t personally do that; the supervisor did. But I learned quite a bit about machines. (04:15) What kind of machines did you learn about at that time? I was mostly on the drill press and the sanding machines. I did a little bit of work just to be doing it on the lath and the milling machine. (04:28) As you continued to work at the bomber plant, what did you then discover, like maybe…….? I would see the planes as they would move down the line to the riveters one mile and at the end of the line everyday with the plane coming off like an assembly line, there was a with a “W.A.S.P” from England. She would take that plane and get acquainted with it before she went through Canada and over to England to deliver it to the American pilots who were loading the planes with bombs and going off to Europe. And we learned all of that of course, about what was happening to our planes. (05:30)Was that before Pearl Harbor? �No, it was built about one (1) year after Pearl Harbor. (05:47) Ester, do you recall the day of Pearl Harbor? What were you doing? Yes. I was at Herman Kiefer Hospital looking through to the fourth floor window to a little boy who had scarlet fever and his family were the ones I lived with in Detroit. Forest and Grand River. (06:12) After you worked at the bomber plant, you then enlisted in the WAVES? I came out perfectly showing my little sister the place and told them I was quitting to go into the WAVEs. But they didn’t take me for three (3) months. I didn’t realize that I would have all that waiting to do from about the end of September until they finally took me by train. It was the first train I had ever ridden. They took me to Hunter College in New York City. It was very exciting, it really was. So in September I got my exam, my physical exam and they got all of my history and had me all ready to go. They were very busy at Hunter College. They only gave us four (4) weeks of basic training. (07:12) Ester, do you remember what kind of train that was? It was a Canadian train. We always moved when I was in the United States on Canadian trains. (07:28) Were they diesel engines? Yeah, they were steam. (07:34) Anything special happen on the train that went to New York? Oh my friends all gave me a lot of joking about how I spent my time. They played cards and I read the dictionary. I had left my two (2) classes in Ann Arbor and I had books that I had been studying. They were English and History. (08:03) You mentioned that you saw a poster that really triggered your thoughts to join. A beautiful poster. That was a glamorous poster. It was with the uniform then that I was able to wear when I got to Hunter College. It was a Handmacher uniform. He was one of the well known fashion designers. We had really good looking uniforms. (08:44) As you went through basic at Hunter College, can you tell us any of your recollections there? I got off the train at New York Central station with my Pullman case and my high heels and I walked 200 blocks to the reservoir out by Jerome Avenue, in that area, and we went up six (6) stores. I was assigned to a room with about sixteen (16) girls on the sixth (6) �floor. We would get there and then they would have us come down to assemble on the street at parade rest and call off our names and then most of the time we had to go off to some of the classrooms and get measured for uniforms and get some postcards, coast guard shoe and our work outfit which was a “drop seat” in the uniform which we got rid of as soon as we could petition and the people who could change our uniform and was able to wear the men’s dungarees because we couldn’t stand that uniform; it was out of style. (10:24) Did you do physical exercises and things in basic training like the men did? A lot of it was just running around the reservoir, and running up those six (6) flights of stairs. It was all walk up. They locked up the elevators. Everybody walked everywhere. We had classroom discussions and just anything that would give us exercise. We always had to walk about a mile to get over to the dining room three (3) times a day. There was a lot of walking. (11:04) What did your basic training consist of? Getting fitted for uniforms and an exam. I had that already in Detroit, but they did it all over again. We trained as to what the Navy was all about; what the men were doing; what the war needed; what kind of effort we might have to put forth and it was much quicker than any group that had gone through. They always took maybe three months and we had only four (4) weeks. And then we got on a Canadian train again and went out of New York Central Station. (11:48) And where did you go? Oh we had to make a choice of what we wanted and I said I would like storekeeper and I got aviation machinist mate school. (12:00) As you went to aviation machinist school, where was that at? It was at Norman, OK in the heart of the big state of Oklahoma. When we had got there, there had been a tornado the night before. By the way it took us five (5) days of traveling by day and being on sitting at night. They didn’t have us travel, they had to take supplies on freight trains at night so we were a passenger train, old cattle cars by the way. When we got there the tornado had really done a job on all the garbage cans and that is what we did the first few days was clean up garbage all over the yards and the grounds. (12:56) That was at Norman, OK? Yes. (12: 59) What location is that in relation to Tulsa, OK? �It is further from Tulsa than the storekeepers school was by the way. It was eighteen (18) miles out of Oklahoma City where they had all kinds of oil derricks everywhere in Oklahoma. (13:20) Could you describe a little bit what the terrain looked like? Could you smell the oil? In Oklahoma City, I think so. Where we were it was nice and clear out. Very spacious ground. Lots of hangars. Old planes that had already served their usefulness in the war effort or prior to the war. It was four (4) miles from North base where the boys were training for pilot training. I had a nephew by age at the North base and he became a fighter pilot going off the aircraft carriers. I saw him a few times. We had to go to North base and fix tears in the yellow parcel training plane. We also had a lot of classroom training, sitting and learning all about planes. We all went to auditoriums and learn to identify planes. They would zoom them across the screen like in a moving theatre and you had to tell on paper what plane that was. I wasn’t all the accurate in finding the right label for the planes. I learned later on what they were because I actually worked on them at Alameda, but while I was in training for six (6) months, I had the measles and the put me in a dark room and wouldn’t let me do anything for two (2) weeks, and I was two (2) weeks behind with my class so I took over the platoon leaders job for eight (8) other people who had fallen behind in their classes. We marched to class. We had classed until noon time and then stood in a big mess line to get fed, and then right back to the classes then. In our last two (2) months of the six (6), we were out taking planes apart and putting them back together again. Learning how an engine worked because it had to work when they put it back together. Having the proper propeller. It couldn’t fly but it had to have a live engine after we had torn it apart. (15:58) So you became quite proficient at repairing airplane engines then? Yeah (16:05) What was the food like in the mess hall as you stood in line? Beans every morning. A great big tray of beans. Sometimes it didn’t get very much use. It was there after we finished our breakfast. (16:22) What were your uniforms at that time then? Some where along in early on, we got rid of those “drop seat” uniforms that didn’t do anything glamorous and we got the men’s dungarees in their storekeepers shop and we had captain parades inspections in the barracks on Saturday morning every Saturday morning with competition with the other barracks. I understood there were men there plus the W.A.V.E.S., about 20,000 people and as soon as we left, they had 20,000 more in training. It was still kind of early on for training. The captain’s parade was very dusty and we had to send them out to Oklahoma City every week, and we also had to buy any �extra uniforms. They gave us two (2) uniforms basically. Beautiful beautiful uniforms as I said. (18:00) As you went to Norman, Oklahoma and the training and so on and the airplanes there, tell me a little bit about what kinds of planes you worked on and the engines that you rebuilt? I graduated two (2) weeks later than any of my friends and buddies that I had trained with and I was an aviation machinist rate, 2nd class, and then after I trained I went home for ten (10) days and then straight away to St. Louis, MO, and out to Alameda, CA to an assembly and repair plant where I went into the machine shop. (18:51) What kind of train did take to Alameda, CA? I think it might have been the Wolverine or the New York Central. It was not in cattle cars but we did have plenty of cattle cars that were shipped around all over the United States. We often got placed in those. (19:20) What did you do in there; did they have chairs or anything? Oh yeah, they were all fitted out with a dining car and not an easy feat. The seats faced each other in the same like most of our passenger cars that had been around. I had never been riding trains. I had never seen trains inside until I went into Hunter College in New York City. (19:55) Do you recall anything special about your trip from Oklahoma to California? I stayed overnight in St. Louis after my ten (10) days at home and lots of relatives to visit. I got into Alameda, CA in probably four (4) or five (5) days and two (2) huge long tunnels that kind of disturbed me. One was about a mile long they told me. You just stayed forever inside the tunnel. It was dark. The train was all darkened. There wasn’t anything too different about those. (20:40) So there wasn’t anything different about the trip there? Did you have to stop and wait until other trains went by? Yes…not a whole lot. They had things planned better than the Amtrak does now. Now computers are planning it all. It was human beings that seemed to do a very good job of getting the trains where they belong on schedule, and on the side track letting one pass the other one. (21:11) These planes and engines that you worked on, were all Navy planes? Yes they were. �(21:18) What kind of planes? They were all the basic fighter planes, Pratt Whitney engines and all the planes that I worked on were the small fighter planes that were going out on the aircraft carriers. I took a course to learn all the insides of the flying. I got my certificate in that and I think I can’t really recall how long the course was. It was about three (3) months. I already knew engines from out in Norman, Oklahoma. Those were the Rolls Royce engines from Britain and pontoons of course. We learned everything about the plane. The entire plane, the flight engineering deck. We didn’t just go through the engine. We sat in class learning about the engine. (22:28) Was this a Navy rebuilding area that you went to in California? It was Navy. It was right outside our base. Part of the federal compound I think with all the Eskimo huts. I went into an Eskimo hut and we had two (2) very smart young men who taught us and it was a small class. I think there were about four (4) or maybe six (6) of us in the class. (23:10) As you did this rebuilding work on the engines, did you get to see the planes themselves? Yes. They would fly the used planes that had been in the Pacific to our runways and there were Navy men on the line, I don’t think any of our girls were out there on the airport area, but they would take the engine, strip it down and then they would use our new parts. Our machine shop was making knew parts for the most part. We did some liners on air ventilators and things that could be retrieved and reused. That is what I did on the banding machine. (24:09) How long were you there? I had about a year and a half on the Alameda base and I also took a course to become aviation machinist mate, first class, and so they said I had to wait until all the men had gotten through and taken the course and wanted to move up. When the men moved up, then I had had a chance. They told me that right away. So I waited and before I got out I made First Class because I had passed the exam. (24:53) How old were you? I was 21 at the time, I think (25:04) Were you there at the base when the war ended? I was in Hawaii. I was six (6) months. (25:18) How did you get from the repair base to Hawaii? �I asked to go to Panama and they sent me to Hawaii and it was the first group that had moved out. They had a group that had moved to Alaska, one to Bermuda, one to Panama, and one to Hawaii. We went with what had been a private cruise ship and it took us five (5) days rendezvousing every morning and traveling with merchant marines, a whole lot of supply ships on their way to far off places in the Pacific. We were stopping in Hawaii. Oh these ships had already been loaded with women and children to go back to Hawaii. When we got there, they still had all the fence around the beaches. They had everything pretty well patrolled and guarded and they had our own submarines out in the water all around the island. Course there had been no attacks enough times so they thought they were safe to bring the civilian woman and children back. (26:45) What did you do then in Hawaii? They put me right on the line and I went out with an eighteen (18) year old who taught me how to run a supply, 10 ½ ton truck, a big big truck that was a British. I steered it in the same fashion we always used for our American cars, but you had to have four (4) way stops and use a lot of care in going around to do anything like supplying the ship, loading, but also because I was one of the petty officers, I worked in the administrative office at the airport. We pushed the chiefs out of there and the guards took over as far as our living quarters. I am sure it was discussing to all of the guys who had to move into barracks and the girls took over. We all had single rooms then. (28:07) What was your rank then? I was aviation machinist mate, 2nd Class and so I had a little scooter to run around all over the place including the airport area. I met people in all the missile stations. The missile dump…not missile but whatever…. (28:44) The ammunition dump? Yes, there you go. They gave me all the war bonds, the civilian and military boys had them taken out of their pay which was very slim in those days, but they could always make $18.75 on their war bonds and we still went all over the island getting acquainted with all the fascinating things on the little bit of money that we had left. We never missed on the war bonds. I always had the same people to give another one too every month. (29:30) So you were working in the office then pushing paper work? I ran around all over. I took up…I didn’t sit in the office and do any typing or anything. (29:40) While you were in Hawaii, did you do any rebuilding of engines and that sort of thing? �No it was supplying the planes. I helped with putting them…I took another course on flight engineering which I was so proud because there were only two (2) of us in the W.A.V.E.S that had ever done that at that time. Aviation Machinist Mate. I was so proud I made several copies of my certificate and showed everybody. That was the highlight of my time in the service and that was again two (2) young military men, sailors, who taught the course eight (8) weeks and then I did some practice or training trips down to Motto’s Inn on the Parker Vance on the big island for training trip. (30:50) Did you get any chance at all to get any type of recreation? Loads of USO dances on the Navy aircraft carriers that were parked out near Kenaway Bay. I wasn’t in Pearl Harbor. I was immediately crossed over the to Petanioway Bay, the big air base. (32:26) Did you happen to have any opportunity to go to the USO dances and things like that? Only…we could go every Saturday night and Friday night. Sometimes we would like to go to the Queens YMCA in Honolulu and to Sears Roebuck and to see all the spouting pacific coming up through volcanic tubes. They had a lot of waterspouts and they were fascinating. They had lookouts at these places. It took only a Sunday afternoon to go all the way around Oahu, the major island where Honolulu is located, and they had pig grocery stores. They called them Piggley Wiggley. They would have them all up and down California and Seattle, WA. (32:26) Did you happen to see any of the movie star entertainers and people like that as you were there and went to the USO clubs? In Alameda I saw a lot of them. They weren’t too far away from Los Angeles and Hollywood and ex-President, Ronald Reagan. He was a lieutenant colonel in charge of the USO entertainment and he shipped a lot of people out to Hawaii and further and some times we were able to see them on the island. Most of the time they just had a little rest stop and then went off to Australia or to the Philippines or Iwo Jima or wherever they were going. Most of them went all the way out to dangerous zones for the USO, but we saw a lot of people coming through getting rest and recreation, the boys, themselves. They would come to the famous hotel on the island at Diamond Head. One of the breakers is where we had the USO dances when we didn’t have then a board the ship. They were always asking us to come out a board ship because they air craft carriers only came in for refueling not really so much to be resupplying. They got that in the main lands, but they had to stop in Hawaii so we had USO dances all the time..many many of them. The women officers and we women officers had barracks that were a little bit more elegant then our chief’s quarters. I did guard duty or night time duty up there and telling the person on ship that their date was ready to go out to a restaurant. We had a lot of good meals anywhere on the island. Many many places on the island. (34:59) So the meals were a little better than the beans in basic training? �Yeah…..the beans kind of are still used on Navy bases I understand and they always have bean soup in the Senate in Washington DC. It is traditional for them to have beans for breakfast and beans for supper. (35:29) Do you remember where you were at on VJ Day? I was on ten (10) hour days and they had four (4) days of blowing up ammunition dumps and having an exciting and ecstatic kind of a time. They just really had not work getting done. The people were signed up immediately for how many points they had and whether they could leave and go back home to the main land and get out of the military. The men were high priority. The WAVES were support people and stayed a little bit longer. It wasn’t long and they had them loaded aboard planes and hospital ships. I went in a hospital ship myself eventually, back to Los Angeles. The chief of my unit in the machine area, I had not been working for him, a couple of my friends had, but he married an Hawaiian girl and took her on a honeymoon for a month to the mainland so I got my aviation machinist mate, 1st class, I just stepped into the job and there were very few people to take care of anymore; they were all gone out of the service already in that month. I took over the chief’s machine shop and there was nothing going on the carmax so in the morning I would have to do all my chores and guard duty. We did have to guard the fence. The boys were on one side of the fence, the girls inside our compound. There was lots of good talk and lots of good coffee. We had to have guard duty. We also guarded inside our barracks as well as the fence line. After I got all my duties done and cleaning up there even though I was suppose to be in charge of practically no personnel really, then I could go out to Nimitz beach to play volleyball and eat my meals out there. Usually it was strawberries with waffles, or tuna fish with waffles but not Beans!! (laughing)…something else. Anything went with waffles. That was a very nice month. The boys were suppose to be in charge of taking care of the beach and cleaning it up daily. They let me clean it up. I was never assigned to it. I love to go out there and run the tractor and I sifted the sand through and cleaned up a lot of junk off the beach. There are beautiful beaches in Hawaii. (39:16) As you came back to the states, you said you came on a hospital ship? It was the Tranquility; it had made many voyages back from the Pacific and all the places like New Guinea and everywhere. I think they all stopped in Hawaii. There weren’t very many people when I came back because I had been delayed a little bit. It took us about five (5) days. The Tranquility had been made for the Canadian Oil Company. Canada transferred it to the United States and it was fitted as a hospital ship. It was kind of a nice ride. The weather was very good. I listed to radio music. By the way in Hawaii we had Bob Crosby. He finally got out of the Philippines. That was Bing Crosby’s brother and he had a wonderful band. He had been in Oklahoma, and when I got out to Hawaii there he was for all the time that I was in Hawaii. Near the end he had to go. I don’t know where he got located though further on in the Pacific I guess. We had all kinds of good music. Those wonderful songs of WWII were played on the ship radio and I lay in the sun on the deck. Didn’t do much of anything for five (5) days. I got into the presidio and �I think I said Los Angeles, I went into the presidio of San Francisco. There were two (2) of them. I left to go to Hawaii out of San Francisco and they kind of debriefed us for a couple of days, we then took one of the cattle car trains to go to Great Lakes Illinois where I was discharged. (42:00) So you ended up being discharged in Great Lakes, IL? February 8, 1946 (42:11) After you were discharged, what did you do? I was taken by either the Wolverine or New England…not New England, it was New York train from Great Lakes the very same day, February 8, to Ann Arbor and I registered that day to finish my freshman, first semester, in the Great Lakes. They were on quarters then, they were not semesters. It didn’t take them long to change from quarters to semesters and I finished up my 156 credit hours and 3 ½ years and I went summers on the GI bill and they paid all of our tuition by IBM card and we delivered them to the administrative office. They put us pretty much on our own. My roommate had been an “X” WAVE too that first year. She went steady real quick after she hit campus and she and the guy she ended up marrying took off on what they called the snowball expedition to Washington DC to congress to get us more money because we were making sixty-five dollars ($65.00) a month to live on and they pushed it up to eighty-five dollars ($85.00) a month…a month! A little bit less than what they get now a days. You might say when I went into the military in the WAVES, I was getting the very same pay that the men were. This was ninety-six dollars ($96.00) a month. So from the very beginning I bought War bonds. I thought they were useful and they accumulated very well for me. There were no problems selling War bonds. The men from the Pacific coming off the ships in Hawaii and Alameda and in the civic auditorium in San Francisco, they had bonds. The civilians as well as the military, they all bought war bonds. I was proud of my effort on that. I also had the engine….safety effort…where I have to use the fire extinguisher on the Pratt and Whitney reconstructed engine….we would…….it was a dangerous kind of thing. I was scared to death while I was in that pit holding that fire extinguisher. I never had a fire while I was in. Many of us had to take that duty. It was almost constant. I think there was mostly the fire fighters and they were especially trained to be out on the tomeck when they were firing up a plane to take off. That pit duty was isolated and dangerous and I got through that. (46:29) As you went back to college for 3 ½ years, what did you do after that? I tried to get a job in one of the places in north Chicago TB hospital because they had lab work training. I went into the basic sciences, but I had taken a little of this and that and it didn’t look that much as if I was a lab tech so I went on that summer and �they had put me on unemployment role and tried to find a job in Muskegon for me on my resume that had come out of the head office in Ann Arbor. So I took the summer duty on the line over at Grosse Isle? and I took the exam for nursing school and went into nursing school with the rest of my GI bill in Ann Arbor. (47:41) So you became a nurse? I took a year and a half of it, not quite a year…it was a year and a summer, and decided I didn’t want to be a nurse so I got back and work in an OBGYN office for three (3) years, four (4) years in Blue Cross Blue Shield, 600 Lafayette in Detroit, and I was a supervisor in the subscriber’s interviewing and all my people that I were supervising would tell me that they were going back to graduate school so I went back to graduate school at Wayne State University and became a psychologist and while I was training at Wayne State I worked in a cardiac specialists office. He was affiliated with Henry Ford Hospital. It was very good experiences. (48:45) Was Henry Ford still alive then? No…no… I think he died right at the end of the war. He was a good age when he died. I don’t remember something like 90 years old or something. He was a very personable guy. (49:04) What did you do at the Henry Ford Hospital then? Well, I didn’t work at the Henry Ford Hospital, I worked in the Fisher Building in Detroit in the cardiac specialist’s office, but he was affiliated with the women’s hospital and taught the interns in the cardiac specialty. I did his notes all over. He kept me there for twelve dollars ($12.00) a day. He was there from…….I had to come in at 8 o’clock and he came in at 9 o’clock and stayed until 2 o’clock, but he had me working for twelve dollars ($12.00) until 6 o’clock at night and doing all the typing of his notes for the cardiac training for the medical students. That was a very good experience. (50: 00) After there what did you do? I was then hired by the city of Detroit in the Herman Kiefer Hospital as a psychologist. I was on the president’s list for very good marks and extra special work with four (4) blind students whom I read to. Oh yes, and I worked for Cord Hauser to estimate remarks from all the union employees from the big car companies. He was doing a book. He was a social service professor and he went out to Appleton, WI and left three (3) of us in his office doing all this work for him. He was a very kindly old gentleman, and his son was teaching a journalism course. I took that course. He was from Ann Arbor and worked at Ann Arbor, his son. It was a good family to know. (51:16) After doing that, what was your next experience? I went in to the Peace Corps. �(51:24) I was hoping we would get in to that. I had a ham radio in Herman Kiefer Hospital where we received a Spanish course that was being taught by the Henry Ford Foundation in the school right across the street. The kids were third graders and we all chipped in and practice the Spanish along with them and I waited quite a few months before the accepted me in the Peace Corps and that was in a December date too when I finally went to Puerto Rico and trained for four (4) months, I practiced a lot of Spanish and got a lot of training in how to conduct ourselves in the South American countries and the Spanish culture…the local culture. They sent me to Ecuador. I knew already when I was in training in Puerto Rico that I would go to Ecuador. The Ecuadorian man who was accepting us, worked for the national government of Ecuador came to our training base and we had some lectures from him. A lot of ground proofing from men who came from the University of North Carolina, he and his son, trained us in drown proofing and extra ability to swim and a lot of class work and President Johnson and Lady Bird came down and graduated us after four (4) months. We flew home for ten (10) days sort of military style and had to meet in Miami the day before we were to get aboard a night flight into the mountain town of Tito where all the embassy’s of many of the foreign governments were working and occupying the place. We stayed there and met the diplomats and met the president of Ecuador and then an eight (8) hour trip down the mountainside. I was assigned to Guayaquil and I had been working in hospitals and doctors and they put me into a healthcare program. We went around with 20,000 squatters or new people or natives who had come flocking into Guayaquil. They were outside of the city and they had their own Heffies who organized the communities under the chiefs or Heffies as they were labeled. We went around to the homes in this 20,000 person nicely organized seaside communities where I had twelve (12) kids, young women, teenagers who had been trained for two (2) weeks in the Ecuadorian university and in the hospital to give syringe shots, the dbt or diphtheria pertusses and tetanus vaccine and added to that at the last minute the soul pox scratch test on the arm. We went around to all the household and wherever they had a six (6) months to six (6) year old child, they had all of these kid shots before starting school. It was all from world health organizations in Atlanta, GA. I had Walt Disney health movies made in Mexico City, in Spanish, on what dirty things flies were, and how to build a latrine, and many discussions on health care. I taught home nursing afternoons the entire two (2) years. It was in the mornings that we went around and gave the shots to people and the girls only worked half days, but I think we hit the entire 20,000 at some time or another. (57:28) How many years were you in the Peace Corps? Just two (2) years. A girl from New Mexico who had been trained as a veterinarian took over my job. I guess you can do the same things with animals, you know they have all the same kind of training the vets do. They have to make sure that all of our animals are safe and they certainly have very vigorous training. They are very knowledgeable, but I did meet her and I had a Judy Mucha who was a famous swimmer on the Olympic team. �Her mother had been to Tokyo and had metals from her swimming long before Judy was born. Her two (2) uncles were famous football players so I thought I had a famous person living with me the last six (6) months of my two (2) years. (58:37) Well Ester you did have and you know it has been a real enjoyable time talking to you. I don’t think your life time would fill just one hour, but probably about fifty (50) hours worth of video tapes. It has been a fun time and we really appreciate your talk and it has been so interesting. (59:01) Thank you very much. It was a wonderful thing to have this happen to me in my old age…age 80. (59:10) � 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 WarberE Title A name given to the resource Warber, Ester (Interview transcript and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Warber, Ester Description An account of the resource Ester Warber grew up in Michigan and worked in defense plants in the Detroit area during World War II, and then enlisted in the WAVES, trained as an aircraft mechanic and served on a base in Hawaii. After the war she held a variety of jobs and became a psychologist, and then served in the Peace Corps in the 1960s. She provides detailed descriptions of her training and duties in the military, and mentions meeting Henry Ford as well as Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Naval Reserve. Women's Reserve World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Video recordings 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 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 2004-02-11 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