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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b24cf9936319b54edaab6f1a108ce48c.mp4
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abae5647a61b7899dfde087dd6a49fc4.pdf
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Grand Valley State University
Veterans History Project
George Anderson
(00:25:37)
Background
• George Anderson
• Born February 5, 1931
• Coopersville, Michigan (00:09)
• He enlisted into the navy (00:29)
• Grew up on Garfield Street not to far from where he lives now (00:44)
• Wanted to do something for his country to help out in the Korean War (01:00)
Enlistment/Training
• Signed up in Muskegon
• Sent to Chicago for training
o Great Lakes training camp
� Spent three months learning to be a sailor (01:16)
• Sent to Newport, Rhode Island, for four months
o For torpedo school (01:42)
• Went to San Francisco, California and set out on the USS Curtis in November
(01:56)
• First day of service he was 20 years old scared
o They cut all of his hair off, which he didn’t like at all (02:20)
• Enjoyed his time in the service (03:34)
• Officer in charge of boot camp was bitter about being called back to duty from
retirement
o Did a lot of marching, inspections, firefighting drills
• Took his training a day at a time to get by (03:29)
• Set sail from San Francisco
• Went up and down the coast
• Target drills, last from one hour to several days (04:50)
• Was a telephone operator for a gunnery officer (05:36)
• Shore patrol around Pearl Harbor
Acapulco, Mexico
• Acapulco Mexico, good will tour basically
• All along the west coast
o Training and having fun (06:24)
• Worked in the armory of the ship, because they didn’t use the torpedoes
• Kept things up
o Worked for a first class aviation ordinance man (07:03)
• Did not see any combat (07:56)
• Watched a Hydrogen bomb go off
�•
o Cant look directly at it for the first three seconds
Brighter then the sun when it explodes
o Very beautiful (08:08)
Reflections on Service
• Got a Korean war medal, because he served during that time period, and he
received a good conduct medal (09:25)
• Wrote letters home to family
o Wrote letters every week, as the months went on he started to write only
once a month
� His family wrote to him a lot (09:53)
• Lots of good food, good rations masters, and good cooks.
o Plenty of supplies (10:43)
• Got a package of cigarettes for eighteen cents (11:26)
• Never felt pressured or stress while in the army (11:43)
• Was a mail delivery person from ship to ship
o Motor whale boat
� Hard to get in and out of it
� Didn’t want to fall into the ocean (12:50)
� Had recreation: beers, swimming, nap for entertainment (13:58)
� In Pearl Harbor hula girls came onto the ships to entertain the men
� Had movies sometimes(14:38)
� On leave he would go home and see his family (15:33)
� Doesn’t recall taking part in any pranks (16:00)
� Shows a series of photos (16:24)
Post Service Life
� Discharged honorably April 4, 1955 (17:09)
� Still showing pictures, cant see them very well, explains some of them (18:34)
� Given papers of dis charge in San Diego (20:05)
� Mother and sister came to visit him when he was discharged, they drove home to
Michigan cross country (20:31)
� He got a job in construction that October did it the rest of his life (21:03)
� Never took advantage of the G.I. bill (21:17)
� Part of a convention with people from his ship (21:51)
� Forced to retire, he didn’t want to retire (22:36)
� Military experience shaped him and his thought process towards life
o He keeps up with world affairs (22:48)
� Part of a war organization, doesn’t participate in them very much now (23:20)
� You have to get along with people, associate with different things, lots of travel
(23:36)
� Wanted to see combat (24:40)
� Sad to leave the service, happy to see his family and be back home (24:48)
� Brothers were in various branches of the war in the military (25:16)
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Veterans History Project
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. History Department
Description
An account of the resource
The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1914-
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American
Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Michigan--History, Military
Oral history
Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American
United States--History, Military
United States. Air Force
United States. Army
United States. Navy
Veterans
Video recordings
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Smither, James
Boring, Frank
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-27
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Anderson, George (Interview outline and video), 2005
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Anderson, George
Description
An account of the resource
George Anderson was born on February 5, 1931 in Coopersville, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy in 1951. He was sent to the Great Lakes training center in Chicago, and then transferred to Newport, Rhode Island, where he took torpedo training. He was sent to San Francisco and assigned to the USS Curtis. He did not see any combat, but he went through patrols that took him all across the country and to Pearl Harbor. He worked in the armory of the ship.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer)
Collins, Carol (Interviewer)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
United States. Navy
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Video recordings
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005-02-01
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AndersonG
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