1
12
1
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d0d8ee3d9904b28748233c7db844f076.mp4
2631edce9e3b2cdbeead0322468d7f38
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/806546b6d32ce607ee08381dfd6a3ccd.pdf
452bf7b1deacd6f8db346a215b772088
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Veterans History Project Interview
Name of War: World War II
Interviewee: Louis Schmidt
Length of Interview: 00:57:40
Background
He was born in Allegan County, in Door, Michigan. He was born November 20, 1926.
His family worked on a farm. They raised pickles, potatoes, corn and anything that they
could. It was a hard time.
His father had this thrashing machine. It was slow moving and he would work until the
snow fell trying to get things done.
He got on WPA, it did not pay so well. He got the job right in Dorr.
They also raised pigs. His stepfather would bring them home lard and pork sandwiches.
He loved his stepfather more than his own father. If it wasn’t for his mother, his first
father would have beaten them to death. He would get blood poisoning and die at the age
of 29. He was too stubborn to go to the hospital until it was too late.
His mother raised the kids, 140 acres and 72 heads of cattle. She did a great job. She
would later remarry to his stepfather, who was a wonderful guy.
He would go to Sycamore School. The school had 29 students. Since then it has been
rebuilt.
He really liked his last teacher. When he would go get water, his teacher’s boyfriend
would come around and she would send him inside to check on the class. It took them a
while, but the kids finally caught on to what was happening.
He would go to school until 8th Grade. He finished around 13 or 14, and when he was 16
he wanted to join the military when he was 16, but he had to be 17 to join.
He would also lack a birth certificate. There were 13 kids in his family and 17 kids in a
neighbor’s family. They would all just take care of themselves.
The war had started by then, in 1941. He was too young to join at the time.
Instead, when he was 14, he would get a job a local store. His mother had to make a
certificate stating that he was 14 so he could work there. He would work there for 3
years.
While he was working there he would get paid 48 cents an hour. Then, that was a lot of
money. When he got his first check he made $2. He ended up going to the office
because he thought they overpaid him. They had not.
He would then start working there more and still he thought they overpaid him. When he
came in the next time, they threatened to fire him if he kept coming back in.
When he turned 17, he would enlist into the Navy. The people at the store told him that
he would not have a job when he got back. He did not care.
He picked the Navy so he had a clean bed to sleep in, instead of a fox hole.
He didn’t like ships, because he hated the water. He had never learned how to swim.
He took his training at Great Lakes, in Chicago, Illinois.
Training (7:50)
�
He had 13 weeks of basic training and spent much of the time learning to identify
different planes. It was fast paced and they had to learn quickly.
Learning to swim was part of the Navy rules. They could not keep him in unless he
learned how to swim.
He would wait until he was 12 weeks in before even attempting to learn to swim. He
would go to the recreation pool and attempt to learn to swim. His superior would stand
over him all the time and tell him to quit crying.
He was upset because he thought he would not be allowed to go home with his company
and he really wanted to stay with them.
So, to show this guy what he could do, he dived into the pool. He did not come up.
Instead his superior saved him with a hook. He would pass this test for his efforts in
trying to learn.
He was so happy he could have kissed the man. To this day, he does not know how to
swim.
While he was there, he really had to learn “Sir!” While he was getting processed in
Detroit, they were really nice. He didn’t have to call any of them “Sir.” When he got on
the train to go to Chicago, things were very different. But he learned quickly.
While he was putting his 13 weeks in at basic, he only made one mistake. When he was
dressing himself, he had to fold the crease in his pants a certain way. One morning he
woke up late and did not pay attention.
He would have to run around the compound for an hour, holding his rifle over his head
for punishment. He thought it would be easy, but he could hardly keep his arms up after
that. From then on, he learned how to dress properly.
He would also be warned for when he was supposed to come to attention. You were
supposed to have your feet close together, so you can click your heels. His superior
wanted to hear that click ring in his ears.
His job there was to keep the fire going with gravel-sized coal pieces. He thought he was
alone, but he was wrong. He clicked those heels together and that officer was not
satisfied. He threatened him with running around with the rifle over his head again. He
learned very quickly.
They did not get to graduate on time because of poor behavior. They were watching
some Navy WAVES graduate from basic and they whistled at them. Their company was
held for one week.
After they graduated, he got a 14 day leave home.
He was then shipped to San Francisco.
Active Duty (14:00)
They stayed in San Francisco for a couple of weeks while they waited for a ship to take
them over.
They finally found a carrier to take them to where they needed. It was the Prince
Williams.
�
He wasn’t even out of the San Francisco area when they got a submarine scare. He did
not know if it was Japanese or Russian, but he heard the siren go off and a red light come
on and all the soldiers had to go topside. They would stay there all night.
The next morning, they would take off. The trip would take 29 days to Brisbane,
Australia. The food was not that good.
Australia (15:20)
When they got there they would go to a AATC, Anti-Aircraft Training Center.
They would train with 3-inch twin 40’s. They would train by shooting on at a sleeve on
the back of an airplane. The man in charge told them to shoot the tail off if they would
want to. That sleeve got tore up, only the cable holding the sleeve was left.
There was a general on base, no one knew he was as he was dressed as one, who had
heard about this. He would have the man in charged called down for a talk. The man
never came back. Schmidt thinks he was court martialed.
Going back to the crossing, he was sick the whole way across. He remembers on another
ship, he could not use the bathrooms on the ship. So the guys had to squat over the side
of the ship and let it fly. They were not given any paper to clean themselves with, but the
waves were so big they came up and washed them off anyway.
He also remembers that he was given a small amount of rations that were supposed to last
him 14 days for the trip. He and some others ate it the first night and would take food
from other people in order to eat.
One guy would trip the man and the other would take his tray of food. And when they
got the food it was grilled chicken with the feathers still on it.
Since they would not allow him and the others to use any of their stuff, they did not wash,
shave, brush their teeth and they were starving. When they got to Brisbane, the first thing
they wanted was food.
Their superior at Brisbane asked them what had happened. They told him. He even told
the man that on Christmas, one of the ensigns had thrown them some beer, but when it hit
the floor there was no beer left. He said they had about committed mutiny.
The officer told them not to tell anyone back home about what had happened. It would
be the first thing Schmidt told his family.
He would stay at Brisbane for 12 months.
While he was there, he was running with an officer on a beach. Suddenly his back went
out down low, by his hips.
He was taken to a hospital to see what was wrong, but he never did find out. Even to this
day, he still doesn’t know.
While he was in the hospital, he had to make a choice. He could both go on an operation
and possibly become a cripple or he could stay at the hospital. He would decide to stay.
He thinks he made the right decision, because today he can feel whatever it was happen
in his back now. (22:00)
He would be in the hospital for another couple of weeks and then sent him back to the
base.
While he was in Brisbane, his main job was gate watch. They had a perimeter that he
would have to walk around at night, to keep people from sneaking in.
�
There was a lieutenant commander there who would keep him on his toes. If you did not
salute him, he would find out why soon enough.
While he was on gate duty, there would be women who would come to the gate, but
couldn’t get in. Sometimes you would stick your hand through, though not all the way,
as the holes weren’t big enough, just so you could hold their finger.
He knows there was a lot of hanky-panky going on down there. If someone ever got
caught, they would have been court martialed.
He really liked it there. They would stay there for a year and a half and would then move
to the Philippines.
While he was in Australia, whenever he had liberty, he would go to Brisbane.
While he was there, the Red Cross would give the soldiers a place to stay and food to eat.
It was first come, first serve. He had a fun time over there. The beer was really strong,
as he was only 17 when he got over there.
He got back to base and he had stayed up all night. When he got in the shower, he was
there for 6 hours because he passed out. If his mother would have seen him, she would
have disowned him.
The native Australians did not like the American military there.
One of the American soldiers was with the wife of an Australian soldier who was fighting
in New Guinea. When he came home, he found out and he and some buddies of his got
on an elevator with the American and beat him.
By the time the soldier got to the hospital, he had no teeth left.
The Australians would also write letters to the Navy office, telling the American soldiers
to take care of the kids who they happen to have while over there.
There was a lady that he met who would only go with sailors, not marines, army or
anything else. He really wanted to take her home, but she wouldn’t. She was a really
good looking.
His mother said he was lucky he didn’t bring her home, or she would have kicked them
both out. She always told him that if he ever got a woman pregnant, he would have to
make his nest right there to take care of her and the child. Coming from a home of 13
children, he understood.
The one thing he did not like about the Navy was that he could not swim. He had a belt
that had an inflatable tube on it and he would wear it everywhere. He would wear it to
church, while he slept, when he went into town. He never knew what was going to
happen.
One day and officer told him not to wear it everywhere like he did. He told the officer he
couldn’t swim. That was a mistake. The officer told him that he was going to learn how
to swim before he left for home.
Schmidt still does not know how to swim. He’s an ice fisher and has fallen through 10
times, once even taking the truck with him. It’s a miracle that he is alive today.
Manus Island (27:00)
Although he spent most of his time in Australia, he would also travel around a lot,
transporting to different bases. Manus Island would be the main stop for traveling
soldiers.
Although he was a plumber, 3rd class, but he drove truck all the time.
�
One time when he was driving, he was pulled over by the shore patrol. Some of the
soldiers he picked up were sitting with their legs over the tail gate, and others yet were on
top. The shore patrol said that he could get court martialed for letting those soldiers sit
on the tailgate. If someone ran into him, their legs would be ripped right off.
Instead, he was given a ticket and a warning. It was strange that there was no problem
with the soldiers on top.
While he was on Manus, the only thing that was going on was he was transporting
soldiers from the docks to about 10 miles in, and when they were done at the shooting
line, he would transport the soldiers back. He and some friends made it into a race.
After he went to Manus, he would spend some time in the Philippines, and that was a
whole different story.
The Philippines (29:50)
He got there and he was waiting for orders to go down to the Indian Ocean for an
invasion. It was the closest he had ever got to combat.
When he heard the news about joining the invasion, he was really bummed. He
remembers it was a Sunday and they were all packed, and then they got the news that the
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
They were then ordered to get their gear off the ship because they were going home.
Going Home and Reminiscing (31:00)
On the way home, they had a pool going about what time the anchor would drop in San
Francisco. There was about $300 in that pool. When they got there, he was summoned
to the captain’s quarters. He thought that he was in trouble or that they were going to try
to get him to sign on again, which they eventually did.
When he got to the captain’s quarters he discovered that he had actually won the pool for
guessing the correct time the anchor was dropped.
He told them to keep the money until he got on land. He was afraid that if he had kept in
in his locker someone would steal it. He had won $310.
He got a 34 day leave. Afterwards he was called back to Chicago Great Lakes, where he
was discharged. He had to dress up in a suit and when he got his discharge medal, he
was saluted. He did not know why, as he was only a 3rd classman. He didn’t know, so he
just saluted back and went on his way.
Back to when he was in the Philippines, he was at a base. There were huts put up, and
they would stay there, until they were needed. They were more or less just getting ready
to go out to the China Sea. When the bomb went off, the plans would change completely
from there.
He did not travel at all and did not see any of the local population.
The Japanese would bomb the heck out of that place and there was a lot to take care of
there.
When they left, they would leave behind all the vehicles because they were too expensive
to ship back over. Instead, they would place the vehicles in a 40 acre slot and torched
them.
�
He tried to take some pictures to bring home, but they had checked his camera and took
the film out of it. He would have liked to show some of those pictures to the President to
show him where all of the tax money was going. He did not think anyone would believe
him since he didn’t have any pictures
He said the place looked like a war zone.
He also remembers a group of Marines torched a Philippine town without any warnings
to the people there. He thought that was a real dirty thing to do, especially since the
Filipinos had worked for the American soldiers. They were paid in rice, which the
people loved.
Everything there was outside. Eventually they built a two-seat outhouse and everyone
would share it, both the locals and the soldiers.
There was a huge problem with STD’s. If a soldier got or gave an STD they would have
to pay a $300 fine and be put in the hospital for 30 days to be cured. After they got out of
jail, they would go right back to it.
He said the line for STD’s at the hospital was 10 miles long. Everything was cleared up
eventually.
He really learned a lot when he joined the Navy. He especially learned how to do all
different kinds of knots. He was very sick of seeing knots, but they come in very handy
for him at home.
Of the different ships that he rode on, the LCI. The best, in his opinion, was the carrier.
Once he was on an LST, a flat, long ship, whose end comes down so they can get onto
the beach. The end had snapped of while they were at sea, and he thought they were
going to drown.
They ended up closing off the hatches before taking on too much water and they made it
to shore.
When he went back to the states, he took a cargo ship back, so they could feed everyone
on there. There were about 700 people on that ship. They made pretty good time going
back compared to the trip there.
He was sick all the time. But now they gave him a pill that would help him with it and
the also put something behind his ear too.
He would eventually get used to the ship after being on land for almost 13 months. It
seemed like the weather down there was always windy.
You could see these huge whales come up right next to the ship. It seemed like there was
no end to them. He would also see these flying fish that had wings on them. They would
go for 50-100 feet before going back into the water.
Post Duty (43:10)
Once he was out of the Navy he tried to find a job. He tried to go back to the store, but
they did not let him have it back. He ended up going to a union that would help him get
his job back. By then, he was making $2-$4 and hour
He would work there for about 4 months, when he found out about another job opening
working for a refrigerator company.
He applied for the job and the man told him that he needed to get a pair of steel-toed
boots and he could start that afternoon.
�
He ended up getting them the next day but did not have seniority to stay there. So he
would work there for 30 days as a temp and if he was a good worker they would let him
keep his job.
He ended up moving from one shift to the 11-7 shift. He didn’t like what he was doing
and often felt himself nodding off. One guy told him to stick his head in the freezer,
which would wake him up. He was freezing!
They had asked him to stay and extra 4 hours and he did now that he was awake. On the
way home however he was blasting the heat and he was falling asleep.
Then the guy at the store tried to offer him daytime hours. The union didn’t like that and
told him that he did not have seniority. What he really wanted was the hi-low job, which
the guy who was running that had been there for 5 years. He was barely there two
months.
He would eventually get the hi-low job 10 years later. He really enjoyed that.
He was working at the job for 25 years, when one day, he got into it with his boss. She
was mad at him because he wouldn’t look at her when she was speaking to him. Instead,
he was always looking up at the ceiling because it was always full of pigeons.
Well, he got snotty with her and she fired him.
He would work with the Union and his supervisor to try to get his job back, and he did.
He said it was a beautiful place to work and he put 31 years into it.
His time in the Navy definitely changed him. (49:00)
He went in as a boy and came out as a man.
While he was there, they tried to get him to resign, but he didn’t take their offer.
He said that the discipline he got kept him out of trouble. He didn’t get into fights and
was really good.
He remembers a time when they were on an island and he and another guy thought they
heard someone on the island. They raised the alarm and the Navy that was there came
running out, guns at the ready.
Everyone went around trying to put all the lights and an officer gave him a Thompson
Sub gun and he accidentally discharged 30 rounds into a hut where the American soldiers
were staying. Luckily, no one was in there. He should have been court martialled and
discharged but he wasn’t. He had a lieutenant felt badly and knew it was an accident, so
he was assigned to do other work for what happened.
Turns out the noise that started all this was coconuts falling from their trees.
He feels he had it pretty easy in the Navy. The only time he made a mistake and he froze
on the trigger.
He never could stand the ships, but he’d like to go back on a ship to visit.
He wishes that he would have stayed in the reserves.
�
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
SchmidtL
Title
A name given to the resource
Schmidt, Louis (Interview outline and video), 2010
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Schmidt, Louis
Description
An account of the resource
Louis Schmidt served in the Navy during World War II. He was sent to Australia after basic training and trained as an anti-aircraft gunner, but served mostly in support units. He served for about a year in Australia, and then went to Manus Island and to the Philippines.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Smither, James (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
Video recordings
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
United States. Navy
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2010-09-07
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