Ron Oakes was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in March 1949. After briefly attending junior college, he enlisted in June 1967 and received training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Camp Pendleton, California. He then received instruction in the…

Gregg Larabel was born on November 2, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After he graduated high school, Larabel joined the Air Force on October 10, 1962 due to his interest in electronics. He attended basic training in San Antonio, Texas, and was then…

Dudley Hoare Garland served as an artillery officer in the Ninth Infantry Division during World War II. Assigned to Battery A, 26th Field Artillery Regiment, which normally supported the 39th Infantry Regiment, Garland eventually became its…

Moises Nazario finished his tour with his company in Vietnam in July 1967. After helping his captain in the last few months before the captain was to be transferred, Nazario was sent back to the United States in October 1967. He was then transferred…

Moises Nazario was born in Manila, Philippines, on October 25th, 1936. He recalls his uncle fighting in World War II when he was as young as five years old, and he remembers when Manila was occupied by Japan. Once the Philippines gained independence,…

Roland Christl was born on October 29, 1924 in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where he graduated high school in 1943. Since several of his friends and brothers were in the service, he decided to enlist into the Army to offer his contribution to the war…

Roger Talmadge was based in Alexandria, Virginia for his last military assignment. He was responsible for managing military computer systems. He served as the senior chaplain at his base and ran several Bible studies. Roger retired from the military…

Roger Talmadge returned from his second tour in Vietnam in 1972 to receive training at Command General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He graduated in June 1973 from Command General Staff College and then attended the University of Kansas…

Roger Talmadge started college at the University of Maryland in the fall of 1967. He attended college while also working at Fort Holabird. Roger was promoted to major in 1968. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in computer science in June 1969.…

Roger Talmadge went to Vietnam with an advanced party, the 11th air assault division, which became the 1st cavalry division, air mobile in 1965. They were tasked with building a camp at An Khe. Roger later was deployed with his division to the Ia…

Roger Talmadge was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey on October 16th, 1937. He joined the Navy Reserve on October 23rd, 1954, at the age of 17. Roger completed basic training and boot camp at Wold-Chamberlain Naval Air Station, where he also received…

Daniel Rowland was born in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and decided to enroll in the Marine Corps after his third semester in college. In 1995 Rowland attended boot camp in San Diego, California where he acted as the guide to recruits, After basic…

Bob Hartman was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1919. He graduated high school in 1937 and joined the Michigan Army National Guard in 1938, assigned to the 126th Infantry Regiment, Service Company. His company’s task was to transport troops and provide…

Ray Jedlowski was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1942 before his family moved to Michigan where he graduated high school in Dearborn in 1962. Jedlowski’s father was in the Navy during the Second World War and gave his son plenty of exposure to…

After leaving his first unit after his first deployment in the Fall of 2010, Matthew Grace moved to Fort Carson, Colorado where he was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. At this point, Grace was a…

After leaving his first unit after his first deployment in the Fall of 2010, Matthew Grace moved to Fort Carson, Colorado where he was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. At this point, Grace was a…

Floyd Erickson was born in 1922 in Gwinn, Michigan, a small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, 18-miles south of Marquette. Erickson grew up in Gwinn and eventually after graduating high school in 1941, went to Detroit to work in a factory making…

Loren DeGroot was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1935. While he was still in high school, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves. After he graduated high school in 1953, he began classes as Grand Rapids Junior College and then went to the University of…

Kenneth Ziebart was born on May 23, 1928 in St. Joseph, Michigan. Ziebart’s family owned a farm and his father lost his job as a butcher during the Great Depression. He recalled hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio when a newscast…

Jill Wolfe was born in December 1975 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to a mother who worked as an art therapist and a father who worked negotiating contracts. She moved to St. Louis, Missouri when she was 3, and moved again to Troy when she was 15 where…

Lee Widjeskog was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey and grew up in that area, finishing high school in 1964. He attended Colorado State University and took ROTC training, and received his commission in the Army in 1969. He took infantry training at Fort…

Lawrence Vollink was born in the Burton Heights neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he attended local schools and graduated high school in 1965. His father was a deeply religious, poor man with only an eighth-grade education and his mother…

Miguel “Mickey” Angel Velez-Cruz was born in Puerto Rico in 1949. Velez-Cruz was raised and developed during the Cold War periods of the 1950s and 1960s. Coming from a long line of United States veterans and the desire to get out of extreme poverty,…

Orley Van Dyke was born on December 30th, 1924 in Holland, Michigan. After graduating high school in 1942, he worked in printing for the newspaper for a few months. Right when he turned 18, he enlisted in the Army. He began basic training and flash…