Valkenier, Jack and Anne (Interview outline and video), 2005
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Video recordings
Women
Jack and his wife Anne Valkenier are both ethnically Dutch. They describe the experiences they had during their younger years and the Nazi occupation. They describe their familial involvement in the Dutch resistance. Jack also depicts his later service in the Dutch armed forces in Southeast Asia.
Valkenier, Jack
Valkenier, Anne
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Sampson, John (Interview outline and video), 2010
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1942, John Sampson joined the ROTC while at Western Michigan University. Following graduation from Western Michigan and graduate school at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Sampson went through signal corps training at Fort Gordon, Georgia and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. After completing his training, he shipped out to Korea, where he served in the G4 for Eighth Army, working with both the Korean and US military. Following his tour in Korea, Sampson returned to Fort Monmouth and served until March 1970.
Sampson, John
Wyma, David (Interview outline and video), 2009
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. Navy
David Wyma was born in 1963 in South Korea. After high school, David enlisted in the US Navy. He served 3 years in Norfolk, Virginia and 2 years in Iceland.
Wyma, David
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Wykstra, James (Interview outline and video), 2011
James Wykstra was born in 1947 in the town of Cutlerville, Michigan. After graduating from high school, Wykstra felt it was his duty to serve in the military. In August 1966, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Following completion of basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago, Wykstra returned to Cutlerville and regularly attended the reserve meetings until going on active duty in the summer, 1967. Assigned the to destroyer escort U.S.S. Davidson, Wykstra patrolled along the Vietnamese coast and sailed to numerous locales in the Southwest Pacific, including Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and the Philippines.
Wykstra, James
Womer, William (Interview outline and video), 2011
William Womer, born in 1941 in Niles Michigan, served in the U.S. Army for 26.5 years. During his service, William was stationed in both Germany as well as in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968 where he organized ambushes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. William had the honor of being selected as the 4th Army NCO of the year and spent the later part of his service stateside training solders.
Womer, William
Wright, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2009
United States. Army Air Forces
Bob Wright was born in Massachusetts in 1922. Enlisted in the Air Force during World War II after dropping out of high school. He was trained to work with the electrical and mechanical aspects of military aircraft in Kansas City and at the Douglass plant in California. Overseas, his service began at Guadalcanal and involved "policing Henderson Field" and guard duty. He was transferred to the 68th Figher Squadron in Bougainville where he worked on P-39s. Eventually, he requested to work with a difference ordinance where he primarily worked on P-39s and P-38s. His subsequent service was in New Guinea and the Philippines.
Wright, Robert
Woods, Michael (Interview transcript and video), 2010
United States. Marine Corps
Michael Woods grew up in a poor neighborhood in New Orleans and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1960 at the age of 17. He was based on Okinawa in the early 1060s, and was sent to Vietnam with one of the first Marine units assigned there, and participated in a number of combat actions of varying size. After his tour in Vietnam was over, he stayed in the Marines until 1979, but did not return to Vietnam.
Woods, Michael
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Winer, Loyd (Interview outline and video), 2010
Loyd Winer served as a Naval Officer in the Atlantic from 1952-1955. He was assigned first to an escort carrier, and later to the fleet carrier Ticonderoga. He cruised in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and also had to supervise shore patrol in New York City.
Winer, Loyd
Windisch, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States--National Guard
Charles Windisch grew up in Holland, Michigan during the depression. Although times were rough, his parents were both able to hold on to their jobs during the depression. Charles went to school through the sixth grade and joined the National Guard when he was only sixteen. He eventually enlisted in the Navy and traveled through the Pacific to islands such as Hawaii, Guam, and Okinawa. He served between 1941 and 1946 primarily on the USS Nashville, but also did a stint as a demolitions frogman.
Windisch, Charles
Winchester, Forrest (Interview outline and video), 2009
Forrest Winchester was born in Kent County in 1925 and was drafted into World War II from high school. Forrest joined the Navy because his cousin enjoyed it, and left basic training as a radio repairman. He served on several ships in the Pacific, and during and after the war sailed to Borneo, Okinawa, China and Japan.
Winchester, Forrest
Wilson, Morley (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2008
Morley Wilson joined the Michigan National Guard in 1937, resigned briefly in 1940, and rejoined to serve in World War II in the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division, in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines. He served most of the war as a supply officer, but also worked with engineers and had other administrative duties. On one occasion he served as host to Eleanor Roosevelt when she visited his unit in Australia. Poems and personal narrative appended to outline.
Wilson, Morley
Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401
Williams, Tommy (Interview outline and video), 2011
Tommy Williams, born August 26th 1920 in rural Mississippi, served in the U.S. Army from approximately 1943-1946. During his service, Tommy worked as a loader for a heavy gun and served in combat in Italy and Germany. He was discharged in October of 1946 and in 1951, moved to Michigan.
Williams, Tommy
Williams, Roger (Interview outline and video), 2010
United States. Air Force
Indians of North America
Roger Williams is a Native American who served in the United State Air Force as a medical Administrator in two separate tours between 1957 and 1967. He was stationed in Texas, Florida and Germany, and was at the Homestead , Florida, air base at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Williams, Roger
Williams, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2007
Robert Williams served in the U.S. Army and National Guard for nearly 50. He served during WW II in the 11th Armored Division and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and in Germany and Austria, where they were ordered to halt and wait for Soviet troops to arrive. After the war, he remained in the Guard, commanding a unit sent to respond to the riots in Detroit in 1967 and eventually retiring at the rank of Brigadier General.
Williams, Robert
Williams, Jane (Interview outline and video), 2007
Civilian
Jane Williams was born in Indiana in 1915 and was the wife of a man in the service during World War II. Bob and Jane had been seeing each other for seven years before they got married. Because Bob was in the service, their relationship was not average. They traveled all over the country before they got married and Jean did not have her first child until she was 29 years old.
Williams, Jane
Williams, Colin (Interview outline and video), 2005
Colin Williams was born June 9, 1927 and decided to enlist into the Navy due to the expectation that men his age served their country and because his brothers had also served. He was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois for boot camp where he learned a good deal of discipline. After boot camp, he was sent west to get aboard the USS Charles Carroll where he then made fourteen voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Colin traveled to Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Eniwetok Island, Ulithi Island, Philippines, Japan, China, Guam, and Manus during his time in the service.
Williams, Colin
Wilcox, Jeffrey (Interview transcript and video), 2008
Jeffrey Wilcox was born in New York and moved to Gary, Indiana as a youth. After high school, he attended West Point, and graduated in 1968. He was then assigned to an Army unit that was stationed in Berlin. He stayed there for a year, and was then shipped off to Vietnam. He joined the 101st Airborne Division, and operated for some time in the Ripcord Fire Support base. There, he frequently encountered the enemy, getting a minor wound in the process. After Vietnam, he spent a year and a half in the Transport Corps in Washington DC. After his time in the service, he worked for various different veterans support and advocacy groups on the west coast.
Wilcox, Jeffrey
Wikander, Ed (Interview outline and video), 2009
Ed Wikander joined the Navy in 1934 and served as a seaman on board the battleship USS Tennessee until leaving the Navy in the middle of 1941. After Pearl Harbor, he was drafted back into the Navy, and spent about two years working at a Marine base in California before being sent to Tinian to help build a hospital. He was called up again for Korea, and served on a destroyer based in Japan.
Wikander, Ed
Wiers, Christopher (Interview outline and video), 2010
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
Christopher Wiers enlisted in the Marine Corps before graduating high school. The time he served was from 2002 – 2006. During his second tour in Iraq, he worked in convoy security. They would clear explosives when they were detected. Mr. Wiers was involved in an IED explosion accident and suffered brain damage along with other injuries.
Wiers, Christopher
Wierenga, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2007
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Dr. Richard Wierenga, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. He joined the Air Force after two years of college and became a pilot. He was never sent overseas, but remained stationed in the United States.
Wierenga, Richard
Whipple, Bruce (Interview transcript and video), 2011
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.
Whipple, Bruce
Westra, Jacob (Interview outline and video), 2008
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.
Westra, Jacob
Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Westra, Clyde (Interview outline and video), 2009
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.
Westra, Clyde
Westdale, Virgil (Interview outline and video), 2009
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.
Westdale, Virgil