Sarros, George (Interview outline and video), 2007
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
United States. Marine Corps
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Video recordings
George Sarros served in the Marine Corps from 1946-1951. He fought as a machine-gunner during the Korean War. He did experience combat with Koreans and the Chinese, but did not talk about much of his experience. He does recall being on the front line while he served in Korea. George said that many of his men were hurt and it was an unpleasant experience, so he blocked much of it out.
Sarros, George
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Sanders, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Army. Air Corps
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Dr. Sanders entered the United States Army Air Corps shortly before the United States entered the war. Due to his previous medical training, the Army sent him through accelerated medical school training. However, he did not graduate from medical school until after the war had ended. He served in medical hospitals after the war had ended.
Sanders, Jack
Sanborn, Frank (Interview outline and video), 2004
United States. Army
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives
Frank Sanborn served in the 101st Airborne Division during WW II. He joined the division as a replacement prior to the Battle of the Bulge, and fought in that campaign and in Germany in 1945, staying on for some time in Germany as part of the occupation forces.
Sanborn, Frank
Samuels, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2012
Robert Samuels was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1950 and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1948. He trained at Parris Island, South Carolina, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he learned water purification processes. When the Korean War started in 1950, he was sent to Korea and served as a BAR gunner with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. He served with that unit at Inchon and Seoul, and then in the invasion of North Korea. He fought in the Chosin Reservoir battles until he was airlifted out due to bad frostbite. He was treated in Japan and then sent back to the US, where he served out his enlistment in Philadelphia and finally back at Camp Lejeune.
Samuels, Robert
Salistian Jr., John (Interview outline and video), 2007
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
John Salistian Jr. was a veteran of the Vietnam War. He had a passion for playing his saxophone before the war and during the war. He enlisted to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, and wound up being sent there anyway. He has never married and doesn't have the fondest memories of serving in the war. His reception on returning to college was also not a good one.
Salistian Jr., John
Sager, Brian (Interview outline and video), 2011
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
Brian Sager, born in Brown City, Michigan, in 1978, served in the Marine Corps Reserve starting in 1996. After training in San Diego and at Camp Pendleton, California, he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to train as a combat engineer, and then went home. He was still in the Reserves in January, 2003, when his unit was activated and sent to Kuwait. His unit participated in the invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, and built several bridges over the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers before being sent back to Kuwait and then home again. Since then, he has gone to the Dominican Republic to build bridges for humanitarian work.
Sager, Brian
Safford, Ralph Hawley (Interview outline and video), 2007
Ralph Hawley Safford entered the United States Army Air Corps shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was educated in mechanics and engine work and used this training to work on aircraft from the Army Air Corps. He repaired fighter aircraft in England, and was working during the D-Day attack.
Safford, Ralph Hawley
Sabin, Ronald Jr. (Interview outline and video), 2009
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. National Guard
Ronald Sabin, Jr. was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and joined the Air National Guard in 1981. Ronald went through basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for 8 weeks and then went through advanced firefighter training for another 8 weeks. After training Ronald began working as a firefighter in Grand Rapids until he was called up for service in October of 1991. He had though he was going to be sent to Iraq, but was actually sent to and Air Force base in Oscoda, Michigan to serve as a replacement firefighter for others that had been sent to Iraq.
Sabin, Ronald Jr.
Urbon, Anthony (Interview outline and video), 2011
Tony Urbon was born in Michigan in 1917 and drafted into the army in April 1941. He was sent to train with the 32nd Division, which included the National Guard regiment from his area. He was a musician and served with the division's band. His division went to Australia in 1942, and then to New Guinea. During the Buna campaign, the band members worked on transport aircraft delivering supplies to the combat units and ferrying back dead and wounded soldiers. After Buna, they returned to Australia, and then went back to New Guinea and to the Philippines.
Urbon, Anthony
Underwood, Garry (Interview outline and video), 2013
Garry Underwood was born in Jackson, Michigan in March 1946. He started college after high school, but did not do well enough to keep his deferment, and was drafted in 1967. He trained as a mortarman, but when he arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1967, he was assigned as a rifleman to the 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku. He participated in numerous patrols and larger operations in late 1967 and early 1968, including a number of fights around Dak To. His platoon took heavy losses, especially immediately before and during the Tet Offensive of 1968 and during the "mini-Tet" in May. Toward the end of his deployment, he was put in charge of perimeter guards at his brigade's base camp.
Underwood, Garry
Thiel, Mark (Interview outline and video), 2009
United States. Navy
Mark Thiel was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1950 and served in the Navy/Marines and Army during the Vietnam War Era. He worked for the Navy and Marines as a lab assistant in a number of different locations, including South Carolina and Camp Pendleton in California. After his stint in the Navy, he joined the Army and worked as a truck and forklift driver in Germany and at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After the Army, he worked as a truck driver in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Thiel, Mark
Zysk, George (Interview outline and video), 2007
George Zysk served in the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Infantry Division on New Guinea and in the Philippines during WW II fighter. In the Philippines, he was on board a ship that was hit by a kamikaze. He speaks critically of Gen. MacArthur but highly of the men he served with.
Zysk, George
Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)
Zwart, Brian (Interview outline and video), 2013
Brian Zwart was born on in 1985 in Grand Haven, Michigan, and grew up in that area. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2002, trained at San Diego and Camp Pendleton, and became a Light Armored Vehicle crewman in the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Marine Division, and deployed with them to Iraq in 2004. He spent his tour in Anbar Province, primarily trying to guard the frontier against insurgents. He returned for a second tour in 2005, this time providing security for different commanders in Anbar Province, and was discharged in 2007.
Zwart, Brian
Zuverink, Gordon (Interview transcript and video), 2011
Gordon Zuverink joined his local National Guard unit in Holland, Michigan, after graduating from high school in 1939. His unit was federalized in 1940 and sent to train in Louisiana. In 1942, his division was sent to Australia and then to New Guinea. Zuverink became one of the "Ghost Mountain Boys" who trekked across the Owen Stanley Mountains as part of the campaign against Buna. During the campaign, he contracted malaria and was sent back to Australia, where he served for the remainder of the war.
Zuverink, Gordon
Zulauf, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2011
United States. Air Force
Michael Zulauf reported for duty to the United States Air Force Academy on July 1st 2004, just a month after graduating from high school in Muskegon, Michigan. In his interview, Zulauf offers a detailed description of his experiences as a student there, as well as in assignments in Alaska, Korea, and at the Coast Guard Academy. Zulauf was permitted medical retirement from the Air Force Academy after graduating in 2008 and is now attending Grand Valley State University pursuing a master's degree in education.
Zulauf, Michael
Zimmerman, Leo (Interview outline and video), 2011
Leo Zimmerman of Grand Rapids, Michigan, waited to be drafted before joining the Army in 1943 during World War II. Leo received his training in wheeled vehicle maintenance and repair in Camp Worth, Texas. His first deployment was to Italy in 1944 where he served with a replacement depot until the war ended in May 1945, driving with supply convoys between Naples and the Po Valley and performing other duties. After the war ended in Europe, Leo was transferred to the 109th Ordnance Company and shipped out to the Philippines to start servicing vehicles. He was stationed in the Philippines during the bombing of Hiroshima, and was sent to Japan shortly after to perform maintenance duties and gained further experience in welding. Leo left the military in April 1946.
Zimmerman, Leo
Zietlow, Myrtle (Interview outline and video), 2009
United States. Army Air Corps
Women
Myrtle Zietlow was born outside of Chicago in 1921. She attended the University of Illinois, and after graduating she went to work for Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut, where they made aircraft engines. She tells her own story as well as that of her husband, George, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945.
Zietlow, Myrtle
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Zheutlin, Bertam (Interview outline and video), 2007
Bertam Zheutlin served in the medical corps during WW II. Still in medical school when the war broke out, Zheutlin recounts what it was like to be a civilian waiting to go to war, as well as his experiences as a doctor during the war and the training he underwent. Zheutlin also talks about the psychological after effects of war and of a relative who had escaped a concentration camp in Poland and become a guerilla.
Zheutlin, Bertam
Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.)
Zegollari, James (Interview outline and video), 2008
James Zegollari was born in 1960 in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan and served in the Marines during the Cold War. He was trained to operate and command the M-60 tank. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Twenty-Nine Palms, California while he was on active duty. He was never sent into an active combat zone. He also serves in the Marine Reserves in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Zegollari, James
Zeeff, Raymond (Interview outline and video), 2011
Ray Zeeff served in the National Guard from 1932-1935 and then reenlisted and served from 1937-1942 during World War II. During his service, Ray served as a radio operator for the Regimental Headquarters Company 126th Infantry. His unit was federalized in October, 1940, and sent to Louisiana to train. He was discharged in 1942 before going overseas due to partial blindness in one eye.
Zeeff, Raymond
Zator, Thaddeus (Interview outline and video), 2010
Thaddeus Zator grew up in Michigan and was drafted in the Army during World War II. He trained as a communications specialist, first at Camp Crowder, Missouri, and then in Arlington, Virginia, before being sent to England in 1943. He was based in London, and traveled around to repair communications equipment. After D-Day, he was sent to France, where he moved from unit to unit to work on equipment as needed, often flying in small planes to his assignments from a base near Verdun, France.
Zator, Thaddeus
Zandstra, Raymond L. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Raymond Zandstra was born in Grand Rapids. He served in the US Navy from July 14, 1959 to Sept. 28, 1962. He served in Sicily, and in the San Diego Helicopter Squadron One. Most of his duties revolved around helicopter maintenance and repair. He was trained in air-sea rescue in Imperial Beach. He also relates the story of a one-week survival training course he took, during which he was placed in a mock prison for twenty four hours.
Zandstra, Raymond L.
Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.)
Zahn, Ronald (Interview outline and video), 2012
Ron Zahn, born in 1951 in Indiana, served in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. Ron was forced to enlist in the Army after receiving an MIP. He underwent basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and AIT at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was trained on artillery. In early 1970, Ron was sent to Vietnam where he served in A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery in the 101st Airborne Division. His battery was based at Camp Evans, and moved around the northern part of South Vietnam, spending time at Firebases Rakkasan, Gladiator, Kathryn and Ripcord and at Camp Carroll. His battery was on Ripcord while it was under siege and evacuated in July, 1970.
Zahn, Ronald
Twa, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2009
Robert Twa was born in Crystal Falls, Michigan in 1922 and served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. He was trained as a weather forecaster and served in California, Michigan, Greenland, Bermuda, Canada and Georgia. After the war, he worked for the Weather Bureau.
Twa, Robert
Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.)