Micele, Francisco (Interview outline and video), 2011
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. Marine Corps
Frank Micele was born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1923 and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943-1946 in the Pacific Theater during World War II. During his service, he fought in the entirety of the Battle of Iwo Jima and was involved in the taking of Mt. Suribachi. After the end of the war in 1945, Frank spent several moths policing Japan while stationed in the Japanese navel base at Sasebo.
Micele, Francisco
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Meyering, Leslie (Interview outline and video), 2009
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Leslie Meyering was drafted into the US Army in 1952. After completing basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, he completed additional training on Anti-Aircraft guns. He was shipped to Korea, and was stationed with an artillery unit. The interview was cut short at 19:45, so additional information was lost.
Meyering, Leslie
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Meyer, Uwe (Interview outline and video), 2012
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Uwe Meyer, Born in Germany in 1949, moved to Iowa as a child and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969. After training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was sent to Vietnam. Upon arrival, he was assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 506h Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division. He spent his first few months in Vietnam in early 1970 patrolling the area around Camp Evans, and was then moved into the hills to the west and participated in the fighting on and around Firebase Ripcord. He participated in his company's failed attempt to establish the Ripcord base on April 1, 1970, and from mid-June served as a machine gunner on the base until it was evacuated in July. Upon returning to the US, he spent the rest of his enlistment at Fort Hood, Texas, working with ground radar units.
Meyer, Uwe
Meyer, Thomas (Interview outline and video), 2013
Tom Meyer was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1945 and grew up in Cicero, Illinois. After high school he attended college briefly before enlisting in the Marines in 1964. He went through basic training in San Diego, California and advanced infantry training in Camp Pendleton, California. He would go on to specialize in radio repair and operations. After a brief stint at Camp Lejeune he received orders to go to Vietnam whereupon he returned to Camp Pendleton for pre-deployment training. He was sent to Vietnam in February 1966 and was assigned to the 4th Marines Regiment Headquarters stationed at Phu Bai where he spent his deployment both in, and out of, the field.
Meyer, Thomas
Meyer, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2009
Richard Meyer was born in Patterson, New Jersey in 1922 and graduated from high school in 1940. After high school Richard worked in the metal trade until he was drafted in 1942. He started training in December 1942 in Colorado Springs with the 49th Engineers. Richard also trained in North Carolina and Tennessee before being sent to Europe. While in Europe Richard worked with the 35th Infantry Division, working on communications and operating switchboards. He traveled through Britain, Holland, Luxemburg, Germany, and France. Richard left Germany in 1945 and later started his own machine company.
Meyer, Richard
Meyer, Annie (Interview transcript and video), 2009
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives
Women
Annie Meyer grew up on a farm in Minnesota during the Depression. In her interview, she describes farm life during the Depression and during the first part of World War II. She also describes attending nursing school during the war and working at a psychiatric hospital during the war, and discusses various aspects of home front life.
Meyer, Annie
Metzger, Theobald (Interview and video outline), 2006
Civilian
Theobald Metzger was born in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 1936. He describes his memories from his childhood in the Netherlands during WW II. His father spent most of the war in hiding and worked with the underground. He discusses food shortages, the conduct of German soldiers, and popular attitudes toward the Germans.
Metzger, Theobald
Metevier, Paul (Interview outline and video), 2011
United States. Air Force
Paul Metevier enlisted in the Air Force in January, 1966. After basic training in San Antonia, he spent over a year at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida before being sent to Vietnam. He served his tour at Cam Ranh Bay, where he was assigned to the 412th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. He worked in the ammo dump and the flight line, and supervised the shipment of munitions to different bases. Most of his duties were relatively safe, but he did make a couple of deliveries of ammunition to Khe Sanh while it was under siege in 1968. He extended his tour in exchange for an early out, and served in Vietnam from February, 1968 to August, 1969.
Metevier, Paul
Mercurio, John (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Army. Air Corps
John Mercurio served in the Army Air Corps between 1943 and 1946. He was an aircraft engine technician who repaired and maintained bombers at fields on Biak and Leyte in the Pacific during the war, and provides a vivid description of the difficulties of working on Biak in particular. He also spent time in Japan during the occupation and worked on experimental jets and helicopters at Wright Air Force Base in Ohio.
Mercurio, John P.
Melonas, Greg (Interview outline and video), 2008
Greg Melonas was born in Chicago in 1920. He joined the National Guard in 1936, and was called into the Army after Pearl Harbor. He was deployed to France after D-Day, and served mostly in Czechoslovakia. He was trained as a medic in the National Guard, and served as a medic after being a drill instructor early on. After WWII he was called back into the service to go to Korea, also as a medic.
Melonas, Greg
Meiers, Paul (Interview outline and video), 2010
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Paul Meiers was born in Latvia, where, at the age of six, he and his family were moved to Germany and, eventually, put in a displaced persons camp. After receiving a sponsor to live in America, Meiers enlisted into the Air Force in 1956 where he served in Communications.
Meiers, Paul
Meeuwenburg, Chris (Interview outline and video), 2004
Chris Meeuwenberg was born Fremont, Michigan and drafted into the Army in 1943 when he was 19 years old. He went through training in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas and eventually became a medical technician. Chris was sent to Europe and landed in La Havre, France where they were immediately shot at by German planes. While in Europe Chris traveled through France, Germany, and Austria. He was eventually discharged near the end of the war and then went to Ferris State University for 4 years of pharmacy school.
Meeuwenberg, Chris
McVicker, William J. (Interview outline and video), 2006
William McViker served his country during the Cold War. He was in the Air Force serving as security of nuclear weapons. During his service, the United States bombed Libya. He states that most of his time in the military was peaceful and that the service matured him as a person. He also states that he felt that the United States should have a compulsory military.
McVicker, William J.
McNamara, Martin (Interview outline and video), 2008
Martin McNamara, born in 1916 in Michigan, joined the National Guard in 1938, serving with the 119th Field Artillery. His unit was mobilized over a year before Pearl Harbor, and sent to train at Fort Knox and Fort Leonard Wood. In 1942, he was reassigned to the 260th Coastal Artillery and sent to Alaska. He served as a driver for trucks and caterpillar tractors, and helped build bases on Kodiak and Amchitka Islands in the Aleutians. He was sent to Texas in 1944 and trained as a combat engineer and as a paratrooper in preparation for the invasion of Japan, but the war ended before he could be sent overseas, and he was discharged shortly afterward.
McNamara, Martin
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
McMillan, Peter (Interview outline and video), 2006
Peter McMillan is a WW II veteran who served in the United States Air Force from approximately 1945 to 1947? in Guam with a six-week stint in Hawaii. Although a majority of his time in the service occurred after WWII had ended, McMillan's story still provides a unique perspective on post-WW II conflict in the Pacific Theater. This account details how tension and confusion continued well into the post-WWII years. He talks briefly about the role of the United Service Organization and his correspondence home. Finally, McMillan discusses life after war - the role of the G.I. Bill and his generation's commitment to WW II - and what impact the anti-war protests of the 1960s had on his generation.
McMillan, Peter
Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.)
McLogan, Edward (Interview outline and video), 2007
Edward McLogan entered the ROTC at the University of Michigan in 1938, and joined the US Army in 1942. He served as an officer with an army unit in the Solomons, participating in a landing on Vella Lavella, and subsequently volunteered to join a specialized unit that turned out to be Merrill's Marauders. He served as an officer on the unit's mission behind Japanese lines in Burma, and despite being wounded remained with it until the end of its mission. He served for the rest of the war at Fort Benning and in Washington.
McLogan, Edward
McLogan, Beatrice (Interview transcript and video), 2007
United States. Naval Reserve. Women's Reserve
Beatrice McLogan was a World War II veteran who served in the Navy WAVES from 1944 to 1945. In this account, McLogan discusses her family life, her enlistment and training, and her work in the code office in Washington D.C.
McLogan, Beatrice
McKindley, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2014
Jack McKindley was born in 1925 in Kalamazoo Michigan. He graduated from Mendon High School in 1943 and was drafted to the United States Army. After doing his basic training at Keesler Air-force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, he was sent to Arkansas to be part of the military band. He played trumpet for the 469th Air-force band with 27 other members. They were stationed outside of Newport News at Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia during the end of the war. He was discharged in March of 1946.
McKindley, Jack
McKersie, Donald V. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Prisoners of war--Germany
Donald McKersie is a WW II Army veteran who served in the European Theater and in Japan. He took part in the Battle of the Bulge, and talks about the disposition of prisoners by his division. After being sent to Japan, he was on furlough when the war in Japan ended. McKersie discusses the effect serving in the Army had on his life and on his success as a businessman.
McKersie, Donald V.
McIntyre, Thomas V. (Interview outline and video), 2005
Thomas McIntire enlisted in the US Army three days after his graduation from high school. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for boot camp, and later for truck mechanic school. The Army sent Thomas to Germany, where he worked in the motor pool on a base there. Thomas was discharged in June of 1968, and came back to Michigan to become a tool and die maker.
McIntyre, Thomas V.
McGregor, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2010
Michael McGregor, born in Indiana in 1943, served in the U.S. Army from November of 1966 through late 1968 in the 1st Cavalry Division in the Vietnam War. After receiving his draft notice, Michael trained at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was then sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he began his work in field artillery. In the fall of 1967 Michael was sent to Vietnam and was placed in the 1st Cavalry. He served in the Phan Thiet area at the end of Operation Byrd, and moved up to the Hue area after the start of the Tet Offensive, and later in the Khe Sanh area and the A Shau Valley.
McGregor, Michael
McDonald, Lewis (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Army Air Corps
Lewis McDonald of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a World War II veteran who served as a pilot with the Eighth Air Force. Lewis was drafted in 1943 and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for basic training. While there, he was recruited into a pilot training program, and was sent to England in late 1944 to be a B-17 pilot. He flew regular missions over Central Europe until the German surrender, at which point he was sent back home to train as a B-29 pilot, but the war ended before he was to deploy to the Pacific. After the war, he remained in the Army Air Corps for a year and a half, mostly flying B-17 on aerial photography missions, and spent the summer of 1946 doing this at Thule, Greenland.
McDonald, Lewis
McCrumb, Todd (Interview outline and video), 2008
Todd McCrumb was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1965 and enlisted in the Air Force in 1984 shortly after graduating from high school. He had been unsure of what he wanted to do in his life, not ready for college, and unemployment in the area was at 16%. Todd spent time working with the security police near the DMZ in South Korea. He was later stationed in Montana. Todd did not re-enlist because he was told he would have to spend another 6 years in Montana. He later graduated from Grand Valley State University and is now a teacher.
McCrumb, Todd
McCormick, Theodore (Interview outline and video), 2012
Ted McCormick was born in Standish, Michigan and grew up in Flint, Michigan. He graduated from high school in 1968 and received his draft notice in 1969. He took basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Sent to Vietnam, he was assigned to an infantry company in the 101st Airborne Division. His unit went on patrols in the jungles of northern South Vietnam and encountered its share of firefights, ambushes and booby traps. In the last few months of his tour, which ended in October, 1970, he observed the effects of readily available heroin in the rear areas, and an escalation of racial tensions.
McCormick, Theodore