Lee, Earl (Interview outline and video), 2007
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Video recordings
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
United States. Navy
Veterans
Earl Lee joined the Navy in 1943 and trained for only six weeks before shipping out to London. Earl made three trips across the Atlantic while he was in the service, also traveling to Cuba, Panama, the Philippines, and Japan. He said that he had more problems aboard the ship then he did fighting the enemies. He had been surprised when they went ashore in Japan becuase he had thought the people there would be more hostile towards Americans. Earl said that overall he had a very positive experience in the Navy and it dramatically affected his life in a positive way.
Lee, Earl
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Lecours, Paul (Interview outline and video), 2010
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Air Force
Paul Lecours was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire in 1946 and decided to join the U.S. Air Force in 1966 because of concerns that he wouldn't be able to keep his deferment from the draft. Following basic training, Lecours briefly served at a Strategic Air Command base in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan before deploying to Vietnam. During his tour in Vietnam, the Air Force stationed Lecours at Cam Ranh Bay in the military pay section. While with that section, Lecours worked on one occasion with the Office of Special Investigation doing an investigation of a corrupt doctor at the base hospital. Following his main tour, Lecours signed for a six month extension to finish said investigation then transferred to Washington D.C., where he finished the remainder of his time in the service.
Lecours, Paul
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Leaver, Chris (Interview outline and video), 2014
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Chris Leaver is a US Navy veteran that was on active duty in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and later in the early to mid-2000s (post 9/11). He was born in Toledo, Ohio and his family eventually moved to Madison, Indiana. After high school he enlisted in the Navy to get money for college. He went to Orlando, Florida for boot camp in October 1989 spent a year at Millington, Tennessee, training in aviation electronics. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, later accepted to the Naval Academy where he attended for two years, and was then sent to Andrews Air Force Base. He left the Navy in 1994, but joined the Michigan Naval Reserves in 2002, and went on active duty until 2006.
Leaver, Chris
Laws, Gregory (Interview outline and video), 2009
United States. Army
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives
Gregory Laws served in the US Army as a Combat Engineer. He served in the Army for 25 years, spending two tours of that time in Germany. As a Combat Engineer, Gregory learned how to build and demolish bridges, and was eventually promoted to the rank of Sergeant (E-5). Gregory now teaches an ROTC program in Muskegon.
Laws, Gregory
Latigo, Samuel (Interview outline and video), 2010
Samuel Latigo was born in 1927 in San Antonio, Texas. Raised by his grandmother, he worked as a teen before enlisting in the Navy at the age of seventeen. Following training in San Diego, the Navy assigned him to the troop transport U.S.S. Edgecombe. The Edgecombe carried troops to New Guinea and the Philippines and participated in the invasion of Okinawa and the landing of occupation troops in Japan following the end of the war. Following the end of the war, the Edgecombe returned to the United States and the Navy discharged Latigo.
Latigo, Samuel
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Larsen, Albert (Interview outline and video), 2007
Albert Larsen served in the Navy during WW II as a diesel mechanic for a mine sweeping ship (YMS 231). He served from 1942 to 1945 and reached the rank of Chief Petty Officer 1st class. His training took place in both Michigan and on the east coast, and his time overseas was spent in England and along the coast of France. His interview includes descriptions of his life during training and his time on the open water. The major operation mentioned in the interview took place during D-Day off the Omaha landing site. His re-counting includes details about the mines, enemy fire, types of ships, operational tactics, and the damage sustained by his and other ships. He discusses his down time in the US, England and France.
Larsen, Albert
Larner, Joseph (Interview outline and video), 2014
Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American
United States. National Guard
Joseph Larner was born in Lansing, Michigan on September 29th, 1976. Joe decided to join the National Guard at the age of 29 in 2007. He trained as a combat engineer at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Joe was assigned to the 507th Engineer Battalion. Joe and his unit deployed to Afghanistan in May of 2012. Joe did security for convoys for most of his time in Afghanistan. He is currently serving in a full time position with the Guard.
Larner, Joseph
Lantz, Gordon (Interview outline and video), 2011
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Gordon Lantz was born in Leslie, Michigan, in 1930. Gordon enlisted in the Michigan National Guard as a teenager, and was later called up to serve in the Army in Korea. He talks about being in Korea as a very young sergeant, and about being captured and held prisoner by the Chinese for eighteen days before being released.
Lantz, Gordon
Lange, Joesph (Interview transcript and video), 2011
Joe Lange was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 9th, 1947. After graduating high school, Lange married and briefly attended college before getting a full-time job and receiving his draft notice. After receiving his draft noticed, Lange went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and advanced training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia to be a generator mechanic. Once he completed the training at Fort Belvoir, Lange returned home before deploying to Vietnam to serve for a year in the 124th Signal Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division.
Lange, Joesph
Lamb Jr., Lawrence (Bill) (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2008
United States. Army. Air Corps
Bill Lamb served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He served as a glider pilot, despite being trained on powered airplanes, in the European theater during the later part of World War II. He participated in the Rhine crossing in 1945, and later on he flew supplies to Patton and transported wounded men and rescued POWs. Flight report appended to outline.
Lamb Jr., Lawrence (Bill)
Lalley, William (Interview outline and video), 2008
Prisoners of war
Prisoners of war--Germany
William Lalley was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1922. While in college in 1942 he signed up for an Army Air Corps program that was supposed to defer his service until he graduated, but he was pulled out of school early in 1943. He then trained as a B-17 pilot, was sent to England as a replacement, and was shot down on his first mission. With the aid of the Dutch resistance, William was able to evade the Germans for about 4 months before being captured. William was sent to three different prison camps while in Germany before the prisoners were finally liberated and he was sent home.
Lalley, William
Lake, Danny (Interview outline and video), 2009
Danny Lake is from Caledonia, Michigan. He served as a U.S. Army sergeant in the Vietnam War. Many of his missions were on helicopters, and he was a door gunner. After finishing his first tour in Vietnam, Mr. Lake reenlisted. He also had a mission in Cambodia. Mr. Lake was awarded three Purple Hearts.
Lake, Danny
Robert Kuhn, born in 1934 in Grand Rapids Michigan, served in the U.S. Air Force between 1954 and 1974. He trained as a pilot and did two tours in Korea. He was later sent to Vietnam, where he flew AC-47 ground support aircraft, and was shot down once. After returning from Vietnam in 1969, he completed his 20 years at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Kuhn, Robert
Koetje, Wilbert (Interview outline and video), 2010
Wilbert Koetje was born in Marion, Michigan in 1922. After failing in his first attempt to enlist, he was drafted in 1943 and served in the Navy. Even after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Koetje waited a year before enlisting. After the military denied his enlistment, Koetje waited for the draft; once drafted, he served in the Navy. He initially served on a destroyer, the USS Davison, on convoy duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He then switched to another destroyer, the USS McDermott, which patrolled out of Hawaii. After several months, he was sent back to California on a transport ship, the SS Henry Byrd, which had to be abandoned off San Francisco. After that, he was assigned as a gun captain aboard a transport ship, the SS Leo, and participated in the campaigns at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, took a load of troops to Japan for the occupation, and helped repatriate Chinese soldiers.
Koetje, Wilbert
United States. Marine Corps
Dave Kim joined the military after doing security in Arizona. He tried to enlist in 1983 but was disqualified due to a minor injury and finally was accepted between late 1985 and early 1986. Dave trained at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California where he trained and worked as a machine gunner.
Kim, Dave
John Kendall was born in Detroit, Michigan. To avoid the military draft, John enlisted in the Air Force in the early 1960s. After basic training in San Antonio, Texas, he spent at the Kincheloe Air Force Base in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, working base security. He went to Vietnam in 1965, and spent his tour providing security around an air base, a job that grew more dangerous during the latter part of his tour.
Kendall, John
Kayser, Vernon (Interview outline), 2012
Vernon Kayser was born April 23, 1933 in Caledonia, Michigan. He was drafted and served in the 10th Engineering Battalion. He was sent to Fort Pickett, Virginia for sixteen weeks of basic training and then spent eight weeks of leadership training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. His battalion built bridges, pontoon bridges, and went on maneuvers during the Korean War. He served from 1953-1955.
Kayser, Vernon
Kutten, Harry (Interview outline and video), 2011
Harry Kutten was born in St. Louis in 1924 to Russian immigrant parents, and enlisted in the Navy while still in high school after he heard of the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. He felt obligated to join the armed forces after this incident, and cited the growing influence of Hitler and the threat to democracy as his motivation. Harry completed basic training at the Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho. After training he joined a merchant ship that sailed to New Caledonia and assigned as a signalman aboard the light cruiser USS Montpelier. He served aboard the ship in the Solomon Islands, and later on as part of the flotilla that went to the Marianas and provided support for troops on Saipan. From there, he went on to the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan.
Kutten, Harry
Kuna, Anthony (Interview outline and video), 2007
Anthony Kuna was born in 1923 in Shepherd, Michigan. He was drafted into the Army when he was 18 years old and was sent to Camp Carson, Colorado, where he trained as an artillerist. After maneuvers in California and further training at Fort Benning, Georgia, his unit, the 71st Division, was shipped to France. He served as a machine gunner assigned to a battery of 155 mm guns. His unit fought through the Siegfried Line in January, 1945, and moved across southern Germany, ending the war in Austria, where his unit liberated a concentration camp.
Kuna, Anthony
Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.)
Kuizema, Harold (Interview outline and video), 2005
Harold Kuizema was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1925. After high school, he had tried to join the Air Corps, but was unable to because the testing determined that he was colorblind. In November of 1943, he was drafted into the U.S. Army Corps during World War II. He trained with the 106th Division, which went to Europe in the fall of 1944. His specialty was primarily communications and he was responsible for operating the telephones and laying wires from the guns to the observation points. His artillery unit had just taken up positions on the Ardennes front when they were attacked at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. He managed to stay a step ahead of the Germans, and was fighting at a roadblock when he was wounded and evacuated to England.
Kuizema, Harold
Michigan Military Preservation Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Krzeminski, Joseph (Interview outline and video), 2012
Joseph Krzeminski was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1919. His family suffered during the Depression, and he left high school and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936, serving two stints, and then joined the Army in 1940. After training at Fort Ord, California, he joined the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division, at Camp Clatsop, Oregon. His battalion was sent to the Aleutian Islands in April, 1941, and stayed for three years. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor in 1942 and helped with preparations for later American landings on Attu and Kiska, and then went to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, to serve as a trainer until he was discharged.
Krzeminski, Joseph
Dale Krueger served in the U.S. Army from 1971-1974 in the Vietnam War. He also served in Iraq at a check point as well as in other countries such as Panama.
Krueger, Dale
Kridler, Debra (Interview outline and video), 2009
Ms. Kridler was in the US Army in the 1980's. She served in the southern Bavarian region of Germany on a base that was shared by Americans and Germans. Ms. Kridler worked in telecommunications, but also received combat training and served on guard duty. After completing her enlistment, she served in the National Guard.
Kridler, Debra
Kriegbaum, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2007
Robert Kriegbaum is a veteran of the army who served during WW II. He was a forward artillery observer with the 34th Infantry Division. He spent much of his service in North Africa and Italy fighting on the front lines with many battalions. In all he served over 400 days on the front line and his unit spent over 600 days fighting. His record going thru Italy was thoroughly understand and remembered details of civilian and German POW's. Robert's unit was in Italy when the war ended and directed all surrendering German soldiers to camps. His service was impeccable and his memory of events vivid. He was also one of the men who fought near Monte Cassino Abbey against the Germans.
Kreigbaum, Robert