Hoffman, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2005
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
Video recordings
United States. Navy
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Charles Hoffman was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, and served in the Navy during World War II. He was assigned to a destroyer which was used to guard convoys from submarines. He served initially in the Atlantic, but moved to the Pacific after VE day. He sailed to many places, including Brazil, North Africa, France, England, and the Philippines.
Hoffman, Charles
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Hoerner, Jim (Interview outline and video), 2004
Jim Hoerner was drafted in the US Army in 1942, received financial training, and then attended officer candidate school. Upon graduating, he was assigned to the 90th Division as a platoon leader. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day and fought in Normandy, across France, through the Bulge and into Germany, although the interview mostly focuses on his experiences through the Normandy campaign.
Hoerner, Jim
Hoekzema, Doug (Interview outline and video), 2007
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Doug Hoekzema served in the US Navy between 1953 and 1955. He served on a destroyer in the Pacific, and his ship patrolled the Korean coastline shortly after the armistice there. The ship then toured the world, and Hoekzema got reassigned to shore duty after that, possibly due to the intervention of his congressman, Gerald Ford.
Hoekema, Doug E.
Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.)
Hodges, Jim (Interview outline and video), 2010
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Born in Houston, Texas in 1951, Jim Hodges worked on ranches as a teen before enlisting in the Army in 1970. During his training, the Army selected him to cross-train for special operations missions and following the completion of his training, the Army shipped him to Vietnam. After several months, he began to perform the missions. He performed several special-ops missions in Laos and when his last mission went wrong, Hodges spent seventy-two days alone working his way back to a friendly location. He spent a further couple of months in Vietnam, serving with one of the last infantry units in the field, before returning to the United States and eventually receiving his discharge.
Hodges, Jim
Hinken, Morris (Interview outline and video), 2011
Morris Hinken served as a communications technician during World War II. He trained at Camp Crowder, Missouri, and deployed to England with the 32nd Signal Battalion at the end of 1943. He was based near Coventry, and went to Normandy shortly after D-Day. His unit laid and repaired telephone cables across northern Europe. He worked in Bastogne shortly before the Battle of the Bulge, and followed the army into Germany. Shortly after the German surrender, he was sent to Okinawa, arriving just after the Japanese surrender.
Hinken, Morris
Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.)
Hines, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2008
Richard Hines was born in 1922 in Bradley, Michigan, and served in the Army during World War II. During his time in the service, he worked as a mortar man in the 324th Regiment, 44th Division, eventually commanding a mortar company. He was in Europe, specifically Northern France and Germany. He spent some time in Europe after the War before he was discharged. He worked in the trucking industry.
Hines, Richard
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Hillock, Steven (Interview outline and video), 2008
Steven Hillock initially joined the US Navy in 1963 to get out of farming. After his duty was up with the Navy, he joined the Army to fight in Vietnam. Initially trained as an airborne trooper, he joined the Tracers Recon unit. They fought in minor skirmishes, and took part in some battles. While he initially left the military very angry, he does not regret his time in the military.
Hillock, Steven
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Hillock, Armond L. (Interview outline and video), 2005
Armond Hillock is a World War II veteran who served with the Sigma Corps within the U.S. Army from January 1943 to an undisclosed date. Hillock discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S. He briefly discusses where his active duty took him; among many places he served were France, Luxembourg, and Germany. In addition, he briefly describes his battle experience along the Rhine. Hillock concludes by sharing some final thoughts about his time in the service and what his time after the service involved.
Hillock, Armond L.
Hill, Jack (Interview transcript and video, 2 of 2), 2007
Jack Hill joined the Michigan National Guard before World War II and served in the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division, throughout the war. He fought in every major action that his unit was involved in on New Guinea, Morotai and Leyte, and provides detailed descriptions of combat and army life at the time.
Hill, Jack
Hill, Jack (Interview transcript and video, 1 of 2), 2007
Hicks, Kenneth (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Air Force
Kenneth Hicks served in the 8th Air Force as a B-17 pilot based in England in 1944-45. He provides extensive descriptions of the training process and his experience with bombing missions in the later stages of the war.
Hicks, Kenneth
Hickel, Steve (Interview outline and video), 2005
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Steve Hickel was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956. He attended several colleges and then enlisted in the Navy on June 6, 1975. He started out as a Sonar Technician on a nuclear fast attack submarine. Their mission was to find enemy subs, monitor and record them and if necessary destroy them during the Cold War. He was first sent to the Mediterranean Sea where he became an officer and then traveled around on the Pacific Ocean. Steve was called back as a Commander in 1995 and went to Europe to install computer systems.
Hickel, Steve
Herrick, Todd (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States. Army Reserve
Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
Todd Herrick was born on January 19, 1971 and joined the Army Reserve in 1989. He served in transportation and military police units, and went on active duty and served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq during the Gulf War of 1991 and again during the Iraq war in 2003.
Herrick, Todd
Hennessy, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2013
United States. National Guard
Mike was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1949. He graduated from the Benedictine Military School in 1967 and started college at the University of Georgia. Eventually Mike tired of school and enlisted in the United States Army in 1968. He started OCS but later dropped out. He went to Vietnam in May 1970 and was assigned to Delta Company, 1/506th, 101st Airborne. Mike operated around Camp Evans and Firebase Ripcord. He left Vietnam in 1971 after spending a year in country. After he got out of the regular army, Mike joined the National Guard as an officer. After resigning his commission, he retired from the Georgia National Guard as an enlisted man in January 1994.
Hennessy, Michael
Hennesen, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2008
Charles Hennesen was born in Fort Erie, Ontario and grew up in Buffalo, New York. He joined the Army Reserves while in college and was then called into Active Duty upon graduation. He served in 39th Regiment, 9th Division, in the European Theatre, specifically in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, and Germany. He was wounded in the hip during an assault on the town of Aachen, and spent around a year and a half in hospitals in both Europe and the United States.
Hennesen, Charles
Henk, Edward (Interview transcript and video), 2011
Ed Henk was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 21st, 1944. After graduating from high school, Henk attended Grand Rapids Junior College for three semesters before transferring to Ferris State University to study data processing. However, in 1966, the middle of his junior year at Ferris State, Henk received his draft notice. Following basic training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for combat engineering, Henk attended OCS at Fort Benning, Georgia for sixteen weeks, although he never completed the school. After leaving OCS, Henk deployed to Vietnam in 1967 and served with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. While in Vietnam, Henk fought through the Tet Offensive, including the defense of the MACV compound in Hue. Following the completion of his tour, Henk returned to the United States and received his discharge.
Henk, Edward
Hency, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2012
Richard Hency was born in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1949. He received his draft notice in November of 1968 and was then sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for eight weeks of Basic Training before eight weeks of AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Richard flew into Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in September of 1969. He was initially sent to Duc Pho, Vietnam until he met up with his field unit that primarily operated in jungle terrain. In a Search & Destroy mission, every Vietnamese person that they came into contact with was moved to a refugee camp. Richard was, near the end of his experiences in Vietnam, flown and dropped off inside of Cambodia before American forces were supposed to be there. Richard was wounded on two separate occasions in Vietnam.
Hency, Richard
Heintzelman, William L. (Interview outline and video), 2008
Bill Heintzelman enlisted in 1961 and trained as a radioman in the Navy. He was stationed at the Panama Canal during the Cuban Missile Crisis where he patrolled aboard ships and along the canal. When Heintzelman went back into the Navy after a ten year gap between his first and second term of service, he worked as a journalist at several stations around the world.
Heintzelman, William L.
Heine, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2012
Bob Heine was born in 1947 in the Bronx, New York. After high school, he enrolled in the engineering program at Auburn University in Alabama, and completed four years of ROTC training. Instead of going to Vietnam, he was sent to graduate school for two years, and then received specialized chemical training, after which he went into the reserves rather than active duty. He soon switched to the Engineer Corps, and pursued a professional career while advancing through the ranks in the reserves. He was assigned to command an engineer battalion during Desert Storm, but the unit was not deployed due to the brevity of the war. After 9/11, however, he was activated, working initially at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and then being deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in command of a unit supporting American forces in those countries, and wound up doing two tours in Iraq as a major general and working with high ranking American and Iraqi officials.
Heine, Robert
Heine, Kevin (Interview outline and video), 2008
Kevin Heine was born in Flint, Michigan on October 1, 1964. About 25% of his graduating class joined some form of the service in Osceota because it was an Air Force town and the economy was terrible in Michigan during the 80s. Kevin joined the Navy after high school and was able to take many classes in many areas during his 20 year career. Kevin took engineering classes, cryogenics, business administration, computer science, and many others.
Heine, Kevin
Heibel, Lloyd (Interview outline and video), 2010
Lloyd Heibel enlisted in the Navy in 1948 at the age of 17. He trained as a gunner and served on the USS Midway and USS Shenandoah, operating in the Atlantic and Mediterranean at the time of the Korean War.
Heibel, Lloyd
Heflin, John (Interview outline and video), 2009
African-American soldiers
John Heflin was born in Bellevue, Michigan and after high school enlisted in the Air Force. He was assigned to be a mechanic and trained in Columbus, Ohio. John was deployed in January 1968 to the Philippines during the Tet Offensive. After the Tet Offensive he was stationed at Tan Son Nhut Airbase, Vietnam. It was his job as crew chief to make sure that the planes were ready to go at all times. He discusses soldiers' attitudes toward the war, racial tensions and drug use. After leaving Vietnam in 1969, he worked in Detroit and joined the Black Panther Party.
Heflin, John
Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum (Muskegon, Mich.)
Heffron, Timothy (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Marine Corps
Timothy Heffron was born in Kirkwood, Missouri on November 13, 1957. He was raised in Pennsylvania and then moved to Grand Rapids with his father during high school. After high school he joined the Marines. He went to boot camp and then finished 3rd in his communications school class. He didn't get along with a major and ended up leaving without permission and was court martialed when he returned. He received a 50 dollar fine and was moved from private first class to private. Then they offered him an honorable discharge and he took it.
Heffron, Timothy
Hawley, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2010
Richard Hawley, born in Michigan in 1932, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1949-1953 in both the U.S. and Korea during the Korean Conflict. During his service in Korea, Richard worked as a welder and maintenance man at the K-2 air base, mainly repairing runways and aircraft. After returning to the U.S. he continued his job as a welder in Selfridge Michigan.
Hawley, Richard