Havinga, Albert (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
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Albert Havinga was a civilian residing in Groningen in the Netherlands during World War II. In this Interview Albert gives an account of the invasion, occupation, and liberation of his city from 1940-1945, as well as the recovery of the state after the occupation had ended. In addition, Albert describes many social and economic hardships that where encountered as a result of the Nazi invasion. He also briefly touches upon his immigration to the U.S. after the war had ended.
Havinga, Albert
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Hartman, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2007
United States. Army
Robert Hartman joined the Michigan National Guard in 1938, and served in Company E, 126th Infantry Regiment during World War II. Originally trained and equipped to fight in Europe, his unit was sent to Australia and New Guinea in 1942, and fought at Buna, Saidor and Aitape. He was wounded at Aitape and shipped home, and was discharged in June, 1945.
Hartman, Robert
Harrison, William (Interview outline and video), 2005
United States. Navy
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
William Harrison served in the US Navy from 1950 to June of 1954. During his time in the Navy, he served on the Light Cruiser, the USS Worcester, in the North Atlantic. He was a machinist on the ship, and distilled sea water for use aboard the ship.
Harrison, William
Harrison, Ben (Interview transcript and video), 2011
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Ben Harrison was born in Truman, Arkansas in 1926. After first attending Arkansas State College then the University of Mississippi, Harrison enlisted in the Army because he needed the money from the G.I. Bill to help finish his school. After finishing his first enlistment, Harrison returned to school, where he enrolled in the ROTC before eventually graduating. Once he graduated from college, Harrison re-enlisted into the Army as an officer and held a variety of positions, including as an aide-de-camp to a general in a variety of locations, including Iceland and Germany. Eventually, Harrison deployed to Vietnam to take command of the 10th Aviation Battalion. Once his first tour in Vietnam ended, Harrison went to Washington D.C. and worked in the office of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Eventually, Harrison returned to Vietnam as commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. While Harrison was commander, part of the 3rd Brigade fought in one of the last major battles involving American forces in Vietnam, the battle for Firebase Ripcord. After his tour as the brigade commander ended, Harrison served as deputy commandant and commandant for several military colleges and bases throughout the U.S. before retiring.
Harrison, Ben
Harnish, Arthur (Interview outline and video), 2007
Arthur Harnish served in the 347th Engineer Regiment between 1943 and 1945. He provides detailed descriptions of training and his service in Europe. He landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day and helped his unit rebuild bridges in France, Belgium and Germany, including bridges on the Rhine.
Harnish, Arthur
Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.)
Harmsel, Tony Ten (Interview outline and video), 2011
Tony Ten Harmsel was born in Iowa in 1919 and grew up in Michigan. He was working at General Motors when Pearl Harbor happened, and was drafted into the Army in 1942. Having grown up on a farm and being experienced with trucks, he was pulled out of basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to drive a truck for a general on the base, and stayed at Fort Sill until the spring of 1944, when he was shipped to England and assigned to a battalion of the 18th Artillery. His unit landed on Utah Beach on or shortly after D-Day, and went into action right away. His unit fought in Normandy, in northern France, in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and the invasion of Germany. They went through a concentration camp and ferried Russian POWs back to the Soviet lines at the end of the war.
Harmsel, Tony Ten
Harlan, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2012
Charles Harlan grew up in Mancelona, Michigan, and enlisted in the Army as soon as he finished high school in 1966 in order to stay ahead of the draft and have some say in his assignment. After basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he went to Fort Eustis, Virginia, for training in marine diesel engines. Deploying to Vietnam in May, 1967, he went first to Pleiku in the Central Highlands, but was then assigned to the 1099th Transportation Company based at Cat Lai, east of Saigon, which operated landing craft along the rivers. At first, Harlan worked in the operations center at Cat Lai before become a coxswain aboard an LCM-8. While working as a coxswain, Harlan helped in the movement of supplies up and down the rivers around Saigon and the deployment of infantry from the 9th and 1st Infantry Divisions. Towards the end of Harlan's tour, eleven of the company's LCM-8s moved down to the Mekong Delta, just in time for the start of the enemy's 1968 Tet Offensive. During the offensive, Harlan's LCM-8 continued moving men and supplies, as well as provided support to besieged American units along the shore. Upon his return from Vietnam in 1968, he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he worked first as a radio operator for a unit of the 24th Division, and then with a battalion of the 1st Infantry Division that was testing the airmobile capacity of the new Sheridan tank.
Harlan, Charles
Harig, Harold (Interview outline and video), 2009
Harold Harig served in the US Navy from 1943 to 1946. He trained as an anti-aircraft gunner and served aboard the escort carrier USS Shamrock Bay. He sailed on convoy escort duty to North Africa, and later served in the Pacific in the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns, and was later based in Japan.
Harig, Harold
Hardiman, Bill (Interview transcript and video), 2011
Bill Hardiman was born in 1947 in Pontiac, Michigan, and grew up in Grand Rapids. After graduating from high school, Hardiman briefly attended Grand Rapids Junior College, then left school and received his draft notice in 1966. Through efforts made by his church, Hardiman received the label of "conscientious objector", so when he reported in 1966, the Army sent Hardiman to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for both his basic training and advanced training to be a medic. Once Hardiman finished at Fort Sam Houston, he deployed to Vietnam, where he received an assignment to an artillery section stationed on a hilltop firebase near the city of Chu Lai. While on the firebase, Hardiman not only treated the wounded in his artillery section, but also wounded soldiers in the infantry unit also stationed on the firebase, as well as Vietnamese civilians living in a village at the base of the hill the firebase was on. Once his tour in Vietnam ended, Hardiman returned to the United States and finished his enlistment, finally leaving the military in 1968. He eventually returned to college and went on to an extended career in public service.
Hardiman, Bill
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Hansen, Lloyd (Interview outline and video), 2013
Lloyd was born on July 4, 1925 in Jamestown, North Dakota. His family moved to California before they settled in Michigan. His father was a missionary with the American Sunday School Union. When Lloyd was a senior in high school he took the entrance exams to join the Air Force but was turned down because of his depth perception. He was later drafted into the Army in November 1943. He was sent to Europe as a replacement after D-Day and served in a heavy weapons company in the 79th Division until wounded in northeastern France late in 1944.
Hansen, Lloyd
Hanselman, Harold G. (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States. Army. Air Corps
Harold Hanselman served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was stationed on Attu Island in the Aleutian chain in the northern Pacific ocean. He was a radio operator in a B-25 bomber that would fly bombing missions in the Kurile Islands north of Japan. He discusses both the living conditions on Attu and the experience of flying missions in that area, where the Soviets and the weather added to the problems caused by the Japanese.
Hanselman, Harold G.
Haner, Ward (Interview outline and video), 2011
Ward Haner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946. He enlisted in the Navy after high school. He received his training at Great Lakes Naval Base. Ward Haner was assigned to the 3rd division on the USS Forrestal. On the ship, he had many duties that included cleaning the quarters, air defense, and loading magazines. His team also drove the ship. There were many times on the Forrestal when Mr. Haner had to put out fires. He went on cruises through the Caribbean, Virgin Islands, up the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, going to Lebanon during the crisis in 1967, but narrowly missed being sent to Vietnam.
Haner, Ward
Handley, Terry (Interview outline and video), 2013
Terry was born on December 30, 1947 in Niles, Michigan. He graduated from high school in 1966 and went to Lake Michigan College where he earned his associates degree in business administration. Because of the threat of being drafted, Terry chose to enlist for two years in the United States Army. After basic training and advanced infantry training, Terry volunteered to go to NCO School and then became an infantry instructor at Fort Jackson. Terry was sent to Vietnam in 1970 and served with the 101st Airborne 1/506th, Delta Company. He was present for the battle for Ripcord and was wounded by mortar shrapnel. He was discharged in August 1970.
Handley, Terry
Hand, William (Interview outline and video), 2013
William "Bill" Hand was born in 1946 in Dallas, Texas. He took ROTC training while at the University of Houston, and did well enough to receive a regular army commission upon completion of the program in 1969. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division for several months, and then went to vietnam, where he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, and took part in the final stages of the fighting at Firebase Ripcord in June-July 1970. After Vietnam, he remained in the Army until retiring in 1992.
Hand, William
Hammond, Robert (Bob) N. (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2004
Robert Hammond was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 18, 1923. Robert enlisted in the Navy about one year after Pearl Harbor was attacked and went through basic training in Chicago. After basic training, Robert went to radio, gunnery and flight schools. He went on 39 flight missions as a radioman/gunner on TBF fighter bombers, seeing action at Palau, Saipan, Guam, the Philippines, Okinawa and Formosa. Eventually Robert and the others in his crew were in such bad shape, they could no longer pass their physicals. They had been pulled from their flight missions shortly before the bombs were dropped on Japan. Military records are appended to interview outline.
Hammond, Robert N.
Michigan Military Preservation Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Hammond, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2008
Charles Hammond was born in Columbus, Ohio on August 24, 1919 and was drafted in 1940. He trained at Fort McClellan in Alabama. He was assigned to the 4th Armored Division and served in France, Belgium, Germany and Czechoslovakia as a military policeman who dealt with prisoners of war. He traveled through France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. The prisoners that he dealt with were very well behaved and did not have many troubles with them, the only problem he complained about was the sheer size of some of the groups that they had to escort.
Hammond, Charles E. (Bob)
Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Halle, Robert A. (Interview outline and video), 2008
United States. Marine Corps
Robert Halle served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. Robert and Bruce both served in Korea. Robert enlisted in the Marine Reserves at the age of seventeen, and was called to active duty during his junior year of high school. He trained in California. He served for seven months, and was wounded twice. One of these wounds was a minor shrapnel wound, the other was a significant wound on the left side of his head. Robert discusses at length his experience at Hill 749, praises his friend and section leader Dick Blassingame, and discusses his lifelong post-war career in education.
Halle, Robert A.
Hale, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2013
Mike Hale was born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1946. He attended Barbour Hall Academy and Marmion Military Academy until graduating in 1964. In August 1965 he enlisted in the Army for communications and attended training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and Fort Riley, Kansas. He was attached to Headquarters Company of the 15th Combat Engineer Battalion of the 9th Division at Fort Riley and was deployed to Vietnam in mid-October 1966 where he served at Bearcat and at Dong Thap in the Mekong Delta until he was sent home in April 1968. Upon returning home he served at Fort Sheridan, Illinois until May 1969.
Hale, Michael
Hahn, Lynn (Interview outline and video), 2008
Lynn Hahn was born in Michigan in 1931. He attended college shortly after high school before being drafted into the Army. Lynn attended quarter master training in Virginia and trained in graves registration. Lynn was shipped to Korea in August of 1952 and stayed about 15 miles from the front working in a mortuary. Lynn spent much time identifying bodies and going on search and recovery missions after battles took place.
Hahn, Lynn
Hage, Russell (Interview outline, video, and papers), 2008
Russell Hage is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army from early 1940 to October 1945. In this account Hage discusses his pre-enlistment; enlistment and training in the U.S. and abroad in England; and combat experiences throughout, France, Belgium & Germany. Hage served with the 440th Anti-Aircraft battalion, in which he commanded a battery of 40mm guns. His unit was attached to several different divisions, including the 4th Armored Division in Normandy, and later the 106th and 75th Divisions during the Battle of the Bulge, before supporting the British 2nd Army in its attacks across the Rhine and into the Ruhr. Map of Fort Flagler State Park appended to interview outline.
Hage, Russell
Gwatkin, Mary Ann (Interview outline and video), 2004
Mary Ann Gwatkin was born in 1920 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She trained as a nurse, and enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor. She worked initially in Gulfport, Mississippi, and was then sent to Europe, where she worked at several assignments in Wales and England, and eventually transferred to France, ending up at the American base at Mourmelon. Along the way, she helped to treat casualties from the battles in France from Normandy to the end of the war.
Gwatkin, Mary Ann
Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.)
Gullick, Felix (Interview transcript and video), 2008
Felix Gullick spent most of his childhood on a farm in Kansas, and then moved to Muskegon, Michigan in 1939. He was drafted and served in the US Army between 1943 and 1946. He did his basic training in California, and spent about a year working on the docks in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and later was shipped to India and spent the last year of the war with the 45th Engineer Battalion, which was building and maintaining part of the Burma Road. He was the dispatcher for his company, and effectively commanded his unit much of the time. After the war, he returned to Michigan and played semiprofessional baseball during the last days of the Negro Leagues.
Gullick, Felix
Guevara, David (Interview outline and video), 2011
David Guevara was born in Martin, Michigan on October 19th 1947. He grew up moving around a lot because his parents were migrant workers. He went to school when he could and worked in a factory. In 1968, he was drafted into the Army, but enlisted in the Marine Corps before he had to report. He trained in California and became a wireman for a communications unit. He was assigned to the Marine air base at Marble Mountain, near Da Nang. He mostly worked on the base laying communications lines, but also did some radio work, at times communicating with other Hispanic soldiers in Spanish, which the Vietnamese could not understand.
Guevara, David
Grosser, Tom (Interview outline and video), 2007
Tom Grosser served in the US Army between 1971 and 1973. He served in Vietnam and saw some combat, but is still suffering the effects of PTSD and is reluctant to talk about it.
Grosser, Tom