Sutton, Carol (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. Air Force
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Veterans
Video recordings
Carol Sutton of Muskegon was born in Davis, West Virginia on February 23, 1940. She went to Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as West Virginia University after high school. After graduating in 1963, Sutton went on an extended international trip before joining the Air Force. In May of 1965, she underwent Basic Training in Montgomery, Alabama, and graduated as a Second Lieutenant since she was a nurse. She was then stationed at Wilford Hall in Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, where she met her husband in the labor and delivery unit of the hospital. They got married in July of 1966 before her husband was deployed to Vietnam. After his return in 1968, the couple moved to Austin, Texas and they both left the service. Sutton then worked as a nurse at the health center at the University of Texas before retiring in 2000.
Sutton, Carol Ann
Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27
Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.
In Copyright
Southerland, James (Interview transcript and video), 2017
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Jim Southerland was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1946 and graduated high school in 1966. He joined the Army on May 19th, 1965. Southerland completed his Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then advanced infantry training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. At Fort Benning, Georgia, he also completed jump school. His first deployment was to Germany where he took part in the Nijmegen March in Holland. After reenlisting, Southerland was deployed to Vietnam with the 1st Brigade, 1st Calvary Division as an RTO (radiotelephone operator) for his platoon leader and eventually became a squad leader. He was involved in the Tet Offensive in early 1968 before his last assignment as an MOS personnel specialist in Saigon. Southerland left Vietnam in April, 1969, and left the service in May, 1969, but remained active in the Virginia National Guard.
Southerland, James W.
Soper, Harold (Interview transcript and video), 2017
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Harold Soper was born on April 16, 1920 in Indianapolis, Indiana and settled into Grand Rapids in 1929. Soper was drafted into the Army before finishing college and went on to supervise the American Oil Dump being shipped through Iran and Iraq to the Soviet Union. After being turned away from the Army Corps of Engineering and officers' training, he was relocated to Chicago and Indianapolis to close domestic military contracts. After leaving the service, Soper finished his schooling and earned a master's degree in accounting.
Soper, Harold S.
Smits, Wendall (Interview transcript and video), 2017
United States. Coast Guard
Wendall Smits was born in South Holland, Illinois in 1936. After graduating high school, a friend convinced him to join the Coast Guard Reserve at the age of 17. He completed two weeks of boot camp in 1955 at Cape May, New Jersey and became an engineman for the Coast Guard aboard various ships. He then became a chief engineman and, later, a lieutenant with a unit in Chicago before transferring to a Coast Guard unit in Gary, Indiana. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he was promoted to the position of warrant officer, and then to a Lieutenant Junior Grade. Smits primarily worked for port security at the various bases bases he was stationed at and also trained recruits for his Coast Guard units as a training officer. He was later awarded the Coast Guard Achievement Medal for his work rewriting engineering programs and engineering training manuals for the entire 9th district in Gary, Indiana.
Smits, Wendall L.
Smith, Joe (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Joe Smith was born on April 17th , 1946 in Topeka, Kansas. After graduating from high school, he attended Virginia Military Institute where he graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1968 and joined the Army. He was then sent to Fort Bragg to join the 82nd Airborne Division, with which he became a platoon leader and General's aid. He later requested a transfer to Vietnam, where he was first stationed at Camp Eagle and saw combat at Firebase Ripcord. In 1971, Smith was stationed at Fort Belvior where he served out the rest of his tour and instructed the student brigade at the engineering school. He retired from the military in 1973 before pursuing a law degree at the University of Virginia Law School.
Smith, Joe O.
Sheathelm, Glenn (3 of 3, Interview transcript and video), 2018
Glenn Sheathelm was born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1946. Enlisting in the Army in 1965, he joins the Army Artillery and undergoes Basic Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and AIT at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, before being deployed to Nuremberg, Germany. He is then redeployed to Vietnam where he served with the Fire Direction Control and S2 Military Intelligence sections of the First Cavalry Division until after the Tet Offensive in January of 1968. He sees combat while on patrol, during rescue missions, during Air Assaults, and during the Second Battle of Tam Quan when he receives several minor wounds and is sent to the rear for treatment in the final days of his deployment. He then returns to the United States in February of 1968 where he attends the Western Michigan and Grand Valley State Universities for masters' degrees in library sciences, literary media, and history.
Sheathelm, Glenn H.
Sheathelm, Glenn (2 of 3, Interview transcript and video), 2018
Sheathelm, Glenn (1 of 3, Interview transcript and video), 2018
Saladin, Philip (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
Philip Saladin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1982. He was attending college during the attacks on 9/11 and eventially joined the Army National Guard in 2005. While in Basic Training, he decided that he wanted to go on active duty, and was sent to Baumholder, Germany, where he joined the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division as part of the Battalion Headquarters S3 (Operations) staff. When it was deployed to Iraq, his unit operated out of combat operations post Capper, conducting patrols and raids targeting Al Qaeda leaders. His unit eventually returned to Germany, and Saladin was reassigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, in the 1st Cavalry Division. In 2011, his new unit was redeployed to Iraq where it conducted armored patrols and worked with Iraqi and Kurdish forces in Kirkuk. Saladin suffered a traumatic brain injury when his truck hit an IED, but was able to remain with his unit and return with them to Fort Hood after the deployment. He was finally discharged in 2014.
Saladin, Philip
Robson, Sally (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Sally Robson was born in Muskegon, Michigan in 1937. She graduated from high school in 1955 and began studying to become a teacher at Albion College and taught second grade in Walled Lake, Michigan, after graduating. In 1969, her husband, Larry, enlisted into the Navy and moved his their family down to Texas during his Basic Training. When he was sent to Vietnam to work as a doctor at a base in Quang Tri, Robson and her children moved back to Muskegon and lived with her parents. After returning from Vietnam in 1969, Robson's reunited family moved to Chicago where Larry worked at the Great Lakes Naval Station before moving to Detroit where Larry started his vascular surgery residency. A year later, the family settled into Grand Rapids where Larry worked at both Blodgett Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital.
Robson, Sally K.
Robinson, Michael (Interview transcript and video), 2018
Michael Robinson was born in Grand Haven, Michigan, in 1947. He graduated high school in 1966 and only attended college for a year before recieving his draft notice. So, Robinson decided to enlist into the Navy in which he trained as a gunner's mate and was assigned to a minesweeper based at Charleston, South Carolina, becoming the crew's designated diver repairman. He was then transferred to San Diego for training in Swift Boats before being deployed to Vietnam. In Vietnam, Robinson was assigned to a Swift Boat unit based at Cat Lo, conducting patrols, searches, raids, escorts, and fire support missions in the Saigon and Mekong River deltas during which he served primarily as a machine gunner. After his tour was over, he returned to Charleston to complete his enlistment.
Robinson, Michael W.
Ramon, Edward (Interview transcript and video), 2018
Edward Ramon was born in 1942 in San Antonio, Texas, and graduated high school in May of 1960. Ramon received a scholarship to play football at Texarkana Junior College, but decided to join the Army in 1961. He completed his Advanced Individual Training at Fort Ord, California, and his Finance Training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, before he trained as a medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Ramon was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis response in the early '60s and trained as a helicopter pilot after reenlistment. He was deployed to Vietnam in January, 1966, with the 1st Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne Divisions. While he primarily flew gunships, he also participated in various rescue missions in Vietnam.
Ramon, Edward
Oudbier, Matthew (Interview transcript and video), 2017
United States. Marine Corps
Matthew Oudbier was born in Bremerton, Washington and grew up in a Marine Corps family. He entered the Delayed Entry Program in 2004 and went to Twentynine Palms, California, for its field radio operators course. Oudbier was then assigned to 1st Stinger Battery or 1st LAD in Futenma on Okinawa, Japan, before being deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2007 where he was his company's radio operator and participated in heavy training. After reenlistment, Oudbier became first ANGLICO, returned to Iraq in 2008, and joined a support/logistics team. He also reenlisted for tours in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 and Sangin, Afghanistan in 2011 where he was assigned to the Georgian Army. After leaving the service, Oudbier got his Class A license and worked at the VA hospital in San Diego before moving back to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Oudbier, Matthew
Northrup, Mark (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Mark Northrup was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1957. He graduated high school in 1975 and attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota before opting to enlist into the Coast Guard for its Officer Candidate School. Northrup attended the OCS program in Yorktown, Virginia, before being commissioned in March of 1981. For his first assignment, he was sent to Duluth, Minnesota, to serve on an icebreaking buoy tender. Northrup also served tours in Okinawa, Japan, as a commanding officer of a long range navigation station, a pollution officer and Vessel Traffic Systems Watch Officer out of Puget Sound in Washington, and as an executive officer on a buoy tender out of Ketchikan, Alaska, where he bacame captain of his ship. Northrup left the service in 1994 and began a career in manufacturing, predominantly automotive, and electronics manufacturing.
Northrup, Mark B.
Moyer, Jerry (Interview transcript and video), 2016
Jerry Moyer was born in Springfield, Missouri, in 1948, moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1958 where he graduated high school. Moyer enlisted in the Army in 1967 before he could recieve a draft notice and underwent signals training and learned to string telephone wires. He was then sent to Germany where he was stationed with a mechanized infantry battalion of the 4th Armored Division in Crailsheim. When he was promoted to sergeant in 1969, Moyer's specialization was changed to infantry and he was evetually deployed to Vietnam, joining C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101 st Aiborne Division. His unit participated in the establishment of Firebase Ripcord and the defense of Hill 902 when Moyer was injured and sent to the rear.
Moyer, Jerry Dale
Meyer, J. Paul (Interview transcript and video), 2018
United States. Army. Air Force
J.P. Meyer was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1947. He graduated high school in 1965 and attended a pre-pharmacy program at South Dakota State University before dropping out in 1968 to enlist in the Army's warrant officer flight training program. Meyer underwent Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then transfered to Fort Wolters, Texas, for primary helicopter school as well as Fort Rucker, Alabama, for instrument and tactical training. When he was deployed to Vietnam, Meyer joined Charlie Company, 159th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne in Phu Bai. His unit participated in the establishment, siege, and eventual evacuation of Firebase Ripcord in 1970. After working an administration job back in the U.S. for the remainder of his tour, he joined a Chinook unit in the Iowa Army National Guard and later graduated with a pharmaceutical degree. From there, he continued his medical studies at vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. Meyer eventually became the State Air Surgeon and began going to Des Moines, Iowa, for drill. Meyer finally completed this assignment when he retired in January of 2000.
Meyer, J. Paul
Mackey, Michael (Interview transcript and video), 2018
Michael Mackey was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana in 1948. Mackey graduated high school in 1966 and began working for a sign company when he recieved his draft notice. Taking his father's advice, he visited an Army recruiter and agreed to a delayed entry into the Army's flight school. He attended Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, before reporting to Fort Wolters, Texas, for primary flight school and training as a Warrant Officer as well as Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, where he learned to fly Huey helicopters. Mackey was then deployed to Würzburg, Germany, before volunteering to be sent to Vietnam in 1969 where he was attached to Charlie Company, 159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne. His unit participated in the siege on Firebase Ripcord before ending his tour in Vietnam and attending a Basic Armor course in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Afterwards, he became an S1 of the Student Aviation Battalion and then acquired a job as an Army Emergency Relief officer for Army Community Services. Mackey also saw service in Korea as an Operations Officer, Germany as a member of a tank company, and at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, as part of a medevac company. After nine years in the service, Mackey was finally discharged from the Army.
Mackey, Michael A.
Lux, Melchior (Interview transcript and video), 2016
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, Yugoslavian
Melchior Lux was born in 1935 in Filipowa, an ethnic German community in Yugoslavia, in 1935. When the German military invaded in 1941, Lux and the Germanic townspeople welcomed the incoming soldiers. His brother joined the German Army and, later, his father was forced into the service in early 1944. When the Germans evacuated in October of 1944, along with his brother and father, Serbian partisans took over, instating rations on supplies, but not food. Lux's mother was forced to undergo manual labor for the partisans and his sister was sent to Russia as a forced laborer. The partisans frequently tortured, beat, and abused their German prisoners and local townspeople. Lux remained imprisoned in the town until December of 1946 when his mother paid a guide to help them escape and flee to Hungary. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, he acquired a passport and was eventually permitted into the American Zone, settling into Passau where his uncle lived. He worked as a welder until he earned his Journeyman's Card and filed paperwork for emigration to the United States, leaving Germany in 1956.
Lux, Melchior
Layton, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2017
Robert Layton was born in Madison, Indiana on August 24th, 1946 and graduated high school in 1964. He briefly attendd the Univeristy of Arizona before transferring to to Ohio University where he participated in the ROTC program in 1966. Layton underwent Basic Training at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, in 1967, and graduated college in 1969. He then attended his infantry officer's traiing course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and completed both jump school and ranger training. His first assignment as an officer was to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 1969 before he was deployed to Vietnam with the B Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. His unit articipated in combat at Firebase Ripcord as well as Hill 1000 before Layton was reassigned as an S-2 Intelligence Officer. After two years of deployment, he left the service and completed his Master's degree in Urban Planning and, later, in Economics.
Layton, Robert Wayne
Laudeman, Kent (Interview transcript and video), 2017
Kent Laudeman was born in 1943 in Bremen, Indiana. After graduating high school, he attended college to avoid the draft for seven years, but was eventually drafted into the Army in 1968. He completed both basic and advanced training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, before being sent to Fort Jordan, Georgia, for MLS training and then Fort Ben Harrison for basic officer training. In August of 1970, Laudeman was deployed to Vietnam for only a year. Due to his struggles supporting a family, he went to USAR in Kingsbury as an on-reserve instructor and, at the end of 1990, was called to action in Saudia Arabia in KKMC (King Kalaat Military City). After a year in KKMC, he returned to the states until 1995, when he was brought to Hungary for Project: Joint Endeavor. In 1996, he returned to the United States after his last deployment.
Laudeman, Kent
Holton, Will (Interview transcript and video), 2017
Will Holton was born in Crockett County, Tennessee, on January 19, 1919, and was likely drafted in either late 1942 or early 1943. After Basic Training and advanced training, Holton was then sent to Camp Barkeley, Texas, for trucker training, and was then sent to Louisiana for 155mm artillery training before winding up at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, with the 1010th Engineer Company. Holton was then assigned to the 2nd Platoon, A Company, 1697th Engineer Combat Battalion and was deployed to Europe, supporting the ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944-45. He guarded the other engineers while they cleared mines, opened supply routes, and built temporary bridges, continuing this construction work in France after the war. Holton later returned home and was discharged in 1946.
Holton, Will Thomas
Hodges, Terry (Interview transcript and video), 2016
Terry Hodges was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1948. He graduated high school in 1966 and attended Southeastern Louisiana University for three years before he recieved his draft notice. Hodges attended both basic and advanced infantry training in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and rejected then opportunity to attend Noncommissioned Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then sent to Vietnam in 1970 where he was stationed at Camp Evans and then Firebase Kathryn with Delta Company, 1st Battalion of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. He remembered his unit coming under fire during the siege on Firebase Ripcord after which his unit suffered heavy losses. He also had to accompany his friend's body back to the U.S. for the funeral in Georgia. Having served eleven months and sixteen days in Vietnam, Hodges was eventually given an early-out in April of 1971 and returned to his home in Baton Rouge.
Hodges, Terry Lynn
Hines, Raymond (2 of 2, Interview transcript and video), 2019
Raymond Hines was born on April 6, 1944 in Wellford, South Carolina, and graduated high school in 1962. Hines received his draft notice in 1965 and chose to enlist in the Army. He completed Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, where he became a Morse Intercept Operator. He also trained in Artillery OCS at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, before transferring to Fort Bliss, Texas, as part of the Air Defense for only two months before being transferred to Wurzburg Germany. From Germany, Hines was deployed to Vietnam with the 2nd of the 319th as a Fire Direction Officer and proceeded to report to the Bravo Battery at Firebase Bastogne. He saw heavy combat with this unit. While in Vietnam, Hines also worked as an assistant S-3 fireman, and a Liaison Officer for the 2nd of the 506 at Fire Base Ripcord. After taking some additional advanced artillery courses, he deployed to Nuremberg Germany with the 3rd of the 70th House Artillery before transferring to the 7th Corps Artillery as a Nuclear Release Authentication System Officer. He would later return to Europe after recieveing his veterinarian degree in the United States to care for military service animals.
Hines, Raymond
Hines, Raymond (1 of 2, Interview transcript and video), 2019