Coryell, David (Interview outline and video), 2008
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Michigan--History, Military
Veterans
United States. Army
Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American
Video recordings
David Coryell was born on March 19, 1930 in Kansas. He joined the Oklahoma National Guard in 1947 and graduated from high school in 1948. He began going to college shortly after graduation, but was sent to Louisiana for training when the Oklahoma National Guard became federalized. David later was sent to the northern part of Japan for further training, but later found that he had been in service long enough and was not legally required to serve overseas. David returned back to the US and finished college, began working as an electrical engineer, and later as a farmer in Kansas.
Coryell, David
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Corbett, James (Interview outline and video), 2013
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. National Guard
United States. Air Force
Jim Corbett was born in 1938 in Big Rapids, Michigan. He grew up in Detroit during WWII, attended high school in Big Rapids and graduated from there in 1956. He attended Ferris State University for two years until he enlisted in the Air Force. Prior to serving in the Air Force he joined the Michigan National Guard during his senior year of high school and served with E Company Light Infantry 126th Regiment 32nd Red Arrow Division from fall of 1955 to April 1958. He was trained at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas and was transferred to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for advanced electronics training. He served with the 341st Strategic Air Command Bomber Wing at Abilene Air Force Base, Texas; the nuclear strike force at Elmendorf Air Base, Anchorage, Alaska; Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan; Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam (prior to the outbreak of war); Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and saw a myriad of international deployments to France, Libya, Germany, Thailand, and the Panama Canal Zone.
Corbett, James
Cope, Randal (Interview outline and video), 2011
Randal Cope was born into a lower-income family located in Wyoming, Michigan. He entered the United States Air Force at a young age in search of an employment opportunity. He was trained as a security officer, which also included police work. After training, he volunteered to be an Air Commander and was deployed to Germany shortly after. He spent three years, from 1980 to 1983, in the small town of Zweibrücken where he attended to mostly small security matters, that of both United States and Germany. In 1983, Cope was sent back to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri until he received a mandatory recall notice to Grenada, an island in the Caribbean. This deployment marked the official beginning of the Invasion of Grenada, an event attributed to the end of the Cold War. The men of the Air Force, including Randy, were in charge of clearing the airfield for the safe landing of other American vehicles. Cope was involved in the initial search of the airfield for Russian, Cuban, and Grenadian.
Cope, Randal
Cooper, Dale (Interview outline and video), 2012
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Dale Cooper, born in 1948 in Southern Illinois, served in the U.S. Army from late 1968 through early 1971. After completing basic at Fort Leonard Wood and AIT at Fort Ord, Dale was sent to Vietnam. Here he was assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He went on patrols both in the lowlands near Camp Evans, and in the hills and jungles of the interior. He eventually became a radio operator, working his way up from platoon to company level, and then to the battalion. During the Ripcord campaign in 1970, he was serving in the battalion headquarters until he rotated home on July. He spent the last part of his enlistment as a tank commander at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Cooper, Dale
Cooley, Robert I (Interview outline and video), 2008
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Robert Cooley joined the US Army in 1940 and served through World War II. He was a platoon sergeant in the 5th Infantry Division, and was stationed in Iceland, England and Northern Ireland before landing in France after D-Day. He saw action at St. Lo, Metz, and in the counterattack after the Battle of the Bulge before advancing into Germany and Czechoslovakia. His account includes descriptions of life on garrison duty in Iceland, combat in the Norman hedgerows, taking German prisoners and coming upon a small concentration camp shortly after it was liberated.
Cooley, Robert I
Cooley, James (Interview outline and video), 2007
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
James Cooley joined the Army National Guard in 2003 at age 17, and served in the Iraq War. He worked in transportation while he was there, specifically he operated the .50 caliber machine gun on a truck that guarded convoys. He served a yearlong deployment, and at the time of the interview is scheduled for another year tour of duty.
Cooley, James
Cooley, Jack and Eileen (Interview outline and video), 2007
Women
Jack Cooley served in the US Army between 1943 and 1946. He initially trained as an engineer, and then went into the ASTP engineer training program, and then was switched to the infantry when the program was shut down. He served as a mortarman with the 44th Infantry Division in France, Germany and Austria in late 1944 and 1945 and recounts several battles with German armor, infantry and artillery in the later stages of the war. Eileen relates her experiences on the home front during the same period.
Cooley, Jack and Eileen
Conover, Daniel (Interview outline and video), 2007
United States. Marine Corps
Daniel Conover enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school. Conover served in the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marines from 1981-1985. In the interview he talks about life in the Marine Corps, some memorable training including rappelling from a helicopter, and recreational activities while in the service.
Conover, Daniel
Connelly, Joseph (Interview outline and video), 2012
Joe Connelly was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1949, and was drafted into the Army in 1969. After basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and infantry training at Fort Ord, California, he was sent to Vietnam in January, 1970, and assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, based at Camp Evans. His unit did routine patrols near the coast until the monsoon lifted, and in May they started operating in the mountains, and his company took heavy losses at LZ Maureen. After taking replacements, they returned to the field and participated in fighting near Firebase Ripcord in July, and helped to re-establish Firebase Kathryn. Connelly was wounded in action and sent first to Japan and then back to the US to recover, and completed his enlistment as a truck driver.
Connelly, Joseph
Condon-Sharrock, Vikisu (Interview transcript and video), 2008
United States. Navy
Vikisu Condon-Sharrock served in the Navy on active duty between 1971 and 1974, and remained in the reserves until 1998. She discusses her experiences in training and on active duty when women were still very new to the regular service, as well as changes that have taken place since then in terms of women's opportunities in the Navy.
Condon-Sharrock, Vikisu
Lowell Area Historical Museum (Lowell, Mich.)
Collison, Steven (Interview outline and video, 2 of 2), 2008
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives
Steve Collison was born in 1961 in Pontiac, Michigan and served in the Army starting in 1981. He had a troubled childhood, and joined the Army to get away from home. He worked in as both a truck driver and a cook during his time in the service. He also attempted to join the Airborne forces, but was disqualified because of his eyesight.
Collison, Steven
Collison, Steven (Interview outline and video, 1 of 2), 2007
Steve Collison was born in 1961 in Pontiac, Michigan and served in the Army starting in 1981. He had a troubled childhood, and joined the Army to get away from home. He served as a cook at bases in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. When he completed 6 years he returned home and married another veteran.
Cole, Keith (Interview outline and video), 2012
United States. Army Air Corps
Keith Cole, born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1924, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1945 in England during World War II. After completing his training at Miami Beach, Keith was sent to England in 1943 where he was assigned to the 22nd Anti Submarine Group. Keith was then sent to Herington Air Field where he served as an Engineer on B-24 bombers utilized by the OSS. These aircraft dropped operatives and supplies for the Resistance in France, and were also pressed into service to ferry supplies to American units that had outrun the ground supply system. Keith was sent home soon after VE Day and was discharged in late summer of 1945.
Cole, Keith
Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.)
Coan, William (Interview outline and video), 2007
William Coan was in the Navy during the war in Vietnam from 1970- 1974. He traveled to Greece, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Italy, Cuba, St. Croix, and St. Thomas. He mentions that he may have received a better education and pay in the Air Force.
Coan, William
Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.)
Clavier, August (Interview outline and video), 2007
August Clavier was in the Army and served during World War II. He joined the Army after working at a bomber factory in Michigan. During his time in the service, he fought in the Pacific. Upon returning to the United States, he worked in a factory.
Clavier, August
Clark, James (Interview outline and video, 1 of 2), 2010
James Clark was born in September 1920 in a farmhouse in Wayne County, Michigan. Growing up, Clark had a difficult childhood, including a diagnosis of tuberculosis, moving to Arizona for treatment and back to Michigan, and his family losing their property during the Great Depression. After high school, Clark attended both Eastern Michigan University and Michigan State University before receiving his draft card in 1942. After the Army drafted Clark, he spent two years in different programs before deploying with the 106th Infantry division to Belgium. During the Battle of the Bulge, Clark was wounded and evacuated back from the line for nearly a month before returning to his unit, where he served for the rest of the war. Following the war, Clark attended a school the Army had set up in southern France.
Clark, James
Clark, James (Interview outline and video, 2 of 2), 2010
This interview provides a more complete account of Dr. Clark's experiences during the Battle of the Bulge than his original interview did. When the Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, 1944, James Clark was serving as part of the medical detachment for the 592nd Field Artillery Battalion stationed in Laudesfeld, Belgium, which, in turn, was part of the 106th Infantry Division. When the German attack began on the morning of December 16th, Clark had driven back to the Belgian town of St. Vith for supplies and to pick up a pair of returning soldiers and the trio had several encounters with German forces as they tried to get back to the 592nd. Later in the day, Clark and another sergeant in the medical detachment assisted in caring for casualties at the 592nd's "A" Battery's machine-gun outpost, which had come under German fire. That night, the 592nd received orders to fall back from Laudesfeld and while organizing the move, Clark accidentally became pinned between a truck and trailer loaded with supplies, forcing him to join the wounded. For the next two days, Clark was part the evacuation of wounded until he eventually ended up at a hospital in Liege, Belgium.
Clark, Donald L. (Interview outline and video), 2007
Donald Lee Clark, of Tacoma Washington, served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, from 1962 to 1966. He was a member of the Marine Reserves before being sent to Marine basic training. He worked as a truck driver for the marines both stateside and while serving in Vietnam. Clark worked as part of a guard on the Chu Lai airbase in Vietnam while it was being built. Before Vietnam, he was sent to Cuban waters in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs incident.
Clark, Donald L.
Christopoulos, Demo (Interview outline and video), 2011
Demo Christopoulos is a World War II veteran who served in the Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Division. He enlisted in the Army late in 1943, but did not go to Europe with his original training company because he was too young. He eventually sailed with the 65th Division, which joined the 3rd Army in time to participate in the spring offensive in 1945. His unit pushed through the Saar, crossed the Rhine, and then fought their way across the Danube, and ended the war in Austria. Christopoulos remained in Europe until the spring of 1946, with his last assignment involving screening SS prisoners held at Dachau.
Christopoulos, Demo
Christiansen, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2008
Robert Christiansen was born on August 11, 1920 in Muskegon, Michigan. He joined the US Navy in 1944 and served in the Pacific on board the destroyers USS Ward and USS July. He served on convoy duty between New Guinea and the Philippines and in the Okinawa campaign.
Christiansen, Robert
Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Ewing, William (Interview outline and video), 2007
William Ewing enlisted in the Air Force Reserves before the beginning of WW II and remained in the Reserves until 1984. During WW II he flew the A-20 Avenger out of New Guinea and later the Philippines before returning home after completing his tour. In this interview Ewing discusses basic training and flight training, combat experiences and procedures in the A-20, and being shot down and rescued. Mr. Ewing also discusses hearing about the end of the war and his feelings about the bombing of Japan, and what he did after the war.
Ewing, William
Evans, Jane (Interview transcript and video), 2007
Military spouses
Jane Evans is the widow of two WW II Veterans. Her first husband, whom she met in school before the War, died in a plane accident during a training mission in Michigan. Her second husband, whom she also met in school, was an engineer during the war. They married after he came home from his service building bridges throughout Europe and staying a year after the war was over, allocating heating fuel to homes in Germany.
Evans, Jane
Erickson, John (Interview outline and video), 2009
John Erickson is a Korean War veteran who served with the U.S. Army from November 1949 to 1953. Erickson discusses his training and service in Washington and Alaska before he was sent to Korea. He joined the 2nd Division on its advance from Pusan to the Yalu River, and was taken prisoner during a counterattack by the Chinese Red Army, and spent the remainder of the war different Chinese POW camps, and provides detailed descriptions of his experiences as a POW.
Erickson, John
Ensing, Eugene "Spud" (Interview outline and video), 2012
Spud Ensing was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan late in 1926. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and trained as an aircraft mechanic, but the war ended before he got in it. After contracting malaria while on assignment in Florida, he was given a medical discharge, but soon reenlisted and trained on jet aircraft, and eventually served in Korea after the end of the fighting there. In 1957, he transferred to the Air Force, and did a tour in the Philippines in 1965-66, where he serviced C-130 transport aircraft and made regular trips to Vietnam, and retired in 1968 rather than return to Vietnam.
Ensing, Eugene "Spud"