VanDop, William (Interview outline and video), 2016
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
United States--History, Military
Veterans
Video recordings
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
William Van Dop was born in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on July 20, 1926. He was drafted in late summer 1944 and reported for duty in November 1944. He received basic training at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas then received his advanced training in Fort Ord, California. He boarded a troopship in late May/early June 1945 and sailed to Manila in the Philippines. He was assigned to Military Police duty on August 1, 1945 and worked at a base on Manila Bay. William was stationed in the Philippines until October 1946. He sailed back to the United States and was discharged at Camp Beale, California in fall 1946.
VanDop, William
Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
In Copyright
Vander Wall, William (Interview outline and video), 2008
Michigan--History, Military
William Vander Wall was born in Spring Lake, Michigan in 1922. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was very anxious about joining the service and was accepted into the Army on April 1, 1942. William trained with a mortar squad in Tennessee and also went through amphibious training in Massachusetts. On October 19th, they left on the USS Harrison towards French Morocco. William proceeded to help in the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Southern France.
Vander Wall, William
Vanden Hout, James (Interview outline and video), 2015
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
Jim Vanden Hout is a Vietnam War veteran who was born on February 7, 1942 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he was twenty five he was drafted into the Army on January 22, 1968. He received training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and Fort Polk, Louisiana before being deployed to Vietnam in May 1968. He was sent to Chu Lai where he was assigned to Echo Company of the 4th Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment of the Americal Division (23rd Infantry Division). He momentarily served with the mortar platoon before volunteering to join the recon platoon. He conducted numerous patrols in the area between Chu Lai and Da Nang and near the Laotian border. On January 23, 1969 he was wounded in combat and was ultimately evacuated to the United States. He finished his service at Fort Carson, Colorado and was discharged on January 22, 1970.
Vanden Hout, James
Van Cleve, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2014
Chuck VanCleve was born in Lynwood, California in 1950. He grew up in Lynwood, California and enlisted in the Army on May 6, 1968. He qualified for officer training despite his young age, and received his commission on June 17, 1969, and went to Helicopter School at Fort Walters, Texas. He completed the entire course, but was forced to wash out on the final check ride due to colorblindness. From there he went to Jungle Training in Panama to prepare for a deployment to Vietnam. Upon completing that he was sent to Vietnam in late 1969. After travelling to Camp Eagle he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and travelled from there to Camp Evans where he was assigned to B Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 319th Field Artillery Regiment attached to D Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment as a forward observer for artillery. He served under Captain Rollinson and took part in patrols of the area around Firebase Jack and later around Firebase Ripcord. On July 1, 1970 he was reassigned to C Company of the 2nd of the 506th under the command of Captain Hewitt. On July 2nd Hill 902 came under attack by North Vietnamese forces and he was wounded in the initial rocket barrage. Despite being wounded he assumed the role of acting company commander (Captain Hewitt was killed immediately in the barrage) and directed mortar fire and flares to ward off the North Vietnamese onslaught. After the battle he was evacuated to Camp Evans where he was awarded the Purple Heart and later the Distinguished Service Cross and then eventually to Japan and finally to Fort Bliss, Texas to receive treatment for the wound on his hand, and served as an ROTC instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma until he left the Army in 1974.
Van Cleve, Charles
Turner, James F.A. (Interview outline and video), 2015
United States. Air Force
James Turner was born on March 8, 1940 in Guntown, Mississippi. When he was five years old his family moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan. In 1960 (approximately) he enlisted in the Air Force. He received basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. After that he served as chaplain's assistant both in the United States and in Turkey where he conducted tours of the Holy Land and holy sites in the area. He went on to receive Officer Training and training from the Police Academy and got into the Military Police of the Air Force. He served in Spain as part of the Military Police and at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany where he dealt with the Baader Meinhof Gang and Red Brigades (terrorist groups). He also served at Stewart Air Force Base, New York and at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana (now Grissom Air Force Base). During his 20 year career in the Air Force he also helped establish human relations courses and race relations courses, specifically with the Department of Defense and President Nixon's Secretary of Defense. He concluded his Air Force career at the University of Michigan where he worked in aerospace studies and recruited minority students.
Turner, James F.A.
Tromp, Woodrow J. (Interview outline and video), 2008
Woodrow J. Tromp is a WW II veteran who served in the U.S. Army with the 32nd (Red Arrow) Division Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment from 1940 to 1945. In this account he discuses his time with the National Guard before and after it was federalized as part of the U.S. Army. In addition, he discusses his training in the U.S. and Australia, combat experiences in New Guinea and the Philippines, along with problems caused by terrain and disease.
Tromp, Woodrow J.
Thelen, Richard (Interview outline and video), 2014
United States. Navy
Richard Thelen was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1927. He grew up in Lansing and enlisted in the Navy in 1944. In January 1945 he reported for basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and trained there for four months until he completed his training in April 1945. After basic training he want to California and was assigned to the USS Indianapolis which was in dry dock at the time receiving repairs due to a kamikaze attack. With the cargo of the atomic bomb components the USS Indianapolis left San Francisco on July 16, 1945 bound for the island of Tinian. After delivering the bomb components they were ordered to the Philippines to join the 7th Fleet. At roughly midnight on July 30 the Japanese submarine I-58 spotted the Indianapolis and torpedoed her. The ship sank quickly, and Thelen and other survivors were in the water for three days before they were spotted and rescued, during which time many men died. After extended time in hospitals, Thelen was assigned to duties on bases in the US until his discharge.
Thelen, Richard
Switzer, Simeon (Interview outline and video), 2014
Iraq War, 2003-2011--Personal narratives, American
Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American
United States. National Guard
Veterans<
Simeon Switzer is a veteran of both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. He was born in 1985 in Bogota, Colombia and was adopted by a Michigan family in1987. He grew up with his adoptive family in Jenison, Michigan then Grandville, Michigan. After college, he enlisted in the Michigan National Guard in early summer 2006 and was assigned to Charlie Company 1st of the 125th Infantry Regiment Michigan National Guard, and deployed with them to Iraq in early 2008. His unit carried out Personal Security Detail missions escorting NATO officials, electricians, businessmen, educators, and other high profile personnel through the city of Ramadi, Iraq. After his return, he transferred to the 144th Military Police Company, and then to the 1775th Military Police Company. He deployed with them to Afghanistan in January, 2011. During the first month he and his squad carried out Personal Security Detail missions in Kandahar, Afghanistan and then were transferred to Combat Outpost Graceland to work with the Canadian Special Forces on learning how to train the Afghan National Police. From there they were transferred to Forward Operating Base Walden where they helped carry out raids with and train the Afghan national Police until the end of the deployment in early January 2012.
Switzer, Simeon
Stout, Donald (Interview outline and video), 2014
Donald Stout was born in Muskegon, Michigan on July 20, 1923. He grew up in Muskegon and enlisted in the Michigan National Guard on June 30, 1939. In October 1940 his unit, G Company of the 126th Infantry of the 32nd Division was mobilized and sent to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana and later to Camp Livingston, Louisiana to train to prepare for an American involvement in the war in Europe. After Pearl Harbor the unit was sent to Fort Devens, Massachusetts for further training until it was decided that they were needed more in the Pacific Theatre. They were sent first to Australia and later to New Guinea in September 1942 where his unit crossed the Owen Stanley Mountain Range leading to them being nicknamed the "Ghost Mountain Boys." He participated in the Buna-Gona Campaign in New Guinea and was wounded there. After healing and rejoining his unit they went back to New Guinea. After New Guinea was liberated his unit was sent up to participate in the invasion of the Philippines at Luzon and Leyte. In July 1945 he had enough points to go home and returned to the United States and was discharged at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He worked briefly for Continental Motors until the end of the war and from there joined the police force. After the 126th Infantry Regiment was reorganized he decided to reenlist in the Michigan National Guard. During that time he was sent to Detroit to be a part of the military presence in the city helping to restore order during the race riots. He retired from the National Guard in 1968 with the rank of major.
Stout, Donald
Stoepker, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2015
Jack Stoepker was born in 1928 in Holland, Michigan, and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served as an air raid warden during World War II, and enlisted in the Army in summer 1946. While training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he injured a knee and was sent to Valley Forge General Hospital, Pennsylvania and during recovery there was transferred to the dental clinic at the hospital to work as a dentist's assistant. He specifically aided patients that had suffered severe facial trauma during the war and needed reconstructive surgery as well as physical and psychological rehabilitation.
Stoepker, Jack
Start, Raymond (Interview outline and video), 2015
Raymond Start was born in 1927 and grew up in Galewood, Michigan. When he turned seventeen he enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training. From there he was sent to the University of Wisconsin for Radio School and after five months of that he was sent out to California to board a troopship. He was sent to the Philippines where he boarded an attack personnel destroyer in Leyte. They sailed toward Japan with underwater demolition teams, preparing for the invasion of Japan until the atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945. He was sent back to the United States where he was assigned to the aircraft carrier the USS Bougainville. He took a cruise around the Pacific collecting aircraft and officers, and then helped decommission the ship in Tacoma, Washington until July 1946 when he was discharged.
Start, Raymond
Smoker, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2014
Bob Smoker was born in 1949 in York, Pennsylvania. He grew up there and graduated from high school there in 1967. He attended college briefly, and then took a job, which cost him his deferment. In April 1969 he received his draft notice and shortly thereafter began basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After Fort Dix he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Infantry Training and upon completing that he was deployed to Vietnam in October 1969. He arrived in Bien Hoa and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. After completing Screaming Eagle Replacement Training School at Camp Ray (near Saigon) he was sent up to Camp Evans and was assigned to Charlie Company,2nd of the 506th Regiment 101st Airborne Division. During his time in Vietnam he participated in patrols of the Lowlands, in Operation Texas Star (the establishment of Firebase Ripcord in the spring of 1970) and the subsequent Battle of Firebase Ripcord during July 1970. After leaving Vietnam he finished his service at Hunter Army Air Field, Georgia and was discharged from the Army on May 12, 1971. After a professional career, he became a minister and got involved with a group of American missionaries that work in Vietnam to help teach the rural Vietnamese English and to help American Vietnam War veterans find peace with their memories.
Smoker, Robert
Smith, John (Interview outline and video), 2014
John Smith was born in 1946 in Fredericktown Missouri, he later moved to Tennessee. He joined the ROTC in college, then joined the Army in 1969. He trained at the IOBC at Fort Benning, then at Fort Reilly. He served with the D Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, as platoon leader of 2nd platoon, and was involved in the fighting in early July 1970 around Firebase Ripcord. After he was wounded he served as the properties officer, later air coordinator. After returning to the US he was involved in the training base at Fort Campbell, before leaving the Army in June of 1972.
Smith, John
Slager, Ralph (Interview outline and video), 2015
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
Ralph Slager was born in Comstock, Michigan on January 9, 1928. He grew up in Comstock during the Great Depression and World War Two and graduated in June 1945. The draft was still in effect after the war ended, and after turning eighteen in January 1946 he was susceptible to being drafted. He decided to enlist in the Army for an eighteen month commitment on March 8, 1946. He reported to Fort Custer, Michigan and Fort Sheridan, Illinois for his physical and getting inducted, and was then sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training and artillery training. He was then stationed at Camp Campbell, Kentucky with a signal company in the 5th Division, and then was sent to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for high speed radio operator training. After that training he was reassigned to a signal company in the 3rd Division at Fort Meade, Maryland where he worked as a radio operator in Baltimore, Maryland and at a hospital on base. He was discharged on September 7, 1947.
Slager, Ralph
Skinner, Marc (Interview outline and video), 2014
Marc Skinner was born in 1948 in Richmond, Indiana. He grew up in Richmond and graduated from high school there in 1966, and then went to Ball State University for a year and a half until he dropped out. He was eventually drafted into the Army, and opted for NCO training, which delayed kept him in the US for a full year before he was sent to Vietnam in the spring of 1970. He was assigned to D Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Camp Evans. His company fought in the battles around Firebase Ripcord, April-July 1970. He later served in the battalion's headquarters company before returning to the US and getting discharged.
Skinner, Marc
Short, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2013
Bob Short was born in 1949 in Vandalia, Illinois. He grew up in the small town of Mulberry Grove, Illinois and graduated from high school there in 1967. Upon graduating high school he attended the West Point military academy in New York. He attended there for three academic semesters until he decided that it was time to leave. In February 1969 he formally left West Point. After leaving the academy he volunteered for the draft and was soon thereafter sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was able to skip training because of his West Point experience and by May 26, 1969 he was in Vietnam. He was assigned to Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry part of the Americal (23rd Infantry) Division. His unit operated off of Landing Zone Professional and around the area of Chu Lai. Over the course of a year and a half he would serve in a variety of roles, from walking point to working in the Combat Center at Chu Lai developing a Vietnamese relations course. In November 1970 he left Vietnam and by January 1971 he was attending college at Illinois State. He would go on to get his master's degree in employee health and safety, and working all over America finally settling down in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is now a prominent member of the Buddy to Buddy Volunteer Veteran Program based out of the University of Michigan helping veterans in the post-9/11 era.
Short, Robert
Sefton, George William (Interview outline and video, 2 of 2), 2003
George William "Bill" Sefton was born in 1922 in Anderson, Indiana. Prior to the war he was taking classes at Ball State Teacher's College. He enlisted in the Army shortly after the war started, trained as an officer and served briefly with the 131st Infantry Regiment guarding the Soo Locks in northern Michigan before being accepted for paratrooper training. He went to Camp Taccoa, Georgia and began training with the 501st Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He went with his unit to England and jumped into Normandy on D-Day. He served with his unit in Normandy until they withdrew to prepare for Operation Marked Garden. He made his second jump as part of that operation in September, and served with his unit in the Netherlands until they were withdrawn in Novermber, and then went to Bastogne, Belgium in December 1944 to fight back against the German advance during the Battle of the Bulge. After the fighting at Bastogne, his unit moved to the Alsace-Lorraine region and on into Germany. With the war over he was transferred to the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division where he served with them in France as the athletics officer and club officer (in charge of athletic supplies, and officers' club supplies) for his unit. At the end of the war he met his wife who was an Army nurse at the time.
Sefton, George William
Sefton, George William (Interview transcript and video, 1 of 2), 2003
Schumacher, Alfred Harold (Interview outline and video), 2015
United States. Army Air Corps
Alfred Schumacher was born in Blue Island, Illinois on December 14, 1924. He grew up there and was drafted in July 1943. He volunteered for Army Air Force training and was sent to Miami Beach Training Center, Florida for basic training. After getting washed out of pilot training he was sent to Buckley Field, Colorado for armorer/gunnery training, and from there was sent to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. He received more training with his crew out west before being sent to Westover Field, Massachusetts. They flew overseas to England as a B-24 bomb crew assigned to the 44th Bombardment Group, later reassigned to the 577th Squadron of the 392nd Bomb Group of the 8th AIr Force at RAF Wendling. He flew thirty combat missions (including one during the Battle of the Bulge, the last bombing run in the European Theatre, and crash landed near the frontline in France). He and his crew returned to the United States in late summer 1945 and he was sent to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where he was discharged on October 27, 1945.
Schumacher, Alfred Harold
Schrouder, John Althen (Interview outline and video), 2015
John Schrouder was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 26, 1925. He joined the Navy on September 1, 1943 and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training. Upon completion of basic training he was sent to Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois for Diesel School and after graduating from that he was sent to New London, Connecticut to train with submarines. After deciding to get out of the submarine program he was reassigned to LST 618 and deployed to the Pacific Theatre in late summer 1944. He participated in three major campaigns: the invasion of Leyte (in the Philippines), the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf (in the Philippines), and the invasion of Mindanao (in the Philippines). After the war, LST 618 ferried Nationalist Chinese troops to various Chinese ports until sailing back to the United States. He was sent back to Chicago and was discharged on February 28, 1946.
Schrouder, John Althen
Schipper, Clarence J (Interview outline and video), 2016
Clarence Schipper was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on January 29, 1924. He registered for the draft in January 1942 and reported for duty in January 1943. He received basic training in Atlantic City, New Jersey then went to Myakka River State Park, Florida and Drew Army Air Field, Florida for Jungle Training and Radar Operator Training (respectively). In late 1943 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was stationed in England from January 1944 to June 1944 where he trained with Company B of the 573rd Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion. He was reassigned to the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion and went over to France, after D-Day, in June 1944. His unit was technically part of the Ninth Air Force, but followed the advance of the 2nd Armored Division through Europe. He passed through France, was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and took part in the advance through Germany. After Germany's surrender he helped disarm the German population and watch over German prisoners of war. In October 1945 he went to Marseilles and returned to the United States.
Schipper, Clarence J.
Schaper, David (Interview outline and video), 2005
David Schaper was born in Wright City, Missouri on August 2, 1921. Prior to enlisting in the Army Air Force he worked for Curtiss-Wright on the AT-6, even after enlisting he was granted a twelve month deferrment due to his work on the AT-6. He was eventually called up for service and was sent to Texas for basic training and gunnery training. He was assigned to a B-24 Liberator bomber crew in Lincoln, Nebraska. They trained together before being deployed to the European Theatre. They were Crew #54 of the 766th Bombardment Squadron of the 461st Bombardment Group stationed at Torretto Air Field, Italy. They flew bombing missions into Austria, as well as supply missions into the Po Valley. In the summer of 1945 he was sent back to the United States and began training with the B-29 Superfortress at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas in July. After Japan surrendered he was sent to Sioux City Army Air Bse, Iowa where he was discharged.
Schaper, David
Schaefer, William "Bill" (Interview outline and video), 2014
Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988--Personal narratives, American
Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American
Bill Schaefer was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1943. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University in 1965. He enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to San Antonio, Texas for basic training. He was selected for top secret code work and was trained at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. With that training complete he was assigned to the 410th Bomb Wing stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan and got picked to serve aboard the airborne command post, flying missions out of Guam and directing B-52 bombing raids over North Vietnam. In May 1966 he was sent to Lindsey Air Station, West Germany and was assigned to Central European Operations, part of the Defense Intelligence Agency. During his time with them he worked to stop the desertion of soldiers, tracked uranium shipments in the Eastern Bloc, and oversaw the retrieval of codes from the U.S. embassy in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring), Wheelus Air Force (Gaddafi seizure of Libya), and the U.S. embassy in Jordan (Jordanian Civil War). In the early 1980s he was assigned to the Pentagon to work with Tactical Air Control Party units and retired from that in 2003. He is now an active member of the Kent County Honor Guard aiding veterans and veterans' families.
Schaefer, William
Sarnicola, Vincent James (Interview outline and video), 2015
Vincent Sarnicola was born on October 21, 1921 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Catholic Central High School in 1941. In January 1942 he received his draft notice for the Army. He was sent to Camp White, Oregon for basic training, and at the end of that training requested a transfer to the Army Air Force. His request was granted and he was sent to Lackland Air Base, Texas for gunnery training. After completing gunnery training he was assigned to a B-24 crew, and after surgery was assigned to a new crew (the crew that he would be with for the rest of the war). He was assigned to crew #854 of the 64th Bombardment Squadron of the 43rd Bomb Group of the 5th Air Force. He was a tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber and flew missions out of Guam and the Philippines, attacking targets in Japan and China. After Japan's surrender he was sent home on October 15, 1945 and was discharged from Fort Sheridan, Illinois later that month.
Sarnicola, Vincent James