22 24 1541 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/036e3be69654652dbde2db42f826c23f.mp4 d7711fe14a542399c164c7564ec249d4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ff3e592fc0ad1d4dea35734e64e647ed.pdf 6e120a23c61683ac260c4d91d206186a PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee: Henry Vandermeer Length of Interview: 00:40:27 Background        Born in Holland in the province of Friesland, in a small town just north of the capital of Leeuwarden. He was born in 1931. There were 10 children in his family. His father was a baker. His family was very active and very stable. He did not know what hunger was because of the family business. He did see hunger in others though. He was about ready to go to school, when he saw the local sheriff talking to his father. He would ask what it was about and that’s how he found out that the Germans had invaded Holland. He was 9 when the Germans invaded. It took them 5 days to occupy the country and 7 days to get to their town. German Occupation (3:15)             There were not many Germans in his town, but they did round up all the radios and bicycles. When the Germans did take the town, life became different. They were very authoritative. When they would paste announcements on someone’s house in the town that became the new rules that they had to live by. For example, they had a curfew by 8 pm. Some people were under house arrest. There were some people who kept and hid their radios and they would type or write out the news and share it with the people. It was the only way they got information. The Germans would give them news, maybe a couple of days late, but with always a twist on it. They made it seem as if they were always winning, even after 1944. There were German collaborators, but they were Nazi supporters before the war started. He thinks they got along with them in order to survive. He would continue going to school until 1944 when they emptied out the building so that German soldiers would stay there. But no one ever did. It stayed empty. Some of them would go to the teacher’s house to get tutoring. There was some active Dutch resistance. The English would drop in weapons for them to use. There was not a lot of violence in his village, but there were some men who were executed. His village did not suffer from any food shortages in his village, even in the late stages of the war. There were a lot of people in his community who made their own food. �         The Canadians and the Dutch resistance would help to liberate their village. He had found out that they had taken their line all the way up from France. They also had a dog with them. He could not believe it. There was not a lot of resistance by the Germans when they were pushed out. In fact, most of the fighting and deaths would happen to the south of his village. (11:30) The Canadians would load up a lot of their food and have it taken to other places throughout Holland that were suffering from hunger. They also appointed a mayor to try to help things get back to the way they were. His family would stay in Holland until 1946. Then his family would live in Apeldoorn for 6 years, while his father tried to create another business for himself. They would then move to the United States. His father decided to move to America because they had friends and family in Grand Rapids to help them. The economy was better here too. His family sent him and his sister there first in March 1952. They would get an apartment and set up a life for them and prepare for when their family moved over 3 months later. There was a Dutch Military obligation due to the conflict in Indonesia. Basic Training (15:40)                He was supposed to report for duty for March 14th, 1952. He left on March 7th and the first piece of mail he received here was telling him that he had to report for duty. He contacted the Dutch consul in town and wrote them that he was not coming back. He would then have to sign up for the local draft board. He would later on be drafted into the American Army as a non-citizen. Going in as a non-citizen, means that he would be awarded his citizenship on completing his time in the military. He would be sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for his basic training. It was all wooden barracks and it was rapidly build for WWII. His first 8 weeks of basic training and the next 8 weeks he would be trained in baking, butchering and cooking school. He asked for that training. He liked that too because he did not have to pull any guard duty or KP or anything like that. Infantry training was tough at first. They did a lot of marching and would march 5 miles. He knew English before he entered the Army. He had met an elderly gentleman who would teach him. He still is learning, but he knew enough that it got him by in the Army. While he was in basic, there were about a dozen non-citizen people who would serve with him. He would spend 18 weeks at Fort Leonard Wood. Once he was finished, he was sent on a plane to Camp Kilmer, New York [New Jersey]. He was there for 2 weeks and he didn’t know anyone. He felt very out of place. He didn’t have much to do either. The only assignment he had was to fry eggs for 3500 men, one morning. Eventually he was put on a ship and sent to . It was a owned by the merchant marines. There were about 2,000 troops on the ship and it took over 2 weeks to get there. The weather got really back when they hit the North Sea. � Some of them were sick the whole trip, though he did not have any problems. He learned that fresh air helped. Europe (22:35)                       He was taken to Bremerhaven in Northwestern Germany. From there he took a train to another German city, and then on to La Rochelle, France. They would drop some off at other cities along the way. He would be sent to a hospital in the town. The town itself was old, but the camp stayed in a different town. It had not been hit by bombs or anything during the war. He saw the German submarine station there which he would see on multiple occasions. He would work with a dietitian while at the hospital. The hospital was broken into three wards: the medical ward, the ladies ward, and one for the mental cases. The hospital did not treat the local population, but they did those who were in civil service. Since the hospital was so old, it did not have an elevator. His job was to be in charge of the medical ward food. He had to get the right orders from the sergeant and bring the food up and distribute it. It was an easy job to do. There were a lot of American troops based in the area at the time. There was a supply line that would go through the area on their way into Germany. Some people in the line would get sick and they needed a place to go. The hospital would provide a place for the people to stay. Sometimes they were shipped out of their hospital to Paris and then back to the US. During the time he was there, he had some time to look around. He would find the southern part of France, wine country, very interesting. He would also make a trip to Holland for two weeks. He would go back to his old home town. The town was pretty much the same as when he went back. He would also go back to visit in 1995 and then things were very different. There were 19,000 Canadians there and it was very interesting. He spent 20 months in La Rochelle. He would have quite a bit of contact with the local population. Quite a few of them worked for them at the hospital. A couple of them viewed him differently than others because he was originally Dutch. In general, the French attitude toward the American servicemen was not very good. He was always told to stay away from certain places. The communist and socialists in France were not very friendly. They especially had a problem with the American soldier who came in with their money and only cared about girls. He says that there were certain people who really gave the Army a bad name. They got intoxicated and acted like fools. The French really liked to talk politics. All they talked about was how they were so good and the Americans were so bad. He was also there when France struggled to keep hold of Indo-China. (32:30) He always stayed away from trouble, like rallies and marches. � When they had to go to the markets, they really appreciated the business. Post Duty (34:30)       When he got back to the United States, he arrived on a Friday and since it was after 4, they were not able to be discharged. And since everyone had Saturday off, he had to wait until Monday until he was discharged. He almost reenlisted into the Army. He really wanted more schooling. He had no American schooling to speak of and only a little schooling in the Netherlands. The only schooling he had in the Army was how to use a rifle and some schooling from the chef. In the end he decided not to stay in because he had a family at the time. He got married when he came to live in the US. He was married by the time he got drafted. When he got out of the Army, he worked in his previous job at a large company with a lot of benefits. They were very good to him, and it paid off to stay with them because of the benefits they gave him. His time in the military was very educational for him. He would also grow a certain appreciation for the country and the government. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VandermeerH Title A name given to the resource Vandermeer, Henry (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vandermeer, Henry Description An account of the resource Henry Vandermeer was born in the Netherlands in 1931 and lived there during the Nazi occupation. His family emigrated to the United States in 1952, and he served in the US Army. He was sent to La Rochelle, France, where he worked in an army hospital. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-02-22 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9dc89530fe67ff978bdfd16c384ec71f.mp4 9637d95922c818f96aeffdeb5c5d4ed4 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/346e08dfc32d7c054c9f1a4095ed46d6.pdf 1548138e0b87e29f0dba587f05c2364c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Name of War: World War II Interviewee’s Name: Morris Vander Veen Length of Interview: 1hr 3mins. Pre-Enlistment (00:03)  Childhood (00:12) o Vander Veen was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 20th, 1926. (00:17)  Education (00:52) o Attended St. Stephen’s Elementary in Grand Rapids and went there for eight years before moving on to Ottawa Hills Public High School and graduating from there in 1944. (01:02) o Shortly before graduation he persuaded the Marine Corps to let him join before turning 18. Once he graduated they quickly scooped him up. Describes his reactions to Pearl Harbor being attacked. (01:16) o Briefly mentions the effects that Pearl Harbor had on him personally and what had attracted a relative to join the armed services before he did. (02:04) Enlistment/Basic Training (02:21)  Why he joined the Marines (02:43) o Joined because he thought the Marines could offer him a chance to see the World. (03:02) o Briefly describes the events of 1944 in some detail. He like many other recruits feared that the war would end before they saw any combat and could serve their country. (03:37)  Where he went (04:18) o Boot Camp (04:30)  After high school, he briefly relates a brief period of time where he waited for marching orders. By June, 1944 he was sent to Parris Island, SC to the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot by train for processing. (04:38) � Upon getting off, he mentions that he was met by the sternest looking corporal he had ever seen. Briefly describes what he was like. (05:17)  Describes what the first days of basic training were like and how they were treated. Mentions the process of how they received their uniforms, and split into platoons of about 80 men. Briefly mentions their living arrangements and daily routine. (05:48)  Was in basic training for about 10 weeks during summer, 1944 at about which time their drill instructors worked them to death to quickly train them and then send them to the Pacific as fast as possible. (08:28)  Vander Veen mentions learning how to march and drill in close formation. Also took classes in grenade throwing, swimming, bayonet training, and shooting on the rifle range. Training also consisted of determining who was suitable to handle the M1 rifles and dividing up the marksmen from the snipers. (08:51)  The grueling physical and mental conditioning they put the men under helped to make them the 2nd best branch in the U.S. Armed Services behind the Paratroopers. Briefly describes what his graduation was like in July/August, 1944. Following this he took a battery of tests to determine where he could best serve. It was determined he would be suited for taking advanced infantry training to go into the Marine infantry at Camp Lejeune, NC. (10:42)  Briefly describes what his parents’ reaction was to him joining the military. (13:34) o Camp Lejeune training (13:48)  After basic training, he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where he describes what life was like as a lowly Marine private fresh out of boot camp. The training consisted of training under-fire conditions to prepare them on how to react in combat situations. It was a rigorous process where knowing the material was more important than how much you trained. (14:09)  Following his training here, he was sent by cattle car to the Pacific. When they left Parris Island, Marines usually began to lose track of some of their buddies that they went through the training with. (15:43) �o Camp Pendleton, CA (16:48)  Describes journey in some detail to the next place he served. Ended up stationed at a base located just above Oceanside, CA near San Diego. The war mentality prevalent in the Marines during this time was not so much on the mounting casualties being accumulated with island-hopping but getting trainees through the program quickly to be sent to the Pacific. (17:22)  From Oceanside, California he was taken by cattle car to San Diego where his unit boarded an troop transport named the General HM Ernest. Left port on a Sunday. Describes the thoughts of many Marines and the seasickness running rampant among the men. (19:22) o Their journey took them past Hawaii to the Russell Islands, a branch of the Solomon Island chain. The whole time they were not aware of where they were going. (21:02) o Banika Island, Solomon[Palau?] Islands (21:24) o Was attached to the 32nd Replacement Draft which landed on an island called Banika Island, 4 miles from Peleliu, the relief island station for the 1st Division. (21:27) o Remained here for four weeks before being transferred to the 1st Division. Upon arriving here in December, 1944 he describes what the weather and his living conditions were like. Spent his time loading ammo. (22:14)  After his time here, he was put aboard a bananas boat assigned to the 4th Joint Assault Signal Company, a combined air and naval artillery liaison group. (25:30) o As a raw green recruit attached to the 1st Division the veterans in his unit didn’t accept him initially until he proved himself in combat. (26:22) o Peleliu (26:51)  Briefly describes what the camp setup was like here. Before leaving the island they practiced landing drills here and in Guadalcanal before pushing off for Okinawa. (27:39) �Active Duty (28:08)  Campaign Background (28:14) o Left the Solomon Islands on March 15th, 1944 [1945] bound for Okinawa. Their convoy met up at a little atoll called Ulithi Atoll, Yap, Micronesia. Describes how it was the largest convoy invasion fleet in the Pacific Theater of WWII. The place that they met was the sight of where the aircraft carrier, [USS Franklin] had been bombed and sunk [not sunk, but very badly damaged] killing 700 with only a handful of survivors. The fleet stayed here for two to three days before moving on. (28:15)  Okinawa Invasion (30:25) o The invasion of Okinawa began on April 1st, 1945. Vander Veen describes the opening hours of the naval barrage of the shoreline in some detail as well as where the landing site being on the north of the island and the Japanese position being on the south-side of Okinawa. (31:01) o The first couple of days were ones of difficult fighting. While the 2nd Division landed in the south and faced heavy casualties, the 1st Division faced light resistance in the jungle terrain, hills and crags of northern Okinawa. Briefly describes the grotesque sight and stench of garbage on Okinawa. (33:02) o Marching inland, their amphibious trucks got bogged down in the mud, while they took weeks to resupply. Mentions that on top of this they had to content with hundreds of flies and mosquitoes eating them alive. (34:56) o They eventually relieved the 27th Infantry on the line and encountered fierce resistance as the 27th Infantry withdrew and his unit took up their position. They faced heavy Japanese artillery bombardment. Briefly describes one encounter of the Japanese’ treatment of Okinawa’s civilians. (35:59) o Vander Veen briefly mentions how men would be shoulder to shoulder with one another at the front. Also relates how when attacking their objectives were measured in yards and destinations. To reach their objectives the Marines had to climb over crags and hills. Once they reached the southern end of Okinawa his Marine unit was told to march back to the northern end to conduct policing activities since the island was considered secure even though Japanese resistance was still prevalent in the south. (39:10) o At about this time, two atom bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Relates how he might not have been around had they been made to invade mainland Japan. With the A-bomb being dropped, he mentions that though �celebrations occurred on VE Day, there was much apprehension and suspension among the men as to whether the war had actually ended as they were being redeployed to northern China. (41:35)  Northern China (43:20) o Background (43:30)  Stayed in the area around Tientsin, China during his occupational duty. (43:43) o Occupation Duty (43:45)  Was put aboard an attack transport with the 1st Division while a typhoon hit the island they were stationed at. They then headed to Northern China in December, 1945 to restore Chinese rule there. While here it was part of his job to disarm Japanese soldiers, accept their surrender and send the Japanese settlers who had lived here for over a decade home to Japan. (43:46)  Was with the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines as he arrived in Tanggu Harbor which is 10 to 15 miles from Tientsin, China (44:46)  For the first month in China, he and his comrades were treated as liberators among the Chinese people but then the feeling fell to the wind. Spent a year in northern China where while here he describes the common Chinese stereotypes of westerners and vice versa of Chinese people. Takes a real look at these misconceptions. (45:19)  Briefly describes the smells and the daily routine that he and his comrades had while guarding a coal mine in Tientsin. Describes one episode in brief detail with some kids and the local authorities. (46:24)  For a two week period, Vander Veen’s unit spent their time warding off river pirates. Briefly relates what his living conditions were like here and that before going home was transferred to an artillery company in the 11th Marines. (48:27)  Describes one incident where a drunken kid was shot by a Marine for stealing a cookie where months before the Marine would have been given a medal for it. (50:17)  Briefly describes what the Chinese people were like and their attitudes towards Westerners. Also mentions that he turned 20 �while serving in China and that the training was more like a pleasure trip. (51:08)  Stayed in contact with his family by writing letters home. Describes the mailing system in brief detail. (54:01) o Going Home (54:29)  Was given a two week before being going home. (54:30)  For many Marines, the pull to get back to a normal life and start families was stronger than exchanging addresses to keep track of comrades afterwards. For the World War II generation this was a common mentality. (54:55)  Went home aboard a transport ship in July but was then quarantined for having scarlet fever in N. China for a month and then arrived in San Diego, California. First thing they did was go to Camp Pendleton to recuperate. (55:58)  Arrived back in the states with the option of being discharged or continuing his service. He was discharged at Great Lakes, IL in 1946. His family was aware he was coming home. (57:26) After the Service (58:10)  Adjusting to Home (58:20) o Upon being discharged, his family met him at Union Station as did many other families and salesmen who expressed their gratitude to him and his comrades. Describes the reception he received. (58:46)  Reflection (59:23) o Describes how his military experience shaped him as a person and his life today. Without his military background things probably would have been a lot different. (1:00:03) o The interviewer relates how through his various experiences how discipline was one of the things that many servicemen have taken away from their experience. (1:00:52)  Interview Ends (1:03:41) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanderVeenM Title A name given to the resource Vander Veen, Maurice (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vander Veen, Maurice Description An account of the resource Morris Vander Veen is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Marines from 1944 to 1946. In this account he discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S. and the Pacific. Serving his active duty in the Pacific Theater, Vander Veen gives one a brief but detailed perspective of what island-hopping fighting was like specifically focusing on the fighting on Okinawa. He then discusses in some detail what his occupational duties and responsibilities were while stationed in northern China. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Michigan Military Preservation Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-01-17 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0ff18baa40f4ab9e4d338eeeb7585b2e.mp4 e22f18069d9d18ce6f3f0957d0e8b223 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/013840460b8b6b57875ab2c5a195627d.pdf 9ad19eeca9a409414700bea1cc1a008b PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: World War II Interviewee name: Kenneth Vander Molen Length of total interview: 2hrs. 9mins. Pre-Enlistment (02:28) • Family (02:30) o Vander Molen was born on August 7th, 1926 as a twin in Detroit, Michigan. (02:32) • Education (02 :53) o Briefly describes early education in some depth. (03:13) o Went to SE High School in Detroit. (03:52) Relates his impression of the military from an experience he had after visiting a distant cousin in Chicago in 1933 who owned a ROTC uniform. (04:06) Mentions how seeing a ROTC uniform impressed him enough to sign up for the ROTC. (04:30) o While still in high school, he joined the ROTC. He briefly mentions the duties that he was involved with and the benefits he had as a result. (05:20) o The day Pearl Harbor was attacked he was attending a choir practice while at the age of 13. (05:22) The janitor came in and told them the news. (05:41) At the time, he had no indication of where it was or what it meant. Describes his thoughts in some detail. (06:16) o After this, he relates how his English teacher talked about the war to her students. (06:55) o Briefly discusses what the mentality was in America at the start of the war. (07:36) o As a student, he was on deferment until age 18. As he approached 18, he was eager to be called up to serve. Before hand he always watched war movies to get a picture of what war looked like. (09:31) Enlistment/Basic Training (10:05) o Why he joined (10:15) �ƒ Upon turning 18, Vander Molen and twin sign up for the draft on August 7th 1945. (10:26) Signing up for immediate induction into the service which at the earliest he could go Sept 25th. He did this without the knowledge of his parents. (11:26) o Where he went and what company he served with (12:17) ƒ Went to Michigan Central Station in Detroit and traveled by train to Chicago. (13:26) The next morning, they were marched to a building where they chose what branch they wanted to serve with. (13:45) ƒ Briefly describes in some detail the selection process for military service. (14:05) ƒ From there he reported to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, for basic training. (17:08) Briefly describes what orientation was like and what Fort Sheridan, as a reception center was like. (17:28) Troops waited at Fort Sheridan for their postings and where they would be sent for basic training. (18:30) • Briefly describes what it was like to be around German POWs who served the U.S. Army. Also relates how soldiers weren’t allowed to talk with them. (18:50) o Camp Robinson training (19:56) ƒ After a week at Fort Sheridan, Vander Molen went by train to Little Rock, Arkansas and from there to Camp Robinson for basic training. (20:30) ƒ While here, he briefly describes what living conditions and the people he stayed with were like. (21:10) ƒ Basic training consisted of training to become infantry replacements. (21:43) Briefly describes in some detail what this training entailed. (22:05) Stayed in Camp Robinson for 12 weeks. (23:06) ƒ Briefly describes his company commander and then mentions his night training upon being assigned to the Americal Division. (23:38) o Time after basic training (24:14) ƒ Upon completing basic training, he was granted a 3 day furlough in which he used to visit Little Rock. (25:15) Spending his whole time in base camp, he relates his church experience there with a fellow West Michigan native. (25:53) �ƒ Afterwards, he went by train to San Francisco. Briefly describes his train experience in some detail. (27:48) o San Francisco, CA (29:01) ƒ Reported to Fort Ord, California, with the expectations that he would leave shortly for the Pacific theater to fight. (29:10) o Voyage across the Pacific (30:06) ƒ Vander Molen relates his thoughts and experience as his squad left aboard the General H.W. Butner, AP-113, a military transport, holding 5261 troops aboard and sailed out of San Francisco Harbor. (30:41) • Briefly mentions that the only thing he lived for during his long voyage were rumors of where they were headed. (32:04) • Briefly describes his day-to-day duties aboard ship. (33:28) • Briefly describes what the King Neptune Ceremony entailed for Navy guys and men like himself plus a few other stories on his Pacific crossing. (34:25) • They traveled to Finschaefen, New Guinea where they stayed for a few short days. (35:37) • Briefly describes his experience with the local natives on New Guinea (36:41) • Joining up with a convoy of cargo and Liberty ships being the fastest ship in the convoy took the lead. (37:21) • Briefly describes what it was like to get into a LCM (landing crafts) for the first time and what the process of landing was like for him. (38:11) Active Duty (39:40) • Leyte, The Philippines (39:57) o Upon landing, Vander Molen and his unit were issued rifles. Afterwards, they boarded a LST called 777 consisting of 385 men. A few days later they went to the island of Cebu. (41:29) • Cebu, The Philippines (41:45) �o Vander Molen briefly give a history of the combat fought already by the American Division on the island before his arrival back in March, 1945. (41:59) o Arriving in April, Vander Molen’s unit came in as replacements. Mentions that it was the roughest island landing in the Pacific because the Japanese had laid land mines along the coastal areas. (42:11) ƒ American troops from the 1st landing wave had lost 12 LSMs to mines. (42:55) ƒ Vander Molen, upon landing, mentions seeing the results of blown-up vehicles and un-kept equipment. (43:07) ƒ Having been assigned to G Company, he mentions digging foxholes (44:36) and that their first night on the beach was spent in combat. (45:10) ƒ In addition to this, replacements like him were paired up with veterans who did much of the shooting while the replacements stayed hunkered down and observed. (45:29) ƒ Briefly describes his feelings of that 1st night being in combat. (46:07) ƒ The next morning he went on patrol with 11 others. He served as the man who if the others were shot was the get-away man. (47:03) ƒ As a side note, Vander Molen mentions that American soldiers fighting in the Pacific removed any insignias to identify their rank or officers to discourage the Japanese from shooting their officers and medics when they attacked. (47:38) • Briefly describes the philosophies of both the Americans and the Japanese way of fighting in the Pacific. (48:48) o During one encounter, they were on patrol and saw an empty pillbox occupied by a Japanese soldier. (51:11) Briefly describes his 1st time under fire while out on patrol. (51:25) o Briefly relates how long replacements like him lasted and if they did last 5 months were considered part of the band of brothers. (52:01) ƒ Being 18, Vander Molen learned much about being a soldier from Jack Morton. (52:44) �ƒ Briefly relates how the Americans treated dead and wounded Japanese soldiers. (53:26) o Briefly relates the events of the Americans taking of Hill 21. (55:28) o Relates seeing his twin brother and various other wounded men coming down the hill with trippy (medic) and being shipped to a hospital. (56:17) o Describes an experience of going up another ridge. Relates how individual units were focused on their own objectives. Usually with minimal knowledge of what companies were to the left and right of them. (57:53) o During one encounter going up a ridge, Murphy, his commanding officer, ordered a bayonet attack. (58:38) The Americans made it to the Japanese trenches without a shot being fired. (59:45) ƒ Anticipating a hot meal after this engagement, Vander Molen relates how a group of Filipinos were coming down the road with food and the Japanese began to open up on them and so food went every which way. (1:00:24) For the most part they ate K-rations and local foods. (1:01:05) o Vander Molen relates how later he volunteered as a 1st scout and being equipped with a Thompson sub machine gun. (1:01:45) Briefly relates what the jobs of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd scouts squad leaders’ jobs entailed. (1:02:16) ƒ Briefly relates what indications were identifiable if a Japanese unit was in the area based on the smell of their food. (1:03:10) ƒ The selective process of scouts was usually done at random. (1:03:35) ƒ Was part of his company’s action in the splitting of the Japanese lines, to isolate them and divide the north and southern Japanese lines. (1:04:47) o Briefly relates how his military experience has shaped him today and what the service has taught him about life. (1:05:53) Interview Ends (1:08:41) CD #2 Material   Cebu, the Philippines cont. (00:07) • Vander Molen’s company was going over the high hills to Toledo and split the island to sort of  persuade the Japanese to retreat northward and contain them more. (00:37)   • Describes one encounter, while going for a hill where the velocity of Japanese machine gun fire   was so close that that he was thrown to the ground along with another soldier. (00:57) His  sergeant had ordered him to stay where he was. Being as close as he was to the Japanese  �position he should have run forward like one of his comrades and take the Japanese position but  he stayed put. (01:37)   • Vander Molen relates how in terms of disease that poisonous centipedes was the only danger to  catching a disease. (02:38)  •  From there, he mentions going to a nearby village on the western side of Cebu, to meet up with  132nd Company [Regiment?]. Stayed there 4 days. (03:21)   • As they moved back over the hills northward they faced less Japanese opposition. In one  encounter he ran into a Japanese soldier with a pistol who shot a sergeant in the stomach.  (05:21) Mentions that he crawled over there and got the wounded man out of there. Being a 1st  Scout he had a tracer in which he used to shoot the hut where the Japanese sniper was in which  lit it on fire. (06:03) That same night he could hear the sound of this wounded sergeant as he lay  wounded calling out to his mother. (06:19) Next morning they took his dead body back. (06:30)   • Cebu City (06:47)   • • o From there they went to Cebu City where he was told by Trippy (medic) that he had  come down with Hepatitis. (07:28)   o Next day, his twin‐brother Gordon returned to active duty while he was heading  towards the aid’s station. (08:01)   o Briefly relates a few short but interesting stories including running across his brother  and relating a Coca Cola experience. (09:15)   Treatment of Filipinos and Vander Molen’s recovery (11:14)   o Vander Molen mentions meeting the 85th Filipino Battalion and their Col. Cushing.  (11:22)   o While in Cebu, he mentions that Filipino girls of Spanish descent were off limits to  soldiers. (12:28)    o Briefly mentions that once he reached 2nd Battalion aid’s station that he was air  evacuated by C‐47 helicopter to Leyte (13:10) where he went to a field hospital and  spent his few days sleeping 30 hours. (14:22) The next day, his equipment and clothes  were stolen. Briefly relates his recovery and the various duties he performed while  recovering. (15:53)  o  Spent 80 days there getting well. (16:13)   Recovery and afterwards (16:28)   �• o On August 6, 1945, everybody in the hospital was in disbelief with the dropping of the A‐ bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Didn’t realize the destructive power that it had.  (16:53) What followed were celebrations with the dropping of the bomb. (17:14)  o After 80 days in the hospital, Vander Molen mentions getting new stuff, boarding a LST,  and getting back to Cebu. (18:01)  o Upon arrival in Cebu, he witnessed the sword surrender of 2,791 Japanese soldiers to  Gen. Arnold and the 132nd Regiment part of the Americal Division. Describes the  experience in some detail. (19:13)   o Afterwards, he relates how one American accompanied these POW Japanese solders  through the streets of Cebu and the Filipino hostility towards the Japanese. (21:33)   o Soon afterwards, Vander Molen left Cebu for Japan to be part of the occupation force  with the 77th Div., the Americal division, and 1st Cavalry Div. were supposed to be the  invading force of the southern island of Japan but ended up being the initial  occupational forces.  (22:14)   Japan Occupation (22:53)   o Sept. 9th, 1945—The Americal Division arrived in Tokyo Bay. (23:01) Further notes what  would have happened had the bomb not been dropped. (23:07)   o Vander Molen describes the extensive network of fortifications of Tokyo and how  American troops would not have been prepared for such resistance had the Americans  had to attack Japan. (23:21)   o Briefly discusses the raping of Nanjing by the Japanese. (24:07)   o Upon docking in Tokyo Harbor, they spent their 1st night in Yokohama itself. (25:03)  Their next morning they went by truck to an inland town named [Fusanobi]. (25:16)   o Living Conditions (25:22)   ƒ Briefly describes the living accommodations in the small engineering college  they stayed at. (25:36)    ƒ The Japanese attitude towards the Americans was gracious even as they  gathered up Japanese weapon stockpiles. (25:46)   ƒ Describes in some detail an experience he had when going to a Japanese school  and how embarrassed the Japanese teacher was of children’s pictures of  Japanese planes shooting down American ones. (26:19)   �ƒ Briefly mentions that McArthur did not allow American soldiers to fraternize  with Japanese business women. (27:21) One division that did this was removed  from Japan. (27:40)   ƒ During occupation, the Army found he could type and so he was transferred  from line company to service company for his typing abilities. (28:01) His job  entailed typing orders allowing certain American divisions to return home.  (28:15) Those he mentions with 85 points plus went home. (28:56)   ƒ • Those with a lot of points were transferred to the X Division or Americal  Division to go home. (29:11)   • Mentions that he was in Japan for 3 months. (29:54)   • Briefly describes how limited his time was for sight‐seeing and how  important his job was. (30:30)   • Mentions which type of service people had priority in going home first.  (31:14)   • Briefly describes the relationship between the other branches of service  with infantrymen. (32:07)   • Briefly reflects on various quotes of Omar Bradley and Sergeant Green  of the infantryman’s experience. (32:24)   Upon completing his typing job, he joined the U.S. Regular Army. (34:29) He  briefly relates why he joined. (34:54) Mentions that he was to get out Dec. 1,  1946. (35:08)   • • Mentions that everyone received a 90‐day furlough back in the U.S. of  which he only took a 30‐day furlough. (36:11)   Returning Home (36:27)   o Vander Molen mentions boarding a ship with the Americal Division. They were replaced  by the 77th Division. Briefly describes the crossing. (36:48)  o Upon arriving in Seattle, Washington, they were unloaded and boarded trucks headed  for Fort Lawton, Washington, a separation center. (38:12)  o From Fort Lawton; Vander Molen boarded a train to Fort Sheridan, Illinois. (39:23)   o With his return to Fort Sheridan, he spent 30 days on furlough after of which upon  walking in the service officers there did not know what to do with him since he had  served some time overseas in Japan and therefore could not be shipped back. (41:08)  �After the Service (41:22)   • Fort Sheridan, Illinois (41:27)    o Vander Molen made the decision to stay at Fort Sheridan and was selected for the job of  selecting draftees to join the Army. (41:40) Up to this point, the number of draftees was  still high and so it was his job to select up to 50 men at a time for service. (41:47)   o Briefly describes what it was like, being that the Army was still segregated up to that  point. (43:34)   o Stayed at Fort Sheridan for 10 months during which time he was only controlled by  Washington D.C’s Infantry HQ (44:10)   o For a brief period, he was assigned to the MPs. (44:33)  ƒ • o On weekends, he hitchhiked to Detroit to visit relatives. He relates in some detail  various experiences with these hitch‐hiking trips and how soldiers were given priority  over others. (45:41)   o Mentions that the usual civilian had no concept of distance or what went on while U.S.  armed forces were overseas. (49:27)   Adjusting to Home (49:46)   o • •  During one encounter, he describes how he stopped a major general’s car  because of orders to stop all vehicles coming and going from the base. (44:53)   Upon getting home, people asked his brother his story but not him. Shares his feelings  about this. (49:48)  Other stories (50:06)   o Also discusses in some depth how mail was circulated between loved ones back home  and soldiers on the frontlines. (53:18)    o Also discusses, while with a National Guard unit, what religion meant in the U.S. Army  and how the saying that there was atheism in the foxholes just was not true. (53:44)  Personal Reflection (57:01)   o Briefly relates what he learned while in the service and recommends people to join the  military for at least 2 years. (57:13)   o Briefly discusses his college experience and the significance of doing oral history  interviews so that the coming generations might remember what happened in the past.  (1:00:30) Interview ends (1:01:41)   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanderMolenK Title A name given to the resource Vander Molen, Kenneth (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vander Molen, Kenneth Description An account of the resource Kenneth Vander Molen is a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army, first as an infantry replacement and then later in the regular army from August 1945 to December 1946. In this account, Vander Molen discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and training in the U.S. and active duty in the Philippines and Japan. Among the interesting things Vander Molen discusses is the fighting on Cebu and his time in Japan during its occupation. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boring, Frank (Interviewer) Michigan Military Preservation Society (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-12-08 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ea1f9826bff83c5ecffac53bad4c0ce3.mp4 f7d4f81372a19c9c389653b3b7e3d2f5 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/384e36f33eaf80fdfcaa45e03243d221.pdf f54491b97a783eaff3ab9e547ef083f4 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Robert N. Vander Laan (30:00) Introduction (00:03) Childhood and Family (00:40) • • • • • • • • • • Born in East Grand Rapids, MI on April 14, 1933. Attended Beckworth School, father would drive him there. Family farm was on Site of Meijer Gardens on East Beltline Road. Father was a farmer, raised cows and grew spinach. Recalls a bit about Pearl Harbor, remembers that it was not talked about much around the house. Grandfather served in Army in World War I, with uncles. All returned uninjured. For Kindergarten through Grade School, had 3 teachers. Played different types of sports recreationally during grade school. Recalls putting on plays during holidays. Recalls the rationing of food, tire, and gasoline during World War II. Also remembers the coupon books that were handed out. During High School, played football for the school team. Graduated High School in 1951 Enlistment (11:17) • • Voluntarily drafted for the Army in 1952, chose this option because regular Army Enlistment required two years whereas draftees were only required to serve two years. Volunteered to be Army Engineer. Basic Training (11:45) • • • • • • Trained at Fort Polk, Louisiana from March until August (12:00) Trained with full field pack. Forced march 10 miles daily. Camp was from 5:00 AM daily to dark. (12:29) Had a good Corporal. Name was Buckley. Had Served throughout World War II. Had been in the service 11 years. Corporal had own room in barracks separate from rest of outfit Inducted at Fort Custer, was only there long enough to get orders to go to Fort Polk. (14:30) Basic training and some basic engineering training at Fort Polk. �• Was then sent to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. There he received special training. Spent some time on leave in New York City. (15:32) Active Duty (16:45) • • • • • • • • • • • Was sent to Europe. Trip took 11 days. The trip was rough. Landed in Frankfurt, Germany Moved on to Stuttgart, Germany. Time there was spent in old German Army Barracks. Had opportunity to travel around Europe while in Germany. Visited Paris, Italy, Germany, and Spain. (17:20) Army gave strict orders to behave while traveling throughout Europe. Made note that Army showed them a video about how to behave when traveling. (18:40) Saw the damage to Europe from World War II. France was very hard hit. Said he saw the devastation of the Mercedes plant in Stuttgart. It had been leveled. They were in the process of rebuilding the country when he was over there. (19:04) Visited two Concentration Camps while he was there. Dachau Concentration Camp was one of them. The Army brought them to visit to show them what had been done by the Nazis in World War II. It was a very upsetting experience for him. He states that you could almost smell death there. There were also reminders up to remember what happened there. (21:25) One thing that he thought was interesting were the beautiful gardens all around Stuttgart. Spent 18 months on tour. (22:32) At end of tour, was sent back to Camp Kilmer by boat. Trip was a little rough again. The ship held about 2000 troops. Was an army boat that was built in 1943-1944. Was given many oranges and lemons on the boat ride back to combat scurvy. (22:43) Spent 10 days at Camp Kilmer, and then was sent to Fort Sheridan to be separated. (24:50) After Separation (25:05) • • • • • Returned to Grand Rapids After separation. Attended College for one year, and then worked in a sheet metal plant and continued to work on the farm. Brother-in-Law was trained as a Tanker in Louisiana. Fought in World War II. Landed at Normandy on D-Day. Badly injured and was on 100% disability, but survived. Still alive at age 94 (as of date of interview) (26:18) Met wife at a friend’s birthday party in 1954. Married wife in 1956. Has four children, two boys and two girls. (27:30) Worked for the sheet metal company for 20 years, also farmed pairs and some apples. (29:20) Also has six grandchildren �• • Time in service did not change life very much, because of he fact he saw very little combat. Has been married 51 years. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanderLaanR Title A name given to the resource Vander Laan, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vander Lann, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Vander Laan is a Korean War era veteran who served in the 7th Army 966 Field Engineering Battalion. He was sent to Germany during his time in the service, and was never involved in any active combat. However, he witnessed the aftermath of WW II during his travels throughout Europe. He also discusses his reaction upon being taken by the Army to several concentration camps in the Munich are. He also recalls the difficulties of basic training during the summer in Louisiana. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Alvin, Warren (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-06-25 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4a6991e1d8c7607173a43310d4ab8fb6.mp4 31f9e6513ac8b7c50cdf42a18c84c717 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bfd29236862738115f7facd2f889c3fa.pdf 4b0243df787453f961f50f07ce6a1eea PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Vietnam War James VandenBosch Pt. I (2:02:41) Background Information (00:01)        Born and raised in Ada, Michigan. (00:02) He was in ROTC at Creston High School from 1958-1959. (00:09) After moving, James attended Grand Rapids Junio College. (00:34) James briefly attended Michigan State University and then Western Michigan University. After finding he did not like school he joined the Navy in 1966. (00:41) He remembers at the age of 12 the Korean Conflict was occurring. He was worried of events that were to come. (1:44) When James joined the Navy he joined as a hospital corpsman. (4:17) James was placed in the navy at a higher rank than normal cadets due to his 2 year degree. (4:34) Basic Training (5:09)       Attended boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Academy in the summer of 1966. (5:09) Men were taught discipline, physical skills as well as how to tie knots or patch a hole in a ship. (5:45) Because of his ROTC training James not only knew most of the basic military knowledge, but he liked the order of the military. (7:08) Men are taught, above all, how to be a part of a team and the importance of team work. This was helpful to James in his career latter in his life. (8:15) In boot camp, James was made a 1st platoon Commander. (9:05) He was under a lot of stress. James found that this made him stronger. (9:43) Hospital Corps School (10:15)    Next James attended hospital corps school. This was designed to transform men into hospital corpsmen. (10:17) Men were trained to use their skills in many different environments such as a hospital, a ship, or in the field. (10:51) The first ship James served on was an aircraft carrier. (12:54) First Cruise (USS Shangri La) (14:50)     During his first cruise, James and his wife got engaged. (14:52) James was flown from Grand Rapids to New Jersey. He was then flown on a military flight to Spain. He was then flown to Italy, then to Turkey were he Shangri La was anchored. (15:24) The USS Shangri La was a World War II carrier. (16:41) He learned a lot about basic information of being a medical corpsman. He also preformed basic medical aid such as stitches. (17:42) �    The cruise lasted 7 months. He visited Naples, France, Spain and Italy. (18:00) He very much loved seeing as much of the world as he did during this part of his service. (19:20) While in Naples, James and a friend saw an opera. (20:28) In most places the civilians were very welcoming of the sailors. In Rome, However, there were protesters there to meet them. (21:19) Service at Camp Lejeune (22:50)            After his service on the USS Shangri La ended he was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He believed it very likely that he was about to be sent to Vietnam. (23:41) At Camp Lejeune, the men spent 8-9 weeks being turned from fleet sailors into grunt corpsmen. The men were taught how to use weapons and firearms. The men were taught on the Colt 45. And the M14. (24:41) They were taught on how to stage an ambush and fight one off. They were also taught how to build shelters, dig foxholes, ext. (25:43) There was a Vietnamese village set up at Camp Lejeune. (26:06) The men were taught to function as a Marine rather than a sailor. Maries dressed differently, talked differently, and were more macho. (26:52) He was honored when the Marines started to see him as one of their own. (29:10) After completing his training, James was sent on a shakedown cruise on a troop ship from World War II. (30:00) James did become sea sick on this cruise. There were many men that James had to check with colds or sea sickness. (31:38) When James returned to the states after this cruise, he was given his orders for Vietnam in October of 1968. (32:55) He did enjoy his service up to this point very much. (33:44) Combined Action Platoon (34:20)          James did not believe he was going to come back from Vietnam. His wife was 5 months pregnant at the time. (34:58) He was sent to a combined action platoon training program once arriving in Vietnam. This training focused mostly on civil action and peace keeping. The men were taught some of the language, customs, and traditions. (35:35) The platoon was placed with a CAP Unit. These consisted of some Vietnamese citizens who were too young or too old to enter the military and were commanded by James’s platoon. (37:45) After having grown used to the conditions that he was in, James was transferred to another unit in early 1969. (39:00) The Vietnamese civilians thought that James was a doctor. He constantly reminded them that he was not. He also recalled how awful the Vietnamese peoples’ teeth were. (42:02) When large groups were sent into a village for the civil program, it was effective. Having one medic treat an entire village, however, was ineffective and impractical. (43:19) It was difficult to see who the enemy was. (44:25) Most men that James served with were 18. James was 24. (45:30) Through news papers and especially letters, men knew how the country felt about the war in the late 1960s. (46:51) � Because the CAP Unit lived off the land, many of them were off on their own and seemed to be much like hippies in James’s eyes. (48:35) Arrival in the 26th Marines (50:00)           James was forced to compete with his friend for a spot working in the office, and another working in the bush. James took the bush job because he thought he was better prepared for that type of combat. (51:04) James was sent from the HQ to De Nang and then was taken to the 26th Marine Regiment. He was handed an M16 which he had never used before. (52:24) When he arrived at his company, the area looked very bleak and plain with little vegetation. (54:49) When James arrived he met the senior corpsman whose place he was taking. He introduced him to all his subordinate corpsmen and gave him a minor surgery kit. The entire switching over process took 30 minutes. (56:08) Because of James's superior age and training, he believed he was better equipped to deal with the challenge of caring for other men than the average soldier. (59:01) James's CO was a mustang officer who had worked his way through the ranks. When James met him he was 1st lieutenant. He was a charismatic leader who was very easy to follow. He was also the only man that James met that was older than him. (1:00:49) The Gunny [Gunnery Sergeant], the one James started out with, was on his 3rd tour in Vietnam. He had a poster child appearance and easy to listen to and trust due to performance and experience. (1:03:40) The Gunny also told James to cut his dog tag chain and make it half the size. This would stop the tags from snagging on the bush while the men were crawling through the jungle. He also told James how to keep his pants perfectly straight so that the extra fabric would not snag traps. (1:05:44) Situational awareness was highly emphasized. Gunny ultimately died after he stepped on a booby trap. While dying, his last wish was to have a cigarette. (1:07:51) James feels fairly extensive survival guilt for the death of his Gunny. He copes with it by telling the stories of the dead as a way of honoring the lives of the dead. (1:10:41) Action with the 26th Marines (1:12:30)      James's CO was also hit by some hostiles that were entrenched at the top of a hill. The CO charged up the hill causing James followed him. By the time James got to the top of the hill the marines had overrun the men that were defending the hill. The CO had been shot however, at the top of the hill. (1:12:35) The CO asked if he was not going to have children due to his injury. James lied and said yes. He lied often in the field as to not deter men’s hope. (1:17:22) The first time James traveled into the bush with his new company was in late December of 1968. This was the first time he had been shot at. (1:18:11) The reason that the unit was in the camp that James found them in was to regroup and supplying the platoon with replacements to get them battle ready. (1:20:00) The men were flown by chopper without being told where they were headed. They landed on an LPH off shore. (1:21:24) �  As a Senior Corpsman, James was included in on many informative briefings on the environment that the Marines were going to be sent into. (1:22:54) All of the men, when hearing about going into battle, were worried about self preservation. But men also contemplated as to whether or not the men would be able to perform in combat. (1:25:09) Operation Russell Beach (1:26:45)                  The first operation lasted 1 month. There were lots of casualties due to booby traps. However, the men did not have any enemy encounters during this first operation. (1:27:34) After finding a man in the unit with appendicitis, James had to order an emergency medevac in bad weather to save his life. This gained him respect of his peers and CO. (1:28:27) Because the men went over as individuals there was not a sense of camaraderie even amongst units or platoons. (1:31:30) While traveling on the beach and a hill, one segment of the platoon encountered a very large mine field that was undetected. (1:32:53) When the mine field was discovered, there was one Vietnamese taken prisoner that James was assigned to watch. After several explosions that resulted in casualties, the prisoner was lost. (1:35:33) A U.S. tank then began to move up the left side of the hill. The troops moved through the field behind the tank, thinking that the tank would deploy a mine before the men did. (1:36:11) John Fogarty, a fellow Marine, was the first man that James knew in his platoon. (1:38:09) To make hot water, men would drop small cubes of C4 into their cups. (1:39:35) The tank that the men followed up the hill deployed a Bouncing Betty mine that ultimately resulted in John Fogarty’s death. (1:40:35) An Amtrack was sent to use C4 line charges to detonate the mine field. The C4 detonated before it got out of the Amtrack. This resulted in several casualties in the Amtrak crew. (1:42:28) James was told years after that choppers were used after the explosion to look for casualties but were unable to find any. (1:45:55) They believed that 10 men were involved in the Amtrack accident. However, when the site was cleaned up, there were only ever parts found not whole bodies. (1:47:28)] On the operation the men were used to cut off any VC that were located on the Batangan Peninsula. While the men were blockading the area, the monsoons hit. The men could not move and simply sat in the rain. (1:49:30) The men did undercover an extensive tunnel system that was under the men’s feet. They sent “tunnel rats” or the smallest marines, down the hole. The tunnel rats brought out approx. 100 people, dogs, and chickens. (1:51:10) The people were soon interrogated to see if they were VC or VC sympathizers. After the men and women were removed, the Marines spent several days packing the tunnel with charges and destroying the tunnels. (1:53:45) Most casualties were due to booby traps. (1:55:11) The operation was eventually called off due to lack of results seen by HQ. (1:56:03) Operation Taylor Common (1:56:57)  The men were given 1 week to regroup before being sent back on another operation. (1:57:00) �   James was sent south of De Nang. The Marines were given the task of keeping the VC out of the city. (1:58:25) The Marines spent much of their time on search and destroy type maneuvers. If an enemy unit or resource was located, it was often detonated using explosives. (1:59:26) The operation consisted simply of par tolling the area in random patterns, hoping to stumble upon any VC. (2:00:44) Disk 2 (2:56:55) Note: new disc, time coding restarts            The men were moved into the combat zone via helicopter. (Vertically inserted). (2:53) The land was very flat with little to no hills. There were many rice paddies. (3:28) In these operations, the marines began running into enemy soldiers who were better equipped than what they had encountered previously and wore uniforms. (5:12) When James landed during operation Taylor Common there was no bombardment to prepare a landing zone. (6:45) The environment was difficult to adapt to and added to the psychological distress of combat. (8:49) James felt rather detached from his job and his men after having been in combat. The reason for this was that if James got involved with every situation it would have been too emotionally exhausting. (11:28) The men were sent out on one trip through a rice paddy at night. The Marines had difficulty moving and were very loud. (14:00) Somehow, another company had been caught by surprise on the other side of the rice paddy. A fire fight soon broke out. The fire fight lasted in total 15 minutes. Several casualties were taken. (16:02) One man that James had to treat from the fire fight was gut shot. As James talked to him awaiting his medevac. James believed the man would be fine but he later found that he had died. (19:20) During his time in the Marines, James had to medevac 150-200 marines. (19:40) This experience with the gut shot wound, gave James greater perspective on how serious particular wounds actually were. (22:03) Fire Fight at “The Rock Pile” (23:20)      The company then moved into an area deemed “The Rock Pile” named so due to the amount of very large rocks that coated the ground. As the CP group began approaching the rocks they began to take rounds from mortars. Here James did come under fire and take minor shrapnel wounds. (23:25) Once the men got used to being in combat they could adjust to the stress of battle fairly easily. The most important thing a man could do was keep moving. (26:15) This fire fight resulted in many casualties, most of which had rather serious wounds. (27:28) James had to perform a procedure on one marine where a new airway was created y poking a hole in the trachea just below the Adam’s apple. (28:50) The man with the trachea procedure did eventually die. (30:38) �           The fire fight lasted several hours. Upon its completion the helicopters moved in and evacuated all the casualties. As one helicopter was lifting off, it was shot down 100 yards from the landing zone. (31:02) As emergency platoon was sent over to secure the crash site. The men in the helicopter simply laid on the floor trying hard not to be shot by any machine gun fire they were taking. All the men on the helicopter survived. (32:12) A4s were called in to destroy the helicopter so that it could not be picked apart by any VCs who may find it. (33:35) The night after the fire fight, the unit slept in the rock field due to its value as natural cover. The men were attacked by a few mortars while staying there. (35:00) As the men traveled the next day they found blood trails where they were VC bodies on the previous day. As they continued and followed the trails the marines stumbled upon a mass grave that had uniformed VCs in it. (36:55) The marines continued to chase the VCs they were tracking until approx. 6 PM. At this time the men ran into an enemy line. (39:15) It was at this battle that the CO was hit. (41:32) At this point in time the unit had been in 2 fire fights without being resupplied and was running low on things such as ammunition. (41:50) The men were in contact with regular VC groups but had very little ammunition to defend themselves with. Because it was past dark, a helicopter could not be sent out to resupply the marines. (43:57) During the night, the sound of an aircraft could be heard. Then the men saw circles of fire go up in the sky. This was a C-130 that protected the Marines perimeter for the entire night until the men could be resupplied. (46:18) James believes that if it were not for the C-130s defending them, he would not have survived. (48:10) Mortar Bombardment (49:29)          After the fire fight, the Marines were pulled back. The men were given some fairly good food and a chance to rest. (49:30) The men never particularly had problems with morale due primarily to the CO and his attitude towards combat. (53:52) When James slept in Vietnam he thought it was more like half sleep. This was due primarily to the constant threat of violence particularly at night. (56:14) In the middle of the night, James herd several mortar rounds being fired. James jumped into another man’s fox hole in order to find cover. (57:30) James had to wake up the CO. (59:45) There were no casualties that were taken from this mortar bombardment. (1:01:18) In the morning, the men evaluated the damage of the attack. There were no casualties. Several were lost that day though due to sniper fire. (1:01:47) After approx. 50 days involved in the operation the morale was devastatingly low. The men were then taken to an outpost where they were given steak dinners, ice cream, and beer. (1:02:53) The men were then moved to hill 51 were they were stationed for some rest. (1:03:57) Operation Oklahoma Hills (1:04:20) �            The men flew west away from the coast (to a location that James believes was out of the country). (1:04:33) The men were sent into a very mountainous area. To James's surprise the unit was sent into the valleys rather than up mountains. (1:06:36) The valleys had elephant grass at their base. The men used machetes to hack through the grass. This exhausted the marines. After several hours of travel, the CO decided to take another route around the grass. (1:07:00) The men were picked up after several days and moved to another part of the mountains. This time as the Marines traveled they were going uphill. (1:09:46) As the men continued to travel they entered the triple canopy. This area consisted of jungle with vegetation so thick that it created a sense of twilight during the middle of the day. (1:10:40) An artillery strike was called before entering the triple canopy. When the artillery strike came in, it struck the U.S. unit. Several casualties were taken. (1:11:40) Because the closest LZ was 5 miles down the mountain the unit was faced with 2 options. One, to go down the mountain and evacuate the wounded. The other was to continue up the trail and complete the missions with the casualties. The unit chose the latter. (1:13:37) The men continued up the mountain and set up a camp. After collecting every man’s poncho, a small field hospital was constricted for the wounded. (1:15:00) The following morning, a vertical evacuation was conducted. This was a skill that James learned in his training but never expected to put into practice. The men were strung out along the trail in order from most urgent injuries to least. (1:16:50) As each casualty was lifted out of the jungle, the rope and apparatus that they were attached to started to swing the man into the foliage. To correct this problem, ropes were attached to the casualties so that marines on the ground could keep the apparatus still. (1:19:30) It took approx. 1 hour to evacuate every casualty. (1:20:17) To compensate for the lack of LZ to evacuate the injured as well as get supplies, one was created by clearing a space on the top of the mountain. (1:21:43) Rest and Recuperation (1:22:51)         As a result of yelling at his CO due to his foolish artillery call, James was ordered to take some time for R and R. (1:22:52) James was picked up 2 days later at the newly constructed LZ. (1:24:41) This ended James's time in the bush. (1:25:00) When returning back to base he was given a clean uniform, a shower, a haircut, and prepared to meet his wife in Hawaii. (1:25:20) James had mixed emotions about leaving his company. He was very thankful to get out of the bush; however he did not like the idea of letting his unit go out into the jungle without him. (1:26:00) When in the bush the only thing he could think about was his wife and his former life back home. He spent a week in Hawaii and very much enjoyed it. (1:27:26) Before leaving for Vietnam, James was drunk on Scotch. He did not like the idea of returning to the war. (1:28:36) When he returned he was assigned to a base hospital. This was after 8 months in the Bush. (1:29:12) Thoughts on Service (1:30:00) �        There was talk of James being sent back to Okinawa where the men would get retrained and sent out on another mission or assignment. (1:30:03) James was sent to Da Nang where he finished the rest of his service. (1:31:08) There was an enlisted men’s club that James had access to. Pallets of beer were taken in daily. (1:31:50) James believes that Vietnam was a mess, particularly in the way it affected the enlisted men psychologically. (1:33:40) James has been to the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC nine times. (1:34:39) There are more men that committed suicide during the Vietnam era then there are names on the Vietnam memorial wall. It is because of this statistic that James gets involved to help veterans and talk to them about any problems they may have. (1:35:18) James does not like how there was no connection between soldiers. However at the same time, he believes that if he had been more emotionally involved he would not have lasted as long as he did. (1:37:15) The average soldier (young high school graduate) was emotionally unstable and more easily affected by combat. (1:38:30) Vietnamese People and Culture (1:40:35)           There was the idea in the bush that every person that James ran into was a VC. (1:40:55) James and some men were invited in to a village by the village headman. This was a great honor. (1:41:38) Many of the people that James saw lived in small little huts. Each hut often housed an entire extended family. (1:44:21) To tolerate all of the emotional pain and torment of constant war, James believes that the people were very strong willed and loyal. (1:45:00) While in the bush the men herd stories of Vietnamese ambushes where men were killed, had their genitals cut off, and then stuck in their mouth. Other calling cards, such as leaving an Ace of spades with a body, were meant to deter the military from entering an area. (1:46:45) Because field doctors were put through medical school at the navy’s expense, they owed the military a certain amount of time as pay. Because of this, field doctors were very disgruntled and rebellious. (1:48:43) The field doctors had not been out of medical school any more than a year before being deployed. (1:51:00) Several doctors went to the Pink Elephant, an officer’s club, in De Nang. Because they had never been in the bush, they would not go unless some marines (including James) went with them. While the doctors were in the officers club James was in an enlisted men’s club. When the club closed, James was ordered to leave. The Doctors did not want to leave. In order to stay longer, the doctors temporarily promoted James to lieutenant for 3 hours until the doctors wanted to leave. (1:52:20) The officers club was very well accommodated with leather chairs, little cocktail tables, waitresses, and other luxurious amenities. (1:57:32) At approx. 2-3 o’clock in the morning, a truck was sent to the officer’s club to take the officers back to their station of duty. (1:58:29) End of Enlistment (2:00:10) �      James was offered a second R&R before he was to leave Vietnam. After he received his orders to leave he soon canceled it. (2:00:19) James was required to turn all his gear in before leaving the country. (2:00:45) James was sent to the air port via truck. After turning in his gear, James felt very venerable being in a combat zone without his gear. (2:01:13) The transition back to being a civilian took a long while to set in for James and other soldier. (2:02:12) James arrived in Long Beach California. At that point he began the process of being discharged from the Navy. This process took approx. 1 week. (2:03:03) James flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan, after being discharged. He we met at the air port by his wife, child and parents. (2:04:08) Life after Service (2:04:35)          James was out of the military but still had 2 years on the inactive reserve. (2:04:40) James ad his family rented a house in Rockford, Michigan, for some time while he looked for a job. (2:06:11) At the time James did not realizes that he had some problems, but James was very moody and anxious. These were being signs of PTSD. (2:06:45) James began working with his dad as a belt sander in a clock factory. (2:07:38) One of the men that James worked with in the reserve suggested that James should go into a nursing program. (2:08:45) The degree was 3 years. The class work was done at Grand Rapids Community College and the clinical work at Butterworth Medical Hospital. (2:11:00) 3 out of 5 days of class were spent in the hospital with patients. (2:12:28) James worked on the ambulance crew during school in order to make some extra money. (2:13:40) After James graduated, military recruiters came in to recruit for the nurse corps. James had been evolved in the Navy for 6 years now. (2:15:08) Service in the Nurse Corps (2:16:10)          Because Nurses were officers, James had to go through “fork and knife school” where men are taught protocol and logistics of being an officer. (2:16:45) This training was in Newport, Rhode Island. The training lasted 6-8 weeks. (2:17:47) After his training was complete, James’s first active duty station was Great Lakes Naval Base. (2:18:30) He began working in a combination orthopedic and neurological ward. (2:19:00) James’ experience in active duty and as a nurse helped him become a leader in the hospital as well and understand and treat his patients more effectively. (2:20:03) James was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base for approx. 2 years. In the 1970s the military was beginning to be down sized. James was not taken out but was sent to Philadelphia. (2:23:12) He worked in surgical and intensive care unit. (2:24:18) James was later made the head nurse of his unit. At this time he was promoted to a first lieutenant. (2:24:40) He was then sent to Guam (2:25:31) �Life in Guam (2:25:40)          The Navy shipped all of James’s and his family’s belongings to Guam. The Navy even shipped one of James’s cars. (2:25:45) Guam was a very secluded and remote area. Because it was more primitive it was approx. 10 years behind the rest of the U.S. (2:26:34) Because the area was so small, James was involved with the native population more than if he was working in a large city. (2:28:34) Due to the hospital being smaller in size, there were no separate wards; instead all patients were placed in one large holding room. (2:29:05) For the most part, the people of Guam were very welcoming to the military. Some did not like the Military’s presence and would beat up Marines. (2:29:41) James was invited to several civilian homes for dinner. The food was very good. (2:30:41) James invited a civilian he had eaten with to one of his parties to cook. (2:33:05) One of the things there was to do in Guam was snorkel. When James snorkeled off World War II beaches there were wrecks, such as a Japanese Zero that was shot down. (2:34:11) He was in Guam for 3 years. His family loved being there. (3:35:30) Service in Oakland, California (2:36:05)         James was given orders to work at the Oakland Naval Hospital. While there he and his family lived on the island of Anita. (3:36:12) San Francisco was fascinating. He loved living in California, except for how expensive it was. (2:37:35) James lived in Naval housing in Anita. (3:38:20) James became charge nurse of an orthopedic ward in Oakland. He then switched over to the education department and began working as an instructor. (3:38:50) James applied for duty under instruction which was a program orientated toward public health that would improve his “outdated” education. (2:40:00) James desired to instruct corpsmen. Instead he was ordered to 29 Palms, California, to a small hospital. (2:51:45) Living in 29 Palms was like living on the surface of the moon. He did not enjoy his time there. His 3 kids however, did enjoy it. (2:43:50) James was happy to retire after his service in 29 Palms. He retired in 1989. (2:45:36) Life After Military Service (2:46:00)       He began working in occupational health at Butterworth Hospital. He believes health care became under influence by so many outside organizations that it was seen as difficult to excursive one’s profession. (2:47:00) At the age of 62 in January of 2007, James retired. (2:47:42) Because the nurse corps is made up of people who were civilians for most of their lives, they refuse to follow military order as much. (2:49:17) James realizes that the stresses placed on combat soldiers are almost the same regardless of where or when they served. (2:50:47) He thinks that the psychologists that work with soldiers with PTSD have trouble because the soldiers feel uncomfortable talking to someone who has not had the same experience. (2:51:23) �  He is very interested in U.S. military and the psychological effects of combat. (2:53:43) He liked his experience, and was very glad that he joined the military. (2:55:25) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VandenboschJ0851V2 Title A name given to the resource VandenBosch, James (Interview outline and video, 2 of 2), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource VandenBosch, James Description An account of the resource James VandenBosch, born in Ada, Michigan, enlisted in the Navy in 1966 and trained as a medical corpsman. After a cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La in the Mediterranean, he trained for combat duty with the Marines at Camp Lejeune and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. After a short stint with a Civil Action Patrol working in the villages near Da Nang, he became the senior corpsman for a rifle company of the 26th Marines, and participated with them in a series of combat operations. He spent the last part of his tour at a hospital in Da Nang. After his discharge, he eventually decided to go to nursing school and re-enlist in the Navy, this time as a nurse and officer. He did so, and retired from the Navy in 1989. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Navy Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-06-28 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a11b0e05747e04102ce38200b116404a.mp4 fddb3c959cb41891a931e71f0d18ff9b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cacc46adab1f95fe668a02620045fb2c.pdf bfd5d144de3aa2de40581dca080dd89b PDF Text Text GrandValleyStateUniversity Veterans History Project Vietnam War James VandenBosch Pt. I () Background Information (00:01)        Born and raised in AdaMichigan. (00:02) He was in ROTC at CrestonHigh School from 1958-1959. (00:09) After moving, James attended Grand RapidsJunioCollege. (00:34) James briefly attended Michigan State University and then Western Michigan University. After finding he did not like school he joined the Navy in 1966. (00:41) He remembers at the age of 12 the Korean Conflict was occurring. He was worried of events that were to come. (1:44) When James joined the Navy he joined as a hospital corpsman. (4:17) James was placed in the navy at a higher rank than normal cadets due to his 2 year degree. (4:34) Basic Training (5:09)       Attended boot camp at Great LakesNavalAcademy in the summer of 1966. (5:09) Men were taught discipline, physical skills as well as how to tie knots or patch a hole in a ship. (5:45) Because of his ROTC training James not only knew most of the basic military knowledge, but he liked the order of the military. (7:08) Men are taught, above all, how to be a part of a team and the importance of team work. This was helpful to James in his career latter in his life. (8:15) In boot camp, James was made a 1st platoon Commander. (9:05) He was under a lot of stress. James found that this made him stronger. (9:43) Hospital Corps School ()    Next James attended hospital corps school. This was designed to transform men into hospital corpsmen. (10:17) Men were trained to use their skills in many different environments such as a hospital, a ship, or in the field. (10:51) The first ship James served on was an aircraft carrier. (12:54) First Cruise (USS Shangri La) (14:50)     During his first cruise, James and his wife got engaged. (14:52) James was flown from Grand Rapids to New Jersey. He was then flown on a military flight to Spain. He was then flown to Italy, then to Turkey were he Shangri La was anchored. (15:24) The USS Shangri La was a World War II carrier. (16:41) He learned a lot about basic information of being a medical corpsman. He also preformed basic medical aid such as stitches. (17:42) �    The cruise lasted 7 months. He visited NaplesFrance, Spain and Italy. (18:00) He very much loved seeing as much of the world as he did during this part of his service. (19:20) While in Naples, James and a friend saw an opera. (20:28) In most places the civilians were very welcoming of the sailors. In Rome, However, there were protesters there to meet them. (21:19) Service at Camp Lejeune (22:50)            After his service on the USS Shangri La ended he was sent to Camp LejeuneNorth Carolina. He believed it very likely that he was about to be sent to Vietnam. (23:41) At CampLejeune, the men spent 8-9 weeks being turned from fleet sailors into grunt corpsmen. The men were taught how to use weapons and firearms. The men were taught on the Colt 45. And the M14. (24:41) They were taught on how to stage an ambush and fight one off. They were also taught how to build shelters, dig foxholes, ext. (25:43) There was a Vietnamese village set up at CampLejeune. (26:06) The men were taught to function as a Marine rather than a sailor. Maries dressed differently, talked differently, and were more macho. (26:52) He was honored when the Marines started to see him as one of their own. (29:10) After completing his training, James was sent on a shakedown cruise on a troop ship from World War II. (30:00) James did become sea sick on this cruise. There were many men that James had to check with colds or sea sickness. (31:38) When James returned to the states after this cruise, he was given his orders for Vietnam in October of 1968. (32:55) He did enjoy his service up to this point very much. (33:44) Combined Action Platoon (34:20)           James did not believe he was going to come back from Vietnam. His wife was 5 months pregnant at the time. (34:58) He was sent to a combined action platoon training program once arriving in Vietnam. This training focused mostly on civil action and peace keeping. The men were taught some of the language, customs, and traditions. (35:35) The platoon was placed with a CAP Unit. These consisted of some Vietnamese citizens who were too young or too old to enter the military and were commanded by James’s platoon. (37:45) After having grown used to the conditions that he was in, James was transferred to another unit in early 1969. (39:00) The Vietnamese civilians thought that James was a doctor. He constantly reminded them that he was not. He also recalled how awful the Vietnamese peoples’ teeth were. (42:02) When large groups were sent into a village for the civil program, it was effective. Having one medic treat an entire village, however, was ineffective and impractical. (43:19) It was difficult to see who the enemy was. (44:25) Most men that James served with were 18. James was 24. (45:30) Through news papers and especially letters, men knew how the country felt about the war in the late 1960s. (46:51) Because the CAP Unit lived off the land, many of them were off on their own and seemed to be �much like hippies in James’s eyes. (48:35) Arrival in the 26th Marines (50:00)           James was forced to compete with his friend for a spot working in the office, and another working in the bush. James took the bush job because he thought he was better prepared for that type of combat. (51:04) James was sent from the HQ to De Nang and then was taken to the 26th Marine Regiment. He was handed an M16 which he had never used before. (52:24) When he arrived at his company, the area looked very bleak and plain with little vegetation. (54:49) When James arrived he met the senior corpsman whose place he was taking. He introduced him to all his subordinate corpsmen and gave him a minor surgery kit. The entire switching over process took 30 minutes. (56:08) Because of James's superior age and training, he believed he was better equipped to deal with the challenge of caring for other men than the average soldier. (59:01) James's CO was a mustang officer who had worked his way through the ranks. When James met him he was 1st lieutenant. He was a charismatic leader who was very easy to follow. He was also the only man that James met that was older than him. (1:00:49) The Gunny [Gunnery Sergeant], the one James started out with, was on his 3rd tour in Vietnam. He had a poster child appearance and easy to listen to and trust due to performance and experience. (1:03:40) The Gunny also told James to cut his dog tag chain and make it half the size. This would stop the tags from snagging on the bush while the men were crawling through the jungle. He also told James how to keep his pants perfectly straight so that the extra fabric would not snag traps. (1:05:44) Situational awareness was highly emphasized. Gunny ultimately died after he stepped on a booby trap. While dying, his last wish was to have a cigarette. (1:07:51) James feels fairly extensive survival guilt for the death of his Gunny. He copes with it by telling the stories of the dead as a way of honoring the lives of the dead. (1:10:41) Action with the 26th Marines (1:12:30)        James's CO was also hit by some hostiles that were entrenched at the top of a hill. The CO charged up the hill causing James followed him. By the time James got to the top of the hill the marines had overrun the men that were defending the hill. The CO had been shot however, at the top of the hill. (1:12:35) The CO asked if he was not going to have children due to his injury. James lied and said yes. He lied often in the field as to not deter men’s hope. (1:17:22) The first time James traveled into the bush with his new company was in late December of 1968. This was the first time he had been shot at. (1:18:11) The reason that the unit was in the camp that James found them in was to regroup and supplying the platoon with replacements to get them battle ready. (1:20:00) The men were flown by chopper without being told where they were headed. They landed on an LPH off shore. (1:21:24) As a Senior Corpsman, James was included in on many informative briefings on the environment that the Marines were going to be sent into. (1:22:54) All of the men, when hearing about going into battle, were worried about self preservation. But �men also contemplated as to whether or not the men would be able to perform in combat. (1:25:09) Operation Russell Beach (1:26:45)                  The first operation lasted 1 month. There were lots of casualties due to booby traps. However, the men did not have any enemy encounters during this first operation. (1:27:34) After finding a man in the unit with appendicitis, James had to order an emergency medevac in bad weather to save his life. This gained him respect of his peers and CO. (1:28:27) Because the men went over as individuals there was not a sense of camaraderie even amongst units or platoons. (1:31:30) While traveling on the beach and a hill, one segment of the platoon encountered a very large mine field that was undetected. (1:32:53) When the mine field was discovered, there was one Vietnamese taken prisoner that James was assigned to watch. After several explosions that resulted in casualties, the prisoner was lost. (1:35:33) A U.S. tank then began to move up the left side of the hill. The troops moved through the field behind the tank, thinking that the tank would deploy a mine before the men did. (1:36:11) John Fogarty, a fellow Marine, was the first man that James knew in his platoon. (1:38:09) To make hot water, men would drop small cubes of C4 into their cups. (1:39:35) The tank that the men followed up the hill deployed a Bouncing Betty mine that ultimately resulted in John Fogarty’s death. (1:40:35) An Amtrack was sent to use C4 line charges to detonate the mine field. The C4 detonated before it got out of the Amtrack. This resulted in several casualties in the Amtrak crew. (1:42:28) James was told years after that choppers were used after the explosion to look for casualties but were unable to find any. (1:45:55) They believed that 10 men were involved in the Amtrack accident. However, when the site was cleaned up, there were only ever parts found not whole bodies. (1:47:28)] On the operation the men were used to cut off any VC that were located on the Batangan Peninsula. While the men were blockading the area, the monsoons hit. The men could not move and simply sat in the rain. (1:49:30) The men did undercover an extensive tunnel system that was under the men’s feet. They sent “tunnel rats” or the smallest marines, down the hole. The tunnel rats brought out approx. 100 people, dogs, and chickens. (1:51:10) The people were soon interrogated to see if they were VC or VC sympathizers. After the men and women were removed, the Marines spent several days packing the tunnel with charges and destroying the tunnels. (1:53:45) Most casualties were due to booby traps. (1:55:11) The operation was eventually called off due to lack of results seen by HQ. (1:56:03) Operation Taylor Common (1:56:57)     The men were given 1 week to regroup before being sent back on another operation. (1:57:00) James was sent south of De Nang. The Marines were given the task of keeping the VC out of the city. (1:58:25) The Marines spent much of their time on search and destroy type maneuvers. If an enemy unit or resource was located, it was often detonated using explosives. (1:59:26) The operation consisted simply of par tolling the area in random patterns, hoping to stumble �upon any VC. (2:00:44) Disk 2 (2:56:55) Note: new disc, time coding restarts            The men were moved into the combat zone via helicopter. (Vertically inserted). (2:53) The land was very flat with little to no hills. There were many rice paddies. (3:28) In these operations, the marines began running into enemy soldiers who were better equipped than what they had encountered previously and wore uniforms. (5:12) When James landed during operation Taylor Common there was no bombardment to prepare a landing zone. (6:45) The environment was difficult to adapt to and added to the psychological distress of combat. (8:49) James felt rather detached from his job and his men after having been in combat. The reason for this was that if James got involved with every situation it would have been too emotionally exhausting. (11:28) The men were sent out on one trip through a rice paddy at night. The Marines had difficulty moving and were very loud. (14:00) Somehow, another company had been caught by surprise on the other side of the rice paddy. A fire fight soon broke out. The fire fight lasted in total 15 minutes. Several casualties were taken. (16:02) One man that James had to treat from the fire fight was gut shot. As James talked to him awaiting his medevac. James believed the man would be fine but he later found that he had died. (19:20) During his time in the Marines, James had to medevac 150-200 marines. (19:40) This experience with the gut shot wound, gave James greater perspective on how serious particular wounds actually were. (22:03) Fire Fight at “The Rock Pile” (23:20)        The company then moved into an area deemed “The Rock Pile” named so due to the amount of very large rocks that coated the ground. As the CP group began approaching the rocks they began to take rounds from mortars. Here James did come under fire and take minor shrapnel wounds. (23:25) Once the men got used to being in combat they could adjust to the stress of battle fairly easily. The most important thing a man could do was keep moving. (26:15) This fire fight resulted in many casualties, most of which had rather serious wounds. (27:28) James had to perform a procedure on one marine where a new airway was created y poking a hole in the trachea just below the Adam’s apple. (28:50) The man with the trachea procedure did eventually die. (30:38) The fire fight lasted several hours. Upon its completion the helicopters moved in and evacuated all the casualties. As one helicopter was lifting off, it was shot down 100 yards from the landing zone. (31:02) As emergency platoon was sent over to secure the crash site. The men in the helicopter simply laid on the floor trying hard not to be shot by any machine gun fire they were taking. All the men on the helicopter survived. (32:12) �         A4s were called in to destroy the helicopter so that it could not be picked apart by any VCs who may find it. (33:35) The night after the fire fight, the unit slept in the rock field due to its value as natural cover. The men were attacked by a few mortars while staying there. (35:00) As the men traveled the next day they found blood trails where they were VC bodies on the previous day. As they continued and followed the trails the marines stumbled upon a mass grave that had uniformed VCs in it. (36:55) The marines continued to chase the VCs they were tracking until approx. 6 PM. At this time the men ran into an enemy line. (39:15) It was at this battle that the CO was hit. (41:32) At this point in time the unit had been in 2 fire fights without being resupplied and was running low on things such as ammunition. (41:50) The men were in contact with regular VC groups but had very little ammunition to defend themselves with. Because it was past dark, a helicopter could not be sent out to resupply the marines. (43:57) During the night, the sound of an aircraft could be heard. Then the men saw circles of fire go up in the sky. This was a C-130 that protected the Marines perimeter for the entire night until the men could be resupplied. (46:18) James believes that if it were not for the C-130s defending them, he would not have survived. (48:10) Mortar Bombardment (49:29)          After the fire fight, the Marines were pulled back. The men were given some fairly good food and a chance to rest. (49:30) The men never particularly had problems with morale due primarily to the CO and his attitude towards combat. (53:52) When James slept in Vietnam he thought it was more like half sleep. This was due primarily to the constant threat of violence particularly at night. (56:14) In the middle of the night, James herd several mortar rounds being fired. James jumped into another man’s fox hole in order to find cover. (57:30) James had to wake up the CO. (59:45) There were no casualties that were taken from this mortar bombardment. (1:01:18) In the morning, the men evaluated the damage of the attack. There were no casualties. Several were lost that day though due to sniper fire. (1:01:47) After approx. 50 days involved in the operation the morale was devastatingly low. The men were then taken to an outpost where they were given steak dinners, ice cream, and beer. (1:02:53) The men were then moved to hill 51 were they were stationed for some rest. (1:03:57) Operation Oklahoma Hills (1:04:20)    The men flew west away from the coast (to a location that James believes was out of the country). (1:04:33) The men were sent into a very mountainous area. To James's surprise the unit was sent into the valleys rather than up mountains. (1:06:36) The valleys had elephant grass at their base. The men used machetes to hack through the grass. This exhausted the marines. After several hours of travel, the CO decided to take another route �         around the grass. (1:07:00) The men were picked up after several days and moved to another part of the mountains. This time as the Marines traveled they were going uphill. (1:09:46) As the men continued to travel they entered the triple canopy. This area consisted of jungle with vegetation so thick that it created a sense of twilight during the middle of the day. (1:10:40) An artillery strike was called before entering the triple canopy. When the artillery strike came in, it struck the U.S. unit. Several casualties were taken. (1:11:40) Because the closest LZ was 5 miles down the mountain the unit was faced with 2 options. One, to go down the mountain and evacuate the wounded. The other was to continue up the trail and complete the missions with the casualties. The unit chose the latter. (1:13:37) The men continued up the mountain and set up a camp. After collecting every man’s poncho, a small field hospital was constricted for the wounded. (1:15:00) The following morning, a vertical evacuation was conducted. This was a skill that James learned in his training but never expected to put into practice. The men were strung out along the trail in order from most urgent injuries to least. (1:16:50) As each casualty was lifted out of the jungle, the rope and apparatus that they were attached to started to swing the man into the foliage. To correct this problem, ropes were attached to the casualties so that marines on the ground could keep the apparatus still. (1:19:30) It took approx. 1 hour to evacuate every casualty. (1:20:17) To compensate for the lack of LZ to evacuate the injured as well as get supplies, one was created by clearing a space on the top of the mountain. (1:21:43) Rest and Recuperation (1:22:51)         As a result of yelling at his CO due to his foolish artillery call, James was ordered to take some time for R and R. (1:22:52) James was picked up 2 days later at the newly constructed LZ. (1:24:41) This ended James's time in the bush. (1:25:00) When returning back to base he was given a clean uniform, a shower, a haircut, and prepared to meet his wife in Hawaii. (1:25:20) James had mixed emotions about leaving his company. He was very thankful to get out of the bush; however he did not like the idea of letting his unit go out into the jungle without him. (1:26:00) When in the bush the only thing he could think about was his wife and his former life back home. He spent a week in Hawaii and very much enjoyed it. (1:27:26) Before leaving for Vietnam, James was drunk on Scotch. He did not like the idea of returning to the war. (1:28:36) When he returned he was assigned to a base hospital. This was after 8 months in the Bush. (1:29:12) Thoughts on Service (1:30:00)     There was talk of James being sent back to Okinawa where the men would get retrained and sent out on another mission or assignment. (1:30:03) James was sent to Da Nang where he finished the rest of his service. (1:31:08) There was an enlisted men’s club that James had access to. Pallets of beer were taken in daily. (1:31:50) James believes that Vietnam was a mess, particularly in the way it affected the enlisted men �    psychologically. (1:33:40) James has been to the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC nine times. (1:34:39) There are more men that committed suicide during the Vietnam era then there are names on the Vietnam memorial wall. It is because of this statistic that James gets involved to help veterans and talk to them about any problems they may have. (1:35:18) James does not like how there was no connection between soldiers. However at the same time, he believes that if he had been more emotionally involved he would not have lasted as long as he did. (1:37:15) The average soldier (young high school graduate) was emotionally unstable and more easily affected by combat. (1:38:30) Vietnamese People and Culture (1:40:35)           There was the idea in the bush that every person that James ran into was a VC. (1:40:55) James and some men were invited in to a village by the village headman. This was a great honor. (1:41:38) Many of the people that James saw lived in small little huts. Each hut often housed an entire extended family. (1:44:21) To tolerate all of the emotional pain and torment of constant war, James believes that the people were very strong willed and loyal. (1:45:00) While in the bush the men herd stories of Vietnamese ambushes where men were killed, had their genitals cut off, and then stuck in their mouth. Other calling cards, such as leaving an Ace of spades with a body, were meant to deter the military from entering an area. (1:46:45) Because field doctors were put through medical school at the navy’s expense, they owed the military a certain amount of time as pay. Because of this, field doctors were very disgruntled and rebellious. (1:48:43) The field doctors had not been out of medical school any more than a year before being deployed. (1:51:00) Several doctors went to the Pink Elephant, an officer’s club, in De Nang. Because they had never been in the bush, they would not go unless some marines (including James) went with them. While the doctors were in the officers club James was in an enlisted men’s club. When the club closed, James was ordered to leave. The Doctors did not want to leave. In order to stay longer, the doctors temporarily promoted James to lieutenant for 3 hours until the doctors wanted to leave. (1:52:20) The officers club was very well accommodated with leather chairs, little cocktail tables, waitresses, and other luxurious amenities. (1:57:32) At approx. 2-3 o’clock in the morning, a truck was sent to the officer’s club to take the officers back to their station of duty. (1:58:29) End of Enlistment (2:00:10)     James was offered a second R&R before he was to leave Vietnam. After he received his orders to leave he soon canceled it. (2:00:19) James was required to turn all his gear in before leaving the country. (2:00:45) James was sent to the air port via truck. After turning in his gear, James felt very venerable being in a combat zone without his gear. (2:01:13) The transition back to being a civilian took a long while to set in for James and other soldier. (2:02:12) �  James arrived in Long Beach California. At that point he began the process of being discharged from the Navy. This process took approx. 1 week. (2:03:03) James flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan, after being discharged. He we met at the air port by his wife, child and parents. (2:04:08) Life after Service (2:04:35)          James was out of the military but still had 2 years on the inactive reserve. (2:04:40) James ad his family rented a house in Rockford, Michigan, for some time while he looked for a job. (2:06:11) At the time James did not realizes that he had some problems, but James was very moody and anxious. These were being signs of PTSD. (2:06:45) James began working with his dad as a belt sander in a clock factory. (2:07:38) One of the men that James worked with in the reserve suggested that James should go into a nursing program. (2:08:45) The degree was 3 years. The class work was done at Grand Rapids Community College and the clinical work at Butterworth Medical Hospital. (2:11:00) 3 out of 5 days of class were spent in the hospital with patients. (2:12:28) James worked on the ambulance crew during school in order to make some extra money. (2:13:40) After James graduated, military recruiters came in to recruit for the nurse corps. James had been evolved in the Navy for 6 years now. (2:15:08) Service in the Nurse Corps (2:16:10)          Because Nurses were officers, James had to go through “fork and knife school” where men are taught protocol and logistics of being an officer. (2:16:45) This training was in Newport, Rhode Island. The training lasted 6-8 weeks. (2:17:47) After his training was complete, James’s first active duty station was Great Lakes Naval Base. (2:18:30) He began working in a combination orthopedic and neurological ward. (2:19:00) James’ experience in active duty and as a nurse helped him become a leader in the hospital as well and understand and treat his patients more effectively. (2:20:03) James was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base for approx. 2 years. In the 1970s the military was beginning to be down sized. James was not taken out but was sent to Philadelphia. (2:23:12) He worked in surgical and intensive care unit. (2:24:18) James was later made the head nurse of his unit. At this time he was promoted to a first lieutenant. (2:24:40) He was then sent to Guam (2:25:31) Life in Guam (2:25:40)    The Navy shipped all of James’s and his family’s belongings to Guam. The Navy even shipped one of James’s cars. (2:25:45) Guam was a very secluded and remote area. Because it was more primitive it was approx. 10 years behind the rest of the U.S. (2:26:34) Because the area was so small, James was involved with the native population more than if he was working in a large city. (2:28:34) �      Due to the hospital being smaller in size, there were no separate wards; instead all patients were placed in one large holding room. (2:29:05) For the most part, the people of Guam were very welcoming to the military. Some did not like the Military’s presence and would beat up Marines. (2:29:41) James was invited to several civilian homes for dinner. The food was very good. (2:30:41) James invited a civilian he had eaten with to one of his parties to cook. (2:33:05) One of the things there was to do in Guam was snorkel. When James snorkeled off World War II beaches there were wrecks, such as a Japanese Zero that was shot down. (2:34:11) He was in Guam for 3 years. His family loved being there. (3:35:30) Service in Oakland, California (2:36:05)         James was given orders to work at the Oakland Naval Hospital. While there he and his family lived on the island of Anita. (3:36:12) San Francisco was fascinating. He loved living in California, except for how expensive it was. (2:37:35) James lived in Naval housing in Anita. (3:38:20) James became charge nurse of an orthopedic ward in Oakland. He then switched over to the education department and began working as an instructor. (3:38:50) James applied for duty under instruction which was a program orientated toward public health that would improve his “outdated” education. (2:40:00) James desired to instruct corpsmen. Instead he was ordered to 29 Palms, California, to a small hospital. (2:51:45) Living in 29 Palms was like living on the surface of the moon. He did not enjoy his time there. His 3 kids however, did enjoy it. (2:43:50) James was happy to retire after his service in 29 Palms. He retired in 1989. (2:45:36) Life After Military Service (2:46:00)         He began working in occupational health at Butterworth Hospital. He believes health care became under influence by so many outside organizations that it was seen as difficult to excursive one’s profession. (2:47:00) At the age of 62 in January of 2007, James retired. (2:47:42) Because the nurse corps is made up of people who were civilians for most of their lives, they refuse to follow military order as much. (2:49:17) James realizes that the stresses placed on combat soldiers are almost the same regardless of where or when they served. (2:50:47) He thinks that the psychologists that work with soldiers with PTSD have trouble because the soldiers feel uncomfortable talking to someone who has not had the same experience. (2:51:23) He is very interested in U.S. military and the psychological effects of combat. (2:53:43) He liked his experience, and was very glad that he joined the military. (2:55:25) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VandenboschJ0851V1 Title A name given to the resource VandenBosch, James (Interview outline and video, 1 of 2), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource VandenBosch, James Description An account of the resource James VandenBosch, born in Ada, Michigan, enlisted in the Navy in 1966 and trained as a medical corpsman. After a cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La in the Mediterranean, he trained for combat duty with the Marines at Camp Lejeune and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. After a short stint with a Civil Action Patrol working in the villages near Da Nang, he became the senior corpsman for a rifle company of the 26th Marines, and participated with them in a series of combat operations. He spent the last part of his tour at a hospital in Da Nang. After his discharge, he eventually decided to go to nursing school and re-enlist in the Navy, this time as a nurse and officer. He did so, and retired from the Navy in 1989. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Navy Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-06-28 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c25432f3ec3ea22014754a046d91cd1f.mp4 98e6461317735267ec7baccabecabe1e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9ad1e10158f31f7687bf355519c3ec0.pdf a7ece26d0f667c719311f86813d426c5 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Allen Vande Vusse Vietnam War Interview Length: (01:29:54:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:14:00) · Vande Vusse was born and raised in Holland, Michigan and lived for the majority of his younger life, graduating from Holland High School in 1962; while Vande Vusse was growing up, his father worked as a butcher (00:00:14:00) · After Vande Vusse finished high school, he got a job working for a company called Municipal Foresters, where he worked at clearing trees away from powers; Vande Vusse stayed at the job until he joined the Marine Corps (00:00:32:00) o Vande Vusse married in 1963 and although he and his wife had twin daughters, they ended up getting divorced in 1968; both Vande Vusse and his wife were just too young to get married (00:00:43:00) · Once Vande Vusse’s divorce was final, his draft status went from 3A to 1A, so when he was twenty-four years old, Vande Vusse received his draft notice to join the Army (00:01:02:00) o Vande Vusse’s father had served in both World War II and the Korean War as a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marines (00:01:16:00) o In 1967/1968, in Vande Vusse’s opinion, a lot men were being drafted into the Army, sent through basic and advanced training, deployed to Vietnam, and ended up returning home in a wooden box in less than a year because they did not have enough training (00:01:35:00) § Given his experience serving with the Marines, Vande Vusse’s father told Vande Vusse that if he wanted to keep his act together, Vande Vusse should enlist in the Marines instead of waiting to be drafted by the Army (00:01:52:00) · The Marines offered a ninety-day delayed enlistment program, so Vande Vusse ended up official joining the Marines at the beginning of February 1969 (00:02:43:00) o Vande Vusse ended up getting married for a second time two weeks before he left to join the Marines (00:02:54:00) § When Vande Vusse got married for a second time, his new wife knew that he had to serve his time in the service (00:03:02:00) o Initially, Vande Vusse went to Detroit, where he went through a physical and took a series of tests for his intelligence level (00:03:18:00) § While in Detroit, Vande Vusse was in a group of recruits to consisted of both draftees and enlistees; from what Vande Vusse saw and mostly overheard, the draftees tried all sorts of tricks to try and get out of serving (00:03:46:00) · Even while Vande Vusse was in boot camp, other recruits would claim all sorts of problems to get out of serving (00:04:49:00) · Once the day finally came, Vande Vusse and four other recruits flew from Detroit to San Diego for boot camp; because he had been part of the delayed-enlistment program, Vande �Vusse was placed in-charge of the records for all five of the recruits (00:05:34:00) o When the group arrived at the airport in San Diego, they found a Marines sergeant, who ordered them onto a bus; the sergeant did not actually start shouting until the bus had reached the recruitment depot in San Diego (00:05:43:00) § Once at the depot, the sergeant gave the men thirty seconds to get off the bus and stand on a series of yellow foot prints painted on the ground outside the bus (00:06:07:00) § Before Vande Vusse had left home, his father told him that the Marines were going to be tough on him (00:06:26:00) · However, Vande Vusse was in good physical shape from cutting down the trees, so he did quite well in the physical aspects of the training (00:06:33:00) o Whereas Vande Vusse was nearly twenty-four years old, most of the other recruits were only seventeen- or eighteen-year-olds (00:06:48:00) · At the beginning of the training, the instructors basically brain-washed the recruits, stating that there were three ways to do everything: the right way, the wrong way, and the Marine Corps way, and the Marine Corps way was always right (00:07:21:00) o There was some physical abuse by the instructors but ultimately, the abuse made the recruits tougher (00:07:39:00) § There was a sign above the gate leading into boot camp that read “the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war” and in Vande Vusse’s experience, that was true (00:07:50:00) § Nevertheless, until the day he dies, Vande Vusse will always be proud of having been a United States Marine (00:08:01:00) o Each of the different branches in the military were trained to fill different roles and the Marines were trained as shock troops, which put them at a disadvantage while serving in Vietnam (00:08:12:00) § For the most part, the Marines were not trained for doing long-term warfare, which was more in-line with the Army’s job (00:08:23:00) o During boot camp, Vande Vusse and the other recruits would wake up at five o’clock in the morning and go to bed a nine o’clock at night (00:08:41:00) o The training consisted of a lot of discipline and a lot of physical training; after the recruits had only been there two or three weeks, they were already running three miles in platoon formation (00:08:47:00) § By the end of boot camp, the recruits were running three miles several times a day (00:08:57:00) o As part of the training, the recruits spent two weeks at nearby Camp Pendleton to train on the rifle range (00:09:14:00) § One of the big things that the Marine Corps believed in was marksmanship and everyone was trained in the Marines to be an infantryman, regardless of what their specialty would end up being (00:09:23:00) § In boot camp, Vande Vusse and the other recruits trained using M-14 rifles; Vande Vusse did not see his first M-16 rifle until he got to Vietnam (00:09:46:00) · Although the M-14 was a much more accurate weapon, especially at long range, the men serving in Vietnam found out that most of �the fighting there occurred at close range and they wanted the firepower of the M-16 (00:09:53:00) o All three of Vande Vusse’s drill instructors were Vietnam veterans, one as an infantryman, one as part of an air wing, and one as a clerk/typist (00:10:26:00) § The drill instructors made it clear to the recruits that if they did not follow the instructor’s lessons, then they were going to deploy to Vietnam and they were going to die (00:10:47:00) § In a way, the drill instructors made the recruits into robots, so that the recruits instantly responded to commands (00:10:53:00) · When the recruits first arrived at boot camp, the purpose of their first haircut was not only for health reasons but to degrade the recruits (00:11:02:00) · The drill instructors took recruits from every part of American society and made them all equal; the recruits were not individuals anymore but were part of a team (00:11:09:00) o Vande Vusse would figure that 90% of the recruits he trained with were white, with half-a-dozen black, half-a-dozen Hispanics, and one American Indian (00:11:36:00) § All three of Vande Vusse’s drill instructors were white (00:12:10:00) · At one point, boot camp lasted for twelve weeks but by the time Vande Vusse went through, the duration had been reduced to ten weeks, including the two weeks spent at Camp Pendleton on the rifle range (00:12:17:00) o The two weeks on the rifle range came about two-thirds of the way into training, after which they returned to boot camp and spent the remaining time preparing for graduation and final inspection (00:12:29:00) o Just before the graduation ceremony, the senior drill instructor came out with a list and read down, alphabetically, what each recruit would be doing once he left boot camp (00:12:44:00) § When the drill instructor reached Vande Vusse’s name, he said “2500”, which was radio communications (00:12:57:00) o All the recruits went through a graduation ceremony and the older brother of one of Vande Vusse’s friends who was stationed in San Diego ended up coming to the graduation (00:13:02:00) · After graduation, the men were given four hours of liberty before being packed on a bus and taken up to Camp Pendleton for thirty days in an ITR (Infantry Training Regiment), the same thing as Advanced Infantry Training in the Army (00:13:15:00) o Everyone received the initially four weeks of time in an ITR and if a recruit was to be an infantryman, he would stay longer (00:13:36:00) o When Vande Vusse first enlisted, he was only given two choices for his assignment “ground” or “air” (00:13:56:00) § Because he scored above a 120 on the General Military Subjects test, a standardized test everyone in every branch of the military had to take, Vande Vusse was assigned to a more technical field (00:14:07:00) § Vande Vusse actually took the General Military Subjects test before he enlisted and he knew his score before he enlisted (00:14:42:00) · Originally, when he was going to be drafted into the Army, Vande �Vusse went to Grand Haven, Michigan and enlisted in the Marines (00:14:56:00) · When Vande Vusse got to Detroit, the gunnery sergeant in-charge of the Marine section said that Vande Vusse had really good test scores and if he only enlisted for two years, he would go into the infantry; however, if Vande Vusse enlisted for four years, then he would probably be assigned to a school (00:15:13:00) · Therefore, Vande Vusse ended up enlisting for four years instead of the normal two years (00:15:36:00) o Vande Vusse was eventually assigned to be a radio operator, which he would later find out was a prime target for the enemy to attack; without a radio, a unit could not be re-supplied, could not call in air or artillery support, could not call in for medi-vacs, etc. (00:15:54:00) § Typically in the Marine Corps, only one out of every eight Marines was in the infantry; it took everyone else working in the rear and behind the scenes to support that single infantryman (00:16:26:00) o The four weeks in the ITR consisted of a lot of forced marches and the recruits were taught about all the different heavy weapons (00:16:42:00) § At one point, during a night, a soldier half-a-mile away from the recruits lit up a cigarette, just to show the recruits the importance of maintaining light discipline (00:17:02:00) § There was also a jungle warfare section set up, where the recruits were shown the different types of booby-traps the enemy used (00:17:24:00) § All the instructors were Vietnam veterans and most were infantry veterans (00:17:40:00) · After finishing the four weeks in the ITR, Vande Vusse returned home on a ten-day leave before returning to San Diego to go through a twelve-week radio school (00:18:46:00) o In the radio school, Vande Vusse learned how to operate all the different communications equipment, including radios and telegraphs, how to operate a switch-board, Morse Code, etc. (00:18:58:00) § With Morse Code, Vande Vusse and the other recruits had to eventually reach the point that they could receive forty words a minute and send out thirty words a minute (00:19:21:00) · There were some men who could not make those thresholds and ended up washing out of the program (00:19:36:00) o Vande Vusse ended up graduating at the top of his class at the end of the program and he and all the other recruits were supposed to receive promotion to lance corporal (00:19:40:00) § However, the weekend before graduation, Vande Vusse was visiting an aunt and uncle who lived in Long Beach, California and while he was gone, unbeknownst to him, there was a racially-motivated fight in his squad bay (00:19:48:00) § As a result of the fight, his entire class was blackballed, none of the men received their promotion to lance corporal, and all the men received orders for Vietnam (00:20:04:00) · Although there was not visible racial tension in the radio school, �given that it was the latter part of the 1960s, there was racial tension in all of the branches (00:20:25:00) · Looking back, Vande Vusse attributes a large portion of the racial tension to the “Project 100,000” started by Senator Eugene McCarthy (00:20:37:00) o During “Project 100,000”, the military lowered the test score requirements, so that people who would have normally failed the test pasted instead and were allowed into the military (00:20:49:00) o It took until the mid-1970s for the problem to be resolved, once the fighting in Vietnam was over (00:21:37:00) o Most of the personnel who came in as part of the project had problems, which meant they would often get into trouble and get bad conduct discharges (00:21:45:00) · Once Vande Vusse had his orders for Vietnam, he returned home on another leave and on the day he had to leave for Camp Pendleton and his staging battalion, Vande Vusse’s oldest daughter was born (00:22:14:00) o Vande Vusse was able to hold his daughter for about five minutes before having to go to Grand Rapids for the flight to California (00:22:37:00) o As it turned out, Vande Vusse’s entire class from radio school ended up in the same staging battalion (00:22:51:00) o All the men from the radio school arrived on a Friday and on Sunday, they were told to board a bus that would take them to Twenty-Nine Palms, which was a town in the Mojave desert that was home to a Marine Corps air station; apparently, there were enough radio operators in Vietnam at the time (00:22:56:00) § The Marine Corps base at Twenty-Nine Palms was the largest Marine Corps base in the country and consisted of nine-hundred-and-forty-seven miles of desert divided between bombing ranges for aircraft from the Naval Air Station at Miramar outside of San Diego and artillery ranges for the three artillery units stationed on the base (00:23:24:00) § Once he was at Twenty-Nine Palms, Vande Vusse worked as a radio operator for the 9th Communications Battalion for about six months (00:24:18:00) · Vande Vusse and the other Marines in the unit would go on maneuvers in the desert, setting up radio relays and way-stations (00:24:28:00) · As well, every month, a couple of Marines would take a radio jeep, drive into the desert to track down civilians who had accidentally wandered onto the base (00:24:33:00) § While Vande Vusse was stationed at Twenty-Nine Palms, his wife and daughter moved out to California and the family was living in a trailer park off the base (00:24:59:00) · When their daughter was about three months old, Vande Vusse and his wife found out she had a defect where one of her hips had not calcified properly (00:25:08:00) �· Vande Vusse and his wife had to take their daughter to Camp Pendleton, where she was placed in a brace for her hip to her knee with a support in between and every month, the couple had to return to Camp Pendleton to have the brace changed (00:25:15:00) · A Chief Warrant Officer in Vande Vusse’s section realized Vande Vusse and his wife were having problems with their daughter, so when a commanding general’s orderly’s enlistment ended, the Chief Warrant Officer sent Vande Vusse to be the replacement, so the Chief Warrant Officer could remove Vande Vusse’s name from the rotation board to Vietnam (00:25:28:00) § Vande Vusse ended up spending six months as an orderly for the general, which resulted in a promotion from Lance Corporal to Corporal (00:26:09:00) · However, despite his name not being on the board, Vande Vusse still ended up going to Vietnam because there was a specific need for a radio operator (00:26:17:00) · While Vande Vusse was an orderly, every morning, just before the general arrived at his offices, Vande Vusse would run the general’s one-star flag up the flag pole outside (00:26:31:00) · During the day, Vande Vusse would take care of the general’s laundry and be the field driver for the general; the general had a staff sergeant who drove him around while on base but whenever he went into the field, Vande Vusse was his driver (00:26:44:00) · The general, Brigadier General Carl Hoffman, was an awesome gentleman to work for; the general ended up retiring as a Major General and was a veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War (00:27:12:00) o The general’s sergeant major had served as a tail gunner aboard a TBF torpedo bomber in the South Pacific during World War II (00:27:28:00) · Vande Vusse received orders for Vietnam around October 1970, after which he was given thirty days leave, which he used to move his wife and daughter back to Holland (00:27:40:00) o After the leave was over, Vande Vusse returned to Camp Pendleton and joined at staging battalion, which took a month to go through (00:28:00:00) § While in the staging battalion, Vande Vusse got all the shots he would need for overseas deployment, filled out a will, went through jungle school again, and learned additional information and tactics for fighting in the jungle (00:28:08:00) § Vande Vusse was a corporal at the time and at one point, the commanders decided they needed two corporals to be in-charge of a group of soldiers assigned to mess duty for a month; Vande Vusse and another corporal were assigned the job, which meant another month of being in the staging battalion (00:28:28:00) o Vande Vusse eventually made it to Okinawa like everyone else, where he exchanged his clothes for jungle fatigues (00:28:51:00) �§ § § As it turned out, someone had forgotten to give Vande Vusse a shot at Camp Pendleton but getting the shot on Okinawa required Vande Vusse to be quarantined for ten days (00:29:06:00) It ended up being January of 1971 before Vande Vusse actually made it over to Vietnam (00:29:21:00) To get to Okinawa, Vande Vusse flew out of Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco aboard a civilian airliner; from Okinawa to Da Nang, Vande Vusse again flew aboard a civilian airliner (00:29:29:00) Vietnam Deployment (00:30:03:00) · As Vande Vusse’s airliner was on the approach to the airport in Da Nang, Vande Vusse noticed a series of black spots on the runway, which turned out to be patches from where rockets had hit the runway (00:30:03:00) · One of the first things Vande Vusse remembers was that standing in the doorway of the airliner, it was extremely hot and humid (00:30:16:00) o Having landed during the day, Vande Vusse and the other men could see F-4 Phantoms and gunships lined up along the runway and another group of soldiers who were boarding another airliner to go home, who were making cat-calls back towards Vande Vusse’s group (00:30:36:00) o After arriving, Vande Vusse and the other men went to a large barracks building, where they were then assigned to various units (00:31:06:00) § When they got to Vande Vusse, he was told to sit off to the side and that in an hour-and-a-half, a truck was going to come pick him up to take him to the 1st Med. (00:31:27:00) § By then, Vande Vusse had been in the Marines for nearly two years and had never heard of a Marine medical battalion; however, he later found out that every Marine division had a medical battalion consisting of seventy-five to eighty percent Navy personnel plus a Marine communications section, a motor section, and a supply section (00:31:39:00) · The Navy personnel were further divided into doctors, corpsmen, and nurses (00:32:08:00) · Some of the doctors were actually in the unit voluntarily, with one doctor volunteering for the Navy and to go to Vietnam just for the practical experience (00:32:17:00) · When Vande Vusse joined the unit, the 1st Medical Battalion was located about halfway between the Da Nang Air Force base and the 1st Marine Division headquarters (00:32:52:00) o The battalion was stationed in a typical compound with six guard towers and barbed wire surrounding the entire compound (00:33:01:00) § The compound had an outer LZ (landing zone), then a taxi-way to an inner LZ, which was surrounded by a revetment to protect any helicopters on the LZ (00:33:10:00) § An opening on one side of the inner LZ led to the emergency room while an opening on the other side led to the communications bunker where Vande Vusse worked (00:33:32:00) �o When Vande Vusse arrived at the compound, the first thing he did was talk with a sailor, who told Vande Vusse he was being assigned to the communications section and subsequently took Vande Vusse to meet the sergeant in-charge of the communications section (00:33:44:00) § The sergeant was grinning from ear-to-ear when Vande Vusse arrived because Vande Vusse was his ticket home; Vande Vusse had been sent to the unit as a replacement for the sergeant (00:33:58:00) § Before he left, the sergeant showed Vande Vusse where the communications section’s hooch was, where the communications bunker was located (00:34:26:00) § The morning after Vande Vusse arrived, a lance corporal was showing the techniques and lingo that the Marines used with the radios when an Army helicopter called in saying he had wounded (00:35:41:00) · The lance corporal answered, took down the types of wounded and then called the emergency room so the doctors and corpsmen would be ready when the helicopter landed (00:35:32:00) · A few minutes later, the helicopter called back and said to change on of the wounds, a head shot, to a permanent routine; when Vande Vusse asked what that was, the lance corporal explained that the wounded soldier had died (00:35:55:00) o The lance corporal then had to call the motor pool for an ambulance to the LZ to pick up the body bag (00:36:10:00) · Even through the walls of the bunker, Vande Vusse and the lance corporal could hear the helicopter coming in and Vande Vusse, being curious, walked outside and watched as the helicopter landed, a corpsman pulled the two wounded off, who were then immediately taken to the emergency room (00:36:21:00) · Two more men then pulled off a dark green bag and laid it along side the LZ, after which the helicopter took off (00:36:38:00) · Vande Vusse walked over, looked at the body bag, and to this days, question how he was lucky enough to be assigned to the rear, in Da Nang (00:36:51:00) · Vande Vusse’s official assignment was to be in-charge of the communications section, which involved assigning the eight or nine radio operators to different work periods, which were normally four to six hour shifts (00:37:33:00) o Someone needed to constantly be on the radio because the men never knew when a medevac would be coming in (00:37:45:00) o Because he was a corporal and there were only a couple of other sergeants in the motor pool, around every third night, Vande Vusse would be sergeant of the guard (00:37:53:00) § During those nights, Vande Vusse would have to go around every hour on the hour to the various foxholes and bunkers on the perimeter to make sure none of the personnel on guard duty had fallen asleep (00:38:08:00) o The main road leading from the Da Nang Air Force base went past the compound and continued past Freedom Hill and the 1st Marine Division headquarters before curving back around to China Beach, which was the headquarters of the Force �Logistics Command (00:38:34:00) § Once every couple of weeks, the Marines would have to go onto a ridgeline beyond the road and do perimeter duty up there (00:38:49:00) § To one side of the battalion compound was an Army SkyCrane unit and just to the south was a South Vietnamese Army compound (00:39:07:00) · Vande Vusse arrived in Vietnam rather late in the war in 1971 and around that time, President Nixon was winding down the war (00:39:41:00) o Nevertheless, there were still casualties from mines, booby-traps, sniper fire, etc.; the personnel in the battalion had no way of knowing when something was going to happen (00:39:50:00) § It might go two or three days of nothing happening then all of the sudden, there would be two or three helicopters (00:39:57:00) § One time, a CH-53 Sea Stallion came into the LZ and Vande Vusse remembers that the helicopters was on the LZ for an extra half-a-day because of a mechanical problem (00:40:03:00) · As well, the was some concern over the proximity of the revetments, given that the CH-53 was larger than the helicopters that normally landed at the LZ (00:40:03:00) · The typical helicopter used by the Marines was the CH-46 Sea Knights, which was a close cousin to the CH-47 Chinooks used by the Army (00:40:33:00) · A couple of times a month, the compound would send out “med-caps”, which usually consisted of two or three corpsmen plus half-a-dozen Marines, including a radio operator, and sometimes, some South Vietnamese soldiers (00:41:20:00) o The groups would visit small villages around the Da Nang area and the corpsmen would treat any wounds of the local villagers (00:41:41:00) o The med-caps were one of the good things that the Marines did while in Vietnam; the Marine commanders were constantly arguing with General Westmoreland about the needed to win hearts and minds, something the Marines recognized as important for a long time (00:42:08:00) § However, from Vande Vusse’s perspective, the Army philosophy was to treat the situation like a conventional war in Europe, which did not work in jungle warfare (00:42:32:00) o In the compound, there were Vietnamese civilians who would show up in the morning and leave in the afternoon and they would do the men’s laundry, worked in the mess hall, etc. (00:42:58:00) § The one girl who worked in Vande Vusse’s hooch was a nice, young Catholic girl (00:43:12:00) o Out in the villages, the villagers were happy to get the shots and treatment from the corpsmen (00:43:46:00) § Nevertheless, a large portion of the villagers had been re-located from smaller villages, which upset them; the villagers wanted to be left by their little piece of land and to live their life (00:43:59:00) · Part of the dominant religion of Vietnam, Buddhism, is the idea of ancestor worship and for the most part, the grandparents, greatgrandparents, and even great-great-grandparents of the villagers �were buried on that little plot of land (00:44:12:00) · The re-located villagers settled into tar-paper shacks surrounding the various military bases (00:44:32:00) · Vande Vusse saw a little bit of the drug use / insubordination / prostitution / lack of discipline that is often attributed to soldiers in the rear area; two separate incidents stand out the most in his mind (00:45:25:00) o One night, Vande Vusse was walking as sergeant-of-the-guard and was walking past the Graves Registration, which prepared dead bodies for shipment home for funerals, and the staff sergeant in-charge of the section noticed Vande Vusse walking past and invited him in for a sandwich (00:45:37:00) § The staff sergeant opened up the storage building, one of the few air conditioned on the base, and the staff sergeant had stored all his food inside one of the storage containers (00:46:02:00) § The two men were eating their sandwiches when the staff sergeant told Vande Vusse there was something he needed to see; the staff sergeant then stood, pulled open another storage container and inside was a dead body (00:46:28:00) § The staff sergeant turned the body’s head and on the back side was a massive hole packed full of gauze; the man had been a corpsman with a drug problem and had committed suicide by shooting himself with a .45caliber pistol (00:46:46:00) o A couple of months later, Vande Vusse was sergeant-of-the-guard during the day when someone came running up from the other side of the compound and said that someone was shooting up the area with an M-16 (00:47:17:00) § Vande Vusse loaded his .45 and started running in that direction; he came around one corner and there was a young black Marine shooting up the area with the M-16 (00:47:34:00) § As Vande Vusse came around the corner of the building, a round hit about three feet above his head, so he ducked back behind the building (00:47:53:00) § It turned out that the Marine was high on drugs and as Vande Vusse leaned back around the corner, he leveled his pistol to shoot the Marine in the leg (00:48:06:00) § At about the same time, a doctor grabbed Vande Vusse’s shoulder to stop him from shooting and the Marine ran out of ammunition; as the Marine fumbled getting the clip out of the rifle, the doctor ran up and tackled him to the ground (00:49:42:00) § MPs handcuffed the Marine, took him away, and he was never seen in the unit again (00:50:09:00) o Whenever Vande Vusse was sergeant-of-the-guard, the lieutenant who was incharge would always come around midnight and the two men would then go around together to check all the positions, as well as go into any of the un-used bunkers, trying to catch other men doing drugs (00:50:28:00) o For the most part, Vande Vusse believes it was more the sailors in the compound who were using drugs than the Marines (00:50:57:00) § Although it was fairly easy to get a hold of drugs, Vande Vusse himself �never used drugs while in Vietnam (00:51:11:00) o Within Vande Vusse’s unit, there were never any racial issues (00:50:28:00) § For the most part, the medical personnel in the unit were white, with a handful of black personnel (00:52:31:00) § Nevertheless, as Vande Vusse’s tour continued, more racial tension did start to creep into the unit (00:53:06:00) · For example, the men would be standing in line in the mess hall and the black men would start rapping their hands on the table; the white men would then make up their own sequence just to counter the black men (00:53:09:00) · The racial problems amongst Marines ended up being worse once Vande Vusse returned home from Vietnam (00:53:23:00) End of Vietnam Deployment / 10th Marine Artillery / Recruiter (00:53:34:00) · Vande Vusse ended up deploying to Vietnam for four-and-a-half months (00:53:34:00) o At the end of May 1971, the 1st Marine Division stood down and returned to the United States; all the Marines who had been in-country for less than five or six months were farmed out to the smaller units that remained behind (00:53:40:00) o One day, the girl who cleaned his hooch brought Vande Vusse some local fruits and even though the corpsmen had warned the men not to eat any local produce, Vande Vusse did not pay attention and ate both fruits (00:53:58:00) § Vande Vusse ended up with terrible bowel problems, to the point he was bleeding internally (00:54:21:00) o Vande Vusse’s condition eventually reached the point that he had to be evacuated back to Okinawa for surgery (00:54:31:00) o After he spent ten days on Okinawa, an Army doctor looked at Vande Vusse’s chart and before he knew it, he was on a series of flights back to the United States, before ending up at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Chicago (00:54:38:00) o By the time he got out of the Great Lakes Naval Hospital, the vast majority of the Marine forces were no longer in Vietnam, so he did not have to go back to Vietnam; Vande Vusse was at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital for two-and-a-half months, first recovering from surgery then serving as part of the Marine Corps detachment at the hospital (00:55:04:00) § One of Vande Vusse’s duties in the Marine Corps detachment was driving a truck to O’Hare Airport in Chicago with a couple of other men to pick up any deserters, who were then shipped to either Camp Pendleton or Camp Lejuene for court-martials (00:55:31:00) · Finally, Vande Vusse’s new orders came through and he transferred to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to serve with the 10th Marine Artillery Regiment (00:55:51:00) o When he joined the regiment, Vande Vusse figured he would be getting back into communications; however, because he was able to type forty words a minute, after three weeks, Vande Vusse was transferred to be a battery correspondence clerk (00:56:01:00) o In a way, being a correspondence clerk was nice because Vande Vusse never had to serve any duties, such as KP or guard duty; first, his captain always wanted �Vande Vusse around and second, Vande Vusse was the person who made up the rosters for those duties (00:56:34:00) § While working as the clerk, Vande Vusse kept quasi-normal business hours, from eight o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the afternoon; as well, ever so often, working in the barracks to check liberty passes for Marines leaving the base on weekends (00:57:02:00) o It was at Camp Lejuene where the racial tensions amongst the Marines really started heating up (00:57:31:00) § On several different occasions, there were armed white guards who were severally beaten by black men (00:57:35:00) § However, in the middle part of the 1970s, the problems with racial tension somewhat subsided because the primary agitators had been discharged from the military (00:58:01:00) o Marines stationed on the base used drugs frequently, with nearly fifty percent of the drug usage by minorities (00:58:16:00) o When Vande Vusse first arrived at Camp Lejuene, it was still early enough that there were still draftees in the various units (00:58:55:00) o While Vande Vusse was stationed at Camp Lejuene, his family was not living with him (00:59:52:00) § Because the camp was in the South, a lot of people did not realized that the Civil War was over; from what Vande Vusse saw, whites in the South liked black people more than they liked northern Whites (00:59:55:00) · Therefore, Vande Vusse’s family stayed in Holland and Vande Vusse himself lived on the base (01:00:31:00) · The environment on the base was fine; it was once the soldiers were off the base that problems arose (01:00:45:00) · During his third year in the service, Vande Vusse decided to re-enlist and according to the military regulations, if a person has passed three years and one day in their four-year enlistment and re-enlists, the final year is dropped and four fresh years are added from the date of re-enlistment (01:01:12:00) o When he re-enlisted, Vande Vusse was promoted to the rank of sergeant, although he could change MOSs (Military Occupational Specialty), because he was in a specialty that was considered critical (01:01:28:00) o Instead, Vande Vusse was given the chance to choose his duty station for a year and he chose to go back to Twenty-Nine Palms because he and his wife loved living out there (01:01:38:00) o Once they were back at Twenty-Nine Palms, Vande Vusse and his wife lived in the same trailer park they had lived in the first time Vande Vusse had been assigned to the base (01:01:53:00) § Vande Vusse loved working at the base because in the summer, he only worked from seven o’clock in the morning until noon because of the heat (01:02:02:00) o Vande Vusse was originally supposed to return to the 9th Communications Battalion as the leader of a communications section but along the way, someone looked at his files and saw he had a secondary specialty of administrative clerk and was a good typist, so he was instead assigned to headquarters company �(01:02:17:00) § The headquarters company was in the same place where Vande Vusse had worked as the clerk for the general, only this time, Vande Vusse was incharge of “Force Troop, Central Files” (01:02:46:00) § Vande Vusse’s job was keeping track of the records for all the Marines stationed on the base as well as store all the manuals for the various training classes (01:02:51:00) o Vande Vusse was supposed to work in the headquarters company for a year but during the tenth month, the company commander, who disliked Vande Vusse and the other sergeants because they were exempt from field duties, called Vande Vusse into his office (01:02:58:00) § Vande Vusse walked into the office, where the captain had a big grin on his face and he told Vande Vusse that he had orders for Vande Vusse to go to San Diego for drill instructor school (01:03:30:00) § Vande Vusse said he did not want to be a drill instructor and when the captain said he did not have a choice, Vande Vusse told the captain the captain to flip through Vande Vusse’s records to his re-enlistment, which guaranteed Vande Vusse would be at a duty-station of his choice for a minimum of one year (01:03:43:00) § The captain kicked Vande Vusse out of his office and Vande Vusse returned to being a clerk (01:04:28:00) § About a month and a half later, Vande Vusse was called into the captain’s office again and told he was going to San Diego for recruiter school and he had to report two days after his one year was over (01:04:33:00) · During recruiter school, all the Marines had to be able to type at least forty words a minute and if a Marine could not type that fast, he had to go through forty hours of typing training; Vande Vusse himself passed the test on the first try, which meant he had forty hours free during the training (01:05:13:00) o Vande Vusse and the other Marines in the school had a lot of classes on the history and traditions of the Marine Corps, in the event that the Rotary Club or some other organization asked the recruiters to come and speak (01:05:28:00) o As well, all the men had to give both five- and ten-minute speeches, which were video-taped (01:05:40:00) § There were some men who did not want to be recruiters and they would often act stiff as boards during their speeches (01:05:55:00) · Vande Vusse distinctly remembers the instructors getting after a master sergeant for not using his hands enough when he talked; after that, the master sergeant would stand at attention during his speeches and every so often, one of his hands would fly up (01:06:14:00) § After each person finished giving their speech, the video tape would be shown to the entire class and everyone else would critique how the person had done (01:06:36:00) o At one point, professionals from the phone company were brought in to teach the men how to make cold phone calls and within a span of two minutes, convince a young man to visit the recruitment office (01:06:47:00) �o One of the tricks the men were taught was finding former Marines working at high schools and trying to get a copies of senior class lists with name, address, and phone number; some schools would voluntarily give up the lists and others did not (01:07:10:00) § At one of the Catholic prep high school in Buffalo, New York, the priest in-charge of the school was hesitant to let Vande Vusse speak with the students at the school (01:07:28:00) · Vande Vusse finished the recruiter school in 1973 and was assigned to Buffalo, New York, where he was then assigned to the recruiting station in Amherst, New York (01:07:55:00) o Vande Vusse spent forty-six months as a recruiter and was extremely good at doing the job (01:08:16:00) § Vande Vusse’s quota was to enlist five people per month and for forty-two of the forty-six months, he managed to reach the quota (01:08:31:00) § Vande Vusse worked off the idea that he should not lie to the potential recruits; he would tell them the truth about what could be guaranteed, what could be not (01:08:40:00) § Vande Vusse found out that just like in sales, his best asset was a satisfied customer (01:08:50:00) o There were always those recruiters who wanted to be Marines but right after Vietnam, both the Marines and the Army had difficult times reaching their recruit quotas (01:09:23:00) o When Vande Vusse first returned home from Vietnam, there were a lot of instances of veterans getting spit on, harassed, etc. (01:10:16:00) § However, because Vande Vusse came home and went straight to a military facility, the Great Lakes Naval Hospital, he never experienced that; as well, because Vande Vusse stayed in the Marine Corps, this meant he did not experience as much of the anti-war protests as the men who got out of the service a few days after the returned to the United States (01:10:33:00) § When he worked as a recruiter, Vande Vusse and the other recruiters did run into anti-military sentiments at some of the high schools, mostly amongst the principals and school administrators (01:10:53:00) · However, because most were public schools, they were required to allow the recruiters in at least once a month (01:11:06:00) · One of the high schools in Buffalo specifically taught students to work in nearby airplane factories and one of the teachers was a former Marine who had served in the air wing (01:11:18:00) o Through the teacher, Vande Vusse got the senior class list and he managed to recruit around six students from that teachers class alone (01:11:51:00) o At one point, Vande Vusse enlisted an all-state football player; because of the football player’s enlistment, Vande Vusse managed to get enlistments from a group of nine other young men (01:12:41:00) § One of the other young men was so skinny that when Vande Vusse took him for his physical, the young man had to eat what seemed like five pounds of bananas and made the necessary weight by one pound �(01:13:13:00) § The entire group went off to boot camp together and Vande Vusse was afraid that the skinny kid was not going to make it (01:13:28:00) § About three or four weeks later, Vande Vusse was sitting in his office and the football player walked in; when Vande Vusse asked what happened, the football player said the instructors threw him out (01:13:33:00) · The young man broke down and cried as he described how the instructors yelled at him (01:13:51:00) § Five weeks later, the skinny kid walked in wearing dress blues, which was a mark of distinction for recruits (01:13:55:00) o After Vietnam, seventy-five percent of all the recruits had to be at least high school graduates; if a recruit was not a high school graduate, then he needed to get higher test scores (01:14:46:00) o The day someone finished recruiter school, he had to at minimum thirty-six month remaining in his enlistment; this meant Vande Vusse had to extend his enlistment for another year and two months (01:15:26:00) End of Enlistment / Post-Military Life / Reflections (01:15:46:00) · When his extension ended, Vande Vusse seriously considered staying in the Marine Corps because he had made staff sergeant while working as a recruiter (01:15:46:00) o Being either a recruiter or drill instructor was considered one of the toughest assignments in the Marine Corps, which meant as soon as someone reached the minimum time in-grade necessary for promotion, they automatically went to the top of the list for the promotion (01:15:54:00) § Had Vande Vusse extended his enlistment, at nine years, he would have been promoted to gunnery sergeant (01:16:18:00) o However, being a recruiter after Vietnam was tough for Vande Vusse and the other recruiters (01:16:30:00) § They were often working six days a week, ten, twelve, or fourteen hour days just to make their quotas (01:16:44:00) § As well, although they did not realize it at the time, most of the recruiters had some sort of mental problem as a result of their experiences in Vietnam (01:17:08:00) § However, the recruiters were “tough” Marines, so their solution was to go to a local bar three or four times a week, which was not good for the men or for their marriages (01:17:17:00) · Vande Vusse figures if he had decided to re-enlist, he would not still be married (01:17:35:00) § Being a recruiter was a “damned if you do/damned if you don’t” situation; if someone did good as a recruiter, he stayed as a recruiter and Vande Vusse did not want another four years of being a recruiter (01:17:59:00) · Nevertheless, when he left the military, Vande Vusse went to work for the post office, which allowed him to keep paying into his retirement fund, so that when he actually did retire, he had a pension for thirty-nine years (01:18:36:00) · For a long time after he got out of the Marines, Vande Vusse did not talk about his experiences in Vietnam (01:19:10:00) �o Although Holland was a very patriotic city, with thousands of people showing up the annual Memorial Day parade, Vietnam veterans were ostracized, even at a lot of VFW and American Legion posts (01:19:41:00) o One year, a group of Vietnam veterans started a Vietnam Veterans Association chapter in Holland and Vande Vusse remembers watching them march in the Memorial Day parade behind the World War II veterans (01:20:15:00) § One of the veterans noticed Vande Vusse, who was leaning against a tree wearing his Marine uniform and although he motioned for Vande Vusse to join them, Vande Vusse did not (01:20:27:00) § After the parade, Vande Vusse watched the memorial ceremonies and as he reminisced about his experiences, he began to cry and a photographer for the local paper managed to take a picture as a tear rolled down Vande Vusse’s face; the picture was on the front page of the newspaper the following day (01:20:41:00) · Right after getting out of the service, Vande Vusse went back to work cutting down trees, then worked as both a bartender and a bar manager before eventually working for the post office (01:21:11:00) o After that, Vande Vusse got involved with the Vietnam Veterans chapter in Holland as well as the Holland VFW (01:21:26:00) o While he was with the post office, Vande Vusse still had the habit of going out once or twice a week to get drunk, not realizing that the problems were coming from his experiences in Vietnam (01:21:47:00) o Vande Vusse’s problems continued but he always kept them hidden, especially during the last fourteen years at the post office, when he was working as a manager in Muskegon, MI (01:22:38:00) · About two years after Vande Vusse retired, he started having nightmares and finally, his wife suggested go to see a VA psychologist (01:22:55:00) o However, Vande Vusse did not go but when he was talking with another group of veterans, one of them suggested he go see a psychologist and this convinced Vande Vusse he should go (01:23:09:00) o After Vande Vusse saw the psychologist, the psychologist said that government gave seven valid reasons for someone to have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and Vande Vusse had five of the reasons (01:23:28:00) o There was a psychologist who traveled from Grand Rapids, MI to Muskegon and for four months, Vande Vusse met with him once a week for an hour (01:24:08:00) § Although the psychologist did not cure any of Vande Vusse’s problems outright, he helped Vande Vusse solve them himself (01:24:23:00) o After about two months of seeing the psychologist, the psychologist said that he had done as much as he could for Vande Vusse and that if Vande Vusse wanted to continue, he needed help from somewhere else, namely in the form of God (01:25:19:00) § However, before then, it was difficult for Vande Vusse to equate God with what he had witnessed in Vietnam; nevertheless, Vande Vusse followed the advice and it helped his situation immensely, both internal and externally, in his relationship with his family (01:26:56:00) �· The VA benefits for returning soldiers are better now than they had been after Vietnam (01:27:52:00) o After getting out of the service, Vande Vusse was not able to go to college because all the VA paid for was tuition; however, by that time, Vande Vusse already had a wife an two children to take care of (01:27:59:00) § Now, the VA pays not only tuition but also room and board, so Vande Vusse recommends that any returning veterans go to school, even if it is only a junior college or technical school (01:28:05:00) o As well, Vande Vusse recommends any returning veterans who are having problems seek help from the VA or any veteran organization (01:28:34:00) § The veterans cannot ever fully forget their memories but the personnel at the VA can help the veterans to manage the memories (01:29:09:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VandeVusseA1381V Title A name given to the resource Vande Vusse, Alan (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vande Vusse, Alan Description An account of the resource Allen Vande Vusse was born and raised in Holland, Michigan, and graduated from high school there in 1962. He married and got a job shortly afterward, and his marriage gave him a draft deferment, which he lost after getting divorced in 1968. Upon receiving his draft notice, he enlisted in the Marine Corps so as to stay out of the Army, joining in early 1969. He scored well on the aptitude tests and took specialized training in communications and took a four-year enlistment, which meant that he stayed in the US until January, 1971, when he was sent to Vietnam so serve as a radio operator for the 1st Marine Medical Battalion at Da Nang, where he communicated with helicopters bringing in wounded soldiers and the teams that met them upon landing. He served there for the better part of a year, but his tour was cut short by a serious intestinal problems which required hospitalization. He was sent to Great Lakes Naval hospital, and from there to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He extended his enlistment, and was able to move to California, where he trained as a drill instructor and eventually wound up as a recruiter in Buffalo, New York. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.) WKTV WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-05-16 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a00540c85b4155e8306956d1319f38a3.mp4 4e0255bb61fcaa08e86d7b987ab044ac https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/75532c80b18770e1923840df55fb8ed7.pdf 559e5adfac523c24e933f6d8b559a7fb PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Name of War: World War II Interviewee’s Name: Christine and Henry Vande Kerk Length of Interview: 45 minutes Christine’s Interview Pre-Enlistment (02:09)   Childhood and Background (02:03) o Christine was born on September 10, 1912 in Washington. She was a member of the U.S. Army. (02:06) o Grew up with two brothers, one who died in 1980 and the other one is 80. Her father was a pastor at a Christian Reformed Church. (03:12) Her Job (04:10) o Before joining the armed service she was in the public health nursing sector in Grand Rapids. (04:12) o Briefly mentions which siblings joined the war effort and died. (07:01) Enlistment/Basic Training (07:38)  Where she went (09:01) o Went to Atlantic City, New Jersey to wait to go to England. (09:07) o Had no specialist training as a nurse going overseas. Also describes the type of food she had on the holidays. (09:23) Active Duty (10:12)   Where she served (10:34) o Served in England and mentions which hospital she served at and then returned home in 1944. (10:41) o Describes in detail what the journey to England was like aboard the RMS Queen Mary. (11:12) England (11:59) �o Christine mentions that she kept very busy with patients coming all the time. Describes that they often spent their weekends touring Scotland. (12:03) o She describes how she felt about witnessing all the carnage and casualties. (13:10)  Also, mentions who she developed good friendships with. (13:40) o Came out of the war with the ambition of going into mission work in Europe. Before moving on with mission work, she decided to go back to school which was paid for by the GI Bill. Went first to the University of Michigan to get her BA degree and then went for her Master’s degree at Compton University and the University of Colorado. (14:31) o After five years, she enrolled at a maternity center to be a midwife. Finished up taking Master’s classes at Columbia University in New York. (15:43) o Had no communication with family or friends during her time overseas. (16:30) After the Service (19:53)  Missionary Work (19:55) o When World War II ended, Christine was involved in mission work from 1951 to 1957 in Iraq as a nurse with the Reformed Church of America. (19:56)   Backs up and describes her journey home aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth from England. Also mentions what type of reception they received when they got home. (21:17) o  When she got to Iraq, she found herself in the midst of an uprising in the region. She was forced to leave the country and leave for Jordan where she spent a year in a Palestinian refugee camp. On one occasion, she had a personal audience with King Hussein. (20:24) Readjusting to Home (21:43)  For her, it was not hard to adjust to civilian life. When she was discharged, she went into the mission field. But before then she attended Wheaton College. (21:57)  Before attending Wheaton College she had gotten her Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Michigan. (22:45) Reflection (23:05) �o Did not maintain regular contact with any veterans. (23:08) o Her WWII experience helped her pursue her BA degree to then move into the mission field. (24:02) o Christine moves forward once more and discusses her mission work in some detail. (27:29) o   Briefly served in Amarah, Iraq, during which time she maintained a regular correspondence with Queen Noor of Jordan. (29:13)  Briefly discusses what she talked about with King Hussein of Jordan. Among the topics they talked about was her hospital work. (30:22) At this point, Christine shows various pictures and letters from her Army Book. (32:35)  Shows pictures of what the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth looked like. (32:52)  Also shows pictures from England and discusses them in depth during the war and afterwards. Further shows pictures of her forays into Scotland. (34:27)  Briefly tells a few stories along with showing her Scotland pictures also. (36:54)  Also shows a certificate service in which read, “Army Service Forces Transportation Corps Army of the United States. New York, port of Embarkation. (42:13)  Also shows what embalms/dog tags she wore on her uniform. (42:25)  Further shows a letter received from Harry Truman thanking her for answering the call of her country. (43:53) Interview Ends (44:56) Henry’s Interview Pre-Enlistment (01:55)  Childhood (02:01) o Henry was born on May 23, 1912 in Rock Valley, Iowa. (02:03) �o Grew up with 10 siblings, 2 are still alive. (02:20) o His parents were both farmers. (03:07)  His Job (04:26) o Before he joined up, he was a civilian flight instructor working at the University of Iowa. (04:20) o During the 1930s, FDR established the Civil Pilot Training Program for college students. Once the war broke out it phased out the program became known as war training service, specifically focused for military training. Was working at Iowa City, when he heard that flight instructors were needed. He transferred from the University of Iowa. (05:03) o He was a reservist during this time. When he was made active he was sent to New Orleans, LA and then to Ames, Iowa to train navy recruits. (06:12) o Mentions that he had a younger brother in the U.S. Army. (06:39) Enlistment/Basic Training (07:38)  Why he went (07:52) o Henry did not choose the Navy to begin with but was just there when the opportunity presented itself. (07:55)  Where he went (08:10) o Once made active, Henry went through basic training at Dallas, Texas where he attended a cadets’ primary flight training school. From there he was transferred to the School for Navy Flight Instructors in New Orleans where he attended Navy School for Cadets flight training and then transferred to Ames, Iowa afterwards where he instructed. (08:21) o Describes how he adapted to military life. (09:45) Active Duty (10:12)  Where he served (10:19) o Was stationed at Ames Naval Station, Iowa. Was never sent overseas but served his whole time as a land-based flying instructor. When the war ended he was still stationed here. (16:47) After the Service (16:56) �o Readjusting to Home (16:58)  Upon being discharged, Henry operated a small airport in W. Iowa for two years. Mentions the other career endeavors he was involved with. Eventually, he moved to Denver, CO. (16:59)  While in Denver, he worked as a printing pressman for 30 years. Also kept up his pilot’s license until he retired in 1977. (17:06)  Discussed what a typical day was like being a primary instructor. On average, he was assigned to five to six students for a period of five weeks. Mentions that often he taught his students about the primary functions of the plane before going on to primary flight school in Iowa City, from which they would go on to pursue advanced training in the areas of bomber duty, fighter duty, or transport duty. (17:39)  Mentions that he stayed in contact with other instructors. (23:20) o Reflection (24:05)  Henry looked at his WWII experience as more of a job. His mission was just to teach students. His military experience taught the fundamentals of discipline to go on to become a printer. (24:47)  Henry briefly mentions how he met Christine his wife. Describes this in some depth. (25:46) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VandeKerkCH Title A name given to the resource Vande Kerk, Christine and Henry (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vande Kerk, Christine Vande Kerk, Henry Description An account of the resource Christine and Henry Vande Kerk are both World War II veterans who served their country in different capacities during the course of World War II. Christine Vande Kerk briefly discusses her pre-enlistment, enlistment as a nurse into the armed services, and her nursing experience while serving in England until 1944. She then discusses her missionary work in Iraq and Jordan in some detail. Henry Vande Kerk briefly discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training in the U.S. and then his goes into some detail about his days as a U.S. Navy Air Force civilian flight instructor working in the training of pilots in the basic procedures of aviation mechanics before they went on to pursue advanced training in bomber, fighter, and transport plane dynamics. Henry then briefly describes his thoughts on his wartime and what he learned from it. They both wrap up their interviews by showing some pictures and documents from Christine's Army and Missionary Books. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Rodriguez, Kyle (Interviewer) Petz, Alyssa (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Women Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-06-01 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/112df998678f995017c104a9c31bdad0.pdf 303b77da600f20e862b1e3c47a603000 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project World War II Richard VanAllsburg (22:51) Background Information (00:53) • • • • • Born on February 17th 1921. (1:00) Richard was in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Commander. (1:25) He served in Ohio, Washington, California, Texas, Florida, and the Hawaiian islands. (1:40) Richard lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy (in approx 1943). (2:27) Richard was trained to fly at the age of 19. When he enlisted he was told that Navy flight training would be easier to get into. (2:58) Training (3:12) • • • • Richard was sent to Buchman College in Ohio where he sent half his day in athletics and half in the class room. This lasted 6 months. (3:23) He was then sent to St. Mary’s College in California. This was the first part of training that was like a real boot camp. (4:00) Many men who enlisted came from homes that were still in poor states from The Depression. Training was the first time many had nutritious food and regular physical conditioning. (5:13) Approx. every 3 months Richard was moved for training. (6:03) Active Duty (6:20) • • • • • • Richard spent much of his active duty during a 9 month stretch in Hawaii. He worked in a utilities shed. (6:22) Richard volunteered to be sent to the Pacific. He had become board with the training in California. (6:45) Richard shipped out of San Diego, California, on an aircraft carrier. (7:27) Richard’s job was to tow targets for any man who needed shooting practice. He also calibrated radar. (7:46) In Hawaii Richard flew 9 different kinds of aircraft. This he very much enjoyed. (8:29) While flying, Richard flew too close to the ground and scared people off a float during a parade. (10:00) Life in Hawaii (10:40) • • • • • In Hawaii Richard spent most of his time chasing women. (10:48) Letters were the primarily way that Richard stayed in contact with home. (11:23) The food was not bad. (11:25) Richard doesn’t recall being too stressed. He loved flying so much that work was not seen as work. (11:42) Occasionally there were dances held. Nurses often came from the hospital to dance. (12:33) �• Overall Richard enjoyed his time in the service. He wouldn’t have left the Navy if his dad did not want him home to work for him. (13:24) Life after Service (14:30) • • • • Richard asked for an early discharge so that he could go home and help his dad with his dairy business. (14:35) Richard did not make many close relationships during active duty. He did make close relationships while in the Reserve. (15:20) Richard attended Michigan State University with a degree in agriculture and Dairy Manufacturing. (16:08) Richard processed and sold milk and ice cream. (16:20) Thoughts on Service (16:50) • • He enjoyed the service and would encourage anyone to enter. (16:54) Richard remained in the reserve for 27 years after being discharged in 1945. This affected his life more than his military service. (17:34) The Reserve and Return to Service (17:50) • • • • • Richard reentered the service from the reserve in 1962. (17:55) While in The Reserve, Richard would train a weekend a month and do 2 weeks of active duty a year. Richard served at naval stations in Cuba and San Diego. (18:05) He flew dive bombers while in The Reserve. (18:50) Richard was sent to South Langland for his active duty. Here the men flew reconnaissance missions that keep track of electronic reconnaissance boats that were 300 miles off shore. (20:11) Richard flew the 2nd highest number of hours while in service in South Langland. (21:16) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanAllsburgR0850V Title A name given to the resource VanAllsberg, Richard (Interview outline), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource VanAllsberg, Richard Description An account of the resource Richard VanAllsburg, born on February 17th 1921 in Grand Rapids Michigan, served in the U.S. Navy from approximately 1943-1945 as a pilot during World War II. Richard spent his first year of service in various training locations and active duty on bases. He soon volunteered to be sent to the Pacific in order to fly more. Richard was sent to Hawaii where he pulled targets for shooting practice. After being discharged in 1945 Richard joined the Naval Reserve. He was called back into duty in 1962 to carry out reconnaissance missions in the Caribbean for approximately 1 year. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Vandersyde, Seth (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource 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 Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-06-06 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/af5710a407a7d85373b14643e5b0c280.mp4 161520d6c9fa63b97c5dfab8753c0085 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e644942e1377305d1567a4c51cdbbb39.pdf ac24c2f3bb2b3a5dfb575790ec463e1a PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Gordon Van Wylen (01:01:00) (0:17) Background • Grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan • Graduated from Ottawa Hills High School in 1937 o During the Depression years, had little money (0:22) • He was the first in his family to go to college (0:36) • Attended Calvin College, he was within walking distance from the College • 3 years at Calvin and 2 years at U of M o Received an AAB degree from Calvin and an Engineering degree from U of M after a 5 year program (0:45) • 1940 he went to U of M and was due to graduate in 1942 (1:00) • Pearl Harbor happened in his Senior year at U of M (1:11) • Took a job with Dupont o Easily got the job due to his engineering degree and the demand for skilled labor in the military industries (1:45) • Wanted to join the service in stead of his job with Dupont o His heart was not in the engineering job (1:54) • Signed up for the B7 program with the Navy o A 4 month program (2:11) • Went to the B7 program in Columbia (2:41) • He did not know that he would be living in battleship Illinois o He was sent here because he had an engineering degree (2:47) • Had to march from 137th to 116th street to participate in the program and other leisure activities offered by the program directors o I.E. Saturday parades o Said the only hardship of the program was living on the battleship (3:32) • Had a compulsory Church service on Sunday o Had to march to get there (3:46) • Joined the Church choir o A protestant church (4:06) • When Pearl Harbor occurred, him and other students at U of M were glued to the radio awaiting more news o He knew that this would change America and his life in some way (4:26) • Shocked that the Japanese could attack the US with surprise o He was informed of world events and knew what was going on in the war  Everything really hit home when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (5:03) • Joined Navy B7 program o February 1943 – June 1943 o They had no choice where they would be sent after they completed the program (5:39) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Could volunteer, because he was an engineer, to be on a submarine duty o This was because he had an engineer degree and he had good marks in the program, giving him the ability to have a choice in where he was sent (6:07) He choose submarine duty because he didn’t want to go to Navy school and wanted a sea experience (6:14) Had to visit a psychologist and take a physical to be sure he was up to submarine duty (6:30) He was accepted into the submarine program o Went in as an officer because he had a college degree (6:36) He was sent to Key West, Florida with 25 reserve officers (7:27) The base used WWI R-boats It was a sound school, trained officers to detect submarines o Used the R-boats as tests because they were not fit for combat (7:46) Communicated with each other through sound waves, short and long wave o They wouldn’t be able to use radio waves in combat so they had to learn how to do it by sound (8:39) Took the sound course in Key West for 3 months then went to submarine school in New London (9:09) Not aware of how dangerous It would be, until later o He wanted to go to sea on a small ship • He didn’t want to be stuck in a motor room of a battleship o Motivated to be a deck officer on a submarine (9:20) 8 week program in New London (10:01) Choose a submarine called the Hardhead o Which was still being built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin (10:56) He was sent to Manitowoc with the rest of the crew while it was being finished o It was completed in April 1943 (11:19) It was tested in Lake Michigan o It was the first submarine to be tested at a 400 foot depth • They had to make sure everything was working properly before it was sent out to sea (11:30) With his engineering background he was familiar with the principles of the submarines machinery (12:43) The submarine had 8 officers including the captain and 6 other officers o 3 officers were reserve and the other 3 were academy graduates (13:42) Each Officer had various jobs assigned to them o Engineering officer, communications officer, etc (14:41) He was a commissary officer in charge of food o Had 85 men on board o Had to make sure there was enough food to feed all of them for their trips (14:50) After testing was done, the crew was sent to Chicago on the submarine and went down a river/canal to a dry dock lift that put the submarine into the Mississippi and pulled by tub boats to New Orleans Went through the Panama Canal (16:12) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Went to the Pearl Islands and trained for warfare combat o The sub was assigned a destroyer (16:19) Spent 7 days in the Pearl Islands, all sorts of exercises o Night routines, gun firing, tracking (16:40) Practiced a submerge attack (17:47) Explains the torpedo and how it works in all its various aspects o Very complex in relation to the submarine and other ships (18:17) Learned to make a submarine attack o He was assigned to mechanically measuring distance and estimate range to compare with a computer o He would fire the torpedoes when ordered too (20:30) Early part of the war, the torpedoes did not function properly o The original theory was to fire the torpedo under the ship and the ship’s magnetic field would trigger the bomb  This did not work very well (22:02) They shifted to actually hitting the side of the ship o It took awhile to engineer this, as well as more time to get correct estimates and range to fire (22:35) Left Manitowoc in May 1944 and went to Pearl Harbor after his training in the Pearl Islands (23:01) Went on patrol in 1944 o He helped patrol the east side of the Philippines (23:14) He made his first attack after a week of patrol (23:33) Discusses how the submarines communicate o Submarines were forbidden to use radio waves o They were never to broadcast to their base in Australia unless it was very important (23:49) His submarine was sent top secret information on location and patrol routes of Japanese ships (24:35) They tracked a ship until they had a course o They attacked once the ship’s course was confirmed (25:27) Submarines go a good 21 knots on the water surface 3 to 8 knots submerged o 21 knots is roughly 5 miles an hour  12 days to get to the Philippines from Pearl Harbor (25:50) The Japanese got better at attacking submarines as the war progressed o The US had around 42 submarines in the area o They were always mindful of a Japanese attack  From ship or air assaults (26:45) They sank a destroyer o They did not sink the smaller ships that were with it (27:55) He only felt threatened by the Japanese 2 or 3 times (29:09) On his second war patrol off the west coast of the Philippines in a wolf pack (29:23) o 3 submarines working together One submarine picked up a signal on the radar (30:05) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • They got around the destroyers protecting a carrier They fired at it and the ship exploded o They learned after that it was carrying aviation fuel After the explosion the ships protecting it started to drop death charges (30:55) His submarine got away unscathed o The submarine that first detected the radar signal was destroyed o The third submarine was chased and attacked, but survived after 16 hours (31:36) o His submarine got a reward for sinking the carrier with minimal damage to the submarine (32:10) His submarine was based in Perth, Australia on the western coast They went through the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, through narrow passages to get to the base (32:45) The Japanese knew that US ships were using the narrow passages near Indonesia so they tried to patrol them (33:23) They ran into a few destroyers They tried to outrun the Japanese ships o They both fired on each other, formed a stalemate and got away (33:30) There was a good cohesion among the officers and crew on the submarine o Not much distinction between ranked officers and the crew  They wore much the same outfits, and ate the same food, slept in the same places o Everyone was very friendly and got to know each other (34:22) Older officers were more knowledgeable about the world and what was going on o They focused on their orders and duties o The younger officers did not have that much to do outside of the basic duties and had more time to think about the danger they were in (35:33) Everyone felt tense when they were being shot at or right before an attack (37:41) He had a good sense that the US would win the war (39:02) His submarine finished its 6th war patrol when the war was over (39:15) He wonders why the Japanese did not quit the war before the atomic bomb was dropped, since the Japanese knew that the war was lost (39:40) He did not know anything about the bomb before it was dropped (40:20) Before the bomb was dropped he felt a land invasion of Japan was going to be necessary to end the war in the Pacific (41:14) As the war went on the threat level felt the same even after the was ended o Many Japanese still held out in certain areas (42:07) The submarines stayed on the surface of the water unless it was in sight of land o The surface ships, such as destroyers, were faster and the submarines couldn’t outrun them even above water (43:06) He felt relief when Japan surrendered (45:02) He said he had a good experience in the Navy (45:41) He was done and more than ready to go home when his time to serve was up They could communicate with sound to other submarines when submerged o They could not use long distance radio contact (47:29) �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Submarines kept logs of incoming messages about other submarines and what the base in Australia was sending them (48:43) He was a part of the Southwest Navy patrol o Based in Perth, Australia o The Pacific Navy patrol was based in Pearl Harbor (49:18) He left 2-3 weeks after the war was over o He was in San Francisco for 4 months o Discharged on February 1946 (49:28) He went to graduate school at Michigan State University o Went for MIT He stayed in the reserves for a few years (49:50) Many people didn’t talk about their experience in the war o He told his family many stories about his experience o He said it was probably because he never witnessed any atrocities of war compared to many other soldiers (50:11) He was never a part of a veteran’s program (51:28) Met a woman in college and got married and had 5 children He is very involved in his church Life is always busy o These are reasons why he did not join a veterans group (51:43) Doesn’t think his war experience was the biggest thing in his life (52:19) Only kept in touch with a few of his fellow officers He went to a reunion in Manitowoc (53:40) Found out there were many soldiers that survived the ship that his submarine first sank o He wrote to the officer that helped organize the escape (55:17) He helped publish the Japanese officer’s book in the US o Published in 1994 (55:38) Met up with the officer in Norfolk, Virginia as part of a world tour with WWII Japanese destroyers (58:22) Went to Japan for a ceremony celebrating the book and its success o The ceremony brought him feelings of reconciliation, and the experience was extraordinary (01:01:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanWylenG Title A name given to the resource Van Wylen, Gordon (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Wylen, Gordon Description An account of the resource Gordon Van Wylen left his job as an engineer for Dupont in 1943 and joined the US Navy. He entered an officer training program, but then transferred into submarine school. He served on the submarine USS Hardhead in 1944-45 and went on six patrols in the Pacific. His boat sank several Japanese warships, including an aircraft carrier, and after the war he contacted and befriended some of the Japanese sailors who survived the sinking of this ship. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Montagna, Douglas (Interviewer) Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum (Muskegon, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-10-22 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/631c14ed004bcf6d1b6d50e961aa4d1c.mp4 d09a99d2f237a1a80311bc2771935c02 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e2cd1524237be100deb91ce37c42437a.pdf 4a8ff27c8b186e1e753cb0bb94c8a60b PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Korean War LeRoy Van Vleet Length of interview (42:49) (00:17) Family Background       Birthday May 11, 1931 (00:29) Grew up in Ottawa County, Michigan (00:39) Father worked for the WPA during the Great Depression. He also worked for Brass Company out of Grand Haven, Michigan and spent time as a class A machinist. (00:48) Completed 3 years of high school before enlisting in the Air Force in 1951. (01:27) He had family that were service members, his cousins were paratroopers and marines. He remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor. (02:12) Did odd jobs before his enlistment. (01:59) (02:52) Enlistment and Basic Training    Joined Air Force to avoid being drafted into another branch of service. (03:34) Lackland Air Force Base in Texas was the site of basic training and it was held for 14 weeks. (03:49) Problems adjusting to military discipline. (04:25) (5:08) First Active Duty Station  One month of service at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Generally, assisted engineers with the building of pontoon bridges and attended plumbing school.(05:20) (07:15) Deployment to Alaska   After a 15 day furlough was sent to a disembarking and processing station at Camp Stoneman in California. (07:18) Troop ship took men to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska and then were taken by plane to Thornborough Air Force Base. (08:00) (09:12) Cold Bay Alaska    Le Roy was stationed at Thornborough Air Force Base at the tip of the Aleutian Peninsula, which was also known as Cold Bay Alaska for roughly 13 months. The camp accommodations for the enlisted service members were crude. Cold and barren environment. �           Bears and wolves present in the area which required service members to arm themselves when outside. (10:00) Food supply and rations. (11:25) Major function of base was to refuel planes and tankers. (12:58) Duties included POL (patrol, oil, and liquids), guard duty, refueling planes and tanks, and taking care of the water supply. (13:18) Discussion of weather conditions which affected planes, runways, equipment storage and the type of clothing and gear utilized. (16:00) Received specific survival training for conditions in Alaska along with instructions to follow if base were attacked. (19:30) There were not many civilians present at the base; however hunters and trappers were in the area at times. (20:36) Comrades (23:00) Le Roy’s off-Time activities included reading, completing his high school education and numerous outdoor activities. (24:56) Major Events (27:00) o Submarine spotted in bay. (26:57) o Fire at Radar Installation. (27:10) Time at Cold Bay Ends (28:00) o Taken from Thornborough to Anchorage to Kodiak Naval Base and then to the mainland. (28:33) (29:00) Stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida           Eglin was a large base with a climate hangar and 10 auxiliary fields. Worked on planes doing aerial spraying of swampland. (30:15) Many civilians worked at Eglin. Le Roy participated in fueling and loading planes along with civilians. (30:37) Was part of an Emergency crew responsible for preparing base during events such as a hurricane. (31:00) Eglin was close to cities such as Panama City which allowed LeRoy to participate in social outings. (32:00) Integrated Base. (34:00) Test Hangar was 3 acres large and could recreate weather conditions from one extreme to another. (34:30) o Was used by all services. (35:00) Chemicals used for aerial spraying included DDT and Kerosene. The scope of their effects were not known at this time. (36:15) Le Roy received offers to reenlist but they did not appeal to him. (38:39) Le Roy was discharged in January 1955. (39:04) (39:13) Life After Service Went back to Michigan and worked in machining, construction, at a power plant, and on barges. (39:49) �Influence of service throughout life. (41:36) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanVleetL Title A name given to the resource Van Vleet, Leroy (Interview outline and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Vleet, Leroy Description An account of the resource LeRoy Van Vleet was born in Michigan in 1931. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1931, and received training as a specialist in fuels and lubricants. He was assigned to a refueling base in the Aleutian Islands for thirteen months, and then spent the rest of his time in the service at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-12-15 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1c837064b68f25695f41f083c5784759.mp4 8ae8c1e3faa15e6b438664a3211d4933 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/268ecd674107b2f0cdea807557aa0f1c.pdf dd6fb2af6a1978093a24df73c136d378 PDF Text Text Robert Van Strien (29:00) (00:18) Background Information • Robert was born in Grand Rapids, MI and moved to Byron Center, MI when he was 10 • His dad was a cashier at Byron Center Bank • He graduated from Byron Center High School in 1945 • Robert joined the Navy with three of his friends after high school (1:42) Training • Robert went to Virginia for basic training in late September for 3 months • He got to go home for one week during training • Robert then went to the west coast and boarded a ship to Japan (4:18) Occupation of Japan • Robert was assigned to be a typist for a commander on the USS Columbus • The war was over and there was not much work to do • He was on a radar machine at one time and got to watch them plot out the ship’s route • Robert helped type part of the ship’s news letter • They went to Kobe, Japan where the Japanese had a submarine base and took about a dozen or two subs out to sea and blew them up • He got assigned to do work on the USS Chicago which had more than 3 thousand people on board (11:45) Leave • Robert and other men had time on leave to go to Tokyo and go shopping • He would trade his cigarettes for things because he didn’t smoke • Robert went to Nagasaki to see where the Atom Bomb had been dropped • A lot of guys went to the bars • Prostitution was a problem and many of the men on the ships had STDs �(15:38) Impression of Japan • A lot of Japan was “bombed out flat” • The mountain sides were full of caves • He mostly ate on board the ship and didn’t eat Japanese food • Robert would visit friends on an Army base near by (20:30) Discharge • He went to the California and then to the Great Lakes Naval Academy where he was discharged in 1946 • Robert used the GI Bill to learn how to fly • He has owned 3 different planes • After his discharge he bought a truck and hauled milk for 25 years • He got a deferment from the Korean War because he was married and had a baby • Robert appreciates living in the United States after being in Japan • He belongs to the American Legion � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanStrienR Title A name given to the resource Van Strien, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Strien, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Van Strien was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Byron Center High School in 1945. After high school he and three of his friends joined the Navy. After basic training he was assigned to be a typist for a Commander aboard the USS Columbus. He served after the war during the Occupation of Japan and typed part of the ships newsletter. After his discharge in 1946 he used his GI bill money to learn how to fly and has owned three planes. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Moore, Debra (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-08-15 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6cf9bdcc4c4266ce06cab40fb244a63b.m4v 1829901270cfd44d9c7f1d79ad5d9db8 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/81bbc07983406b7c594a4809d475a7cc.pdf 50bda78f9d7930d73d4e163b92d5387a PDF Text Text ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW HOWARD VAN SOLKEMA Born: 1950, Grand Rapids, Michigan Resides: Byron Center, Michigan Interviewed by: James Smither PhD, GVSU Veterans History Project, Transcribed by: Joan Raymer, October 16, 2013 Interviewer: Mr. Van Solkema, can you start my telling us a little bit about yourself, to begin with where and when were you born? I was born in Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I’ve lived my whole life in Byron Center. Interviewer: What year were you born? 1950 Interviewer: Alright, and what did your family do? My father, he owned a carpet store and my mother worked with him. We lived in the 72nd /Byron Center Road area that’s where I grew up until I went into the service. Interviewer: Did you finish high school? 1:00 Yes, I went to Byron High School and I graduated in 1968. Interviewer: Then did you work while you were in high school or when you got out? Yes, I worked in muck fields when I was young and after high school I worked for my father and I worked a little bit at Dexter Lock prior to the service. Interviewer: Before you got your draft notice were you paying much attention to what was going on around you with the Vietnam War going on and that kind of thing? 1 �Yes Interviewer: Did you expect that you would probably get drafted? Yes, I didn’t go to college and it had already happened to a lot of classmates. Interviewer: Then when did your draft notice show up? December of 1968 Interviewer: Where did you have to report, or what did you have to do, once you got the notice? In January I had to go down for a physical, down to Detroit. 2:02 That’s when I—they passed me in the physical and I opted for the two year program in the Marines, vs. the Army. Interviewer: Were they giving you an assortment of choices once you got there? They didn’t just automatically put you in the Army or something? No, we had—the Navy had a two year program, Naval Reserve Program I think they call it, but then you had to have four years of meetings. Interviewer: Meetings, do you mean like the Reserve meetings once they are back? Yes, Reserve meetings, and then the Army was two years and done and the Marines were two years and you were done. I had a lot of family members that were Marines, so I kind of—wasn’t scared of going into that. Interviewer: Had they told you something about what Marine training was like and what it meant to be a Marine? 3:01 Yes, I thought I’d be tougher. Interviewer: You had some idea of what to expect at least? Yes 2 �Interviewer: Or at least you thought you did. Now, where did they send you then for basic training? I went to San Diego, California. I had basic training there and the second training was in Camp Pendleton. Interviewer: Let’s go back to the basic training, how were you greeted when you got to the base in San Diego? Yellow footprints, the haircuts, and the loud drill instructors Interviewer: Explain the yellow footprints, what are those? Well, when you arrive at San Diego they bring you in by bus and then they have you get off that bus and find a set of yellow footprints real fast. 4:00 That’s just part of the first day of training. Interviewer: So, you’re standing there on the footprints and whatever formation the footprints have and then they start—are they explaining things to you, yelling things at you? Yelling and you better start listening Interviewer: How tough was the conditioning process? How much of a workout did you get? We had, our platoon, which was I Company 3018, and we were a test platoon, so they-for PT the other platoons could wear tennis shoes, but our platoon had to wear our boots all the time. In fact, instead of getting two sets of boots we got three sets of boots because we were using them constantly. 5:08 The end result was we were a lot stronger, our legs got a lot stronger. Interviewer: Because you had to lift more weight, was that the reason? 3 �We had our PT and our runs. Interviewer: What was the point of having you wear the boots, were they testing the effect of the boots? I think they were looking at everything from feet—you know the government looks at thing—I mean the service looks at things a lot different. Interviewer: They care about what happened to your feet. Yes, definitely Interviewer: Did you do a lot of marching, was that part of it, or did you go on long hikes? No, not in boot camp, but we did a lot of running. Before breakfast, of course, we would be out running around. 6:04 We’d change out of our PT shorts into our dungarees and go to breakfast and then from there on it was—we had classes on different things, a lot of drill, a lot of marching and we marched between classes. That’s where you learn your skills of your weapon. Interviewer: What kind of weapons training did you get at that point, was it just basically with a rifle? It was basically an M14, carrying and disassembly. Interviewer: You mentioned classes, were they sit down in a classroom type classes? Yes, we had quite a few of them. We had—well, there’s a lot to learn. 7:00 Not only about your weapons, but you learn history, Marine Corps history, there’s medical stuff that you have to learn, there’s what to do when a situation is this way and that way and it teaches you all the basics of the military. 4 �Interviewer: Right, now how well did you adjust to the discipline? Did you respond pretty quickly to that? I didn’t really have any problem with it and my background probably helped a lot. Interviewer: Were there other people who had more trouble with it? Yes, there were a lot of people who had trouble with it. Interviewer: Now the guys that you were in with, were they mostly draftees at that point, or were there a lot of people who volunteered? Well, we had a mixture, we had reservists, guys that were just going for training and then they would go back to their units and guys that might have gotten in trouble with the law. 8:03 I think they had a little bit harder problems than what a country bumpkin like me would have. Interviewer: What kind of ethnics did you have? Did you have black and Hispanic soldiers in there, or were they mostly white? We had the majority of boot camp, we were out of Michigan, New York and a lot of Texas and mostly white, and a lot of them were three and four year enlistees also, so a two year guy was kind of different and I was probably the minority. There were more reservists and three and four year enlistees. Interviewer: So, you had a substantial number of people who had volunteered and weren’t simply ones who were drafted. 9:00 Yes Interviewer: Once you complete basic training and then move on to advance training, describe that a little bit. 5 �Well, in basic training you get your MOS is what it’s called, and mine was 0-300, which is infantry. Interviewer: Okay Then when you go up to your advanced training they categorize you and I was a machine gunner, 0-331 that’s what I trained with. Interviewer: Now, is that a 30 caliber machine gun? Yeah, that’s a 7.62 mm, it’s a 308. Interviewer: So it’s the more advanced model than stuff they had in WWII and Korea, was it more recent? Yeah, it was an M60 machine gun, yeah, more advanced than the old 30 caliber that they had in WWII. 10:03 Interviewer: Now, did you train on any other weapons as well, besides the rifle? Yes, in AIT you train with every weapon, bazookas, they had a weapon called the LAW [light antitank weapon], it was like the bazooka. I didn’t go into any mortar training, but all small arms training, forty- fives, the forty-five was my other weapon I carried. Interviewer: You carried a pistol as well as the machine gun. Now, in what ways was the advanced training different from basic? The content is a little bit different, obviously, because you’re getting into more specialized stuff, but was there as much emphasis on drill and discipline, otherwise you’re going to stay in the same format or did they assume you knew what you were doing now? 11:00 Well, we really didn’t have much drill, but when we did march as a unit we marched as drill, but the training was in the hills and the high ground in California—Camp Pendleton, and there were a lot of high hills there. 6 �Interviewer: And you spent a lot of overnights out in the hills, you camped out there or were you mostly back in the barracks? The majority of the time was back in the barracks, but we did have a deal where they took us out and I think we spent three days, or something, out in the field. Interviewer: The people who were your instructors at this point, were some of these people now Vietnam veterans? Yes, they were all Vietnam veterans. Interviewer: Did they tell you much about what it was like over there or what they had experienced? That’s what they—they didn’t really tell you about it, but they instilled the training, the types of training that you need. 12:09 They knew what was going on, and the booby trap training and this and that, they would tell you what to look for and when you made a mistake they would tell you also. Interviewer: At the stage where you’re in advanced training, have you gotten any opportunities yet to go off base at all, did you get any free time, or is it still all regimented? Yeah we did, we got to go to—there was a town there called Oceanside and then they would give us liberty on Sunday to go over. They had movie theaters and different things like that, but we weren’t old enough to go to bars or do any of that stuff yet. Interviewer: How long does the advanced infantry training go on? Well, I think— well, I went to a second training there and that was called BITS. 13:11 It’s called basic infantry training and that’s where they really hone your skills. I think I was in like a month in ITR and I think another two or three weeks in BITS. 7 �Interviewer: Now, you say hone your skills, what in particular were you working on at that point? That’s where you’re constantly caring your gun, the machine gun, you’re constantly on the move, you’re up around there and all the marines there were trails, I mean we followed the trails the other marines went, but then they hone you towards a booby trap and then different things you can run into and the problems you can have with your gun. 14:00 Interviewer: Now, with this gun did you need a loader as well, were you a two man crew? Yeah, the second guy was an ammo carrier and his job was to keep you supplied, but we were all machine gunners, the ammo carriers is what we did for another guy, they switched us back and forth. Interviewer: So you do both roles. Yeah, we do both roles Interviewer: You weren’t the same team all the time, you work with different people? Yes Interviewer: Okay, now at this point is the expectation that when you finish this you’ll be sent off and you’ll be replacements in different units rather than going as a company someplace? Right, the next step was a leave home and I went home for the first time and then I was to report to, it was called LTA at Santa Ana, California. 15:03 Interviewer: What is that? 8 �That’s where they had their blimps in WWII. They had two huge domes and they’re still there. One of them was so huge it has its own atmosphere. It could rain and when the doors were fully open, four helicopters could fly abreast through it, it was a big building. Interviewer: Now, was this kind of a staging area or place where you shipped out, or where you get more training? I got more training there, but what it was—I thought I was going to spend the rest of my tour there, it was a regular base. 16:00 I was assigned first to the gate, like an MP and then they had a lot of guys on that base that were Vietnam veterans that had already come back and they were spending the rest of their time out, so they had plenty of MP’s, so then they threw me in the mess hall for a while. It was like they didn’t know what to do with me. Then I ran into a guy and he said they needed somebody at the headquarters building, so I went up there and talked to them. What they needed was a guy at night to check in people for leaves and that. It was a twelve hour shift and I really didn’t know too many people, so I took that and I got that position there. 17:00 Then when the headquarters building—you know they would close up the main part, but then the entrance there they would have an area for leave and they had a bunk there and everything, a television and it wasn’t bad duty. Interviewer: How was it then that you wind up leaving that position? Well, it was just a—I had a year left, or so in the service and then I was going to take another leave. In fact, I took another leave and when I was on leave I got orders up at— that I was going to WESPAC, which means Vietnam, Okinawa or Japan. 18:00 Interviewer: On leave would you just go back home? 9 �Yeah, I went back home and then I was able to stay, I think, another ten days at home before I had to report back to Camp Pendleton for staging. Interviewer: How did your family feel about your being in the Marines at this point? Were they worrying about what might happen to you? I don’t think they were worried too much, you know. We got—I would call home every Sunday and then when I went overseas I think my mom worried quite a bit. Interviewer: Describe the trip overseas. How do they get you across the Pacific? Do they fly you over? Yeah, there were a couple different ways of going, one of them was you took—like if the air force had somebody going over, or the way I went was with Seaboard World West. 19:02 Interviewer: What was that? That was an old Boeing 707 that they gutted out. You had folding chairs, you carried your own folding chair, and it was gutted out and kind of a mess. Interviewer: Now, could that fly all the way across the Pacific, or did it have to stop? No, no we stopped in Alaska and they refueled and checked everything over and that took a couple hours and then we flew to Japan and then from Japan we went to Okinawa. That’s when I knew I was going to Vietnam. We didn’t know if we were going to stay in Okinawa, nobody knew, but then the orders—they called it “down south”, going “down south”. Interviewer: Now, did you spend any amount of time in Okinawa, or just a few hours? 10 �Well, the guys that were going “down south’ had to keep their gear together. 20:04 What they did, they took your gear and anybody going south they gave camo this and that. We had no weapons, no anything else. We stored our gear in Okinawa, otherwise if we’d stayed in Okinawa you’d be assigned someplace and get your gear. Interviewer: So, you’re being sent and at this point do you know what unit you’re going to join, or does that come later? That comes later. Interviewer: You’re still going over there basically not knowing. Right, you’re kind of in the dark. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division, which was located in Da Nang, but as far as assignments, I didn’t know. Interviewer: From Okinawa then did you fly into Da Nang, or did you go someplace else? 21:03 No, we flew into Da Nang. Interviewer: Alright, what was your first impression when you got there and got off the airplane? What was that like at that point? The place smelled and it was hot, that—it just stunk, that city area—a terrible smell. Interviewer: You get off the plane and so forth, now do they take you off to barracks someplace, where do you go once you get off the plane? Well, we landed about, I don’t know, maybe it would be nine in the morning, or something, and we got off the tarmac there—we flew from there with a commercial airline from Okinawa to Vietnam. 22:00 It wasn’t the same 707 and that was—when we left that morning it was dark in Okinawa and when we got to Vietnam it was light. I think it was like a four hour, or three hour flight, and maybe less. Then we landed in 11 �country and it was extremely hot for that time of the morning and it was just something that you're sick—it was kind of like a shock to you. Interviewer: What is your first indication that you’re going into a war zone? Were there any signs even there when you landed at Da Nang, or did that come later when you really see it? Well, you gotta kind of understand, I was a machine gunner and I was landed in Da Nang and it was kind of obvious I was getting close to somewhere, but I didn’t know where. Interviewer: Were there signs at Da Nang that this is a military thing and there’s a war going on? 23:00 Oh yeah, we got off the airplane and it was like getting off the bus at boot camp. You get off there in case something happens you know, and you know right then—we had training and staging and this and that, so we kind of knew. We still weren’t scared or anything, I mean you never got shot until later. Interviewer: Now, how long did you actually stay in Da Nang? Before the sun was setting I was already twenty three miles, they said it was twenty three miles, southwest of Da Nang. Interviewer: So, you were being set out to a particular unit at that point? Yeah, I was sent out to the 7th Marines. Interviewer: How were they getting you out there? Were you going by truck? By truck, we went by truck, and they loaded us up. Interviewer: Now, as you’re going out there, what indications did you have that there was a war going on? Did you see any evidence of fighting, or anything like that had happened, or anything like that? 24:04 12 �No Interviewer: Was it just a country road at that point? It was a country road the closer you got to—we went to a place called Landing Zone, it was called Landing Zone Baldy and the closer you got there you could see indications. There were some French bunkers and stuff and different things that were all shot up and you knew you were in there. I still didn’t have a machine gun. The other guys had rifles, but I still didn’t have a gun. Interviewer: Now, when you get to Landing Zone Baldy, and then do they assign you to a particular platoon? Yes, I was assigned to King Company 3/7. Interviewer: What was the situation there when you got there? What was going on? K-3/7 was protecting the base. 25:05 1/7 and 2/7 were in the field. Interviewer: What were they doing, were they patrolling? Yeah, they were patrolling and you know—there were two rivers there, or two names of a river Bong Song, or whatever it is river and that’s the basin where they were. Interviewer: On the base, what did it look like and how was it laid out? Well, it had—it was on top of a hill, of course and there was all the perimeters with sandbags filled, bunkers and concertina wire and some barbed wire around the edge. 26:07 Interviewer: Did you have mine fields around it too? 13 �They had mines and claymores that were hand shot off type of mines that they would set out and move this and that and check out. Flare mortars and different things like that around the edge of it. Interviewer: Now, was this—what was your first night there like? Were you on guard duty or were you trying to sleep, or what? Well, we got there and what they did was they billeted us and we had—I got to go to a billet that was made by a carpenter and it had a floor up on it, and a mattress and the whole thing, but I still didn’t have a machine gun. I still hadn’t checked in there and gotten that from the commanding officer yet. 27:06 they didn’t put us on the perimeter, but we did get hit that night and they had an Ontos they call it, it was a 106 tank, a 106 mm tank and they said they hadn’t shot it in over a month at the enemy and that thing was fired quite regularly that night, so it was setting in. Interviewer: What were you being attacked with? Was it mortar fire coming in or were there people shooting at the base? What they would do is they would probe. They would hit RPG’s and try to hit them bunkers and mortars, not much small arm weapons, but they would hit and run and try to cause casualties. Interviewer: What was the response to the? 28:01 Did you try to saturate the area with fire? They would flare it and try to artillery it and they would try to hit as good as they could with arty and they had mortars too, we had mortars. 14 �Interviewer: But you had to figure out where the enemy was in the first place and if they were moving then it could be fairly tricky. Did they do any damage when they attacked that first night, did anybody get hit? I really don’t know as far as that, because everything was organized way beyond what I knew was going on. I was hunkered down in a bunker that night. Interviewer: How long was it before you got a machine gun? The next morning, we were geared up. Interviewer: Now, what was the condition of the platoon that you joined? Were they well manned and were they pretty much full strength? 29:00 No, they were low on men, but I think the regular company would be about two hundred guys and I think ours was about a hundred. Interviewer: Did you have officers or sergeants that were pretty experienced and knew what they were doing? Yeah, but they were quiet too and if they told you something you better listen Interviewer: Were they basically trying to teach the new guys stuff they were going to have to know, or they were just going to let you figure that out for yourself? Well, the first phase is the amount of work you do when you’re in the field, you know, and that teaches you that when somebody talks you listen, because when you first get there you can’t drink enough water, you know. 30:03 You can get a gut ache from salt tablets and you just try to keep up, and pretty soon your body gets worked up, worked into the system. In fact, I don’t really remember too much of a lot of that and just how much work it was. Interviewer: How long was it before you had to go out in the field yourself? 15 �Well, 1/7 and 2/7 were out and then we went on a sweep where we joined them and the South Vietnamese Marines, I think, came in and took over our base. Then we went on a sweep, or operation and we were out there for forty days. 31:07 Over forty days in the field. Interviewer: Now, what was the terrain like there? Was it jungle or hills? Yeah, everything had growth on it, everything had cover and there were like valleys and hills. You pretty much, you know like when I was first there I didn’t have no rank so I didn’t really know what was going on the radio behind anything. What was behind the scenes, you’re just out there. Interviewer: You’re just going where they tell you to go. Right and doing what they tell you to do. Interviewer: On a sweep, was the idea to kind of to have enough force within a given area and be able to move through and find any enemy soldiers and take them out? Right, encampments, materials, on that one sweep a guy, down on one of the river edges there; he found some rifles that were in the bank. 32:12 The scuttlebutt was that he went into the river to cool off and happened to catch something on his pants or something like that, and then we had to stop right there at that point and set up perimeters and then they brought in the engineers and they started finding weapons caches and rice and that was part of the big sweep that we had. Interviewer: The idea was that if they had supplies stored in places, the men themselves might leave or get out of your way or whatever. 16 �They knew exactly what we were doing all the time. It ain't like you think it is, you know. 33:00 When you have casualties there’s helicopters going in and out and there’s supply trucks coming in and out. There was no front line there, to cover that kind of activity, so they basically knew what we were doing most of the time. Interviewer: Now, would they try to attack you at night or try to pick off the helicopters or trucks, or anything like that? Yes, they would—that was their—ambushing, booby traps, this type of thing that was their style of going to war, to have as many casualties as possible. They tried to break the morale of the troops. Interviewer: Now, about when is this? Is it 1970 yet, or was it still 1969? No, this is—in 1970 I went over and in 1971 I came home. Interviewer: So, by then Nixon has been in office for a while. 34:04 The Marines are on their way out. The first group to go was the 9th Marines and then the 7th Marines were next, or one of the next on the list. Interviewer: So, on some level the Vietnamese were fighting against you and you get a sense they are getting their way or accomplishing what they were trying to accomplish? Yup Interviewer: Now, how effective were you at this point or the Marines at this point, at avoiding the ambushes and the booby traps and so forth? Have they learned enough about how the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese operate that they didn’t fall for a lot of that, or were you still just taking casualties just the way as you moved? 17 �Well, they were good at it and they figured out different ways of doing it. 35:00 They didn’t do just certain things all the time, they were very ingenious and had a lot in ingenuity as far as stuff. And the way they attacked was different every time and there was no rhyme or reason. Interviewer: So, what you learned before doesn’t necessarily help you the next time. Yeah Interviewer: Now, was your company or platoon taking casualties as you were going? Were more people being shot at, or did you mostly stay together? We had, in the year that I was there, or it wasn’t quite a year, but we pretty much had that area cleaned up. It—later on it got infiltrated and they got back in there, but there wasn’t—we didn’t have casualties like they did in the years earlier. Interviewer: So, on some level what they’re doing is at least working better, probably, than some of the earlier tactics that they used, or you’ve done well enough already that they are not choosing to fight you there. 36:09 They picked it out, but we never really did—I never really was in a big battle, it was always just small skirmishes here. Interviewer: Now, when you were out in the field did you ever actually see anything of the enemy? Oh yeah Interviewer: As far as you could tell, were they North Vietnamese soldiers? No, it was—we fought the North Vietnamese and I believe some of them were Chinese too, because some of them were six feet tall and that’s a big person. Interviewer: It’s a big person for the Chinese too. 18 �Yeah but--yeah, they were pretty big, some of them were pretty big. 37:02 That would be casualties that they took, what I’d see. Interviewer: Now, were they wearing North Vietnamese uniforms? Yeah, they were wearing North Vietnamese uniforms and a lot of them, you know, had paper work on them. ID, tags, and different things like that. Interviewer: So, at this point there’s not a whole lot of evidence of Vietcong, or South Vietnamese who hadn’t joined the Vietnamese army? Well, they could have been South Vietnamese, but the South Vietnamese, or the Vietcong, they were kind of a community oriented type back stabbing outfit that through their communications and their network of getting supplies different places, they were really—we didn’t really run into too much of that. 38:01 Interviewer: Were you in an area that had villages and things that you went through, was there still a civilian population there or was it mostly empty? 38:07 No, the civilian population was there and the closer you got to Da Nang the bigger the villages were, but there were villages out in different areas. But, the villages there kind of had to go with who was walking through was number one and when the North Vietnamese were walking through they were number one. They didn’t have to fear us for doing anything to them, but they had to fear them, because they would take someone out and they were nasty to their people, very nasty. Interviewer: They used terror as a means of maintaining as much control as they could in the countryside as part of the package. Now, when you were—did you get to go into Da Nang at all? Did you get liberty, or whatever, where you could go off base, or did you just stay with your unit the whole time you were out there? 39:04 19 �When I was with the 7th Marines we were southwest of Da Nang and west of Da Nang and then they were winding up to pull out for home in the fall of 1970. Then I was transferred to the 5th Marines, which were up north and that was the same type of territory, mountainous and plain, and lowlands, but it was a little bit different than south. It wasn’t so much—so many foothills and stuff. It was either big hills or a little bit different terrain and some of it was nice flat farmland, some of that. Interviewer: So, it wasn’t all jungle? No Interviewer: Was it dry farmland as opposed to rice? Mostly rice paddies 40:01 Interviewer: Rice paddies, so that’s dykes and mud and that sort of thing? Dykes, yes Interviewer: Now, in that area, was that more dangerous than the first? Were there more of the enemy around? The chance of having a bigger group hit you, I think, was there, but we really never ran into a regiment of them, they would always run from us. Interviewer: Did you ever, basically, walk into an ambush or part of a small unit that was in the wrong place? Oh yeah Interviewer: What would happen with something like that, how would that work? Well, like let’s say—well, I can give you an example, we got—we were pinned down by, I think we had two companies, I think K Company and L Company. 41:07 L company was ahead of us , well they shot off across the front of them, and then they had another 20 �guy in position and he started shooting at us, but we didn’t have any casualties and everybody was alright. Interviewer: Were these riflemen or machine gunners? I believe they had eight, I don’t know how many there were, but they had AK 47’s and machine guns up there, and we were in a perfect position to get ambushed. Interviewer: Right But there were no casualties yet and anytime anybody tried to move someone was going to get hit if we tried to do anything. We were in a perfect bad spot. Interviewer: What do you do when you’re in a bad spot like that; do you radio in for air support or something? We called in for artillery and they said, “We can’t do it because we have a chance of hitting you guys where they’re at”. 42:00 So then they called in a pair of helicopters and they took a—they were Cobras with miniguns on the front and we tried to spot, we spotted for them and they just ground up the whole area with the miniguns, and everybody was standing up watching, and the Cobras took off and they started shooting again. Everybody was down and we still didn’t have any casualties, so then they took a inbound F-4’s, they were off from a carrier and they hit both spots precisely, navy pilots, and we never did find a machine gun or anything. They hit it hard enough that it was gone, completely gone. 43:02 Interviewer: So, either they got out of there, or they were blasted out. They didn’t really have any way out there, they were kind of-Interviewer: They were sort of holed up in caves or positioned? Yeah, they were carved out like that. 21 �Interviewer: So, you could find the place where they were? No, we couldn’t find that either, it was impossible. Interviewer: Now, were there other situations where you just have to wait for it to get dark before you get out, or normally you call in fire from someplace? We could call in any type arsenal anytime. That wasn’t my job, but I saw napalm, I saw five hundred pounders and I saw a B-52 strike, which is later on in the thing. With the 5th Marines I went to—we were up north and then the South Vietnamese were setting up to go into Laos in January of 1971. 44:09 They did that offensive, and we were south of the main attack. We weren’t allowed to go towards Laos and then the B-52’s just pounded it. I don’t know how anybody could live through a B-52 strike. Interviewer: Some of them did, if you’re underground in the right place. You’d have to lose your hearing, or something. We were five miles away and the whole ground shook and the noise was just like a roar. Interviewer: Now, did you have any sense of, from your perspective generally, how the war was going? 45:03 As far as you could tell, were the Americans and South Vietnamese of holding their own, or gaining ground, or losing it? Like I said earlier, we were in full control of that country. I think after that offensive in 1968 they kind of broke their back before I arrived there, and they had things under control real well. Interviewer: It seems to vary a lot depending on where one was in the country at the time, because there were places where there were some effective attacks and problems, and others where there wasn’t much trouble at all, so some of it was time and place. 22 �Well, some of the units got hit hard, you know. It would be that I wasn’t in a unit that got hit hard. Prior to me getting there the same—after forty days in the field we went to LZ Ross, which was another base. 46:04 That was ten miles away from LZ Baldy, and that had been overrun at one portion to where the Marines there really got hurt, and that was the 7th Marines also. But, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Interviewer: Now, what rank were you by the time you finished in Vietnam? I was a sergeant. Interviewer: Were you leading a squad at that point, or what were you doing? Well, there was one point there where there were so few NCO’s and the officer corps was real light. 47:03 And so were the enlisted men, real light, you know. I made one comment one time that I was in charge of a hundred guys, you know, but maybe I wasn’t and just thought I was too. Interviewer: So there were times when you could be injecting the size of the company just because you were the guy taking care of them. Everything from injuries, you know, to going on R&R. There are a million things to take care of when you got guy to take care of. Interviewer: You have to keep track of everybody and everything. Was this—did you have a system where people were going in and out on rotation, so the men you start with go out and some new guys come in? Yes and that’s what we really had trouble with, because there were so many—when a guy would leave for home, sometimes you’d get a new guy in from the United States and sometimes you’d get a guy from the unit. 48:09 someone who is getting close to going home, because the unit is going home, so we had a mixture of people, and that’s why, 23 �when I was over there I was never with a unit and where I really got to be buddies with too many people. It seemed like if you got to be buddy with him, he might be gone in a month or something. Interviewer: As it was, the whole unit you started with left and you’re one of those guys that gets reassigned to another unit yourself. Right and I was shipped up to the 5th Marines and there it was all over again. Interviewer: What sort of effect did that have on the effectiveness of the units themselves? What they were able to do? I think it was real tough for them, because when you train with a unit you know what everybody is like and what they’re capable of and this and that. 49:00 When you get in that situation you don’t know what they’re capable of and then you’ve got slackers, and short timers, and the new guys, they don’t know what they’re doing and it’s just a mixture of chaos. Interviewer: When they come in you’ve got to figure them out to some extent, at least when you have to look after them to some degree. Now, were there discipline problems? Did you have people who were disobeying orders, or doing other kinds of things to get in trouble, or by and large did they do what they were supposed to? I never experienced that too much, but we did have a couple guys that didn’t like each other and that type of thing, but as far as discipline, they could take away rank and they could ship you out. 50:00 We didn’t have too much of a problem with that, but we didn’t really, there was no base, basically, there was no nothing and you were on your own kind of to live. 24 �Interviewer: Basically you were pretty much out in the field an awful lot of the time and you were away from the larger towns or the bigger bases and things like that. Now, one of the stereotypes, or whatever, about Vietnam is that there were a lot of problems with drug abuse and racial tension and that sort of stuff and often away from the combat zones, much less in it. Was that fit your observation? Where you were, you didn’t have so much of that? Well, the base that I ended up at, Force Logistic Command, they had racial tension there. In fact, there was—a grenade went off and that type of thing. 51:04 We didn’t have any fragging’s or any of that stuff they say there was. We were too tired, too hungry and too thirsty to worry about doing anything wrong. We had other stuff to worry about. Interviewer: If you are in contact with the enemy, or fairly close to them, you need each other. Yes Interviewer: Now, you mentioned being with the logistic command, so at a certain point do you move out of the line unit and into something else? Well, the 5th Marines were getting setup to move and I still had two and a half months to go yet in my tour, so the 5th Marines were getting ready to load up and I went to Force Logistic Command, which was a base and it’s where the Marines originally landed in Vietnam, Red Beach. Interviewer: And where was that in the country? 52:01 Was it up north? It was north of Da Nang; I don’t know how many miles, ten or twelve maybe. Then that was a supply base for the army, the Marines, the Korean Marines, the Australians had an 25 �area, and it was a big base. What I did there, I was a head of a section and a wire on the perimeter, on the north side. Interviewer: You were guarding the base. In that position was there much risk of attack or snipers, or mortar barrages? We did have sapper attacks. They would try to do different things, but not much, and when they tried that base was setup to where it could take on a pretty good attack and fend it off. 53:01 Of course we were the first line of resistance, but there were more lines behind us. Interviewer: So it was not an easy place to infiltrate or sabotage, or anything else like that? If they tried to sneak through they could get through, but We had some of that happen where they got into it with explosives and stuff. Interviewer: Were they able to do any damage that way, or did they get caught? There was minimal damage and then normally they were destroyed. Interviewer: Was this an area where they were doing a lot of tunneling and so forth and did they have a lot of stuff underground or anything like that? No, this was—the water table there was with the ocean, so tunneling would be out of the question. Interviewer: They couldn’t really do that, so it was going to be more secure than some other places inland, as far as that stuff went. Did you see much of the troops that were not American, Australians, or Koreans, or whatever? Did you have any contact with them while you were working at this base? 54:02 26 �At the Force Logistics Command, the Australian guys, you know, they wore like a cowboy hat, so you could kind of pick them out, you know, their type of jungle hat and they were funny guys, you know, they talked funny and when you tried to talk to them they were just goofy, but no, I never became friends with anybody there. Interviewer: What impression did you have of the South Vietnamese military when you saw them here and there? They were really good, but they were really good when they had the Americans' support. We worked out with them; quite often they would be in operations and different things with us. Interviewer: Did you have the impression that their soldiers were properly trained and disciplined and that kind of thing? 55:00 Yeah, they had a different manner to them, like guys would hold each other’s hands and stuff, which we didn’t do and they weren’t very big guys, you know, so that always made you think they were inferior, but they were pretty tough individuals. Interviewer: Some of the ones you saw were Marines and so forth, and people who probably did have a little bit more training and that sort of thing. Yeah Interviewer: As far as you could tell, how did the civilian population view you guys, especially when you were kind of away from the combat zones? Away from the combat zones? Interviewer: Yeah, or when you were--it was one thing to be in those villages when you were doing a sweep and so forth and there were North Vietnamese around, and 27 �in other cases there probably weren’t many if you were closer to the cities or the base, or whatever. In general, what sort of impression did you have of the civilians? They liked us, they really liked us, you know, but maybe they liked the enemy too, but they seemed to like us. 56: 07 Interviewer: Did you have them working on the bases and things like that and doing stuff for you? Oh yeah, they did all the—at Force Logistics Command they did your laundry and they did the haircuts, they didn’t let them do everything, but they let them do a lot of different things on the base. They were trustworthy people and they were hard working people. Interviewer: Now, in general it was sort of understood here the Americans were on their way out, at least, about the time you’re leaving, and that more things were going to be turned over to the Vietnamese? Yeah, they turned—well when we would leave the army would come in. Like with the 7th Marines I think it was the Americal that was moved in. 57:05 With the 5th Marines I think it was the 101st Airborne Division that moved into the areas, but then they also had South Vietnamese soldiers and there were a lot of South Vietnamese units, so we did a lot of different things. We didn’t really pal with them and they were more or less a separate unit, but they took casualties, and did their thing. Interviewer: Did you get to go into Saigon or anything like that, or did you mostly stay at the place where you were based? Just the places I was based, and because I moved around I never got an R&R until I got to Force Logistics Command. Then I was supposed to leave country in April, April 24th was my getting out date. 58:06 28 �Interviewer: Did you ever get an R&R in Vietnam? Yeah, and I went to Bangkok Thailand and that was like on March 15th, and when I came back I had orders to go home. Interviewer: That’s not bad Yeah, that was Nixon’s one month early out and it made my day. Interviewer: Now, what was there to do in Bangkok? What would people go there for? Just for rest and relaxation Interviewer: It was a place where they weren’t going to shoot at you and you could stray in air conditioned hotels and that kind of thing? Yeah Interviewer: All right, are there particular incidents, or events, things that happened to you, while you were in Vietnam, that tend to come back to you that you haven’t mentioned here yet? 59:00 I got promoted with a combat promotion. Interviewer: Does that mean you’re replacing somebody else who got hit, or just because did well, so you move up? Yeah Interviewer: Now, did you get any special medals, or awards beyond that, or was that all the recognition you got? Basically, that’s probably the most proud thing. Interviewer: Were there any moments when you were out in the field, and that kind of thing, when you began to wonder if this was going to be it and maybe you weren’t 29 �going to come back, or anything like that, or were you able to maintain a more positive attitude and not have to worry about it? I think when I was first there that was a wonder. 60:00 I think that I didn’t want to come back without an arm, or something, and the rest of the stuff didn’t scare you too much. I mean, as far as—it wasn’t something to think about, because there was enough work to do and we worked hard. Interviewer: Now, did you ever get to the point where you were so tired that it was hard to do what you were supposed to do? Yeah, I was medevaced to Da Nang for what was called fever of unknown origin, and I believe it was exhaustion. You couldn’t get your water and your food and everything and then something just—one of your organs says, “You’ve had enough buddy”. 1:08 Interviewer: You talked about the physical fatigue and so forth, and being out there, at a certain point, your body just kind of told you to stop. How far into your tour did that happen and you had to get medevaced out of there? I would say about two months. Interviewer: So, relatively early at that point. Was that, sort of, right after that forty days out there in the jungle? Yeah, it was after that and we were back in the field, and that could have been, you know, like depression too, and I mean; now you’re right back. Interviewer: To go out and do it again. Yeah, but our next one wasn’t—you know, we were out there, maybe, fifteen days and they were back again. 2:06 30 �Interviewer: How long do you have to spend in the hospital, or whatever, when they flew you out? I was there for two days. They gave you some saline solution and vitamins and fresh fruit, orange juice and that type of thing, and fed you real good and got to eat some cooked food and different things like that. Interviewer: Now, were you ever injured in combat? Yeah, I was injured. I was injured one night with what they call a pacifier. When a unit’s in trouble they bring in other troops. 3:01 We were in a double wing helicopter and we took ground fire. They dropped the chopper down and yelled to get out, but we were too high off the ground and I dislocated my hip and got cut real deep, and when I was lying there I thought I was shot, because there was blood running down towards this area of my body and it was quite a night. Interviewer: Did they put you back on the helicopter and send you out, or did you have to wait and sty down there on the ground? We were down there and the next morning the guys that didn’t get hurt came back for us guys that were hurt, and once the daylight was there we could see what we had to do, and I was back up and around then. 4:02 Interviewer: So, you’re dislocated hip, were they able to put it back in position and you could walk? Yeah, that was done, and I got it back in position before the night was done by rolling around, because I was trying to find out where the exit and entrance was on my wound and it wasn’t a gunshot, it was done by a rifle sight, scrape. It caught the side pack and scraped up and flipped me. It was another guy’s rifle. 31 �Interviewer: Now, you’ve gone through your story, you have some R&R time in Bangkok and you come back and you get your orders telling you that you’re going to ship out. Now, did you have to stay around longer and just expand, before you actually left, or did you leave pretty quickly after that? Well actually, when I got my orders, they were going to ship me home by boat. 5:04 So, I had to report to Da Nang, so they threw me onto a truck and took me into Da Nang there and they said we got to have you loading boats and getting things and doing things ready for the troop carrier. I was down there and the officer that was in charge of everything said, “You don’t have enough time to go home by boat, so you’re going to work here for a few days and then we’re going to fly you out of here”. Interviewer: You don’t have enough time. In other words you’d still be on the boat when your enlistment was up? Yeah, a thirty day cut and I’d have still been on the boat. 6:00 So, I worked there for a couple days and they got me a flight to Okinawa and then I dot to spend—I didn’t get to spend, actually, I had to spend a few days there before I could get a flight back to the United States, but Okinawa was great. They had a twenty-four hour kitchen, all the food you could eat. Eggs, hamburgers, and that was a good—I ate a lot, but I was pretty light at that time too. Interviewer: Then do you go back to the states and decommission someplace, or muster out? Yeah, we landed in San Bernardino, which is out north of Camp Pendleton. Then they brought us in and they—some of them were being transferred to other units, you know, 32 �that still had time to go, and some were getting out, and then they put us in a barracks there, the guys that were getting out. 7:05 Interviewer: How long was it before you got to go home? Well, I think I landed on the twenty third of March, I landed in California, and the morning of the twenty fifth, I was out. Interviewer: Now, were you still committed to the Reserves after that? I could have joined it, but getting out, I turned my paperwork in to the Reserve unit, that I was home and what my location was, but basically I was done. Interviewer: Now, when you got back, what sort of a reception did you get when you got home? My family members, you know, they all came over to see me and stuff. Interviewer: Once you were back, what did you do? 8:00 did you go and find a job, or what did you do next? Well, I worked for Dexter Lock just prior to leaving, and so that was one of the places I expected to go back and go to work for, but at that time they could give you a part time job, or any type of a job, to fill their obligations and they were very slow at that time, so they wanted me to work two days a week, or something. It was panning out that I could draw unemployment for a month, or something and it would be more than I’d be making there and driving into work and I didn’t have a vehicle, or anything, yet and I was using my folks' vehicles to get around. 9:00 Then overlooking everything, I went to work for my dad. Interviewer: So, you’re installing carpets and selling carpet, or whatever? That’s how I started, was installing carpet. 33 �Interviewer: Then did you stay in the family business at that point, and that’s kind of what you’ve done, or did you switch to other things later on? Well, I worked for my dad for about a year and they got slow, and I went to work for a company called Chicago Bridge and Iron out of Chicago, and I worked for them—I was on my second season when they went on strike, that was a union shop, and they ended up going out of business. Then I worked for Gerry Cook at Cook’s Wrecking and Cannon Wrecking out of Dorr. I worked for them for a year and he went down in an airplane crash. 10:00 Then they stopped that company and then I did odds and ends and ended up back working for my dad again when things picked up. Then I worked for him from 1975, or so, until 1985 and then he sold his business and everything and then I got my builder's license and I’ve been doing that ever since. Interviewer: Did you have people ask you things about being in Vietnam, or did people just not know? Did you talk much about it at all, or just kind of went about your business? I didn’t and then all of a sudden lately, in the last few years, I’ve been talking more and more. I think it’s because they’re bringing back pride in our military and stuff. Back in the 1970’s it was not popular to be in the military. 11:07 Interviewer: Did you, sir, see much evidence of anti-military sentiment, or things like that toward you at all, or was it just something you were aware of in the media and that kind of thing? Well, the media, probably, instigated a lot of that stuff, but there were groups in California that didn’t like the military, and they were at the airports and different things. I never got spot on, but I heard that some of the guys did. That was kind of a letdown, 34 �because inside you’re so proud after something like that, you know, after doing all that work. Interviewer: You’re doing it for your country and then to get that kind of a reception on the other end. 12:00 Did you find that when you heard stuff about “nam” and people talking about Vietnam veterans and that sort of stuff, did you have the sense that people had the story wrong, or didn’t get it, or whatever, or did you see stuff that seemed fairly accurate as far as you could tell? I think like if you had duty like down towards the big cities like Saigon, or maybe right into Da Nang, or something, there probably was a lot of dope and I think the majority of the servicemen over there never. You know—first of all you didn’t carry around money, because it was always in the bank and you didn’t need money. If you bought anything it would be a coke or a carton of cigarettes, or something like that, and no, we didn’t have any prevalent dope problems, but I can see where certain areas would. 13:06 Having an eight to four-thirty job in Da Nang could be a guy has a lot of different things going on for him, which I never was a part of any of that. Interviewer: You’re probably healthier for it too. Yeah, I think on the whole the drug abuse rate, or whatever, among service men in Vietnam was basically the same as it was with the general population. Certain things get emphasized in certain ways, or whatever, just by how it gets presented. For the most part, if you were out in the field, and that’s pretty consistently what the soldiers will say. If they were out there, people didn’t do that stuff, because it wasn’t safe and it didn’t make any sense. 35 �Yeah, you’re a close knit group whether you know each other really well or not, you’re still a close knit group. 14:00 You’re watching what everybody’s doing and what’s going on constantly, that’s your survival. Interviewer: To look back on the whole thing now, how do you think your time in the service wound up affecting you? Did it kind of change the way you viewed the world or dealt with people, or anything like that? You’ve been just kind of in Byron Center, or whatever, your whole life before that, and then you’re off in Vietnam. What sort of impact did that have on you? Well, I didn’t like it and that’s probably why I’ve always lived in Byron Center and came back where I was comfortable, but I got to see—I got to see the world that I’m never going to go back to and I’d just as soon stay right here close, and stay in this country at least. Interviewer: Well, I’m certainly glad that you made it back in one piece, and also glad that you took the time to come in and talk to me today. Thank you. 15:00 36 �37 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanSolkemaH Title A name given to the resource Van Solkema, Howard (Interview transcript and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Solkema, Howard Description An account of the resource Howard Van Solkema was born in Byron Center, Michigan, in 1950. He was drafted shortly after graduating from high school and served in the Marine Corps between 1969 and 1971. He trained as a machine gunner and joined the First Marine Division at Da Nang in 1969. When his original regiment was sent home, he was transferred to a different unit in the northern part of the country, and finally to a base camp toward the end of his tour. He saw a good deal of small unit action, but no large battles, and worked with Australian and Korean troops. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Marine Corps Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-10-21 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f9af23d84cd81e2cb52b3d289858144d.mp4 230f4e38a4f67603e00d993090362107 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bf312f960b28097185e8703d15f8afb4.pdf 87dd8be9a073b3a91db68800e371c4ed PDF Text Text Garret Van Solkema (1:26:16) (00:08) Background Information • Garret was born in Byron Center, Michigan in 1919 • His Father was a Foreman at Berkey and Gay Furniture in Grand Rapids, Michigan • They moved to Holland, Michigan because his dad got a job at Baker Furniture • He attended Holland Christian High for 2 years but his family needed money so his dad got him a job at where he used to work in Grand Rapids • When Garret was 18 he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in Au Sable, Michigan • They fought fires and planted trees for a dollar a day • After that he went back home to work on the farm • He went to work with his brother at Nash Kelvinator making evaporators • In the summer of 1941 Garret was drafted (5:48) Training • First went to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan • He then went to Fort Knox for basic training • He went through Armored School and learned how to fire a .50 caliber machine gun • They didn’t have much to equipment to train with • Garret went to Fort Benning with the 2nd Armored Division and got more equipment to train with • He was with the Ammunition Battery and trained to bring ammo to the front lines • They trained with half-tracks • He heard their Commander, General Patton speak when he was a one star General and thought he swore too much • They did maneuvers in Tennessee and North Carolina (18:14) Deployment in 1942 • Garrett spent 23 days on the Atlantic Ocean �• The ship didn’t carry any equipment • They dumped many depth charges for German U-Boats • The boat landed in North Africa • Their job was to overthrow the Moroccan Government [to take control of Morocco from the Vichy French] • Then they moved up the coast to Tunisia where they were on standby to fight the Germans • There were a lot of Arabs and they would steal from the soldiers (30:35) Sicily • They went to Sicily in an LST • They fought with the Army Rangers and had a lot of respect for them • Garret came into contact with German tanks and US P-38 planes • He spent 6 months in Sicily • On one occasion they caught fish with a grenade and a mine, and the locals cooked them (40:57) England • On the way to England they passed the Rock of Gibraltar • Before they got to England they had to get inspected for STDs • They landed in Glasgow, Scotland and did maneuvers • Garret had a girlfriend in London • The Germans were attacking London and they had to hide in the subways when they were visiting • They spent about 6 months in England (49:35) Omaha Beach, France • They couldn’t go the first day of the battle because of the waves, so they went the 2nd day • After Omaha they went to St Lo and cleared it out (52:47) Rommel’s Headquarters �• There were about 80,000 Germans at the HQ [Falaise pocket] • His division was supposed to take over a road near the back • They bombed the HQ with planes • Garret received a Bazooka • The Germans ended up retreating (1:00:03) Netherlands • They captured Maastricht • The townspeople were grateful • Sometimes they would have to move 40-50 miles a day • The MPs told them where to go • The Germans caught 3 of their tanks and let the people come back (1:03:30) Wounded • Garret was wounded in Palenberg, Germany • It was towards the end of the Siegfried line • He got 17 stitches near his bottom lip and was out for a week (1:06:22) Battle of the Bulge • The Battle happened by the Meuse River • The German SS troops broke through the lines on Christmas day • General Harmon gave orders to not take any prisoners • They stopped the Germans and regrouped at St Vith • Then went to Liege and Maastricht • The German people were very nice �(1:12:15) Potsdam • President Truman was going to the Potsdam Conference and asked the 2nd Armored Division to be there as his Honor Guards • General Patton saved some white horses from the Germans and they put on a show • The Russians also did a show • Stalin and Churchill also attended the show (1:16:20) Back to the US • The mean were loaded on a boat in France • They Landed in Boston, Massachusetts • Garret was discharged in Pennsylvania • He had low blood pressure so the doctors wanted to keep him but he had been away from home for 3 years so he wanted to get back (1:21:08) After Discharge • Garret went back to work at Kelvinator • Later he went to help his brother on a farm in Burnips, Michigan (1:24:05) How the Military Affected Him • Taught to kill or be killed • It took about 4 years to get rid of the desire to kill � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanSolkemaG Title A name given to the resource Van Solkema, Garret (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Solkema, Garret Description An account of the resource Garret Van Solkema was born in Byron Center, Michigan in 1919. He was drafted in 1941 and went into the 2nd Armored Division commanded by General Patton. He landed in North Africa and fought in Sicily, Normandy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Garret attended the Potsdam Conference as an Honor Guard. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-11-29 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/39c88ee6e5da1e84ee44b6cf078c8151.mp4 646dd19ebe2f510dd0f27ad432eff894 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/be9bde60490a62edf19ffea841767649.pdf 708d48cb025e80d96a60404bd3dc1855 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Willard Van Singel (59:58) (01:15) Background Information • Willard was born in 1918 in Grand Rapids, MI • His father was a carpenter, but also had to work on cars during the depression to make extra money • Willard graduated in 1936 and went to work at the Byron Center Bank (2:50) Drafted in July 1941 • He traveled from Kalamazoo to Texas in about two days • They had first went to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, MI for their physicals • It was very hot in Texas and hard for him to adjust (8:00) Training • He worked with M-1s for rifle training, marching, and combat drills • They stayed in Texas for about 3 years and he did administration, clerical, and supply work • Willard became a battalion supply sergeant (12:15) Overseas on the Queen Mary • Willard had tried to stay in the battalion supply area, but the battle in Europe was becoming very intense and he knew he would be sent there soon • They landed in England and received their supplies • They then crossed the channel to France at Omaha Beach (14:50) France • Willard was in a combat unit of the 83rd Infantry Division • He had to keep track of supplies; a buck sergeant • They were very close to the front lines and there were many casualties • Willard received platoon duties shortly after arriving and he became first sergeant • Willard was a replacement for a platoon that had already been fighting (18:10) Combat • Combat was a scary experience, but he worked with a lot of good men • It was worst in the hedge rows • They were supported by tanks and aircraft • Willard and his men moved south towards dangerous territory and travelled mainly by foot • They travelled through Paris, which was not too damaged and the locals were nice (25:00) Battle of the Bulge �• • • • • • • • There was very cold weather for a very long time They went through Belgium later in the battle Willard lost some of his crew to German snipers He felt that the Germans were a disciplined army; they were more experienced and well trained The Germans most likely had better equipment and technology The snow was very deep and you could only keep warm by constantly moving They could not build fires, because it would help the Germans to spot them They went from Belgium to the Netherlands, and then Germany (36:50) The Netherlands • They were very friendly people, but very poor with not much food • Some of the soldiers slept with some of the locals (38:15) Germany • The German citizens were good people • As the war was ending, they still faced some German resistance • As they traveled into Eastern Germany, they encountered refugees that were heading west and trying to get away from the Russians • The American troops did not trust the Russians and the Russians did not trust them either • Willard had once been warned that they might have to fight the Russians some day (41:35) Russia • They crossed a river and went into Russian-held territory • The Russians were rough; the Germans would rather surrender to the Americans than the Russians (43:10) The End of the War • Everyone was happy and they knew that good days were ahead • The Germans were giving up quite easily towards the end of the war • There were many Germans that surrendered to his unit • They left Europe shortly before the bombs were dropped on Japan • Willard was on a ship headed towards the US when the bombs were dropped (48:50) Back in the US • Willard went back to working at the bank and was eventually promoted to the president • He later took night classes at Davenport University • He felt that he met many great people while in the service • Willard had been married before his time in Europe; when he returned they had children and bought a house � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanSingelW Title A name given to the resource Van Singel, Willard (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Singel, Willard Description An account of the resource Willard Van Singel was drafted into the Army in 1941 and trained in Texas. He spent 3 years in Texas working as a battalion supply sergeant and also helped with administration and clerical work. Willard then served in the 83rd Infantry Division, landing in France in late 1944. He switched from being a supply sergeant to being a platoon sergeant in a rifle company and saw action in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and at the end of the war met the Soviets east of the Elbe River. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-11-01 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ca15f68fc121dad93c3d3d9cee6859f.mp4 f6fc7d4e690eea91f6c44e475598cd0d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ebee482e1b62158b782c136d2911cb9.pdf dc61462e89a0c9f295ff97712ebef5a5 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Larry Van Singel (00:38:52) (1:02) Pre-Enlistment • (1:02) Lived in Byron Center his entire life. He graduated high school in 1965. Vietnam was “on everyone’s mind,” at the time. When he was eighteen he went to Detroit and got a deferment because he was a student. Many of his friends did not go to college, and were drafted. • (1:55) He thinks most of the men in his class were drafted. • (2:06) He went to Grand Rapids Community College, called Grand Rapids Junior College at the time. He went for one year, and one semester of his second year. By this time all his friends had either been drafted or had enlisted. He met a woman he planned on marrying, and decided to enlist and get it out of the way since he would be drafted eventually anyway. He took a “voluntary draft” in 1967. (3:11) Enlistment/Training • (3:11) He went to Fort Knox, in Kentucky for basic training and AIT. AIT was advanced training, he became a radio operator. • (3:40) Basic training consisted mostly of running, marching, and learning military discipline. He also learned some basic combat. • (4:04) The drill sergeants were tough, but they needed to be, and it didn’t bother him much. Other men had trouble with the drill sergeants, and some had trouble with maintaining their weight. • (4:49) Men came from all over; his unit had many men from Michigan. • (4:54) A few had been to college, but most had not gone to college. • (5:09) He was taught to use a small radio, and he learned Morse code. They trained for eight to ten hours per day. The radios had voice capability, and he very rarely used Morse code. • (6:04) He was at Fort Knox until December. • (6:20) Next, he reported to California for out processing. The group ahead of him all went to Germany, and all of the men except the last three by alphabetical order in his group went to Germany. • (7:00) He was afraid, because he watched the news coverage. He was also disappointed because he was so close to going to Germany instead of Vietnam. • (7:47) He went home for the holidays, and left on January 6th, 1960. He arrived in Vietnam on January 10th. (8:10) Active Duty begins/HQ Position • (8:10) He was sent to a staging area once he arrived in Vietnam. His name was called six days later, and he was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division, Company B, which was a Headquarter Company. He was sent to Bearcat, near Saigon, and was going to be a radio operator. • (8:42) Saigon was relatively modern at the time. Command asked if he knew how �to type, and he did so he was put in a three-man “squad” of clerks. He worked in the office, and it was a relatively easy assignment. • (9:32) The Tet Offensive began in February. In addition to serving as a clerk, he also helped supply nearby areas. He went to Saigon three times during Tet, and witnessed destruction. They did not come under fire, and they did not have problems with mines. A convoy always guarded them. • (10:42) Morale at Bearcat was generally good. Most of the men at Bearcat were close to the end of their combat duty. • (11:19) He made some friends at Bearcat. Soon his assignment changed. A lieutenant asked for a .45, which he provided after some paperwork. Later on, his friend came and told him to eat something. Then his friend told him the sergeant had been fatally shot, and they were to be re-assigned. (12:41) Re-Transmitter Radioman • (12:41) He was to be a “re-tran radioman.” He was put into a small base between combat and base camp, with other men in eight hour shifts. They ran radios constantly, and were guarded and behind a fence. • (14:00) They would radio out in the field for three weeks or so per location. They were brought in and out by helicopter. He was forty or fifty miles south of Saigon, in the Mekong Delta. • (14:52) From the air, Vietnam was a beautiful farming country. The vegetation was very thick and green. • (15:42) They were “re-transmitters,” which meant they were to listen to transmissions and re-transmit them to their intended location if communications were cut. Usually they just listened, and were not needed. They did not get combat transmissions, but they were able to keep up on combat situations by listening to other transmissions content, especially death statistics. They rarely heard gunfire. • (17:25) He was sometimes afraid. They were occasionally mortared, so they usually slept in the bunker. • (18:00) He saw the locals very frequently, and thought they were friendly, and they had a good relationship. The women sometimes came into camp to do their laundry. They also bought egg sandwiches from them sometimes. Sometimes cooks came into the camp. This was not seen as a security risk because it was relatively rare, and they came in small numbers. • (19:10) He did not see much of ARVN, but did not have a very good impression. They seemed under-trained, and under-equipped. He did not see them in active duty. • (20:15) On the first of November, he took a test and got his sergeant’s stripes. That was his first time back in the base for a long time. • (20:49) The men mostly focused on their own small piece of the war, not on the war as a whole. • (21:19) They didn’t have much to do when off duty, and they usually just played cards. The men got along well, in part because cooperation was so vital. They also got to know some of the men in other communication bases. • (22:16) The war changed for him again one Sunday morning. He was told to report �to base, to the Red Cross, which usually meant that someone back home had died. He was picked up by the mail chopper, and did not take anything with him except the clothes on his back. • (23:00) At the Red Cross at base, he was notified that his brother Jim had died in a car accident. He was not given any further information, and worried about other members of his family. He had recently extended his duty by forty days so that he could finish his military service in one go, and then be back home and finished with it. • (24:00) Shortly after being notified of his brother’s death, he was told he was going to go home. He wanted to go back and retrieve his things, but he was not allowed to do so. The next morning he was on a plane back to the United States. (24:52) Flights to and From Vietnam/Post-War • (24:52) Both flights he flew on a civilian aircraft. • (25:08) When he landed in Vietnam, it was very stressful and overwhelming. He was at the initial area for six days. He saw his first American casualty in this area. • (25:47) He was very aware that the area was a warzone, but nobody else seemed to be aware of that fact. All the other men were accustomed to the situation. • (26:59) On the trip back, all the men cheered when the plane lifted off. He was unsure how to feel. He wanted to speed home and he also wanted not to go at all. He was very conflicted. • (27:19) They landed in California, and an Army man there helped them get new clothes and fill out the necessary paperwork. He had come back with only the greens he was wearing. • (28:12) They were given a plane ticket, and thirty-eight dollars. He was going to come back with another man. They took a taxi to the airport, paid the taxi, and then a young man tried to mug them. His companion knocked the man out with his duffle bag and they kicked him. They told security about the situation, and were asked to go quickly. • (29:39) The plane landed in Lansing, not Grand Rapids because of fog. He called his family at the airport before departing and could not reach them, so he called his fiancé. He found out his brother had died in a motorcycle accident, and found out the other members of his family were all right. He had not known until this pint whether anyone else had been in the accident. When he got home he went to the funeral. • (30:24) He had a thirty-day leave, and then he had to report to Fort Carson, Colorado. He arrived late and was given an Article 15, which involved disciplinary action and loss of rank. He didn’t care, and wanted nothing to do with the Army anymore. • (31:52) He was assigned a new unit, which was also set to go to Vietnam. He didn’t like the men in the new unit, so he was assigned to a new unit. He married that April. • (32:34) He and his wife lived off-base in a trailer until he finished his tour of duty in Colorado on July 10th, 1969. • (33:01) His last day on duty he had had to clean out the dishwasher, which involved �• • • • • • • getting inside it. Two sergeants came and ordered coffee at the end of his shift, he asked if they could come later since it was his last day and he wanted to finish it. They instead told him to make the coffee, and he would be done when he cleaned those dishes. Instead, he threw them away. He had to report to another sergeant for disciplinary action, but the sergeant told him “you survived, you’re done, get out and go home.” (34:39) He did not go back to college; he went to work at a golf course until November when the golf course closed. (35:01) He found a job making upholstery for caskets. He told his wife he would quit that job as soon as something else was available. Instead he worked for the man for thirty-seven years, and currently works for the man who bought the business. He ran three warehouses. (36:00) He moved back to Byron Center, two houses away from his father. He raised three children there, and he has eight grandchildren. (36:24) At the beginning, he was very negative about his time in Vietnam. It took a long time for him to cope with it. He recently went to the Vietnam Wall with three war buddies. It helped give him closure. (37:22) The war also helped him grow up, so he did have some positive experiences. (37:49) In 1999 he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It went away after successful treatment, and came back nine months later. He is currently in remission for five years. He thinks it may have something to do with the defoliants used in Vietnam. (38:31) He thinks the VA does a better job with treatment than it used to do. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanSingelL Title A name given to the resource Van Singel, Larry (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Singel, Larry Description An account of the resource Larry Van Singel grew up in Byron Center, MI, and volunteered for the Army in early 1967 since he expected to be drafted and wanted to have some choice in his training and assignment. He initially served as a clerk at the 9th Division headquarters outside of Saigon, and traveled into Saigon several times during the Tet Offensive. Next he served as a radioman at a small base in the Mekong Delta. He was brought home early because of a death in the family and served the rest of his tour in the United States. He discusses his own feelings about the war and the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life, as well as a visit to the Vietnam memorial in Washington. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-01-15 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ef187772a54024e25af79ce9b4621503.mp4 10ec3305ac73417153e6ac62603c9668 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e735cc7d88c448c7cf8e2bb8a453cabb.pdf 3295d3f5b5d99f170a471445cfe4464b PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Harris Van Singel (34:40) (:35) Early Life • (:35) He was born in Byron Center, at his parents’ house. They lived in that house for about six years. • (:54) They moved to the Van Singel farm, where he grew up. It was just down the street from their previous house. He went to Byron Center School until the 12th grade. Kindergarten through 2nd grade were in one room, 3rd-5th grades were in a second room, and 6-8th were in a third room. It also had a two-story high school. • (1:30) His family was originally from the city, but his father couldn’t find work as a carpenter. The farm was eighteen acres, and they grew enough to live on, but not much past that. • (2:02) He graduated in 1940. He spent a few years working odd jobs, and working on the farm. Then he went into the Army. (2:18) Enlistment/Training • (2:18) He joined the Army in the spring of 1944. • (2:39) He avoided the draft because two of his brothers had already enlisted. During this time he worked on the farm and delivered ice. • (3:15) He enlisted because he realized he would be drafted eventually anyway. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps. • (3:50) He chose the Air Corps. He was sent to Fort Sheridan, IL, for initial processing. • (4:20) He was sent to Texas for Basic training. He learned military discipline, and PT. Basic was mostly learning about Army life. • (5:00) He had a new plane that used a remote control gun. He had to take an exam and get at least a one-hundred and twenty on it to qualify. • (5:47) He signed up for the gunnery in Texas, and then he was sent to Denver, CO to be trained on it. • (6:07) During the training he sat in the plane and used a ball to control the guns. He controlled four guns usually, but he could control two additional guns in the front as well. Usually the bombardier controlled those guns. • (7:00) In Denver, he was training to be on a crew, but was not actually part of a crew. He was in Denver about two months. • (7:39) He was sent to Fort Myers in Florida for more gunnery training. They used B-24’s and shot at moving targets pulled by other planes. • (8:07) The base in Florida was a larger base. He did not care for Florida because at the time it was a very wild area, with snakes and alligators, and swamps. • (9:03) When he was off-duty he didn’t do much. He moved around too often to get settled. He saw the USO a few times. �• • • • • • • • • • (9:35) He spent about ten hours day training. He had joined intending to be a pilot, but he was transferred because they had too many pilot applicants. He was made a gunner. (10:28) They shot skeet in Florida, to quicken their reaction time. (11:01) He went home for the holidays, and asked for an extra week because his mother was ill. He received the extra week, and was next sent to Lincoln, NE “the coldest place on Earth.” (11:45) They did not have B-29s yet, that was later. (12:13) Next he was sent to Clovis, NM. He was assigned to a unit in NM, and also got married. He had been seeing a woman for about two years, and she came down on a bus to visit him. (13:37) They had some B-29’s in NM, and the crew had nine or ten men. (14:06) He got along well with his crewmen. Two of them were Mormons, and one was Chinese. One of them had been an instructor. They were a “nice bunch.” (15:06) He used the remote control guns more later on. For now they mostly used mock ups. (15:26) He was in Clovis for six weeks, and then he was sent to Topeka, KS, to get a new plane. They were a replacement crew. (15:58) The B-29 was “very modern” for its time. It had better quality pressurization than other planes, and they only had to use the oxygen tanks when they were directly over their target. A mission usually lasted about fifteen hours. (10:52) Active Duty in the Pacific • (16:52) He was shipped to Sacramento, CA for a day or two and then they flew to Hawaii. They stayed there for three or four days, and they went to Midway. • (17:36) Midway was a very small island. They went to Tinian next, and left the plan there. They took a boat to Saipan, which was very close. • (18:05) They were based in Saipan. They stayed on base for about a week before being sent on their first mission. • (18:22) Missions were very tense, because of the uncertainty involved. Fighter planes were usually not an issue for the Americans at this point in the war. Most of the Japanese Air Force had been shot down. The main problem was enemy anti-aircraft fire. • (19:15) He flew missions at night, and missions during the day. During the day they flew five miles high, and at night missions, they flew two miles high. Sometimes they were lost in the smoke from the bombs. They could see the glow from their firebombs for miles. • (20:40) The Americans destroyed more buildings in Japan than they did in Europe. • (21:13) The Japanese had good fighter planes, which in some ways were better than the American fighters. • (21:46) The pilot once warned everyone about a kamikaze, but it turned out to be the moon. It sounds strange, but the missions were so tense it could have that kind of effect. �• • • • • • • • • (22:09) He did not see any kamikaze attacks himself. American planes were shot down frequently, he was told once in Saipan that he would be shot down at least once within two months. His unit was not shot down. He heard of some other men who were shot down, and they survived but “their nerves were shot.” He was warned to leave them alone. (23:16) He mostly knew the men in his crew, and not many others. (23:41) He visited Tinian after the war, while he was still in the service. He serviced the walk-in refrigerators by giving the generators gasoline. He had his own jeep, which was a luxury at the time. (24:21) He flew fourteen missions, and learned about the atomic bomb on the way back from a mission. The peace treaty had been delayed because the Japanese did not want to hand over their Emperor, but they did eventually. (25:11) They had a celebration once the peace was signed. Many of the troops had been disgusted with the Japanese for not surrendering earlier; they wanted to get the war over and done. They also were disgusted at the Japanese treatment of American POW’s. (26:14) He saw dead Japanese, but did not see many alive except in American POW camps. Entire families were in the camps, not just the soldiers. (27:24) He flew a mission once to bring supplies to Americans in a Japanese prisoner camp. One of the crate’s parachutes deployed in the bomb bay, so he had to go in and cut it loose while the bay doors were opened. (28:50) They did not actually land in Japan, but they got very close to the ground, just above the houses. He saw the damage of the war plainly, especially in Nagasaki. (29:36) The war ended in August, he went home in March, and was discharged April 5th. (29:59) Post-War Life, and Reflections • (29:59) He had volunteered to go on a mission to the Philippines, but he was sent home instead. The ride home was easy, and he landed in San Francisco. • (30:58) After the war, he became a carpenter. He had initially planned on taking a break, but his father found him work right away. • (31:35) As a carpenter, he walked on top of some very high buildings. He continued working as a contractor. • (33:07) While in Saipan, the Army had set up a hospital to prepare for the invasion of Japan. The hospital was not needed because of the atomic bomb and the peace treaty. • (33:46) He didn’t talk much about his war experience. • (34:15) He doesn’t think the service changed him very much. • (34:40) He was angry with the Japanese during the war, and didn’t feel sorry about the bomb at the time. He admits he may have been wrong to be angry and unsympathetic to them. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanSingelH Title A name given to the resource Van Singel, Harris (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Singel, Harris Description An account of the resource Harris Van Singel was born in Byron Center, and has lived there his entire life. He went to school, and graduated from Byron Center School in 1940. He avoided the draft for four years because his two brothers had both enlisted, and because he was doing farm work. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1944, and was trained as a remote control gunner on the B-29. He initially wanted to be a pilot, but they had too many applicants. He served in the Pacific theatre, and flew on 14 combat missions over Japan from a base on Saipan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Byron Area Historic Museum (Byron Center, Mich.) BCTV Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Air Force World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-01-29 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e667ee51b081a1b35dfe132634e9e3e6.mp4 b5543cb79ca5c50cb3e71feaf17bcec1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/93a78369da533187941dd91fad07c662.pdf 67ff892e58f374b328ed4d68d6cb4e67 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Julius Van Oss 49:05 Background information (00:18)                  Thought life was pretty good before World War II began although when he graduated from high school he was unable to find a job right away. (00:20) Worked at the Dunn manufacturing company making gun brackets for M4 tanks (00:27) He worked at this job for about 4 months before he was drafted in 1943 (00:39) Graduated high school in 1941 (00:45) During the Great Depression his family had been poor however due to his young age he was unable to register how difficult times actually were (1:00) Noticed in school that many of his clothes had been made over (1:05) As a child he lived on a poultry farm and because of this he and his family always had food even during tough times (1:10) He and his family had been aware of the conflicts occurring in Europe due to his father’s interest in world news (1:54) He was on a date with a girl the evening of December 7th 1941(Pearl Harbor) and when he returned it was the first time he had heard of the Japanese attack. The next day(December 8th) he heard the U.S. was now at war with Japan (2:29) He was not excited about going into service (3:29) After Pearl Harbor, he was pretty sure he was going to have to go into service. (3:45) A couple of his friends and people from his neighborhood had been drafted before he was. (4:16) He received his draft notice in March of 1943 (4:43) Was sworn in on April 16th 1943 (4:46) Was on Active duty a week later (April 23rd 1943) (4:53) Some people with critical positions (such as tool and die makers) were kept in their positions due to the importance of their skill (5:12) If a farmer had one son already in the service and only had one son left, that child was often allowed to stay home to help manage the farm. At this time however, he was no longer living on the farm (5:29) Basic Training (5:50)   Reported to Fort Custer, Michigan (5:43) He was at Fort Custer for about a week to get his shots and clothes (5:58) �            Next he went to Greensboro, North Carolina, to receive his basic training in the Army Air Corps (probably Seymour Johnson Air Force Base) (6:00) He thought basic training was miserable. The area had been very hot and very muddy (6:14) Barracks were provided to live in (6:30) Most the men at the fort got along fairly well (6:40) The drill instructors had also treated him and the others being trained well. (except for yelling which was expected) (7:04) The Air Corps tended not to believe in the same “aggressive” training tactics as the army (7:20) When he was drafted he had the choice of going into the Army, the Navy or the Marines. (7:40) He picked the Army, but later was assigned to the Air Force [Army Air Corps at the time] (7:56) Although trained to use a rifle, he only had it on the rifle range, where as in the infantry you had to carry it with you “all the time” (8:06) In basic training he practiced military discipline, close order drill, guard duty, ext (8:20) At night there was some free time (8:40) Basic training lasted 6 weeks (9:06) Specialized training program (9:08)           After basic training, he had been given an I.Q. test to determine if he should go into the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). Passing this test he went to North Carolina State College to be classified for the ASTP (approx. summer of 1943) (9:11) ASTP was a program to provide a continuous flow of high grade technicians and specialist with in the Army (9:50) The Army determined that he should go into engineering so he was sent to the University of Illinois. He had been excited as this was “close to home”(approx. fall of 1943) (10:20) The curriculum was rigorous and very difficult. (10:34) Was seen as being much better than basic training. (11:20) While there he lived in dorms as well as the fraternity house (11:50) The program lasted 7 months then the army dispensed it because they could not find a use for it (February 18th 1944) (12:00) After the project was disbanded he was sent back to Jefferson Barracks Missouri and back into the Air Corps. (12:34) Was sent to Lake Charles Air Force Base (now Chennault Air Force Base) Louisiana and worked in the supply room for 7 months (12:36) Was sent up to Sioux Falls South Dakota for the winter for Radio School (approx. 1944) (13:06) �  After completing 13 out of the 18 weeks needed to complete radio school then was reassigned to the infantry and was sent to Camp Livingston, Louisiana, for 6 weeks of basic training (approx. early 1945) (13:20) He was then sent to Fort Meade, Maryland, to be sent to the European Theater(13:55) Basic training for Infantry (14:00)    Was a lot different than Air Corps basic training (14:05) No choice was given as to where he went. (14:30) He did not want to be placed down south because that was known as where the infantry were trained. (15:05) To the Pacific Theater (15:20)                 The war in Europe ended while he was in Fort Meade. (15:24) He then was sent to San Francisco and later on to the pacific theater. (15:47) He arrived at Camp Stoneman, California and unloaded there (15:55) Was taken from California via ship, he as well as many others were seasick during the voyage (16:40) The ship docked in Pearl Harbor (17:16) Going out of Pearl Harbor he was in a convoy of 15 ships. (17:30) The convoy stopped in the Caroline Islands where there was a navy recreational base. Here the soldiers were allowed to get off the ship and go swimming and relax a bit. (17:40) Conditions on the ship were not too bad, however they were sleeping 5 high. (18:15) Below deck was hot leading to the men often sleeping on the deck (18:24) Meals were not too bad however for breakfast there was only beans and coffee (18:40) During the day they tried to avoid officers because they might put them to work. (18:50) Julius arrived in Manila after 31 days at sea (spring or early summer of 1945) (19:17) One of the Sailors pointed out Bataan. Julius knew what had happened there but not to as great a degree as he would when those soldiers would return home (19:30) Was put at a replacement depot where he stayed for a couple weeks before they decided what unit he was to be assigned too. (20:13) In the Philippians there was a lab he saw which had been severally damaged by Japanese forces (20:30) The Japanese where still on the island at this time (21:14) �    One of the locals told a story of the Japanese occupation where one of the soldiers filled the body of a pregnant woman up with water and then used her for bayonet practice. (21:23) At this time he was not aware of the horrible treatment the Japanese had for their prisoners as well as their own soldiers (22:43) There was little information about Japanese forces that was given during training. (23:30) He was placed in F company 6th division. (24:40) Action in the Philippians (25:00)           He and his company pressed forward (25:49) The Japanese had nothing to shell with besides mortars however these had been utilized often by the Japanese. (26:00) Was attacked by a banzai attack but a unit ahead of his withstood the attack. (26:28) On July 4th 1945 an air strike was called. P-38s dropped napalm bombs and B-25s dropped high explosive bombs (27:05) A few days after the air strike he was forced to go on a mission to Antipolo (28:30) They stayed there for 7 days and due to the remoteness of the town’s location C47s delivered their food (29:00) He heard that the war was over from other soldier and even had the message delivered on ration boxes. After discovering this, the soldiers he was with shot off all their ammunition but one clip (30:00) The end of the war in 1945 came as a pleasant surprise (30:29) Kamikaze attacks [at least in his part of the Philippines] had stopped by the time he arrived in the Pacific Theater (30:40) After the end of the war there were very few Japanese left on the islands. (31:08) Post war and Korea (31:40)       Before knowing of the end of the War he and other soldiers were expecting a direct attack on the island of Japan (31:55) After the end of the war he wanted to get out of the infantry so he responded to an ad in a small paper given to his regiment for a P.A. operator He was given 2 turntables a generator and a jeep to go around to various platoons in the Philippines and play music for them (33:43) Soon after the end of the war he had been sent to Korea (October of 1945) (34:44) This had been immediately after the Okinawa Typhoon in October of 1945, so they did not leave port for three days due to the condition of the seas. (34:48) He arrived in Pusan. Korea, were they stayed in a warehouse for the first night (35:33) �     There were lice all over the warehouse so the next night they were moved to a high school. DDT bombs were used to kill much of the lice from the warehouse (35:58) He played records during the day at the headquarters. (36:32) He was then soon offered the opportunity to become a radio operator and took it (37:00) This Job included setting up communication between regimental headquarters and outlying companies (37:40) When in Korea there was no expectation of any more fighting or that relations with the Russians would decay to the point that it soon would. (38:00) Returning Home (38:38)          Before going home he was offered the position of Master Sergeant. However he turned it down, being unwilling to become a lifelong military man. (39:00) When traveling home the ship he was on stopped once in Japan (39:37) The ship he was on took a northern rout home, following the Alaskan Peninsula and docked in Seattle (39:46) After getting off the ship he and the men on the ship went to Fort Lewis Washington. (approx. early 1946) (40:20) When there he had been served food by German P.O.Ws (40:30) The barracks he had stayed in at this base had been integrated (both black and white soldiers) one night there had been an incident in which another soldier had been struck over the head by a black soldier who was unidentified. As a result the base was going to run all the black soldiers until one of them was willing to confess. The men in the barracks he had stayed in thought that this was wrong and stood up for the black soldiers, however they were ultimately forced to let them leave (42:16) Some African American soldiers were seen in the Philippians but in segregated units (typically served in service units) (42:36) From here he and others were put on a train to go to camp McCoy, Wisconsin, to exit the service. (43:15) He was discharged at camp McCoy and went home to Michigan (43:34) Final thoughts and opinions (44:00)       Over all he believed it to be a very good experience (44:03) Some men had difficulty managing the discipline of the service(44:35) He did keep in touch with some of his army friends (45:15) Belongs to the American Legion and the Dads of Foreign Wars (46:46) His son (served in Vietnam) and granddaughter (served in the Marines) both willingly volunteered to go into service (47:20) He thinks that having the military composed of volunteers is better than drafting men. However, he also believes that the military can give a useful experience that gives a great perspective on discipline (47:41) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanOssJ1291V Title A name given to the resource Van Oss, Julius (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Oss, Julius Description An account of the resource Julius Van Oss was drafted into the US Army in 1943 and initially assigned to the Army Air Corps. In training, he qualified for the ASTP program, which sent men to college to prepare them to become engineers, but the program was cancelled after he had been in it for seven months, and he was returned to the Air Corps. After failing to qualify as a radio operator, he was assigned to the infantry and was slated to go to Europe. The Germans surrendered before he could leave, however, and he wound up being sent to the Philippines as a replacement for the 6th Division. He fought briefly prior to the Japanese surrender, after which he was assigned to work with communications for his regiment, first in the Philippines and then in Korea before he returned home in 1946. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Montagna, Douglas (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army United States. Army Air Corps World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-10-17 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/31f53d486d585b57fbfba527872b82cd.mp4 9bef01c3119a56af2decbde7462dc024 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/81077ac490d4e1d8cea2164135719f3d.pdf e040831d030f6207bb3cb07440ea42d6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Craig Van Hout Vietnam War Interview Length: (01:58:09:00) Pre-enlistment / Training: (00:00:10:00)  Van Hout was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin on September 24th, 1949 and he grew up in Green Bay, where his father worked for the post office, first as a postal clerk, then as a personnel manager in Green Bay, before retiring as a post master in Manitowoc, Wisconsin (00:00:10:00)  Van Hout attended an all-boys Catholic high school in Green Bay and after he graduated from high school, attended the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (00:00:37:00) o Van Hout stayed at the university for three semesters before the university "asked" him to leave (00:00:49:00)  Van Hout left college in January 1969 and was called for his draft physical at the end of February (00:01:08:00) o Once Van Hout left college, he figured that he was going to be drafted; although he hoped to make it through another semester of school then attend a different college, the draft board had the mentality that young men attending college were doing so to avoid the draft and if the young men flunked out, then the draft board was ready to scoop them up (00:01:42:00)  At the time he was drafted, Van Hout knew a fair amount about the fighting in Vietnam; his family always kept up on the news (00:02:10:00) o As well, Van Hout’s high school had a junior ROTC program that Van Hout was a part of for three years (00:02:32:00)  At that time, the cadre of the program were active duty personnel and the major in charge of the program had to deliver death notices to local families; every so often, in the middle of the class, the major would take a phone call then return to the class ashen-faced and say he would have to visit a family that afternoon (00:02:49:00)  Although Van Hout did not necessarily want to be drafted, like everyone else, he had three options: go into the Army, go to Canada, or go to jail; to Van Hout, going into the Army was the palatable option (00:03:30:00)  When Van Hout went for his physical, there were other men who were actively trying to get out of having to serve, doing things such as taking certain things to cause their blood pressure to spike (00:03:55:00) o However, if there was a physical anomaly and the men giving the examination thought it was suspicious, they would send the man to the local YMCA for a couple of days, then test him again (00:04:13:00) o Van Hout has terrible vision and when it was time for him to do the vision part of the physical, he was told to take off his glasses, looking into the machine, and tell what he saw; the best Van Hout could do was tell there was light on inside of the machine (00:04:53:00) �   After Van Hout left Vietnam and was at Fort Hood, Texas, he started getting serious headaches because his glasses prescription was not strong enough; Van Hout visited the eye doctor on the base and when the doctor asked what Van Hout’s MOS and Van Hout said infantry, the doctor said he should not have been in the infantry with his eyesight (00:05:12:00) Van Hout was sent to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for his basic training (00:05:46:00) o For the most part, the training at Fort Campbell was based around discipline; the instructors conditioned the men to react to certain situations as opposed to just sitting and trying to decide what to do (00:06:01:00) o The men did another of marching and physical training to get themselves into better physical condition, as well as a lot of marksmanship training (00:06:20:00) o Adjusting to life in the military was not a problem for Van Hout; the three years of junior ROTC helped because Van Hout had become familiar with loudmouthed sergeants and all the bluster that accompanied them (00:06:37:00)  As well, Van Hout had a cousin who was the same age who had gone into the service directly out of high school and the cousin offered Van Hout the advice to try and make it through basic training without Van Hout’s drill instructor knowing his name (00:06:58:00)  Van Hout tried to stay in the back and be a face in the crowd, doing what he was told (00:07:14:00)  Other men would come in and confront the drill instructor and Van Hout was happy to let them do that, because that placed the other men the spotlight of the drill instructors (00:07:21:00) o There were a fair number of college graduates going through basic training alongside Van Hout (00:07:53:00)  Close to 50% of the men Van Hout trained with were either draftees or volunteers for the draft; as well, there were some men who were arrested and given the choice of either the Army or jail (00:08:02:00)  There was also a fair number of National Guardsmen and Reservists, who were often the men who complained the most; this annoyed Van Hout because all the men were doing was going through six months of training before going home (00:08:24:00)  Van Hout stayed in a room with two other men, one of whom was an eighteen-year-old kid who had the Army or jail option; the other man had been only six months away from being too old to be drafted (00:08:48:00) After Van Hout finished basic training, the Army sent him to Fort Polk, Louisiana, although Van Hout has to restrain himself from calling it Fort Puke (00:10:27:00) o The base was called “Little Vietnam” and was located in the swamps of southern Louisiana (00:10:41:00) o Staying at the base did not make for good preparation for Vietnam because all the men knew, based on their infantry MOS, that they were going to Vietnam, which gave them a defeatist attitude (00:11:05:00) o The training was designed so that once the men got into certain situations, they reacted instead of thinking about their options (00:11:41:00) o Although some of the drill instructors during basic training had already served tours in Vietnam, the company instructors at Fort Polk were “shake and bake” �  sergeants who needed some leadership experience as part of their own training and had not yet been to Vietnam (00:12:08:00)  However, the individual instructors for the various aspects of the training, such as bayonet training and camouflage, had served in Vietnam (00:13:17:00) o Van Hout was at Fort Campbell from July until the beginning of September and was then at Fort Polk from September until the first part November (00:13:44:00)  Although there were several times at Fort Campbell when training was canceled due to heat, that never happened at Fort Polk; instead, a couple of times, the men went into the field and in the mornings, there would be frost on the ground (00:14:03:00) o Part of the training was compass and map reading courses and during those, the men would actually go into the swamp (00:14:33:00)  During one of the courses, Van Hout’s group was walking along a small stream when the man in front of Van Hout stepped on a water moccasin; the men went one way and the snake went the other (00:14:50:00) o The men received training to recognize enemy booby-traps, although where Van Hout ended up serving, he did not run into too many of them (00:15:20:00) o The men received some training in how to enter and exit helicopters in a landing zone as well as riding in an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) (00:15:46:00)  The men were placed inside the APC, which then proceeded to drive over an obstacle course going between 30 and 40 mph; the men bounced around so much that when the men got out, the stock of his M-16 was twisted at a 45-angle from where it should have been (00:16:08:00) o The men were taught how to use the various weapons that were available; at Fort Campbell, Van Hout had trained with the M-14 rifle, with only a week using the M-16 but at Fort Polk, the M-16 was his primary weapon (00:16:39:00)  Van Hout and the other men were also introduced to the M-79 grenade launcher, the M-60 machine gun, the .50 caliber machine gun, and various other weapons and equipment the soldiers would use, such as claymore mines (00:17:13:00) Once he finished at Fort Polk, Van Hout went home of leave for two weeks before going to San Francisco, California for processing over to Vietnam (00:17:37:00) o By that time, Van Hout had been out of high school for about three years, so anyone from then was already gone and Van Hout did not really have any friends left at home (00:18:06:00) o Instead, Van Hout spent the leave with his family and relatives before heading to San Francisco (00:18:24:00) From San Francisco, Van Hout and the other men flew aboard a chartered airplane over to Vietnam (00:18:32:00) o After leaving San Francisco, the airplane first flew to Anchorage, Alaska to refuel before flying to Japan (00:18:36:00)  During the flight across the Pacific to Japan, the airplane hit an air pocket, which caused the airplane to suddenly plummet (00:18:55:00) �o When the airplane arrived in Japan, it refueled again before flying into Vietnam; although there were some men making jokes during the flight, as the airplane approached Bien Hoa in Vietnam, the cabin became real quiet (00:19:25:00) Vietnam Deployment (00:19:55:00)  Van Hout’s first impression of Vietnam was that when the airplane crew opened the door and the men walked outside, it stunk (00:19:55:00) o There was a very distinct odor, a mixture of a dirty bathroom and cow manure (00:20:01:00)  As Van Hout and the other newly arrived men walked away from the airplane, the men who were waiting to board the airplane to go home were standing in another line and were giving cat calls to the new arrivals (00:20:18:00)  Once off the airplane, Van Hout and the other men went through a processing center in Bien Hoa (00:20:48:00) o While Van Hout was at the processing center, he and a large group of other infantrymen were taken aside and placed on guard duty around the perimeter of the camp for between one and two weeks (00:21:03:00)  However, Van Hout did not actually have to stand guard duty during the night; instead, he and another soldier were issued shotguns and they rode in a jeep with a senior NCO and his driver to close up all the clubs on the base every night (00:21:23:00)  Some of the other soldiers heard wishful rumors that the men were going to do that their entire tour; however, Van Hout took those rumors with a grain of salt (00:22:47:00)  One of the wake-up calls Van Hout had about being in Vietnam was when he and the other three soldiers were watching a Filipino USO band sing about the “gleen, gleen grass of home” (00:23:01:00)  Eventually, it became time for Van Hout and the other men to be reassigned to their permanent units (00:23:42:00) o An NCO with a clipboard and began reading off names alphabetically, with a set number of men going to one unit and a set number going to another unit, another set going to another unit, etc. (00:23:47:00)  When he got to the final group, including Van Hout, the NCO said that the last thirteen “ poor son of a b****es were going to the 101st”; the 101st Airborne Division was stationed very close to the DMZ and were surrounded by enemies, which meant a very high probability of the men getting into fights with the enemy (00:24:03:00)  Van Hout was assigned to the 101st around the middle part of December 1969 (00:24:37:00) o Van Hout and the other men assigned to the 101st went to the airfield in Bien Hoa, threw their duffle bags on the floor of the C-130 transport and sat down on their duffle bags because the C-130 did not have any seats for them (00:24:54:00)  The flight up to the 101st landed at Phu Bai, which was next to the main base where the 101st’s headquarters were, Camp Eagle (00:25:26:00)  Once Van Hout and the other men arrived at Camp Eagle, they went through additional processing (00:25:37:00) �  o While Van Hout was going through processing, a clerk pointed out to Van Hout that although he had been promoted from E-1 to E-2 at the end of basic training, Van Hout had yet to receive his back pay; the clerk told Van Hout to buy him a soda and he would fix the problem (00:25:44:00)  One of the interesting things Van Hout remembers was that when he and the other men were first paid during basic training, they were paid in cash, with a lieutenant carrying around a brief case and every man waiting his turn (00:26:21:00)  When Van Hout received his money, he saw that for his first month in the Army, he had received $79, which Van Hout thought was extremely low (00:26:38:00) Van Hout and the other men were only at Camp Eagle for a day or two before being sent to Camp Evans, where they went through a week of additional orientation and refresher training before being assigned to a unit (00:26:55:00) o This training was geared towards what the men would be experiencing in Vietnam and consisted of repelling, instruction on Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese language, and a refresher of what the men went through during basic training and advanced training (00:27:21:00) o At this point, Van Hout still did not know which specific unit he was being assigned to; he learned that information once the additional week of training was finished (00:28:04:00) Once the additional training was over, Van Hout was assigned to “B” Company, 2nd (Battalion) of the 506th Infantry (Regiment) (00:28:13:00) o At the time, B Company was located on the opposite side of Camp Evans from where Van Hout went through the additional training (00:28:21:00)  Although the barracks were the company was staying had been there for a while, the company itself was only there on stand-down; Van Hout believes that just before he arrived, the company had gotten into a large fight and were at Camp Evans to refit and get new resources and bodies into the company to fill any vacant spots (00:28:44:00) o Although Van Hout had the classic deer-in-the-headlights look when he arrived at the company, he does not remember any harassment from the other soldiers in the company (00:29:14:00) o When Van Hout and the other men arrived at the area, they had to go to the battalion and turn in all their clothes except for what was on their backs as well as do more paperwork; the men were then issued the equipment they were going to need, such as their rucksacks and supplies (00:29:47:00) o There was a bunch of soldiers assigned to B Company at the same times as Van Hout, enough that the company commanders made an entire platoon out of the new soldiers (00:30:15:00)  Although the vast majority of the men in the platoon were new soldiers, the platoon’s lieutenant had been in Vietnam for a while and two of the NCO squad leaders had been in Vietnam for a few months (00:30:31:00)  As well, there were usually three or four soldiers in each squad who had been in Vietnam for several months; apart from those soldiers, plus the �  two NCOs and the lieutenant, everyone else in the platoon was a newlyarrived soldier (00:30:45:00) o In total, B Company had four platoons and each platoon numbered roughly twenty to twenty-five soldiers per platoon (00:31:09:00)  However, those numbers soon dwindled because the company never had four platoons after that (00:31:15:00) o Van Hout and the other men were in the week-long orientation training over the week of Christmas and were assigned to their companies between Christmas and New Year's (00:31:35:00)  As part of the stand-down, the entire company was going through additional training, so once Van Hout and the other men joined the company, the company went outside of Camp Evans to a rifle range for marksmanship training as well as traversing a nearby creek (00:31:58:00) o Van Hout remembers that the company first went into the field on the Sunday that the Super Bowl was played in 1970; the game was playing on the Armed Forces radio and Van Hout remembers hearing the broadcast when he went into the supply room to get some equipment he needed in the field (00:32:27:00) o In the time the company was stationed on Camp Evans, Van Hout does not remember that camp itself coming under much enemy fire; the camp took sporadic enemy rocket fire but that was it (00:32:58:00) The very first time the company went into the field, on Super Bowl Sunday, the men actually walked out the back gate of Camp Evans and headed into the lowlands west of the camp (00:33:31:00) o The company went into the lowlands because the area was relatively secure and the chances of even running into enemy booby-traps were remote (00:33:51:00) o However, the commanders wanted to acclimate the new men and have them get a sense of what was going on; nevertheless, the new men were positive there was an enemy behind every weed and they took their time looking for him (00:34:06:00) o Van Hout’s squad leader knew what he was doing and was very strict with the men in the squad about proper spacing, sound control, and how to do the patrols properly (00:34:38:00)  However, even the new men knew what they were doing and it did not take too much in the way of coaching from the NCOs (00:34:59:00) The company left Camp Evans on Super Bowl Sunday, in January 1970, and did not return to the camp until June 1970 (00:35:10:00) o The company stayed in the lowlands until the end of February and beginning of March; it was the monsoon season higher in the mountains, which made it difficult to land forces and keep them re-supplied, so the commanders had to wait until the monsoons ended before moving into the mountains (00:35:30:00) o In the first part of March, Van Hout’s entire company was air-lifted into the mountains (00:36:04:00) o While the company was stationed in the lowlands, they never had any contact with the enemy; as a matter of fact, one of the other squads in the platoon set up a mechanical ambush and managed to kill a couple of chickens (00:36:14:00)  At one point, Van Hout’s squad found an area with thick vegetation, burrowed into the vegetation and waited for a week (00:36:34:00) �o Van Hout was assigned to be an assistant machine gunner and one of the first nights the company was in the field, Van Hout and the machine gunner were positioned along just below the crest of a small knoll (00:37:02:00)  As Van Hout and The machine gunner sat in their position, they heard some rustling out in front of them; both men thought it was an enemy, so they laid down with their weapons pointed out (00:37:27:00)  The sounds kept getting closer and although Van Hout wanted to shoot, The machine gunner told him to wait; all of sudden, Van Hout got a nudge on the bottom of his foot and saw it was a wild pig that had been making the noise (00:37:50:00) o In the time the company was in the lowlands, the more experienced soldiers pointed out that it was not exactly the real thing yet (00:38:37:00)  One day just before the company moved into the mountains, Van Hout’s squad was sitting around talking when one of the more experienced soldiers pulled out a map and pointed to the A Shau Valley; inside the valley were green dots, which the man explained were trees, and behind every tree in the valley was an enemy waiting to shoot them (00:38:41:00)  A lot of the stuff the company was doing in the lowlands was preparing the new soldiers and showing them what to do during various situations and to get a feel of what was going on (00:39:27:00) o Once the company finally moved out of the lowlands, helicopters came in and flew the men up to an LZ (landing zone) in the mountains; however, because he had no map or access to information, Van Hout had no idea where the company was (00:39:52:00)  The company “worked” the area surrounding the initial LZ for about a month, which consisted of patrol the area with the intention of finding and engaging enemy forces (00:40:25:00)  The LZ was akin to the base area for the company and was located in such a way that there was a ridgeline leading to the base, with only a single path for getting to and from the LZ (00:40:47:00)  Although the men figured the area was crawling with enemy personnel, the men could not see them (00:41:12:00)  Apart from the patrols, the men also went out at night to set up ambushes; however, in some cases, the men moved in order to stay away from enemy forces (00:41:17:00)  It was at this point that the company first its first serious series of encounters with the enemy that resulted in men either being wounded or killed (00:41:37:00)  The first time Van Hout himself came under enemy fire was when his group was walking back to the LZ and the point man noticed a series of sandal tracks crossing the trail (00:41:47:00) o The point man stopped the rest of the men and bent down to look at the tracks; however, an enemy sniper was in a nearby tree and as the man bent down, the sniper shot him in the head and killed him (00:42:19:00) �o Van Hout and The machine gunner were towards the back of the column and were called up to spray the area (00:42:28:00)  The encounter with the sniper was the typical type of enemy encounter the men experienced; for the most part, the men encountered only very small groups of enemies (00:42:58:00)  At one point, one of the other platoons went on a patrol with a scout dog; although the scout dogs were extolled for being able to find the enemy, during that patrol, the dog ended up leading the platoon into an enemy ambush (00:43:10:00) o During the ambush, the both the scout dog and his handler, as well as the platoon’s lieutenant, platoon sergeant and another soldier were killed and several soldiers were wounded (00:43:38:00) o Van Hout’s platoon had to go recover the bodies of the other platoon and found out that only a couple of NVA soldiers had hid in spider holes before they made the ambush (00:43:50:00) o Several months later, the company managed to capture a North Vietnamese soldier and when he was interrogated, the soldier said that he was one of the ambushers and after the ambush, they took the scout dog and ate it (00:44:13:00) o At night, the men would set up a perimeter with two or three men assigned to each position, with one man awake at all times; the men decided amongst themselves the rotation of who would be awake and who would sleep (00:44:41:00)  Usually, the platoon would also send out a group of five or six men to set up an ambush on a trail to hit any traveling enemy (00:45:01:00)  The day after the point man had been killed by the sniper, Van Hout’s platoon and another platoon were on the perimeter of the LZ and Van Hout was armed with the machine gun (00:44:37:00)  Instead of being on the actual perimeter, Van Hout and his assistant gunner, a new soldier just arrived in Vietnam, were with another soldier manning a listening post (00:45:52:00) o The purpose of a listening post was to sit outside the perimeter and alert the soldiers on the perimeter if the enemy was coming (00:46:06:00) o When Van Hout thought about being on the listening post years later, he realized it was essentially a suicide mission; there were three soldiers on the listening post and if anything were to happen, they would be right in the middle of the crossfire (00:46:29:00)  When Van Hout and the other two men had just finished digging their foxhole for the listening post, they were sitting along with �         edges of the hole, eating C-Rations and reading their mail, when Van Hout noticed movement off to the side (00:46:52:00) o Van Hout looked to his right and saw a North Vietnamese soldier creeping up along a nearby trail, armed with an AK47 rifle (00:47:09:00) Van Hout nudged one of the other men, who looked up and saw another North Vietnamese soldier who was further down the trail (00:47:24:00) o Van Hout had leaned his rifle against a tree to keep dirt out of it, but it was just out of reach; as Van Hout was pointing out the North Vietnamese soldier, he was also slowly reaching back to grab his rifle (00:47:36:00) When the other soldier saw the other North Vietnamese soldier on the trail, he raised his rifle and started firing; the first North Vietnamese soldier looked at Van Hout, who had jumped up to grab his rifle, and Van Hout shot him (00:47:56:00) There was a radio in the foxhole and Van Hout could hear the various call signs asking what was going on; however, Van Hout did not have time to answer (00:48:22:00) Once Van Hout and the other soldier finished firing, they looked into the foxhole and saw that the new soldier was crouched in the bottom, with his steel helmet pulled over his head (00:48:30:00) After things had settled down, the company commander brought some additional men over (00:48:55:00) In Van Hout’s mind, he had hit the first North Vietnamese soldier when he shot at him; however, when some of the men went to look for him, they found nothing (00:49:01:00) o The company commander was upset that they could not find anything because he wanted to report a body count back to his commanders (00:49:41:00) When Van Hout pointed out that the enemy now knew where the listening post was and it would be better for the three soldiers to be back on the perimeter, the company commander told them “no” and told them to instead set up another listening post, although this time, on the other side of the trail (00:49:56:00) It was getting dark and the three men did not have time to dig another foxhole, so they wedge themselves into a couple of nearby logs (00:50:18:00) On the second listening post was the first time that Van Hout was legitimately scared (00:50:31:00) o During the night, Van Hout decided that two of the men would stay on watch the entire night (00:50:43:00) o Van Hout was certain he had shot a relative of Ho Chi Minh himself and any moment, Ho Chi Mind would be receiving a telephone call, which would soon be followed by the wrath of the North Vietnamese Army (00:50:47:00) �  Van Hout reasoned that if he was going to be on the listening post and awake, so too were the men on the perimeter, so every five minutes, he would call in an report “movement” (00:51:15:00) Fortunately, that was the only time Van Hout ever had an up close and personal experience with a North Vietnamese soldier during his whole time in Vietnam (00:51:46:00) Firebase Ripcord (00:52:04:00)  On April 1st, the company was airlifted from the first LZ and moved onto area that would become Firebase Ripcord, with orders to secure the area around the hill so construction of the firebase could begin (00:52:04:00) o At the time, the North Vietnamese were based in the A Shau Valley, with their supply lines running through the valley, and the goal of operating within the valley was cutting those supply lines (00:52:23:00)  Ripcord itself was meant as a firebase to provide artillery support and backup to the units operating inside the valley (00:52:43:00) o When the company was airlifted onto Ripcord, Van Hout was fortunate to be in on of the helicopters towards the tail end of the airlift (00:52:56:00)  At the time, Van Hout was still carrying an M-60 and during the airlift, was sitting on the edge of the helicopter (00:53:13:00)  During the flight to Ripcord, Van Hout had a sense that something was not right and the door gunner to the helicopter being more agitated than normal did not help (00:53:23:00) o Van Hout looked out the side of the helicopter and saw puffs of black smoke on the hillside where the helicopter was set to land (00:53:33:00) o The acting platoon leader met the helicopter and told the men where they needed to set up their position (00:53:48:00) o The men were taking enemy fire and the company had already taken casualties, although Van Hout did not know it at the time (00:54:11:00) o As the men dug in their position, that was when Van Hout realized enemy mortar rounds were landing all round him (00:54:22:00)  Van Hout had been told in basic training and advanced training that he would eventually learn how to did a foxhole with the buttons on his shirt and it was about this time that he learned the say was true (00:54:29:00) o Ripcord had been used as a Marine Corps firebase years before but all those earlier defenses had been bombed and buried (00:54:57:00)  Once Van Hout and his assistant gunner got into the area they were told to go to, the two men go into a shallow depression, pulled out their entrenching tools and began digging their foxhole; however, the ground was as hard as a rock and two men had dug no more than a few inches before they hit buried concertina wire (00:55:04:00) o Van Hout and the assistant gunner were in the position for a little while before a mortar round impacted to Van Hout’s left and he got a face full of rocks and dirt debris, as well as a small piece of shrapnel (00:55:38:00) o Although Van Hout had the machine gun ready, he did not fire it because the men were not receiving any enemy ground fire (00:56:17:00) �o After the men had been in their positions for around three quarters of an hour, the acting platoon leader started moving around to check on them; as the sergeant was checking with the men next to Van Hout’s position, a mortar round landed behind them and killed the sergeant instantly (00:56:24:00)  Van Hout remembers looking up and seeing the sergeant laying on his back, with a peaceful look on his face that almost made it seem like he was sleeping (00:56:59:00)  The sergeant was the first man Van Hout himself saw get killed and the sergeant’s death hurt Van Hout a lot because the sergeant had been a really good man (00:57:12:00) o The company spent the day stationed on Ripcord because of the incoming enemy fire and some casualties they had suffered; once it became night, then the company moved off the hill (00:57:26:00) o Once off the hill, Van Hout’s company moved along a ridge line to link up with a company that was positioned on an adjacent hill (00:57:42:00)  Before moving, all the men lined up on the trail and grabbed the rucksack on the man in front of him; overhead, an aircraft circled overhead, dropping illumination flares and whenever a flare dropped, the men advanced (00:57:56:00)  As the company moved, Van Hout kept thinking that one enemy soldier would a machine gun was enough to wipe the entire company out (00:58:24:00)  The operation violated all the principles of movement that the men had been taught, such as moving in bright light; however, men had to advance because they needed to get off the hill (00:58:41:00)  Van Hout’s company managed to hook up with the other company and spent the night on the hill (00:58:49:00)  When Van Hout woke up the next morning, he saw that no more than three feet from where he had slept the previous night was a ledge that dropped off between 20’ and 30’ (00:58:59:00) o The next day, the companies were socked in by incoming fog, which meant the helicopters were not able to come in (00:59:28:00)  Instead, the company had to move to another area in the hope of being able to be re-supplied; initially, the company was supposed to have been re-supplied while still on Ripcord (00:59:38:00)  The company eventually ran out of food, which was went the men discovered they could eat a banana tree (00:59:56:00)  At one point, the men were stopped and one of the company’s scouts was a Vietnamese Kit Carson scout told the men they could eat a banana tree (01:00:05:00)  The scout cut down a banana tree with his machete, cut out the core of the tree, cut the core into chunks and boiled the chunks in a canteen cup with whatever spices the men had (01:00:14:00)  The men ate the chunks of the core, which basically equated to eating pieces of boiled celery; however, it still managed to fill their bellies for a short period of time (01:00:30:00) � For the most part, the company was all still together, if only so they could all be re-supplied (01:00:40:00)  Having lost both its regular platoon leader and its acting platoon leader, Van Hout’s platoon was led by another sergeant who had been a squad leader; however, because the platoon was still with the company, for the most part, the company commander was leading it (01:00:55:00)  Eventually, helicopters were flown above the company with the intention of parachuting the supplies down to the company; however, the helicopter crews needed to know when they were over the company but the reverberation of sound off the valley walls made it difficult for the men to tell when exactly a helicopter was overhead (01:01:22:00)  Whenever a helicopter would drop a parachute of supplies, a patrol was sent out to find the supplies; however, on several occasions, all the patrol found was a parachute with all the lines cut and the supplies all gone (01:01:48:00)  Eventually, Van Hout’s company managed to hook up with another company and managed to get some supplies, including fresh batches of Crations (01:02:22:00)  Back when the men were first looking for areas to be resupplied, they would dig up the old dumps used by other soldiers, looking for C-rations that the other soldiers had thrown away (01:02:50:00)  When the company received the new C-rations, some one came around and just tossed the rations to the soldiers; however, although it was dark and the men could not heat the rations up, they tore into them anyway (01:03:46:00) o Van Hout got beef steak, his least favorite variety, which was three slabs of gristle-laden meat covered in a gelatinous mixture over the top of the meat (01:03:52:00) o Once Van Hout was about halfway through the ration, he realized what he was eating; however, he was so hungry, he finished eating it (01:04:18:00)  Once the company was re-supplied, the men returned to a somewhat normal set of operations (01:04:38:00) o Prior to Van Hout’s company’s attack on Ripcord, Alpha Company had tried to attack the hill but was thrown off; two weeks after Alpha Company was thrown off, Van Hout’s company tried to take the hill (01:04:48:00)  About a week after Van Hout’s company was thrown off the hill, Charlie Company walked up the hill instead of doing an air assault, met no resistance, and built the firebase (01:04:59:00)  As Charlie Company worked to build the firebase, Van Hout’s company launched multiple search and destroy missions in the area surrounding the firebase (01:05:12:00)  However, for the most part, the men were not having too many encounters with the enemy; every once in a while, they would find a weapons cache or headquarters/sleep area (01:05:27:00) � o After doing the search and destroy missions, the company was pulled onto Ripcord itself to provide perimeter security (01:06:05:00)  Building the firebase was a continual process, so during the day, the soldiers were stringing concertina wire or barbed wire, digging new foxholes, digging latrines, etc. (01:06:14:00)  The theory behind assigning the company to the firebase was that it was a break from being in the field because the firebase was a more secure position and less of a threat of enemy attack (01:06:34:00)  One night, the firebase commanders decided to have a “mad minute”; at midnight, all the men would fire their weapons, launch flares, throw grenades, and do anything to make a ruckus (01:07:04:00)  A couple of days before the “mad minute”, Van Hout’s company commander had given the order that none of the soldiers were allowed to outside their fighting positions without wearing a flak jacket (01:07:32:00)  During the “mad minute”, Van Hout was in a foxhole with two other men and the three were shooting off flares and throwing grenades (01:07:53:00)  The man in the foxhole next to Van Hout’s was new in-country and threw a grenade the wrong way, which ended up hitting a support post for the concertina wire and bouncing back into the perimeter (01:08:03:00)  Van Hout had been standing outside his foxhole to throw the grenades and was not wearing his flak jacket; when the grenade exploded, a piece of shrapnel hit him in the shoulder (01:08:25:00)  When Van Hout told one of the other men he had been hit, the other man told him to go see a medic; however, Van Hout was worried because the company commander had said he would court martial anyone not wearing their flak jacket while out of their foxhole (01:08:53:00) o The other man told Van Hout to lie and say that he had been in his foxhole (01:09:06:00)  Van Hout went to see the medic at the top of the firebase; however, it was not a dire emergency, so the medic placed a bandage on it and told Van Hout to come back the following morning so he could be flown to Camp Evans (01:09:32:00) When Van Hout got back to Camp Evans, doctors did an X-ray of his shoulder and saw a was a small piece of shrapnel that hit Van Hout in the collarbone and took a small notch out of the bone (01:09:50:00) o The doctor at Camp Evans told Van Hout to visit the hospital at Phu Bai to see if the doctors there wanted to do surgery (01:10:01:00) o When Van Hout asked how he could get the Phu Bai from Camp Evans, he was told to go to the front gate of the camp and hitch-hike down to Phu Bai (01:10:13:00) �o Van Hout made his way over to the gate and told the MP he needed to get to Phu Bai; luckily, two soldiers coming through the gate happened to be going near the hospital at Phu Bai, so Van Hout hopped in the back of their jeep (01:10:32:00) o As the jeep drove through Hue on the way to Phu Bai, Van Hout was sitting in the back with his arm propped up on his steel helmet next to him (01:10:59:00)  At one point, the jeep was stopped and before Van Hout knew what happened, a little Vietnamese kid ran up, grabbed the Timex watch on Van Hout’s wrist and pulled the watch off (01:11:20:00) o The two soldiers eventually dropped Van Hout off at the hospital, where he checked in with a nurse (01:11:55:00)  Apart from the bandage on his shoulder, Van Hout also had a bandage on his finger because he had paronychia on the finger; paronychia was when the tissue under a finger becomes infected and begins bulging out from under the fingernail (01:12:10:00)  The nurse told Van Hout to take the bandage off and the doctor could look at that too (01:12:32:00)  Van Hout was eventually taken into an operating room where a doctor worked on fixing his shoulder then lanced the paronychia on Van Hout’s finger (01:12:38:00)  While Van Hout was laying on the surgery table, the head surgeon came into the operating room and had a very animated discussion with the doctor who had worked on Van Hout (01:12:56:00)  Once the discussion was over, the head surgeon came over and ran Van Hout’s shoulder through a series of tests to make sure none of the nerves that ran through there had been damaged (01:13:07:00)  Although Van Hout thought the doctor had taken the shrapnel out, years later, after Van Hout had gotten out of the service, he went in for a disability check-up with the VA; when he got the VA’s report back, it said there was a retained foreign body in Van Hout’s shoulder, so he does not know if the shrapnel is still in there or not (01:13:26:00) o Van Hout spent the night in the field hospital and the next day, he and a bunch of other men were transferred to the Air Force hospital at Cam Ranh Bay for recuperation (01:14:01:00)  Boarding the medevac specific C-130 for the flight down to Cam Ranh Bay was one of the most depressing things Van Hout saw while in Vietnam; he was ambulatory and able to sit in the webbed seating on the side of the airplane but down the center of the airplane was two rows of columns where stretchers were stacked four high (01:14:17:00)  The flight stopped at every hospital and more and more wounded were brought onto the flight (01:14:59:00)  During the flight, a large abscess developed on the outside of Van Hout’s knee; once Van Hout arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, he showed a doctor the abscess, which had burst by that time, so the doctor bandaged the opening and gave Van Hout antibiotics to fight both the infection from the abscess and from the paronychia (01:15:12:00) �    Whenever someone had a shrapnel or bullet wound and they had to go through surgery, the doctors wanted the wound to heal from the inside out, with the tissue healing before any suturing (01:15:46:00)  Therefore, Van Hout was a Cam Ranh Bay for about a week before the doctors put in any stitches (01:15:57:00) o Van Hout was in the hospital for about two weeks and towards the end of those two weeks, the doctors told him they were considering sending him to Camp Zama in Japan because they thought he might have had a blood disorder due to the infections he had (01:16:04:00)  Van Hout viewed going to Camp Zama as one step closer to going home and was perfectly fine going there; however, twenty-four hours later, the infections cleared up and he was sent back into the field (01:16:18:00) Once Van Hout left the hospital at Cam Ranh Bay, he made his way back to B Company, which was still stationed on Ripcord (01:16:37:00) o After Van Hout rejoined the company, the company stayed in the field until the first week of June, when the entire battalion was put on stand-down back at Camp Evans for a week (01:16:47:00)  During the stand-down, the companies refitted and the men received a new rounds of medical shots (01:17:02:00)  As well, the men went to Eagle Beach for a night, where they drank beer and listened to the USO bands (01:17:05:00)  During the stand-down, an armorer went through and checked all the men’s M-16s (01:17:16:00)  The armorer had a metal rod that he put down the barrel of each rifle to determine whether the barrel had warped; when he put the rod in Van Hout’s rifle, it wobbled back and forth (01:17:32:00) o Once all the companies in the battalion were refitted, they all went back into the field (01:17:58:00) Towards the end of June and first part of July, Van Hout was called back to Camp Evans and sent to a combat leaders course (01:18:19:00) o The course was a week-long course for an Spec-4s who the commanders thought had the potential of some day being promoted to sergeant (01:18:31:00) o The course was largely a refresher course for the orientation course that the men went through when they first arrived in-country; however, there were also some aspects of leadership training (01:18:44:00) o The commanders considered the course extremely important because all the men sent to the course received new uniforms, complete with their names and unit patches, before actually going to the course (01:18:57:00) When Van Hout finished the combat leaders course, he returned to his company area, where the company first sergeant said they needed someone to go pick up a new Kit Carson scout and asked if Van Hout would be interested in doing that (01:19:25:00) o By that time, the fighting around Ripcord had started picking up and when Van Hout weighed spending two weeks on Ripcord as opposed to two weeks at Camp Evans, he decided to stay at Camp Evans (01:19:40:00) o Van Hout went back to the training area where the Kit Carson training was done and waited for the two-week course to be done (01:20:01:00) �  The premise of the program was the Kit Carson scouts were former Viet Cong or North Vietnamese soldiers who surrendered to the United States; however, having been in the field with the enemy, the soldiers had skills in detecting the enemy more rapidly than the Americans could (01:20:12:00)  In reality, a large number of the scouts were ARVN (the South Vietnamese Army) draft dodgers and the life expectancy as a Kit Carson scout was longer than when serving in the ARVN; plus, the pay was better with the Americans (01:20:38:00)  The Kit Carson scout Van Hout ended up receiving turned out to be worthless (01:21:05:00)  As part of the Kit Carson training, the scouts were broken down into squads and were led on a small patrol around Camp Evans (01:21:22:00)  Van Hout was placed in-charge of one of these “patrols” and he decided to have his own scout on the point, so Van Hout could see what he was made of (01:21:30:00)  However, the scout spent the entire time looking over his shoulder, cursing at Van Hout (01:21:39:00) o Van Hout and the Americans tired to learn some Vietnamese during the two weeks and vice versa; however, learning the two languages was difficult because both use different letter sounds and in Vietnamese, a single word might have four or five different meanings, depending on the inflection used (01:21:52:00) o For the most part, the two groups communicated via hand signs and broken English (01:22:46:00) o Once the Kit Carson training was over, Van Hout took his scout back to the company and the first thing the scout wanted to do was go see a medic because he claimed he had been shot and could not go in the field (01:23:10:00) By the time Van Hout returned to the company, it was pulling perimeter guard duty on Ripcord; on the day Van Hout flew out to Ripcord, apart from his own Kit Carson scout, there were two other scouts plus two other men from B Company also riding in the helicopter (01:23:40:00) o During the flight, there were 50mph headwinds, which caused the helicopter to bounce all over the place and turned the faces of the scouts whiter than Van Hout and the other men (01:23:59:00) o The flight flew around for half an hour trying to get into Ripcord, which was under enemy fire at the time; finally, the pilot was diverted to Firebase O’Reilly, which housed ARVN forces (01:24:14:00)  The six men spent the night at O’Reilly before managing to get onto Ripcord the following day (01:24:25:00) o Once on Ripcord, the first thing Van Hout’s scout wanted to do was see the medic; however, the medic thought the scout had a rash, so all he did was prescribe some anointment (01:24:35:00) o Van Hout arrived back at Ripcord around a week or ten days before the Americans pulled off the firebase (01:25:01:00) �o The position Van Hout’s company occupied on Ripcord was located just below the VIP landing pad (01:25:22:00)  The company stayed in the position because there was incoming enemy fire daily; for everyone’s well-being, the men stayed in their foxholes (01:25:39:00) o The men in Van Hout’s platoon had small radios so they could stay in contact with one another and one night, Van Hout’s radio was set to a frequency that was picking up a whole bunch of Vietnamese chatter (01:26:55:00) o The Kit Carson scout started going nuts when he heard the Vietnamese on the radio, so Van Hout finally called back to have another Kit Carson scout who spoke pretty good English come over and interpret (01:26:16:00)  The other scout plus an officer came over and as it turned out, the Vietnamese chatter was that the enemy was massing their forces to launch a ground attack that night (01:26:46:00) o The entire perimeter went onto high alert because they had no way of knowing where exactly the attack was coming from (01:27:05:00)  However, the enemy attack ended up coming against another company in the battalion that was on another hilltop (01:27:13:00) o For the most part, the enemy did not launch mortar attacks at night because the men could see the muzzle flash (01:27:37:00)  Van Hout’s position was pretty good because there were four men assigned to it, which meant each man could get an extra hour of sleep per night (01:27:57:00)  Although Van Hout tried to explain to the Kit Carson scout that he needed to stay awake during his portion of the guard duty, when Van Hout woke up during the night, the scout was sleeping in the corner (01:28:07:00)  Van Hout kicked the scout and dragged him outside to yell at him, but it was to no avail (01:28:20:00) o The men had rolls of concertina wire in front of their position and at dusk, they would position the wire in the shape of a “v”; that way, if there was a sapper attack or a ground attack, the wire forced the enemy to come towards the men’s position (01:28:42:00)  As the men constantly wound and unwound the wire, it got loosened and tangled and became extremely hard to straighten out (01:29:23:00)  One time, Van Hout had the Kit Carson scout help him straighten the wire; however, the scout was just standing with his hands in his pockets while Van Hout told him to grab the end of the wire (01:29:32:00)  The scout said he did not understand, which upset Van Hout, who took off his helmet and threw it at the scout (01:29:48:00) o During that last period on the firebase, Van Hout’s company never came under direct enemy ground attack; instead, it was incoming rockets and mortar attacks (01:30:21:00)  From his position on the perimeter, Van Hout could tell that the fighting was not going well for the Americans (01:30:32:00) �o On July 18th, a Chinook helicopter was shot down by enemy .51 caliber machine gun fire as the Chinook tried to re-supply the artillery battery that was stationed at the top of the firebase (01:30:37:00)  When the helicopter crashed onto the firebase, it crashed into the artillery battery, burning up all the guns in the battery as well as all the artillery ammunition (01:30:52:00)  The fire from the crash spread down the hill to the infantry’s ammunition dump, which caught fire and burned up as well; it was like being in the middle of a 4th of July celebration (01:30:59:00)  Van Hout’s company went to the northeast corner of the firebase to try and get away from the explosions (01:31:13:00)  The unfortunate part of the explosions was that higher command thought an enemy ground attack was imminent and had sent dozens of canisters of CS gas to repel the attack; however, the CS gas was stored with the ammunition and caught fire, so there was a haze of tear gas floating above the entire firebase (01:32:18:00) o At the time, Ripcord was used as a forward operating base for Van Hout’s battalion, so all replacements for the other companies in the battalion came through Ripcord before getting a helicopter ride out to their company already in the field (01:32:59:00)  At the time of the Chinook’s destruction, there was a replacement soldier in a position near the ammunition dumps; when the explosions started, the man panicked and went outside the wire to escape (01:33:14:00)  Van Hout’s company had been placed on alert about the possibility of an enemy ground attack and one of the men said he saw movement among some boulders outside the perimeter (01:33:45:00)  The man asked a sergeant what to should do and the sergeant said to frag him, so Van Hout and some other men started throwing fragmentation grenades towards the rocks (01:34:15:00)  After a little while, the sergeant told them to stop and when they did, the man popped his head out and said he was an American (01:34:27:00)  The only injury the other man ended up with was a single wound in his leg (01:34:52:00) o After receiving intelligence that the enemy was gathering forces to surround the firebase and mount a ground assault, the commanders made the decision to evacuate the firebase on July 23rd, (01:35:27:00)  On the morning of July 23rd, helicopters started showing up extremely early to move all the equipment and supplies off the firebase; however, the enemy started firing on the slower moving Chinooks, so the Americans were reduced to using only the Hueys (01:35:44:00)  As the helicopters were coming in, the men on the perimeter were told to lay down suppressing fire, so Van Hout was positioned below the VIP landing pad with an M-60 (01:36:10:00)  Van Hout could hear the “popping” sound of mortars down in the valley, so he concentrated his fire there (01:36:23:00) �  At one point, Van Hout heard a voice over his shoulder and when he turned around, he saw that it was his battalion commander; when the commander told Van Hout to focus his fire on a hill, because that was where the mortar fire was coming from, Van Hout said he could hear the mortars in the valley (01:36:39:00)  Eventually, Van Hout’s M-60 either ran out of ammunition or jammed because he remembers fumbling around with ammunition when a mortar round landed about ten feet in front of the position (01:37:33:00) o A piece of shrapnel about the size of Van Hout's pinky finger went through his helmet and lodged into his forehead, knocking him to the ground at the same time (01:37:44:00)  Van Hout’s first sensation once he was on the floor of the position was that his ribs hurt because he hit a steel pipe used to support to edge of the position (01:38:03:00) o All of sudden, he heard a gushing sound and the blood started running down his face; Van Hout pulled his first aid bandage out of his pants and putting the bandage on the wound, applied pressure (01:38:25:00) o At the same time, a young black kid who had just joined the company and had been in the adjacent position, came over to see if Van Hout was okay (01:38:42:00) o Van Hout said he (Van Hout) needed to find a medic and asked if the kid could watch the Kit Carson scout, who had been in the position with Van Hout (01:38:52:00)  By that point, all the medics had been evacuated off the firebase, so he went back to his position, tightened the bandage and wiped the blood off his face and glasses (01:39:08:00) About a half-an-hour later, Van Hout went to the top of the hill to try and catch a helicopter flight off the firebase (01:39:28:00)  As Van Hout waited at the top of the hill, one of the men in his platoon ran up, said another man had been hit, and told Van Hout to grab a stretcher (01:39:45:00) o The injured man had been walking along a trail when a mortar round landed between his legs and tore him to pieces (01:39:55:00) o Van Hout ran into the wounded man many years later and the man said that apart from having his leg torn open and a hole in his jaw, he also had a broken right leg, a broken right arm, and a broken right shoulder (01:40:18:00)  A helicopter was eventually brought in, although it was not a medevac, and both Van Hout and the wounded boarded, along with a bunch of excess weapons that had been laying around the top of the hill (01:40:33:00) � Once the helicopter was outside the range of Ripcord, the door gunner looked over, saw the wounded man on the stretcher and Van Hout’s wound, his eyes got wide and he said something into his headset (01:40:54:00)  Out of the corner of his eye, Van Hout saw the pilot turn around and look, then the nose of helicopter dropped; that flight back to Camp Evans was the fastest Van Hout had ever had (01:41:14:00) o The helicopter flew back to the hospital at Camp Evans and the other wounded soldier was unloaded there and taken onto an operating table (01:41:27:00)  However, the hospital’s generator had failed and just the sheer number of casualties had overwhelmed the staff working at the hospital (01:41:38:00)  When the staff checked Van Hout over, they asked if he could go to the aid station on the camp and have that staff take care of him (01:41:52:00) o Van Hout went to the aid station, where the staff cleaned and dressed the wound before he returned to the company area (01:42:05:00)  Once Van Hout got back to the company area, the Kit Carson scouts came up to him and kept asking where his scout was, although Van Hout did not know (01:42:15:00)  By that point, the entire firebase had been evacuated and Van Hout’s scout was nowhere to be seen (01:42:30:00) o When Van Hout saw the kid who he had left the scout with and he asked what happened, the kid said that he tried to get the scout to leave but he would not leave the position (01:42:38:00)  About an hour later, the scout came into the area; someone had saw him running around on top of the firebase, ascertained he was an American asset and picked him up (01:42:58:00) End of Tour / Post-Military Life / Reflections (01:43:17:00)  Once the they were off Ripcord, Van Hout’s company went into a stand-down in the battalion area to be refitted (01:43:17:00) o Van Hout stayed in the battalion area for a couple of days before going back to the aid station, where the battalion surgeon examined him and sent him to the hospital to have an x-ray done (01:43:25:00) o Once Van Hout had the x-ray, the doctor said it looked like he had a possible skull fracture and that Van Hout needed to be sent to the hospital down in Da Nang (01:43:37:00)  Although Van Hout thought he was going to have to hitch-hike to Da Nang again, the doctor point him to a helipad where Chinooks were making runs between Da Nang and Camp Evans (01:43:44:00) o Van Hout went down to Da Nang and spent two weeks in the hospital, which included getting an arteriogram to check if any shrapnel had managed to pass through his skull ; at the end of the two weeks, he was told to go back into the field (01:44:11:00) �  o By the time Van Hout returned to the company, the injection site for the arteriogram had become infected and the battalion surgeon, who felt bad about having Van Hout sit around with a possible skull fracture, made sure that Van Hout did not have to do too much (01:44:45:00) Van Hout eventually took an R&R to Sydney, Australia and when he returned to Vietnam, went back into the field (01:45:13:00) o Although he remembers things happening in the six months after he returned from R&R until he went home, Van Hout suffered from TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and the exact order of the events is jumbled in his head (01:45:22:00) o At one point, the company did an airlift into an area but there was extremely tall elephant grass and the men kept getting cut up (01:45:54:00)  All of a sudden, there was a “pop” and the men were told to halt; Van Hout’s Kit Carson scout was tired of marching and had shot himself in the foot to get out of the field (01:46:10:00)  The company commander, who was by this time another captain, had little time or patience with the Kit Carson scouts and he made Van Hout’s scout march the remain kilometer to their camp before seeing if they could call in a helicopter (01:46:26:00) o During the final months of Van Hout’s tour, there was very little in the way of fighting with the enemy (01:47:05:00)  The only contact the men had was when the company was moving along a ridge line to be re-supplied and unbeknownst to them, enemy forces were stationed on the adjacent ridgeline (01:47:07:00)  The humorous part of the incident was that the company supply sergeant, who annoyed the men by throwing the supplies out the helicopter, had to jump out of a damaged helicopter; however the helicopter managed to fly away, leaving the supply sergeant in the field without any weapon or equipment (01:47:24:00) o At some point, Van Hout had a problem with boils on his backside, so he went to the aid station on Firebase Rakkasan for about a week for treatment (01:48:32:00) o At that time, the Army currency was being switched and Van Hout kept missing the pay officer, so he eventually had to fly down to Camp Eagle and exchange all his currency before it became worthless (01:48:53:00) o When Van Hout returned to the company area, the first sergeant chewed him out for going behind the first sergeant’s back to secure a job in the rear area; however, Van Hout had no idea what he was talking about (01:49:07:00)  As it turned out, someone had put Van Hout’s name in to be a radio operator at the battalion operations center, which he did for the remaining few weeks of his tour (01:49:18:00) o Eventually, President Nixon shortened the tours of the American soldiers in Vietnam and Van Hout’s tour was shortened by twenty-five days (01:49:30:00) When Van Hout left Vietnam, he had six months remaining on his enlistment, so he was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas to join an infantry company in the 1st Armored Division (01:49:54:00) o Being assigned to Fort Hood was a terrible situation all around for Van Hout; the base is very large, large enough to hold two full divisions and the majority of the �  men assigned to those divisions were draftees just back from Vietnam who were not planning on making a career out of the Army and quite frankly, wanted nothing to do with the Army (01:50:07:00)  As well, there was also a lot of racial tension amongst the men who were assigned to the base (01:50:31:00)  Most of the work the men had to do equated to “busy work”, such as policing their company area up to five times a day to pick up used cigarette butts (01:50:40:00) o After Van Hout had been with the company for about a month, the company clerk was getting out of the service and Van Hout was called in and asked by the first sergeant if he could type (01:50:55:00)  When Van Hout said he could type, he was made the new company clerk; being the company clerk was fine because it was almost like a regular job, Van Hout had his weekends free, and he did not have to work in the kitchen or do guard duty (01:51:11:00) o One night, Van Hout went off base and when he came back, in the company area, all the black men were in front of one barracks and the white men were in front of another barracks (01:51:51:00)  Although Van Hout does not know what caused the incident, the brigade commander eventually came in with a bunch of MPs to try and calm the situation (01:52:16:00)  According to the unwritten rules of the base, a certain road was “off limits” to the MPs after dark; where the barracks were located, two streets bordered them and one day, Van Hout found out that one of those streets was the “off limits” street (01:52:31:00)  When problems amongst the other men became dicey, Van Hout went and stayed with another clerk, who was renting a trailer off base (01:53:21:00) Although there was some racial tension in Vietnam, it was confined to the rear areas; the men did not have time to worry about that while in the field (01:53:44:00) o When Van Hout worked as a radio operator at the end of his tour, it seemed like the line to get into the mess hall was usually a flashpoint (01:53:56:00)  It seemed like there would be a small group of black men at the front of the line followed by a large group of white men; all of sudden, a large group of black men would show up and jump in line (01:54:13:00) Van Hout worked in the operations center from eight o’clock at night until eight o’clock in the morning and as he would walk to the operations center, there was a slightly overgrown patch of land and Van Hout could tell other men were going in there to smoke drugs; as with the racial tension amongst the men, drug use was, for the most part, confined to the rear area (01:54:45:00) o The only time Van Hout saw drugs in the field was when he was briefly on Firebase Rakkasan and there was a bunker specifically set aside for transient soldiers; Van Hout and two other men from the company were in the bunker and in one corner was a pile of clothes (01:55:04:00)  One of the other men started sorting through the clothes and eventually pulled up a plastic bag full of drugs (01:55:25:00) �   Once he was finally discharged from the Army in 1971, Van Hout returned home with the intention of collecting unemployment for the summer before going back to school at the beginning of the fall semester (01:56:00:00) o Van Hout returned to the paper mill where he had been working when he was draft because the mill was required by law to give him his job back; however, when Van Hout said he was going back to school, the mill said they would not hire him back, which was fine with him (01:56:10:00) o When Van Hout started collecting unemployment, the paper mill called him back and told him to come into work the following Monday, which he did and he stayed for about a month (01:56:31:00) o Van Hout eventually did return to school and ended up earning his degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point (01:57:01:00) While Van Hout was going to school, he met a local girl and married her a year after he graduated from school (01:57:11:00) The year after he married, Van Hout was hired by the Defense Department as an investigator, which he did for twenty-nine years (01:57:21:00) o Van Hout started out in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as an investigator before moving to Baltimore to be a case analyst before being promoted to supervisor; he eventually went to Fayetteville, North Carolina as a Special Agent In-Charge for three years before being promoted again, Special Agent In-Charge of the Colombia, South Carolina office, a position that he remained in for the next twenty years (01:57:34:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanHoutC1271V Title A name given to the resource Van Hout, Craig (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Hout, Craig Description An account of the resource Craig Van Hout was born in 1949 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he went to college for three semesters before dropping out, and received his draft notice soon afterward in January 1969. After finishing his basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Van Hout went through advanced training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Once he finished at Fort Polk, Van Hout deployed to Vietnam and joined B Company, 2nd of the 506th, 101st Airborne Division in January, 1970. While serving with the 101st Airborne, His unit took part in the campaign around Firebase Ripcord from April through July, 1970, and was wounded during the evacuation of the base. He eventually returned to his company, which saw relatively little combat during his final months in the field. He spent the last few months of his enlistment at Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as a clerk. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-08-10 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/661730359d86efe285d64321e74b6496.mp4 c87d7ba6d02ef412f02277090cdee600 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30c945e1340120f3d05193f3e60899bf.pdf 2bf2609714c576f0d1da19ed941881a3 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Oral history interview transcript Robert Van Hammen Born: April 29, 1922 in Beverly, MI WWII Veteran United States Army, October 15, 1940 to July 1945 Army Infantry (Red Arrow) Transcribed by: Joan Raymer July 7, 2007 Interviewer: Were you employed before you enlisted?” No, I went in right out of high school. Interviewer: “You went right into the war out of high school?” Well, I wasn’t through high school really. Everybody in the school belonged to the guard, not everybody did. The principal did, Lester Gore, he was a Major in there and we had teachers in there and about 80% of the South High School band belonged to the guards. In the band there it was sorta-- a fella and I joined the guard, he was 16 and I was 17. Interviewer: “So why did you join the guard?” Well, I was in R.O.T.C. and my dad was in the Paul Bearer division, him and his uncle, fighting in Russia. I just sort of liked the military and you made money too, depression days you know. We trained once a week and once in a while you go out on maneuvers at Pickards Acid Plant that was out in Wyoming that is all. There was no buildings there just woods and prairie. We use to go out there on weekends for maneuvers. 1:14 We had a rifle range and I got more time at the rifle range in the National guard than I did when I went in the army. Right down the Grand River, we could take a pick-up truck or something and put out guns in there and go down to the rifle range, it was on Grand River by Comstock Park right across the street and would sound like a war going on down there. You would sign out all your ammunition and take your rifle along and they had machine guns down there and you had practice with everything. Of course being kids like we were, we enjoyed that. 1:51 Interviewer: “Was that any different—didn’t you train in Louisiana? How was it different than your training in Grand Rapids?” Before that we had 17 days, in 1940, we went to Wisconsin. I’ll tell you a funny one. I was “ I Company” and we heard like thunder, “rolling thunder” like you hear, it was the Calvary and our company got wiped out by the horse Calvary, they come through with their swords and cut the ropes and the governors came along and said, “you have been wiped out: We still had horse Calvary at that time. Right after that they started to eliminate the horse Calvary. We had 17 days of Maneuvers there. 2:47 I got back to school—it was October, October 15th they called us up. They said we’re going to call you up for a year to go down to Louisiana and it wound up 5 years. Then we went on the Louisiana maneuvers, which was the largest maneuvers ever held in the United States. 1 �General Patton was there and one day we were on maneuvers and we saw those tanks burning and I said,” I think I’ll stick with the infantry”. They barely got out there, those guys in those old tanks. 3:23 The old Grant Tanks had 37 MM on them and 30 caliber machine guns, Australians had a lot of them too. They were all made in the United States, not a lot of them, but they had quite a few of them, the old Grant. Interviewer: “How well do you think that prepared you for what you eventually faced when you went over seas?” Well, Louisiana, I’m telling you when your in the infantry it’s worse than the jungles of New Guinea. So many snakes and wood ticks and you name it, they had it—centipedes, Louisiana was terrible— tarantula spiders, the first one I seen, I thought it was a mouse, about like that you know—running across. 4:11 Interviewer: “Do you remember what you were doing when you found out the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor?” I was in town and I barely made it back to camp and they were already packing up to move out, they had it all planned. Out company went to Monroe Louisiana, the headquarters there and I Company went to Natchez and a lot of the regiment went to New Orleans and the first thing we got there, we pulled guard duty on this really long bridge, guarded that and the power plant and the water system. They did that all over Louisiana, spread right out all over the country, so they had something planned and we barely made it back to camp, I did and the guys with me. We just threw our stuff together and headed for Monroe Louisiana. It was a town about the size of Muskegon to compare it with. They had a huge long bridge there and the train goes over there, plus cars. It crossed the Mississippi of course. Interviewer: “After Louisiana, I assume you took a train to San Francisco?” No, we trained for Europe; we didn’t have any jungle training. When we trained for Europe, we had trucks and all that kind of stuff. They kept taking people out of our company and sending them over to Ireland to build up a camp for us, they put then in the engineers, a good friend of mine Ed Register, he got killed by a land mine over there, they put him in the Combat Engineers, they put in land mines, they built a camp for us, but we got moved to Fort Devin, that’s in Massachusetts and getting ready to go to Europe. 6:10 All of a sudden Macarthur got back to Australia and they told him—he said, “where are the troops?” There were no troops, the Australians were all in Greece, Ethiopia and the Middle East, all their good troops, all they had left was the militia. The Australian militia was all draftees, the AIF was all volunteers and the AIF was different as day and night. They had tem all overseas so, the Australians said, “you gotta get our troops back to Australia and Churchill wouldn’t let them go so they gathered up all the ships they could and went over and picked up their own guys and said, “heck with you Churchill”, and they brought them back. The 7th division, the Australian 7th, they threw them right into New Guinea right off the bat. They had short on, brown shorts, no camouflage or anything, threw them right in there. 7:09 They had been fighting for 2 years over in Greece and the middle east and the artillery was from Turbrook. The only artillery we had was four 25 pounders, Australian and they had been to Turbrook and none of those guys hear anything. They used sign language. So they brought those 2 �troops back and the Australians were sure glad to see us, we landed in Adelaide, well first we went from port—when MacArthur said, “send us some troops”, the 41st and the 32nd were available, we were stripped down, I mean a lot of our fellows went to different outfits, the air corps and the paratroopers. 8:03 In fact another guy and I volunteered for the paratroopers, but by the time we moved out of Louisiana and went to Massachusetts, fort Devins, we never got called in there so then when MacArthur said, “ send us some troops”, we took a train all the way from Massachusetts to San Francisco and we sat quite a while in Chicago. 8:35 A big mistake, the guys got “boozed” and some of them got in fights, a couple of windows got knocked out. By the time we got to the mountains, with these windows out, you appreciate the trains you have now days. Those steam ones look good, but that soot and stuff—oh it was terrible. We got—going through those tunnels with the windows out—“bad news”. We got down to “Frisco” they took us to what they call the “Cow Palace”, it’s a big stadium like you have stadiums like where Joe Louis fought there—it’s still there I guess, the Cow Palace, they call it in San Francisco, they moved us in there. Later on we got on a convoy that had 9 ships, plus the Indianapolis. The Indianapolis was the only ship for escort. It was a light cruiser and later on at the end of the war it got sunk, you probably read about it, with all hands. Some 12-year-old kid started writing a book about it because the Captain committed suicide and all that stuff. It was quite a story on it’s own. We thought we were well protected, that cruiser would come around and they couldn’t protect themselves. We had 9 ships, 3 matatonian liners and I was on the Lauraline, which they called the queen of the Pacific. Of course they took everything out of it and they had bunks in there for, you know, but it was still a nice ship and we were headed for Brisbane, Australia, but we got past the equator and they changed course because the Coral Sea Battle broke out and they figured they were going to go after our convoy and we got down towards—we were headed for Brisbane Australia, which is a good port, so they changed ports and we went around the Tasmanian Straights and into Adelaide. They had poor ports and we couldn’t get up to the dock. They had tugs pushing and mud was flowing out and finally we had to take some equipment off to get the boat up there, that’s how poor of a harbor Adelaide had. 10:57 We were originally scheduled for Brisbane, but they figured that the Japs were going to land in Australia anytime. They were on Timor Island, which is near--bombing Darwin, which was nothing but dust they bombed it so many times. 11:14 I’ll tell you, the Australians were glad to see us. At that time, they really welcomed us. Interviewer: “You crossed the equator on your birthday?” On my birthday. I turned 20 and I had already been in the army 2 years by that time. Interviewer: “Did you and the guys celebrate your birthday at all?” No, not much, we didn’t have that—it was pretty good going over, it was a pretty good ship compared to the one I went home on, a “rust bucket”. Interviewer: “What was your impression of the Australians when you got there? What was the first thing you thought about them? 11:54 Very good, very good, it was a different atmosphere. Their taxicabs, they ran on charcoal, they didn’t have any gas at all, over here at least you could get a few gallons of gas, and they couldn’t get any. They had a charcoal burner on the back and charcoal in 3 �the trunk. They put it in and use billows like that and they would take off in a cloud of smoke, terrible, black. The only ones that ran were taxicabs and trucks and the taxicabs all had charcoal burners on the back, on the bumper. It was quite an experience and the first meal I had was mutton stew and it was terrible, they forgot to take the fur off of it. Poor Australian, he was an old timer you know, had an old slouched hat and he looked like he hadn’t taken a bath in a year and he slapped that stuff in our mess kit and after that we bought all or food and cooked in the tent until we got our own cooking facilities. 12:59 We were in a place called Sandy Creek, Camp Cable, no Camp Sandy Creek, the little town there, the little burg was called Sandy Creek. They still got a plaque in there after all those years, 32nd Division, a metal plaque in the tavern there. When we went to town, a train picked us up and our first experience in Adelaide, we went to town and there was just a huge crowd, but 4 girls grabbed us and took us home, which was pretty nice and I went with that one gal all the time I there, Valerie, real nice people. 13:53 she had 3—4 girls in the family and her sisters and her mother, her dad had passed away and they had a band new Pontiac, they had quite a bit of money, they owned 2 big pharmacies in Adelaide. Her father had passed away and her mother was trying to run them, plus she had 4 girls in the family and they had a band new Pontiac sitting in the garage up on cement blocks, they couldn’t—they had a yacht down at the Murray River, 50 miles away from Adelaide and they had that up on –they had no gas or oil for anything, the Australians, just trucks and taxicabs. 14:40 The taxicabs didn’t either, but they run off charcoal, awful pollution., it was terrible. Interviewer: “Were you airlifted into combat at all?” No, I went by boat and then to Port Moresby and we trained there a little bit, then we took an airplane to a strip the Australians and the natives cut out the jungle, the did all the metal mat and the C47’s got stuck and they had named them “pussy airplanes” and that was quite a site to see the natives pushing the airplanes when they got stuck. 15:18 We landed on that and we had two weeks going over the mountains, our particular battalion, the 2nd battalion out of our regiment went for 48 days on a trip around –trying to outflank the Japs and for 48 days they couldn’t get anything to them, food or nothing. They didn’t use parachutes in those days, they just dropped supplies off, burlap, they would kick them off the airplane and later on they started using parachutes. Our regimental band, that’s what they did, they flew on those airplanes and dumped the supplies out to us. 16:03 That one battalion there, they had it about the worst of anybody. They couldn’t find them half the time, they were starved and half of their equipment-- they hung onto their rifles and stuff, but everything else was gone. I had a pistol and gas mask hanging in the jungle there somewhere. I took them off—we had about 60 pounds on you and no food. Sugar cane, I cut a lot of that and put it in my pack. I kept chewing on sugar cane and that helped. Interviewer: “What does sugar cane taste like?” 16:40 Well, it’s pretty good it will give you energy. Bamboo, you get some good water out of bamboo too. We got on the airplanes at Port Moresby, I hate to tell you this, but I was just getting on the airplane to go to that strip I was telling you about and they said, “hand in your hand grenades” and I said, “what do you want our hand grenades for?” “We’ll give you these Australian ones”, so they gave us the Australian ones and I said, “what 4 �happened to ours?” and they didn’t want to tell us, but they were short fuse and I said, “who found that out?” Then I used Australian grenades, they were good grenades too, apparently there was sabotage during the first part of the war, never had any trouble after that. Later on we got a couple of flamethrowers when we were in combat and they wouldn’t shoot from here to the wall. 17:34 They threw them away, every time I guy would take them out he would get killed—mal function. After that we had all good equipment, but the first part, but the F.B.I. knows where those hand grenades were manufactured. You guys, I’ll tell you about Madison Square Garden, when I was a kid we would go to the theater and the RKO news, they would show the American Bund, the Nazi Bund, would fill Madison Square Garden, so we had a lot of sabotage you never heard about. 18:12 I guarantee my hand grenades-- we used Australian hand grenades at the first campaign—ours were short fuse. People don’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth, that’s the way it was. Interviewer: “Can you talk to us about the walk over the mountains? What was that like?” 18:34 It was rough. I’ll tell ya, Dick Oosse, a guy from Grand Rapids, we had been training at Port Moresby a bit and he sprained his ankle quite bad and they shipped him to the hospital. He heard we were moving out and he got out of the hospital, he shouldn’t have, he got with us and when we got going up the mountains it bothered him more and if you got wounded or it you got injured, they would just leave you unless someone volunteered to save you. How could they take you back? 19:05 It would take about 8 guys to carry you back and you couldn’t do that way up in the mountains. New Guinea is like, darn near a continent, it’s as long as Australia or the continental United States, it’s just as long, it’s got mountains 13,000 feet and there’s snow on top of the mountains and a lot of rivers and it’s all jungle. The trails are terrible, sometimes you get on a trail and you climb all day on roots and it’s like climbing up a ladder, hanging on until you get up there to the top. 19:40 Your water supply would be about gone by the time you got up there. A canteen full would be gone so I cut some bamboo and stuck it in my pack too, so I had bamboo and sugar cane. It was rough. 20:00 Dick Oosse, shouldn’t have went there, he didn’t ask for a volunteer, so I stuck with Dick quite well, and he lucked out—he was supposed to be on the other plane to get back and that plane cracked up and just about everybody died in that plane, it never made it to that air strip and that’s a story in it’s own. 20:19 Interviewer: “When you were in the jungle, what was the jungle like specifically?” Oh, your wet all the time, my toenails turned black and fell off and stuff like that. We had leaches and we had all kind of ticks and stuff like that, no mosquito netting and mosquitoes were biting you all the time. I had dingy fever before we went into combat from Port Moresby, you had dingy fever and malaria; I didn’t have it as bad as some guys. I remember Doyle, Skipper Doyle we called him in our company, he had the jungle rot so bad you could see the bones, as big as half dollars. 21:21 I had ring worm so bad it went all around me, ring worm is really bad, it was just a mess. They couldn’t get the right food to you and if you wanted a drink, you dug a hole in the swamp and let it settle for a while and when the black stuff down, you put your cup in there and drink out of the swamp. And there might be bodies buried right around ya. 21:48 I don’t know 5 �how you get through all that stuff I’ll tell you that. It was worse at first, you have to remember that was the first part of the war and we were relieving the Australian 7th Division. Our battalion, they broke up our whole division and our regiment was split up, one battalion went over for 48 days and they were about shot by time they got to combat, they were starved and diseased and everything, but we lucked out, we only had 2 weeks, but it was bad. 22:24 When we got down there, it was nothing but jungle. It was a different situation than Guadalcanal, Guadalcanal they came in and they sat on the high ground and they wanted a defensive position. When we went in the Japs were in the high ground and we were in the jungles, so it was an entirely different situation. Interviewer: “In the jungle, how far can you see in front of you? What was your visibility?” 22:49 Not very far, we had hand grenade battles at night sometimes throwing hand grenades. You didn’t open up your guns until you have a charge, then you open up, otherwise you gave away your position away, so you use knives and machetes and bayonets. I had a Tommy gun and I usually had a machete, my good buddy. A couple good buddies of mine Kalavee and Ed Machoski, they had rifles. Kalavee, he got wounded and later on he got killed in the Philippines, right after I left he went to the Philippines and got killed. 23:29 He is buried right over here at Knapp and Fuller. He was Arabian, half Arabian and his mother was German. His name was Kalavee Kalin, lieutenant, it in the—they got a big Arabian part of the cemetery, it’s interesting to go over there and see all of the tombstones in Arabic, most of them. 23:56 At Knapp and Filler, that cemetery. Interviewer: “So, when your actually in combat, could you see where the Japanese were?” On Sanananda, in Buna there it was hard because the jungle was so thick we had no artillery, we had four 24 pounders Australian and the Japs knocked one of them out one night and we had three of them left and we couldn’t get ammunition half of the time. We had no 81 MM mortars---see, we had to carry all that stuff over the mountains. We had 60MM and the jungle is so thick you can’t fire a mortar because if you do it hits the trees and will come down on you too. 24:47 So you have to be careful. The Japs had what they call a knee mortar, it wasn’t for your knee, they put it in the side of the trench and throw it and there the elevation is a little different, but a mortar will go up in the air and every time you hit a tree, your going to get showered with shrapnel yourself so it’s all hand to hand, grenades---bodies all over the place, they would swell up in a days time and they had the maggots and then there was a big beetle that would come in and feed off of the bodies at night and they would crawl over you at nighttime. 25:28 kind of spooky. Interviewer: “What did that smell like?” In about 3 hours the maggots would be into a body. Interviewer: “How did you take care of the bodies, or didn’t you?” Well, you bury them if you have a chance, but some of them swell up—I seen Japanese laying there that look like a balloon, they swell up right away. 25:51 the Australians had shorts on and their legs, the flesh would be like a Kentucky Fried Chicken. I mean the insides would be gone and you just touch it to pull the body away and it would just 6 �collapse—all it was-the sun on it. They had no grave registration during the first part of the war and when the battle was over they sent in some rakes to clean up the battlefield and we were raking and we didn’t have much to drink and I was down to about 110 pounds from 180 and they had a hole dug and they take Japanese, Australians and American and throw them all in the same hole. We would just take the “dog tags” off and you smell like a dead man yourself. 26:47 They had no grave registration, nothing in those days. After that campaign it was a different story, it was different, you had good equipment, you had everything later on. The first part of the war, we were over there, it was bad news. I don’t think there was another campaign like that one, they starved you to death, Ed Machowski and I used to split a can of “bully beef” if we were lucky. Ed was standing there one day and he had no shoes, I don’t know how I was lucky enough to get shoes, you would have been better off without them I guess, his toenails didn’t rot off like mine. 27:29 He was standing there with a beard and his hair hanging on his—you didn’t scrub your teeth for 3 months you know, nothing, and I said, and they will never believe this, he had burlap for pants, they dropped the supplies in burlap, they didn’t use parachutes in those days, that was the first part of the war. They called them “biscuit bombers”, they come over and throw it out in burlap sacks, so Ed never got a pair of pants. Your pants would fall off of you because all the seams would rot off, so he is standing there, a pair of burlap for pants, no shirt, 2 bandoliers of ammunition, a rifle, his hair hanging down to here and a big beard, I said, “I wish I had a camera, nobody will ever believe this, your an American soldier”. 28:18 I was telling his daughter that a couple of years ago. She stopped up North when I was up there, she said, “my dad never told me those stories”, I said, “he probably never did, but I said, “if we had a camera the American people would never believe you’re an American soldier standing there practically naked, no shoes, no pant, a piece of burlap for pants and hair hanging down”, because you couldn’t shave or nothing. 28:52 I had a nice Vandyke in Port Moresby, before we went into combat and it hung way down to here. I got back to 10th evac hospital eventually and the nurse, after about 3 days I got enough strength to go down and get a haircut and shower and stuff. I was lying in bed and the nurse was looking for me and she said, “I thought you were a 65 year old man, laying there with all that beard”, she couldn’t believe I was the same person. I want to say, some of those nurse they got in that 10th evac hospital, they got bombed every night, a lot of women seen a lot of combat—I mean you get bombed every night, you’re right next to the air-drome. When I was in the hospital they never told me there was a 40MM right next door to me. The airplanes would come over at night and that 40 would open up and I fell off the bunk, you know, into the hole they had dug there for me. 29:47 Interviewer: “How long were you in the hospital for?” Oh, I was there for, I guess, about 2 weeks I think. I got better and they sent us back to Australia again on a boat, we went to Brisbane. We went to a place they call Camp Cable. It seems funny but the first casualty we had was Service Company. Usually Service Company, they are back echelon normally, but we moved up by train from Adelaide up to Brisbane and our Service company got on this boat and they were coming around Melbourne and a Jap sub sunk them. 30:30 Everybody went down with all our supplies, not all of them, but most of them. It’s laying out there in the bottom of the ocean somewhere now off Melbourne Australia. Melbourne was in the news the other 7 �day about—Sidney and Melbourne they are rounding up terrorists, the other day it was in the news. We got—Saidor after that was different, Saidor was dryer, the jungle was in, but we fought along the coast more or less. You put your training into—you’re quite effective if you move around you know. Interviewer: “What was your impression of your commanding officers like?” Well, they had their problems. I’d had a different way of fighting that war, the first part of it. 31:42 Later on they had pretty good strategy, they by-passed the Japs, built up a fermery and let the Japs come to you, which is good, the enemy. I don’t know who come up with that, I don’t know if MacArthur came up with that or somebody else, I don’t know. The first part of the war when we were in there, he told the Australians too he said, “If you stand back and say you haven’t got any causalities, you got to have causalities to know your doing something”, that was his main focus, causalities. He didn’t say, “How many of the enemy did you kill?” He would ask, “how many causalities did you have?” Interviewer: “Did you know anyone from your regiment that was in WWI? Did you get to meet any of those?” Ya, down in Louisiana they did, but they wouldn’t let them go overseas, they were too old. I Company had a Captain Barclay, he is buried over at Knapp and Fuller too. 32:46 they kept those guys for training, we had a Lieutenant that was about 45 or 50 years old and he was a “sharpie”, that guy was like one of these movie actors and I enjoyed being inspected by him, he was so sharp, but he was too old, they wouldn’t let him go overseas so they kept those guys to train other people in the states, which is a good thing, because they had a lot of experience. Colonel Hayes, he was too old, they didn’t take him either, he was a regimental commander, some of those guard officers were just too old, so they never went overseas. Another thing, when we went overseas half our outfit was draftees, we got to Frisco and they brought a whole bunch of guys right out of training and put them in our outfit, they had no experience at all except basic training. 33:44 When we went overseas half of our division was draftees or they might have been volunteers too you know. Interviewer: “How often did you see replacements come in?” Oh, when we got back to Australia there was only 10% of us left, so we had a big influx, we got some Australian “90 day wonders” that didn’t know how to read a compass. I said, the colonel liked to pick on Lieutenants and these 2 new Lieutenants come in, 2nd Lieutenants, they call them “90 day wonders”, that’s all the training they got, they were nice guys. If you’re a college graduate and come in you become an officer no matter what, see. 34:36 The colonel liked to pick on Lieutenants and he said, “I want a big compass course, and a good one”, they looked at each other and they never set up a compass course, if they had been a Boy Scout, they would know how to do it. I said, “no problem, I’ll set one up”, so we set one up and I said, “were going to make it difficult, even for the Colonel”, so we set it up and they learned how to do it and that was college graduates and so the Colonel was patting them on the back afterwards for the good job they did and they said, ‘Sergeant come over to the officers club in the back” and they 8 �gave me a couple of great big jugs of beer. They were so happy, the Colonel patting them on the back and telling them what a good job they did. 35:28 Interviewer: “You were a Sergeant then?” Ya, they only had one non com in 2 section and that was me, K.K. is buried over here, he went to O.C.S and his dad kept saying,” how come everybody back in the states is Sergeants and Corporals and all that stuff?” I was the only non com until I was about ready to go sacrifice myself, so they promoted me, they needed me, but some of those guys had been in there for years and never got to Corporal or Sergeant or nothing. Now days you get stripes all over the place. 36:06 Interviewer: “After you were in Australia for a while, what was it like being back from the campaign in Buna, what was the experience like?” They call it the “Gold Coast” now, but by Brisbane there was a big dog racetrack and they put up the camp there and they fed us real good. We would go to the beach everyday and go swimming and run up and down and I got right back up to 180. When you’re young guys, you will get back, but if you wanted to get out of the service, all you had to do was go out and drink a lot and that malaria will hit you just like that, but I wasn’t ready to do that. 36:45 You wind up driving a truck someplace in Australia . A friend of mine went home after Buna, the first campaign, in fact, he came to see me last summer, he passed away, he was a—he taught school at Traverse City High School and he said he used to read, but they sent him home, malaria and dingy fever and stuff, jungle rot. 37:10 We got back in pretty good shape and then we had a big influx of recruits. We went from Australia , after we got them a little training, we went there to Milne Bay, it’s on the map I showed ya, at Milne Bay we practiced a little jungle training there, we got a big Python, it must have been 20 feet long, it was the biggest one. Earl DeVormer actually killed it and we drug that thing back and it was heavy, boy. I killed a Python on Goodenough Island, when we left there and went to Goodenough Island, but it was a small one. 37:55 After you kill them, they still wrap around, I had it wrap around my right arm and I had the head like that and I walked in the first tent and the first Sergeant and another guy were in the tent there and they Jumped back and said, “VanHammen, you know that thing might have scrub typhus and if you get scrub typhus you might as well kiss yourself goodbye”, it was that bad. 38:22 It had me worried, I found some G.I. soap and went down and took a bath. I went outside and I threw that thing up in the air, they were playing cards and they had a can of gas going, they had a blanket out there and they were playing cards, the guys, and I threw it right next to them and those guys went scattering all over the place. One of the guys was from New York and he had never seen a snake in his life you know, and I think he wanted to kill me to tell the truth. 38:52 Interviewer: “When did you find out that you were going back into battle?” Right aster Goodenough Island there. We were training—on Goodenough Island you had the First Marine Division, my uncle was in that, in the 32nd. Goodenough Island is just south of Guadalcanal and we were trained in jungle warfare there. 39:21 I’ll tell you my uncle was a Warrant Officer and he was looking for me and I said, “you mean you couldn’t find me? I was back in the jungle and you guys were sitting up on the beach”, I kidded him after the war. We went from there we got on destroyers, 1st World War 9 �destroyers. Before the war broke out and before we got into it, Roosevelt gave 50 of them to England. They were old 4 stackers, they made one stack out of them, but we used them over in the Pacific, they put Higgins boats on them and you got on them and your going in the first wave, so we got on them and we headed for Saidor and luckily we landed where-- if we had landed 5 miles down the beach we would have had an awful time, we landed in the right spot. 40:16 There were Japanese there, but they all took off. They were like Quartermasters or something and they were cooking breakfast and the fires were still going the holes and we had a good landing there, the Higgins boats come in. They were made out of Plywood and bullets would go right through them, so we lucked out on that. That is the only time I went in on the first wave, we lucked out, I was lucky on that one. 40:42 Before the day got over we had a good battle though, because we had a guy named--- a lawyer from town, he was a National Guard and one of the best officers. He was a little crazy in a way, guys were scared of him, but he’d walk around, bullets flying, how he ever survived, but I was glad he had this big patrol and we went out right away, a combat patrol, to find out where the Japs were. We had a little accident; I killed more Japanese that day than I killed in my life. I killed 15 of them at least. 41:21 We went across the Mott River and my S2 section were out in front and we ran into a patrol just as we got beyond the river and there was a squad of Japanese sitting, taking a break, smoking, they were sitting against the trees and they had their guns there and some of them took off running without their guns. I had a Tommy gun, a 45 and you hit somebody running leaning over, a 45 will just peel their back right off, a 45 caliber. We left them dead and Captain Johnson said, “we gotta move on because we gotta get this perimeter set up before dark, so we took right off, we just left them lay. Usually we check them all off, check their pockets for information and stuff, but we just kept right on going. It was a good thing we did, we set up this perimeter and Johnson was an S2 officer, I was a non-com and he was the officer. Bill Johnson, he survived the war, I don’t know how, but he did and he’s a lawyer in town here. When he was in the National Guard he was a lawyer. Him and John Shirley was two---John Shirley didn’t survive, they would walk around, bullets flying, Shirley never made it, he got killed with an Australian artillery observer the same day, but Johnson, he survived, two of those officers—it was nice to be brave, but don’t be overly brave. 42:59 We set up a perimeter and the Captain said, “VanHammen”, meantime going across the river, Carl, he’s from Grand Rapids and he came over to visit me the other day, he was a radio man and we heard these airplanes coming and ours were just as dangerous as the Japanese because were out 2 miles in front of our line see and any movement, they would strafe you, so we hollered, “Carl get outa that river” and he slipped on a rock and went in with our radio and that was the end of our communications, so the Captain said, we’ll set up this perimeter down in the village where we were supposed to go and he said, “VanHammen, you get back here and make sure that barge comes in with our equipment”, because we had no mortars or machine guns with us, they were all on that barge, not barge but, landing craft, I should put it that way. 44:00 I get back there and Carl’s trying to get the radio going on the beach and I said, “you haven’t got a hole yet, the Japs are attacking, we better get a hole, if they break through, you and I will have to fight them out here”. We took out helmets off and dug in the beach, you could dig a hole in a hurry, I just it dug and I see that landing craft come around with our equipment on it and the Japs down the way opened up with a 30 caliber on that and it had a metal ramp in front and I was out 10 �there waving to get them in like a dummy. 44:36 They see me and they haul off that 50 caliber search—Carl and I on the beach, it is a good thing we had those holes we dug and I said, “idiots”, they call it friendly fire and I call it idiot fire, so the Japs are firing at us from one way and those idiots are out there firing at us with a 50 caliber. Now you know a Japanese wouldn’t be out there waving to get you in like that, but they pulled away and left us, so the Captain came back pretty soon and he said, “VanHammen, it’s going to be dark pretty soon, take a man and get back and tell them the situation”, we were about 2 ½ miles in front of our line. There was a guy standing there with a Tommy gun, I wish I knew his name, he was from K Company, we had a company K Company, we had a section with machine guns without their machine guns, mortars, M Company and our S2 section. 45:39 Captain Johnson was in charge, so I took this guy along, he had a Tommy gun and I had one and I figured if we get in a scrap it will throw out lead, so I walked down the beach and we cut into the jungle and then we got back on the trail and I said,” it’s going to be dark pretty soon”, I had maps, that’s one thing about being in S2, at Buna we didn’t have maps, it was too early in the war. We had good maps, I think I got them at home and I took them out of a water proof bag I kept them in, I set a spot down and I said, “now keep your eyes open”, I memorized all the villages we would go through and I knew we had to cross the Mott River and how many creeks, I tried to memorize it, but it gets dark I can’t use the maps, so I just spotted down and he said, “Japs”, so 2 of them come out with packs and their rifle on there and I said, “shoot the son’s a bitches”, so he shot them. 46:41 I was sitting down when he shot and killed both of them and I said, “they might be the head, we gotta get back”, so we went back into the jungle and walked along the jungle again and come back on the trail and it’s “spooky” I’m telling ya, at night. You don’t know when you’re going to get ambushed or when you’re going to run into a patrol. We crossed the Mott River and we got back. The most “spooky” part, you get back to your own lines and these trigger-happy guys back there are liable to shoot ya. 47:07 We had a, I forgot what it was, we hollered a word out and they repeated it and we got back and Major Huggins said, “VanHammen, you take L Company out the next day and go down there first thing in the morning and help them out”. I went down there with them and in the meantime they had moved back to the Mott River and set up another perimeter around that, so we didn’t go all the way back there. That one particular day, I eliminated more enemy than any day, I still remember those guys so close to you looking at us over their backs like that with their rifles slung on when we shot them. 48:04 Interviewer: “Did you ever take any Japanese soldiers prisoner at all?” At Morotai we did, that was the easiest campaign we were in, here was an officer coming down on a bamboo raft, we were on patrol and they spotted us and 2 natives jumped in the water and the Japanese officer, he swam to the other shore and started to get up and we got him in the leg and went over and captured him. We called up and told them we had a Japanese officer and they said, “we’ll send out a PT boat”, at that time it was real calm and by the time the PT boat got there, we had this Japanese officer in a dugout canoe and the waves started going and we darn near lost him. 48:56 We dragged him into that PT boat, we were next to that---we were in a dugout canoe you know, with an outrigger on it, thank goodness. That is the only one personally that I got, most of them we shot. One time I felt real bad, I was searching a guy we had killed, a Japanese, and I pulled out his book you know and he had been drawing pictures of leaves, so he must 11 �have been thinking of home. 49:26 It makes you feel like the enemy is more human. Before, the Japanese won’t give up; they just pull a grenade and blow you and them up too—suicide. Then I started to feel like they were human beings you know. 49:46 For security they had a tennis shoe like and it had a split toe and you see that, it didn’t look human, you see it in the mud, see their tracks you know. In Saidor I found there headquarters later on. I remember when those Japs come out, so they had the Japanese moved out by that time, moved back in farther. 50:12 They vacated, there were a few of them running around yet, but most of them left. I knew where those Japanese come out, so I went back and I was looking for their trail and I couldn’t find it and I said, “their using the creek”, so I looked in the creek and sure enough I could see one of those foot prints. What they do when they get to the creek—they get off the main trail and get in and walk in the creek and then they go up, I went down about 150 feet or so and then I see a nice trail going down, so my S2 section and I went down and we found their headquarters. 50:45 Apparently the Colonel or whoever, had a beautiful great big—one of these chairs all made out of bamboo, it was really nice and they had buried everything, the Japanese, so they figured they were coming back. They had bugles laying around there and stuff, so I piddled back to the headquarters and Major Huggins said, “VanHammen, take L Company again”, so I had the Captain getting mad at a Sergeant going down and taking him out. I took them down there and showed them how they got in there and I educated the guys about Japs using those streams instead of making a path. Went back there and those guys are finding souvenirs like mad, digging. Watches, they buried everything; they figured they were coming back, the Japanese. All the souvenirs those guys got outa there. The only thing I come back with—I know Ed Machowski, how he ever got that sword back I’ll never know, but he got it back home. He got it to Australia and he had some Australian send it back to Grand Rapids. 51:56 He had a Japanese sword, all I came back with was a Japanese flag. I had a lot of them; you could sell them for 10 pounds to the Navy and stuff. Interviewer: “How did the natives help you?” Very helpful, I never seen one that liked the Japanese at all because they treated them like dirt and the Japanese—the natives were different, the ones along the coast were—they had a little education, they did a lot of trading and stuff, but the ones up in the mountains were still headhunters and I go to a village and I want a “tu tu” or a “Luawe”, they run the-- when I wanted a couple boys to go with the patrol, I would pick them up that way. 52:56 I can’t remember too much pigeon English anymore. They carried our wounded out, they would never go in towards the front because if they hear one shot, they just drop the stretcher and the guy would be in worse shape than ever. It would take you a long time to get back to where they had good—they had one poor intern, I felt sorry for him, the only doctor we had and he was intern too, a young guy. 53:26 We would go out on patrol and we come back, they say, “take this wounded man back”, so we take him back and we got back with this guy from K company, a machine gunner and they had 45’s and he still had his 45 on there and the doctor had a rusty knife and he went to put that on the wounded guys leg and he pulled out that 45 and said, “doc, don’t put that rusty knife on me or I’ll blow you away”, that doctor, that little intern, was shaking so-- I said, “put that damn gun away” and I thought he was going to put formaldehyde, no anti-bacteria material on there. That poor doctor, I felt so sorry for him with all those wounded lying 12 �around there. 54:25 Then they go back to a station, I don’t know how they call it a hospital, a staging area more or less, one time we get back there and they bombed it a couple of times, you put a red cross out there and it is just a target. They had an airstrip there and they took you back to Port Moresby, 10th evac hospital. I weighed 120 after 3 days back getting a haircut and everything, they weighed me and said, ‘you must have weighed about 110, I weighed 180 when I went there, I was 5’11”, I was a pretty good size guy. 55:06 I was in really bad shape, but it don’t take long when your young to get back in shape again. If they give you good food and your in the right place, we were in the “Gold Coast’ of Australia, near Brisbane Australia. By that time, I bet ya, 90% replacements; by the time we went to Saidor. There were only a few of us left, National Guard. Interviewer: “By the time you got tto the end of your service, did you notice, were the Japanese any worse?” They were starting to give up a little bit towards the end of the war. 55:54 Surrender, but they didn’t surrender during the first part-- suicidal attack. Interviewer: “During the end their behavior was different?” They probably saw the hand writing on the wall, it was coming to a close. I want to say something about the Air Force, the 5th Air force, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today, but none of us would a been here, if they got fresh troops into Buna we would have been done for, but the 5th air force, the would fly out of Port Moresby every day. The Australian Air Force too, they had Australians used a lot of Bofit bombers and Bofit fighters and P40’s, that was an American plane, the Australians had a lot of them. 56:48 In fact on one airstrip they had a big junkyard where they piled the P40’s, it was a touchy place to land on those metal strips you know. They were a “tail dragger”, the P39’s was a tricycle landing gear. The Australian Air force and our 5th Air force saved us, they sunk a whole convoy coming in, replacements, the Japs couldn’t get replacements, they got a few in by barges, but that was all. 57:36 If they had got a fresh division in there, we would have been wiped out, we were in such bad shape, we were starving to death really. Everybody said,” I thought you came out of a concentration camp”, no we were just in combat. I wish I had a camera though, we didn’t have any cameramen with us, it was too rough and they had one when we went over the mountains, he took a few pictures and he just disappeared. Interviewer: “ Did you notice when things started to go really well? Were there any signs that the Americans might be winning?” Oh, ya, we landed in Saidor and Hitapi and those places and you know it was going pretty good for us. Air Force, that’s the main thing, the Air force. Whoever controlled the air had the upper hand really. Now the Coral Sea battle, we were going overseas and it broke out, we were headed for Brisbane and landed in Adelaide—now that was a toss up, they were headed for Port Moresby or Australia see, so now the Australians, that’s a holiday in Australia, the Coral Sea Battle. 58:58 They figure that saved them. I’ll say one thing, the second world war, the Navy took a beating too, there were a lot of casualties and the Korean war was easy on them and the first world was, but in the 2nd world war, the Navy took a beating, I mean they lost a lot of people. I’ll tell you 13 �something, we were going out of Brisbane to Port Moresby, we were on a liberty ship and I said to a Navy guy, “what happened to that ship?” There was a half of a liberty ship there and he said, “the other half is out in the Coral Sea” and I said, “that’s where we’re going” and he said, “ya”. 59:40 We ran into a, you call them hurricanes over here, storm at night, everything went overboard, a typhoon they call them over there and over here they call them hurricanes and I thought we were done for because they had 500 pound bombs in the bottom of the ship, they had 10x2’s laying on top of that and they had 3 Australian tanks on top of that, old Grant tanks. The Australians were in a harbor boat they brought up from Port Moresby, and a big boom went and it pushed them right off in the sea. They were in this little boat and the Australian Corvettes picked them up and how they did it, I’ll never know. I thought we were going down for sure because I kept thinking of that half a ship sitting in Port Moresby. “Are we going to be down the drink?” Interviewer: “So what was you estimate of the Japanese soldiers ability to fight when you faced them?” Oh, they were suicidal I mean, ya, very good, you pick up a lot of casualties that way too you know too. 1:03 I was surprised in Saidor I caught so many of them napping, but that’s the way it goes once in a while. 1:16 It’s a lot of luck if you survive. I got those maps from Saidor yet and I took them out to show Carl the other day and I put them on the table and they were in a waterproof bad, you had to, they didn’t have plastic, they had rubber to keep your maps dry. I still got those maps from Saidor, I should have them displayed someplace. I figure those maps saved my life in that deal because I sat down and if I hadn’t squatted down and looked at the maps and told the other guy, “keep your eyes open” the Japs would have walked back of us and killed us, just luck. 2:03 Interviewer: “Your mentioned earlier “pigeon English”, what’s pigeon English?” That’s what they use on the islands, all the islands. Every village has their own dialect or language, so they had to have some way to trade back and forth, so they developed a pigeon English, bush was jungle and dee-wy was tree and leuwy was the chief and tu-tu was the medicine man, your always in charge of the village. 2:43 I use to be able to rattle it off real good, but it’s been 60 years now. I tell my grand kids the only foreign language I know is pigeon English and they laugh at me. Interviewer: “When did you know that you yourself were coming out of the war?” Morotai, I went back, you come back on points, so much time in combat, so much time overseas, so much time in the army. I had full points, I come back from Morotai that was the easiest campaign I was in, after we captured that one Jap and darn near drowned that Jap officer. Later on they had a heck of a battle there, it was in the Helmahera group of Morotai, Morotai was, Helmahera is a big island and we were on this small islands, pretty good size, it had rivers and stuff and we flew from there, I had points, we flew from there to Behak Island and from Behak Island we flew from there to Milne Bay. 3:56 I spent a week there looking for a ship and here comes an old British rust bucket, that was the only thing available and they put us on that and we got on that ship and we had no food, so we went down the coast to Finschaven, they put food on there and it was all full of bugs, so I had Christmas on that rust bucket, it stalled 5 times, it broke down 5 14 �times there in the ocean, no escort. 4:20 I said, “the only reason we survived the Japs was they looked at that thing and said,” it ain’t worth a torpedo, that rust bucket”.” I said when I came back, “I went over on a luxury liner and came back on a rust bucket”. Interviewer: “When did you hear about the bomb? What did you think?” I was back in the states by that time. I got back at the states and they looked at my record and said, “no more infantry for you”. I was in the hospital and they said, “do you want the air corps or the artillery?” I said, “it don’t matter, I only got 6 months to go”. 4:54 They put me in the artillery and sent me to Fort Devins, the best—in fact it was such a good life I darn near stayed in the army, If I made more money I would have. It was a beautiful fort, Fort Devins, no Fort Sill. If you ever go south to Oklahoma, stop there, it’s where they kept Geranimo and they have a museum there with artillery from every war, Japanese artillery, German, they got a big museum there. Three of us started to run a big motor pool and one of us could actually run it unless you had to give driving lessons. 5:42 We had some people that didn’t know how to drive and it would drive you crazy trying to teach them how to double clutch when they didn’t know anything about a car. That was the best duty I ever had in the service. Interviewer: “Now you’re back in America and you hear about the Atomic Bomb in Japan and you know the war is over, what was the first thing that went through your mind?” It was hard to believe, ya. I had been working already—the fire department, the guys— some guy out there, he had just got drafted, a big heavy set guy and the guy in the engine house said, “that guys never been overseas or nothing, how come you don’t go?” and I said, “I don’t have a uniform anymore, I’m with the fire department, why would I go out there?” That’s when I heard--I was already working. 6:31 I come back and I was out of the service one week and I had a job. I never took any government money, you could just goof off for I don’t know how many days and the government would pay and you could just take your time, but I thought, “I’ll find a good job” and I was 37 ½ year in the fire department. 6:53 It was kind of an exciting life too, I enjoyed that too. Sometimes, they didn’t have masks in those days, a couple of times I darn near quit and I said, “how did they stand this?” I’ve been in the infantry 5 years and I come back and kill myself in the fire department. Interviewer: “Had Grand Rapids changed, that you noticed, from the time you left and the time you came back? Had it changed at all?” Quite a bit, ya. My dad met me at the train and he said, “some blonde had hold of me, was dragging me off and he could hardly get her arm off”. I’ll tell you a funny thing— she was down at the Morton House, so I give her my phone number apparently, so she called me up the next day and said, “why don’t you come down?” and I said, “I can’t come down there, I haven’t seen my folks in 5 years”, so she calls me the next day, my grandparents-- my uncle got killed in the Philippines, he was 4 years older than me, but he was like a brother. He got killed in the Philippines and my grandparents wanted to see me and she called me up again and I said, “I gotta see my grandparents”, she probably said, “all the guys on the train and I pick a nut that want to see his grandparents better than he wants to see me”. I still think about that and laugh. She thought, “I sure picked a 15 �dandy, he would rather so out with his grandmother than me”, 8:28 After Buna we went back and there was training, it was in the valley out by Camp Cable. They had barbed wire and you crawl under the wire and they’d shoot machine gun fire over ya and they would blow up stuff so you would get used to combat, see. We looked up and here comes 3 big limousines, black, with MacArthur’s flags on the front and that’s when I lost respect for him, he made our Colonel look bad. I felt sorry for our Colonel, so our Colonel starts going up the hill, MacArthur gets out and puts that corncob pipe in his mouth, he wouldn’t look at us at all, he stared off in space. 9:17 They took his picture-our poor Colonel just about got there, if he had spent 2 or 3 minutes more, he could have shook his hand and said, “your doing a good job”, but he didn’t do it. They took off in those 3 limousines and left our Colonel with all the guys laughing at the Colonel, I felt sorry for him myself, you don’t make a fool out of your fellow officer. I lost respect for that man right there, I said. The next day the Brisbane paper headlines said, “MacArthur reviews troops” and he never looked at us. You don’t make your fellow officer, a Colonel look bad. That burned me up right there. 10:02 Interviewer: “Well, I think we have come to the end here and I want to thank you, a lot of good stuff”. I’m still paralyzed here from that stroke I had. Frank Boring: Great story, great, great stuff. 10:30 . 16 �17 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanHammenR Title A name given to the resource Van Hammen, Robert (Interview transcript and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Hammen, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Van Hammen enlisted in the Michigan National Guard in 1940, and served in the intelligence section of the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division until 1945. He trained with his unit in Louisiana, and then was shipped first to the East Coast and then back across the country to go to Australia and on to New Guinea. He saw extensive combat in a series of battles in New Guinea and the Philippines, and his account includes detailed descriptions of the physical aspects of war in a jungle, as well as of several of the battles in which he served. His interview is featured in the documentary Nightmare in new Guinea produced aby Grand Valley State University. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bush, Dan (Interviewer) Vredeveld, Chris (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-11-11 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/44cc9f26da489a1c549baaa65ef1c318.mp4 fdb56be01930614630e5eafc45a31e4c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6ff70fa870d4e8e5747b4488d4e83d72.pdf 38361e3cc7ef3571f6482c4993276003 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Marcia Van Ess Vietnam War 1 hour 22 minutes 8 seconds (00:00:13) Early Life -Born on January 14, 1949 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan -Grew up on the West Side of Grand Rapids -Had three brothers and three sisters -Raised Catholic -Went through twelve years of Catholic school -Father worked in a factory -Mother was a housewife (00:01:17) Nursing School -Wanted to go into nursing -Attended Mercy Central School of Nursing in Grand Rapids -When the Vietnam War really began to intensify recruiters from various branches came in -Needed nurses, but most would only accept nurses with college degrees -She was a diploma nurse meaning she had not gone to college -The Army would accept diploma nurses -Covered a myriad of medical subjects in a condensed time -While in nursing school joined the Army and planned to serve after nursing school -Started attending in 1967 and graduated from the program in December 1969 (00:05:03) Awareness of Historical Events -Didn’t pay a lot of attention to the Vietnam War -Didn’t have time to focus on national events during school -Didn’t come from a family with a strong military background -Older brother was in the National Guard and was called up during the race riots -Remembers hearing about the assassinations of the Kennedys and of Martin Luther King Jr. (00:06:18) Enlisting in the Army -When she signed up for the Army she was told there was no chance of going to Vietnam -She was also told that she would be given a choice of where she wanted to be stationed -Passed the state board for nursing and was commissioned into the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant (00:07:59) Basic Training -Sent to Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas for basic training -Thoroughly enjoyed it -For her basic training was a mix of basic Army knowledge and mostly nurse training -Given rudimentary Army training -How to read maps, marching in formation and protocol, and an introduction to Vietnam -Taught the types of wounds that were caused by different bullets -Trained with live goats -Used them for being taught how to properly give a tracheotomy and stitches -No emphasis on discipline during her time in basic training -Lived in private, two person rooms as opposed to barracks �-Allowed to have time off and she and the other recruits frequently partied during training -Felt like she was playing soldier and didn’t grasp the potential gravity of the situation -Most of the captains were nurses that had college degrees -Basic training lasted six weeks (00:12:09) Fort Knox, Kentucky -After completing basic training and two weeks of leave she was deployed to Fort Knox -She and another nurse from Michigan were able to drive down to Kentucky together -Arrived at Fort Knox in April 1969 -Her initial assignment was to be a nurse for women (c-sections, OB/GYN) -Wanted to be an operating room nurse -Signed up for the Army’s operating room training course -Received orders for Vietnam before she could complete the course -At Fort Knox it was a normal forty hour work week schedule -Advised to date officers and not the enlisted men -Met some Vietnam veterans while at Fort Knox -Still felt disconnected from the reality of the conflict -Focused on her work and didn’t pay much attention to the news -Wanted to be deployed somewhere like Europe or the South Pacific or around America (00:16:14) Deployment to Vietnam -Received orders for Vietnam in late summer 1970 -Orders were for deployment in October 1970 -Parents didn’t understand the severity of the war -Granted a leave home to see her friends and family before being deployed -Didn’t receive any involved Vietnam orientation prior to leaving -Flew from Michigan to San Francisco and from San Francisco to Vietnam -Remembers that it was a somber flight over (00:19:09) Arrival in Vietnam and Assignment -Landed in Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon -From there went to Bien Hoa Air Base to the 90th Replacement Battalion -Stayed there for a couple days -Assigned to the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh -Told that Long Binh was relatively safe -Hadn’t taken enemy fire for thirty days -Remembers seeing the villages and U.S. soldiers on the road en route to the hospital -Shocked by the level of poverty and seeing fully armed soldiers (00:21:02) Organization of the Hospital -Hospital was made of a collection of Quonset huts -Each ward was given its own hut -Twenty eight beds to a ward -One bathroom for each hut -Placed in pre operation and recovery -Witnessed the triage process -Learned that viable soldiers took priority in getting treated -Medics taught her how to adapt to treating combat wounds and caring for the soldiers -Rank and unit didn’t carry much importance in the hospital -Priority was insuring that wounded soldiers were stabilized and cared for �(00:24:07) Medical Conditions in the Hospital Pt. 1 -Operating room was basic and it was difficult to keep it sanitary -After an operation soldiers were sent to the various wards for specialized care -As the war came to a close hospitals were closed or consolidated -Her ward (pre-op and recovery) was combined with the ICU ward -Exposed to the critically wounded soldiers in the ICU ward -Infections were extremely common -Severely wounded soldiers that were stabilized were evacuated to Saigon or Japan -Tremendous emotional weight not knowing what happened to those soldiers -Burn ward was primitive and traumatic to work in -Towards the end of the war most soldiers were suffering burns from helicopter crashes -Witnessed graphic injuries: burns that went down to the bone -Had to remove the dead tissue and apply gauze -Remembers one soldier that wound up dying en route to a bigger hospital -Lack of emotional attachment made the work a little easier, but not much (00:29:27) Working and Life outside the 24th Evacuation Hospital -Only allowed to ride on a helicopter twice -Nurses were restricted after a crash killed six nurses at once -One time was getting flown over to an Australian hospital at Vung Tau -Felt like a vacation being on the beach there -Stayed there for a week -Australians gave her a tour of the surrounding area -Remembers the 90th Replacement Battalion getting hit by enemy fire -A person she knew was killed during that strike -Hitched rides into Saigon a couple times -Helped a Vietnamese woman deliver a baby en route one time (00:33:20) Vietnamese POWs -Had to treat Vietnamese POWs and villagers fairly regularly -Villagers were usually released from the hospital quickly -POWs were treated, kept in the hospital, then shipped out -U.S. soldiers were not pleased sharing their hospital with wounded Vietnamese -POWs were guarded by military police so no assaults happened to her knowledge -U.S. wounded were allowed to berate and vent at the POWs though -She had to take care of the POWs at times -Never did anything to hurt them, just vented and swore at them occasionally (00:35:21) Frequency of Casualties and International Work -Sustained more casualties in the beginning which meant a higher level of wounded coming in -Number of wounded decreased over time -Medics were starting to be sent out to local orphanages just for something to do -Cared for severely wounded Vietnamese villagers -Remembers South Korean soldiers being incredibly tough -Worked with Polish, Thai, and Australians on several occasions -Did have soldiers come in that had been wounded due to friendly fire and accidents (00:37:35) Drug Problem -Dealt with some soldiers that were suffering from drug problems -She was in Vietnam when heroin became a problem �-Did some counseling with heroin addicts -Had to start taking part in mandatory drug tests as time went on -Remembers hearing that part of the Cam Ranh Bay hospital was turned into a rehab clinic -Soldiers wanted to get clean before they went home (00:41:06) Living Conditions at the Hospital -Lived in barracks -Had air conditioning, running water, electricity, and a bathroom -Had NCO (noncommissioned officer) clubs on base -Had a PX (military general store) -Swimming pool that was open for everyone to use -Allowed to have parties -Used to attend but eventually got tired of it -Didn’t like being perceived as “the woman” at parties -Noticed that non-wounded soldiers were far less respectful than the wounded -Had access to a mess hall -Showed movies every night on the base (00:43:09) Relationship with Officers and Personnel -Didn’t enjoy the unnecessary pomp and circumstance of the military -Annoyed when a colonel came in and was outraged over the lack of military etiquette -Most nurses and doctors didn’t pay attention to military etiquette -Didn’t see it as necessary to doing their job and doing it well -Enjoyed the liberty she was afforded being a nurse in the Army -Nurses were allowed to act independently and didn’t always need a doctor’s permission -Concerned about leaving wounded soldiers in the care of inexperienced nurses -Veteran nurses were incredibly helpful in teaching her how to deal with the wounded -Officers that intended to be lifelong members of the military were not helpful -Inexperienced and out of touch with the reality of situations (00:48:48) Sexual Harassment -Never experienced any form of sexual harassment in Vietnam -Does remember a U.S. soldier assaulting a nurse elsewhere in the country -Led to higher security measures on her base -Believes that being an officer as well as a nurse granted her some protection -Soldiers wouldn’t attack a higher ranking officer -Flirted with doctors, but it was nothing threatening or uncomfortable (00:51:28) Visiting Saigon -Remembers that Saigon was crowded and stunk -Pedicabs were everywhere and were the primary mode of transportation -Able to visit some of the famous landmarks in Saigon -The Catholic cathedral -The Saigon zoo -Vietnamese government buildings -Went to the Saigon River -Saw the impoverished Vietnamese that lived in house boats -Treated well by the Vietnamese in the city �(00:52:50) Payment and Supplies -Got paid in scrip (base credit) -Used it to buy meals and personal supplies on base -When you went into a city you had to convert it into local or American currency -Heard stories of black markets popping up -Never experienced it firsthand though -Her hospital never ran out of supplies -Quality of supplies wasn’t always the best though (00:53:34) Medical Conditions in the Hospital Pt. 2 -Assigned to the emergency room one time -Remembers that it was shocking at how quickly everything happened -Witnessing the rapidity of the triage system was unnerving to her -Saw again how survivability took precedence -Soldiers that were mortally wounded and dying were made comfortable -Hospital also dealt with traumatic head injuries -Most emotionally traumatic injuries that she witnessed and treated -Suffered depression at times over soldiers that died in the hospital or after leaving -Remembers a soldier she stayed up with all night who died en route to another hospital -Doctors comforted and explained that some soldiers were doomed no matter what -Jungle environment and booby traps responsible for the infections -Punji pits and landmines allowed for dirt and feces to be introduced into wounds -Major contributors to the unsanitary conditions faced by medical staff -High rate of complications and amputations due to the foreign germs present in Vietnam (00:59:24) Two Stories of Wounded Vietnamese Villagers -Remembers two Vietnamese women that were severely wounded in a cement mixer -One was inside cleaning the drum while the other was outside -One on the outside turned on the drum as a practical joke -Cost the woman inside an arm and both legs -Woman on the outside went in to try and rescue her -Lost both arms in the process -Remembers a Vietnamese man that was gored by a water buffalo -It became a learning experience/experiment for U.S. medical personnel -Amputated from mid abdomen down and kept alive with machines -Died anyway (01:01:49) Concerns about Quality of Life for Wounded -Always worried about the quality of life for survivors, especially amputees -Wondered if some of the wounded may have been better off dead -Started to hear later on from some amputees that they’re happy to be alive -Vietnam was the place to learn how to deal with amputations and burns (01:03:54) R&R -Went on R&R a few times when she was in Vietnam -Visited Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Bangkok -Always felt good to get off the base and go back to civilization -Excited being able to experience the different cultures -Went with a friend to Hong Kong and Taiwan -Went with a man she’d met to Bangkok �-Treated extremely well by the local people -They knew that Americans had money and would spend it if they felt welcomed (01:06:19) Downtime on Base and Other Details -When people left for home they tended to leave souvenirs and supplies bought behind -Served as a way to help the people who were still on tour -Didn’t get a chance to see Bob Hope when he came to the base -Remembers celebrating Christmas 1970 on the base -Brought in local orphans to celebrate the holiday on the base -One soldier dressed up as Santa Claus -Able bodied wounded soldiers decorated a Christmas tree -Remembers an intricate and bizarre practical joke involving a mannequin dressed as a POW -Got in a little trouble after tricking a supervisor -Remembers during parties people were given IVs so that they wouldn’t get dehydrated -Not allowed to watch the TV show M.A.S.H. during downtime -Had Vietnamese interpreters on the base that worked for them -Helpful, but problematic when their families moved to the base with them (01:09:56) End of Tour -Supposed to leave in October 1971 for redeployment to Fort Riley, Kansas -Didn’t sound like an exciting or fulfilling deployment -Decided to extend tour for a month and a half -Meant she would get discharged from the Army upon leaving Vietnam -Left Vietnam at the end of November 1971 -Preferred to stay in Vietnam to continue to help at the hospital (01:10:47) Coming Home -Left Vietnam at the end of November 1971 and flew into San Francisco -Took some time to visit a friend there -Flew from San Francisco to Chicago and from there to Grand Rapids -Parents misunderstood the time difference between Illinois and Michigan -Led to her arriving at the airport with no one to greet her -Welcome home was fairly anticlimactic -Didn’t run into antiwar protests or harassment upon returning home -Did read a contemptuous article insinuating that nurses in Vietnam supported the war -Felt she was “not supporting the war, supporting the warrior” in Vietnam (01:13:03) Life after the War and Readjusting to Civilian Life -Reconnected with old friends that she’d had before the war -Army did nothing to help with readjusting to civilian life -Started working at a local osteopathic hospital -Took time to adjust to listening to doctors’ orders as opposed to acting independently -Didn’t want to work in the emergency room or in surgery -Had no desire to relive the adrenaline of tense situations like that -Also tended to avoid war movies -Worked in that hospital for thirty six years (01:15:29) Veteran Involvement -Has started to open up about experiences in Vietnam -Family is now more comfortable asking about her time in Vietnam -Spoke at her children’s high school about being a Vietnam veteran �-Has gotten involved with a Vietnam historical group that tours around and talks about the war -Former protestors have come up to her and apologized for being ignorant and belligerent (01:17:48) Reflections on Service -Service made her less naïve -Less trusting of the government -Is against war and always has been, but understands the necessity of action sometimes -Tries to avoid regret and thinking about the “what ifs?” -Appreciates the camaraderie of being a veteran -Always feels welcomed and at home during reunions -Serving in the Army and in Vietnam has made her more accepting and compassionate -Taught her not to be afraid of diversity From 01:13:00 onwards Marcia’s audio starts to fade in and out. If you listen carefully you can still hear what she’s saying, but I figured I should make a note of that for you and possibly have the technical people take a look at it and see if they can boost the sound, or something (if that’s even possible). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanEssM1588V Title A name given to the resource Van Ess, Marcia (Interview outline and video), 2014 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Ess, Marcia Description An account of the resource Marcia Van Ess was born in 1949 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduating from high school she went on to attend the nursing program at Mercy Central School of Nursing in Grand Rapids at St. Mary's Hospital and during that time enlisted in the Army as a nurse. After graduating from nursing school in December 1969 and passing the nursing test in February 1969 she attended basic training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In April 1969 she was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky and remained there until she received orders for Vietnam in late summer of 1970. She was deployed to Vietnam in October 1970 and was assigned to the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh. During her time there she was stationed in the pre-operation and recovery ward, had experience with severe burns, amputations, traumatic head injuries and treating the wounds of both U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese prisoners of war. She stayed in Vietnam until November 1971 when she returned home and was discharged from the Army. She is now an active member in a Vietnam War historical group and speaks about her experiences in Vietnam. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-03-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2fe2c691d709fc59f875acf1ecc28dba.mp4 3b6cb67f8dc8d23ab49caea3fcdaeb95 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20a8118edeb5c95d42da1f155ec11cbc.pdf a1d77f19e6ddb5a9ce8ae4033f978d35 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Rodney Van Dyck (00:23:08) (00:08) Background Information • • • • Rodney was born in Muskegon, MI on March 23, 1956 His father worked at GM They had 4 kids in the family and 8 horses His family moved a lot because his father’s job (7:19) Army • • • • • • • • • • • Rodney enlisted in the army and was there for 25 months He enlisted on June 29, 1974 and was discharged on July 26, 1976 Rodney was mostly at Fort Bragg, NC with the 82nd Airborne He was also at Fort Dix right after they redid everything Rodney was a voice radio operator and installed radios At Fort Benning he went to jump school for 5 weeks The reason he had wanted to be a paratrooper was because he was afraid of heights While he was at Fort Bragg he broke both of his ankles in a fall Before he hurt himself he jumped into Texas, Alaska, and South Carolina When he jumped into Alaska he did cold weather training Rodney had 1 brother go into the Navy and the other went into the Air Force (16:05) Discharge • • • • He was discharged because of his injuries Rodney got married on March 26, 1977 and had 3 kids He worked for a short time as a dishwasher Rodney is still disabled and lives at Grand Rapids Home for Veterans � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanDyckR Title A name given to the resource Van Dyck, Rodney (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Dyck, Rodney Description An account of the resource Rodney Van Dyck was born in Muskegon, Michigan on March 23, 1956. He enlisted in the Army on June 29, 1974 and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne. Rodney was stationed at Fort Bragg, Fort Dix, and Fort Benning. He went through jump school and was trained as a voice radio operator. Rodney jumped into Texas, Alaska and South Carolina. When he was in Alaska he had cold weather training. Rodney then fell and broke both of his ankles so he had to be discharged. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collins Sr., Charles E. (Interviewer) Collins, Carol (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-06-30 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c375ca882fe0dc859f4670f6fd2d4749.mp4 e5d3e77cd2f6a71fc438d6570546427c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dcf470cc03c42adc77ab37fdcbe8f437.pdf dda019c03283d9940a10a398869f3ec0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Michael Van Dreumel Vietnam War Interview Length: (01:19:26:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:18:00) · Van Dreumel was born on June 19th, 1943 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and he grew up in the city (00:00:18:00) o Van Dreumel attended Grand Rapids Catholic Central and graduated from there in 1961 (00:00:46:00) o While Van Dreumel was growing up, his father worked at several different jobs, including being a foreman at a General Motors factory in Grand Rapids during the Korean War, owning his own gas station and his own grocery store (00:00:56:00) · When Van Dreumel finished high school, he did not want to stay in Grand Rapids because that meant either getting a job in the auto industry or in one of the other manufacturing planets in the city (00:01:37:00) o Growing up, Van Dreumel always had an interest in aviation and at one point, he saw an ad in a magazine for Northrop, a college in Los Angeles that offered a program for aircraft mechanics (00:01:50:00) o Van Dreumel thought the program sounded interesting, so he enrolled at the college and left Grand Rapids in November 1961 (00:02:05:00) § The experience at the college was entirely new to Van Dreumel; he was in a class of thirty students and out of the thirty, only two, Van Dreumel and someone else, did not have military experience (00:02:23:00) § The instructors would be talking about mechanical pieces and Van Dreumel had not idea what they were talking about; he had gone to a parochial school, which meant he did not have a shop class (00:02:34:00) § For a while, it was a hindrance and it slowly depressed Van Dreumel, whose grades were mediocre (00:02:47:00) o Eventually, Van Dreumel decided to quit the program and return home to Michigan to attend Western Michigan University. However, when he called his mother to inform her of his decision, she implored him to stay in the program for another thirty days (00:02:56:00) § Van Dreumel followed his mother’s suggestion and things started changing and getting better, to the point Van Dreumel was able to finish the program, take his FAA test, and get his license (00:03:02:00) § However, once Van Dreumel got his license, he was told his chances of getting a job with a major airline were slim because he was young, did not have any experience and still had to face the draft (00:03:15:00) o After finishing the program, Van Dreumel remembers going to Rocketdyne, which was part of the larger North American Aviation, to fill out an application and he was sitting in the office when the secretary said they could have an interview for him that afternoon (00:03:28:00) § However, Van Dreumel did not want to work with rockets but with �airplanes, so he walked out, returned to Northrop and talked with the school president, who then called TWA; although TWA did not have any openings for mechanic, there was an opening in fleet service, which was cleaning the aircraft, and Van Dreumel took it (00:03:44:00) § Van Dreumel went out to TWA, was hired in and within ten months, was doing maintenance on aircraft (00:04:04:00) · Van Dreumel received his draft notice in fall 1964 (00:04:43:00) o By that time, Van Dreumel had transferred from California to Chicago and had another bid in to transfer from Chicago to Indianapolis; when the transfer was approved and Van Dreumel called his mother to tell her, she said she did not think Van Dreumel would be going because she had a letter from the government for him in Michigan (00:04:51:00) § The draft notice was the first contact Van Dreumel had had of any kind with the draft system (00:05:35:00) o After he got the letter, Van Dreumel moved from Chicago back to Grand Rapids and had a couple of days in Grand Rapids to organize everything before he got on a bus to Fort Wayne in Detroit (00:05:47:00) § Van Dreumel spent a day and a night at Fort Wayne and was sworn in with the other new recruits before everyone was driven down to Fort Knox, Kentucky (00:06:04:00) o Prior to him actually receiving his draft notice, the military had been trying to locate Van Dreumel for some time but their records showed him still living in California, because that was where he had done his physical (00:07:04:00) · If Van Dreumel had been eighteen when he arrived at Fort Knox, he believes that he would have been more afraid; however, he was twenty-two and had the advice of an exMarine to follow, “do what they tell you, don’t say anything, and you won’t have any trouble” (00:07:30:00) o Being older, Van Dreumel viewed the whole situation as kind of cool (00:07:51:00) o After Van Dreumel and the other recruits arrived at the fort, they took a series of different tests; During the tests, Van Dreumel remembers talking with a soldier who asked what Van Dreumel did in civilian life and if Van Dreumel knew about certain things (00:08:04:00) § The fact Van Dreumel already had a significant amount of training from his civilian life was probably the reason why, after he finished his basic training, he did not have to go through advanced training (00:08:32:00) o The basic training at Fort Knox lasted eight weeks (00:08:46:00) § During the eight weeks, Van Dreumel lived in the newer, cement-block barracks, in which he and another recruit from Detroit had an entire room to themselves (00:08:55:00) § Whenever the instructors learned a recruit’s name, then the recruit was in trouble; as long as the recruits did what the instructors told them, then there was not a problem (00:09:21:00) · Van Dreumel followed the advice, tried to keep a low profile, and everything went smoothly for him (00:09:27:00) § From Van Dreumel’s recollection, the instructors did not overdo the �emphasis on discipline (00:09:55:00) · Every day, before the recruits were able to eat breakfast, they had to run around the training company area then go through a series of monkey bars (00:09:58:00) § Van Dreumel thought the physical aspects of the basic training were great (00:10:22:00) · Van Dreumel remembers that the first time he had to do the mile run, he was huffing and puffing but by the end of the training, he did much better (00:10:27:00) o On the day the recruits graduated from basic training, the orders for where everyone was going were posted on a sign board (00:10:58:00) § Van Dreumel remembers looking on the board and seeing that he had orders for cook school, which did not seem right to him; Van Dreumel talked with the sergeant in-charge of handing out the orders and as it turned out, the orders for cook school had been a typo (00:11:04:00) · Instead of going to cook’s school, Van Dreumel was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia; after a two-week leave, he arrived at the base in late March / early April (00:11:48:00) o The aviation section was located way out on the backside of Fort Benning; in particular, Van Dreumel was assigned to a helicopter unit and although he did not care for helicopters, it was still aviation (00:12:10:00) o Most of the other men in the unit had several years of experience and most had gone through military aviation training, as opposed to the civilian aviation training that Van Dreumel had gone through (00:12:44:00) § However, as Van Dreumel would later find out, the commercial aviation companies did not much care for the military aviation training; during his training in California, Van Dreumel remembers the instructor saying he would train Van Dreumel the way they wanted him to be (00:12:53:00) § The other men in the unit looked at Van Dreumel differently and questioned where he was able to get his mechanic's license at such a young age (00:13:21:00) · The other men had formed a strong bond and Van Dreumel was clearly placed on the outside looking in (00:13:30:00) o Van Dreumel eventually became friends with another man in the unit and when the other man asked if Van Dreumel did not want to work with helicopters, Van Dreumel said he did not and would have preferred working with fixed-wing aircraft (00:13:38:00) § The other man suggested Van Dreumel apply for a school, so the two men looked through the various schools available, and eventually picked Instrument Repair School (00:13:53:00) § Van Dreumel applied for the school, put in the paperwork, and was eventually summoned to the office of the Executive Officer (XO) for the unit (00:14:01:00) · The XO questioned Van Dreumel on his experience and when Van Dreumel explained he had worked for Trans-World Airlines, the XO asked why he was applying for a school (00:14:09:00) · When Van Dreumel said he had been told it was the only way to �work with fixed-wing aircraft, the XO asked if Van Dreumel wanted to get into fixed-wing and then proceeded to transfer him to a fixed-wing unit operating Mohawks (00:14:30:00) o Van Dreumel’s new unit did aerial surveillance using six OV-1 Mohawks, a twin turboprop aircraft built by Grumman (00:15:03:00) § Three of the Mohawks used SLAR (Side-Looking Airborne Radar) and the other three used infra-red (00:15:17:00) § The crew on each aircraft consisted of one pilot and one camera operator and after each flight, the film would be taken off the aircraft and developed in the unit’s own transportable development lab (00:15:31:00) § Regardless of the unit, there were always men who had seniority or timein-grade and the new guy, such as Van Dreumel at the beginning, was always on the periphery (00:16:19:00) · Van Dreumel was with the Mohawk unit for around month, month-and-a-half before the unit received orders to deploy to Vietnam (00:16:33:00) o The helicopter unit Van Dreumel joined when he first got to Fort Benning was a helicopter transport unit and was part of the 11th Air Assault Division; however, when the 1st Cavalry Division returned to Fort Benning from Korea, all the units in the 11th Air Assault transferred to the 1st Cavalry and the 11th Air Assault was inactivated (00:17:01:00) o It was maybe a week or two after the transfer from the 11th Air Assault to the 1st Cav. that the division received orders to deploy to Vietnam (00:17:49:00) § On the day of the announcement, all the men went to the unit’s day room and watched on the television as President Johnson announced he had ordered the 1st Cavalry Division to Vietnam (00:17:53:00) § Before the official announcement, there had been rumors and indications that the men would be deploying, especially given the various tests the 11th Air Assault had been doing previously (00:18:12:00) o By the time the 1st Cav. deployed to Vietnam, there already American forces in Vietnam, in the form of Marines and elements from various airborne units, including a brigade from the 101st Airborne Division (00:18:41:00) § When Van Dreumel’s unit arrived in Vietnam, he remembers that it had been soldiers from the 101st Airborne who cleared out the area where the unit was going to be stationed (00:18:45:00) · When the unit began the process of deploying from Fort Benning, they left the base early in the morning aboard buses and headed for Charleston, South Carolina (00:19:25:00) o Once in Charleston, the men boarded a transport ship in the afternoon, the General Alexander Patch, and that evening, the ship departed (00:19:39:00) § It was warm, being mid-August, and most of the men ended up sleeping on the deck of the ship at night; however, every so often, someone would clean the ship’s smokestacks and the soldiers sleeping on deck would wake up covered in a fine layer of soot (00:20:01:00) o The ship sailed through the Panama Canal, followed the coast of Mexico and eventually docked in Long Beach, California (00:20:19:00) o The ship spent a day in Long Beach to pick up additional troops and supplies then continued non-stop to Qui Nhon (00:20:28:00) �§ § § When the ship was about in the mid-Pacific, it ran into a storm (00:20:44:00) · During the voyage, Van Dreumel had volunteered for the duty of bringing up stores for the mess hall and throwing the excess over the back of the ship; during the storm, the ship would pitch so much that the propeller would come out of the water and slap the water (00:20:54:00) · Although a lot of men got seasick, Van Dreumel only got queasy, not fully seasick (00:21:56:00) Van Dreumel figures there was about two thousand men aboard the ship for the voyage from California to Vietnam (00:22:21:00) · The aircraft Van Dreumel’s unit and the other units in the division used were carried to Vietnam aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Boxer and another aircraft carrier (00:22:31:00) The ship arrived fairly early in the morning in Qui Nhon, with the men starting to disembark around six o’clock in the morning (00:23:04:00) · Smaller landing craft were parked next to the ship and the men had to climb down smaller ladders to reach them; at the bottom of the ladders, the men had to time the roll of the landing craft and jump down when the landing craft was at its highest point (00:23:10:00) · As he waited for the rest of the landing craft to fill up and as the landing craft approached Qui Nhon, Van Dreumel could not believe how green and beautiful the land was (00:23:46:00) Vietnam Deployment (00:24:07:00) · Once the men were on shore, they were marched to CH-46 Chinook helicopters and flew about thirty miles inland, to An Khe (00:24:07:00) o Each of the units in the division was assigned an area and in Van Dreumel’s unit’s area, all the men had to put up their tents in a row (00:24:22:00) o Van Dreumel’s unit spent about two weeks in An Khe, going through various pieces of training (00:24:37:00) § At one point, the men noticed holes in the ground about the size of their pinky finger and after someone would pour gasoline into the holes, massive spiders would come out (00:24:49:00) § The first night the unit was in An Khe, another one of the soldiers was bitten by a snake in his tent (00:25:07:00) § During the first two weeks, the men worked at clearing out the area they had been stationed, cleaning up brush; however, even though they were cleaning up their area, Van Dreumel’s unit had yet to be assigned their permanent position at a nearby airfield (00:25:27:00) · Van Dreumel remembers watching as some ordnance personnel used explosives to clear away some trees (00:25:47:00) § The air temperature was warm, but not to the point that it made the men’s lives miserable (00:26:02:00) § At one point, Van Dreumel remembers the men going to the airstrip and during the trip, the trucks passed a Vietnamese person who was riding a �bike and dragging a dead dog behind him tied to a rope (00:26:52:00) · The initial stage of the deployment, where the men were sleeping in tents and clear away brush lasted for about a month before their unit moved to its permanent home at the airstrip (00:27:31:00) o During that first month, the men ate nothing but C-Rations; once they arrived at the airstrip, they transferred to B-Rations, which were pretty good (00:27:35:00) § With B-Rations, all the food was prepared by a mess hall cook but still served to the men in cans; it was another month or so before the regular mess hall was set up (00:27:44:00) o Van Dreumel’s unit was positioned along the southern edge of the airstrip and all the men were sleeping in large tents, which ended up dry-rotting within six months (00:27:59:00) § In Van Dreumel’s tent and several other tents, the men bought lumber and built elevated platforms several inches off the ground so they could keep their equipment off the ground (00:28:26:00) § Apart from having to sleep in mosquito nets every night, the men also, on occasion, had rats in their tents (00:28:44:00) · One night, Van Dreumel was sleeping when he felt something come up the side of his leg, sit on the side of his hip, then go back down his leg (00:28:49:00) · The men ended up having to set up massive rat traps throughout the tent, using cans of peanut butter taken from the mess tent as bait (00:29:03:00) o When the unit moved to its position at the airstrip, all their airplanes had already come in (00:30:01:00) § Apart from the Mohawks, Van Dreumel’s unit had another unit attached to it that used O-1 Birddogs, which was a small, high-winged airplane used by forward air controllers (00:30:05:00) · The Birddog unit only had a couple of mechanics and a handful of pilots, who, like most of the pilots in Van Dreumel’s unit, were warrant officers (00:30:20:00) § For the most part, Van Dreumel thought that the pilots who were flying the airplanes were older than the rest of men in the unit (00:31:14:00) · The warrant officers tended to talk with the men more than a company-grade officer would (00:31:31:00) § Officially, Van Dreumel was a member of the ASTA (Aerial Surveillance and Target Acquisition) Platoon of 11th General Support Aviation Company (00:32:25:00) · The amount of soldiers in the ASTA platoon only number about twenty and for the most part, Van Dreumel spent most of his time with that small group (00:32:46:00) o As far as the mechanical aspect of his assignment, Van Dreumel was busy the moment the unit’s airplanes arrived (00:33:18:00) § The runway at the airstrip was made out of perforated steel plates and the multiple C-130s that flew to the airstrip on a daily basis pounded those plates, often breaking them; at night, welders had to go out an repair any �· · · · damage because the jagged edges would flatten tires (00:33:26:00) · As well, the Mohawks would get flat tires, so one of the big jobs that Van Dreumel had to do was change flat tires (00:33:53:00) § Although the men were not working to the point that they were constantly breaking a sweat, the work was steady (00:34:15:00) o The number of times a specific Mohawk would go out on any given day depended largely on what type the airplane was (00:34:33:00) § None of the Mohawks in the unit carried offensive weapons; some of the other units operating in Vietnam had Mohawks with gun pods mounted on the airplanes but Van Dreumel’s unit was not authorized to use the gun pods (00:34:39:00) § If he had to guess, Van Dreumel would figure that airplanes from the unit were going out on a mission three or four times a day (00:34:54:00) Van Dreumel and the other men in the unit never heard the actual words “Ia Drang Valley”; all they knew was there was a big increase in traffic and airplanes were coming and going at an increased rate (00:35:15:00) o For the most part, the 1st Cav. always had some sort of operation going somewhere (00:35:28:00) One time, Van Dreumel picked up an infantry soldier from the 1st Cav. who was hitchhiking back to the rear area (00:35:37:00) o Van Dreumel asked where the soldier had been stationed and after the soldier said some place that Van Dreumel had never heard of, the soldier then complained about how the helicopter pilots refused to fly into an area to pick up the wounded because of the amount of enemy gunfire (00:35:46:00) o Ultimately, Van Dreumel is glad he did not have to serve in the infantry and he admires the men who did have to serve in the infantry (00:36:16:00) Several of the Mohawks in Van Dreumel’s unit ended up getting hit by enemy fire and taking damage (00:36:36:00) o Van Dreumel took numerous pictures while in Vietnam and a good portion of those pictures was battle damage to the airplanes (00:36:39:00) o One of the jobs the men constantly had to do was repair any damage on the airplanes as a result of gunfire (00:36:57:00) o However, none of the Mohawks were ever shot down from the enemy fire; the unit arrived in Vietnam with six airplanes and when Van Dreumel left, there were still six airplanes (00:37:04:00) For the most part, Van Dreumel did not have a set daily schedule to follow; just like when he worked with the airlines, every day brought a different series of jobs from him to work on (00:37:19:00) o Each day, Van Dreumel and the other mechanics would have to look at the log books from the different flights to see what problems or possible problems the pilots might have written down (00:37:28:00) o Because he had experience working with the airlines, Van Dreumel was given the job of changing any flat tires; on several occasions, Van Dreumel would replace a tire, the airplane would go on one mission and he would have to change the tire again because it had been ripped to shreds (00:37:42:00) �o Apart from working on the airplanes, Van Dreumel and the other men in the unit had to do their own guard duty and KP (Kitchen Patrol); the area was considered “insecure”, which meant Vietnamese civilians were not allowed into the area to do laundry or anything like that, so the men had to do that work too (00:38:12:00) § At one point, an officer asked Van Dreumel if he would like to be exempt from duties for awhile; Van Dreumel said he did and the officer explained that they needed someone to run a five-strand barbed-wire fence around the entire perimeter of the airstrip (00:38:31:00) · Van Dreumel accepted the job and was assigned one strand of wire and a team of four Vietnamese workers (00:38:42:00) · The first thing Van Druemel’s team did was work with a surveyor to lay out the stakes for the perimeter, which took a couple of weeks to do (00:38:53:00) o Next, the team began stringing the barbed-wire around the entire perimeter (00:39:01:00) · Every so often, the Vietnamese working under Van Dreumel would walk up to Van Dreumel, look at his wristwatch, and ask for a break (00:39:08:00) o Although he did not smoke, every day Van Dreumel would stop at the PX on the airstrip and buy a pack of cigarettes; then, during the breaks, he would give the cigarettes to his workers, who loved American cigarettes (00:39:21:00) o Of the four Vietnamese who worked for Van Dreumel, two were father and son (00:39:53:00) § The types of guard duty the men had to do often varied; sometimes, Van Dreumel had to patrol around the area where the officers were located and on occasion, he would see nurses “visit” the officers (00:40:28:00) · The airstrip was located next to the Song Ba river and one of the areas the men had to watch was next to the river (00:40:51:00) · Doing the patrols at night without a flashlight was often spooky, especially considered who could have been out there (00:41:04:00) § Most of the officers in the unit were good but occasionally, some of the other men would goof around (00:41:35:00) · For the most part, the men on guard duty were not supposed to be walking around with loaded weapons; however, most of the men disregarded the order because they did not want to be caught in a situation without a loaded weapon (00:41:51:00) · One time, Van Dreumel remembers another soldier saying how, while on guard duty, the soldier encountered an officer who would not identify himself, so the soldier put the officer through the entire process of being “arrested” (00:42:13:00) o However, the guards were sometimes leery of confronting an officer, out of fear of any retribution that might come from the officer (00:42:47:00) · One time, a pair of C-130s were flown onto the airstrip and the crews parked the airplanes next to one another on the ramp (00:43:01:00) �o About two o’clock in the morning, the men had to go on alert because the enemy had attacked the C-130s; either the VC or a VC sympathizer in the nearby village had snuck onto the airstrip and placed satchel charges along the landing gear of one of the C-130s (00:43:10:00) § Apart from destroying the landing gear, the saboteur also placed satchel charges inside the access door on the nose of the C-130, which blew big holes through the fuselage (00:43:31:00) § With the other C-130, all the saboteur did was fire a couple of rounds into the airplane’s engines (00:43:42:00) o The attack on the C-130s was the last time the Air Force ever left airplanes on the airstrip overnight (00:43:48:00) o Apart from the enemy sabotage of the C-130s, the airstrip also came under mortar attack several times and each time, the men ended up having to spend the night in foxholes along the perimeter (00:43:55:00) § Once in the foxholes, the men had to watch the perimeter; illumination flares were launched and although the men might think they saw something, for the most part, it was only their minds playing tricks on them (00:44:03:00) o Apart from the attack on the two C-130s, there were several other occasions where enemy sappers made it onto the airstrip (00:44:23:00) § However, there was an infantry unit stationed next to Van Dreumel’s unit on the airstrip with the specific assignment of protecting Van Dreumel’s unit; for the most part, the infantry unit was successful in protecting Van Dreumel’s unit from any sapper attacks (00:44:33:00) · One night, Van Dreumel was in a elevated foxhole along the river and he remembers that as the flares were dropped, looking down a ravine leading towards the river and seeing what looked like a thousand Viet Cong coming up the ravine; however, it was only a trick of the light from the leaves (00:45:29:00) · When the monsoons began, they cut down on the ability of the unit to perform their jobs; Van Dreumel has pictures of all the airplanes sitting in a line and the mud around them is six inches deep (00:46:26:00) o The mud got on everything, was hard to work in, and if something was stuck, it was difficult to get it out (00:46:41:00) o Van Dreumel was not used to the monsoons and the nearly constant rain that came with them (00:46:51:00) § Often, the rain would let up during the day but at almost the same time every day, it would start again; it would be beautiful mornings but by the afternoon, it would be raining (00:46:57:00) · At one point, Van Dreumel ended up spraining his ankle when he and some of the men were moving boxes in the maintenance area; as they were moving the boxes, what looked like a sea of rats came scurrying out (00:47:24:00) o Van Dreumel hopped on a bunker and he and the other soldiers began throwing rocks at the rats (00:47:41:00) § When he jumped off the bunker, Van Dreumel rolled his ankle and ended up needed to get a cast for it (00:47:48:00) o Another time, Van Dreumel was climbing into a truck when he slipped and �smashed he shin against the truck; he thought nothing of it but a couple of days later, the area was still red, so Van Dreumel went to the hospital (00:47:54:00) § Once Van Dreumel was at the hospital, a doctor looked at his leg an asked if Van Dreumel wanted to lose the leg; getting an infection over there was nothing like getting an infection back in the United States (00:48:13:00) § The doctor placed Van Dreumel in a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), where he had to go through a round of eight shots over the course of three days, which cleared the infection up (00:48:27:00) · During the course of his tour, Van Dreumel got big into photography; he bought one 35mm camera, then another, and began hanging around with two of the other soldiers in the unit who were amateur photographers (00:48:53:00) o Whenever he took pictures, Van Dreumel had the pictures developed into slides because he felt the colors were better on slides than on regular film (00:49:18:00) § Once he would get the slides back, Van Dreumel would send the good ones back to his parents in Grand Rapids (00:49:26:00) o Apart from taking pictures, Van Dreumel also made several Super 8mm movies; for the most part, the movies tend to bring back memories fast than the pictures because you can actually see stuff moving (00:49:35:00) o Also during his tour, Van Dreumel saw Eddie Fisher, Jackie DeShannon, and Bob Hope as part of different USO shows (00:50:09:00) § When Bob Hope came in, it was completely unannounced and it was a day or two after Christmas 1965 (00:50:26:00) · Van Dreumel had just gotten off guard duty and was in his bunk sleeping when another soldier told him Bob Hope was coming; although he was tired, Van Dreumel still got up, put on his uniform, grabbed his camera, and went to the show (00:50:36:00) · Apart from himself, Hope also brought Anita Bryant, Les Brown and his Big Band, Miss USA, and Joey Heatherton (00:50:56:00) · Once, during an in-country R&R, Van Dreumel went to Vung Tau, a city located on the South China Sea (00:51:35:00) o Van Dreumel remembers taking a picture of his hotel, a nice-looking white building, completely surrounded by concertina wire (00:51:46:00) o During the three days he was in Vung Tau, Van Dreumel mostly just walked around and took pictures; for the most part, it was not much different than were he was stationed in An Khe (00:52:01:00) o Right after Van Dreumel got back to An Khe, a spot opened up to take an R&R to Hong Kong but Van Dreumel could not go because he did not have any money following his time in Vung Tau (00:52:10:00) · During the length of Van Dreumel’s tour, the 1st Cav. kept having large operations and for the most part, Van Dreumel did not know where the bulk of the infantry forces were operating (00:52:50:00) o From what he does remember, a lot of the operations took place in the Pleiku area and to the north and east of the airstrip at An Khe (00:53:26:00) o When the Tet Offensive happened in 1968, Van Dreumel could not believe it; when he left Vietnam in 1967, he thought that it would a snap for the Americans to beat the NVA and Viet Cong (00:54:02:00) �· For the most part, the moral of the soldiers serving with Van Dreumel was good; to Van Dreumel, it always seemed like the soldiers had a handle on the situation (00:54:15:00) o In Van Dreumel’s unit, there was one young black soldier who Van Dreumel often sympathized with, because the soldier was a book-worm type and would get picked on by some of the other soldiers (00:54:42:00) § However, Van Dreumel cannot even remember what the soldier’s job was; it was not uncommon to be around a bunch of soldiers and not remember what some of their jobs were (00:55:17:00) o For the most part, the soldiers in Van Dreumel’s unit were white (00:55:49:00) · At one point, the 1st Cav.’s commander visited the airstrip to attend the dedication of a building that Van Dreumel’s unit had built that served as both the unit’s movie theater and church; during the dedication ceremony, Van Dreumel managed to take a picture of the general (00:56:22:00) · Over the course of the year Van Dreumel was in Vietnam, soldiers were rotating both in and out of the country (00:57:11:00) o For the most part, very few of the soldiers who Van Dreumel deployed with ended up coming home before him; the soldiers who did rotate home were in the infantry units of the division (00:57:19:00) o Within Van Dreumel’s unit, the rotation of the soldiers was not noticeable; he can only remember a handful of new soldiers coming into the unit and even then, it was towards the end of his tour (00:57:41:00) End of Enlistment / Post-Military Life / Reflections (00:58:18:00) · Once the majority of the soldiers in the unit reached the end of their tours, different men began receiving orders to rotate home (00:58:18:00) o None of the men knew when exactly they would rotate home and then one day, someone told Van Dreumel that his rotate orders had arrived; Van Dreumel was given the orders on a piece of paper, which detailed the date and time he would be leaving (00:58:25:00) o On given day, Van Dreumel woke up, already had all his gear packed, walked across the airstrip, and boarded a CV-2 Caribou, which flew him over to nearby Pleiku, where he spent one night (00:58:47:00) § After spending the night in Pleiku, Van Dreumel and the other soldiers who were rotating home boarded a C-141 Starlifter that had flown in from Manila (00:59:01:00) § From Pleiku, the C-141 flew to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines to re-fuel, then flew to Yokota, Japan (00:59:12:00) · The C-141 arrived at Yokota early in the morning and all the men disembarked and walked into a small mess area, where Van Dreumel ate his first hamburger in a year (00:59:32:00) § Around 4:30 in the morning, all the men re-boarded the C-141, which then flew non-stop across the Pacific Ocean to Travis Air Force Base in California (00:59:43:00) § At the time, there was a major airline strike going on, with all five of the major airliners going on strike, including the airline that Van Dreumel had worked for prior to being drafted (01:00:04:00) �· Van Dreumel never saw soldiers smoking marijuana (01:00:48:00) · Van Dreumel and the other soldiers were allowed to go into An Khe, but they chose to only go during the daylight (01:00:56:00) o The local Vietnamese would chew betel nut, which had slight narcotic side affects that would dull pain (01:01:09:00) o Apart from buy a metal wash bin to shave in, there was not much Van Dreumel actually did in the village (01:01:34:00) o Some of the other soldiers went into An Khe for “less healthy things” but the division tried to control and regulate it (01:02:01:00) § As a result of the soldiers interacting with the locals, the value of the military scrip would fluctuate to the point that every so often, the color of the scrip would be changed, with brought everything back down, if only momentarily (01:02:24:00) · When Van Dreumel and the other soldiers first got to the airstrip and were cleaning the area, they put all the waste into a large brush pile (01:03:03:00) o Eventually, someone started to burn the pile but as it turned out, there was an unexploded mortar round inside the pile (01:03:11:00) o Van Dreumel was about fifty to seventy-five feet away from the pile when the round went off and shrapnel from the explosion hit one of the camera operators who worked aboard one of the Mohawks (01:03:18:00) § The camera operator needed to be evacuated and returned to the unit about three or four weeks later (01:03:32:00) o Every once in awhile, the men would find unexploded mortar rounds stuck in the ground (01:03:44:00) § Whenever they found an unexploded round, the men would notify a sergeant, who would then call in an ordinance disposal unit to take care of the round (01:03:49:00) · One of the men in the unit was exempt from every other duty because every day, he had to burn the human waste from the unit (01:04:47:00) o Every day, the soldier would pull out the two halves of 55 gallon drums, pour diesel fuel in the drums, light the halves on fire, and then stick in two empty halves (01:04:56:00) o About a month after the unit arrived, a bout of diarrhea went through the unit; it was so bad that eventually, a box of toilet paper was placed out and a soldier would just grab a roll and go wherever he could (01:05:16:00) · The soldiers had to take two different medical pills daily, an orange, quinine pill for malaria and a small white pill because there was a leper colony upriver from where the airstrip was located (01:05:57:00) o Van Dreumel remembers going into the mess hall and there being an officer sitting there with a clipboard, who would watch the soldiers take the pills; the soldiers could not get past without taking the pills (01:06:22:00) o Van Dreumel was of the mindset that the Army knew what they were doing, so he took the pills without question; some of the other soldiers were more resistant and refused to take the pills (01:06:44:00) · Van Dreumel did not know most of the men who were on the flight from Vietnam back to �the United States; not one guy from his unit was actually on the same flight at Van Dreumel (01:07:04:00) o While waiting for the C-141 in Pleiku, the men could not understand why the airplane was so late to arrive; eventually, they were told that the air crew had had trouble closing the clam-shell doors at the back of the airplane (01:07:27:00) § Van Dreumel, who had a little experience, knew that was not something that they wanted to come open during the flight, so he was a little bit apprehensive (01:05:44:00) § However, it turned out to be a nice, uneventful flight back to the United States (01:08:18:00) · Once Van Dreumel got back to the United States, he still had five months remaining on his enlistment, so after spending a month in Grand Rapids on leave, he was assigned to the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado (01:08:26:00) o When he arrived at the unit, one of Van Dreumel’s first assignments was working with another, newly-arrived mechanic in replacing the transmission for an OH-13 Sioux (01:08:49:00) o The very first thing Van Dreumel did once he arrived at Fort Carson was to go out on a field problem; he countered that he had just spent eleven months working on “field problems” (01:09:26:00) o Van Dreumel remembers that the last time he pulled guard duty, it was on Christmas Eve at a motor pool in the middle of nowhere and it was extremely cold outside (01:09:46:00) o As it reached the end of Van Dreumel’s enlistment, the Army tried to get him to re-enlist; at one point, one of the sergeants commented about how good a health program the Army had and Van Dreumel said that he had just as good a health plan with the airlines (01:10:25:00) o One of the best things Van Dreumel ever experienced was at Fort Carson when the men had to go through a foot and wall locker inspection on a Saturday morning (01:10:59:00) § All the men were standing at attention in front of the bunks when a fullbird colonel walked into the room and walked right up and stood in front of Van Dreumel (01:11:07:00) § The colonel asked if Van Dreumel would be going home for Christmas and Van Dreumel said he was not because he was being discharged the first week in January (01:11:24:00) § The colonel shook Van Druemel’s hand and wished him the best of luck before walking away; after the colonel walked away, a First Sergeant walked up and said “money isn’t everything” (01:11:47:00) · After he was discharged, Van Dreumel returned to TWA, who assigned him to work at O’Hare airport in Chicago; Van Dreumel loved it because he was working and earning money at the same time (01:12:11:00) o Van Dreumel remembers that when he first went back to Chicago, it was the first week of February and there had been a snow storm, so on his way form Grand Rapids to Chicago, he pulled out to pass another car on the highway but when he tried to get back into the other lane, the car would not follow (01:12:41:00) § Van Dreumel’s car ended up sliding off the road and into a huge snow �drift along the side (01:13:05:00) § Van Dreumel eventually made it out of the car on the passenger side and it just so happened that a tow truck was coming along; the driver asked if Van Dreumel wanted to get pulled out but when Van Dreumel said he had very little money, the driver thought about it for a moment before telling Van Dreumel to stick the chain around the axle (01:13:13:00) o Since he has retired from working, Van Dreumel has missed being able to talk about aviation with others (01:13:42:00) o Van Dreumel made a career out of working in the airlines, eventually working in not only Chicago, but also Los Angeles, Detroit, and Indianapolis, which was his favorite out of all of the places (01:14:04:00) · Once he was back home, Van Dreumel did talk a little bit about his time in the service; if anyone was interested, he would talk with them (01:14:54:00) o It took quite awhile for Van Dreumel to re-establish contact with his friends from before the service, mostly because the friends all lived in different parts of the country and were living their own lives (01:15:03:00) o In particular, Van Dreumel talked with his father about his time in the service; out of everyone, Van Dreumel’s father was the only person who wrote to Van Dreumel every week (01:15:16:00) § In Van Dreumel’s bunk area, he had a board filled with pictures of airplanes; at one point, Van Dreumel took a picture of the board and sent the slide to his father, who in turn sent the picture to the Boeing Corporation (01:15:45:00) · When he sent the slide to Boeing, Van Dreumel’s father also included a short letter explaining about Van Dreumel’s situation and asked if anyone would write to Van Dreumel (01:16:01:00) · As it turned out, the only people who responded were women and Van Dreumel was flooded with letters from girls (01:16:14:00) o Van Dreumel answered the letters as best he could and a couple grew into regular correspondence (01:16:25:00) · Overall, Van Dreumel learned a lot from his time in the service and although it started off shaky, Van Dreumel believes that going to school right after graduation probably saved his life; had he not gone to school, he might have ended up in the Ia Drang valley and possibly in a body bag (01:16:52:00) · What Van Dreumel cannot get over now is the tremendous amount of support the soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan receive, something that he and the other Vietnam veterans did not receive (01:18:09:00) o Van Dreumel remembers walking through the San Francisco airport after arriving at Travis Air Force Base and receiving dirty looks from people (01:18:23:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanDreumelM1377V Title A name given to the resource Van Dreumel, Michael (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Dreumel, Michael Description An account of the resource Michael Van Dreumel was born in 1943 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and lived there until he graduated from high school in 1961. He then went to California to train as a aircraft mechanic, after which he worked at several commercial airlines before receiving his draft notice in 1964. Once he received his draft notice, Van Dreumel went through basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky before joining an aviation section at Fort Benning, Georgia outfitted with six OV-1 Mohawks. When Van Dreumel first joined the section, it belonged to the 11th Air Assault Division but only a couple of weeks after his arrival, the section switched to the 1st Air Cavalry Division, which was then deployed to Vietnam. He spent his tour at An Khe working on Mohawks and other observation aircraft. Once Van Dreumel's tour came to an end, he rotated back to the United States and finished his enlistment as part of the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-04-25 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8560762fcc8cc3592fe1d808c8e956d1.mp4 cfcfca893ad83e30ce18b3f5359007e0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d8f62dbbc874c592bf85730e0cd87726.pdf 16288c1dbbe11cfc8c32ef30b287eca1 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Melvin Van Dis World War II Total Time: 1:48:02 Childhood and Pre-Enlistment (00:00) • • • • • Born in 1925 Father was a paper ruler for Doubleday Brothers. He had a job all the way through the Depression. Took some college prep courses during high school. Attended Western Michigan College and played basketball there (0:05:55) Drafted in Fall 1943. Training (0:06:45) • • • • • • • • Was sent to Fort Custer, Michigan for induction and then to Camp Fannin in Eastern Texas. They were trained as replacements for both theatres of war. They were given a choice of Pacific or Atlantic theatres, and he chose the Atlantic theatre because of the prospect of being treated better if they were captured. (0:10:21) In basic, they learned the basic skills for war. He also learned how to take authority. They were brought in and shipped out as possible. He spent 3 months in basic training. (0:12:38) He was with a number of older men during his basic training. (0:13:40) They were given a 10 day furlough, and then shipped to Fort Meade, Maryland where they awaited deployment. During basic training, he applied to Officers Candidate School, and was informed that he was accepted. However by the time he was accepted, they were no longer taking applicants, so he did not attend. They were taught on the M1 Rifle only during basic training. They were able to get off of base some during training in Texas, but they were not able to get off the base in Maryland. Active Duty (0:17:18) • • • • Was shipped across the Atlantic in a convoy. One of the ships in the convoy was hit during the crossing and sunk. They left from Maryland in February on a standard troop ship with around 400 men. (0:19:32) Landed in Southern England, and was then shipped to Northern Ireland. He remembers the people around the camp being very poor, and using what was disposed of by the army at the camp. (0:21:30) Was given more specific intense training in Ireland for the D-Day Landings. �• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (0:21:40) He was attached to the 1st Division, which had just been fighting in Sicily before he arrived. They had suffered many casualties in Sicily, so when he arrived around 2/3 of the men in the division were replacements. (0:26:40) Was then sent to Weymouth in Southern England. They were initially in a camp, which they could not leave. After some time there, they moved to the landing craft where they spent the week before the invasion. (0:30:30) His boat left the night of June 5th for Normandy. (0:32:10) He remembers crossing the English Channel and hearing the American bombardment of Normandy and feeling comforted by that. (0:32:55) The Germans had placed obstacles and holes on the beach, which made it difficult to land on the beach with the landing craft they were provided. (0:33:30) When his boat landed, the water was between his waist and chest. He switched from an LCI landing boat to a Landing Craft in the middle of the English Channel. (0:34:01) His orders were to get to the top of the hill once he hit the beach. He remembers the water being pink from all of the blood when he hit the beach, and the beach being full of bodies. (0:37:00) When his unit hit the beach around noon, the Germans had been pushed off of the hill, so the only thing they had to deal with was mortar fire. His boat landed around 40 yards from shore, and the hill was around 50 yards up shore. The beach was taking heavy artillery fire when he landed. (0:41:48) He dug a foxhole when he got to the top of the hill. His unit spent the first night firing on the Germans from the position at the top of the hill. (0:43:27) They stayed on the beach for 2 nights, and then began moving from hedgerow to hedgerow. They had no artillery or air support during this time, and it took 6 days for tanks to get to their position. (0:47:30) On one occasion, an American tank with a blade on the front for clearing hedgerows came upon them from behind and began firing on them, killing 3 of the 5 men in his group. He was shot in the hip during this incident. (0:52:30) He was taken to the beach and shipped to Southampton, England and then to a hospital where he had an X-ray done on his hip where he learned that he had that he had a flesh wound and a severed tendon in his leg. He remained in the hospital for 5 weeks, but was able to walk after 10 days. (0:57:20) Once he was released from the hospital he was sent to St. Lo in France where his outfit was located at the time. He then rode across France on a tank, going through Paris, and then on to the Netherlands and Belgium before finally ending up on the outskirts of Aachen, Germany. (1:00:23) His unit was assigned to head through the middle of Aachen, which the US Army had surrounded. They had many Germans surrender to them on the way through the city. He also remembers thinking to himself that the Germans were just like him. (1:05:30) They cleared every house they passed in the city, always moving closer to the center. They encountered spotty resistance as they moved through the city. Many of the German soldiers they encountered were very young. �• • • • • • • • • (1:08:01) They took 5 weeks to clear the Aachen, and they took some casualties. (1:12:28) His unit was eventually pulled out of Aachen and towards the Hurtgen Forest. (1:13:59) His first objective in the Hurtgen Forest was to build a covered foxhole to protect himself from German artillery fire which would explode in the trees, causing a lot of shrapnel. They were paired in their foxhole. They then had to build a second, open foxhole from which they would do watches. At one point, he captured several Germans who had been near his foxhole on a patrol. He was recommended for a Silver Star for his action, but he never received his star. (1:21:35) He was not doing any movement at this point. He was holding his position in the foxholes. (1:23:18) At one point, he got out of his foxhole and could not walk very well. He was taken off of the front line and sent to Belgium, and then on to England where he was diagnosed with trench foot. He was taken to a hospital where the accommodations consisted of Quonset huts. His Quonset hut contained mostly trench foot patients. They were unable to provide him a cure, only a number of treatments that were minimally effective. (1:26:26) He was then given the news that he was being shipped back to the United States. He was placed on a luxury liner and arrived in the US where he took a train from New York to Colorado Springs, Colorado where he was placed in rehabilitation. (1:35:00) While he was in Colorado, he volunteered to tour around Wyoming with the American Legion promoting tire and rubbish collection for the war effort. (1:37:19) He was then sent back to Colorado Springs he was honorably discharged in July. Post-War (1:38:05) • • • He took the train back to Kalamazoo, Michigan where he attended Western Michigan College. He also played basketball there. Worked in the shoe business in Kalamazoo for his whole life. In 1961, he went to the doctor complaining of leg pain. After an X-Ray, it was discovered that the bullet from being shot in the hip was lodged in his leg. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context VanDisM Title A name given to the resource Van Dis, Melvin (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Van Dis, Melvin Description An account of the resource Melvin Van Dis was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and served in the Army during World War II. Van Dis was drafted into the Army in 1943, and was sent to Europe as a replacement for killed or injured troops. He was attached to the 1st Division, which had lost a number of men during their previous campaigns. He landed in Normandy on D-Day as part of the second wave to hit the beaches. He was injured in Normandy in a friendly fire incident. He recovered and was sent back to his unit, serving with them across France and into Aachen, only to succumb to trench foot in the Hurtgen Forest. He finished his tour of duty working for the American Legion back in the United States. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-07-06 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives