Susan Strum was born in Alberta, Canada, in 1951 and grew up in Michigan after her father’s work moved to the United States. Her father was a Canadian citizen working for a telephone company in Edmonton and her mother was a schoolteacher in Michigan.…

LeeRoy Stelter was born April 7th, 1948 in Coloma, Michigan where he grew up and stayed until transferring his senior year from Coloma High School to St. Joseph High School. He graduated in 1966 and immediately went to work in a factory making record…

Chuck Stark was born in 1948 in Muskegon, Michigan. He graduated from Muskegon Senior High School in 1966. He joined the Army in April 1968 and completed his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Chuck remained at Fort Knox for his advanced…

Wesley Spyke was born in 1948 in Muskegon, Michigan. He graduated from high school in 1966. He enlisted in the Navy Reserve in April of 1968. Wesley completed bootcamp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. He became a gunner’s mate in the Navy. He…

Kenneth Slager was born on June 11, 1925 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where his father worked for Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company. Slager was the oldest of four children in his deeply religious family, attended Kalamazoo Christian High School, and worked…

Alan Senior was born May 19, 1925 and grew up in a small town outside of Buffalo, New York. Senior was just a junior in high school when the bomb was dropped at Pearl Harbor, leading to questions about what was going to happen to him as he approached…

David Scherer served in the U.S. Army from 1980 until 1988. He served as a sergeant in the 19th Maintenance Battalion, 302nd Maintenance Battalion, 705th Maintenance Battalion, and the 3rd Infantry Division. He was stationed primarily in Germany and…

Donald Ryman was born on April 1, 1928 in Brady Lake, Ohio, into a very mobile family, moving eleven times before settling into East Canton in 1939. Ryman’s father pursued a degree in education in addition to his degree in mechanical engineering, and…

Daniel Rowland was born in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and decided to enroll in the Marine Corps after his third semester in college. In 1995 Rowland attended boot camp in San Diego, California where he acted as the guide to recruits, After basic…

Bert Rowe was born in April of 1930 in Saginaw, Michigan, and grew up with his mother in Muskegon Heights. Before graduating high school in 1948, Rowe attended civilian flight school. After graduating, he enlisted into the Marine Corps in 1949 with…

Jim Rosin was born in September 1947 in Bay City, Michigan. Rosin lived there all his adolescent life and graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1965. Upon graduation Rosin went to work for a company in Saginaw, Michigan that sold bakery…

Edward Rensi was born on December 7, 1925 in Parlett, Ohio, and grew up in Wintersville. He received his draft notice on March 14, 1944 when he was eighteen years old and chose to enlist in the Navy. He was then bussed to Great Lakes Naval Training…

Cody Reeves was born in Grand Rapids and was raised in Smyrna, Michigan, by his mother while living with his grandparents. When he and his mother moved to Orleans and she married his stepfather, a Marine veteran, Reeves was greatly influenced to join…

Bruce Nelson was born in Wabasha, Minnesota, in 1949, and graduated high school in 1967. After he graduated, Nelson briefly attended a trade school to become an auto mechanic, but could no longer afford it, so he went to work in a metal foundry.…

David Mitchell was born in Auburn, Indiana, in 1949 where he graduated high school in 1967 before attending Purdue University. Unfortunately, Mitchell did not acclimate well to college life and soon left the university and was drafted into the Army…

Stacie McCarthy was born on March 10, 1985, in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she lived a normal suburban childhood. When her parents divorced, her father married her stepmother, who was in the Navy, and moved his family to Michigan. McCarthy was…

Mathias Mapes-Pearson was born on July 16, 1995 in Burlington, Vermont, but grew up in Rockford, Michigan. He immediately enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school. After basic, he went to Infantry School and then Basic Security Guard School.…

Gabriel Mancil was born on July 16, 1990 in Valdosta, Georgia. He was homeschooled and acquired a GED in March of 2008. After an Army recruiter requested he acquire some college education to qualify for the service, Mancil attended two semesters at a…

Walter Lyssy was born in McCook, Texas in the early 1940’s and attended Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Texas where he was a part of the Army ROTC’s Signal Corps for four years. Upon graduating from college in May of 1965, he was commissioned.…

John Lutz was born on May 24, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York, and attended high school in Queens. He graduated high school in 1936 and went on to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become an engineer. In 1940, he earned his bachelor’s…

David Low was born in Hebron, Illinois, on October 29th, 1927, and his family moved to Muskegon, Michigan before settling in Wayland, Michigan as he started high school. When Low was 14, he helped make powdered eggs for the military at a local…

James Leet was born in Manistee, Michigan in 1930 and graduated from Manistee High in 1947 after which he spent a year doing carpentry work. In 1948 Leet enlisted in the Army and was sent to Fort Knox for eight weeks of basic training, after which he…

Duane Lancaster was born August 16, 1942 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lancaster grew up in the Grand Rapids area and lived there until for most of his adolescent life. He graduated from Wyoming Park High School in 1961, and from there he attended Grand…

Ronald Konyndyk was born in 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he lived a comfortable childhood and attended local schools. Konyndyk’s father had been drafted into the Army during the Second World War and later worked as an executive at a…