Christopher Notestine was born in Charlevoix County, Michigan, in 1980. He joined the Army at the age of 19 and did his basic training at Ft. Benning in Georgia. He became part of the 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry which used Strykers. Christopher and…

Wayne Monroe served in the US Navy between 1944 and 1946. Her served as a crewman on USS Kaskaskia, a large oiler, and saw action at Okinawa, where he witnessed kamikaze attacks. After the war, he sailed to Japan, China and Arabia before returning…

Trinh Nguyen was born in a rural village in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. After attending a school at a French military outpost, Nguyen went traveled to Saigon to go to college. After a single year of dentistry schooling, Nguyen joined the South…

Gary Mitchell, of Wolf River Wisconsin, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1951 at the age of 17. Despite his age, he was able to train as a pilot due to a shortage of combat pilots. Sent to Korea in 1952, he flew multiple combat missions over enemy…

Luc Nguyen's father escaped from North Vietnam when he was a young man and following his service in the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN), became a farmer. Nguyen himself grew up on the farms where his father worked before attending the University of…

Joseph Mitch was born in Pennsylvania in 1919 and drafted into the Army in 1941. He had gone to school only through the third grade, and never learned to read. Because of his illiteracy, he scored poorly on aptitude tests, and the Army almost did…

Will Miner was born in Lennon, Michigan in 1973. After graduating from high school, Miner attended Grand Valley State University for a year before deciding to enlist in the Marine Corps. Once he completed his basic training at the Marine Corps…

Che was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1940. After graduating from high school, he joined the army so that he could serve his country. He was sent to officer training school and graduated as a lieutenant. He served in the army from 1962 – 1966. After…

Doug Mills was drafted into the United States Army in 1965. He trained in Tennessee, Kansas and Georgia before being sent to Vietnam with the 199th Brigade. He served as a heavy weapons unit MP and would look after POW's for the last few months of…

Donald Newton was born in Grand Rapids, MI and graduated from high school at age 16. When he was eligible, he joined the Navy and did basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station. He then moved to submarine training at New London, CT. He was then…

Noel Miller was born in Lima, Ohio in 1949. He grew up in Ohio, and after high school he wasn't sure what to do and decided to enlist in the Army in April 1968. He completed basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana and helicopter aviation training at…

Tim was born in Buffalo, New York in 1948, and was drafted in the United States Army in 1969. After becoming an infantryman, Tim was sent to Vietnam and was assigned to the 101st Airborne, 2/506th, A Company. He served with his company through the…

Woodrow Neumann was born in Flint, Michigan on July 8, 1918. He grew up in a large family of 14 children and went to a Catholic school. After graduating high school Woodrow worked for 2 years before being drafted. He went through basic training in…

Larry Nelson was born in Warren, Ohio in 1924. He grew up there and attended high school there. After graduating from high school he attended Ohio State University, and after Pearl Harbor was bombed he decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps to…

Richard Millard Jr. was strongly influenced by his father at an early age to join the service. After graduating high school, he enlisted into the Air Force where he became a part of the Security Police, and, eventually, a dog-handler. He was…

Duane Neff served in the US Army Air Corps between 1943 and 1946. He served with an air warning unit that worked mostly with fighter squadrons in the Philippines. He discusses encounters with the Japanese and with Filipinos, and incidents that took…

Wendell Miles was born in Holland, Michigan. He went to Hope College, then to the University of Wyoming to get his masters degree. From there he went to the University of Michigan for law school. He became a lawyer and joined the Army as a private.…

Gerald Naughton was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 29, 1931. He moved to Michigan when he was five years old and graduated from high school in 1950. Gerald joined the Navy reserve in 1955 and was later in the Navy full time. He was in the…

Louis Miles served in Europe as part of the 103rd Infantry Division in 1944. Prior to being sent to Europe, Louis had worked in training other men in the Army. While in Europe, Louis worked on damaged bridges and roads. Shortly after arriving at…

Rich Natte was born in 1924 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was forced to quit his schooling at the age of sixteen so that he could provide for his family. Rich found a job at a local furniture store until being drafted in 1943. He spent six weeks at…

Joe was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1923. He joined the National Guard when he was fourteen years old and served until his unit was federalized in 1940. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 and was sent to be an MP at Fort Custer, Michigan. …

John Mihalko was born in a patriotic town called Whippany in New Jersey. After graduating high school he worked in warehousing for three years before getting drafted. He got his training at Fort Dix. In Fort Lewis, he got his jungle training. Sent to…

Sherwin Nagelkirk was born in Zeeland, Michigan and lived with his grandparents growing up during the Depression while his father worked on their farm. Sherwin was drafted into the Army shortly after graduating from high school in 1951. He went…

John Michels was born on March 22, 1920 in Park Ridge, Illinois and was drafted into the Army after graduating from high school. He was given the option of joining the Army Air Force, but not allowed to become a pilot because he was color blind. …