Knight, Merle (Interview transcript and video), 2004
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. Naval Reserve. Women's Reserve
Merle Knight served in the Navy WAVES during World War II. She was a volunteer who spent all her time on the East Coast of the US, primarily at a naval air station. Although she wanted to go to serve in Pearl Harbor, she would change her mind due to the war ending
Knight, Merle
Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Knight, Robert James (Interview outline and video), 2016
Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American
United States. Air Force
Robert Knight was born in Decatur, Michigan on March 28, 1933. He enlisted in the Air Force on March 3, 1953 and received his basic training at Sampson Air Force Base, New York. He received property accounting and material services training at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming and then went on to Patrick Air Force Base, Florida where he was assigned to the 1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron. The squadron was attached to the 36th Fighter-Bomber Wing and was deployed to Bitburg Air Base, West Germany, in March 1954. He worked in the supply section at the base, went on maneuvers, and went to Wheelus Air Base, Libya for missile testing in the Sahara Desert. He left Bitburg Air Base in December 1956 and was discharged in New York in that same month.
Knight, Robert
Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)
Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan
Grand Valley State University – History
College teachers
Universities and colleges – Faculty
Michigan
Grand Valley State University. University Communications
University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03)
Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives
Knott, Andrew Thomas (Interview outline), 2015
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American
United States. Army
Andrew Knott was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 5th, 1940. In July of 1961 he was drafted in the period just before the Vietnam War. Entering the Army, he was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training and Fort Carson, Colorado for artillery training. In the 5th Infantry Division he was a cook. In his time in the military he went on several maneuvers and experienced the threat of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In July 1963 he was discharged and left the military.
Knott, Andrew Thomas
Saugatuck (Mich.)
Douglas (Mich.)
Community theater
A photograph of the Red Barn Theatre that has extensive visual distortion. On the side, there is a Kodacolor Print stamp and along the bottom of the photo, the Kodak Safety Film number is listed.
Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project.
Copyright Undetermined
Koehl, Philip (Interview transcript and video), 2019
United States—History, Military
World War, 1939-1945—Personal narratives, American
Philip Koehl was born in 1953 in Oak Park, Illinois. Koehl grew up with his family in the Northwest side of Chicago. Koehl’s father was a truck driver, his stepfather a carpenter, and his mother owned a pet store which Koehl eventually got a job at. After graduating from Lane Tech High School, where he participated in ROTC, in 1971, Koehl then got a job working at a steel training plant. However, Koehl eventually enlisted in the Air Force April 2, 1973. Basic training took place at Lackland air base in San Antonio, Texas. It was after this training when Koehl went down to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas and began receiving specialized training for his position as a radio communications analysis specialist. After finishing technical training Koehl was given the opportunity to travel to a variety of different locations and ended up at Chicksand Air Force Base in England. Koehl stayed here until April of 1974 when he was discharged from the service. Upon his leave, Koehl returned to school and got his Master of Social Work. He then worked as a social worker for his career up until his retirement in 2010.
Koehl, Philip C. II
Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401.
Koetje, Bill (Interview outline and video), 2010
Bill Koetje served in the Army during World War II. He was drafted in 1942 and initially trained as a paratrooper, but was not yet 21 and was transferred to an infantry unit, where he did well enough to stay on as a trainer rather than ship out with his unit. He was then assigned to Fort Meade, Maryland, to supervise recruits who were about to be sent overseas. He finally shipped out himself in the fall of 1944, and was assigned to the 100th Division in northeastern France. He led a machine gun section and was involved in heavy fighting against German fortifications, and was wounded and evacuated. The aid station that he was sent to was bombed, and he was sent to England. He rejoined his unit in the spring of 1945, and served with the Army of Occupation in Germany until the end of the year.
Koetje, Bill
Koetje, Wilbert (Interview outline and video), 2010
United States. Navy
Wilbert Koetje was born in Marion, Michigan in 1922. After failing in his first attempt to enlist, he was drafted in 1943 and served in the Navy. Even after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Koetje waited a year before enlisting. After the military denied his enlistment, Koetje waited for the draft; once drafted, he served in the Navy. He initially served on a destroyer, the USS Davison, on convoy duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He then switched to another destroyer, the USS McDermott, which patrolled out of Hawaii. After several months, he was sent back to California on a transport ship, the SS Henry Byrd, which had to be abandoned off San Francisco. After that, he was assigned as a gun captain aboard a transport ship, the SS Leo, and participated in the campaigns at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, took a load of troops to Japan for the occupation, and helped repatriate Chinese soldiers.
Koetje, Wilbert
College administrators
Harold Kolenbrander, Dean of College Branding
Kölnische Chronik. [Low German] Die Cronica van der hilliger stat van Coellen [folium 186]
Incunabula
Printing 1450-1500
One leaf from Kölnische Chronik [Low German], Die Cronica van der hilliger stat van Coellen, by Chronicles: Cologne. Printed in Cologne by Johann Koelhoff, the Younger, on August 23, 1499. Illustrated with colored woodcut. [GW 6688; ISTC ic00476000]
Chronicles: Cologne
Seidman Rare Books Collection
No Copyright - United States
Book covers
Covers (Illustration)
Graphic arts
Publishers and publishing
Pictorial bindings
Binding of Konigskinder, by Anna Alice Chapin, published by Harper & Brothers, 1911.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 1 of 6), 1991
China--History, Military
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah describes his background before becoming involved with the American Volunteer Group (AVG) and his experiences in Shanghai during the time of the bombings.
Shah, Konsin C.
Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 2 of 6), 1991
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah discusses his transition from serving in the Chinese Army to joining the Air Force and his recollection of his first flight.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 3 of 6), 1991
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah discusses when he first heard of the American Volunteer Group, the American training program in China, and his knowledge of the Chinese air pilots that fought the Japanese before the AVG.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 4 of 6), 1991
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah describes the differences and problems between the Chinese Air Force and the Japanese Air Force before Pearl Harbor, in addition to the arrival of the AVG and his first impressions of the Flying Tigers.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 5 of 6), 1991
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah describes the first battle of the American Volunteer Group, the bombing of Kunming, and his perspective on the AVG's place in Chinese history.
Konsin Shah interview (video and transcript, 6 of 6), 1991
Interview of Chinese Ambassador Konsin Shah by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ambassador Shah served as a Chinese aviator during World War II and later as President Chiang Kai-shek's pilot and aide de camp. In this tape, Konsin Shah discusses the great dilemma of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek at the time of Japanese invasion in July 1937 and the lack of hope for a peaceful solution in China.
Konwinski, Dolores L. (Interview transcript and video), 2008
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives
Baseball for women--United States
Baseball
Sports for women
World War, 1939-1945
Baseball players--Michigan
Baseball players--Illinois
Women
Dolly Konwinski was born on May 27, 1931 in Chicago Illinois. Starting at the age of seven, she played baseball with a neighborhood team and her father who encouraged her to pursue it. In 1947, Konwinski got her big break and tried out for one of the four teams the All American Girls Professional Baseball League was trying to form in Chicago. She began her professional career playing for the Chicago Colleens. In 1949, after the barnstorming tour she was allocated to play for the Springfield Sallies. In 1950, she was traded to the Grand Rapids Chicks and played mainly for them until 1952 but played for a brief time with the Battle Creek Belles in 1951. During her professional career she mainly played second and third base.
Konwinski, Dolores L.
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)
Konyndyk, Ronald (Interview transcript and video), 2019
Other veterans & civilians—Personal narratives, American
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 furniture company. He graduated high school in 1962 and attended Ferris State University for a degree in business, which he achieved in 1967. A week after he graduated, Konyndyk received a draft notice, and on December 7, 1967, he reported to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for Basic Training. After Basic Training, he was specially selected and transferred to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for a year of Electronics School during which he learned to operate and repair radio communication systems. He was assigned to an old French outpost in a quiet sector of Vietnam before being transferred to the Signal Battalion of the 9th Infantry Division at a more active forward operating base. When he visited smaller forward operating bases in the field to conduct equipment exchanges, Konyndyk remembered being frequently out in the open and working in fear of being fired upon from the jungle. During the Tet Offensive in 1969, North Vietnamese sappers attempted to breach the barrier alongside his base’s airstrip and were successful in destroying one fuel tank before being apprehended. During enemy mortar attacks, he and his peers retreated to an enormous bunker built on the base. While on the base, Konyndyk noticed several cases of drug use amongst the troops, particularly with marijuana, as well as how the units were well integrated without much racial tension. He also purchased a small personal slide camera which he used everywhere he went in the field, accumulating approximately 600 photos over his tour in Vietnam. When his tour ended, Konyndyk was flown from Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon back to the United States where he began the process of leaving the service, where some soldiers never received a physical or their military medals. At sixty years old, Konyndyk developed prostate cancer from his exposure to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam. Reflecting upon his service, Konyndyk believed the psychological impact of Vietnam contributed towards his paranoia concerning safety, direction, and planning associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He also believed that the service taught him the positive values of discipline and responsibility.
Konyndyk, Ronald
Kooy, Wayne John (Interview outline), 2015
Wayne Kooy was born in Lansing, Illinois on April 26th, 1932. He was drafted in March of 1955 and had basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In the Army he used his electrical engineering skills to craft and maintain meteorological devices in White Sands, New Mexico. With his time in the military he achieved the rank of E2 at his highest ranking.
Kooy, Wayne John