753 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5d0b0968735744c3cea9384a98c45dfe.jpg b8f89705105850f0f4e87ea34fd53790 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_EastmanAlbum_1_1909_074 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909-08-04 Title A name given to the resource North end Culvert 109 Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of construction of the north end of Culvert 109, New York State Canal System. Subject The topic of the resource Canals Erie Canal (N.Y.) Waterworks--Design and construction Excavation Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/e016af86adbbbf013b2fb681efd0a984.jpg 1935d7381dee7b57b4f31d93927c89e9 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_EastmanAlbum_2_1909-1911_005 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909-11-14 Title A name given to the resource North from Cobbs Hill, Rochester Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph looking north from Cobbs Hill in Rochester, New York. Subject The topic of the resource Rochester (N.Y.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/bd3d65fc2791dd55d45e20c6a6b3e70e.m4v 87fe223a4f9499029b953bbaeb4df535 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1972ae9cc777bff848d363f4b31383da.pdf 246d1ae15b1742a0d77c0bffea12fead PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Buford North World War II 1 hour 12 minutes 35 seconds (00:01:17) Early Life -Born in Paragould, Arkansas on October 22, 1922 -He was one of twelve children -Eight boys in the family and four girls -One brother and one sister are still alive -His father’s name was John and his mother’s name was Myrtle -He went to Beech Grove Elementary School in Arkansas -There were twenty to twenty five students in the whole school -He went to high school in Flint, Michigan -Wasn’t able to graduate because of joining the Navy, but he did get his GED -His father was a farmer in Arkansas and a General Motors factory worker in Michigan -His mother was a housewife -Had to take care of the children (00:05:17) Start of the War, Awareness of the War and Enlisting -He was in eleventh grade when the war began -He remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor and Congress declaring war on December 8, 1941 -Prior to going into the service he had electrician experience -This led to him qualifying to becoming a ship electrician in the Navy -He remembers that everyone was emotional after the attack on Pearl Harbor -He eventually received his draft notice six months after Pearl Harbor -His brother had already been in the Army and had served in the North Africa Campaign -He was wounded and discharged before Buford entered the service -His brother’s experience in the Army motivated him to join the Navy instead -He enlisted in the Navy in June 1942 (00:09:02) Training Pt. 1 -He went to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois for basic training -From Illinois he was sent to Louisiana to get his assignment -He was assigned to a destroyer and received further training in Louisiana -From Louisiana he went to Orange, Texas and went aboard the ship there -It was a different life being in the Navy -Had to leave a familiar life behind and essentially begin anew in the Navy (00:11:34) Sinking of the Ship and End of Service -His ship was hit and sunk on June 10, 1945 off the coast of Okinawa -After the ship was sunk he was sent to San Diego, California -Once he arrived in San Diego he was discharged from the Navy (00:12:10) Training Pt. 2 -He feels that he did well in basic training -Followed the orders that he was given -At Great Lakes Naval Station he was given gunnery training on Lake Michigan �-Firing at targets that were out on the Lake -When he was sent to Louisiana he was stationed in New Orleans -When he went to Texas the ship that he was assigned to was still being built -While waiting for the ship’s building to be completed he received further gunnery training (00:13:34) Assignment to the USS William D. Porter -He had been assigned to the USS William D. Porter DD-579 (a destroyer) -It had 5 inch guns and twin-mounted 40mm antiaircraft guns -There was an original crew of 350 men -Had to take on more men because they didn’t have enough to man the guns -Specifically needed more sailors to be able to use the depth charges -He specialized as an electrician aboard the ship -He served with other men from Michigan (they came from Pontiac and Detroit) -Prior to becoming an electrician on the ship he had received electrician training -At the General Motors Institute and in Electrician Specialist School -He boarded as an Electrician’s Mate Third Class -He and the other original crewmen boarded the Porter latter part of 1942 (September 27, 1942) (00:19:10) Escorting President Roosevelt and Maneuvers -After the Porter was launched they crossed the Gulf of Mexico -Received more gunnery training aboard the Porter while travelling -The Porter was selected to be an escort in the convoy taking President Roosevelt to Africa -FDR was being taken to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences at this time -The Porter was helping to escort the USS Iowa (battleship) that FDR was aboard -Afterwards they returned to the States and crossed through the Panama Canal -They had trained in Cuba, Bermuda and Trinidad -Note: The entire crew of the Porter was under arrest, briefly, at Bermuda -There had been a friendly fire incident involving the USS Iowa -It had been construed as an assassination attempt; pardoned by FDR (00:23:50) Joining the Pacific Fleet and Philippines Campaign -Note: The Porter went to the Aleutian Islands before the Philippines Campaign -The Porter was assigned to Pacific Fleet 58 -Comprised of the following ships: -7 battleships, 7 cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 2 Australian ships -They were bound for the Philippines to aid in the U.S. Invasion of Luzon -The Fleet pulled into the Lingayen Gulf and the Australian ships went in first -The Australian ships received the brunt of the Japanese defenses and had to retreat -Two American destroyers were sunk by the Japanese in the Lingayen Gulf -The Porter’s task was to help destroy Japanese defenses, so U.S. ground forces could move in (00:27:36) Sailing to the Aleutian Islands -The Porter went up to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska to aid in continued fighting there -Note: Mr. North says that this was after the Philippines, but in fact it was before -The Porter operated in the Dutch Harbor, Adak and Unalaska areas of the Aleutian Islands -Aided in bombarding Japanese positions that were still there -Conditions in Alaska were good, the sea was calm, but there was a consistent heavy fog (00:28:58) Okinawa Campaign and Sinking -After the Aleutian Campaign they sailed to Pearl Harbor -After Pearl Harbor they sailed to Okinawa �-They went to Okinawa to support the ongoing American campaign there -They were hit fifty miles off the coast of Okinawa by a Japanese kamikaze -Sometimes Japanese planes would attack in groups of thirty at a time -They were aiding in the bombardment of Okinawa at the time -Bombarded Japanese positions for three days and three nights -He was always astounded by the firepower of U.S. battleships -They were attacked by kamikazes and two were able to break through their defenses -The one that hit them crashed below the Porter and exploded beneath the ship -It caused severe damage to the engine room (00:32:10) Abandoning Ship -He was up to his knees in water after the ship was hit -His task then was to shut down the generator and redistribute the ship’s electricity -After that he aided in helping keep the pumps powered by emergency generators -This wasn’t the first time they had experienced kamikaze attacks -They had been attacked by them in the Lingayen Gulf -When the Porter began to go down the wounded were evacuated first -Miraculously no one had died aboard the Porter -They were able to keep the ship afloat for an hour before finally abandoning ship -He remembers watching the ship sink -Once he abandoned ship he was taken off the Porter by a U.S. landing craft -The USS William D. Porter sank June 10, 1945 (00:37:25) Coming Home and End of Service -After the Porter sank he and the other crew were sent to Okinawa -At Okinawa they boarded a U.S. transport ship bound for New Guinea -Also sailed with Japanese prisoners of war -In New Guinea they were issued new clothing -After leaving New Guinea they went to Pearl Harbor and from Pearl Harbor back to the States -Arrived in San Francisco -He remembers going under the Golden Gate Bridge -After arriving in San Francisco he was sent to Mare Island Naval Shipyard -From there he was discharged (00:40:50) Getting Wounded on the Porter -When the Porter was hit the concussion of the explosion ruptured floor plates -They were held together by bolts -One of the bolts flew up from the floor plate and hit Buford’s knee -It didn’t cause any serious damage, or require hospitalization -He was told he would be awarded a Purple Heart, but never received it (00:43:28) Life after the War Pt. 1 -After the war he worked in General Motors Buick Motor Division -He worked as an electrician there -He started working for GM in 1947 and retired in 1983 -After retiring he took up golf -Wanted to use it as an avenue to travel -Later in life he attended Porter crew reunions throughout the U.S. -He specifically remembers the ones in New York City and Orlando, Florida -Over the years he kept in contact with the men from Michigan that he had served with �(00:45:48) Personal Communication and Living Conditions in the Navy -He stayed in contact with his family by way of mail -On board the ship they used short wave radios for shipboard communication -Had to have the ability to communicate with various rooms on the ship -The crew had no access to the telephones on the ship for personal communication -It would take a couple months to receive letters from his family -He ate pretty well on the Porter -In Alaska they were able to eat fresh tuna -Filtered their own water aboard the ship -Took in ocean water and cleaned and desalinated it for consumption -In Australia they would get frozen beef supplies -They had to make supplies last until they were able to get into a port again (00:51:31) Downtime in the Navy -Aboard ship they had access to movies -They had access to radios for entertainment purposes if there was nothing to do -They were able to pick up the Bob Hope Show broadcast -To get new movies they would swap films with other ships nearby -Some sailors would take out a boat and go over to the ship and make the exchange -After they returned to San Francisco they were given leave -He was able to go to a military club with the friends that he had made from Michigan (00:55:00) The Men He Served With -Feels that he served with good officers and enlisted men -After going over to the Pacific the Porter was assigned a new commander (00:55:48) Education after the War -He went to a junior college (community college) after the war -He went back to General Motors Institute for further electrical training (00:57:01) Other Details Pt. 1 -While they were near Australia they would run into massive schools of flying fish -In the Pacific the ship had to zigzag to avoid Japanese submarines still in the area (00:57:57) Veterans’ Group Involvement -After his service he joined the American Legion at Post 413 in Grand Blanc, Michigan -Served as their Vice Commander for a time -Involved with various trips and activities with the Legion -Eventually had to leave that Post because he had to move closer to his job with GM (00:59:45) Reflections Pt. 1 -He still uses Navy terms in everyday life -Feels that he is part of a dwindling group of WWII veterans (01:01:46) Other Details Pt. 2 -In the Pacific they would run into sporadic storms -Crossed the Equator and International Date Line multiple times -He thought that the Equatorial region would be hotter than it was -When they crossed the Equator the first time the new sailors had to be “initiated” -Ceremony carried out by veteran sailors who had crossed the Equator before -One of the crewmen was a survivor from the USS Arizona -When they stopped in Pearl Harbor he was able to see the wreckage of the USS Arizona �(01:06:50) Life after the War Pt. 2 -He had one daughter -He is now both a grandfather and a great-grandfather (01:07:16) Reflections Pt. 2 -He considers himself one of the lucky older veterans -Considers himself to be in still good physical and mental shape Audio/Visual Interview ends at 1:07:35 Pictures with Explanations from Interviewee (01:07:36) Buford and his friends from Michigan in a military club in San Francisco in 1945 (01:08:35) Associated Press picture of the USS William D. Porter sinking #1 (01:09:28) Associated Press picture of the USS William D. Porter sinking #2 (01:10:05) Associated Press picture of the USS William D. Porter sinking #3 (01:10:35) Buford and his wife (01:11:25) Buford at the World War Two Memorial in Washington DC #1 (01:11:59) Buford at the World War Two Memorial in Washington DC #2 � 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 RHC-27_NorthB1676V Title A name given to the resource North, Buford (Interview outline and video), 2014 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-09-04 Description An account of the resource Buford North was born in Paragould, Arkansas, in 1922. His family later moved to Flint, Michigan where he attended high school. He enlisted in the Navy in June 1942. He received basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois and transferred to New Orleans, Louisiana for further training and his assignment to a ship. From New Orleans he went to Orange, Texas to board the USS William D. Porter as an Electrician's Mate 3rd Class. The USS William D. Porter participated in escorting President Roosevelt to Allied conferences in Africa and the Middle East as well as campaigns in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Philippines, and finally at Okinawa supporting the invasion there. On June 10, 1945 the USS William D. Porter was struck by a Japanese kamikaze plane and sank off the coast of Okinawa. Buford, along with the rest of the crew, was successfully rescued and returned to the United States. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource North, Buford Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Erichsen, Wallace (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image 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> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/313bbaeba42fc4d7d17f9e33ed242b8a.jpg ca66edeb294b7f024a26c987c0b74785 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 Naval Recognition Training Slides Subject The topic of the resource Slides Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition Warships--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource Slides developed during World War II as a training tool, for top-side battle-station personnel on board ship and for all aircraft personnel, by the US Navy. In 1942 a Recognition School was established by the Navy at Ohio State University where the method of identification was developed. In 1943 the school was taken over by the US Navy. The importance of training in visual recognition of ships and aircraft became even more evident during World War II. Mistakes resulting in costly errors and loss of life led to an increased emphasis on recognition as a vital skill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides (RHC-50)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1943-1953 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides, RHC-50</a> 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 RHC-50_MX207 Title A name given to the resource Northampton class heavy cruiser Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Northampton class, US CA (heavy cruiser), April 25, 1945. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945 Military education Warships--Recognition Slides Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Naval recognition slides (RHC-50) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-04-25 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/9a317da602e403b54e25168aca3ae6c1.jpg 8870fc86415f3db307d525d09f2f9908 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 Naval Recognition Training Slides Subject The topic of the resource Slides Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition Warships--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource Slides developed during World War II as a training tool, for top-side battle-station personnel on board ship and for all aircraft personnel, by the US Navy. In 1942 a Recognition School was established by the Navy at Ohio State University where the method of identification was developed. In 1943 the school was taken over by the US Navy. The importance of training in visual recognition of ships and aircraft became even more evident during World War II. Mistakes resulting in costly errors and loss of life led to an increased emphasis on recognition as a vital skill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides (RHC-50)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1943-1953 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides, RHC-50</a> 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 RHC-50_MX208 Title A name given to the resource Northampton class heavy cruiser Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Northampton class, US CA (heavy cruiser), April 25, 1945. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945 Military education Warships--Recognition Slides Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Naval recognition slides (RHC-50) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-04-25 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/bbc5a85ee84ece559e78dcf7f7b5de7e.jpg b628ff0e9f9b7af75e71770b0de13502 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 Naval Recognition Training Slides Subject The topic of the resource Slides Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition Warships--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource Slides developed during World War II as a training tool, for top-side battle-station personnel on board ship and for all aircraft personnel, by the US Navy. In 1942 a Recognition School was established by the Navy at Ohio State University where the method of identification was developed. In 1943 the school was taken over by the US Navy. The importance of training in visual recognition of ships and aircraft became even more evident during World War II. Mistakes resulting in costly errors and loss of life led to an increased emphasis on recognition as a vital skill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides (RHC-50)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1943-1953 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides, RHC-50</a> 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 RHC-50_X789 Title A name given to the resource Northampton, command light cruiser Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Northampton, US CLC (command light cruiser), September 1, 1953. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945 Military education Warships--Recognition Slides Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Naval recognition slides (RHC-50) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-09-01 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/51654bfac85999ad62c630caf5cbcec3.jpg 72b1518cfba6e7621b0df13eca6c8170 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_NE_61_1925_004 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1925-07 Title A name given to the resource Northern Michigan Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of two women, likely Ida Hewitt and Lena Merrill standing with a child on a dirt path in a field in front of a lake. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/762b42696e15e450b261403a2065e3b6.pdf 9dec2493c4ee25b0b518465b4cbaa2ed PDF Text Text NOF:tTHERN MIC:: HIGAN OTTAWA AS!50CIATION ANNUAL ~tiEETING J U N E 23, 19 84 4-H P E T O S K E ~~. MI . . R99S+ra+i . ~ ME.F:TttJ(x STARTS PR,oMf'TLj AT 1:00pm . ATIENTION : Ep.:ct-t UN lT PLEASE S£ND REPRE5£NTk "TIVE/5 Wt1lf RERlRT WE To HAYE A NATION Rut-l-NOT ONLY /NDIAN MONE>/ . ·.;..- . ,,,,, . � 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 Native American Publication Collection Subject The topic of the resource Native Americans Indians of North America Anthropology Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Michigan Description An account of the resource Selected digital surrogates of published and unpublished materials from the Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection dealing with different aspects of human culture and anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American people, events, organizations, and activities in Michigan. Includes newsletters, event programs, flyers, posters and other printed materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gillis, Edward V. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American Publication Collection (RHC-14)</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-02-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Gi-gikinomaage-min Project (Kutsche Office of Local History) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1958-2000 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/446">Edward V. Gillis Native American publication collection, RHC-14</a> 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 RHC-14_northern-michigan-ottawa-association-meeting_1984-06 Title A name given to the resource Northern Michigan Ottawa Association Annual Meeting, June 1984 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-06 Description An account of the resource Northern Michigan Ottawa Association Annual Meeting flyer, Petoskey MI, June 23, 1984, collected by Edward Gillis included as part of his Native American publication collection. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Michigan Ottawa Association Subject The topic of the resource Indians of North America -- Michigan -- Periodicals Indians of North America Michigan Michigan -- Grand Rapids Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbe256220d1a155949fac5632553fe3a.jpg 21dda01c6a3a23fd6204766ff326b3fc 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-37 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Title A name given to the resource Northern View of Ox-Bow Grounds Description An account of the resource Black and white aerial photograph of the wooded grounds of Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan as taken from above the northern shore. In the photograph, the historic buildings of Ox-Bow can be seen including what appears to be the Ox-Bow Inn and the studio shacks located along the Kalamazoo River at the edge of the Tallmadge Woods. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Kalamazoo River (Mich.) Art school Buildings Coastal forests Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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/788c4a6eaac2fc8b1fd963536ce91576.mp4 476906d41b6706e6d5a1a82bf6021018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/37ab8a9f6851cd98d70af126b0385406.pdf 14d2f167cdb3733f329916b6affb0f3c PDF Text Text Northrup, Mark Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: N/A Interviewee’s Name: Mark Northrup Length of Interview: (1:09:06) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Chelsea Chandler Interviewer: “Okay, so, Mark, begin with a little bit of background on yourself, and to start with, where and when were you born?” I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1957. November. Interviewer: “Okay, and did you grow up there?” So predominantly my father was an Air Force officer, so I grew up as a—What we call a military brat quite often. My father retired out of the Air Force when I was about twelve years old. We were living in Colorado. He—We had done a tour in Naples, Italy, so my whole formative years were all around military officers, predominantly Air Force and Navy. (1:13) My father was obviously a very good pilot and officer. He flew B-17s during World War II. My older brother by ten years, Colonel Craig Northrup, went off to the Air Force Academy in 1966 and was commissioned out of the Air Force Academy in 19—I want to say 1970, so that would be 1970 he was commissioned. And my older brother flew C-141s—transports—and flew combat—the missions—into Vietnam as Saigon fell, so my formative years I had an opportunity to go to Navy ROTC. I chose instead to go to a liberal arts college in Minnesota. I always knew I wanted to be a military officer at some point in my career, so I turned down an ROTC scholarship and went on to a liberal arts school. (2:06) You have to remember in the late 70s it was not very appealing in the public eye, particularly living in a state like Minnesota, which is very liberal—There was, you know—In those days, you probably recall, there was a lot of disdain for the military and people that wore the uniform. There’s been a change in the culture and respect for those in the military. Maybe some of it was earned out of the Vietnam fallout, but I think nowadays there’s a genuine appreciation for those that serve. You know, when you and I were children, I mean, over half the adults—men were veterans. Nowadays it’s maybe seven percent and falling fast because the military is just a much more efficient and a smaller organization, and not as many people go into the service for one year, or they’re—We don’t have conscripts. We have people—We have professional soldiers and sailors and airmen, so they—You know, it’s changed a lot, so when I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to be a military officer. Interviewer: “Okay. Just to back up a little bit. When did you start college?” That would have been in 1975. I graduated from high school. Interviewer: “Okay, and what college did you go to?” �Northrup, Mark St. Olaf College in Minnesota. It’s a small, liberal arts college, predominantly Lutheran. I enjoyed the college, but obviously it’s not what I would categorize a bastion of militarism. When I announced to my college roommates I was interested in joining the service and going to an OCS program, quite frankly I was held in some disdain, but quite frankly I didn’t care because I had my father and brother to look up to and their service and to our country. Interviewer: “Okay, so how did you wind up choosing the Coast Guard?” Well, you know, I had a four-year OCS commitment with the Navy to be an ASW officer and a Surface Warfare Officer. Would have been a great career in the Navy, but the commitment was four years. And I did a little bit of research and found out the Coast Guard had a smaller organization, and the commitment would have been three years. (4:07) So I just thought that if this is something not a good fit for me, you know, a year could be a long time. Also, you have to admit that the mission of the Coast Guard is much different than the mission of the other armed services, so that appealed to me, particularly growing up in a state like Minnesota, which was maybe a little more altruistic. So it was an opportunity to maybe realize I could have an opportunity to do pollution and cleanups and search and rescue and those kind of missions. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, so what’s the process now to get you into the Coast Guard?” So I did an application, and I was selected to go to an OCS program in Yorktown, Virginia. It was a commissioned reserve officer. I went in November of 1980, and I was commissioned in March of 1981. It was a nineteen-week program. I was commissioned, and following the commission, my duty assignment was an old Coast Guard ice-breaking buoy tender out of Duluth, Minnesota. So I actually kind of had an opportunity to go back home and serve on a ship or a Cutter in my hometown. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, so let’s back up again. Describe the training program. What do you do at Yorktown?” Well, there were four elements: leadership, seamanship, history, and navigation. I didn’t have a problem with any one of those other than just trying to learn what it was to be a military officer. Nineteen weeks is a long time. Roughly half the class were prior enlisted. There was—At that time, there was really looking to pull high performers in the enlisted ranks to be officers, so the top half of the class was all the enlisted—ex-enlisted guys. And I fell right in the middle, so I was, I guess, probably pretty well on the top for my—For the regulars. The reserves that came in from the outside. Interviewer: “Okay. As far as you could tell, did the Coast Guard have a hard time recruiting people in those days, or were there plenty of people?” Not really. No, we—You know, the Coast Guard has always been held in some high regard within the community that serves and has maybe a little bit of a different reputation. (6:09) We never had a problem serving—Getting enough people to serve on our ships—quality people— and it still holds true to this day that the Coast Guard typically can be very, very selective. And I was very privileged that I got selected to be a Coast Guard officer. �Northrup, Mark Interviewer: “Okay. Now I remember once interviewing somebody who was Coast Guard enlisted, and he talked about some of the physical training that he got and the amount of being thrown into water and a lot of other stuff. I mean, did they—Did you do much training that was connected to that?” Yeah, I mean, we did some—You know, obviously, there was physical fitness training. I personally never had any problems. I was an athlete in high school, and when I went off to OCS, I was in fine shape already and actually found that the physical fitness side was probably the easiest part of OCS for me personally. But you could tell those that hadn’t maybe had that opportunity to be physically fit struggled more. I always felt kind of bad for them, but, you know, that’s the reality. When you had to—When you go off to indoctrination, it’s predicated that you need to get trained before you go or else you’re going to struggle. I mean, that’s—I think that holds true even today, particularly with the level of obesity we’re seeing in the current population, but in terms of the physical fitness, you know, swimming—I think I was number one in the class for swimming, running I was very at the top, so in terms of my athletic prowess and physical fitness, I didn’t find it to be a challenge. Interviewer: “Okay. Now did they do much to kind of—Exercises that kind of simulated rescues at sea or things like that?” Well, we did one tour on—We did an OCS cruise on an old Coast Guard Cutter called the Unimak. It was a World War II seagoing plane tender that was a hand down from the Navy. It was a tug—very, very large, two-hundred-foot tug—so we did deploy on that for ten days and went down into the Caribbean. Incidentally, we did a large marijuana bust—did a seizure—so from the standpoint of my first opportunity to go to sea with the Coast Guard, it was kind of exciting to be involved in a major drug bust. (8:14) So, yeah, but most of it was academics in the classroom. Celestial navigation, basic navigation, basic seamanship skills. It was more academic, book learning than it was hands-on, so to speak, except for the cruise we went on when we went down to the Caribbean. Interviewer: “Okay, so we kind of get you through that. Now pick up your story again.” So in April of 1981, I reported to duty on a Coast Guard Cutter in Duluth, Minnesota. It was a World War II ice-breaking buoy tender. It would be the least glamorous ship a person could serve on. It is a working ship. You know, you talk about Mike Rowe. In fact, Mike Rowe did a segment on Dirty Jobs for buoy tenders because, by virtue of the mission, working aids to navigation in a slow, black, kind of ugly, old, World War II tug is not glamorous work. It’s hard, laborious, arduous work for not just enlisted but for the officers, too. Lake Superior in those days—You know, we struggle with fog and heavy weather, and there’s more than one occasion where we touched bottom or, as we would say, kissed the bottom. By virtue of the fact of our mission working aids to navigation lighthouses, we did some other work with the University of Minnesota doing core samples throughout Lake Superior in regards to taconite tailings that have been dumped out of Silver Bay for the steel industry. We did several other missions for fisheries. We did some fish stocking programs, so it was a multi-mission kind of ship that we would relish any opportunity to service our community in addition to putting out our buoys and servicing the �Northrup, Mark aids to navigation. (10:11) You know, Jim, I—You know, people see lighthouses as glamorous, kind of cool places, you know, and I served in Alaska too on a buoy tender. And they are, but from my perspective, when I see a lighthouse, I see a cold, damp facility that needs extensive maintenance, that’s full of bird guano, and is labor-intensive and expensive to maintain. And quite frankly, there’s really nothing glamorous about bird guano and cold, damp, brick buildings, but when you’re on a boat and you’re looking to the shore and you see that wonderful light, it warms the heart. But my perspective, perhaps, is a little bit different, so some of that glamor or romance is—It leaves you when you—When you’re there, there’s no romance in it. Interviewer: “Yeah, it becomes something to clean rather than something—Okay. Now how big was the boat?” 180 feet. Interviewer: “Okay, and how large was the crew?” Sixty-five. We had a crew of seven officers and roughly fifty-five to sixty enlisted. Interviewer: “Okay, and what sort of reception do you get when you arrive?” Well, you know, this is common throughout the service. When you show up, you’re considered a butterbar. You’re right out of OCS. You’re recently commissioned. Whether you come from an OCS program or a ROTC program or you come from the Coast Guard Academy—And there is a learning period to understand you have—You maybe have authority over people, but you don’t have abilities. And there’s a learning curve for that young officer to understand that, you know, it’s a participative, leadership style. Yes, I have to make decisions. Yes, I have the education, but you and I are a team. We’re not adversarial, and when you have a situation where it’s adversarial, it’s very—It damages the crew, it damages the mission, and it damages the people, so I was always very aware to be considerate and thoughtful for my enlisted crew. (12:05) I was always blessed. I always had great, great people working for me. In fact, to this day, sometimes I still get reach out from some old crew member that reminds—Remembers some event, and he’ll reach out to me, which kind of warms the heart. But there was never anything adversarial with my crew. Interviewer: “Okay, so what kind of duties did you have when you started out? When you get the new guy, what does the new guy do?” Well, I mean, for the first couple months, you—as you would expect—draw out every ship’s infrastructure—the water, the piping—standing watches in the engine room and the bridge, working on the deck, learning all the deck gear, so that as an officer, you became multi-talented across all disciplines of the ship. Starting the mains of the engines, light off, running the deck gear, launching boats, navigating the ship, driving the ship. All those responsibilities the first few months. It takes roughly four months to qualify as I would call an underway OOD. Officer of the deck. I didn’t have any problem with that because I thought it was fun. You know, it’s—You know, drawing everything out on the ship, and then the more seasoned officers and the captain would hold a board and would review you. And you had to perform and be able to intellectually �Northrup, Mark spell it out and be articulate, and if you didn’t, you didn’t qualify. And if you didn’t qualify, you couldn’t stand watch. If you couldn’t stand watch, your life was miserable. If you weren’t qualified. So I had no problem. I was single, and I loved the ship. I stayed on the ship my first six months. It was my home, and I relished the opportunity to serve on a ship that had a great mission. And one of the advantages we had in Lake Superior and in the Great Lakes is the ships did not rust, so a ship that was built in 1945—In 1981 was pristine. (14:03) We had no rust, and the engines were near new even though we had to do maintenance on them. The point was, though, that if you don’t live in that—Work in the environment where there’s saltwater or you’re in dirty water, ships will last forever. I mean, as evidenced by, you know, several of the ships still serving on the Great Lakes, you know, are seventy, eighty years old still. Interviewer: “Okay, so it’s just—It’s really the absence of salt as much as anything else that makes a difference for that?” Salt, salt. You betcha. Interviewer: “Okay. Now what were the officers on that ship like?” Well, they were my brothers. You know, we drank, we partied, we sailed, we stayed up all night, we drove the ship, we broke ice, we worked buoys. You know, they were my brothers, they were my friends, and I’m still in touch with some of them from, you know, now approaching nearly forty years later. You know, they—There’s that brotherhood of a crew, particularly with the officers you’ve served with. I mean, you—You know, you might not think you went to war, but, you know, when you’re working really in harsh climates and often—as you can imagine—in the severe weather we worked and where our buoys—our aids to navigations—were, it was dangerous work. You know, I’m not going to deny it. There was a pucker factor, and more than once you realized that by the grace of God you lived. And because of those events, you gained that real sense of duty and loyalty to your peers and your brothers. Interviewer: “Sure. All right. Are there particular incidents from that six-month tour that kind of stand out in your mind?” Well, it almost took about four months for me to qualify. The tour on the ship—I stayed two and a half years. Interviewer: “Yeah. Okay, so two and a half years. Okay.” One event that I recall—I was third in command. My executive officer was—Took a vacation, so I was the acting executive officer. We came out of Duluth. It was November, and we came out of Duluth, got on Lake Carriers’ Association’s tracks, went northeast to the Keweenaw Peninsula where we staged aids to navigation buoys and sinkers. (16:04) We came—And we went down the track, and we turned right to go into the Keweenaw Waterway. Obviously, the nights were— The days were short, and when we made our right-hand turn to line up to go into the Keweenaw Waterway, the sea swell got to be maybe forty-five feet. The ship rolled to forty-five degrees. It hung there hard. I was driving the ship, the captain was on the bridge, and at the last minute the captain said, “Mark, do you have the inner bay lights?” And I said, “Captain, I don’t see the �Northrup, Mark outer bay lights.” Unless we come out of the surf then because the ship was rolling, and the swell was so severe. And at the last minute he said, “Mark, come right.” You know, basically saying, “We abort. Let’s go home.” And I’ll never get those words—I can—I live them every day, you know. “Helmsman, right full rudder, all ahead full.” And we aborted our approach into the Keweenaw Waterway and some really terrible storms. Incidentally, it was on the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You didn’t think about that at the moment, but in retrospect you begin to understand why that ship sank on that—Not on that particular night, but a few years earlier. Would have been six years earlier. So that’s a little bit sobering. I recall then about two weeks later we had a Christmas party for the crew in the basement of a Chinese restaurant in downtown Duluth, and the captain was a little bit stoic. He was—He rode my ass. He rode my ass hard, mostly because he knew if he did, I got stuff done for the ship. And he got up and gave a speech. I thought I was getting my ass handed to me, and he gave a speech to the crew and our wives and our families. And he talked about how the grace of God was with us that night, and we got to live for another day. So I have a few other events like that in my career, but that’s one that really stands out because—particularly as a young, junior officer with maybe only a year of active duty—you begin to really realize that, you know, the lives of your crew and of a ship—a national asset—is your responsibility and yours alone. And your decisions can make or break and save lives or kill people. (18:07) Interviewer: “Okay. Now while you were in Duluth, I mean, were there any—Did you actually rescue people, or…?” We had a couple of rescue events. One in particular—There’s a lighthouse that stands out in the middle of Lake Superior called Standard Rock. We were underway, and there was a floatplane reported overdue. I immediately started to do search and rescue techniques—drawing out a pattern—but as was the case, the lake was full in fog. And we were off Standard Rock because that was the last location of the plane. And the captain made the observation that the Standard Rock sound signal was not activated, and I said, “Well, captain, that’s fine, but we need to start a search pattern.” He said, “No. I think we need to reactivate the light, send a boat to the light, and get the sound signal fixed.” So I launched a motor cargo boat, was vectoring them in with the radar because obviously they couldn’t see, and he was about twenty yards off the light. And I immediately heard over the radio him backing hard and hitting something, which made no sense. These gentlemen had taken their floatplane, and they had tied it up to Standard Rock. And they had broken into the light, and their floatplane had been damaged. And one of the floats was punctured, and the plane sank right there at the lighthouse. And they were marooned, so to speak, in a lighthouse—in a cold, damp lighthouse—so we rescued them. And subsequently, you know, I don’t know how—what ever happened to the plane, but I do know that I had to be a—I had to provide a deposition because they claimed that we had damaged the plane, and it wasn’t of their own malfeasance. (20:03) So that was just one example of one event that always kind of stands out that, you know, search and rescue events typically are because people do dumb stuff, and— Not that they deserve it, but that would be a classic example. But they were pretty glad to see us coming out of the fog to rescue them. Interviewer: “Yeah, and the captain’s instinct was kind of accidentally pretty good.” Yes, yes. A little lesson learned. �Northrup, Mark Interviewer: “Okay. All right. Okay. Other things you want to bring in about the stay in Duluth before you move on?” I just—Duluth is just—It’s just a wonderful, old port town. I met my wife there. It will always be a special place for me for the obvious reason; my wife was from there. It’s a wonderful place. It’s cold, though, you know. We broke ice. We broke ice into the channel coming into Duluth. It has a wonderful Aerial Lift Bridge. It’s just a really cool town to drive a ship and break ice and work buoys. I can’t express it any other way. My parents came to see me right when I was courting my wife, and unfortunately it was a weekend. And the mid-channel marker had been run over in Duluth, and so we spent the whole weekend driving the ship back and forth with the grappling hooks, trying to find the buoy and rescue the buoy that had been driven into the mud. My parents were unsure with my girlfriend at the time—now my wife—and somebody came up and said, “What’s the Coast Guard doing out there?” And my father said, “Well, they’re looking for a buoy that got hit.” Well, they didn’t hear “buoy”. They heard “boy,” so obviously we weren’t looking for a boy that would have been run over and drowned and pushed into the mud. So we did recover the buoy, and we did rescue it. But it was obviously—As you can imagine, there was a—Some seamanship and line handling efforts to recover that buoy that had been driven into the mud. They call it a Morse Alpha because it blinks “alpha” in terms of the Morse code. It marks the middle of the channel. (22:13) Interviewer: “Okay. Now when you had enlisted, part of the reason why you picked the Coast Guard was you’d only have to be there for three years, and so you go through two and a half years in Duluth. That hitch is up, but you wind up staying in the Coast Guard quite a while.” Yeah, I realized I liked it. I liked the camaraderie, I liked the mission, the skipper liked me in spite of the fact he would—He was a real driver. He was a no-nonsense, hardnose, foulmouth, hard-drinking guy, and he could ride my you know what. And he was ex-enlisted. When he took command of the ship, I remember, he mustered the crew and gathered them all around and said, “Men, I looked at all your service records, and I want you to know here and now I am your old man.” I mean, you don’t call the captain “the old man” to his face obviously, but he was acknowledging the fact—“I am the oldest in the crew, I’m ex-enlisted, I know what you’re all about, and I’m going to be your—I’m going to be a good captain for this ship.” And, in fact, he was, so, you know, here there’s going to be a lesson learned about leadership and acknowledging who you are to your crew. He liked me, and I screened to have a command of a long range navigation station in Japan. Okinawa. I was assigned to be a—It was an electronics station—one million watt peak power—in Okinawa on the north side of the island, which basically I had twenty-five bored guys. We had commercial power. The aid had for the most part been automated, but the station was huge and required a lot of maintenance. And so my biggest challenge was to keep the men from getting too bored and getting into mischief, and one thing about men—When they’re all alone in an isolated place, they will do anything they can to entertain themselves like driving their motorcycles off cliffs and, you know, going to the local establishments—whatever it might be—so we made it a point to play sports every day and filled our time doing that. But yeah, that was an interesting tour. (24:25) I was a commanding officer of a LORAN station. I had really good food and chow, and because I did, I had an inspection and �Northrup, Mark tours. And the adjutant general was coming in about every three or four weeks to inspect me, so the station was always well-kept. And I had to really try to always make sure that we didn’t lose our edge. We had a couple other stations—three other stations—in our chain. There was Hokkaido, Marcus Island, which is just a small rock out in the middle of the ocean, and Iwo Jima, and I would talk to these guys on HF quite often. And we would share and commiserate, and I realized I had the best luck of the draw to get Okinawa because I had shore power, I had commissaries, I had the Marines, I had the Air Force, I had a local village. It was just really—It was almost like out of a movie set. I had a coral reef and a beach. I was required to go into the village and teach English to the schoolchildren, so it was just really a special kind of opportunity to represent my nation and to have a crew. Interviewer: “Okay. What kind of relationship was there between the civilian population and your people?” In Okinawa? Interviewer: “Yeah.” Remarkably good. As you probably know, the Marines in Okinawa, you know, by virtue of who they are and the bases there, they—There has been some shame there on our military, but, you know, being a small station with a—Located next to a small fishing village, there was really a tremendous amount of rapport I had with the village and the village elders. I would occasionally go to the base and buy a large bottle of cheap whiskey and deliver it to the village elders. Kind of made me a hero. (26:06) I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was two dollar rotgut, but they were just gracious, thoughtful people. The Japanese were very disciplined, very polite, and I had the great opportunity to teach their children English in the village school. We played baseball with them, so there was no animus with us and the locals. I mean, there was a couple occasions like my dog went into town and attacked one of the kids, and they poisoned the dog. And the dog came up to the station and died, and my crew was going to riot the city—the village—and burn it down, which, as you know, I stopped. But for the most part it was very, very amicable and very—They were just very gracious people. I have great respect for the Japanese. Interviewer: “Now how long were you out there?” A little over a year. A year. Interviewer: “Okay, and did you go to Japan proper at all or anywhere else in that area?” When I processed through, I spent a couple weeks in Honolulu on some training, meeting the staff, and then I flew on to Yokota, which is the Air Force base outside of Tokyo, which was where my headquarters for Japan was. We call it Far East Section Command, and that’s where my command was. Was in Yokota. I think I only went there a couple times, though. I was kind of on my own except when they wanted to get a good meal. They’d catch a flight and come down to see me in Okinawa. Interviewer: “All right. Now were you married yet?” �Northrup, Mark I got married and left a week later, so they always say, Jim, that the first year of your marriage is the worst. I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t around. Interviewer: “So what was your wife doing while you weren’t there?” She stayed in Duluth, continued to work, and then, you know, when I came home, it was kind of like starting all over again. And it worked out, but I won’t deny that first year—And that was before the time of the Internet and cell phones and emails. You know, it was still snail mail. You know, it was a different time then entirely. (28:01) I think we really forget about that, but yeah, there was a hardship there, and I often talk about this. Sometimes I think, as veterans, we forget the hardships we put our families through and the people we love. As a veteran, we’re in control because we’re out there. We get to make decisions, and we have some sense of control of our lives. But the loved ones we leave behind have no control, and they’re kind of passive. And they just have to kind of hope and pray that their loved one’s okay wherever they are, whether it’s on a ship or in the field or in combat. They don’t know, so I’ve always been very cognizant to the fact that our loved ones behind play a very important role in the success of any veteran and his experience or her experience. Interviewer: “Yeah, although, I suppose, in some ways this assignment was actually less dangerous than the one in Duluth in the sense that you probably weren’t going to sink.” Yeah, from that standpoint in terms of opportunity for death and destruction. Having said that, though, it was a million watt peak power. On a humid day, you could hold up a fluorescent lightbulb, and it would blink. It would blink naturally because there was so much RF in the air, . And, in fact, subsequently the Coast Guard has determined that LORAN station veterans have a higher incidence of cancer and were classified as atomic war veterans because of that. So if I come down with cancer—knock on wood—I would be classified as an atomic war veteran, be fully disabled, and I would get full treatment from the Veterans Administration. Fortunately, I don’t have cancer yet. Interviewer: “Good. All right, so you have that assignment. What’s next for you?” I went on to Seattle. I had a couple tours—two tours—Two out-years as a pollution officer on pollution response efforts out of Puget Sound. Then I did two years as a Vessel Traffic Systems Watch Officer where we control all the traffic coming and going out of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. (30:05) That was really a better tour because I really enjoyed the fact that it’s basically air traffic control but for ships. You have to understand that Puget Sound has ferries going east and west, and you have freighters going north and south. You have a lot of fishing activities, a lot of recreational activities, lots of opportunities to have major collisions and accidents. We did have one major accident with the vessel Arco Anchorage. Went aground in Port Angeles and had a significant oil spill that I was involved on the cleanup, but that was just an enjoyable tour, mostly because I really liked working with the pilots because part of our qualification we had to memorize five hundred landmarks in Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca. So you really memorized the geography, you memorized everything you could, and the Vessel Traffic System had, I think—We had ten radars and maybe five radio repeaters, and then �Northrup, Mark I’d have all my watch standers in there. But the most enjoyable part I really liked was that we had to—every month—at least ride with the pilots at least once where you would go out and ride the freighters coming in with the port pilots. As you can imagine, when a ship comes into Strait of Juan de Fuca, large swells, you ride the pilot boat out, and they will set down the Jacob’s ladder. And you time them to swells, and the top of the swell—the first swell—you grab the Jacob’s ladder. And you pull it as hard as you can to make sure that they’ve secured it on the deck on the ship, and then at the top of the next swell you jump onto the Jacob’s ladder. And you better start scrambling because you know that boat’s going out from underneath you, and it’s going to come right back up and smash you if you don’t get up that Jacob’s ladder and get on deck of the ship. So I really enjoyed that part of it. It was just kind of exciting to go out there in all kinds of weather in day and night and jump on a big freighter and ride it with a really professional pilot into port. (32:00) Following that—four years in Seattle—I was asked to be— And this is kind of interesting. I was asked to—by the admiral staff in downtown Seattle—I apparently had caught the eye of the admiral and the admiral staff. They had asked me to come up to be his—In the Army what you call aide-de-camp. His liaison. Carry his bags and be his lieutenant or his O3, bag-carrying, speechwriter, right? And I was asked to be the admiral’s Aid, and I looked at the chief of staff. And I said, “No, thank you, sir.” And he was stunned. He said, “What’s the deal here, lieutenant?” I said, “Well, I’m—Captain, I’m going to Alaska, and I’m going to be the XO on a buoy tender. That’s my destiny.” And he said, “You don’t understand, lieutenant. That’s where we send lieutenants to lose their career because it’s so damn dangerous there.” And, of course, I thought, “Can’t happen to me. I’m going to Alaska. That’s my destiny, right? I’m going to make myself.” You know, so I went to Alaska as an exec on a buoy tender there once again. Interviewer: “Okay, so had you put in, basically, your request to do that already? So your assignment was coming up in Seattle. What do you do next? They wanted to pull you in to be the admiral’s Aid, but you keep your original assignment.” I want to go to Alaska. Interviewer: “Okay, so—” So I get to Alaska, and I have a ship in Alaska out of Ketchikan. Wonderful, wonderful fishing port. They call it the First City. It’s the rainiest city in North America. A lot of cruise ships go there, but they’re only there in the three months of summer when the sun shines. The other nine months of the year it’s just miserably cold, wet, and rainy, but from the standpoint of driving ships, it was exciting. It was an interesting and highly challenging assignment. As you can imagine, the inside passage with all the buoys and aids we had to work—not to mention that you have some significant tidal currents and tidal fluctuations and by virtue of the fact that our mission working in these really tight, restricted waters—was very, very dangerous. (34:07) And I think I communicated to you that we had a couple of really, very, very bad instances that we nearly lost the ship. And that was a tremendous personal, professional challenge because I sensed the—Really, the safety of the ship and my obligation for the crew balance that with my loyalty to the captain and to the mission. And that was a real hard thing for me to process because we were in harm’s way much more than I liked and thought appropriate. We crossed the Gulf of Alaska in December 1989 in a significant, major low. I was blessed not to ever get seasick, so I stood �Northrup, Mark watches on the bridge. And on one of those bridge watches, as we transited across the Gulf of Alaska, we had winds over ninety knots and sea states of over sixty. The ship was not seaworthy enough really to stand those kind of seas although she was a well-built ship. We dove the ship more than once into the swell, and at one swell the ship took water down the ship stack and flooded the engine room. And we nearly lost the ship, and that’s still—I still live that moment every day when the ship went dead, and we had water coming down the ship stack. Fortunately, our engineers were such—They were trained to restart the ship’s engines, and we managed to dewater the ship and proceed on to Kodiak. The ship was—The crew was very angry when we got to Kodiak because the captain was never visible during the whole transit. Was about a fourday transit, and we didn’t even really need to make the trip. It was a trip to join up with our other Coast Guard Cutters and have, basically, a party by virtue of the fact they called it a roundup. (36:09) But it was an opportunity to get the crews together and let them drink heavily. Truthfully. The attitude towards drinking has changed a lot in the subsequent years, but the crew was very, very angry when we tied up in Kodiak. Because we all knew we had kissed death and had not gone to the deep bottom, and I had to muster the crew and speak to the crew without the captain and reassure them that they were okay, they were God’s gift, and we would live to see another day. Interviewer: “So where was the captain in all this?” In the state room. In his cabin. And, incidentally, three months later he put the ship on the rocks, and I had to relieve the captain as the ship was sinking. And we almost lost the ship once again. Here, again, the ship was taking on water. We had a hole in the ship. We had put a seventy foot gash down the side of the ship. We were driving the ship at night where we shouldn’t have been. I was adamant not to be there, and the captain told me I was excitable instead of, “Lieutenant Northrup, go below. XO, go below.” And I laid below, Jim, and I just thought to myself, “Fuck the old man. If he wants to put his canoe on the rocks, I ain’t going to be there.” And you know what happened? It went bang, and the ship almost sank. We lost power. The ship was sideways in a very major channel with a max tidal current. When I got on the bridge, it was obviously dark, and ship—No power. And we’re sideways in the channel. The ship was on the verge of rolling over and sinking and killing the whole crew. We were that close. The captain checked out. He froze in his fear, and I can understand that. I’m not going to fault him for that. I—You know, fear is an unusual thing, and it does things to people. But, by virtue of the fact that I was second in command, I subsequently had to relieve him. (38:04) We got power back, drove the ship to a safe anchorage, did damage control, essentially saved the ship, and got back into port about three days later. Interviewer: “Well, how did you get out of that, I mean, initial situation? Because you described it at a point where the ship could have just rolled over right at that moment, and the captain wasn’t doing anything.” Well, we didn’t have power. You know, the engines—So we’re just basically a dead ship dead in the water sideways. Just a large ship in a small river current. Half flooded, but the engine room did not flood. They powered—They got the engines back online. They got the rudder back online. I didn’t know if I had a rudder. I sallied the rudder five degrees left, five degrees right. I could feel—I sallied a rudder, even though the ship was down by maybe ten feet by the bow. The �Northrup, Mark ship was totally awash forward, and then with some power I, you know—As you would expect, I had this part of the—our operation area fully memorized. I was very detailed, particularly about understanding our operation area, and I didn’t even need to look at a chart to understand where I had to drive the ship at that point. Even though she was half full of water, we still had propulsion, and we drove into a safe anchorage and let go of the anchor and proceeded to do damage control. Subsequently, you know, a few days later when we pulled into port in Ketchikan, I met a—The admiral had sent an old, weathered Coast Guard captain to meet the ship as the safety officer for the district, and he met the ship at the dock. You know, at this point I had basically already relieved the captain for cause, and when I met this old captain, he was a very weathered—I don’t even recall his name. I did call a lawyer before I spoke to him. But, as you know, in a safety investigation you can say anything, and nothing will be held against you. (40:00) Well, I told this old captain—I said, “You can go back. And you can tell the admiral either he relieves this son of a bitch, or I relieve my commission tomorrow. I don’t really give a flying what it is, but it has got to end. Either I resign my commission, or the captain’s relieved for good.” Now I hadn’t really thought this all out because the next day there was a one-line telex message from the admiral saying, “Lieutenant Northrup is now the captain of Coast Guard Cutter Plane Tree.” Now I never sought to be the commanding officer of a ship with a big hole in it, damaged, a dispirited crew—as you can imagine—and a captain that had just been fired, but that was my destiny. My destiny was to be the captain of a ship at that point in my career in my life. Interviewer: “Okay. I guess, when you were in a channel—So there was not—There were not high seas there. You had a current but not big waves?” Not big waves. No. Inside passage—I don’t know. Have you ever been to Alaska on a cruise ship? Interviewer: “No.” If you ever do, you’ll understand the inside passage—It’s just a—What you would call an archipelago of rivers and islands and channels. Very restricted waters. Interviewer: “Okay, and then you said seventy foot gash. How long was the Cutter?” 180 feet, so half the ship. Nearly half the ship was stripped open. Nobody was killed. Nobody was hurt except for a lot of egos and a lot of careers. Interviewer: “Okay. Now how long did you wind up commanding that ship?” They brought in another captain about two, three months later. I had to take the ship into the shipyard and get it dry-docked and had to do the—We had to get the repairs done to the ship. Interviewer: “So basically you were in charge while it was in dry dock?” Yeah. �Northrup, Mark Interviewer: “Another glamor assignment there.” Yeah. Interviewer: “All right. Did the—Did you then—Did the crew’s morale improve over time?” Oh, they were angry. Oh, they were violently angry. Come on now. You can imagine. Interviewer: “Yeah, but over time once the captain’s gone…?” Once the captain was gone, it was a relief off all of us, and then, you know, then I became—I had to be a witness to a—It wasn’t a court-martial. (42:10) The reason why we hadn’t done a court-martial is because it followed on the event of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez. I—We had just come back from ten weeks on the Exxon Valdez cleanup, and there was a lot of egg on the Coast Guard and the federal government’s face from the accident of the Exxon Valdez. So the district staff and the admiral chose not to court-martial the captain, but, rather, to hold it in a nonjudicial punishment. And I had to be the primary witness as you can imagine. I’m still very angry about all this, by the way. It never quite leaves me. It’s a point of humor sometimes, but it’s still there. Interviewer: “Yeah, well, it was a serious business, and he could have gotten you all killed. And by doing something that was stupid in the first place. So yeah, I mean, that’s something that I encounter periodically in talking with military officers who find themselves in parallel situations. People’s lives are at stake, and something happens there. Now to back up a little bit—So what do you recall about the Exxon Valdez part of your job? What were you doing at that time?” So it was the same ship. I was the exec. XO. It happened—The Exxon Valdez went aground on Thursday before Good Friday. I remember watching the message traffic come across our telexes, talking about the grounding of the Exxon Valdez and the spillage, and I just assumed we would deploy right away. The district office had shut down already for the weekend, and it wasn’t until the—Subsequently, the following Monday when everybody showed up to the district office. And there was a big, “Oh, shit.” When a ship has an accident, you have to first allow the owner and the carriers to assume responsibility because the federal government does not want to federalize an accident. (44:06) Because if you do, then you assume responsibility, so over the weekend the decision was made. And Exxon said, “Oh, we’ve got this, we’ve got this, we’ve got this.” Well, quite frankly, they didn’t have it because it was a huge spill. So we didn’t get underway until, I think, midday Monday, and then we got on scene. We were in Resurrection Bay outside of Seward, and we did cleanup operations for roughly, I think, about seven, eight weeks, working predominantly with fishing boats and some Russian trawlers. They came along to help us do the skimming operation, but the opportunity was lost once—And I don’t think people fully appreciate—Once the accident happened, that ship was so close to blowing up and burning. It was only by the grace of God and a very competent engineering officer—Because the captain was a—Hazelwood. He had three DUIs. He was a careless drunk—the captain of the Exxon Valdez—and the Coast Guard had some culpability in all this as far as I was concerned. We �Northrup, Mark didn’t have good resources on scene. It should have been a double-hulled tanker, but they had been given a waiver for a single-hulled. The captain was a notorious drunk and had several DUIs, so there was culpability, quite frankly, by the Coast Guard. But we were on scene. We did cleanup operation in Resurrection Bay. The opportunity really was already to do—To get in front of a cleanup. Had already occurred, though, because after four or five days of crude oil being in the water, you really can’t recover. You’re just recovering tar balls, and most of those tar balls are already up on shore. You know, in the first twenty-four hours, you could have maybe burned it., you could’ve used dispersants, you could’ve had better booming activities and pumping— suction pumping—early on, but by the fifth day all that opportunity had been lost. (46:03) And that attributed greatly to the tremendous environmental impact that that spill had all across south Alaska. It was tragic, and they’re still feeling the effects of that. One of my enduring memories is—There’s two, really, from the trip. One is we ran out of cigarettes, and we had to barter with another ship to get cigarettes. And the only thing they sent over were menthols, which was the captain’s brand. The other one was I remember in Seward walking down the pier, and the Exxon had dispatched. There were accountants, and they were walking down the pier, writing checks to boat owners for the value of their boats if they would sign a statement saying they would not sue. So they basically bought every boat they could in Seward Bay, and the fishermen were actually kind of happy because, you know, somebody came up and said, “We’ll pay off your mortgage.” But—“Oh, and your livelihood? We don’t know.” Interviewer: “So were they buying the boats to use in the—” No, they were just—wanted—They wanted to pay off their mortgages and make sure they signed a statement that they would not sue Exxon. Interviewer: “Oh, so they don’t want people—because they are fishermen—to sue them because you wipe out the fish, so you sue them.” Yeah. Just walk up, and, “We’ll pay off your boat.” Yeah, they bought a lot of boats, or they paid off a lot of mortgages for a lot fishermen. I’m sure those fishermen went south for the rest of the year. It was an interesting event. I wouldn’t want to do it again. I smelled enough crude oil in my days. I don’t want to smell anymore. Interviewer: “Yeah. What was the community in Ketchikan like?” Well, you know, Ketchikan was classified as the first city of Alaska. It’s the first city as you go in north. It’s in the bottom of the Panhandle. It’s a tourist town. I would liken it to Mackinaw. Oh, it’s just a lovely, little fishing town, you know. My first child was born there. My wife was there. (48:00) When I was around, it was a delightful place to live. It was just a neat place, but, you know, in the middle of winter I got to go off to Hawaii for three months while I left my wife behind in Ketchikan, Alaska. So… Interviewer: “So why were you in Hawaii for three months?” We had deployed the ship once to Pearl Harbor for Naval refresher training. Even though we were a small ship, we were still required to qualify for damage control and fire and basically �Northrup, Mark extensive training operations where they keep the ship—One point—the final exercise—you keep the ship going straight for forty-eight hours—no sleep—and drive the ship until the men just collapse to take you to that point of no return. And subsequently—You know, and actually that turned out to be very healthy for us because when the ship had an accident, we were fresh off coming out of Naval ref. training. And the crew was very trained to handle damage control in an accident with the ship because training—When it happens for real, you don’t really distinguish this is not a training event. This is just kind of like a training event. You’re just going to do it because you’ve been trained to it, so that’s why training becomes so critical, particularly in the military. Because if you trained the event, when the event happens, it’s just like training, and you don’t really process it, so to speak. So, yeah, Hawaii was a great place to go in the middle of winter, and I think my wife’s probably still holding it against me. Interviewer: “Now does Ketchikan actually get a lot of snow in the winter, or does the water temperature keep it a little warmer?” No, it—Well, it—You know, it’s the—The water temperature is always going to be thirty-two, thirty-three degrees, so you would get rain or snow and, you know, wet snow. Ketchikan—The one year we were there it rained three hundred inches, which is nearly an inch a day. I always had to keep two pairs of shoes on the ship—Boondockers—one above a heated duct, trying to dry one out, while the other ones were usually getting wet when I was on the bridge. (50:06) So from the standpoint of weather environment—You have to understand that buoy tenders are the least glamorous of all ships the Coast Guard has—particularly if you’re going to Alaska—so the junior officers that typically were—Or even the enlisted men—The ones we got typically weren’t the—what I would say the top of the class because the top of the class—What ship are you going to pick? You’re going to pick the high endurance Cutter out of Key West—hello— because why wouldn’t you? So typically the officers—The enlisted people I got were often— more often than not towards the bottom of their class, and that presented a unique leadership challenge. I wouldn’t say anything against them because they were all good guys, but they were—Or maybe not the—They weren’t the cream of the cream in terms of their assignment opportunities. Interviewer: “Okay. All right, so after that job, now what do you get?” Well, I was typecast in the Coast Guard because I had relieved a captain for cause—number one Academy graduate—and I was a reserve, regular officer now. Although my record—my performance record—was impeccable, the admiral wrote it—Had to rewrite it because I failed promotion. He reassured me he had my back, and he liked who I was and what I’d done and my courage under some significant events. But the promotion boards are a closed-door affair, and most of the officers in the Coast Guard are Academy officers. And they know everybody, and so at that point I was a marked man. So I failed promotion and had to get out. I took a study assignment on loan to the Army in Great Lakes as a staff officer, which, quite frankly, I didn’t really care for. Although there’s one funny story there. That’s right when Clinton became president. I worked for an old, crusty Army colonel, and I was the only Coast Guard officer on the staff. (52:01) And when Clinton came to the White House, it was clear that the attitude about force structure and the policy concerning gays was going to change in the service. So I worked for an old colonel, and I had to write papers that we would submit. It was headquarters �Northrup, Mark MEPCOM, which is the military processing command, so it was a joint command. And the message came down from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for us to write a position on gays in the military, so I told my colonel—You know, he’s an old codger. Old Vietnam veteran. I said, “Colonel, why do I really care if someone’s a homosexual in the service? If we don’t ask them, they’re not going to tell us.” And he said, “Lieutenant, that’s the most goddamn—idea I’ve ever heard in my career. Write it up. I’ll send it up.” So I wrote up this paper basically saying if we don’t ask you, they’re—We’re not—You don’t need to tell us. And a week later it came out of the Pentagon or out of the White House: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” I’m not going to take credit for it, by the way, but stranger things had happened. So I don’t know if I was the one that actually penned the idea or not, but was just a—Kind of a—That was when the service was really in, I think, some significant transition from—Well, for one thing, early on in my career drugs and marijuana were a problem. I mean, when urine analysis came on board, it changed the services, and then there was an attitudinal shift, particularly in regards to smoking cigarettes and towards heavy drinking. And that was a—Clearly a cultural shift across all the services. You know, it’s rare you find people in the service that even smoke cigarettes now. Alcohol and alcohol abuse and drunken behavior at one time, I would say, was the standard. Is now the exception. So the services have changed immensely in the last couple decades for the better. (54:04) As a taxpayer, I think we get a much better value for a professional armed service that has some moderation in terms of some of their behavior. Interviewer: “Okay. You’re also in the service during a period when women start doing more kinds of things. Did you have women on any of the staffs with the bases you were in, or…?” Our OCS class had—We were a class of twenty-seven. I think we started with thirty-six. We had one woman in our class, which was probably, I think, the second OCS class that had women. I think that was the year 1976. I think, was the first year the Coast Guard had—Was the last year at the Coast Guard Academy that did not have women graduate. In fact, I worked for a captain. His class ring said, “LCWB.” Was the initials on the class ring, and that’s what the class agreed to. And they didn’t tell the staff that that stood for, “Last Class With Balls,” so all the Academy graduates from the year of 1975 or ‘76—Their class ring has, “LCWB.” Now how vulgar and disrespectful is that? But that was reflective of the time about women in the service. On my OCS cruise on the Coast Guard Cutter, Unimak, when we sailed down to the Caribbean, we had one OC. She was commissioned. She eventually became a pilot. She was the one person—One female onboard the ship. The crew obviously didn’t care because in those days women were considered bad luck on ships. (56:00) So I think most of us—being younger, college educated— were maybe a little more thoughtful. We had to really look out for her, but one day on the mess deck underway one of the crew members jumped up onto the mess deck table, dropped his trousers, pulled out his pecker, and danced it in her face. Now there is maybe a little piece of humor in that, but predominantly it was disrespectful and highly vulgar. And nothing came of that event. Nobody was held accountable. Those were different times about attitudes, particularly in regards to women in the service. You have a mixed emotion about that. Every time a Navy ship deploys with women, I think, seven percent of them come up pregnant and can’t make the deployment, so it does affect military readiness and our force structure. We have to kind of maybe calculate that in, but we have to understand we’re an inclusive service now. There are women serving across all branches and all responsibilities in our service. �Northrup, Mark Interviewer: “Yeah, there’s plenty of jobs they’re fully capable of doing. Well, when you had the assignments in Seattle where you were shore-based a lot of the time, were there women enlisted personnel or officers there at those places?” Oh, yeah. We had—Typically, you had more women officers in those kind of administrative assignments. Maritime—Marine Safety Office Inspectors. I would say maybe twenty percent. Maybe, maybe. Not a lot. There were a few. Interviewer: “Okay. Was the climate for them better than it had been on that ship early on?” Well, of course, when you’re in a large staff organization with lots of senior officers, there’s going to be a little more thought and respect towards policy and regulation. I never recall any events of any of the females on my shore stations ever having any difficulties. Not that I was aware of, anyway. Interviewer: “Okay. Now was that assignment at Great Lakes—Was that your last slot?” (58:04) Yeah. Interviewer: “All right. Are there other particular incidents or things that happened while you were serving with the Coast Guard that kind of stand out for you that you haven’t brought into the story yet?” Well, you know, I wanted to stay in. I, you know—I always thought my destiny was to be the captain of a ship, not realizing that I had been the captain of a ship. It was hard when I got out. I loved the service. I like the discipline, I like the camaraderie, I love the mission, I love ships and big things. How can I—How can you not? It was just a—Even when it was bad, it was still exciting and good because you were—I had an opportunity to be something bigger than yourself. I was uniquely privileged to have served my nation, and when people tell me, “Thank you for your service,” I stop them short, Jim. And I say, “Don’t thank me. I’m thanking you for giving me the privilege to have served my nation and served her proudly, and it was a unique privilege. And I was lucky to have been given that opportunity, so I am thanking you as a patriot for giving me that opportunity.” And that turns it on people because it’s not about me. My duty is about to my country and to my fellow patriots, so maybe that’s a little bit of a different perspective than you quite often hear. My country owes me nothing but life, liberty, and the opportunity for pursuit of happiness. They don’t owe me a check. They don’t owe me anything, and from my perspective maybe, as John Kennedy said, “Ask not what you can do for—Your country can do for you, but what can I do for my country?” And to sustain this lovely republic of free market and enterprise that we are so privileged to be patriots and citizens of. Interviewer: “All right. Now how do you think that your service sort of affected you or changed you, or what did you learn from it?” (1:00:02) �Northrup, Mark I think more than anything else it hardens a person certainly, and it also—You have an understanding for your moral compass, and your moral compass has to swing north irrespective of the outcomes. I had to deal with that more than once in my career. That it’s not about me and my career or my life. It’s about my duty to my crew and to my country, and when you go through that threshold, it changes you. It is a significant emotional event, and I think maybe that’s why being a veteran is really a special category of our citizens. But here again. I was privileged, and I think that when you dig down into most veterans, they’ll tell you the same thing irrespective of the fact that they saw their friends maybe get killed. And they had terrible assignments, and they had terrible officers. At the end of the day, deep down they are deeply proud and have—Tell you they were very privileged to have served their country. Interviewer: “That is something that I’ve observed, and even talking to Vietnam veterans who had a particularly bad time, on some level they’re still proud of something in there. Not all of them, but—And that’s true for the World War II guys, too, but okay, so—Now in this case, though, your career or your life’s journey—It suddenly now changes because now you’re out of the Coast Guard. You know, you’re married. You have kids. Okay. Now what do you do?” Well, I got out when I was thirty-seven years old, and I was, you know—Industry wasn’t really that interesting to me because I was already old. So I basically started a civilian career all over at age thirty-seven and quickly realized my leadership skills and ability to understand technical things easily transitioned to leadership in the manufacturing environment. So since 1994, I’ve been in manufacturing positions in predominantly automotive and electronics leading large teams because that—Being process driven, being disciplined, appreciation for training, understanding highly technical, capital, expensive equipment, running operations efficiently. (1:02:25) That all translates right into a manufacturing environment, so from that standpoint it was an easy fit to transition into being a—I went to work for Motorola building the analog flip phones. You probably remember those. Built those by the millions. Motorola’s a great company, and I was—I’ve done fairly well in manufacturing, but here, again, I—You know, I started late in my civilian career, so to speak, because my military career was something I had to put behind me. Take the uniform off and hang it up. It’s only been the last few years I’ve kind of maybe put it in some perspective. Sometimes I think the stories and the events I had lived through—I look back at that, and it’s almost like it was another person then because it’s kind of—It’s in the past, and I think it’s only been within recent years I’ve been able to put it in some perspective and maybe put a modicum of pride and realization that it was something really special. When I took the uniform off, I was very angry. Very angry. I internalized a lot of anger, and I think that’s not an unusual thing. But you can’t be a sorry sacksucker and feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to get on with your life. You have a family to raise, you have mortgages to pay, you have other opportunities in the world that require your talents, but I think most of us when we leave the service, leave with a certain amount of disappointment—sorrow—because I think we all really liked it. And we like being part of something bigger than ourselves. Interviewer: “Okay, and how did you wind up in West Michigan?” I was living in Texas, I had a great job, I was on the road, my wife informed me she was not happy, and I had a buddy up here working for an automotive manufacturing company that called �Northrup, Mark me on a whim and who knew me from Motorola and said, “Mark, you’ve got to come up here. We need somebody with your drive and dedication and process discipline to join the team.” So I came to West Michigan, and for the first time in my life I actually lived in a place more than three years. (1:04:28) So at age—my late forties—I finally moved someplace and settled down and finally maybe put up some roots in my life. Because you’ve got to remember I grew up in a military family, I was in the military myself, I took jobs in manufacturing that moved me around, and it wasn’t until I got to West Michigan in 2002 that for once I settled down in my life. But, you know, life is opportunities. I’ve had a tremendous opportunity. In my journey, I never saw that I would get involved in government or politics, but by virtue of the fact of my—Maybe some of my abilities and experience I was tapped to be a mayor of a small city in West Michigan that has been a great joy. To be a mayor and to participate in some greatness again. It’s a different kind of greatness. Politics is different than government, and government is different than industry. They all are unique in their own ways, but they all require a certain level of dedication and looking out for each other. Interviewer: “And in this case, you know, as sort of mayor of Hudsonville, you’re looking at a place where there’s a lot of change, there’s a lot of growth, there’s expansion and building, and so you’ve got a complex system to take care of.” Yeah, but I—First of all, very careful. Don’t let me take credit for any of that. Interviewer: “No, but it’s going on, and someone has to be—” Yeah, I am the mayor. We have a very, very good department heads and team. We have a city manager who was educated at Michigan State. Is at my estimation probably the finest city manager in the state of Michigan. (1:06:06) As a mayor of the city, I chair the commission. That is a part-time job. My job is to be the voice for the commissioners to get them all to agree to some levels. I get to appoint the boards and the committees. I hold the week—The monthly city commission meetings. By the way, they’re precise and organized, and there’s no chitchat. It’s boom, boom, boom. Does that surprise you? And I think, you know, the team appreciates that. I always was a little bit—We have a—Like here, we have a public access TV. We film all our city meetings, and I never have the residents show up to city meetings. And obviously we work through some fairly controversial things as you can imagine, particularly spending money to build a new downtown in the city, and I can only count the number of times on one hand in four years I’ve had anybody call me or show up at a city commission meeting. And for the longest time I always thought, “Well, people are just really apathetic, and they’re too busy.” But I’ve kind of transitioned and begin to—Come to understand that the people where we live just trust us because we’re their neighbors, and as I often tell in giving a speech, these are the people we love. And that love is transparent. We have affection for the people we live with. Our neighbors. We don’t always agree—we know that—but we all have our—The best interest in the community at heart. I’m very fortunate I have great commissioners. We’re all very dedicated professionals and want to do what’s right for the community and build a better place for our families as evidenced by the fact Hudsonville is the fastest growing community in West Michigan. It has the finest and fastest growing school district in the state right now, which is unusual. We are at the right place at the right time. Our struggles are we don’t have room in our schools, we need to get our roads and our transportation systems fixed, but from that—And we need to build more housing �Northrup, Mark because housing is a premium. (1:08:11) We have full employment where we live. We can’t find people to fill all these jobs we have, so from the standpoint of that, it’s a challenge. But it’s a— I’d rather have this challenge than to have a challenge like maybe what happened to Troy or in Flint where the city is in disrepair, there aren’t jobs, people are leaving, you lose your tax base, your schools are closing. You know, it’s a lot funner being on this side than that side. Interviewer: “I’ll bet. All right. The whole thing makes for a pretty good story, and you tell it well. So thank you very much for coming in and sharing it to me.” I appreciate it. More importantly, I think it’s important that I acknowledge the fact of your passion for veterans and understanding, you know, our role in this great republic that we get to live in, so thank you, Jim, for your sincere interest and your historical reference point for what we bring to our country as veterans. (1:09:06) � 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 RHC-27_NorthrupM2294V Title A name given to the resource Northrup, Mark (Interview transcript and video), 2019 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-02-14 Description An account of the resource Mark Northrup was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1957. He graduated high school in 1975 and attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota before opting to enlist into the Coast Guard for its Officer Candidate School. Northrup attended the OCS program in Yorktown, Virginia, before being commissioned in March of 1981. For his first assignment, he was sent to Duluth, Minnesota, to serve on an icebreaking buoy tender. Northrup also served tours in Okinawa, Japan, as a commanding officer of a long range navigation station, a pollution officer and Vessel Traffic Systems Watch Officer out of Puget Sound in Washington, and as an executive officer on a buoy tender out of Ketchikan, Alaska, where he bacame captain of his ship. Northrup left the service in 1994 and began a career in manufacturing, predominantly automotive, and electronics manufacturing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northrup, Mark B. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, james (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Coast Guard Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, RHC-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401. Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a9bcb2a7ada01abd6df215ef085436da.jpg e3f5b9b9a3be51864713247bb53c6eaf 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 Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 NorthupMelvin Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Title A name given to the resource Northup, Melvin Description An account of the resource Melvin Northup, Environmental Sciences Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College teachers Universities and colleges – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng 1972s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ee0f2a5ec7778fd44ccea0e58cb437d1.jpg 8a1929f1fdab0712d39c25bf1f6bc033 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_EastmanAlbum_3_1911-1915_67 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1913-08-11 Title A name given to the resource Northwest of Cape Trinity Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Cape Trinity (Cap Trinité) in Québec. Taken by Robert Merrill from northwest. Subject The topic of the resource Québec Saguenay River (Québec) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/edfc64a78f6ed51966fc113ca1ad6140.jpg 4fa32e7cbde2db730aa3b8a5f911763b 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_ProcessFilm_P_016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937-10-03 Title A name given to the resource Norton mound Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of an automobile parked next to an earthen mound. Subject The topic of the resource Mounds Wyoming (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/558b213de3e7b4cbd61b2fd50dbc8a52.jpg 7e05b45935058c9bf445855dc81557e4 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_LS00321 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1937 Title A name given to the resource Norton Mounds Description An account of the resource Colored lantern slide of the Norton Mounds site in Wyoming, Michigan. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Mounds Wyoming (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/251225e86637a2c64a6ec88adca00cfb.m4v 873de92de2f48d73957ae99f0f7ced48 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5b514caf7736957997cd41d4d2886572.pdf 77edcd7b6f63dd770bec6c75cc87fdbe PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Jack Norton World War II 1 hour 18 minutes 32 seconds (00:00:12) Early Life -Born on a farm in Ottawa County, Michigan on May 27, 1920 -He grew up on the farm that he was raised on -Attended Hudsonville High School and graduated from there in 1937 -His neighbor had a plane and flew it over the farms which introduced him to flying -In high school he learned about bookkeeping, so he could manage the farm’s finances -Learned that the family farm was losing money and wanted to leave -His neighbor got him a job at Kent County Airport (now Gerald R. Ford International Airport) -He worked for Pennsylvania Airlines -Paid $5 per week -Lived in a room in a hangar owned by Pennsylvania Airlines -Sometimes he would sit in the manager’s office after hours and directed flights -Stayed at the airport for nine months -He quit after a flight from Chicago arrived that had a cabin covered in vomit -All of the passengers had gotten airsick over Lake Michigan -It was his job to clean up the sick, he refused and left (00:03:35) Enlisting in the Navy -After leaving the airport he decided to enlist in the Navy -It was his first choice among the branches at the time (Navy, Army and Marines) -He wanted to see the world and decided the Navy would be the best way -He went to the recruiting center in Grand Rapids, Michigan -Given a brief, rudimentary physical there -He went to the recruiter in the spring of 1938 and it took until October 1938 to get accepted -Over the summer he had five separate physicals to see if he was acceptable (00:04:31) Basic Training -He was sent to Newport, Rhode Island for basic training -Home of the Navy War College -His enlistment was for four years -During training if you received five hundred demerits you would get kicked out of training -By the time he was done with training he had received only eighty four -In basic training he received rifle training -Learned how to properly maintain a rifle -In the morning instructors would inspect the rifle to see if it was maintained properly -If you didn’t maintain your rifle you would get demerits -They were working with the Springfield 1903 bolt action rifle from WWI -Basic training lasted five months -The focus during basic training was on military etiquette and history -Because of his height he was initially selected to be a standard bearer for the Navy -The New York World’s Fair was coming and he was to be a part �-He didn’t want to be in that because afterwards he’d be a seaman first class -He didn’t want to be a seaman; he wanted to be a machinist, so he was reassigned (00:07:31) Machinist Training -He was sent to Norfolk, Virginia for machinist mate school -He wanted to work in the engine room of a ship and work with machines -He’d had prior mechanical experience at the airport -He received sheet metal work, lathe, and milling machine training (00:09:40) Volunteering for the Pacific Fleet -After graduating from machinist training he was offered a choice on which fleet to join -At the time the two major fleets were the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets -He chose the Pacific Fleet for his assignment -He chose it because you were given thirty days to get to San Diego, California -Acted as a sort of leave -When he arrived in San Diego he was put on a work detail -Their job was to refurbish American ships [Lend-Lease destroyers] to be given to the British Navy -They worked from 8 AM sharp to 12 PM sharp; no breaks, no exceptions -He stayed on the work detail for seventy nine days until he asked for reassignment -He had gotten sick of the regimen of that schedule (00:11:30) Volunteering for the Asiatic Fleet -To get out of the work detail in San Diego he volunteered to join the Asiatic Fleet -The first ship he was assigned to was the USS Henderson -An old WWI transport still used as a transport to get troops around the Pacific -He got seasick on the Henderson -His job onboard was to clean the toilets which only made his seasickness worse -It took him two months to finally get used to being on the ocean -Onboard the Henderson they travelled the West Coast and through the Pacific -Transporting troops for their fleet deployments (00:13:57) Overview of Pre-War Pacific Travel -He sailed to Honolulu, Hawaii first -After Honolulu he sailed to Guam -From Guam he sailed to Manila, Philippines -Before the war Manila was a beautiful city -It stank like horse manure, but it had beautiful Spanish architecture -He remembers going to the old Spanish fort and drinking beer -From the Philippines he went to China -In China he sailed up and down the Chinese coast stopping at ports along the way -During his sailing around China he got a chance to see the Great Wall (00:16:00) Assignment to the USS Barker -When he was in Manila he was assigned to a destroyer -He was assigned to the USS Barker DD 213 -It felt like riding a speedboat because it could travel at 45 knots (roughly 52 mph) -This is the destroyer that he sailed around China on -He boarded the Barker on January 1, 1940 -The Asiatic Fleet’s task was to protect American interests in Southeast Asia -The Japanese had already taken over the Chinese coast by this time �-When they were in ports controlled by Japan, Japanese planes would buzz their ship (00:19:17) Going to China -When he was in China he noticed that the Japanese soldiers largely avoided American troops -When he was in China he had a tailored suit made for him -When he went to pay the tailor requested American, or Mexican, currency -When he was in a port a Chinese woman was bayoneted to death by a Japanese soldier -She was caught with American money -In China Americans were safe from harm from the Japanese -Oddly enough Japanese soldiers were actually quite friendly towards Americans -One time he had to move through a crowd and a Japanese officer escorted him -The officer accomplished this by intimidating the crowd with a sword -When they stopped at the northernmost port they went to the nearby American Marine base -Marines would allow Chinese civilians to collect bullet casings from the firing range -The civilians would then use the casings to make money -In China he got to visit the American Embassy in Peking (now called Beijing) -Spent a week there -In the capital the Japanese soldiers were everywhere -A Japanese machine gunner was stationed just outside the Embassy -In Peking he had a personal rickshaw driver -He noticed that all across China people were starving -In Peking there was a “wailing wall” where loved ones put their dying/dead family -At the time Hong Kong was still controlled by the British -He made friends with a few British soldiers and visited their base -The police in Hong Kong were Sikhs from India -He saw hundreds of child prostitutes working the street in Hong Kong (00:28:12) French Indochina -From China they sailed down to French Indochina (modern day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) -They stopped in Haiphong (now in modern northern Vietnam) -Found the city unimpressive -At the time the region was still controlled by France -This places the arrival there sometime in the summer of 1940 prior to September (00:29:39) Start of the War -Prior to the war he, and most other enlisted men, didn’t believe the U.S. would get involved -Officers recognized that there was a chance of involvement, but unlikely -They believed that if Japan attacked, Japan would be defeated in six weeks -Early in the Pacific War this was proven wrong with the loss of two major ships -The Barker was in Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) on December 7, 1941 -Received news of the attack on Pearl Harbor while they were in port there -They were with the destroyers the USS Houston and the USS Marblehead (00:32:53) First Contacts with the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies -Their first contact with the Japanese was in the Dutch East Indies -They were part of a coalition of American, British, Australian, and Dutch ships in the area -On the north side of Borneo they ran into two Japanese destroyers -Strangely enough the Japanese destroyers didn’t fire on them -At the time the Barker was not outfitted with radar -In early 1942 the USS Houston (one of the other American ships in the area) was sunk �-It had been in the Battle of Sunda Strait (the strait between Java and Sumatra) -When they were in the Banka Strait they were attacked by low flying Japanese planes -They were able to successfully repel the attack though -Shortly after the Battle of Sunda Strait the Dutch East Indies fell to Japan in March 1942 (00:36:27) Australia -When the Dutch East Indies fell the Barker was in Australia receiving repairs -Their first stop was in Port Darwin to join the USS Perry there -They rescued a sailor from the USS Perry who had been blown off the ship -They sailed down the western coast of Australia and stopped in Exmouth Gulf -Remembers that the waters there were full of sharks -The Barker continued on and stopped in Perth until Australia reinforcements arrived there -While they were in Fremantle a Dutch freighter’s crew mutinied -A Dutch sailor tried to get onto the Barker, but was scared off -As he ran away an Australian marine shot and killed the sailor -After leaving Fremantle they sailed along the southern coast with four other destroyers -On the way they stopped in Melbourne -From Melbourne they sailed to Sydney and on the way there they stopped in Adelaide -By now it was the summer of 1942 (00:41:22) Mission in the Pacific -Their main mission in the Pacific was to help escort convoys and attack Japanese submarines -During convoy escorts Japanese submarines were rarely a threat -In later summer 1942 the Barker went to Pearl Harbor -After Pearl Harbor they were placed on the “Pineapple Run” -Escorting convoys from San Francisco, California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (00:43:02) Atlantic Duty -In early 1943 the Barker crossed the Panama Canal and entered duty in the Atlantic Ocean -While in the Atlantic he remembers sinking two German U-Boats -They received credit because they captured at least one surviving prisoner from each -They made a few trips across the Atlantic -One of the trips was escorting a French ship from Connecticut to Casablanca -Another trip involved escorting a French aircraft carrier from Martinique to Casablanca -In 1943 there was still a high presence of U-Boats in the Atlantic -As a result they were made part of a hunter-killer task force sent out to hunt U-Boats -In the Atlantic they would stop in the Azores Islands controlled by Portugal -Portugal was neutral in the war -On the west side U-Boats would refuel and on the other side there were Allied ships -The Barker was instructed to attack U-Boats once they entered international waters -They were never able to catch the U-Boats once they left though (00:47:15) Reassignment to the USS Henry R. Kenyon -In 1943 he was reassigned to a destroyer escort -Prior to boarding the new ship he received training on the new propulsion system -It was incredibly rigorous because it was six months of school condensed to one month -The ship that he was reassigned to was the USS Henry R. Kenyon -He arrived at the shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts to board the ship -Construction hadn’t even started yet -On top of that his record wasn’t in yet either �-Because of not having his record he was given a ten day leave -Returned and construction still wasn’t done so he was given another ten days -He wound up doing this three times before the ship was ready -It took thirty days for the Kenyon to be launched and another thirty to be commissioned -Construction began September 29, 1943 and it was commissioned November 30, 1943 -Their first destination was Bermuda (00:50:32) Crew and Conditions on the USS Henry R. Kenyon -Some of the crewmen came from rich families and didn’t want to go to sea -None of them wound up being truly qualified which put him in charge -One propulsion mechanism had been put in wrong and he had to fix it -The propulsion system on the Kenyon was more up to date and ran cleaner and more efficiently -As opposed to the older ships which ran on diesel and were filthy -He was placed in charge of the men in his section based on his experience -Only five enlisted men onboard had been to sea before (him being one of them) -The officers they had were largely inexperienced and needed direction from the veterans (00:55:47) Atlantic Duty aboard the USS Henry R. Kenyon -Their primary duty in the Atlantic was to escort convoys in the Caribbean Sea -They usually operated between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Recife, Brazil -Once they completed their duty in the Atlantic they were sent through the Panama Canal (00:56:19) Returning to the Pacific aboard the Kenyon -Their first destination was Bora Bora part of French Polynesia -They had to travel from the Galapagos Islands to Bora Bora -The officer in the engine room needed Jack’s direction to figure out the fuel needed -Specifically the fuel needed to insure they reached Bora Bora -From Bora Bora they travelled to Manus, Admiralty Islands -From Manus they traveled to Hollandia, New Guinea -Aboard the Kenyon they tended to act independently in the Pacific -Escorting convoys, laying mines, and hunting Japanese submarines -They depth charged a fair amount of submarines, but never received credit for their kills -They were never able to recover a live prisoner, so it couldn’t be confirmed -When they were operating in the Pacific they never encountered any Japanese aircraft (01:00:45) Operating in Okinawa -From the Philippines they traveled to Okinawa -Arrived in Buckner Bay, Okinawa and set down anchor there -While they were in Okinawa he was placed on deck watch from midnight to 8 AM -Unorthodox considering that his position as a machinist usually kept him below decks -While on deck watch one morning he witnessed a kamikaze attack -The harbor laid down a smokescreen which rendered the attack useless -In Okinawa he would watch B-24 bombers return from bombing missions heavily damaged (01:03:20) Returning to the Philippines -When the Philippines were liberated he was able to return and see Manila again -By now the city had been ruined from the fighting -Considered it a tragedy because it had been a beautiful city before the war -He learned to fly while he was in the Philippines through a man named Pappy Gunn -He had begun to learn when he was in Michigan, but never completed his lessons -Once in the Philippines he completed his private flight training �-The man he learned from played an instrumental role in Allied victory in the Pacific (01:09:20) End of the War, Coming Home and Life after the War -He was in Subic Bay, Philippines when the war ended -He remembers an ammunition ship in the Bay firing rockets in celebration -When he returned home he went deer hunting with his father and his friends -He returned home in November 1945 -Note: Most likely December 1945 because that’s when the Kenyon returned to the U.S. -After the war he got a job shoveling coal for the Pennsylvania Railroad -Worked there for five years and decided to quit -Learned that they were switching from coal to diesel and decided to say -Made a career in the railroad and stayed with it for thirty five years (01:11:16) The Tonga Islands and Christmas Day -While on the USS Barker they stopped in the Tonga Islands -While stopping there they got to meet the islands’ four hundred pound queen -She was invited onboard for a dinner -When she left he made an effort to help her onto the boat to bring her back -As a result he wound up beneath her and his head went up her skirt -Also aboard the Barker they stopped in Sumbawa Island on Christmas Day 1941 -Just as they got ready to eat dinner a four engine bomber approached -In a panic they thought it was a Japanese bomber coming to attack -Turned out that it was a New Zealand bomber (01:14:22) Reflections on Service -He enjoyed his time in the Navy, even the wartime experiences that he had -Amazed at how people reacted in dangerous situations -Astounded that at the beginning of the war they had been expected to fight with WWI weapons -He always felt that the Barker had been a good ship, but outdated nonetheless -For example: in rough seas rivets would pop out making the ships susceptible to sinking � 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 RHC-27_NortonJ611V Title A name given to the resource Norton, Jack (Interview outline and video), 2008 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-12-15 Description An account of the resource Jack Norton was born in Ottawa County, Michigan, in 1920. He graduated from high school in 1937 and enlisted in the Navy in 1938. He trained as a machinist's mate and sailed first on a transport ship in the Pacific, then on the destroyer USS Barker from 1940 to 1943, engaging mostly in convoy escorts and antisubmarine patrols in the Pacific (including visits to China before Pearl Harbor) and Atlantic (sinking two U-Boats). He then transferred to the destroyer escort USS Henry R. Kenyon, and again served in the Atlantic and Pacific, witnessing a kamakaze attack at Okinawa and ending the war in the Philippines. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norton, Jack Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image 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> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7da15c593bb58cdd449b2f33f6142943.jpg af47391d27327aba873147722ee03675 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P132-0013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Independence Parade, Chicago, Illinois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Norwegian Independence Parade held in Chicago, Illinois. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Norwegian heritage Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Parades & processions--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/982685dc1d1dce31a66ee81bf82cfc5d.jpg 7f3cd2be2fe02a3b54c361d64456e031 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P133-0018 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Independence Parade, Chicago, Illinois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Norwegian Independence Parade held in Chicago, Illinois. In the photograph, members of the "Normennenes Singing Society" are processioning through the parade while holding their flag in addition to American and Norwegian flags in celebration of their heritage. The Normennenes Singing Society of Chicago is known as one of the oldest continuously performing men's choral groups in America. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Choirs (Music)--Illinois--Chicago Norwegian heritage Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Parades & processions--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/d30137c952df084acb154e30eba13743.jpg eeb77db8ca6dc82d725e08385e36ad49 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P133-0040 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Independence Parade, Chicago, Illinois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Norwegian Independence Parade held in Chicago, Illinois. In the photograph, members of the "Bjornson Male Chorus" of Chicago, Illinois, are processioning through the parade while holding their flag in celebration of their heritage. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Choirs (Music)--Illinois--Chicago Norwegian heritage Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Parades & processions--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/30bc63f2d28aec445f80d6d5388dda36.jpg 924433f51bc60c2f29e8ee12c8771373 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P132-0021 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Independence Parade, Chicago, Illnois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a men's choir performing at the Norwegian Independence Parade held in Chicago, Illinois. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Choirs (Music)--Illinois--Chicago Norwegian heritage Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Parades & processions--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/6fe107c8975b3ac6f4a9736d6dfefd7a.jpg f42af9b237d3f86885269dde4e7faa0e 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P264-0038 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-08-23 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Princess Contest, Chicago, Illinois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Norwegian Princess Contest held in Chicago, Illinois. In the photograph, female contestants are standing together onstage while one woman answers questions at the microphone in front. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Pageants--Illinois--Chicago Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/5c5b0bc7376aca418856cd177985c6b8.jpg 0dea6b7f0e10c4f9c918c5a9de7e7af4 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-183_P265-0021a Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-08-23 Title A name given to the resource Norwegian Princess Contest, Chicago, Illinois Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the Norwegian Princess Contest held in Chicago, Illinois. In the photograph, female contestants are standing together onstage while one woman has been crowned and awarded a trophy as the winner. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Pageants--Illinois--Chicago Norwegian Americans--Illinois--Chicago Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s 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/b4816eb5a31cffd7d3aae8caf9b63dfe.pdf 23353b5d41d6c594af63da35277bb51c PDF Text Text Not Converted – Just Amazed by Grace Text: Acts 9:5; Philippians 3:10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost IV, June 27, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon “Tell me, Lord, he said, who you are… I am Jesus…” Acts 9:5 “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” Philippians 3:10 Conversion is a term that is used frequently in Christian language and Christian thinking. It is an integral part of our whole understanding of how one turns in faith to God. The word itself means to turn around, to turn from something. The dictionary definition is to turn from one doctrine or opinion or from one religion to another. So we speak of people being “converted.” In the Christian Gospel we call people to conversion, to repentance and faith. We have noted in this post-Pentecost series that there are those stories Luke recounts to show how the telling of the story of Jesus in the wake of crucifixion and resurrection and the gift of the Spirit was effected in that early community. There was a movement—there was a Jesus Movement. They were called the Followers of The Way. On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached and thousands believed that this Jesus was indeed God’s anointed one. Then we have the story of Peter who had a vision. He went to a Roman centurion, to his house. There he told the story of Jesus, and the Spirit of God fell, and the Gentiles in that house believed that Jesus indeed was God’s special emissary, God’s anointed one. Then there was Philip who went to Samaria with great response to the story of Jesus, until the Spirit whisked him away to the road to Gaza where he encountered an Ethiopian eunuch, who also heard the story of Jesus and wanted to be included and was baptized. And then there was Stephen, who had understood maybe more clearly than any of them the breaking forth of the Spirit—of the Spirit of God beyond those narrow constrictive bounds of national and ethnic identity. And he paid for it with his life. The account of his martyr’s death speaks of one who was standing there witnessing that, assenting to his death. That one was a Jew named Saul. Luke © Grand Valley State University   �Not Converted- Just Amazed by Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 2   goes on to tell us in the 3rd verse of the 8th chapter of the book of Acts that Saul was ravishing the Christian movement, the church. Then he drops Saul for a while to tell us about Philip. But now in the 9th chapter he comes back to this individual and we find that Saul is still breathing out threatenings and murder to the church. He even gets authority to move out of Jerusalem to go to Damascus to imprison and persecute Followers of The Way. But he is stopped dead in his tracks. Flannery O’Connor says, “The Lord must have reckoned in order to make a Christian out of that one, He’d have to knock him off his horse!” Well, we don’t know if Paul was afoot or on horseback, but when it happened to him, he didn’t know either. It was one of those sudden, dramatic, traumatic experiences, cataclysmic in its effect. Paul was conquered, and surrendered. The voice said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Why?” I wonder if that was the question that was the catalyst of the surrender? Luke doesn’t give us a lot of psychologizing about the interior life of Saul and the things that had been going on in him, but that little question “Why? Why Saul? Why are you doing this?” It’s a good question. Saul surrenders. He rises blind and helpless and is led into the city of his destination, but now in a totally different state. After three days a Christian disciple whom he had come to arrest comes to him and says, “Brother Saul.” That is the story of Saul’s conversion, his turning around. It doesn’t always happen so dramatically. Luke gives us a number of stories so that we can see that there’s not one stereotypical manner in which this has to happen, but this turning in the case of Saul was so dramatic. It lifts up some elements that are really a part of the conversion process through which we all go in a number of areas in our life, a number of times. Someone has said that the first thing that’s true of a genuine conversion is that one is detached from familiar patterns of identity. Detachment is a painful process. We don’t like to be detached. We all want a sense of identity, a kind of comfort zone, knowing who we are, where we are, what we are about, what the meaning and purpose of it all is. Then something happens and we are suddenly wrenched loose from that. We are detached from that. And, that’s very threatening. Often times – and now I am psychologizing for Paul a little bit, but I don’t think apart from the stuff that Luke gives us – often time it happens that when one senses that one is about to be ripped loose, wrenched out of something familiar and comfortable, one grows very angry. I don’t think it was by chance that Luke gave us that little snapshot of Paul standing there while they were stoning Stephen. He didn’t pick up a stone, but he held their garments, and was assenting to what was happening. He saw Stephen pray, “Oh God, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” It must have impacted him. In order to suppress that, to repress that, to keep that down, those doubts that must have been rising within him, Luke tells us that he increased his hostile violence against the Followers of The Way. We don’t want to be detached from our familiar patterns of identity. © Grand Valley State University �Not Converted- Just Amazed by Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I have made no secret of the fact that I think that the Reformed Church in America ought to die—and the Christian Reformed Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church. I think those denominations ought to die. Once they arose very naturally, to be explained geographically, ethnically. And they have been the agents of the grace of God and the sharing of the Gospel, but they are not so any more. They are now barriers. They are anachronistic structures that suck up energy and time and resources. Where once they were the instruments of the Spirit, they have become barriers to the Spirit. That’s what I think. This crotchety, parochial, dull-witted, stubborn, obstinate, old Dutch Reformed Church is my family. I don’t want to be without a family! I imbibed that culture with my mother’s milk! Who am I then? Where will I go? Detachment - detachment is painful; it’s wrenching. We don’t do that easily because what we anticipate is the second step in a conversion process. That is a period of rootlessness, disorientation. Everything is changed. We don’t have any place to plant our feet. We don’t know who we are or where we are going, what the purpose of it all is. It is a very uncomfortable period of time. And we resist that, but when we don’t have any options left and we are pushed into it, eventually the ground begins to solidify again and we find a new configuration. We suddenly see things in a whole new design, and actually it can be characterized as a bright light. It comes together again. Then, finally, because this doesn’t happen in splendid isolation as though we are all individuals off on our own, finally once again we are ushered into a new community. Invited to a new table. We experience table fellowship. Everything is changed. Everything is new. Once again we can breathe with some ease and some comfort. That was the experience of Paul. And that, I think, to a greater or lesser degree is the kind of experience we all go through in a conversion process. Now I think we have been sold a bad bill of goods by much of the evangelical movement of the last century or two, which makes conversion a kind of once-forall momentary experience of transformation from darkness to light, from error to truth, from reprobation to salvation. That rather modern understanding of conversion has seeped into our conservative evangelical churches as well. But I don’t think it was true to the story of Paul, because Paul didn’t move from darkness to light. Paul didn’t move from godlessness to God. Paul didn’t move from reckless unrighteousness to righteousness. Because if we read his own statement in the 3rd chapter of Philippians he tells about his Jewish heritage. If we read that as a denigration of that heritage, we misread it. There is not a word of denigration about Paul’s Jewish experience. Paul says, quite the contrary, that all of that was gain. He says, “You want to talk about credentials, let me tell you about myself: circumcised on the eighth day, a Hebrew, born of Hebrew parents, from the Tribe of Benjamin. In terms of my own particular religious conviction, a Pharisee, a follower of the strictest sect. In terms of my status: top of the line. And if you want to talk about accomplishment: I was zealous. I persecuted the Church. As to the law: I was blameless.” Paul is not saying that that was something apart from his experience as a Child of God. Paul was not brought into © Grand Valley State University �Not Converted- Just Amazed by Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 4   the covenant of grace. Paul stood in the middle of the covenant of grace. Paul was a recipient of that gracious election of God who chose that people to be God’s special instrument. Paul did not move from godlessness to God. Paul moved from God to God, from Light to Greater Light. Suddenly. This is why I call it Not Converted - simply Amazed by Grace, to point out that Paul didn’t suddenly come to know the true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the God of Israel. That God Paul knew. That God Paul served. That God Paul loved. But all of that which was gain for him suddenly paled in the light of this new understanding of God in the face of Jesus, the Jew. So he says, “For the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord…I’ve lost everything and I count it as nothing.” But that is not a statement about the value of his tradition. It is a statement about the surpassing worth of that new understanding that he had of the same God that he’d always known. That’s what conversion is. We’ve been sold a bad bill of goods to think about conversion as bringing people from outside in. I think sometimes what we are really doing in our evangelism is to bring people in to make them like us, to confirm our own convictions and to shore up our own faith. Conversion is for the Church. That was the Reformation insight. In the Heidelberg Catechism the definition of conversion is not once-forall being born again and sailing on from there. In the Heidelberg Catechism conversion is the daily dying of the old person and the daily rising of the new. It is a daily reorientation because we are a pilgrim people. We are on pilgrimage passing through ever-new landscapes. And with every turn of the corner there is potentially some surprise of grace. The Christian life is a life of growing in understanding and insight. Sometimes there are those crises periods and it is dramatic. More often it is a quiet, “Oh, I see.” The Reformation heritage that is ours understood it perfectly in its inception, because what happened in the sixteenth century was not the Reformed Church. It was the Church of God Re-formed according to the Word of God. If I could give you the Latin phrase, the Latin would be translated this way: A church re-formed according to the Word of God and always being re-formed. And the moment the church became The Reformed Church it became a blot to the Spirit of God. What we want to do in our humanness is to nail it down. To make it simple. To make it clear. To be able to get a handle on it. To have it as comfortable as an old pair of slippers. So we can’t live very long, we can’t live beyond the first generation of those that were able to live with the Church re-forming according to the Word of God and always being re-formed. We want The Reformed Church! And we become an ideology. We become a cult, we become sect, and we deny the Spirit of God whose freedom must continue to break down all those forms and structures that would imprison us. Ah, it would make us feel secure, but they bind our soul and deny the liberty of the children of God. © Grand Valley State University �Not Converted- Just Amazed by Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 5   “Where the Spirit of the Lord is,” Paul said, “there is liberty.” The Christian experience is one of ongoing, continual conversion. Ongoing. Turning. Twisting. To gain new insight into the greatness and wonder of the God of all grace. That is the exciting adventure—the pilgrimage to which we are called, to which we are invited. I would ask you: Have you been converted? When is the last time you were converted? When is the last time that something that seemed so clear and simple suddenly slipped through your fingers and you felt yourself spinning, twisting in the wind until finally your feet came to stand in another place and you said, “Wow!” J.B. Phillips wrote long ago Your God is Too Small. Has your God grown lately? Have you been alive and excited with the marvel of the wonder of the grace of God that would continue to beckon us into ever-wider vistas and everricher experience? We as a community have celebrated with gratitude the retirement of John Gregory Bryson from his teaching in the public schools. We know him for his music, but generations of students know him for his geography. If you think he’s a taskmaster in front of the choir, you should have had him for geography. You see, I had a couple of boys that went through that process. He was unrelenting in his demands, and Greg made students color within the lines. (Laughter) John is neat as a pin — takes after his mother— “a place for everything, everything in its place.” That’s the regime I live under. (Laughter) I am able to sustain that because that’s the way I was raised too, but my genes are different. So if you’ve got a teacher that gives you a set of colored pencils and a blank white map with all the lines and you have to get it all right, that can be persecution. Now Greg has retired. Generations of students have gone through, probably still scarred in their psyche (Laughter), but with Greg’s retirement the whole world changes. The map doesn’t work. It’s obsolete. All the lines have to be withdrawn. But the world’s still here. The world is still here. So, let yourself go. Breathe deeply. Trust the Spirit of God who takes it all away and gives it back better than you ever dreamed of. If you want a place still to nail it down, then take the bread, take the cup, remember and be full of hope. For Jesus said, “Do this…‘til I come.” © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/799b5a44e53b236a94d3183bc5a836d7.mp3 7c3fda83a463ff5fdd2dea16874c198e 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 Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> 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 Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost IV Scripture Text Acts 9:5, Philippians 3:10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI 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 KII-01_RA-0-19930627 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-06-27 Title A name given to the resource Not Converted - Just Amazed By Grace Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 27, 1993 entitled "Not Converted - Just Amazed By Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 9:5, Philippians 3:10. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Conversion Pentecost IV Reformation Spiritual Growth https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3385dfeb0c667a55e00ab045ac38fcde.pdf 224b280aaa7ec824f59e0f533869d996 PDF Text Text @ GRANDVALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY. 1968 Olympic Bronze Medalist JOHN CARLOS & DAVE ZIRIN Sports Editor of The Nation Magazine John Carlos, winner of the bronze medal in the men's 2OO-meter race at the 1968 Summer Olympics, entered the Olympic Games with one thing in mind - to reach the platform in order to send a message. Dr. John Carlos, along with renowned American sportswriter Dave Zirin, will examine how American sports glamorize militarism, racism, sexism, and homophobia and look at a history of rebel athletes who have fought for justice. The Grand Valley State University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center, Office of Multicultural Affairs and Women's Center are pleased to showcase our first "Intersections" program. "Not Just a Game" is co-sponsored by the Sports Leadership Club. Thursday 02.02.12 @4p.m. Grand River Room + Kirkhof Center + Allendale Campus -If you need special accommodations, please cal I (616) 331-2530 � 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 GVSU Sexuality and Gender Flyers Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Rainbow Resource Center Women and Gender Studies Department Women's Commission Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity Description An account of the resource Digitized posters, flyers, event notices, and other materials relating to gender expression and sexuality at Grand Valley State University, with materials spanning from 1974 to 2019. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974/2019 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digitized from collections at the Rainbow Resource Center (formerly the Milton E. Ford LGBT Resource Center), Women and Gender Studies Department, Women's Commission, and Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Gender identity Gender expression Sexual orientation Women's studies Queer theory Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-09 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. 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 DC-09_SGF_LGBTQ_2012_Not-Just-A-Game-Politics-&-Power-in-American-Sports-Poster.pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-02-02 Title A name given to the resource Not Just a Game: Politics & Power in American Sports Description An account of the resource Poster with a synopsis on the topic, and information of the event, including the place, time and date. Subject The topic of the resource Sexual minorities Community centers Racism in sports Sexism Homophobia in sports Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Rainbow Resource Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Rainbow Resource Center https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6ab4727f11474ca060a56c761625aece.mp3 12303bcd421a6d4da8530a6c2120f020 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 Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> 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 Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lenten Service Scripture Text Mark 8:27-9:1, 14:22-31, 66-72 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI 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 KII-01_RA-0-19970219 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-02-19 Title A name given to the resource Not So Cocky, Peter Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University 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 Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 19, 1997 entitled "Not So Cocky, Peter", on the occasion of Midweek Lenten Service, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 8:27-9:1, 14:22-31, 66-72.