84 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a2c4fa6adcdca3e3b276810826b6f524.jpg a99f7eb70c4af1cebb04722bd04ed393 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 BlanchardJim_Photo01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Blanchard, Jim Description An account of the resource Jim Blanchard, 45th Governor of Michigan Subject The topic of the resource Michigan – History Governors 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b068e4c5592325bcbcdb19a62805725b.jpg 052258c543ea3310d18e5bb35c2761b1 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 BlanchardJim_Photo02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Blanchard, Jim Description An account of the resource Jim Blanchard, 45th Governor of Michigan, speaking at the Press Club of Grand Rapids Subject The topic of the resource Michigan – History Governors 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d08b7e2f36b0db7fd44485b2a9b75be3.jpg a9927d3d42ac5181b29bebe398857ef3 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 BlanchardJim_Photo03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Blanchard, Jim Description An account of the resource Jim Blanchard, 45th Governor of Michigan Subject The topic of the resource Michigan – History Governors 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0563cc85224c647c9ba73efd8ac851fc.jpg c66ea8a66df86bbd4d6cb5e17bb59c31 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 BlanchardJim_Photo04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Blanchard, Jim Description An account of the resource Jim Blanchard, 45th Governor of Michigan Subject The topic of the resource Michigan – History Governors 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c2b4cf83ec871413a93f14c015bf6c2b.mp4 add1518da8492f7d9e879c357f10894a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6d1a6e7686c1afa2f65817f0f315a203.pdf 003cc894bfc1940bef019c5e7a6465c0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Roy Eugene Blanchard (00:23:54) * Roy’s story is told by Clark Blanchard, Roy Blanchard’s son (0:00) • Filmed WWI memorabilia including medals, certificates, flags, pictures, uniform, and journal (2:46) Background • Roy was born in New Hampshire in 1899 • Had an older sister and a younger brother • Family moved to Grand Rapids • Roy’s father was a bigamist; had his family in Grand Rapids and another family in a suburb outside of Grand Rapids o In those days, would have to choose which family to stay with o Roy’s father chose to stay with the other family • Roy dropped out of 8th grade to support the family • Worked on a farm one summer • Friend said if joined Michigan National Guard Roy would get paid just for attending meetings • Roy was underage and underweight o Don’t know how he got around the underage part (about 15 years old when joined) but to get around the underweight part, he would eat a lot of bananas and drink a lot of water (5:20) The Mexican border • Just prior to WWI, issues on the Mexican border with gangs. Pancho Villa would take his gangs across the border and raid small Texas towns • US government activated Guard units to stop the raids • Roy caught some of Pancho Villa’s men and took one of their pistols as a souvenir (6:38) WWI and injuries • Michigan National Guard, since was already active in Texas, was one of the first units shipped out to France • Roy was machine gunned in the shoulder • Kept a diary of life in the war and Clark still has it o In the diary, Roy described the day he got hit • Another injury occurred when Roy was in the line of fire during combat; dove to the ground into a puddle that was contaminated with mustard gas; got the mustard gas in one eye and became blind in one eye. o Never applied or received veteran’s compensation (8:50) More details about shoulder injury • Trench warfare �• • Told to go over the top and attack the Germans There was barbed wire between the two sides and a German machine gun nest in front • When soldiers began advancing, mowed down by German machine gun o Describes the scene in his diary; talks about those who got hit o Since a National Guard unit, all the men were from Grand Rapids (10:00) Training • Infantry unit • Specialized in hand grenades • Expert marksman, even when blind in one eye (11:05) Stories of the front • Roy never went on at any length about war • Clark (Roy’s son) and Roy would be doing something together and a sound or smell would trigger a memory; it would always be very brief and then he would change the subject • Mustard gas o When the enemy would use mustard gas, would first send over a shell of vomiting gas, which would make the soldiers nauseous; then they would send over a shell of mustard gas; it was the natural reaction to yank mask off when vomiting; so soldiers would take mask off to vomit and then accidentally inhale the mustard gas and die. Roy saw a soldier get hit with by the shrapnel from the mustard gas shell. The shrapnel broke the soldier’ gas mask. A chaplain who witnessed this pulled off his own mask and gave it to the soldier. The chaplain quickly climbed a nearby tree so as to be above the mustard gas. • Barbed wire o To keep enemy soldiers awake all night, soldiers from both sides would put cans on the barbed wire with pieces of bread and crackers inside; trench rats would rattle the cans all night trying to get the food out. This kept the enemy anxious because the clanging sounded like someone advancing through the barbed wire. (14:40) Teaching his son • When Clark was a young kid, his dad, Roy, taught him how to shoot like he was in the military (15:47) Trench life • Awful • Disease, especially in feet, because always standing in the mud • If wounded, it was your job to get to an aid station; there were hardly any medics around (17:10) Convoy story • On way over to France at the start of the war, was on a troop ship in convoy • Convoy partially abandoned troop ship because warning of torpedoes in area o The convoy returned to troop ship because warning was a false alarm �• When Roy was sent back to the United States, Roy was put on the same ship had come over on; what had originally been a troop ship was converted into a hospital ship (18:28) Auxiliary Police • When WWII broke out, there was a lack of police officers in the towns because a majority of police-age men were drafted and sent over seas • Auxiliary police units were set up in the towns o Older men with military discipline did this, especially veterans • When there would be floods, auxiliary police would perform the rescues • One time, police got people out of flood situation, but when started to leave, their boat got stuck on the person’s mailbox (19:52) After WWII • Roy remained an auxiliary policeman • Prior to and during WWII, many professional baseball players were drafted; to take their place, Grand Rapids had a women’s baseball team o Roy would police the baseball games and take his son, Clark, with him. Clark’s job was to collect foul balls and sell peanuts and popcorn (21:30) Reflection • Roy was always very patriotic and loyal • He was a very good father • The military had a strong impact on his life (22:38) • More pictures; looks to be group shots of the Michigan National Guard on the Mexican border and in Europe during WWI � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Blanchard, Roy (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blanchard, Roy Description An account of the resource Roy Eugene Blanchard was a WWI veteran who served in the Michigan National Guard – 126th Infantry Regiment on the Mexican border and in Europe. Roy's son, Clark, is conducting this interview in memory of his father. At 15 years old, Roy managed to join the Michigan National Guard despite the fact he was underage. Soon after joining, Roy was sent to the Mexican border to stop the raiding of Texas towns by Mexican gangs. While in Mexico, WWI broke out and Roy's division was immediately shipped over to France. In this interview, Clark shares many detailed stories about his father's time on the front, including unique stories of mustard gas and barbed wire. Clark also discusses the time his father saw a fellow solider get hit by shrapnel and also the time Roy was blinded by mustard gas. Because Roy kept diaries of his time on the front, the stories Clark tells are very clear and truly give one a sense of the front lines. During WWII, Roy was an auxiliary policeman for Grand Rapids who policed many of the women's baseball games. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bloom, Jeff (Interviewer) Ferris, Jay (Interviewer) Forest Hills Eastern High School (Ada, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Michigan. National Guard. Infantry, 126th World War, 1914-1918--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-06-02 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BlanchardR Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2f2059311c2d9634c5a0bfb8a7c745ab.jpg bbec3e4d0753879d5c853256c9f77d44 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_B009-0028 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 1961-02-01 Title A name given to the resource Bleachers at Spartan Stadium Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the empty rows of bleachers within Spartan Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University on February 1, 1961. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan State University East Lansing (Mich.) Football--Michigan Football stadiums 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 1960s 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/86e4a003322ad0fe39b0966bf2a5bfcb.mp4 3040b6f3fa110a11e41e14c09f728491 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8c4fd9d1f8d67fdf5408d4cd599edf2b.pdf 628715d0d6c0cbf0fec36a615c00a8a3 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Vietnam War Henry Bledsoe Length of interview (0:32:46) Background: (0:00:15)  Born 1951, in Illinois, in a farming community  Father was a sharecropper (0:11:00)  Achieved a high school diploma, along with some college (0:11:23)  Currently lives in Caledonia, Michigan  Served in the Air Force, at the rank of Staff Sergeant (0:00:54) Enlistment: (0:01:02)  Originally stationed at the Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas (0:01:04)  Went to technical school at the Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas (0:01:11)  After technical school went to the Air Force Base in Big Spring, Texas (0:01:17)  Was a medic in the Air Force (0:01:57)  Would do four twelve hour days and then be off for three days  Enlisted, and received a draft notice two weeks after entering basic training (0:13:41)  Remembers being scared when entering the war (0:14:55)  Medics played recreational sports when off duty (0:20:28)  Slept on a cot, not very comfortable (0:22:38) Duties: (0:02:23)  Worked mostly emergency room, x-ray laboratory  Night shift did blood cultures (0:02:47) o Explains what a blood culture consists of  Medics were deployed based on the current activity in each zone (0:04:05)  Bledsoe’s tour of duty was short—only a few months (0:04:43)  Hundreds or thousands a day were injured  During the war, his job was to ensure that the injured could be stabilized enough to survive the trip to a hospital Enlistment Part Two: (0:05:07)  Never worried about the United States not achieving victory during the war  Bledsoe’s brother, Alvin was also in the Air Force at that time, working with statistics o Did not speak to his family often during the war o A few phone calls a month, and the occasional letter  Talks about the differences between living at home and living on base  “Nothing can prepare you for mass casualties” (0:06:55)  “War is another form of societal cancer” (0:07:48)  Mental effects are often in the form of trying to deprogram yourself after the war (0:08:33)  Bledsoe did not choose to be a medic �o When you join the military you are given a set of aptitude tests (0:09:04) o At the time of the Vietnam war, you were placed where they wanted you  Bledsoe felt stress at war, but explains that it was a different kind of stress than the ground troops felt (0:09:31)  Explains the process of Triage (0:10:05) o Take care of those who have the greatest potential to live first After the War: (0:11:36)  Bledsoe and his wife own a financial services and insurance agency  Bledsoe was in complete support of the war, his family wanted the war resolved  Service ended March 14, 1974 (0:22:58)  After returning home, worked in the intensive care unit, then sales  Stayed in contact with a few of his war friends, but not many (0:23:57)  His views never changed after the war o The war needed the intent to win  Joined a veteran’s organization for a limited time  Bledsoe reflects on the war’s effects on him and his family (0:25:13) � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Bledsoe, Henry (Interview outline and video), 2005 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bledsoe, Henry Description An account of the resource Henry Bledsoe was born in 1951, in an Illinois farming community. He served in the Vietnam War in the Air Force as a medic. He spent several months in Vietnam, where he tested blood cultures and worked with a unit whose job it was to keep patients stable prior to shipment to hospitals. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wilson, Jessica (Interviewer) Bledsoe, Dori (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-05-11 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BledsoeH Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/caf6b3723c3c905b8b350bcaa471ee5d.mp4 71aaff5e4b6c6dd840db6eb21effe32b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f064a5ceb456a3c7a2472eb7ff244552.pdf 83be3d32490bff8a85ce13b96fc962c1 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Arthur Bleecher (50:34) (00:15) Background Information • • • • • • • • • Arthur was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa on January 23, 1926 He moved to New York City with his mom and sister and his mom started working at a dry cleaners Later she started her own business and made it through the depression He went to high school at a parochial school and studied Latin, physics, chemistry, and math Arthur liked horses and wanted to be a veterinarian After graduation he worked on farms in Rhode Island, Vermont, and New York He then went to school at Cortland State University [NY] for agriculture In the summer of 1944 he worked in a plant in Detroit, MI He visited the draft board at the end of summer and joined the Merchant Marine (5:30) Training • • • • • Arthur was first sent to Sheepshead Bay in New York for 8 weeks, then to Hoffman Island in NY Harbor for radio training Passed Morse Code test after 22 weeks, in June of 1945 While learning Morse Code, Arthur never actually learned how to type He could go through the code at 22 words a minute After code school he was sent to Baltimore, Maryland (8:15) Tanker across the Atlantic Sea and the Indian Ocean • • • • • He boarded a T-2 Tanker and crossed the Atlantic They stopped at Port Said in Egypt, crossed the Indian Ocean, made their way through the Persian Gulf, and then stayed in Iran for 2 weeks After Iran they headed towards The Philippines Their goal was to fuel the invasion on Japan They stopped at a port in NE Australia to refuel on the way to The Philippines (12:30) Philippines • • They first stopped in Manila and then sailed to Subic Bay War was already over in the Pacific �• • Arthur was in Sri Lanka when the bombs dropped in Japan He then went back to the US and stayed in New Orleans for a while (20:30) Europe • • • • Arthur was based in Europe 3 different times They loaded the ship up with barrels of asphalt from Mexico and brought them to Europe Sharks followed their ship and fed off their garbage They were caught in a storm once but not as strong as a hurricane (24:50) Discharged September, 1946 • • • • After being discharged, Arthur looked for a job on Wall Street and worked with stocks He then worked for a British company called Arnold Bread Arthur sold his car and went to a city college in New York In October of 1950 he was drafted into the Army (27:00) Training • • • • • Arthur was sent to Fort Devens, Massachusetts for basic training He applied to be a Captain and was accepted to leadership school in Fort Dix, New Jersey He then went to Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Oklahoma for 22 months of very rough training Half of the men had washed out by the end of the training He began studying anti-aircraft, working with machine guns, 40mm, 90mm, and 20mm (29:40) Shipped to Korea September, 1952 • • • • • • Arthur went through 3 weeks of training before being sent to Pusan He worked with the 25th US Infantry Division, as part of the 21st AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion He enjoyed Japanese beer and sake They used machine guns on top of half-tracks to harass enemy planes The Anti Aircraft Battalion did not have much to do on front lines He worked with anti-tank guns and 90mms on front lines for about three months (41:00) After Service • • • • Arthur left North Korea in September for Seoul, South Korea He later went to law school at Stetson University near St. Petersburg He worked with the IRS and became Chief Attorney Then began working as attorney for Social Security �• Arthur has recently retired and often travels to Europe � 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/. Title A name given to the resource Bleecher, Arthur (Interview outline and video), 2008 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bleecher, Arthur Description An account of the resource Arthur Bleecher enlisted in the Merchant Marine in 1944 and trained as a radio officer. He sailed to Asia and Europe in 1945 and 1946 and then returned to civilian life, only to be drafted for the Korean War. This time he served in the army, attended Officer Candidate School and trained as an anti-aircraft officer. He shipped out to Korea in 1952 and spent several months there on active duty. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Merchant marine--United States World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-05-22 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BleecherA Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5d8c5f30e45d8348a3e7a2417c720831.mp4 89f8b942527e5f09984a79fb6b6ef43f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b85e5318a504e8f429a18d7c279383bc.pdf b2a95724d3387cb7dcc47002779db7b2 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Dr. Eugene Bleil World War II Interview Length: (02:00:04:00) Pre-enlistment / Training (00:00:13:00) · Bleil was born in Detroit, Michigan and after spending the first couple of years of Bleil’s life in the city, his family eventually moved to a small, ten-acre farm (00:00:13:00) o In 1925, his family moved to a farm in Ypsilanti, Michigan (00:00:35:00) o Bleil was born on August 29th, 1920 (00:00:41:00) o Bleil’s family lived on the farm in Ypsilanti for four years before moving to another farm in Belleville, Michigan in 1929; Bleil stayed at the farm in Belleville until he graduated from high school in 1938 (00:00:51:00) · Bleil had had a very illustrious track record while he was in high school, having never been defeated in the hurdles or dash, and at one point, he was invited to Eastern Michigan University to train for the Olympics as a hurdler (00:01:17:00) o However, Bleil did not have the money necessary to attend the university, so he borrowed the money and arrived at Eastern Michigan a week after classes had started (00:01:42:00) o Bleil went to classes during the morning, trained during the afternoon and evening and worked nights to pay for his expenses; however, he neglected to sleep and ended up sleeping during classes (00:01:55:00) § At one point, a friend of Bleil’s suggest Bleil was taking too many classes and suggested Bleil drop some of the classes but neglected to mention that Bleil needed to notify someone that he was doing so (00:02:23:00) § Instead, Bleil just stopped going to the classes, so at the end of the semester, he had a whole series of F’s where he had just quit going to the class (00:02:33:00) § The university president wrote a letter to Bleil’s mother saying Bleil was not a candidate for college and suggested Bleil attempt to find a job in a vocational field (00:02:49:00) · After the semester was over, Bleil continued working at his original job, which was working at a Mobil gas station (00:03:04:00) o At the time, Bleil and his brother were living in a house without heat, light, or water as well as no food (00:03:46:00) o In early 1939, Bleil and his brother signed up for job driving new cars to Oklahoma City (00:03:57:00) o When the brothers arrived in Oklahoma City, they had no place to go other than by railroad, so they became hobos and road the railroads across the western middle potion of the United States, finally settling in Denver with friends of their mother (00:04:28:00) § Once in Denver, Bleil got a job working raising rainbow trout from eggs until they were eighteen inches long (00:04:53:00) § Trout from the company was sold all over the world and one of Bleil’s �jobs was taking trout packed in ice to the airport, where the trout were then transported as far as Germany, Italy, and India (00:05:18:00) o By September, Bleil’s brother still could not find a job and told Bleil he was returning to Michigan; Bleil then quit his job and returned home to Michigan with his brother (00:05:45:00) · The brothers got home to Michigan but Bleil’s brother still could not find a job and in September, he came home with a full-page ad in a Detroit paper that read “Join the Air Corps, Learn to Fly” (00:06:21:00) o Bleil’s brother said he was going to join because the Air Corps would clothe him, feed him, house him, and pay him while he was there (00:06:45:00) o Bleil could not argue with the observation because at the time, his family was having trouble just getting enough food to eat (00:06:57:00) · After a while, Bleil decided he would join his brother in enlisting in the Air Corps, so they went to Detroit and joined the Army Air Corps (00:07:04:00) o Once Bleil and his brother officially enlisted, they were unable to leave the area and after awhile, they went to nearby Selfridge Field, where they and the other recruits received the equivalent of two years of college, with an emphasis on physics and mathematics (00:07:17:00) o At the end of the classes, all the recruits had to take a test and if they passed, they then had a physical; both Bleil and his brother passed the test but both flunked the physical because they both had a malocclusion of their teeth (00:08:09:00) § Bleil and his brother were not allowed to continue as pilots but were allowed to go to any other school they wanted (00:08:31:00) § Although Bleil and his brother had gone through a physical when they first enlisted in Detroit, it was only a mock physical; the Air Corps just wanted bodies and they did not care who made it in physically (00:08:50:00) o During the classes at Selfridge, Bleil and the other recruits were living in clapboard buildings where none of the doors or windows fit properly, so during the winter, the snow and wind would whistle through (00:09:48:00) § The food the recruits were given was fabulous; the mess sergeant for the base was rated the best mess sergeant in the service (00:10:11:00) · After a meal was over, the mess sergeant would stand by the waste basket and each recruit would have to scrap his plate into the waste basket; if there was ever any left over food on a plate, the mess sergeant would ask why the recruit did not finish (00:10:30:00) o A recruit could either finish the food right there or shovel coal for half-an-hour to an hour, depending on how much food was left on the plate (00:10:52:00) · The recruits ate T-bone steaks that were an inch thick and as large as a dinner plate (00:11:28:00) · After taking the second physical and being told they could not be pilots, Bleil and his brother were sent in March to Scott Field outside of Belleville, Illinois (00:12:07:00) o The time spent at Scott Field was meant to see if the recruits could handle to rigors of being the Air Corps (00:12:15:00) o There were pigeons in the top of the old dirigible hangar where the recruits ate, so �they had to eat with their hats covering their plates to avoid the any pigeon poop that might drop down (00:12:39:00) § The dirigible hangar was heated using old pot-belly stoves that were huge (00:13:01:00) o Bleil and the group of recruits he was with spent their entire time at Scott Field in the dirigible hangar but after they left, serious changes were made to the personnel at the field; after the recruits had left the field, they received word that the supply officer and mess sergeant were both up for court-martial for embezzling money (00:13:18:00) o While at the field, the recruits trained under a heel-clicking captain who wore white gloves to inspect the recruits (00:13:57:00) § Again, the buildings on the base largely consisted of clapboard buildings with ill-fitting doors and windows, which made it impossible to keep the buildings clean (00:14:07:00) § The captain always “gigged” the recruits because they were never able to get the floors or windows clean (00:14:49:00) · When the captain gigged the recruits, the recruits were confined to quarters and instead of having passing and being allowed to go around the base, they had to clean their quarters (00:15:02:00) o The last week the recruits were at the field, their commanders allowed them to go to Belleville and East St. Louis; however, the recruits could not leave Illinois, so they could not go into St. Louis itself (00:15:34:00) · After leaving Scott Field, Bleil went to Chanute Field in Illinois, where he began receiving hands-on training with aircraft (00:16:35:00) o Bleil and the other recruits training on several different aircraft, taking them apart and putting them back together (00:16:42:00) § During the examinations, the instructors would purposely create problems in an aircraft and the recruits would then have to diagnose and repair the problem (00:16:51:00) o The training was a high-grade mechanics course and it helped all of the recruits immensely (00:17:05:00) o The recruits worked with both Pratt & Whitney and Wright Cyclone engines, as well as some smaller engines (00:17:20:00) § For the most part, the recruits trained using radial engines; they did not start training with in-line engines until later, when they were already in the field; never the less, the problems were usually the same (00:17:38:00) o Bleil was at Chanute Field from April until August, when both he and his brother contracted pneumonia, which caused them to be hospitalized; Bleil’s brother also contracted mumps, and the brothers were then separated (00:17:52:00) § Bleil’s brother stayed at Chanute Field and eventually graduated as an instrument specialist before becoming an instructor (00:18:17:00) · Bleil’s brother ended up never fighting overseas because Bleil had already deployed (00:18:35:00) · After finishing at Chanute, Bleil returned to Selfridge Field and was there for a short time before receiving word that he and the other men in the camp would be shipping out, although the Air Corps did not say where or did not say when (00:18:50:00) �o Eventually, someone came back with a newspaper article that said the men were being deployed to the Philippine Islands to help bolster the defense forces already on the island (00:19:02:00) o When he returned to Selfridge, Bleil returned to the 17th Pursuit Squadron, which he had been assigned to before he went to school (00:19:22:00) § At the time, pursuit squadrons consisted of single-engine fighter planes (00:19:35:00) § When Bleil re-joined the 17th Pursuit, the personnel already in the squadron came from numerous states; some of the older men in the squadron had already been there fifteen or twenty years and were only sticking around because they had nothing else to do (00:19:55:00) Philippines Deployment (00:20:33:00) · The squadron received information in September that they were going to be leaving Selfridge and they actually deployed in October 1940 (00:20:33:00) o After leaving Selfridge, Bleil and the other men in the squadron were shipped across the country by rail and were supposed to leave San Francisco aboard the S.S. Washington, a luxury liner converted to be a troop transport (00:20:48:00) o When the men arrived in California, another squadron, the 20th Pursuit, which was based in California, had a commander who outranked the 17th Pursuit’s commander, so the 20th Pursuit left on the Washington and the 17th Pursuit was sent to Angel Island (00:21:07:00) § The squadron spent the remainder of October and part of November stationed on Angel Island (00:21:59:00) o In the middle of November, the squadron did finally ship out, aboard the S.S. Etolin, an old transport ship (00:22:08:00) § For most of the journey, the men stay on the deck of the ship because it was insufferable to be below decks (00:22:22:00) § The Etolin stopped at Oahu but the men could not disembark from the ship; once the ship left Oahu, it sailed across the South Pacific and arrived in the Philippines on December 5th, 1940 (00:22:34:00) · The weather on the trip was all right; a little rocky, but other than that, everything was fine (00:22:52:00) § The smell below decks was what made it unbearable for the men to be down there; nobody wanted to be below deck, so all the men sat on the deck of the ship and mostly played cards during the voyage (00:23:00:00) § The 17th Pursuit was the only unit aboard the ship and from what Bleil can remember, there were about 180 enlisted men in the unit and not too many officers (00:23:15:00) · The squadron did not receive the majority of their officers until it was already in the Philippines and most of the new officers had never flown a pursuit fighter and had only had basic training using a two-seater airplane (00:23:37:00) o However, the two-seater airplanes were not very powerful compared to other airplanes (00:24:21:00) · Once the squadron was in the Philippines, the new officers started �training with P-26As, which were the first all-metal aircraft used by the Air Corps (00:24:47:00) o The P-26As had fixed landing gear, a low wing, and an open cockpit; fortunately, the P-26As used by the squadron had been modified to include a crash pad behind the pilot because the new officers were constantly crashing the airplanes into the ground (00:25:01:00) § The airplane itself was nose-heavy, so as pilots would come in to land, they would have trouble keeping the tail of the plane down and the airplane would flip over; sometimes, the airplanes even flipped during take-off (00:25:28:00) · The pilots had the same problem when they started using the larger P-35s, which was also nose-heavy (00:25:45:00) · Once in the Philippines, the squadron was based at Nichols Field and the men lived in a tent city of four-person tents (00:26:18:00) o However, the men eventually had to leave the tents in July because the rain season had caused a nearby river to overflow, which then flooded the area where the tents were and forced the men to walk in ankle-deep water; once the area flooded, the men moved into the hangers (00:26:35:00) o Nichols field was located a five or six miles south of Manila (00:27:31:00) § When they were off-duty, a lot of the men went into Manila but Bleil himself (00:27:41:00) § The squadron arrived on a Friday and on the following Sunday, Bleil and a couple of other men wanted to go watch the sunset on the South China Sea and Manila Bay (00:27:48:00) · The group went to the beach, watched the sunset, and as they were walking back to the base, they were crossing a bridge over the Paranaque river when they were stopped by a guard and ordered to carry a prophylactic of six large sulfur tablets (00:28:06:00) o After the incident, Bleil made up his mind that he would not go back across the Paranaque (00:28:38:00) o The guards assumed that anyone who left the base had visited the prostitutes in Manila, and even though the men tried to explain that they had only gone to watch the sunset, the guards did not care (00:28:45:00) o Filipino boys would come onto the base and would work, keeping the men’s tents in order for cheap (00:29:24:00) § However, there was not much for the boys to do anyway, apart from sweeping, organizing the beds, dusting off the beds, etc. (00:29:36:00) · In July, the squadron moved to the town of Iba in the province of Zambales to do a gunnery mission; some of the squadron returned to Nichols Field in September and some returned in October (00:30:05:00) o Just before the squadron left for Iba, Bleil contracted dengue fever, a very serious disease (00:30:24:00) �§ Doctors gave Bleil and the other afflicted men codeine and aspirin but nothing worked to alleviate the pain; there was no actual medicine that could cure the disease (00:30:45:00) § The disease was carried by mosquitoes, which made it similar to malaria, and it gave the men head-aches, fever, and made them feel like they had gone through a grinder (00:31:04:00) o Bleil suffered with the disease for a month and a half to almost two months (00:31:26:00) · When the 17th Pursuit arrived in the Philippines, the squadron commander was assigned the task of teaching Filipinos to fly airplanes (00:31:44:00) o The commander would have to leave at seven in the morning and did not return until seven at night and as part of the training, he needed an aircraft and engine mechanic for his airplane; because Bleil had gotten into an altercation with the squadron first sergeant back in the United States, Bleil was the first choice for the mechanic position (00:31:56:00) § Therefore, Bleil became the squadron commander’s personal crew chief and was the only mechanic in the squadron who worked all day; everyone else worked from eight in the morning until noon while Bleil had to work from seven to seven (00:32:24:00) o Being the squadron commander’s personal crew chief would benefit Bleil later on and he did not have plans to go off the airfield anyway, so working all day did not bother him (00:32:46:00) o The rest of the men in the squadron worked from eight in the morning until noon, and then, they had the rest of the day off (00:33:01:00) § The other pilots would only take their airplanes out once a day to practice flying in formation; nevertheless, once the war actually started, some of the pilots were still not “trained” fully (00:33:14:00) · When the squadron first arrived in the Philippines, the only airplanes that were available to them were the P-26s, some of which had been stationed in the Philippines since 1934, when they had left Selfridge Field back in Michigan (00:33:58:00) o Eventually, the squadron received a shipment of P-35As in crates, with instructions in Swedish; the airplanes were originally meant to go to Sweden but President Roosevelt changed their destination to the Philippines (00:34:18:00) § The men had to put each airplane together but no one in the squadron read Swedish; instead, the men used what information they had learned at school (00:34:42:00) § The instruments in the cockpit were also in Swedish and if the pilots could not read Swedish, then they were out of luck; nevertheless, the pilots managed fairly well (00:34:58:00) o Once all the P-35As were put together, the men covered them in canvas because the supply personnel had neglected to send batteries with them; the P-35A carried a large battery used to turn the engine over to start (00:35:17:00) o Later, the squadron received some P-40Bs and P-40Es, which used a 24-cylinder, in-line Allison engine, which was the men’s first introduction to in-line engines, which required ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) to run properly (00:35:44:00) § However, someone said that the airplanes did not need anti-freeze in the �tropics, so the ethylene glycol was not shipped the with airplanes; once the airplanes were all put together, they too were covered with canvas because they could not fly without the ethylene glycol, which acted as a coolant for the airplane’s engine (00:36:08:00) § After about a month and a half where the P-40s just sat on the line, the squadron finally received a shipment of ethylene glycol (00:36:46:00) o Once the squadron received the ethylene glycol and began using the P-40s, the mood around the squadron was to hurry up and teach the new pilots how to fly the new, high-powered airplanes (00:36:59:00) § Overall, there were only four or five experienced pilots in the entire squadron when it arrived in the Philippines and some of them were then moved to other squadrons (00:37:22:00) · While in the Philippines, Bleil and the other men heard news stories about President Roosevelt stopping this or stopping that (00:37:52:00) o From Bleil’s perspective, President Roosevelt knew by January 1941 that war with Japan was inevitable; however, the President, while trying to help the Allies, was faced with a pacifist, isolationist American populace (00:38:12:00) o Roosevelt kept saying he wanted the Japanese to make the first strike and the Japanese kept testing the American government; however, even when the Japanese bombed an American gunboat in 1937, the government did nothing because the American people did not want to get involved (00:39:05:00) o Prior to the official start of the fighting, Bleil and the other men knew there was a Japanese fishing village at the northern end of the Philippines and there was suspicion that the civilians working in the PX were Japanese (00:39:56:00) § However, none of the GIs or commanders seemed to worried about that possibility (00:40:55:00) · The men were warned in June 1941 that the Japanese could strike at any moment, without warning; after that, the squadron was tasked with sending out an early-morning patrol and often, the pilots would encounter unidentified aircraft which could out-fly and outmaneuver the American aircraft (00:41:11:00) o Everyone assumed the unidentified aircraft were Japanese Zero fighters, nobody could ever get close enough to make a positive identification (00:41:49:00) o During the last couple of months leading up to the war, the number of encounters with the unidentified aircraft increased (00:42:01:00) § However, President Roosevelt continued to insist that the Japanese had to make the first strike (00:42:13:00) o Over time, there was a shift in the activities of the squadron; in October, Bleil was taken off the line, given six men (two mechanics, two radiomen, and two armament men) and the group worked from seven at night until seven in the morning taking salvaged parts to make something that would fly (00:44:34:00) § The group was successful in constructing several aircraft out of the spare and left-over parts (00:45:13:00) § At midnight, the men would go to the barracks and prepare their own “mid-day” meal (00:45:44:00) Beginning of the War (00:45:55:00) �· On Dec. 7th, just before the group went to make their meal, a bomb blew them out of the hanger where they were working (00:45:55:00) o The men left the hanger, made and ate their “mid-day” meal, then returned to the hanger and worked to repair damage that had been done by the bomb to surrounding aircraft (00:46:10:00) o About three or four hours after the bomb exploded, the men heard on the radio that the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor (00:46:34:00) o Bleil has read accounts of officers stationed on the base claiming to have been sleeping under the wings of the airplanes the night of the Japanese attack and those are flat-out lies (00:47:03:00) § Although the pilots were supposed to be on alert, they were all sleeping in their bunks (00:47:22:00) § Earlier that night, the officers in the squadron had had a party celebrating that they were half-way through their enlistments; originally, Bleil and the men suspected the first bomb was in retaliation for the officers having their party (00:47:31:00) o The first bomb was interesting because before the attack, a squadron based at Iba had radar and were tracking a flight of Japanese planes flying from Manila Bay into the South China Sea (00:48:10:00) § However, as the radar at Iba tracked the larger group of Japanese planes in the bay, a single Japanese bomber came in low and dropped the bomb on Nichols Field (00:48:45:00) · As time passed toward the end of the year, things started going a little faster; the pilots began encountering more unidentified aircraft (00:49:28:00) o On Thanksgiving Day, one of the airplanes was lost and once the men had recovered the wreckage, one of the technical sergeants said the airplane had strange-looking holes in it (00:49:39:00) o Everybody passed off the possibility that the Japanese had shot the airplane down; instead, they where focusing on pilot error (00:50:22:00) · On Dec. 8th, Bleil and the other men in his group were leaving the hangar to go to sleep when they met the squadron commander, who was carrying a piece of paper saying war had not been declared and to keep the squadron’s airplanes on the ground (00:51:23:00) o However, the squadron commander told Bleil to get anything that could fly gassed, armed, and ready to fly; every airplane in the squadron that could fly was in the air by 8:30 (00:51:56:00) o Once the airplanes were in the air, the squadron commander told Bleil to stay on the line and be ready to service any aircraft that needed to be re-fueled or rearmed (00:52:20:00) o Bleil and his group stayed on the line and around eleven o’clock, the airplanes began coming back; one fighter circled the field with a Japanese fighter on his tail and behind the Japanese fighter was another American fighter (00:52:35:00) § The Japanese fighter shot up the first American fighter and the second American fighter shot up the Japanese fighter (00:52:54:00) o After the Japanese fighter was destroyed, a truck drove up with the men’s lunch, two hard-boiled eggs, a sandwich, and cup of coffee (00:53:07:00) § As the men were eating, they saw a bunch of aircraft flying to the east and �although many just assumed the squadron was getting new airplanes, someone pointed out that the aircraft were not American (00:53:24:00) § Just as the men realized the incoming aircraft were Japanese, the aircraft peeled off and strafed the airfield (00:53:44:00) · Most of the men ran into a rice paddy to the east of the airfield, where they endured the Japanese strafing (00:53:51:00) o The Japanese aircraft first strafed the airfield from east to west, circled around, strafed the field again, this time from south to north, and then left; a little while later, Japanese bombers attacked the airfield (00:54:08:00) o When the Japanese attack began, all of the squadron’s aircraft were in the air except for the aircraft that had been shot up (00:54:31:00) · After the initial Japanese attack, all the 17th Pursuit’s airplanes had to land at Clark Field because the runway at Nichols Field was short and it was impossible to land a fullyarmed airplane there (00:54:56:00) o The rest of the 17th Squadron also moved to Clark Field and worked to patch up those airplanes that had been shot by the Japanese (00:55:34:00) o There were not protective revetments at Clark Field because the Filipinos would not allow the Americans to build them (00:55:46:00) o As the pilots would return to Clark Field, they would share what information they had with the ground crews (00:56:29:00) § The most devastating news that the men received was that no one could find General McArthur; although historians claim McArthur was suffering from psychological amnesia, Bleil and the other men simply attributed his absence to cowardice (00:56:36:00) § Nevertheless, without McArthur, the men were just sitting around, waiting for their next orders (00:57:07:00) o After their initial attack on the 8th, the Japanese strafed Clark Field every day, usually after noon (00:57:18:00) o Although there were B-17 bombers stationed at Clark Field that could have bombed the island of Formosa, where the Japanese were staging the attacks, which would have ended the war quickly, the bombers did not have permission to take off (00:57:41:00) § Instead, the bombers sat lined up on the ground and were shot-up during the Japanese strafing runs (00:57:57:00) · Bleil and the other ground crew stayed at Clark Field repairing shot-up airplanes until Christmas Eve (00:58:07:00) o Prior to leaving Clark, the men heard all kinds of rumors about where they would be sent and they were eventually sent to the province of Bataan (00:58:33:00) o Gen. McArthur disagreed with the war plan that the military had laid out, codenamed “Orange 3” and instead insisted on defeating the Japanese forces at the beaches (00:58:42:00) § However, there are 14,000 miles of beaches in the Philippines and based on the American troop strengths on the islands at the time, they could average about three or four per mile (00:59:09:00) · Apart from the American forces, the only reliable Filipino forces were the scouts, who were very good (00:59:33:00) �§ Along with the American ground forces, mostly part of the 31st Infantry Division, there was also the 17th Pursuit, the 20th Pursuit, the 21st Pursuit, and the 34th Pursuit, as well as several bomber groups: the 19th, 27th, 28th, amongst others (00:59:45:00) · With the 31st Infantry, there was also the 192nd and the 194th Tank Battalions and the 803rd Engineer Battalion; nevertheless, there were not a lot of “traditional” infantry fighting men (01:00:45:00) · The only anti-aircraft weapons available to the men were .50caliber machine guns at Nichols Field (01:00:37:00) o To get to Bataan, Bleil and the other men boarded a small, inner-island transport boat (01:01:09:00) § Before moving to Bataan, there had been rumors that the squadron would be pulled back to either Australia or Hawaii (01:01:18:00) o All the time, Gen. McArthur maintained that stopping the Japanese on the beaches was the best strategy; however, the Americans ended up losing most of their food and ammunition once the Japanese attacked and pushed them back (01:01:37:00) § Therefore, by the time the 17th Pursuit had retreated to Bataan on Christmas, McArthur reverted back to the original war plan (01:02:09:00) · Once on Bataan, the men found out that nothing had been prepared; the engineers were busy plowing out a rice paddy to make room for aircraft to land (01:02:19:00) o Meanwhile, McArthur had retreated to Malinta Tunnel, earning himself the nickname “Dugout Doug” from the soldiers stationed on Bataan (01:02:35:00) § To get back at the soldiers who gave him the nickname, on Christmas Eve 1948, McArthur exonerated all the Japanese personnel charged with war crimes and sentenced from thirty years to life in prison (01:03:07:00) o Once on Bataan, Bleil worked as a crew chief, first while the squadron was stationed at Pilar Field then when the squadron moved to Cabcaben Field; Bleil stayed as a crew chief until January 18th (01:03:51:00) § The men had been bombed on the 16th, after which McArthur promised that thousands of men and ships were on their way to help in the Philippines but would have to fight their way through the Japanese before retreating to Australia (01:04:14:00) § After the bombing on the 16th, the airstrip at Cabcaben was not operational, so the airplanes were sent to Bataan Field (01:05:03:00) o After the airplanes were moved to Bataan Field, the 17th Pursuit was moved again and the 21st Pursuit moved into their old position; all the mechanics were made to join previously-formed platoon (01:05:21:00) § On January 9th, the 17th Pursuit meet in a park and the men were divided into three platoons, which were then given different beaches to defend; Bleil himself was assigned to 1st Platoon (01:05:50:00) · Part of the 803rd Engineers were also assigned to the beaches along with forces from the other pursuit squadrons (01:06:51:00) · For the most part, the men on the beaches guarded the trails leading away from the beach (01:07:09:00) o On January 26th, the men were sent to attack a party of Japanese soldiers that had landed further down the beach (01:07:19:00) �§ The men arrived on January 27th; however, the night before, they had been stopped by an enemy machine gun nest, which managed to kill one of the officers in the unit (01:07:51:00) · The men destroyed the machine gun with some hand grenades before moving on to the beach, where they came under fire from Japanese forces (01:08:30:00) · The men would have been pinned down except that other they managed to crawl across a dry river gulch to take the high ground; once they had the high ground, it took the men five days to clear out the Japanese forces (01:08:50:00) § After clearing out the Japanese forces on the beach, the men were ordered to move north to rejoin the remainder of the squadron (01:09:15:00) o Once the men rejoined the 17th, the squadron moved behind the 34th Pursuit, arriving on the February 1st, where they proceeded to get into a large firefight with Japanese forces who were arriving (01:09:21:00) § At the time, there were between forty-five and fifty men in the 17th Pursuit and about a hundred men in the 34th Pursuit, along with a dozen Filipino scouts (01:09:45:00) § Nevertheless, the combined force managed to kill all the Japanese soldiers who were landing on the beach (01:10:01:00) · However, according to what was reported to the news, it was only the Filipino scouts who fought off the Japanese (01:10:12:00) o While fighting as infantry, the men in Bleil’s platoon used M1903 Springfield rifles and corroded ammunition that did not fire properly (01:10:25:00) § One of the men was assigned to operation an air-cooled, .30-caliber Lewis machine gun, which was probably the best gun the men had (01:10:34:00) § The other two platoons used .50-caliber machine guns that men had taken off crashed aircraft and mounted on jury-rigged tripods (01:10:46:00) § Most of the men in the platoons had hunted before, including Bleil, so using guns was not something entirely foreign to them (01:12:07:00) o At one point, the men were advancing to take a road; however, thick under- and over-growth made it impossible to even see the man next to him (01:12:35:00) § Eventually, the men began yelling back and forth to establish where everyone was located; the men never even thought that the yelling would give away their position to the Japanese (01:13:24:00) · Over time, the squadron fought in a series of battles that the men would come label “the Battle of the Points”, beginning with Aglaloma Bay from January 7th until February 1st, Quinauan Point on February 2nd and Anyasan on February 10th and 11th (01:10:08:00) o The fighting at Anyasan ended up being the last battle that the men were involved in (01:15:06:00) § During the fighting, the men managed to capture some Japanese officers who claimed that although there would not be any fighting in March, by April 1st, all the American forces would be annihilated (01:15:14:00) · The officer claimed the Japanese forces were receiving reenforcements from soldiers who had fought in Singapore (01:15:26:00) �o On February 23rd, the men were moved from a beach on the west coast of Bataan to a beach on the south coast of the peninsula, which ended up being rather steep and not a good place for the Japanese to attempt a landing (01:15:42:00) · By the time the American surrender finally came, Bleil had lost about forty-five to fifty pounds, like most everyone else in the squadron (01:16:18:00) o The men were living on wormy rice and any food they could scrounge from the jungle; as well, the men did not have any medicine except for powdered quinine, which they had to take every morning before breakfast (01:16:28:00) § The men debated having to suffer taking the quinine to eat the wormy soup or just forgoing everything and not eat, which a lot of the men did; however, the officers yelled at the soldiers who chose the latter for not taking their daily dosage of quinine (01:17:15:00) · Many of the old-time officers in the squadron flew south with the B-17 bombers as the airplanes retreated with the top generals in the Philippines; some of the pilots stayed but others chose to fly out (01:17:39:00) o The pilots who did retreat promised to return with airplanes for the squadron; however, although the airplanes were put together in Australia, they were never flown back to the Philippines (01:18:29:00) § The men who remained on Bataan asked the pilots after the war why they never returned and the pilots claimed the McArthur would not allow them to return (01:18:58:00) Bataan Death March / P.O.W.(01:19:12:00) · When the surrender of the remaining American forces in the Philippines was accepted by the Japanese, most of Bleil’s unit surrendered at Mariveles Field and soon after, on April 10th, they began the infamous Bataan Death March (01:19:12:00) o The Japanese gathered all the Americans on April 9th, did not feed them, began the March on April 10th and Bleil did not receive any food, water or rest until April 15th; at the end of the march, the Japanese gave each of the Americans a ball of rice to eat and crammed between one-hundred and one-hundred-and-fifty men into a small boxcar (01:19:31:00) § While squeezed into the boxcar, the short men ended up dying from a lack of air (01:20:24:00) o Looking back, Bleil cannot remember what kept him going for the five days without food, water, or rest (01:20:41:00) o The Japanese guards during the march were very brutal to the men; the guards had been trained to kill their enemies, spit in their faces, kick them in their bodies, and just do not do anything favorable for them (01:20:58:00) o Once the men were out of the boxcar, the Japanese stabbed anyone who had fainted or had died with a bayonet or samurai sword (01:21:46:00) · After getting off the train, Bleil and the other men walked ten or fifteen miles to the first death camp at O’Donnell, where men were dying at an average rate of between twohundred and two-hundred-and-fifty a day (01:22:04:00) o The men stayed at O’Donnell for a month and the entire time, it was very depressing because their friends were dying, the men had ulcers, maggots were all over everything and the situation throughout the entire camp was not conducive �for being able to survive (01:22:31:00) o Bleil eventually left O’Donnell with a group of three-hundred men to work as truck drivers and mechanics (01:22:53:00) § After they had moved, the men who did not already have malaria contracted it (01:23:28:00) § The men were tasked with building a bridge over a river and constructing ten miles of road, down to Tayabas Bay, which they did in (01:23:35:00) § In sixty-four days, the number of men who could walk went from threehundred down to five; everyone else was either dead or too sick to even stand up properly (01:23:53:00) · At one point after the war, a man claimed to have worked on the bridge when Bleil knew that he had not; when Bleil confronted the man, all the man said was “who cares?” (01:24:09:00) o After working on the road detail, Bleil was in the infirmary to combat an infectious disease, dysentery, he had contracted (01:24:42:00) § At that point, Bleil acknowledged the possibility that he was going to die in the hospital and he turned to God for salvation (01:25:09:00) · While working during the night at Nichols field, Bleil’s only entertainment was going to the movies and on Sundays, going to movies meant going to Church because it was impossible to find a seat after Church was over (01:25:28:00) · It was while going to Church to wait for the movie that Bleil heard about salvation from a fire and brimstone chaplain (01:25:47:00) · After Bleil made the connection with God, his life became better and when he returned home, the only thing he returned home with was a bitterness towards the government (01:26:23:00) § Apart from dysentery, Bleil also suffered from Beriberi, a disease that almost all the soldiers suffered with and resulted from a deficiency on Vitamin B-1 (01:26:42:00) · With Beriberi, one of the first things the men lost was their distal nervous system; the first phase of the disease was a “dry stage” and was very painful, to the point that even a flying buzzing around a soldier’s feet was irritating (01:26:51:00) · Eventually, the men swelled up with edema fluid, which ended up stopping some of the pain; however, the fluid would keep building up, until the men looked like bloated zombies (01:27:21:00) o Bleil himself happened to contract cerebral Beriberi, which caused his head to swell up (01:27:28:00) · The third phase of the disease was high-output failure, where the men’s hearts were dilated and working very hard to pump enough blood through the body (01:27:51:00) · The disease itself was quite treatable with thiamine but none of the men received any; Bleil himself was in the third phase three different times (01:28:28:00) o The Japanese were not interested in the any of the prisoners surviving, so they made no effort to treat the disease; �however, they needed men to work in a local mill, so they ended up giving out some medicine, which came in the product used to clean their rice (01:28:56:00) o Some of the men refused to take the medicine and ended up dying (01:29:56:00) o Some of the Japanese guards were Christians and Bleil was surprised to learn that there were roughly four-hundred-thousand Japanese Christians before the war started (01:30:17:00) § Some of the Christians guards would actually punish the guards who mistreated the prisoners (01:30:23:00) § The guard for Bleil’s section never hit any of the prisoners or mistreated any of them (01:30:46:00) · The guard claimed to dislike the Japanese military as much, if not more so, than the prisoners did because he felt like he had been given a raw deal in the military (01:31:03:00) o Bleil and the other prisoners did a lot of sabotage, figuring they would have only one chance and the guards were going to kill them anyway (01:31:46:00) § Every opportunity the men had to steal food or damage property, they took the chance (01:32:01:00) § The men had more opportunities the perform sabotage once they had left the Philippines for Japan because once they were in Japan, the men received different jobs in industry, such as working at a steel foundry, which Bleil did for two years (01:32:28:00) · Bleil left the Philippines on September 18th, 1943, aboard the Taga Maru, which was a Japanese transport ship (01:32:59:00) o After leaving the Philippines, the ship sailed to Formosa, where it stayed for a week, during which the ship endured an American bombing raid, before leaving the island in the middle of a tropical storm (01:33:11:00) o From Formosa to Japan, a lot of the supplies on the deck of the ship were washed overboard and the ship finally arrived in Moji, Japan on October 6th (01:33:42:00) § Fifty-seven of the men aboard the ship did not survive the voyage from the Philippines to Japan and number of the ones who did survive died after the ship had arrived (01:34:04:00) § Bleil estimates that there were probably close to fifteen hundred men around the ship when it left the Philippines (01:34:22:00) o Once in Japan, some of the men disembarked at Moji and the other continued on to China to work in mines (01:34:41:00) o After he arrived in Japan, Bleil ended up working in a steel foundry in the village of Hirohata, where he helped unload coal and ore ships (01:34:59:00) § At one point, Bleil and the other men in his detail tried to sink one of the ships but they could not turn a valve (01:35:19:00) § At one point, the Japanese assigned Bleil the job of “skimming” slag out of the furnace; however, the Japanese neglected to give Bleil any protective eyewear, so he would just close his eyes and rake out the steel in the furnace (01:35:42:00) · However, the Japanese did not like the Bleil was doing it this way �because he was losing some of the material, so they re-assigned him to another job, lining ladles with firebrick (01:35:58:00) § With the ladles, Bleil and the other men managed to mess that up as well, so that the Japanese could not turn the ladles off and had to drop all the molten steel on the floor (01:36:12:00) · Each ladle was about eight to ten feet tall and five feet in diameter that the Japanese would pick up with a crane and fill with a special kind of steel that had cooked for thirteen hours and was used for making gears (01:36:26:00) · All the gears were laid out on the floor in sand molds and the Japanese would take the ladle from one mold to another to fill each one up, one at a time (01:36:47:00) o However, once Bleil and the men sabotaged the ladles, the Japanese could only pour a single mold (01:37:01:00) · The Japanese would get very angry and often punish the Korean prisoners also working in the foundry; the Japanese did not know the American prisoners were sabotaging the ladles (01:37:26:00) o Bleil and the other soldiers did not receive anything from the Red Cross and only received mail from home after sending home pre-written cards saying that they were fine and the Japanese were treating them well (01:38:12:00) § Before Bleil deployed, his mother moved and he did not know her new address, so whenever he sent one the of the cards home, he would address it as “general delivery”; however, instead of being delivered, the card would be put into a circular file (01:38:31:00) · Bleil’s mother eventually got a letter from the military saying that Bleil was “Missing in Action, Presumed Dead”; she did not actually receive a letter from Bleil until late 1944 (01:39:04:00) § A missionary eventually told Bleil what was happening with his mail and suggest that if Bleil ever received another chance to send a card, he should send the card to someone else who he knew the address of (01:39:25:00) · Bleil did receive another set of cards in late 1943 and this time, he sent them to his sister (01:39:47:00) · Eventually, Bleil and some of the other more prominent saboteurs were taken out of the foundry and sent to Toyama to work in an aluminum factory carrying materials in baskets on their backs (01:40:02:00) o After the men were in Toyama for a short while, they were re-assigned to unload ships filled with beans, corn, cement, etc. (01:40:56:00) § Working on the ships was productive for the men because they were able to steal some of the beans and corn; on the other hand, the men hated working on the cement ships because they would breath in the cement particles and sometimes, when they would cough to clear their throats, they would cough up blood (01:41:16:00) § The Japanese would supply the men with muslin underpants that tied at the ankles and waist and bell bottom pants, which made it easy for the men to steal the beans and corn; they would tie the bottoms extremely tight and then fill them up with the beans and corn (01:41:57:00) �§ The men went through an inspection every day and the Japanese would always ask if the men had any beans; the men would say they did and would shake a handful of beans in a metal box (01:42:31:00) · The Japanese would dump the beans in the box out and hit the men in the head a couple of times before sending them on their way with their pant legs full of beans and corn (01:42:47:00) § Thanks to the beans and corn supplementing their diets, the men’s health improved dramatically (01:42:57:00) · While in Japan, the Japanese would tell the men all the bad things that were happening to the American forces will the Korean prisoners would tell the men all the bad things that were happening to the Japanese forces (01:43:18:00) o When the men received information from three different areas, they accepted the information as legitimate (01:43:34:00) o Through this system, the men knew what islands were being lost by the Japanese, especially Iwo Jima and Okinawa (01:43:44:00) o Early in his time in Japan, Bleil saw what the men had labeled as “Roosevelt’s Regular Mail”; a little after noon, he looked up and saw a set of four vapor trails high in the sky, indicating American forces were close enough to be flying over Japan (01:44:24:00) § Although American bombing raids happened close to where the men were, the bombers never directly attacked the factory where they were working; the men knew other areas were being bombed because the Korean prisoners told them about the bombings (01:45:13:00) § When the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb, the Korean prisoners were rattled; however, even though the men had no way of knowing what type of bomb was dropped, they were glad it was effective (01:45:30:00) End of the War / Reflections (01:46:22:00) · One morning, the men woke up and all the Japanese guards were gone; nevertheless, the men stayed in the camp for a couple of weeks without any guards (01:46:22:00) o However, there was not much food on the camp and the only time the men received supplies was when a couple of 55 galleon drums were parachuted onto the camp; for the most part, the men continued to eat the soy beans they had stolen from the Japanese (01:46:45:00) § Anyone who managed to get one of the barrels tended to keep its contents for himself; two men ended up killing themselves when the found a barrel full of meat and ate it all (01:47:47:00) o Eventually, an airplane flew over and dropped a series of messages onto the camp that told the men what they were supposed to do, which was to board a train and head to the town of Aomori, where the Navy picked them up (01:48:16:00) o Once out of Japan, the men were eventually transferred from a hospital ship to a destroyer, which then took them into Yokohama, where they were bunked in a steel warehouse and given fresh clothes (01:48:42:00) o The men stayed in the warehouse for a few days before they were taken to the Atsugi Air Field and flown to Okinawa, where they stayed for about a week before returning to the Philippines (01:49:09:00) �· · · · o The men stayed in the Philippines for a month, where they were forced to sign a gag order; when some of the men refused to sign, the military threatened to not send them home (01:49:33:00) After the men returned to the United States, they were sent to a hospital in Florida and went through a physical, which determined the men were sterile, had extremely enlarged hearts, and would not live to see forty (01:50:39:00) o Bleil was eventually sent back to Fort Sheridan, Illinois in June and was discharged from there (01:51:14:00) o When Bleil was discharged, he was broke and although he tried to borrow some money from the Red Cross, they refused, saying that if they did that, everyone would try to get money from them (01:51:27:00) § Instead, Bleil ended up needing hitch-hike in order to get back home to Michigan (01:51:55:00) o As he was being discharged, Bleil asked how to get out of Fort Sheridan to get to the highway to get home; however, the man misinterpreted the question and only told Bleil how to get out of the building (01:52:09:00) Once they were out of the service, Bleil and the other POW survivors tried to sue the Japanese but President Truman said they could not sue the Japanese because they were partners with the United States (01:52:31:00) o Every other nation who had prisoners taken by the Japanese did sue and were handsomely paid (01:53:14:00) Although someone suggested Bleil did not have the ability to make it through college and suggested he take up a trade, he graduated from Michigan State University as an Organic Chemist and from the University of Michigan Medical School as a Physician (01:54:07:00) The title of the book Bleil wrote about his experiences is Consigned to Death Six Times, which references six different times Bleil was “ordered” to die (01:55:04:00) o The first time was when President Roosevelt marked the forces in the Philippines as a lost cause ten days after the war (01:55:09:00) o The second time was when Gen. McArthur, after the men had been surviving on half-rations, said “when the food runs out, mount an offensive and kill as many Japanese as you can before they kill you” (01:55:35:00) o The third time was when Gen. McArthur, just before leaving the Philippines, said, “Don’t give up the islands until the last man is dead” (01:55:04:00) § Based on those orders, if anyone had survived after that, they would have been guilty of insubordination (01:56:19:00) o The fourth time was when the men captured the Japanese officer at the Battle of Anyasan and the officer said that all the American forces would be annihilated without question (01:56:30:00) o The fifth time was when the Americans surrendered and a Japanese colonel said they would all be annihilated eventually; the men would either be started, beaten, or worked to death and if they did not obey every order of the guards on the march, the guards had the right to kill them (01:56:53:00) o The sixth and final time was when an order was sent out from Tokyo ordering that all POWs be killed and the different methods that could be used, either killing the �POWs individually or as a group; the orders were very clear that once the POWs were dead, there was not to be any trace of them (01:57:47:00) § However, those orders had to be abandoned when Army Rangers launched a successful raid against the POW camp at Cabanatuan and were able to uncover information about the POWs (01:58:18:00) § The original order went out in late 1941 and was intercepted by American forces, which caused the Ranger raid to occur (01:58:41:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bleil, Eugene (Interview outline and video), 2012 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bleil, Eugene Description An account of the resource Eugene Bleil was born in 1920 and grew up mostly on farms outside of the city. He was accepted to Eastern Michigan University, but dropped out after a semester, traveled with his brother looking for work, and wound up enlisting in the Army Air Corps. The brothers trained as Selfridge Field in Michigan and passed the tests for pilot training, but failed the physical, and trained as mechanics at Scott Field in Illinois. Assigned to the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Bleil shipped out to the Philippines in 1940. Based at Nichols Field outside of Manila, the squadron trained there until the war with Japan began, and then transferred first to Clark Field, and then to Bataan. When the aircraft were withdrawn, the crews became provisional infantry and fought off Japanese landing attempts along the coast until the surrender in April. Bleil survived the Bataan Death March and three years in labor camps in the Philippines before being sent to Japan to work in foundries. Bleil and some of the other prisoners developed a talent for sabotage, but were never caught by the Japanese. After the war, Bleil was told by Army doctors that he would not live very long or be able to father children. Even so, he went back to college, became a doctor, raised a family and is still around to tell his story. He has also published a memoir, Condemned to Death Six Times. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Air Corps World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-03-13 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BleilE1350V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12835f31522f30111e492491868f8f11.jpg fea2473da0210d7efcb0452ddb55e1b8 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_CC-20 Title A name given to the resource Blenheim light bomber aircraft Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Blenheim German light bomber aircraft used in the early days of WWII, CC-20. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945 Germany Military education Airplanes, Military--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) 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/292793df1b725a64f122fb0a87398606.jpg 05ce3aa4e348cf6a0257f8036e8c51c3 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection 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 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <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 DC-01 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 Seidman Rare Books. PS2584.P2 B5 1902 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-01_Bindings0315 Title A name given to the resource Blennerhassett, or, The Decrees of Fate Description An account of the resource Binding of Blennerhassett, or, The Decrees of Fate: A Romance Founded upon Events in American History, by Charles Felton Pidgin, published by C.M. Clark Publishing Co., 1902. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings 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 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1902 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/423470c3a1459958362a9c615c4a0db3.pdf 8f256e9e76d45d689fb0ceb48badfec6 PDF Text Text I .,, The Men I s Club _ot Congregation AHA.VAS ISRA!l., rD recognition ani V&l"II appreciation I ; fOI' outataniing ani distinguished service to the victim• ot oppression presents this testimonial to Pieter Nicol.us Termaat Adriana Barbara Termaat who volunteered 1n the Resistance against persecution at the peril or life. April 10, 198) � 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 Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl 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 RHC-144_Termaat_AWD_1983-04-10-Ahavas-Isreal-343 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Congregation Ahavas Israel, Men's Club Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-04-10 Title A name given to the resource Blessings for Our Food Description An account of the resource Pamphlet of blessings and prayers for mealtime by the Men's Club of Congregation Ahavas Israel, in English and Hebrew Subject The topic of the resource Holocaust Remembrance Day Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</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 Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng he 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/f1a0d5b1da327ebed4eb7c8e80cf1f90.jpg f72220c9d2fa1344e14a888f057d29e8 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_046 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909-07-10 Title A name given to the resource Blind River Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of Blind River, Ontario, as viewed from boat. Subject The topic of the resource Ontario Blind River (Ont.) 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/b193bdd460df8e38a6c42a01c426e315.jpg b4d8392b0cb507020032547b67d30365 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 BlissJock Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Bliss, Jock Description An account of the resource Jock Bliss, Public Relations 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fbe073acd9d99e42c1afe95705beefdc.jpg 5faea1d432205e469b79d68dfc359644 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection 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 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <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 DC-01 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 Seidman Rare Books. PS3503.I1963 B55 1906 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-01_Bindings0459 Title A name given to the resource Blitzen the Conjurer Description An account of the resource Binding of Blitzen the Conjurer, by Frank M. Bicknell, published by Henry Altemus Company, 1906. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings 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 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906 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/ea9ae0247eadb5636d47ec2c64238011.mp4 b98cbe64cbdd6fefe0fc22e5fac0d8cd https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0bbec565788dd18a17145c7bc308d932.pdf 02d477bcf6db45807c1569334d2da6cd PDF Text Text Block, Kenneth Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Name of War: Korean War Interviewee’s Name: Kenneth Block Length of Interview: (1:16:37) Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Maluhia Buhlman Interviewer: “We’re talking today with Ken Block of Spring Lake, Michigan and the interviewer is James Smither of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project. Okay, start us off with some background on yourself and to begin with, where and when were you born?” I was born in Detroit, Michigan right in the middle of the Depression, 1932, had one older brother at that time. Interviewer: “Okay, now did you grow up in Detroit?” Spent my whole life in Detroit until the time I left with Uncle Sam’s tourist bureau. Interviewer: “Alright, and what did your family do for a living when you were growing up?” (00:33) My dad and mother both had come from Minnesota, we had no relatives, no friends, anything here. My dad, he was born in a barn so with my mother they had both been here since- in Minnesota, their family’s rather unusual I guess. My grandfather was born in the kingdom of [unintelligible] Hanover, there was no German country over there, and his- my great-grandfather was then born in 1828, and the other one goes way back. Fortunately all these records were available, in Germany and the one in Switzerland. Same thing, they came from Switzerland about the same time middle 1850’s, Minnesota wasn’t a state. �Block, Kenneth Interviewer: “Not yet, in the 60’s yeah.” My mother’s parents came from Munich, Germany and the other- my mother’s father’s family came from Luxembourg, which wasn’t a country then it was a principality, a Germanic principality. Interviewer: “Okay, now let’s see I think you said that one of your grandfather’s served in the civil war, was that right?” My grandfather’s brother, he was in Minnesota but they never got out of Minnesota because the Indian wars were taking place there, and they needed- and he was only 15 but he got a pension from serving so they took them pretty young at the time I guess. Interviewer: “Alright so why did your parents come to Michigan?” (2:03) Well they- there was no available farm land, my dad was the youngest and my mother was the youngest in big families, and my dad came and originally got a job in Flint, Michigan, general motor chevy bland, but you realize maybe that wasn’t what he really wanted as a career- it went maybe 24, 25. My mother- he wasn’t married yet you know, my mother from Bangor, Minnesota she was a one room school teacher in Minnesota, and heard about an apprenticeship program at Ford Motor. So he applied for it and he got accepted, for a tool and eye maker and ended up in half the tool and eye shops in Detroit. Never started by former apprentices or on that program at Ford Motor Company, which might be why Ford finally cut out the apprentice program where they’re training all those people. Took off or finally left, or they trained him in 1932 and 1931, and there were a lot of layoffs in the factories, the real depths of their approach back then hadn’t been done in 1929, and yeah we did go back to Minnesota for a short period of time but when he came back he got a job at Brady’s manufacturer institute as a tool and eye maker- in the tool and eye shop. Where everyone- where the war started and he got a job training people on certain machines. This would’ve been in 40- 1941, so he was now in a sort of classroom situation with machines and showing Chinese people how to do these operations, he did that many more �Block, Kenneth evenings. Interviewer: “Okay, so by then there’s plenty of work now because we’re making a lot of things.” Yeah, then he and two other guys he met opened a tool and eye shop, when it was pretty iffy in the late 1940’s and there was kind of another semi-depression in 1949. But each took terms as head of corporation, and each took turns going on unemployment, but anyway turned out they had the only set of organized Sherman tanks. They had bought a ton of scraps when they were doing whatever they could to pay, buy surplus machines, they bought a box- dynabox, mix machine parts. You just had to bet, their bad luck turned out a brand new Allison aircraft engine and it had never been touched, so they made a few bucks with forging. They were able to get into the tanker business and were very successful, made quite a bit of money. Interviewer: “Right because we were using a lot of Sherman tanks in Korea at that point.” (5:13) Yeah, gain breaking down- my mother would, every year, she had jobs working at Sears and in the bar but she’s- when the war started she was an excellent seamstress and she got a job on the motor fibers in a parachute sewing business and she was so good at it she became an inspector but she only did it because she had three kids and my youngest brother [unintelligible] Interviewer: “Yeah because there weren’t regular day care facilities or things like that on those days.” So anyways, then my dad died of prostate cancer in 1970. Interviewer: “Okay well let’s back up here now to your stories. So you’re too young for World War II yourself, you’re still a kid in school.” I was 13 when the war ended. �Block, Kenneth Interviewer: “And then when did you finish high school?” 19- actually they were so hard up for high schools they had all this imploding of people from all over the country to work here. High school consisted of going to campus for half a day, if you were a freshman or sophomore you went from noon to about four o’clock, and if you were a junior or senior you went from about eight to 12 o’clock. So the classroom is devoid of pretty much any good thing, I had to sit with- my brother and I had such a bad high school we had such a bad situation that in terms of working- pin in a bowling alley, it can’t be much worse than death. We had a part of time that wasn’t particularly good, I went to Wayne- I didn’t do a college prep program and my mother- I was surprised because my mother had been a teacher but none of them were too involved in looking at what we were doing in high school. So I got outta high, I had to take a test to get into Wayne so I did pass and got into Wayne. My brother- which we’ll talk about to God, went to a place- he was very interested in television, got a job with Bad Man Monk’s, I think it was called in Detroit who sold television many times since cell one, and the people would make a part- so much a month being that early payment, and I didn’t go in and confiscate the television bag. They’d maybe have to do some repairs so he was into that, and it really helped him out because he went to an electronics institute, he was so interested in the electronics, and he was just ready when the war comes along where they gave him a deferment for a year to let him finish his program there. Interviewer: “Okay, and now you’re talking about the Korean war?” (8:17) Yeah Interviewer: “Okay, but you started Wayne State and what were you studying there?” Up until the time I got shipped to Texas I was in the geology program, but that’s one of the reasons I accepted the idea of going into the Air Force full time. With a geology major and- I was going with a girl, her cousin…he and I became pretty good friends, he was a geology major. [he said] “Damn, a geology major from Wayne isn’t gonna getcha nothing. You better get �Block, Kenneth something that’s gonna earn you a living,” and I thought how do you switch together all these geology classes and about 20 hours of geology, semester hours of geology, and you know I can still make a change but if I do switch first I’m deferred but they’re not gonna defer me if I’m totally switching the program. I’m not gonna graduate for four more years or something so I thought, you know well I was good at accounting. I took an accounting class, a bookkeeping class in high school. I was very good at it, and I majored in accounting. It was funny because I know I could get a job with an accounting degree. Interviewer: “Right, so how did you wind up going into the service?” (9:31) Well the physics class I was taking in a semester that the Korean war started, in that spring semester talk did- a man that mentioned talk to me- well he didn’t talk to me he was Chinese, but he knew I was interested in meteorology. Said “Hey we got this weather gauge thing on the Selfridge, come out one weekend you get four days pay for being there for the weekend.” You know whatever, so why not come for a week. Interviewer: “So this is a reserve unit?” Yeah, Air Force Reserve. I never heard that much about national guard as far as everything we were involved in at Selfridge. At that time now its a national base but at that time it was Air Force reserve. So I went out and the first meeting was the day I got sworn in down at the federal building and when everything got written I don’t think I ever, I didn’t even have to take a physical that’s how everything was running. So I went up there in the one meeting, they’d come up one weekend a month in June, and then the war broke out June 25th. So then, I’m sitting around that right- that last five or four days in June and maybe the first four, five days in July, with a classmate of mine. We’re not a close friend but we knew each other pretty well and we were talking, we’re sitting around and he was in the Army Reserves, and then he- he was one of those guys that they were still drafting in 1947-48 a lot maybe 30-40,000 a year or 20,000 but he for two years he got in to get their basic training done. They said “We’re gonna let you out in 60 days, but then you have to be in the active reserves for the balance of the active reserve training.” Well it sounded to them like a good deal, so he was updating classes and he was in here and now �Block, Kenneth he was concerned. Quite a story, so I saw him then probably- within a couple of days I’d find out later, [unintelligible] then that was the last I saw him we were standing there seeing who was gonna get called up first, and I come back in September, late September, and I go to this coffee shop, this wings and coffee it was right across the street from Home Main if you’re familiar with the university, and I saw him and I said “Hey, what the hell happened to you?” and he said “Boy do I have a story.” He said “The week after I talked to you we got called up, and all of those guys have been put in the army reserve.” and he said “We did bullshit, we didn’t do nothing.” He said “They shipped up to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin and then to Washington State. I was in Korea in August, I was in Korea two weeks, and I got machine gunned across the back and broke the bone in one leg. But the others healed up and they shipped me back.” and he said “They’re letting me get- I think it was at that veteran’s hospital there in Allen Park they were working on and I said “Man are you gonna have a great paper to write for ‘what I did on my summer vacation’” but there were so many stories of that type of guys. Their whole life going through this tumultuous change just in short periods of time. Interviewer: “Okay so what winds up happening to you? You’ve joined this Air Force reserve based at Selfridge Air Force Base Michigan, and then- but you’re not activated yet?” (13:40) No they never did activate, if anything they probably eliminated the outfit. Interviewer: “So, what happens to you? You’re still in school then, this is now the fall of 1950, and how long do you stay in school like what else goes on?” I was able to stay in that reserve unit while it was still active up until 19- the fall of 1951. Interviewer: “Okay, now while you were in the reserve unit, what kind of training, if any did you get?” We just went there and worked with the guys, the enlisted men, you know releasing the balloons and checking dew point temperature, etc. It was education for me because it turned out- oh they �Block, Kenneth had three officers that turned out, but one of the officers had four days away from it where my parents house was, and so I could just drive with him on the weekends that we’re out there. And hell it was only a 15 mile ride which is rather convenient, we would collect all the data and then the officers of course- in those days we did have a small radar set but that was really too much. They might introduce- an introduction to what the fax machine is thermal fax. But that’s actually what the New York Times are built for because our machine said property of New York Times because they used it to send pictures. You know like thermal, because it was on a roller like an old piano player and a needle went across and you know made this picture and then we would record all the temperatures from air to the base that was coming into us and the median area. We’d have that plotted out- we didn’t do that you know in those days to be a meteorologist you had to have a master’s degree in mathematics, because you ended up having to work with all these formulas, and then they would create a map and then the other- but this had to be done on that. It’s amazing that base men- meteorologist, he loved it that these guys came up and gave him a weekend off every month. So you know there wasn’t really any training, I think it’s amazing that I had you know barely any basic training. Here’s a picture of me, this is December of 1950, when I was 18 years old. That was our backyard, we had this one uniform- but that was a December uniform, but that was the only uniform I had, so I had to wear that every time we wore our uniform in the summer, the same uniform. Interviewer: “Alright, and so are you following what’s happening in Korea at this point?” (16:43) I was very interested in what was going on, watched it carefully, very interested at airports at that time. The blade- some of the blades that were there were still C-46’s, you know the C-119 Flying Boxcars, they took those immediately and they needed those right that summer over in Korea. Interviewer: “So the aircraft that had been based at Selfridge before the war, those transport planes they all get sent out, the personnel get sent out.” Now in the Air Force carriers at Selfridge had been sent out as a troop carrier wing, being with F-86’s. That was the first line, you had anti-aircraft guns set up on Belle Isle, so that was, you �Block, Kenneth know just for that year and a half, now what happened after you know then as I mentioned before I came back to Selfridge base when I was able to get myself involved. As I said before there was a number of deferments that had gone through already. I was deferred, first of all they let you finish your semester class, and then if you take this other test and you can’t pass that then you were deferred until you graduated, but then you would go in automatically with your graduation I guess. It gave you a train ticket and you’d serve two years, I knew a couple of fellas that had majored in chemistry and so on- graduated and then they ended up going in the army but unfortunately so many of them didn’t get the advantage that maybe some of the early draftees had. But you know it was a great deal, I got the G.I bill Interviewer: “So basically you’re spending I guess, initially you’re just in the reserves unit and that goes into late ‘51 and then what changes late in ‘51?” (18:44) I got- I figured if that reserve unit was gonna close down I need a I didn’t- If I was gonna go through in two years I might as well wait, go through, and get a program that was gonna get me a job and you know do the reverse. I’ll do my military assigned time now and go back to school when I get back, and then I’ll be on the G.I bill. Interviewer: “Okay because you changed your programs and so forth you put yourself a little bit behind. Okay, so you basically decide to go active duty at this point?” No, I was in the Air Force ROTC, I would’ve had two years to finish up yet with the Air Force without having had the first two years. I got- I don’t know they must’ve thought I had basic training or something, but anyway they admit. All I knew about it was I went down to register for a class and they did pay you a little bit of money. Before that the fall-and in the fall, in the winter, that winter, they closed down the Enid Air Force Base for three or for days for multiengine. Trying to talk you into going to cadets rather than just delay the program waiting for ROTC, armament officer, thought we were taking apart 20 millimeter and 50 caliber machine guns and stuff like that, and I was kind of mechanical but it was not something that really- that I was very interested in guns I was an expert in [unintelligible] I had the highest mark on the rifle range and there were like 10,000 that took it during that period. I had the highest score, been �Block, Kenneth shooting cartridge with a 22 since I was ten years old at first- 22 I bought in those days. I got on my bicycle with my paper route money, went down to Beaumont Park- I said I bought a 22 in box, a 22 Jeff, but didn’t get too much a chance to use it because my dad didn’t have enough gas ration ticket coupons to go up. They had a little cottage way up on Lake Michigan, so didn’t get much too much involved there. Interviewer: “Alright, so basically you’re in- so you stay in school but now you’re in the ROTC?” Yeah. Interviewer: “Alright, but you basically skip the first part of ROTC and they just let you join in the middle of the program?” (21:16) Yeah, because I was in the Air Force reserves and so the team- they got me discharged from the other- from the Air Force reserves. Interviewer: “Alright so now you’re in ROTC, now do you complete that program?” No, I would have had another year to go after this come- I was just going into- I would have been in it for two years. So I stayed in it and then at the end of the semester, of course the war hadn’t started yet, you turn your uniform and everything in and then they gotta close the office up on campus. I know they probably went home on their furloughs or whatever and it turned out with this friend of mine- this acquaintance of mine and me driving them out to Selfridge. Interviewer: “Okay, now you explained that to me off camera, can you kind of tell the story- you’re on camera so the audience will actually hear it.” Yeah, of course I lived in Detroit but I was usually down in, down at Wayne university. I had various jobs down there, I worked in the library on one occasion and on various others I had there. So I was in the ROTC as of May when I turned in my uniform I thought “Well what am I �Block, Kenneth going to do next semester?” I said “I don’t want to stay in this geology program that’s going nowhere for me. My marks were great but I could just pick any geology major at Wayne, and I thought “What am I gonna do with that next semester when I go down to register for classes, it’s like you know I’m not gonna be graduating at the end of next year. How does it work? Well I never had a chance to talk this over with anybody, so that is- situation developed where this acquaintance of mine needed a ride out to Selfridge. Interviewer: “Okay, so when is this that this happens?” (23:24) This all happened in…I’d say July. Interviewer: “Of what year?” 1950. Oh, I’m sorry this is going back to July of 1952. Interviewer: “Right okay so we’re July ‘52, you know somebody who needs to get to Selfridge, you don’t need to go there but?” Well I told him as a favor to him I said “I’ll buy the gas you get the car.” I was supposed to get a ride but I started- I made this appointment that’s all set up for me but I gotta go down to the federal building. You drive me to the federal building, pick up the papers and then we’ll drive out to Selfridge, and I said then you could just drop me back off you know I could get around Detroit on a bus then. Interviewer: “Okay so you take him up to Selfridge and what happens when you get there?” Well they gave me a physical. Interviewer: “Why are they giving you a physical?” �Block, Kenneth Well becauseInterviewer: “You just dropped him off.” The recruiter downtown had said “Why as long as you’re going out there with him, why don’t you go out and get a physical too? It’s a great flight physical I mean it cost under $10” and I thought for sure there’s no way they're gonna pass me, I’m wearing glasses! They’ll say “I’m sorry son but you don’t have 20/20 uncorrected vision.” So I get down there and I get the whole physical, I didn’t even know I passed the physical when I left. Interviewer: “Okay now was this a physical for pilot training?” (25:02) Yes this was strictly to go in the air- in the aviation cadet program which was- and I understood that to only because I’m talking to this acquaintance, that if for some reason you didn’t make ityou know physical or you just weren’t suited to this training that you only had to serve out about two years so you wouldn’t be drafted. Which sounds like you know, a can’t lose situation just because I gave up all my deferments I had now just to get into this, and now I have another one except I’ll be on active duty now for two years, and then I could go back after the two years and if I can take that sort of program I think I really should have. Interviewer: “Okay so you’ve gone there, you take the physical, and then what happens?” They dilated my eyes and went through the whole bit, I know it was a couple two, three hours, so then we get dressed and go home, and they said “Well we’ll let you know.” Well they did let me know, now I never saw my acquaintance so I don’t know if he passed or failed but I think I might have bumped into him and he said he didn’t pass, but anyway I get a letter two weeks later that said “you passed” and an envelope. I guess I must’ve signed something and not realized it but I hadn’t been sworn into anything, and because I still wasn’t in the Air Force- we would like to give you three more days of testing out on this new field in Illinois. Which is where we do allat least east of the Mississippi anyway, where you go through like the training and all these phases and all kinds of tests, paper test, ect. It’s three days of testing, I mean it was enjoyable, it �Block, Kenneth was entertaining, you know “What’s going on here?” but I’ll just go with the flow. So anyway, I come home and like a week or two later they say “You passed.” and I said “What do I do now” and they said “Well you can sign up now if you want to if you’re ever worried about getting drafted or something, because you’ve got no deferments left we’ve got you knocked off all these deferments.” So I said “Well you know this sounds pretty good.” I always loved everything about flight and the Air Force, you know that’s why I got into the Air Force reserves when I did. So go down- it was an interesting train trip. I was put in charge of this one car, we spent our first night- Now you got sworn in in the federal building, they took you over to old Fort Wayne in Detroit which has been there since the War of 1812 I guess. We stayed there that day and overnight, the next morning we were taken to the Grand Central Station. They had one car that was all our car so there were about 30 I guess or 40, it was a sleeper car, maybe it was 25 I can’t remember it was just a car and the reason I don’t remember too much is because I was the only one who had a little bit of Air Force reserves background, and I’d been to college, a little bit that they put me in charge. I had all the paperwork and all the guys, I was a big time guy here all of the sudden. So anyway there’s one young black fella that was there, and I could see he was really nervous he was the only one that was black, and I had been giving this special end car thing, I had my own room it was about the size of this room with the bunk beds and we had our own, it’s own sink. He said “I’m scared, I’m really scared about being in [unintelligible], would you mind…” He was just an 18 year old kid he was married to it, he looked like he was about 16. Interviewer: “So what was he afraid of? Just going south?” (29:20) Just being- He’d never been around white people before so I think it was more his concern than it for the white guys, they weren’t concerned about him obviously because they were 20 and he was just this one guy, and I said “Sure.” He just felt nervous, I had talked to him previously and I guess he figured I wasn’t- I said “Sure that's fine with me if you feel safer in here then sure, great.” and it was no trouble going down, the guys were all good. I said “Look, I don’t care what you have or what you do, just don’t give me any trouble, I don’t want to start my career in trouble because I let you guys get- If there’s any cans or anything you’ve got you drop them down the toilet so they drop on the railroad tracks. I don’t want any mess in the car and if we stop some place you better get your ass back here way early before the train takes off again.” So �Block, Kenneth we got all the way down to- Let’s see it was about two days of train travel we we’re talking 1500 mile travel or something down there and it wasn’t a super fast airplane. Interviewer: “Alright, now would it stop places you could get off?” Yeah, it’d go into the station and you know, whatever buy snacks, but they served us our food and everything right we didn’t leave the car they served us like box lunches or whatever. Interviewer: “Okay, because you are heading into the segregated south, so the black service man might have an interesting time if he’s in the wrong place or does the wrong thing, but nothing came up?” (30:50) Nothing came up I don’t know if he even got- I never got off, I never bothered going in to get anything but I don’t know maybe he did at random but we were going through states like Illinois, Missouri, I don’t know maybe the closes may have been would have been maybeInterviewer: “You might go through Arkansas, Louisiana, and then Texas.” And by that time I think we were probably- it was night travel. I don’t know, at least I never thought of the problem, I wasn’t aware that there was that much segregation. I just wasn’t aware and I don’t think most of the guys- A lot of them were up from the Flint area. Interviewer: “Sure, sure you’re all kind of from Michigan. So now you get down to San Antonio, now what happens?” Well you know you go through more of they, issue new uniforms and give you another physical. Which I don’t know I guess they gave you a physical or something down there and kind of clued you in as to what was going on. What the requirements were, what you couldn’t do and what you could do. Basically had a good experience in basic training I kind of enjoyed it, it was a long day I didn’t mind it though. �Block, Kenneth Interviewer: “Okay, so here you are getting Air Force basic training.” Right, it was 12 weeks. Interviewer: “Alright, and what does that actually consist of?” (32:06) Oh we went on night marches and they blow off dynamite off inside or something at night and they’d put you through a building with tear gas where you put a mask on. We had class, a lot of classes you had to take math and there’s things that might prepare you for various tank schools, and then you would use that- It’s also good information as to what kind of assignment they might give you some college math. So obviously I mean I did better than probably most of them, most of them were just high school there might have been one or two but I’m not aware of it, that they went beyond high school. Of course at that point in time 1950, probably about 10% of graduating classes went to college. Interviewer: “Right okay, so you do well in the testing, was this where you did the rifle range stuff too?” Oh yeah you know they were having problems in Korea they had some of the people there that didn’t know how to shoot a gun practically. So they want to make sure all the Air Force people would have some training so- but our basic weapon was just a carbine iron I was familiar with a Garand--rifles- I’d been around rifles all my life so, and that was enjoyable I was alright, a lot depended on the rifle you got too, how accurate it was. I think I just lucked out, I had a lot of training, as a matter of fact when I was in high school we had a rifle range in the basement, at Debbie high school you could come down there one night a week and shoot at targets they had. I guess high school ROTC they would practice in the basement with 22’s. Interviewer: “Okay now, was there also a lot of discipline?” I was used to discipline all my life so I didn’t think it was much worse. I think the officers I thought were- Oh not the officers, the… �Block, Kenneth Interviewer: “The sergeants or the NCO’s who were training you again.” Kind of- They were good but then they would carry it too far, it was rather funny as one of them found my classmates from Wayne it turns out he was in another group. The guys, as it turns out they got over- He was a Canadian, but he had joined the American Air Force, and he was a TI, and he had the same job as these guys that were over us had, so he knew me really well. I mean I knew him better than a lot of people, but there were classes a lot of basic, you know the rules, marching, I did a lot of marching. But I always enjoyed even marching, you know actual group marching like parade marching. I thought that was good physical exercise. Interviewer: “Alright, now the people you were training with were they potentially going to do any number of different things in the Air Force.” (35:14) You didn’t- They didn’t find out what they were assigned to and in those days you didn’t get to pick what you were gonna go into. You went into what they said, what they thought you were qualified for so. There was a rumor, and they would start rumors deliberately like, “Okay, this whole group is going to cook school.” or “This group is going into-” gosh don’t believe rumors. They’d feed us all this just to keep you, you know. Don’t pay too much attention to what people say because it’s all fake news. Interviewer: “Alright, so what happens to you now? Once you finish your training.” Well we get that last day where you know we’re actually there is when they start telling people, when they run and the guy says “We don’t know what to do with you.” but they brought over this book. It was this big loose leaf binder, and it had open positions. It had every air base in the United States, matter of fact there might have even been some in Europe I guess. I never got that far, so I look through and I “oh well let's see what’s at Selfridge.” Interviewer: “So are you-” �Block, Kenneth I looked at Selfridge, I had looked at a couple other places and said “ehh I don’t know about that” and like Dakota, I’ve got relatives in North Dakota but I didn’t want to go to North Dakota. Interviewer: “Okay, so why are they letting you pick?” Because they had to put me some place, there was over a year and a half left. Interviewer: “Alright but why wouldn’t they just assign you somewhere?” (36:51) Well that’s what I said, they were always very good to me the Air Force Reserves. Interviewer: “But was it because you tested well, was that part of it?” No, no just whatever it was I had to find it- Something in this book that I think [unintelligible] lowest level, so I just, they sent me up there. They could’ve just used me as a floor washer or permanent KPer or something. I accepted a slot at the 22 42nd, now that’s a regular Air Force actually it stands for Air Force Reserve Training Center. Which was part of the 10th Air Force which was also headquartered at Selfridge at that time. So I get up there and I hand them- you carried that service record with you, and I give it to the guy and the guy says- they had just requested a spot for a real low level flunky, I said, “Well, I can’t do this,” and he said “We’ve got a position open in the office, you know base of operations, right now for the 22 42nd for clerk typist, do you know how to type?” “Oh sure, I can type, I took typing,” and I could do 50, 60 words and was pretty good at it, and he said, “Oh great, that’s the same as a stenographer.” So I got to attend that position, which was interesting you know I type fast for [unintelligible] discharged board. I got to type up in, I think it was ‘51, might have been ‘52, but 1951 these orders they said “Hey,” normally we didn’t get this “type these orders up pretend they’re fours, then distribute to our unit because we don’t have enough copies.” So I typed up this order and as I said Lindbergh was on the order, and I know he was recalled or- He was promoted, he was an Air Force reservist, was promoted to brigadier general, and Jimmy Stewart either it was already maybe temporary rank of brigadier general, he had been a colonel for a while- was also on the orders and I can’t remember when I moved in 1990, and getting all the papers and stuff what’s �Block, Kenneth happened, I had a folder full of stuff and it just plain disappearing. So I lost those orders which I would have, you know it was kind of a rogue kind of thing, but they don’t survive you can see I’ve got my orders here these papers, here’s my orders when I got discharged. Now you know that’s what you’re typing up that sort of thing. Interviewer: “Right, okay so you’re- so how long did you spend doing that?” Over a year and a half. Interviewer: “Okay, so what kind of stands out in your memory about the time you spent there?” (40:01) Oh let’s see, probably the thing that stands out, I got to know this fella pretty well, and he frequently got in a little bit of trouble. He was an older guy in his 30’s I would imagine, but when I got hospitalized- When I moved from Texas up to Selfridge I went from 70 degree temperature to a miserable cold day, and I’d been there maybe a week or two, these barracks were built. There were coal fire little furnaces, coal in there, one big room and it had these little wall partitions, but I got seriously sick. I woke up in the middle of the night at two, three o’clock, and I go in, over to the dispensary or whatever you call it where you go. I’m walking over and it’s two in the morning and I go in there and there’s like a dead guy laying on the floor. I said “I got a burning fever, I’m sick, and I got a dead guy on the floor and there’s no one else around.” So finally two guys, I don’t know if they were FBI or secret service or what it was, and they ask me, “Who the hell are you?” I said, “What are you here for?” I said, “I’m sick” but anyway it was fine, I found out later what they were investigating was that he had hung himself in the stockade, and it turned out that several people, they were really sick people that were watching the people, and there was a big investigation I remember. So if we ever hear anybody, we’ll know where they got the information, you know “You better not open your mouth.” So anyway, but that all worked alright and it really worked out rather fortunate for me, this was- Now I’d just been at Selfridge and I’d only been in service like six months and a hospital nurse took care of me with one of the people named Jeremy and she knew that she had seen me at church or Catholic, and [unintelligible] I think I was there in the high school maybe five or six days with a �Block, Kenneth really serious throat injury, and I was also running scarlet fever which when I was four 25%, 20% of the kids died if they got scarlet fever in those days, but it was a serious throat infection. So I’m in the hospital area and we’re talking and she said “Well, you know why don’t you- If you want.” I was living on base and driving, “I’m taking classes at Wayne university if you’re full time serving military service there’s no tuition it’s free, absolutely free.” Man this is, thank you Jesus really looking after me and so when I got out of the hospital, the first negro I got to know really well was a doctor, he was a black doctor captain from Detroit, I guess he was from Detroit, I assume he might have been from- I don’t know. Great guy, if he had been my family doctor he was a great guy, I don’t know if I’ve had a doctor I like better than him. So really it was good for me to be at this introduction because Minnesota where my parents and all my relatives lived, I had cousins that would come down man it was like they had never seen black people before in their life. So they didn’t- my parents didn’t bring any prejudice with them either, but anyway then I was able to get- I’d take this English course that I wasn’t that happy to get, I wasn’t really anticipating enjoying it but it turned out it was really quite good so, and that worked out fine but then halfway through that semester, this would have been 1951… Interviewer: “Well wait was this after, this is while you’re at Selfridge now?” (44:30) I’m still at Selfridge [overlapping chatter] Interviewer: “So it’s more like ‘53 by then probably right?” What was that? Interviewer: “You just said ‘51 and it wasn’t until ‘52 that you got up to Selfridge.” Oh, I keep getting the years- yeah this would have been 1953. This would have been- I’m sorry this would have been 1953 the middle of the semester, I was home for the weekend and there’s a power failure or something because I had to go on detail to stoke the fire, the stove in the barracks, and I didn’t go off, so I didn’t show up and this one sergeant he was just, not very bright loved having a little bit of power. He’s gonna put me in for a court martial that gets me up �Block, Kenneth the office. He said, “Now wait a minute-“Major Kellerman, that ran the operation said to me…let me see, he’s on separate rations- I skipped a part, I got so sick, when I was sick in the hospital, Kellerman Major Kellerman said, “Hey you folks let’s eat-” some of these are so bad, you wanna [unintelligible] separate rations, usually you have to be buried or something or be an NCO, he said, “Nah, it’s alright, you’ll just be on a one meal a day plan,” and so I was on separate rations living at home, that’s why I was staying home overnight, and the alarm didn’t go off. So I wasn’t there for that two o’clock stoking the furnace, and the Major Kellerman tells the guy, he said, “Now look, he’s on separate rations right, you can’t eat in the jail except one meal, which you’re gonna put him on KP all day but he can only eat one meal okay. He’s gotta be in the barracks to stoke the furnace but he doesn’t have a room in the barracks.” He said, “Oh, use your head.” So the Major Kellerman’s solution was he took me off all detail and all KP. So that little problemSomeone’s looking after me up there, so I lived the rest of the time, the last year, over a year I was on separate rations. I lived at home, I didn’t have a bunk, I was regular Air Force, I was promoted up to air men second class, the problem was- I couldn’t go to any of these schools that I qualified for because its like a, what is it, a double whammy. To qualify for a school not only do you have to have all the paper requirements, you had to have two years of your service remaining to go to that school after you graduated. So I couldn’t, I couldn’t go into an assignment like in meteorology, I couldn't be a weatherman because you had to go to that weather school, even though I worked for a year and a half in that area and I had taken the college course in meteorology because I didn’t go to that school. When there’s probably some decent reasons for that but in any case it worked out alright just being a- working in the office there Interviewer: “Now what was actually going on at the base, I mean what was it used for?” (48:30) At that point in time what we were- It was also a defense we had f-86’s on the base. Interviewer: “Okay and those are jet fighters right?” They were there, they were regular Air Force, they were there to protect Detroit, the other thing �Block, Kenneth we did on the base was in 1951, late ‘51 start of ‘52, they redesignated the 439th troop carrier wing to the 439th fighter bomber wing, and for that spring and summer we had mustangs and Texas T-6’s, and they were recalling fighter pilots from World War II. Guys were getting unhappy, guys they were a bit in the active reserve and they didn’t like the idea of getting called up and again this is not a flying club here. So anyway, that only went on for about six months or so continued on, and mustangs still were used in Korea at that point at that point- Up until that point, and then they changed they switched over to F-80, lock and lightning planes and I got to fly in them in a T-33, said “Hey I’m gonna see if I can make you sick.” So I didn’t get to fly although I was a front seater, you know on a training plane the guy that’s controlling it sits behind you and he can close you out but you can’t close him out from flying the plane, but I didn’t fly it, don't get me wrong. Anyway, let’s see where were we? Interviewer: “Well we were just gonna talk about different things that happened while in that time you’re spending now on active duty itself.” (50:25) This guy, this sergeant I was telling you, this is a different sergeant, this guy you know he had been in the Bataan death march, captured in Corregidor, survived the death march, and then was transported sometime in 1942 period to Japan on a cargo ship going back from the Philippines, Japanese controlled and survived all the American ships trying to torpedo everything that came in sight. Interviewer: “That may have been in ‘44 but okay.” He gets into Japan and we were at this camp, and he said on the base of the camp itself it wasThe worst was a guy I’m not gonna mention names he was a master sergeant, terrible and he making all these special considerations because of being the head guy, or at least that’s what he told me. He said “We were shipped off we were taken out of the prison every morning to a factory, we worked in the factory, the end of the day-” but he said “In the factory we were treated every bit as well as the people who worked there, we got the same food rations, everything.” So that’s why he came out reasonably healthy, but he spent the rest of that- far as I know the whole period of the war, he was in that prison camp from ‘42 to 45, but of course I �Block, Kenneth don’t know how long it took him from then in ‘42 to get back but I think they shipped him out pretty fast if the cargo ships coming from Japan with cargo and it’s troops and stuff, it goes back empty and takes these prisoners and if they got torpedoed by the Americans they just went down with the ship, but he had some broken- fascinating stories. You know to be on the first hand talking basis with him and I think he had a little bit of a drinking problem, and when I was sick he wrote down the dispensary said, “Get me some codeine,” better known as G.I gin, it had a high alcohol content cause he’d be sitting up there for some disciplinary reason not all the time but every once in a while he’d be up stuck there all day and I said, “If you’re going up there today to get your painkiller, could you pay me back?” It was just one shot in a bottle it was good stuff it tasted like- G.I gin, G.I gin tasted like a martini a gin martini I guess but it really worked, but I’m trying to think, let’s see what did I- I don’t think I’m missing anything here. Okay then so we were there a year and a half I said- I got more citations put up for an air man of the month they had gotten in and I always felt some guys would just goof off every chance they had in service, and I find time passes better when you’re doing something. They got an transit graph machine which you can type little metal plates with names and address the things, you could do them for name tags, ect, but I suggested I said, we’ve got the woman working on that so frankly all she did was mail out stuff and I had to type up all the envelopes all of this reserved us, you know what I mean probably everybody reserved us. So why don’t I just type up plates for them and then you can just run them under- So I went down there and they were in a nice brick building way in the center of the base, and I took all their bios I take one tray at a time from the office and go up there and type them or whatever I could do. (54:59) Within two days I had all of them all done back and the guys from 10th Air Force they told me that every time I go down there the sound of working [typing noises] typing up these plates, these metal plates. So it was not a really, that big a job, I guess I just had no supervision and I got it done, but I was glad the guy that did get it, [unintelligible] fire when the plane come in. They had included a weekend at hotel downtown Detroit, and I didn’t have girlfriend, I lived in Detroit, don’t even really consider that, don’t even consider that I’m not even- Every month they would come up with air man of the month kind of situation but it was [unintelligible] talking about something else here too, of course I typed up this, I typed up demos you know the orders this kind of thing, typing up orders, shipping people around you know so. I guess I didn’t bring it- Oh I know what I was gonna mention, it’s my brother and I, this would’ve been in 1950- That would’ve been in 1952. I don’t �Block, Kenneth know if that’s even going to come up, yep. You know my brother finished his electronics institute, and he was immediately- he was married, but he was immediately drafted. Do you remember a guy by the name of B. Walt Meyer that wrote for the Detroit news? Interviewer: “No.” Well anyways big on the Detroit news until just a few years ago and he worked as a cub reporter outside of high school we all went to high school together, but he was a major- he was one of the major Detroit news people, but anyway he and my brother it turns out are standing in the line together they just got sworn in, and they said “Every other guy step out, you’re in the Marine Corps.” This was just right after they got massacred in North Korea the marines, and it really I think really worked out for the individuals in for the corps. They look through the work and the best and the army did the same thing, like when my brother-in-law was a- I forget what you call the technical name, the heavy machine mover for Ford. He had gone through an apprenticeship, got drafted and they immediately put him in for tank recovery. Well my brother with his electronics they said “Damn, you’ve got all this electronics we haven’t got” it takes so long to train anybody for this kind of stuff. We finished Parris Island, their basic training, they had a guy come over and ran the school for- the electronic school. He says “He knows ten times more than I do anything.” so they shipped him up to Cherry Point, so he spent- as a matter of fact in the Marine Corp if you’ve got possession you got that rank- temporary rank. So he was only in service in the Marine Corp maybe a year and he was a three star, well you can see right here he’s only a corporal but that was- he got drafted in ‘51 this was like six months later he’s already a corporal, and then they made him a sergeant. The only time he got out of the country to go to port [unintelligible] everyone maneuvers with them I guess but he just stayed and his first daughter was born there. I don’t know anything more, anything else I can go into, discharge was kind of an interesting situation, separation for service. Now, it just said “Separate and release from assignment” okay. (59:35) Now normally at the time, and then my brother was that way, you spent two years on active duty and then you were in the reserves I think for four or six years, I forget what it was, or in reserves- Anyway, and so when I was getting discharged they said “Well, you’re separated from service.” and I said “You know what I was just reading some place in a book, if you had prior military service you weren’t required to have that four years.” Now, �Block, Kenneth there was nothing it was a limbo from December 1949, until August 1950, that summer Congress had got around to saying what your status would be and so then what they came up with, well there was nothing on the books if you had prior service, and you weren’t required to have any reserve requirements. I said, “You know, I think I get a discharge right now.” I said “I don’t want to get out and find out I can get drafted or called up on active duty or something right away.” I was 24 years old- 22, or 23 years old I want to get out and live my life instead of going back to the Pentagon, so one of my papers is “Air Force ranked” such and such and such, so they gave me a discharge, again it was another double whammy but it kind of worked out in my favor. It wouldn’t have been a problem, I guess I could just been an inactive reserve, my brother didn’t get discharged I think until 1961 finally. Interviewer: “Alright, now this tape is about up so I’m gonna stop here…Alright now we’ve kind of gotten in your story pretty much to the point of your discharge but you mentioned to me off camera here, you did at some point- you spent time in a hospital earlier-” It was the throat Interviewer: “With your throat, and you also got injured at some point?” (1:01:44) Well correct, I didn’t know at the- it was a terrible pain, so I went in to the unit there and he couldn’t see anything wrong. Well about a week later it was really bad I had an abscess all the way across my mouth and I lost all these teeth. What they did, which I don’t think they normally did they made a permanent bridge, if that was done today it’d be about $12,000. They had to replace these with the new format they had. Interviewer: “Now do you know how it happened?” I don’t know. Interviewer: “So you didn’t have an accident or something?” �Block, Kenneth You know I forget really, all I remember is afterwards, you know nothing I could see. Was it the result of doing this, was it this? All I could say is you know it wasn’t any tooth decay it was just a tooth that was cracked across, leads eventually all of these had to be pulled out and they made that bridge which they replaced, I mean I had to have it redone. Interviewer: “Okay now, when you were finishing up your enlistment did the Air Force make any effort to encourage you to reenlist?” (1:03:11) Oh sure, yeah but they knew I wasn’t really going to be interested, they tried to get my brother too. I mean- He and I and on this I absolutely believe, had I gone in I was so, I was very fond of it if you wanna call it that, of the Air Force, I love flying, that had I not [audio cuts out] your eyes aren’t correctable to 20/20, would have gone in to many of the units, I think I was going with they were being schooled for the new jet bombers they were with the twin blades I think it was the B-47 [audio cuts out] Stuart was in netbook movie they made, that plane with the bomber that was coming, that was the first bomber that flew over 400 miles an hour, 500 miles an hour, and I would’ve stayed in service. I probably would’ve made a career out of service, and those are the same guys that all got shot down over in Vietnam were the bombers that where most of the Air Force you know air craft were. The bombers that got hit were getting shot down by large numbers. Interviewer: “So, once you did get out what did you do?” I went right back to Wayne university to school and I graduated a year and a half later with a degree, I got a master’s degree in business, and I got to be a CPA. What I- actually I never practiced I just, guys worked for the department of the Navy too because of my background on machines, no business on government projects. That’s the only other experience I had in this area, I had contractors and Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, and building destroyers in Bay City where we give them you know, of course at that time it was about 2 and a half million dollars for the basic structure of the destroyer and they made the best destroyer [audio cuts out] yard in Bay City, but they eventually closed down because they couldn’t keep all the shipyards �Block, Kenneth open. Though, you know I did have auditing experience with these outfits, and I would have been working on a doctorate in economics for a year- I’m too old for this kind of thing up there in limbo and satellite rock their world so, [audio cuts out] 39 by that time, I good bit you can substitute one of the languages, you can take math and calculus and different relations and different equations and so I did that part. That’s just getting the classwork and getting a dissertation approved, I said “I don’t want this.” my kids are graduating from high school they’re gonna be in college and I’d be up there still, but my kids did very very well. My son got into med school outta high school with a six year program and our daughter went to law school in Ann Arbor, yeah she kind of teaches at Fordham she’s been there for many many years. My kids are pushing 60 now so they’re older than you are. Interviewer: “Not by too much. Alright so, aside from the education part, what do you think you took out of your military experience?” (1:06:46) Well I took a lot- I certainly took a lot more out then I even put in. I got a lot of benefits from service in terms of having a time to sit down and think “What am I really gonna do” and reorganize my life. I met a lot of very wonderful people that I never would have had the opportunity to have met had it not been for the military experience. As I said I got the G.I bill, and one of the reasons I got the master’s degree was that I still had, after I got out because I already had almost two years in and I still had two years of G.I bill left so I thought “okay to get a master’s degree- you only have to 12 semester hours to get full benefits?” So that made my- I bought a new house, a $15,000 house but I made my house- monthly house payment, so I got into a new house probably before everyone else, so I got a lot more out of it. If I hadn’t gotten a master’s degree because of when I went to- I was, I had been working for the Navy for three years from ‘63 to ‘62 maybe to 1965. I did a lot of travel I had the whole state of Michigan, various contracts, General Motors, Flint, Holland, Saginaw, and I was out at the air university and right then at an Air Force base for a couple of weeks and at one point in time that this just isn’t conducive to having teenage kids. I had often- I was gonna apply just temporarily while I looked for a job. I quit the job with the Navy, “Man this is like going to heaven.” I really liked the kids and college kids never talk back to you, or they usually don't, they, you know, they’re there because they want to be there. So, and then the advantage was too that you’re off during the �Block, Kenneth summers and you’ve winter off, and none of the benefits I would’ve had if it hadn’t had been some guy taking me through the military it could’ve been a totally different life. That- I buy a Volkswagen camper bus, buy it in this country but for deliver in Amsterdam they don’t pay any taxes, excise tax is nothing then buy for, so 169, I bought one in Amsterdam, drove it and it was great for the kids, Africa you know all over Europe, and this is pretty good. 1971 did the same thing but this time I had planned we were gonna drive on Peter, Saint Petersburg, but I got the visa from Russia pay the [unintelligible] man don’t you have to drive through- Do not, do not drive through East Germany, I feel like I got all the same- visa from Russia to go into there on a door, on a travel visa. So instead went through Czechoslovakia and Poland into the Ukraine, and just for the kick of it drove down through the Ukraine into Romania, Hungary, down to Istanbul, Turkey, and then over down through Greece, a marvelous experience for kids. Interviewer: “So the only East Bloc country to give you trouble was East Germany? The other ones were pretty happy to have you.” (1:11:05) Yeah, yeah they said you can so much as have a license plate bracket not right and they’ll throw you in jail. Terrible, in the Ukraine they were wonderful, really nice, I don’t know if you’ve got time for this sort of thing. So coming out of the Ukraine coming back into Hungary, Lvov in the Ukraine, my wife has Polish background you can understand maybe not speaking. Right? You understand, met some young Russian kids, I don’t know if they were spies spying on me, if they thought maybe I was a spy, but they spoke perfect English. We never talked about anything, and everything was just great, we got to the border and we’re gonna go out of Ukraine, and they declared anybody- and anyway Russian money, yeah I said- but my son has and band aid can full of coins that he’s picked up in Russia, you know currency, [unintelligible] uniform gets in he said “What’s this? Russian money.” and I said “Oh well it’s my Volkswagen camper bus.” and are you familiar with Volkswagen camper buses? Okay so there’s that fold down table and he say- he sits down and my son is sitting over here, and he says “Where is this money?” and says “You don’t have this one.” You don’t have this one, one thing they did do they blanked all my film totally, but other than that it was just you know it was just fool’s luck I guess, and I think of it now. How the hell did I get the nerve to do that? But fortune of God, it worked great, the experiences were great and I did it again in 1976, this time though we went up through Norway �Block, Kenneth and down around. One time I saw then, as soon as I got back- Well the one time- The first time I got back it turned out, where the deal happening was the Volkswagen bus, bringing folks inside the cars leaves right from Germany, by the way that’s where some of my relatives originally came from, and their destination is Toledo, Ohio $175 I think it was all three days, two times, brought it back within a week was able to sell it. Sell it for as much as I paid for it, you had to have it out of the country for six weeks or seven weeks I forget, so it was always there on the charter I said “First [unintelligible] five people” Oh, it was under $1000, and that included a nice stay in a hotel, a holiday in Amsterdam, but all it cost me was the price of the gas and we lived out of the campers, so you can go over there with very little money it costs more for one to go there for one little tour for a week then for us there for four or five weeks. I think it kept the kids off the streets during those dangerous teenage years, they always abbreviated it. We had a great experience, we were in Norway and we met the naval attache, the American naval attache, for Norway over the ambassador there, and we got there. It happened to be the day before the 4th of July, and the naval attache said “Stay with us!” and they had some teenage kids, it was great to see some American kids, and they say “Hey there’s a 4th of July picnic tomorrow, you wanna go?” and we weren’t gonna turn down the ambassador and all these people, have a great big American style picnic in the middle of Oslo, Norway, but it was time after time some great experiences like going to through Fez in Morocco and Marrakech and Nador which was the drunk capital of the world at the time, not for us we picked up a Moroccan boy gave us the tour of Venice, just the nicest nicest kid- young man, I should say young man. Really showed us stuff that you don’t normally get to see, but nothing that was ever any problem, never put a scratch on the car. I think I drove more than some 20-some thousand miles in Europe, just so lucky no accidents, but you gotta have a good guardian angel for that. Interviewer: “Sometimes. Alright, well the whole thing makes for an interesting and unusual story so thank you.” (1:16:10) Well I thought I didn’t have any war stories except there was so much unusual stuff in that it was a little bit different. I thought especially that I’ve never heard anything of an American prisoners of war in Japan, were not just in a camp that they were [overlapping chatter] �Block, Kenneth Interviewer: “That is in the history books but alright anyway well thank you very much for taking the time to share the story today.” � 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 BlockK2182V Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Block, Kenneth Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-02 Title A name given to the resource Block, Kenneth (Interview transcript and video), 2018 Description An account of the resource Kenneth Block was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1932 where he graduated high school before attending Wayne State University. Studying geology and accounting, Block graduated with a degree in accounting before a friend referred him to Selfridge Air Force Base due to his interests in meteorology. Just before the outbreak of the Korean War in June of 1950, he enlisted into the Air Force Reserve unit stationed at Selfridge. Block had no formal Basic Training and soon went to work in the meteorology department of the Reserve unit. By late 1951, he decided to enter the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Course in the hopes of placing himself into a better position to pursue a military career or a higher education after his seemingly inevitable time in the active-duty service. Block was then sent to Enid Air Force Base for a brief course in multi-engine repair and maintenance. In July of 1952, he agreed to take a physical at Selfridge and, to his surprise, was qualified to undergo flight training in San Antonio, Texas. Firstly, he underwent twelve weeks of Air Force Basic Training in addition to other formal classroom training courses. Block was then allowed to select where he wanted to be assigned, after which he was stationed back at Selfridge with the Air Force Reserve Training Center, attached to the 10th Air Force Division, as a clerk typist. During his time on the base, the Air Force was recalling former Second World War fighter pilots and Block, himself, participated in a few flight crews, but never fully became a pilot. Block also spent some significant time in the hospital for illnesses he contracted in his throat as well as for a severe dental ailment that caused him to lose several teeth on his jaw. Eventually, he was discharged from the Air Force and immediately resumed his education at Wayne State University for a master’s degree in business. Afterwards, he decided to stop pursuing further education opportunities since his children were graduating high school and would be enrolling in college themselves. Reflecting upon his time in the Air Force, Block believed the service helped him reorganize his life. He was also grateful for the benefits of the GI Bill, believing he received far more from his service than he had put into it. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States—History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Personal narratives, American Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27) 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.) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9a750f938b8a45242b67abc0c1a7b33f.pdf 1b09bd3d64ad5a79e37c264bb1964c8d PDF Text Text 1 Grand Valley State University Special Collections Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23 Blodgett, John Interviewed on October 2, 1971 Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010 – bryant@wellswooster.com Tape #27 (1:00:16) Biographical Information Mr. John Wood Blodgett, Jr. was born on 24 May 1901 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of John Wood Blodgett and Minnie A. Cumnock. John died October, 1987 at the age of 86 years. John Wood Blodgett, Sr. was born 26 July 1860 in Hersey, Osceola County, Michigan, the son of Delos Abiel and Jane S. “Jennie” (Wood) Blodgett. John W. Blodgett, Sr. died on 21 November 1951. He was married to Minnie A. Cumnock on 16 January 1895 in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Alexander G. and Frances F. (Ross) Cumnock, born July 1862 in Massachusetts. Minnie died in 1931. ___________ Mr. Blodgett: Yes, Well, I was born on May twenty-fourth, nineteen one although now, that I have reached my, past my seventieth birthday. I don‟t recall that I ever knew whether I was born in the house on Cherry Street or whether I was born in the old UBA Hospital. But anyway my earliest recollections, of course deal with the house at what originally was known as three hundred and sixty-five Cherry Street. And then some time later, I don‟t recall the exact year that number was changed to four-0-one Cherry. I‟m in the same house you understand. That house is situated where the Stuyvesant Apartments is now at the corner of Madison Avenue and Cherry where State and Cherry run together. And the entrance apparently was always referred to as Cherry Street because the numbers were always Cherry and not State. Let‟s see well, most of my friends in those early days, lived on that block bounded by Cherry Street, Washington Street, Madison Avenue and College; and a great many of them have gone to their reward since then. One of my closest friends was Bill Rogers. I think his official name was Winfield and he was the son of Dr. John R. Rogers who at that time lived on Madison Avenue in the same house that Mrs. Dutcher the podiatrist has her shop now. And another of my closest friends and Bill died quite a number of years ago, I believe, of cancer. Another of my very closest friends was Stanley Barnhart who lived up the street on Cherry Street there and Stan passed away in nineteen hundred and nineteen. I think about late August or early September of nineteen nineteen, but anyway that‟s where my closest friends were. Also in that block was Theron Goodspeed and he‟s dead. Then across on the other side of Madison Avenue, about opposite the Roger‟s house was a fellow named Ed Moore, now I‟m not sure if at this juncture was name was spelled More or Moore. I just have forgotten. But he was never as close as I was to Bill Rogers and Stanley Barnhart. Dudley Cassard, who I believe is still alive last I heard which was a number of years �2 ago, he was living somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area. He was also quite a close friend but I‟d say Bill Rogers and Stan Barnhart were my closest friends; we did a lot of things together. A bunch of kids, I remember, we had a rabbit out in back of the Barnharts house and I guess it must have been a female rabbit, because, I remember she had a litter, if that‟s the correct term for a bunch of young rabbits, and then because she wasn‟t given enough water why she ate all her offspring or rather killed all her offspring and drank their blood and so forth. Interviewer: Oh. Mr. Blodgett: And then I remember along with Jerome Draper who lived on Washington Street, I don‟t know the address but I could, show you the house while we‟re down Washington Street. Why we all owned a hen and our dividends consisted of an egg every now and then. And about the only friend of those days were who was still living is Huston McBain, the retired chairman of the board of Marshall Field and Company, who used to live in those days at the Stratford Arms. Interviewer: Where‟s the Stratford Arms? Mr. Blodgett: The Stratford Arms is on the corner of Morris and Cherry and is still standing and is still called the Stratford Arms. And he lived there incidentally, he is probably the most illustrious of all the group I grew up with because I say he went right through the ranks of Marshall Field and Company and at some incredibly early age why he became chairman of the board and then retired as chairman of the board after serving, I don‟t know how many years. And since then he‟s, because very interested in Scotch things and he is now, written up in Scotch circles because although he is an American citizen, of course, he is the McBain of McBain. And anybody who knows Scotch history knows that that‟s the name of the leader of the clan. Interviewer: Oh. Mr. Blodgett: And so forth and so it‟s quite unusual for an American citizen to be a McBain of McBain. Interviewer: Did he, did he get his start in a department store work in Grand Rapids or did he go to…? Mr. Blodgett: No, he went, I believe to the University of Michigan and possibly some people who were in the University of Michigan, I suspect his class must have been about nineteen twenty-three in Michigan, but I‟m not sure of that. I‟m not sure whether he ever did any work here in Grand Rapids before moving to Chicago or not. I don‟t really know but I don‟t think so. But, Huston McBain can be, as I say is still alive or was last I knew, which was about a couple of months ago and lives over in Illinois. I mean in the greater Chicago area. I have his address downtown, I‟m not sure I have it with me. But anyway he is easily locatable. And… Interviewer: Did you all go to public school? �3 Mr. Blodgett: No, we had a teacher from New England, and later she became an old maid. She wasn‟t an old maid when she came with us. Her name was Lina Morton and up in the third floor of the house on Cherry Street, why we had a small school and I don‟t remember just how many people were in that school and, I think Elizabeth Rogers, Bill‟s sister was there, but Bill himself went to public school. And so I was taught by Miss Morton until I went away to Saint Mark‟s school at South Massachusetts in the fall of nineteen twenty-four. I‟m told that my family, for a couple of summers or maybe, two or three I‟m not sure, went up to Mackinac Island in the summertime but my earliest summer recollection s were down at York Harbor, Maine. And we stayed there until nineteen hundred and, summer of nineteen ten then we all went abroad, that is all. My father, mother, sister and myself to England, we sailed on a White-Star Liner called “the Adriatic”. Whether we came back on the Adriatic or not I don‟t recall. But I do remember we went over on her. And then, in the summer of nineteen eleven, nineteen twelve and nineteen thirteen we were down at Prides Crossing, Mississippi and then in the summer of nineteen fourteen, we all went abroad and of course as everyone knows that‟s the time when World War Onebroke out and at the exact day when mobilization occurred why I was staying with this Swiss maid of mother‟s who sort of looked after us. Her name was Rose Loamer, she was a protestant Swiss from a town of Neuchâtel and at least so I was told, and anyway I‟ve had some stomach trouble probably something I ate unquestionably, and so Rose Loamer and I were staying at this hotel at Avion, which is across in France. Well, Father, Mother and Sister had gone off in the Packard. We‟d taken a Packard touring car to Europe that summer. And anyway they‟d all gone off and so the morning of the mobilization occur why, Rose Loamer and I had a great deal of difficulty in getting anything to eat because not only was, were all the French waiters gone and so forth but of course Switzerland was right across the Lake Geneva and all the Swiss were there so about the only people that were left as hotel staff were Argentineans and other South Americans because everybody else naturally all of Europe was mobilized. And of course everybody knows Switzerland wasn‟t in the war but they don‟t think they weren‟t mobilized too. And so anyway Rose Loamer and I took the boat across to Lozan and then took the train to Lucerne and at Lucerne my Grandfather, Father and Grandmother Cumnock were there. That‟s my mother‟s family. And I believe an aunt of mine, we stayed there as I recall for several weeks. Of course Father, Mother and Sister joined us there a couple of days later and then at Lucerne and then later we all went down to Genoa and took a ship from Genoa to the United States. A ship called Principessa Mafalda. And that‟s a rather long and interesting story because my father had to charter this ship It normally, it was a ship, it was rather small by Atlantic ship standards even in those days because my recollection is it was only a ten thousand ton ship but it normally ran to South America but for some reason or other it was available in, in Genoa there. And so my father chartered it and we filled it up with lots of refugees who had congregated at Genoa, who had poured in from Switzerland, southern France, Austria and Italy and so forth. So anyway she had a pretty full load and she landed in New York. Interviewer: Were they American refugees or? �4 Mr. Blodgett: Oh yes, they were all Americans, but there were an awful lot of Americans stranded in Europe as I say at the outbreak of that war, just the way I suppose there were loads and loads of American stranded in Europe as when the Second World War broke out. Interviewer: Was traveling in Europe, did many people in Grand Rapids that were members of that were more well-to-do travel to Europe in those days? Mr. Blodgett: I would think so, but I naturally don‟t know exactly, but there must have been because… Well, I really don‟t know the answer to that question as to how many but of course as far as travel to Europe is concerned, why there were loads and loads of boats because I remember it wasn‟t till oh I guess just before World War Two that Cunard Line and White Star merged. The British government merged them and until then they were two separate lines. Of course, there weren‟t very many Italian ships going to New York at all I guess „til, I don‟t know, the thirties or something like that. Interviewer: I just wanted to correct something that you said; I just wondered about the date, you said you went off to Saint Mark‟s prep school in nineteen twenty-four. Mr. Blodgett: No, did I say nineteen twenty-four? No, no, nineteen fourteen. Interviewer: OK. Mr. Blodgett: Because after we got landed in New York why then I went up to stay with my grandparents in Lowell [Mass.] because there was, there were a couple of weeks so to kill before I went to Saint Mark‟s. And, incidentally it‟s rather interesting to note that one of my friends in Lowell there in those two weeks was White Vandenberg who later became I think a lieutenant general, maybe a full general in the Air Force and I believe Vandenberg Air Force base on the coast of California, north of Santa Barbara is named after him. But I‟m pretty sure he was either a lieutenant general or a full general before he died. Interviewer: OK. Mr. Blodgett: And incidentally he was related to Arthur Vandenberg here so although White Vandenberg, I think I‟m right in this but as a matter, I suppose of historical record that but I‟m pretty sure that I remember that being told much later that White Vandenberg, although he was a Lowell resident, he got his appointment to West Point from a Senator Arthur, the late Senator Arthur Vandenberg who I believe was his uncle. Interviewer: This school that was in the, on the third floor of your house, what kind of studies did you concentrate on? Mr. Blodgett: Everything but that you know from beginning to read and write, right up to getting ready for St. Mark‟s. Except that Miss Morton didn‟t, of course, teach me any French. And that I learned from Mrs. Charlotte Hughes who used to live on Fulton Street, part of the �5 property where the Reformed Church is now. A great many people probably still alive who vaguely remember Miss Charlotte Hughes because I think, she only died a comparatively few years ago. Interviewer: Why did your parents hire a private teacher for the house rather than send you to the public schools? Mr. Blodgett: That I don‟t know, that I don‟t know. I haven‟t any idea. Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blodgett: Probably, Mother thought that a private teacher could do it better. That‟s my guess though I‟m not sure. And, yes, of course before going to St. Mark‟s I had to have some Latin and that was taught to me by the late Miss Jeanette Perry who lived on Fulton Street there. And I believe her father at one time was a mayor of Grand Rapids. But she was well known, Miss Perry was later on, in Vassar circles; but she taught me my Latin. Interviewer: How did your family happen to get started in Michigan? Where were they originally located? Mr. Blodgett: Well, that‟s all in those books that I pointed out there along with where my grandfather Delos Blodgett was born in New York State and where he migrated and when he went to Michigan and so forth and so that‟s in all those books. And about the only thing that I can add to those books is that my father always told me that to the best of his knowledge and belief he was the first white child born in Osceola County In other words, Michigan was pretty wild when, he was born in eighteen sixty way up that far north. Interviewer: Well, then lumber is probably is what lured them away from New York State, the lumber business. Mr. Blodgett: No, no it‟s all written up in my grandfather‟s thing there and I‟d much prefer to have you quote that than rather quote me on that subject. Interviewer: OK. Mr. Blodgett: On that, it‟s a matter of historical record because I studied it in college that the stock of which my grandfather was a member is known in American history as the New York, New England stock. I think it‟s called New York, New England rather than the other way around. But anyway, all the people of New, or not all the people naturally, but a great stream of migrants went west from the New England states and poured into the west and a great many of them poured through upper New York state. As a matter of fact, probably one of the most illustrious of that group was Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism and I believe Brigham Young was also of that same western moving stock. And it was quite a well known historical movement. Interviewer: How did an early lumberman in Michigan get concessions to cut timber? �6 Mr. Blodgett: That I don‟t know. That I don‟t know. Interviewer: Ok. Mr. Blodgett: You see, by the time I came along and got actively interested in the business and well, in nineteen twenty-four after I got out of Harvard why, I wasn‟t really quite active in the business because I was very busy learning to keep books and so forth. I went to DavenportMcLachlan Institute as I think it was then called down on that now vacant lot there that is on Pearl Street about opposite, the Midtown Theatre which used to in my days be called the Powers Theatre. And so learning bookkeeping you might say I really didn‟t get too involved in lumber business until about a year later, because I was just having to learn how to keep books and so forth. I learned to set up my own set of books; of course it was simple in those days and everything like that. Interviewer: When they used to timber here in Michigan and bring the logs down the river was there much theft? Mr. Blodgett: I wouldn‟t know. I wouldn‟t know. I started to explain that by the time I came along of course the family hadn‟t had any timber interests in Michigan for I don‟t know how many years, maybe it was twenty, maybe it was thirty and so forth I mean that‟s a matter of back family history which I don‟t really know about. I mean in other words if somebody asked me if or if you asked me when the last stick of timber cut in Michigan when the Blodgett family were interested in I wouldn‟t be able to answer that at all. My guess is it was somewhere between about eighteen ninety-five and nineteen hundred and five but that‟s just a guess, I wouldn‟t know. Interviewer: Where did, where did your family expand their operations to after they went to Michigan. Mr. Blodgett: They expanded them in two directions down south and then on the Pacific Coast. Interviewer: Are you still involved in the lumber business? Mr. Blodgett: I call myself retired or semi-retired, because thank God I don‟t have to run any lumber companies these days, but I‟m still interested in financially in two companies. One is the Michigan California Lumber Company in El Dorado County, California. That‟s a pine company primarily although there‟s so much white fir up in that country that I think usually the largest single species cut is white fir. And the other is the predecessor. well the other let‟s say is the Arcata Redwood Company which is now the lumbering branch of Arcata National Company which is listed on the big board. And the lumber interests of that company go way back to a tract of timber which was owned I believe somewhere back in the nineteen hundred and five to nineteen hundred and ten era. Again, of course I was a small boy and knew nothing about this. But it was called Hill Davis Company Limited. And the books in the early days were kept in �7 Saginaw, Michigan. The Limited, by the way that‟s used by a great many companies, is that Michigan in those days and until I was thirty five or forty had a law that I‟m told that was quite unique in that you could form things that were called Limited Partnership Associations I think that‟s the correct term. And you‟ll have to consult a lawyer as to what those could do they as I understand it enjoyed most of the advantages of a corporation and most of the advantages of a partnership but without the disadvantages of either and so that‟s why a number of these concerns that we were with were called, had the Limited after it, in other words a great many people looked at, look, used to look at the Limited after these concerns and they‟d say, well this must be a Canadian concern because of course they used that Limited up in, a great deal there. But no, there was the Arcata National that grew out of a tract of timber which was I say formed a long time ago presumably somewhere in around nineteen and five to nineteen ten, called Hill Davis Company Limited and their books were kept as I recall it from the story in Saginaw and then they were, the books were later brought over here and kept in our office. And let‟s see, well I vaguely remember when my father had his office in the Michigan Trust building but, he moved into the present building in which I believe was built and occupied by nineteen sixteen. Of course, that present building as you know on Monroe Avenue there has had three different names. Let‟s see I think it was originally the Grand Rapids Saving Bank Building, then the Grand Rapids Savings Bank, I believe, folded up in the bank holiday and bank depression in thirty-two or thirty-three, and then it became the People‟s National Bank and so then the building became the People‟s National Bank Building. And then when the People‟s National Bank was merged into the Old Kent. Why, since there wasn‟t any more People‟s National Bank, why they just called it the People‟s Building. I had to narrate this story to quite a few people because every now and then in the last few years when I‟ve started new charge accounts, somebody somewhere why people says, “People‟s Building, how did it get that name?” So I‟d have to explain the story to them. It‟s rather amusing. Well, let‟s cut this off a minute, let me have a pipe. Interviewer: Ok, I‟m about ready to exchange tapes, anyway. Mr. Blodgett: Yes Interviewer: You were mentioning that when you were young you were quite interested in fire engines. Could you tell me a little about what the fire engines were like? Mr. Blodgett: Well, the fire engines when I first knew them, of course, were all horse drawn, I don‟t know when the, don‟t remember when the first motorized one came along. But the point is that the Number One Fire House, which of course is where the present Number One is, down there on LaGrave. When they used to come going up Cherry Street why, because they were horse drawn and because the fire engines naturally all didn‟t proceed with the same speed. Why, we small boys would follow them up Cherry Street and if the fire was very near why we‟d stand around and watch it. But, as I remember it, the little chemical wagon, as they used to call it in those days, just had a small tank of chemicals. That was the lightest and so that would usually be first and then would probably come a hose cart with lots of hoses. Then would come the hook �8 and ladder and then the steamer which I remembered was only drawn by three horses. It was considerably slower so if you started up Cherry Street and let‟s say the fire was two or three blocks up Cherry Street or something, why by the time the steamer came along you‟d usually you‟ve been able to run at least a couple of blocks and maybe three up Cherry Street. Follow the fire and so forth. No, as I say I don‟t remember exactly when they changed over from horse drawn to engines. But yes, that was a usual sport in those days. Interviewer: I was just noticing as, we‟re sitting here in this den that this beautiful woodwork. When, when was this home built? Mr. Blodgett: Well, this home was completed and we moved in very early January of nineteen twenty-eight. And I should explain that, after the fall of nineteen twelve, no about August of nineteen thirteen why the house on Cherry Street burned out. I think it‟s more correct to say out than burned down because there were several rooms in it, after the fire, that were perfectly livable in as far as if you didn‟t mind the smoky smell. I mean they weren‟t damaged that much. But anyway, the house was burned out pretty well and so Father and Mother decided not to rebuild and so, we were at Pride‟s Crossing [Massachusetts] at the time the fire occurred and Miss Morton, the teacher and a couple of maids, I believe were in the house. They had no trouble getting out, of course. And then we moved temporarily to the Philo Fuller house on Lafayette Street for a little while. And then we were able to move into my grandfather‟s old place, on the corner of Prospect and Fulton Street. The old D.A. Blodgett house, as I always knew it. And then we lived there until this house here on Plymouth Road was completed and we moved in and, as I say in very early January of nineteen twenty-eight. Interviewer: Who did the woodwork? Mr. Blodgett: This room? Gosh, I can‟t remember, we‟ve got a book in the other room somewhere, all about, quite a number of features of this house. But twenty five years ago, I could have told you a lot more about the house and all that than I can now because frankly I‟ve forgotten a lot of it. The house was designed by Stewart Walker. I think his name was spelled S-T-E-W-A-R-T. Stewart Walker of Walker & Gillette in New York. And this house I believe is one of the better examples of what you might call Modern Georgian architecture in America. Stewart Walker was a great perfectionist and so was my mother and so that‟s the reason for this kind of house. Interviewer: If you don‟t mind me asking, how much would a house like this have cost in nineteen twenty-eight to build? Mr. Blodgett: I haven‟t any idea. I was not a small boy in those days, as a matter of fact I was a budding young businessman, but I never inquired and so I don‟t know to this day, how much this house cost. [I] haven‟t any idea. Interviewer: It‟s really a beautiful place. �9 Mr. Blodgett: Yes. Interviewer: Why in our conversation here this morning you mentioned that summers you spent mostly in the east, was that because you had family out there? Mr. Blodgett: Yes, I suppose that was it and although as I remember, we didn‟t see too much of my grandparents in Lowell, Massachusetts. They usually stayed in Lowell all the year around. Although some summers they would rent a house for a short time but for some reason or another, my mother wanted to go east and so that‟s at least I guess that‟s the reason why we went first to York Harbor and we went to after that to Pride‟s Crossing. Interviewer: Now, with a business such as yours did from what I gather, is somewhat widely dispersed, why have you kept your base of operations here in Grand Rapids? Mr. Blodgett: Well, that‟s just because Grand Rapids has always been home and so forth. But, over the course of the years, between say nineteen thirty-five and nineteen sixty-three or so why I did spend a great deal of time out on the Pacific Coast. I‟ve just recently had to try to find out when my father established his office in Portland, Oregon, and so I‟m not sure of that exact date, I think it was around nineteen hundred and five or nineteen hundred and seven. And the office just consisted of one man was named Peter Brumby, a Canadian and Pete shared this, there was not very much there to do, you might say in one sense of the word. And so Pete Brumby didn‟t even have an office by himself as I remembered in the early days, he shared it with some other fellow. Interviewer: When did your grandfather die? Mr. Blodgett: Well, that again the exact date I think is in the book. I think that was nineteen hundred and seven. But again, that‟s in one of these volumes there. Interviewer: Yes, that‟s when you and your friends had your little mock funeral. Mr. Blodgett: Yes, that I can remember, that‟s one of my earliest recollections that we went to the funeral service at my grandfather‟s house on Fulton Street there and I remember that when I was told I could have my last look at my grandfather Blodgett, why there was a footing for the thing that hold the casket. Of course, I, would being, a very clumsy boy, stumble over that and so forth, much to everybody‟s consternation. But, I didn‟t go out to the cemetery. Father didn‟t think that was advisable and so I remember that somehow or other, Bill Rogers and Stan Barnhart and somebody other, else or maybe a couple of others conceived the idea we ought to have our own funeral and so we went in to the Goodspeeds, I guess, no, you‟d hardly I guess still you‟d call it in those days, carriage house attic and we get a couple of boards, a couple long boards and we nailed an ordinary bushel basket, of which there used to be a great many in those days, ‟cause, that‟s what you put leaves in the Autumn and so we nailed that in there and the rest of us carried Theron Goodspeed around the block and some enterprising mother saw us and �10 knowing that my grandfather‟s funeral had taken place just a little while earlier that afternoon, suspected what was up so they promptly whoever it was promptly called a few other parents and our mock funeral came to an early termination. I don‟t remember that I was punished particularly for that thing probably because we were so darn young. Interviewer: What, how old were you when you went away to school to St. Mark‟s? Mr. Blodgett: Well, let‟s see I was born in May of nineteen hundred and one and I entered in the fall of nineteen fourteen; let‟s see I‟d been thirteen. Interviewer: From that time until you came back to Grand Rapids, after you‟d completed your studies at Harvard did you spend very much time here? Mr. Blodgett: No, very, very little, very little. Interviewer: Did you come back in the summer? Mr. Blodgett: No, we were elsewhere in the summer so I spent very little time in Grand Rapids between nineteen fourteen and fall of nineteen hundred and twenty-four. Interviewer: Did you ever, when you did come home, did you ever attend any parties here? Mr. Blodgett: Yes, yes but I can‟t remember who gave „em or where they were or anything like that much. I remember we were almost always in New York for what you might call Christmas vacation because my mother rented a house in New York and lived there while my sister went to Miss Spencer‟s school in New York. And then my sister came out in New York and so forth and then after that while I was in college we always spent all our Christmases in New York City because so many relatives were either there or in the vicinity Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blodgett: And my sister, after she and Morris Hadley were married, why they lived in Boston or in Cambridge. I should say for a couple of years, because Morris still had two more years to go in Harvard Law School. The war interrupted his education as it did a great many other people. And then, she, my brother-in-law and sister moved to New York because immediately after graduation from Harvard Law School, he went into a firm in New York so he was there. And my Aunt Mary and Uncle Arthur Cumnock always lived in New York and then by that time my mother‟s sister, my Aunt Grace was married and she was living in, she and her husband were living in New York. So actually we had more relatives in New York City then we had in any other place so I think that‟s one reason why we were always there. So I spent many, many, well I suppose that‟s a get out and visit, you can‟t call it a Christmas vacation by, certainly during, while I was in boarding school and while I was in boarding school and while I was in college and that and so forth. Christmas vacations were always spent there and then after I got into business, why since the family were there, and so forth, they wanted me to naturally �11 be there rather than sit here in Grand Rapids by myself and work. I was usually, well I can‟t remember just what year was the last year that I spent a Christmas in New York. I‟d say it must have been as late as nineteen thirty-four probably. Interviewer: That‟s why it intrigues me, why you still maintain your home in Grand Rapids, after having spent so much of your life elsewhere. Mr. Blodgett: Well, I never went down South but twice to the Mobile office. And unfortunately I can‟t give you the exact years I would say this is just a guess though. I first went down in about nineteen twenty-six or twenty-seven and then again about nineteen thirty, I would say. Both times I spent about two or three weeks down there. Incidentally, it is an interesting thing to record for posterity that Blodgett, Mississippi was named after, I suppose, my father rather than my grandfather. I can‟t remember which railroad that‟s on now and I don‟t think it‟s on any Mississippi maps anymore. There was a saw mill there and they were cutting Blodgett timber. But Blodgett, Oregon is not named after any member of my family, contrary to what a great many people think. Interviewer: Was your family, always, members of Fountain Street Church? Mr. Blodgett: No, no we were Park Church people, although my father was not a very devout churchgoer. As a matter of fact, he usually went horse-back riding on Sunday mornings. Interviewer: Do you, do you remember Doctor Wishart? Mr. Blodgett: Oh, very well, very well indeed. Yes. Interviewer: What kind of man was he? Mr. Blodgett: Oh, he was a great man, great man and a wonderful preacher. If you want me to go into that for the benefit if posterity I‟d be delighted to but because I think it‟s rather interesting. Now the year of course would be the year when Doctor Wishart came here first. And that‟s a matter of historical record, down at the Fountain Street Church. I don‟t remember, now just what year it was, but anyway the former pastor of the Fountain Street Church had either retired or died, again that‟s a matter of historical record and so the church had to look for a new pastor. And according to the story I‟ve been told, and which I believe to be quite reliable, they scouted around at the east and they reported that there were two very promising young men. And so promising they didn‟t think the church would make any mistake hiring either one of them. But of course the church naturally could only have one pastor in those days because it wasn‟t until many years after that we even had an assistant pastor. And so the church finally chose Alfred Wesley Wishart. And a matter of historical record I think down at the church where he was preaching before he went to Fountain Street. But, the other man, the man that they thought was very, very good, but they didn‟t quite like him as well as Wishart, was Harry Emerson Fosdick. �12 Interviewer: That‟s interesting. Mr. Blodgett: Now, as I say I‟ve been told that by several people and who were in a position to know and I‟m pretty sure that the old records will bear that out. It seems to me now, let‟s see one of the, one woman who was a great deal older that I was still alive oh way, way until my forties, and I was trying to remember whether that was a Miss Ball or not. I don‟t think that was the name though. But, she was one of the ones that told me this story about picking Doctor Wishart. Interviewer: Are there any Blodgett sons? Do you have any sons coming along that…? Mr. Blodgett: No, I have no sons. I have three daughters by my second marriage. Interviewer: So then they…? Mr. Blodgett: But they are all living in the east, if you can call New Orleans east. My youngest daughter and her husband, he was studying foe a PhD at Harvard in medieval history and they lived at Chatham, Mass. But anyway, he decided to pursue his graduate studies at Tulane and they‟re just this past August why they moved from Chatham down to New Orleans. But until then I had two daughters both married in Massachusetts and one daughter married and living in Washington, D.C. Interviewer: Is the city how, how is Grand Rapids changed? What‟s the most dramatic change in Grand Rapids that you can think of from the time when you were a boy to the…? Mr. Blodgett: Well, I suppose the most dramatic thing is the automobile. I can still remember as a small boy, going down, we had some sort of carriage that had three seats on it you know, I mean three parallel seats. Of course, the coachman a man named Gilbert was in the front one and then I don‟t know where the rest… But anyway we used to load that up every Memorial Day and we would, well the they didn‟t use the term park in those days, cause that‟s an automobile term, but anyway would stop somewhere right around Veterans Park there and we would watch the Veterans march past and of course in the very early days of my recollection why a few of the Civil War Veterans still walked, although most of them rode. But of course the Spanish War Veterans were probably still in their late twenties or early thirties and so they always marched, of course. And so, I‟d say that the greatest single change that I can think of in Grand Rapids although of course it came gradually, was the advent of the automobile. Interviewer: What about servants, people that help out in houses; how has that changed? Mr. Blodgett: Oh that, that‟s changed a very great deal and since the early days. Interviewer: Did you have, did your mother and father have help in the house? Mr. Blodgett: Oh yes, oh yes. Usually a cook and a couple of maids and so forth. And then of course we had the coachman and a man named Gilbert, I‟ve forgotten what his first name was. �13 Gilbert was the last name, I‟m pretty sure. And the later on of course we had a chauffeur. My mother never did learn to drive a car, which was the case with a great many women in those days. Interviewer: Did, did that help live in the house or did they live outside the house? Mr. Blodgett: No, they lived in the house. Interviewer: How, how is the, how it has changed, in terms of the help from then until now? Mr. Blodgett: Well, they, the great change of course has been, it‟s very much more difficult to get anyone. Interviewer: Why is that, do you think? Mr. Blodgett: Oh, gosh I don‟t know. I think maybe my wife would be able to better answer that question. I think it‟s just that people don‟t like what‟s called domestic service anymore and it‟s very hard to get them. That is rather amazing when you consider the unemployment rolls because the wages of course are very good naturally. The wages have gone up a great deal. But of course, speaking of that and changing the subject rather abruptly, I remember when my father paid Miss Welch the secretary there who was with us so many years. I remember when he raised her to two hundred dollars a month. When that was almost an unheard of salary and I don‟t know how much you‟d have to get some economist to do a study the figures to tell you what the buying power of two hundred dollars a month was. I don‟t remember what year it was that father raised Miss Welch to two hundred dollars a month but as I say, the buying power of course in those days, I don‟t know whether it‟d be equivalent to seven hundred dollars a month or eight hundred dollars a month. But that was incredible. Well as a matter of fact, this is a rather interesting point. In the summer of nineteen.., let‟s see, wait a minute, my sister married in the summer of nineteen and nineteen, nineteen twenty we were abroad or I mean we were out west , the whole family. The summer of nineteen twenty when I worked, started my lumbering career really by working in the survey party of the Michigan-California Lumber Company. And a common laborer was paid forty cents an hour and my salary was thirty cents or compensation, wasn‟t a salary was thirty seven and a half cents an hour. That was an eight hour day of course. And, on the other hand, we had to pay I think thirty five cents a meal. Of course we worked six days a week and if you‟ll do a little sharp pencil work I think you‟ll discover that naturally I had you pay for your meals at the thirty five cents a meal, a rate which was, I believe that‟s a dollar and five cents a day. You had to pay for Sunday too. But, anyway, thirty seven and a half cents an hour, I managed to save quite lot of money. Because there wasn‟t very much, that you could spend it on. Of course you had to buy your own overalls and your own shoes those two things that wore out faster than anything. And then, I‟ve always had a sweet tooth and since I was expending a great deal of energy in those days why, I used to eat quite a lot of Ghirardelli Eagle Brand Chocolate made in San Francisco in one pound bars and so forth. The reason for expending energy was that you worked an eight hour day but you walked to and from work and �14 depending on where the job was out in the woods. That was either, I‟d say the nearest we ever worked to the sawmill where I lived was about two and a half miles and usually it was more than that and I recall it was not for more than four miles away. So you can see you‟d have to walk eight miles a day or call it an average of six miles a day to and from work. And then you‟d put in eight hour day on your feet. Of course which it‟s all footwork in the survey party. Footwork and handwork and so forth, I mean you don‟t sit down so you would use up a quite bit of energy. Interviewer: Well, I think we‟ve covered about everything. Mr. Blodgett: OK, fine. INDEX Fuller, Philo · 9 A Arcata National Company · 7 Arcata Redwood Company · 7 G Goodspeed, Theron · 1, 10 Grand Rapids Saving Bank · 8 B Barnhart, Stanley · 1, 2 Blodgett, Delos A. · 1, 5 Blodgett, John Wood · 1 Brumby, Peter · 10 C Cassard, Dudley · 2 Cumnock family · 3 Cumnock, Alexander G. · 1 Cumnock, Arthur · 11 Cumnock, Minnie A. · 1 H Hadley, Morris · 11 Hill Davis Company Limited · 7 Hughes, Mrs. Charlotte · 5 L Loamer, Rose · 3 M Davenport-McLachlan Institute · 6 Draper, Jerome · 2 Dutcher, Mrs. · 1 McBain, Huston · 2, 3 Michigan-California Lumber Company · 7, 14 Midtown Theatre · 6 Moore, Ed · 2 Morton, Lina · 3 Morton, Miss · 3, 9 F P Fosdick, Harry Emerson · 12 Fountain Street Church · 12 Park Congregational Church · 12 People‟s National Bank · 8 Perry, Miss Jeanette · 5 D �15 Powers Theatre · 6 V R Vandenberg, Arthur · 5 Vandenberg, White · 4, 5 Rogers, Bill · 1, 2, 10 Rogers, Dr. John R. · 1 Rogers, Elizabeth · 3 Ross, Frances F. · 1 W S Smith, Joseph · 6 Walker & Gillette · 9 Walker, Stewart · 9 Welch, Miss · 14 White Vandenberg · 5 Wishart, Alfred Wesley · 12 Wishart, Dr. · 12, 13 Wood, Jane S. “Jennie” · 1 World War One · 3 World War Two · 4 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bfded6847212bd876fd276d7daef113f.mp3 cc5f0509e5ed12c10d1ca1453a5fc599 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 Grand Rapids Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Local histories Memoirs Michigan--History Oral histories (document genre) Description An account of the resource Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Various Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf; audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text; Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-23 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1971 - 1977 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. 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-23_27Blodgett Title A name given to the resource Blodgett, John W. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blodgett, John W. Description An account of the resource John W. (Jack) Blodgett was born on May 24, 1901 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition to continuing the lumbering business of his father, he was a banker. John married Minnie Cumnock in 1895. Apart from the Blodgett Memorial Hospital in East Grand Rapids, they helped found the Clinic for Infant Feeding, the Association for the Blind, the Grand Rapids Child Guidance Clinic, and the D. A Blodgett Home for Children. Blodgett died on October 27, 1987. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan--History Local histories Memoirs Oral histories (document genre) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Grand Valley State University Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf audio/mp3 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1971 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/cee4737ca7b6c7a436bd4194abb73297.jpg f8cfc4f6376c3d1db3ba307388928fce 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 BlomArthur Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Blom, Arthur Description An account of the resource Arthur Blom, Art 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb56c5bd09a68e280bf460b0097f516b.pdf 1998319d88a3709b35213b5ed1dff526 PDF Text Text 1 Grand Valley State University Special Collections Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23 Mr. Lowell Blomstrom Interviewed on 4 August 1977 Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010- bryant@wellswooster.com Tape #56 (1:06:10) Biographical Information Mr. Lowell Blomstrom was born on 22 March 1893 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was the son of Carl Herman Blomstrom and Anna A. Berglund. Mr. Blomstrom died on 4 July 1979 in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He married Signe M. (surname not found) about 1922. Mrs. Blomstrom was born in 1890 in Michigan and died in Grand Rapids on 21 February 1959. Both Lowell and Signe were buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Grand Rapids. Carl H. Blomstrom was born in April 1867 in Lisbon, Ottawa County, Michigan. He was the son of Carl G. Blomstrom and Elizabeth ―Elles‖ Carlson. Carl died in 1923. He married Anna A. Berglund on 17 September 1890 in Muskegon, Michigan. Anna was born in December 1865 in Sweden and died in 1923. Both Carl and Anna were buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Grand Rapids. ___________ Interviewer: Lowell Blomstrom, 559 Lakeside Dr., S.E. Grand Rapids, Michigan; on the 4th day of August, 1977. Mr. Blomstrom and his father have been pioneers in the automobile industry for perhaps close to seventy-five years. I‘ve asked Mr. Blomstrom to tell us a little bit about his background and why don‘t you just start talking and tell me about your, where you were born and how long, you did say you born in Grand Rapids? Is that correct? Mr. Blomstrom: Oh yeah, yeah. Interviewer: May I ask you what year? Mr. Blomstrom: Ninety-three, eighteen ninety-three. Interviewer: How long did you stay here? Mr. Blomstrom: We moved to Marquette in eighteen ninety-seven, just about the time the Spanish-American War started. And, oh did you have that on? Interviewer: That‘s alright. �2 Mr. Blomstrom: And father built his second automobile there. His first was built in Grand Rapids. I have no record of that; I have pictures of course of the one in Marquette. That was started in eighteen ninety-eight and finished in nineteen hundred. And then in nineteen one we moved to Detroit where he started the Blomstrom Motor Company. To build the Queen car. And... Interviewer: May I, let me go back to Marquette for just a minute. What was the car called that he built in Marquette? Mr. Blomstrom: There was no name assigned to it. Interviewer: No name assigned to it? Mr. Blomstrom: No it was just the one car. Interviewer: How many, how many were built? Mr. Blomstrom: Just the one. Interviewer: Just one Mr. Blomstrom: Like that yeah. Interviewer: And then you went to Detroit in nineteen one? Mr. Blomstrom: Went to Detroit in nineteen one and he got backing from some millionaires in Marquette. They financed it and, and they built about almost 2 thousand Queens one cylinder first, just a few, a handful of them the first year. Then he went to a two cylinder post flat engine, you know what we call a pancake engine. And then he made a four cylinder in nineteen six and prices were of course quite high for those days, the four cylinder was twenty-two fifty ($2,250), the car like the similar to the one in Grand Rapids Museum was twelve hundred dollars. And the first original one like that one up there on that picture that was seven hundred and fifty dollars, pardon me, seven hundred, fifty dollars. And he had trouble with his partners and he left in nineteen six and started the Blomstrom Thirty, it was called. Thirty was horsepower based on the formula they had at those days, the old SAE formula which we don‘t use today. England still uses it. And they built the Blomstrom car; that was the runabout, they made a touring car. And that was quite a car for its day. And I have one of those. Interviewer: What year was that? Mr. Blomstrom: That was nineteen two when the company was formed, but the first year they made small boats, fifteen and a half foot long, selling for a hundred dollars. It was an inboard three-quarter horse motor. And they sold thousands of those. Then he started the car in nineteen three, one cylinder, in nineteen four he switched to two cylinders, course he made those right through to six. The company continued on after he left but in two years it was gone. �3 Interviewer: How many cylinders does the car have that we have in the public museum? Mr. Blomstrom: Two cylinders, Interviewer: That‘s two cylinders Mr. Blomstrom: Two cylinders yeah. Interviewer: And you say what was that built? Mr. Blomstrom: nineteen four. Interviewer: nineteen four. Mr. Blomstrom: Yes and the car continued on until nineteen eight. He left in nineteen six and then the Detroit Deluxe was put in there and backers from Marquette got the people that designed the Willis Overland, Willis hadn‘t bought into it was Overland, in Grand Rapids or in Toledo. And that was beautiful car and eight thousand dollar car then which was tremendous, most beautiful car you ever saw. But they didn‘t last long. And company was sold and that‘s where the Studebaker comes in to build a car, one of their earliest cars not the earliest but one of the earliest. Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blomstrom: You know South Bend? Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: They‘re the wagon people. Interviewer: But your father did continue in the motor car business? Mr. Blomstrom: Well then he, he built a Rex, a small car, I don‘t see it here on these pictures; it was a front drive car, small, they were called, what did they call them? They didn‘t call them compact cars, that was something later that Romney, Mr. Mason, who was the head of, later on, American Motors. Why, I don‘t recall just exactly what they called them, cycle cars, they called them cycle, they were real small. Well that lasted a while. Then he went to Camden, New Jersey, Grenloch just outside of Camden and built this Frontmobile. See that car here? That was a front drive car. And in my opinion they‘re all going to go to it within the next ten years, every last car will be a front drive, in my opinion. And then of course the war came on and they were rationed. Everybody was rationed. General Motors, Ford and everybody. And of course you had to base on the number of cars made in nineteen thirteen; see the war started in fourteen in Europe; it started in sixteen for us. And the big company got zero material based there was no car built in thirteen see, Frontmobile. And so he went to work and he made two-wheel or two front drive and four wheel drive trucks for the government for the ordinance till their money ran out. They had a �4 beautiful building on the Horseshoe Pike going from Philadelphia-Camden to Atlantic City. Still there, the building and they, the money ran out so that faded out of the picture. Then he quit making cars and he didn‘t live very long; he died quite young, fifty-six. And his name was Carl Herman Blomstrom; in Swedish Carl of course is Charles in this country he was known as Charlie or CHB, CH they called him in the... Interviewer: When was he in Adrian? You mentioned before we began… Mr. Blomstrom: Well Adrian the Lion Car was built from nineteen eight to nineteen eleven when fire destroyed the building. Interviewer: That was in Adrian? Mr. Blomstrom: That was in Adrian. Interviewer: The Lion car? Mr. Blomstrom: yeah it was named after the Old Lion Fence Company. They were bought out they moved to Philadelphia or where they were near the source of steel wire see. They were all wire fences you know. And so the company that was [Fred] Postal and [Austin Elbert] Morey who had a big cigar plant in Florida and they owned the Griswold Hotel in Detroit. Father knew them real well. And they were directors and quite a few Adrian people were in on it, directors. So they wanted him to design a car and come out there and build it. It was a beautiful car, there is only one in existence in a museum out near Rushmore you know where the, in the mountain out there in where is it the Dakotas? Somewhere? The only one in existence. Interviewer: Yeah I know what you mean. Mr. Blomstrom: Near Rushmore-Rapid City, South Dakota I believe it is. Interviewer: South Dakota. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah I think so. I‘ve never been out there but I understand they have the only one in existence. And I‘ve located 7 Queen cars of that 2 cylinder variety less similar to the one in Grand Rapids museum and I‘ve got one of them of course. That‘s I found that down near Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in a farm yard. It‘d been out there for 50 years and the chickens were roosting on it when I saw it at night, just at dusk you know. A fellow told me about it and I inquired. I got it. It was fully restored; it was in the antique tours a couple years. My cousin, who restored it, drove it in there. Interviewer: I see. What, where do you keep it? Mr. Blomstrom: Where did I keep it? Interviewer: Where do you keep it? �5 Mr. Blomstrom: Oh it‘s in the museum. Interviewer: Oh that‘s the one in the museum? Mr. Blomstrom: Yes, that‘s the red one in the museum. He restored it, did a beautiful job. He won prizes at Ford, Dearborn, Milwaukee and Fremont had their centennial you know. Interviewer: How many Queen cars were built? Mr. Blomstrom: Close to two thousand, around two thousand. That‘s pretty good for those days. Course Olds was the big producer you know. That was before Ford really got going, you know. Olds was the big producer up until nineteen six, seven when Ford come out with the forerunner of the Model-T. Interviewer: Now the Queens were all built in Detroit, it that correct? Mr. Blomstrom: Oh yes, yeah all from Detroit; yeah, on the west side. At the foot of Clark Avenue right by the river. Because he leased the old Clark Dry Dock for his boats you know. Right across the street; that there was the river. Interviewer: What did he do after he went out of the car business? Mr. Blomstrom: Well he and I designed a steering gear reversible, irreversible steering gear for Ford Model-T‘s and we sold thousands of them. I had the patents and I signed to the company. And I still have one in the basement in my store room down there. And you know the Ford was throw it out of your hand, they‘d tip over on you the Model-T‘s. I‘ve seen them tip over. You couldn‘t have no control, no resistance see? It was too direct. And we made, we sold thousands of them; had a company make them for us. And we had a lock on it and it would tilt up you know so it would get in and out easy. Then it had a Yale lock on it so you lock your steering you couldn‘t steer, it someone broke in. Well they were all open cars in those days. Pretty near all open cars, very few closed cars. Well I don‘t know what else Interviewer: What did people do for protection, who rode around in those early cars didn‘t have any tops? Mr. Blomstrom: Well, we‘d stop of course, uh we have umbrellas still we got to a place where we could under a tree or something which was a foolish thing to do probably in a thunderstorm. But we had umbrellas with we had raincoats of course, dusters you know like Cravanet or what do you call it, brown duster. Had gauntlet gloves you know went way up the elbows. But we‘d stop at a farmhouse and go in. Usually our coil which was on the dash got wet so it had we‘d take it in the stove and borrow their oven and light it up to dry it out cause it couldn‘t run without the coil. So we‘d go in and we had a lot of punctures. We usually drove up to the Sparta where my grandfather lived on the farm he was a blacksmith and it would take us two days, better part of two days you know we only made six miles an hour. We‘d stop at Lansing or one of the �6 Williamston out here overnight you know. Come in the next not the full day but. Take us pretty near two days. They made father made it once one day. He left at four o‘clock in the morning and got to Grand Rapids at three in the afternoon. The roads were, there were no roads you know, no paved roads. The first pavement in Michigan as I recall, outside of cities, was the four miles from Howell this way. It was a tavern there called the Four Mile House. That was the first pavement between Detroit and Grand Rapids. That‘s Howell, Michigan coming this way four miles; and all the rest were muddy when it rained of course they were all terrible. No they, we had a lot of fun in those days, although we ran into a lot of troubles. Mostly tire troubles, sometimes the tires would go twenty-five miles, sometimes three hundred, no more. Interviewer: No more than that? Mr. Blomstrom: No they‘d blow out. They were clincher tires you know, hooked in not straight side like yours and mine today. They were, were clincher tires and they would get rim cuts you know. And then they‘d get cut on the ruts on the road when they dry you know it‘s just like emery rubbing on the tires. They‘d blow out most of the time. We had punctures of course. We carried our own patching, rubber patching stuff; what we call cement patch, gasoline patch you know. We cleaned them with gasoline; cut it off with the shears, a piece out of its sheet you know rubber? Then paste it on. Interviewer: By what year were highways as we know them today, becoming more a part of the landscape? Mr. Blomstrom: Well it‘s hard; I‘d have records of it of course. The first piece of pavement in the world is claimed, was put in front of Heinz, he was a road commissioner in Wayne County, near Detroit, which includes Detroit. He had a farm outside, near Dearborn there, and he put a mile of concrete pavement in front of his house, the farm house, that was the first piece of concrete road as I understand it in the United States and probably the world. Interviewer: When was this? Mr. Blomstrom: About nineteen…well I don‘t know exactly. That was in I would say about nineteen ten around in there. Then the city of Detroit ordered two one mile between Six and Seven Mile Road on Woodward Avenue. And that was ten feet wide. And they had tollgates then you know; the farmers had to pay a toll. We had to pay a toll there was one at Six Mile, there was one at Eight Mile, Nine Mile, one at Birmingham, what‘s Birmingham now; and then one out by Pontiac and towards Orchard Lake. So that first mile road that was put between Six and Seven Mile on Woodward, Palmer Park if you‘re familiar, starts at Six, and this went to Seven. It was 10 feet wide, if you met a farmer with a load of hay coming in or something you had to get off. Two couldn‘t pass on ten feet. So the next year they made it twelve, and the next year after that fourteen, then you could just about pass. It was a progression of two feet per several years. And that was the first mile pavement in the World as far as I know. And then of course it started to come in, there wasn‘t any, I don‘t, I would say close to the first World War before there was �7 any amount of mileage and paved roads. Course we had what I call macadam roads you know, that‘s gravel you know. And it was all just like some of the country roads today you know, they‘re dirt roads. There was no pavement to speak. Just that four mile from Howell this way was the first pavement other that the cities. Leaving Detroit, when we first started coming up to Sparta, was a plank road. And finally that got so bad that they tore it all up. That would be on Grand River Avenue going out to Farmington. (Doorbell rings) Pardon me. Interviewer: There now we can resume. Mr. Blomstrom: Well I guess we completed the roads about, didn‘t we as far as you‘re interested. Interviewer: Yes. Let me ask you a question. When did you become associated with your father? Mr. Blomstrom: Well I was never actually in any of the plants that he was interested in. I associated with him in the helping designing. Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blomstrom: And even when I was quite young I got out some patents you know in that way and I helped in his figuring. Cause he, he went to grade school up here by the Marmrelund [Lutheran] Church you know where it is? [Kent City] Interviewer: I know where it is, yes. Mr. Blomstrom: Well, my grandparents were charter members there in eighteen sixty-five. They met in homes you know, first. That was the first building that they had, the wooden one, it‘s a brick building now, was built in seventy-two I believe. Interviewer: Do you remember a family up there by the name of Bloomer? Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah I know where they were; the Bloomer Hill which was a real hill to climb. We used to go up and father would drive and my brother and I would each have a stick of wood and we‘d block the wheels. Could only go a little at a time. Interviewer: That‘s my Mother‘s family. Mr. Blomstrom: Is that right? You know the old Bloomer Hill? Course it‘s cut down now. Interviewer: Yeah, I don‘t really know it. Mr. Blomstrom: Well it was a steep hill, a terribly steep hill; they took off the top and filled in the bottom down there where Kline, not Kline, what‘s his name? I know them, the family; I know most of the family. Interviewer: Klenk? �8 Mr. Blomstrom: Klenk yeah. They‘re down in the hollow, by the Bloomer Hill. Interviewer: I see. Well my grandfather and my grandfather‘s brother kept the farm until his death in nineteen twenty-three. His name was Abel Bloomer. Mr. Blomstrom: Well I don‘t know any of them. I just know the association with the Bloomer Hill. Interviewer: Do you remember the hamlet of Lisbon? Mr. Blomstrom: Well my father was born there Interviewer: He really was? Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah on the other side, he was born in Ottawa County you know that‘s the dividing line. That‘s Ottawa Kent. And he was born there, they didn‘t have any records but he was because my grandfather had a blacksmith‘s shop there. It was called the BlomstromGrumback. John Grumback who was the head of the printing company at one time, he was his first cousin you know. His Grumback‘s father and my grandfather Blomstrom were partners there. They made wagons and did steel work, forging you know. Interviewer: How many people lived in Lisbon in those days? Mr. Blomstrom: Well I have a book on it that published in 1879. It was the biggest town around there except Grand Rapids, of course. It was bigger than Sparta, [which] was called Nashville you know originally. Interviewer: No I never knew that. Mr. Blomstrom: Well the creek is the creek going through there over to the Rogue River you know. And the Rogue of course runs into the Grand here near Belmont. And so this was called Nashville. He [J. E. Nash] was the first settler there. I have pictures of his home. Interviewer: Were you born in Grand Rapids? Mr. Blomstrom: On the west side. Near that St. Adelbert Church, a block away, in that Polish settlement. That‘s quite Polish. It was the old church. This is a new one. This was built in nineteen eight. The other one faced south, this one faces west on Davis I think is the cross street. Near McReynolds, I don‘t know. Yeah the house I was born in was the corner of Davis and McReynolds and Third Street. You see the freeway goes through there now; it took all of the south side of Third Street there. The house I was born in is still standing over there, on the corner. Interviewer: Oh really? Mr. Blomstrom: And they moved it around the corner and built a bigger house on the corner. �9 Interviewer: What‘s the address? Mr. Blomstrom: I don‘t know. Interviewer: You don‘t know. Mr. Blomstrom: It‘s still there. I drove by there a couple of years ago and I saw the house Interviewer: Did you get up into the northern part of the county quite a lot to see your grandfather? Mr. Blomstrom: Oh yeah we used to go up there every year from nineteen three on, every year we‘d go up there. Father would leave a car for us, he‘d take a tester along so he‘d drive back see? And he‘d leave a car for my brother and I, we drove it, it was the only car; people would come from hundreds of miles to see the car you know. Up at grandfather‘s they had heard of the car you know, it was quite a rarity. You didn‘t see cars; well there were only eighty-two cars in the state of Michigan, when I started driving, in the whole state. Interviewer: when was that? Mr. Blomstrom: Nineteen three, yeah, there was only eighty-two... Interviewer: You were about ten years old when you started to drive. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah , yeah I was ten. I‘ve been driving ever since, never been without a car. Interviewer: What did you, what were your business associations later on? Mr. Blomstrom: Well, of course I helped father but I didn‘t work for the companies. I got some of the patents. He only had eighth grade, he took an ICS; you know International Correspondence Schools? At Scranton, Pennsylvania? He took drafting, I have some of his drawings; they‘re beautiful drawings. He took correspondence courses in engineering; he‘s got a diploma, which I have, in mechanical engineering of the ICS schools. And he was a prolific inventor you know what I mean? One of these fellows who comes to work every morning and has a new idea; never stops to make a nickel you know. And, well Henry Ford is the same thing. I don‘t give him credit for the Ford motor at all. I give it to Jim Couzens and he ran the office you know, the money, the Senator you know later on. Interviewer: What sort of schooling did you have? Mr. Blomstrom: High school Interviewer: Where was that? Mr. Blomstrom: Western High in Detroit. There were only three high schools in Detroit. Eastern, Western, and Central. Western burnt down there‘s over thirty now, I know a few years ago there �10 was twenty-six, probably thirty now. There was only three, Eastern, Western, and Central. The Western burnt down twenty some years ago; there‘s a big new building there, much bigger of course. The building that I was in was built around nineteen hundred. I was there from nineteen six to nineteen ten, when I graduated. And I was going to MIT in Boston. And the principal got me free entrance without an examination because I was fairly good in mathematics- high school mathematics and college algebra too. And that‘s really what‘s helped me in most of my jobs. Interviewer: Did you go on to MIT? Mr. Blomstrom: No I had what they called some kidney ailment and they said I wouldn‘t live. One time the doctor said a week and here I am almost 85 years old, but all the doctors are gone. And well they didn‘t know. I grew up like a weed you know. I was six foot five only weighed a hundred and forty pounds. You know just a hardly a shadow. And I played tennis, of course those days we were, everybody called us sissies you know playing ping-pong out on the grass you know. And when the city wouldn‘t give us a, had any courts, public courts those days, they gave us a space in Clark‘s park. We had a roll it and stripe it on a clay court. They gave us a space for clay on the green court. And so it was, we were the forerunners. My partner and I who later became treasurer of Detroit Edison Company, he died 3 years ago, we were partners. We played doubles so much you know in those days. I played up by the net because I was tall and could reach a lot of them, stop them from going back. I couldn‘t run, he could run, he was fast like old Borg in Sweden now you know. And this other fellow what‘s his name? I don‘t know. And I couldn‘t run. So we played doubles quite a lot. He had his house full of cups. He was champion of the west side and also head of the Detroit Edison Tennis Club for years and years. He was good. I wasn‘t. I was better at playing baseball. I used to play baseball. Not professionally but, and I don‘t know how it was I was so thin but I had a swing, a long swing. Boy that ball would go. Interviewer: Were those grass courts in those days? Mr. Blomstrom: Well we had one grass and one clay court. The city put down the clay. I guess you‘d call it clay, it was white roll. But they put up the posts. We had to furnish the net and stripe it. We used to have our own machine for striping. And we had to furnish the nets and keep it up. They gave us a spot in the park. There‘s hundreds and thousands of them in Detroit now public you know. The only ones that were public were a couple at Belle Isle and two at Waterworks Park. We used to go there and play; I‘d drive a bunch of kids over there. But now there‘re thousands of them. Well you‘re asking me a lot of questions about myself. I thought this was about my father. Interviewer: Well I‘m interested in both of you. I wanted to go on to you back to you for a moment. You became associated with some businesses. Mr. Blomstrom: Well the first thing I did was after I was six years after I left high school and they said don‘t go to college, I was going to MIT as I said, principal got me in there. Ordinarily �11 they, those days, you had to take an examination; he got me in, without an examination. And for six years I did nothing. I‘d walk. I‘d walk downtown and back twice every day. That was ten miles. Finally I got so I could walk ten to fifteen miles a days. I was thin but apparently I grew too fast and I was six foot five and weighed a hundred and forty pounds. Occasionally when I‘d take the car, I had a car father gave me. But I didn‘t do anything there for six years. Then I got a job in a small company as a timekeeper. We had those calculagraph clocks you know you punch a card in out on the job. And I got to running all the machines there when they were idle I‘d see the machine idle I‘d go and run it. I had that privilege, I knew the owners, and because I‘d learned how to run practically every machine that father had you know. He had quite a machine shop there. And you can see some of the pictures here I think, I don‘t know there might be some here. Interviewer: Yes there are, I see some. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah there‘s lots. I have lots more besides what‘s on the wall here. In the den, and I could run anything-gear cutter, building machine or lathe or any machine because after school I‘d go down there and see an idle machine and I‘d go run it. And I got so I could run and I could figure of course. The average workman, a toolmaker, or anybody working in the shop didn‘t know mathematics. They got through grade school and had to go to work. It was a necessity they had to. They didn‘t go to, very few people went to high school. They went up to the eighth grade like my father did. And of course he had the ICS course but he was an inventor. Prolific inventor I call him. Henry Ford was the same thing. But I spent an hour with Henry Ford a year before he died. It was on his problem of bearings out there. Of course I was with the Bearing Company then -FederalMogul. It was Federal Bearing and Bushing originally, they merged with Muzzy Lyon Company to form Federal-Mogul, which is in existence today. It‘s a big company. A very big company. Interviewer: How long were you with them? Mr. Blomstrom: Thirty-seven years. I went in as Chief Tool Engineer, Tool Designer, whatever you want to call it. And then I got to be Chief Engineer including the machinery, designing, tool fixtures and jigs and everything like that. And also the product engineering I had both. Now it‘s split up it‘s so big. And then I got to be Chief Engineer and then I, the last ten years, I was consulting to the president on manufacturing and engineering. Consulting engineer. Interviewer: Did you live in Detroit during all this period? Mr. Blomstrom: I lived in Detroit forty years from nineteen one to nineteen forty-one. We put up a plant in Greenville which is still there and that‘s where we put metals on the moving strip, while it‘s moving. And those were my babies. I engineered those. It took a lot of aspirin but I got them working. And there‘s nine of them now; five in Greenville and four in St. Johns. And they‘re a hundred and eighty feet long. Couldn‘t powder or babbitt on moving steel, freeze the �12 babbitt of course the copper lead it goes thru ovens. It‘s a hundred and eighty feet long from a coil of steel to a fine metal ready for the press room, form it into bearings. It‘s a very fine process. We make our own powder. That is we I said I‘m not with them now but I mean…Federal-Mogul makes their own powder. And St. Johns and we atomized molten metal you know, make it molten metal make powder out of it. Interviewer: Did you retire after you worked for Federal-Mogul you said you were willing— Mr. Blomstrom: Well, when I was sixty-five they don‘t want you anymore like General Motors, they kick you out. That‘s the customary retirement; they‘re talking about changing it now to sixty-eight or something else. Interviewer: Did you come back to Grand Rapids at that time or? Mr. Blomstrom: I came back here in fifty-five. I bought a house on Maryland. I sold that when my wife passed away. She‘s been gone—we have no children—she‘s been gone nineteen years now. And I leased this when it wasn‘t even half finished through this building. There were no walls, just a framework. And they were working on the brickwork outside. I‘ve been here, one of the first here, eight years now I‘ve been, eight or nine I guess. No, I had a house over on Maryland near, between Michigan and Fulton. Interviewer: Yes. Tell me more about your father, tell me more about his later years. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, I was going to tell you, you asked me about what I was doing. Well then, I worked for this little shop and got around to be the inspector there. They made tool work and some production work. And then I went with Paige Motor Car Company it was called—it wasn‘t called the Graham-Paige then, the Graham brothers hadn‘t bought it then—it was called PaigeDetroit [Motor Car Company]. It was near where we lived on the West Side. I went in there, and I‘d never take a drawing lesson in my life, but I told them I was an expert gauge designer. They wanted a gauge designer. So I got to be their chief gauge designer. I think I was about twenty-six years old or something like that. And I got along fine. From there I went to—well I was still with Paige when they built that big plant out on Warren near the Lincoln Motor Plant which is now Detroit Edison shops you know, that big building on Livernois and Warren. And, Paige was a mile further out. I don‘t know what it is now, probably Chrysler Plant or something. Well I got to be assistant tool engineer there. We had thirty-eight in the department. I was first chief checker then I got to be assistant to the Master Mechanic. He‘s the headman of tool engineering today, Master Mechanic. I got to be assistant Master Mechanic. Interviewer: Excuse me interrupting, about when was this? Mr. Blomstrom: Well it was around the war, just after the war, the First World War Interviewer: First World War �13 Mr. Blomstrom: Well I‘m getting a little ahead of my story. In the First World War I went from Paige to Lincoln Motor Car Company. They hadn‘t made a car yet, they were making their first one. You know they made the Liberty engine, the airplane engine. They made the biggest quantity around six thousand of ‗em. And Ford made some, Marmon made some, Cadillac made some, Hinkley made some. But Lincoln Motor made the bulk, there were six thousand about. Probably all the rest were about four thousand. Not a one got across to Europe you know, they were all on the coast when the war ended. Interviewer: I see Mr. Blomstrom: And honest, you could buy up for a song you know. A twelve-cylinder. ----Six separate cylinders, each one bolted. They were made of steel. And I was chief gauge inspector there under the head of all inspection. I wasn‘t the chief in the department, I was chief gauge inspector. So I got a lot of—And then from there I went to Paige. The war stopped you know in November, eighteen wasn‘t it? I believe we were only in two years. The war had been on since fourteen of course. And then I went with Paige. So it was after the war that I was there as an assistant tool engineer for… during the Depression of twenty-one there were thirty-eight of us in the department and during the Depression there was only three of us, the boss, myself, and the clerk. It was a sharp drop-off just like a cliff you know. But it started coming back, in eighteen months it was normal. But everybody was laid off except a few key people you know. But Lincoln wanted to keep me. Mr. [ Henry M.] Leland whose, was, started as one of the founders of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, he left to start the Lincoln. They were building the car in the —secret room. He gave me permission to go in there. I had a key. They were building the first car during the war there. I saw the first Lincoln. And while it was being built, as a matter-offact, I was one of the privileged to go in there. And when the war ended there you know there was a false, on Thursday you know there was a false alarm, but we didn‘t know it was a false alarm, that the war was ended. The following Monday it was the real thing! And Mr. Leland, I said, I‘m leaving, I‘m leaving, there‘s nothing here to do. We just played checkers and chess you know with thirty-six of us in that whole plant including the office. We‘d come in ten o‘clock and go out to lunch and then we‘d come back, play some more checkers or chess and go home at three o‘clock. We did that from November to March, so I got tired of playing checkers and chess. So I told him. ―No‖ he says, ―we got a good job for you. We‘re going to build a car in August, by August.‖ I said, ―Mr. Leland you can‘t tool up. It‘s going to take you a year and a half to two years to tool up.‖ Machinery wasn‘t good for that you know, what they had for the airplane engine. So, well I was right of course, he couldn‘t start in August, this was March see. So I left. He begged me to come back. In the meantime you know, Ford took it over. He had a little trouble with Wilfred Leland‘s son, Henry Leland‘s son. Leland was very nice to me; he begged me to come back. I says no, I‘m not coming back. And then Ford got hold of me—records I suppose there, and he kept pestering me for two or three years to .... He had me all signed up to be at Highland Park then you know, in the head of their gauge department. In the meantime of course, during the war there, the Bureau of Standards wanted me in Washington, which would �14 have been good experience. But my mother was ill, my father had passed away you know. So I didn‘t go. Well, they said, we‘ll send you to Franklin Arsenal in, near Philadelphia. I says no, I can‘t leave Mother. Well he said, we‘ll get you closer, Rock Island Arsenal where you‘re in the Mississippi. I said no. So they passed it up. But Ford kept writing me for years, I never went out there. Interviewer: What did you do after..? Mr. Blomstrom: Well, then I went with the Bearing Company. Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blomstrom: I been there, I was there until I retired. That was Federal Bearing and Bushing. They merged in, that was twenty-one. In twenty-four they merged with Muzzy-Lyons to form Federal-Mogul. Federal was the trade name of the Federal Bronze and Mogul was the Babbitt of Muzzy-Lyons. So they took their two trademarks and formed a corporation, Federal-Mogul. Interviewer: In what year did your father die? Mr. Blomstrom: Twenty-three. Mother died, he died in early spring and Mother died in the fall. Interviewer: I see. Had he been active up to the end? Mr. Blomstrom: Yes, yes, he was active. He was always figuring out something new you know. Interviewer: Well, do you have some other memories about the cars that your father-there‘s one picture there you said was shown in New York? Mr. Blomstrom: Well that‘s these two here. That picture‘s taken at the show; that‘s the chassis and the touring car. This is the runabout. I had one of these. Front drive car. Course they‘re quite new. There‘ve been front cars made before; old [J. Walter] Christie made a front drive racer, the fastest car in the world those days until Barney Oldfield came around with a Blitzen Benz. Interviewer: What year were those cars made? Mr. Blomstrom: Those cars? Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: Well I think that‘s in nineteen seventeen when it‘s in the show. We started that—well I didn‘t go down there; I was home. I wasn‘t doing anything for six years. I would say it was around sixteen or seventeen. Interviewer: Was that show in New York in the armory? Mr. Blomstrom: I think it was what they called a National Armory, isn‘t it, something like that? �15 Interviewer: Well I‘ve heard they used to have shows there. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, that‘s right, I think so. I‘m not that certain about it, but I would think so. They had a couple places there they showed ‗em. I wasn‘t down there, Father of course was there. He‘d show the Queen car he started in Chicago at the old auditorium. He‘d stay at the Congress Hotel. The owner of the Congress Hotel and the auditorium there was this one millionaire [in] Marquette that financed the Queen. Of course we‘d go over to Chicago we‘d have free hotel rooms and dinners and everything was free. Interviewer: What was his name? Mr. Blomstrom: Well that was the Kaufman family. They were very wealthy. Interviewer: Did they live in Marquette? Mr. Blomstrom: Some of them did. Of course one of the family, the one that financed Father, was the oldest one. They married wealthy. They were smart, they married wealthy people. Louie Kaufman, one of the brothers, was in New York. He was head of the second largest bank in the United States. What was the—what is the second largest bank? I don‘t know if it is today. Interviewer: I can‘t answer your question. Mr. Blomstrom: Well, City Bank is one of them now I guess. But he was head of, he was interested in the General Motors too. He made a lot of money besides, Louie. I met him, I met him years ago. There were several brothers, four that I knew. And they all ended up pretty wealthy you know. Interviewer: Yeah. Mr. Blomstrom: They made a lot of money in copper you know. And married a lot of… Well, I could write a book if I‘d been around to it years ago. The editor of the Detroit Free Press, he‘s not living now, needless to say, Mr. Blomstrom, he says, you ought to write a book he says, you know more about the automobile business that anybody I‘ve ever talked to. Well I grew up with it and I have a good memory you know, and through Father‘s associations. Interviewer: Clearly. Mr. Blomstrom: And I met a lot of the people later on when I was with the Bearing Company. Did I say I met Mr. Ford, spent an hour with him, I got along fine with him. But he gets along fine with outsiders, but he‘s tough on the people who work for him. Very tough. He‘s a one man show you know. Edsel of course was my age exactly. If he‘d been living he‘d be close to eightyfive now. He was very small; he‘d only come to my shoulder you know. Ford was quite tall; he bent over in the last few years. But I got along fine with Henry Ford Interviewer: Did you know Edsel Ford too? �16 Mr. Blomstrom: No, I never met him personally. I saw him lots of times. And I‘ve seen the sons, his three sons, of course, lots of times when they were kids with knee pants. They‘d walk down Washington Boulevard and there‘d be a guard in front and back you know. When they went to school they‘d have to have guards you know, their school Yale or wherever they went. There was Henry the second, and Benson, and William…Clay, see. They were all their middle names. Well Clay was. You see, Mrs. Edsel Ford was a niece of J.L. Hudson the store man you know Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: And she was a Clay, her name was Clay, so that‘s where they get the Clay. William Clay, and of course the younger son married one of the Firestone. You know old Henry is their grandfather. [Harvey] Firestone and [John] Burroughs you know, the botanist or whatever he was, and [Warren G.] Harding and they went camping. I have a picture here somewhere. That‘s the first station wagon I ever saw. Ford made one just for that trip you know. They‘d go camping, six or seven of them you know. Ford would always pay the expense. And Edson, Edison, Thomas Edison, was one of that group. Interviewer: You said Burroughs, but don‘t you mean Burbank? Mr. Blomstrom: No no, I mean Burroughs. Interviewer: Oh Burroughs. Mr. Blomstrom: Burbank was the— Interviewer: You know what you‘re talking about. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah. He was an elderly man, quite short. I have his picture here with Ford. And Harding was president, then they invited him. Thomas Edison. Ford would do that every year. And he got very close to Firestone. I think that‘s the reason why Edsel‘s youngest boy married a Firestone. He owns a football team don‘t he? The Lions? Interviewer: Yes, I believe so. Mr. Blomstrom: That‘s the youngest. Then there was girl in the family too, Josephine I think‘s her name. I don‘t know exactly. I think so. She married a Ford so she didn‘t have to change her name. Interviewer: Another Ford family as I recall. Mr. Blomstrom: It‘s the Ford-Alkali, Michigan Alkali, or Wyandotte Chemicals now. They were very wealthy people. That‘s the Ford of Libbey-Owens-Ford family Toledo, the plate glass people. Interviewer: I see. �17 Mr. Blomstrom: It‘s not the Ford automobile people. No connection. No connection. And that Ford building in Detroit‘s the same way. That‘s not the Ford automobile man, that‘s the FordAlkali, I call ‗em Alkali because it was the Michigan Alkali in Wyandotte you know. Now it‘s Wyandotte Chemicals. They make products for making glass, they supplied the elements. There‘s a famous Ford family in Toledo, Pittsburgh plate glass and Libbey-Owens-Ford family. That‘s a different family entirely. See Father made the cars before Ford. Well of course he made that one. He made one here in Grand Rapids in ninety-two, but I‘ve never checked with the newspapers if it‘s in there. He was working with the Perkins Machine shop on Front Street. They just tore that building down, of course they‘ve been gone for years, when they made the freeway through there. Front Street is jogged there somewheres. Then he went to Marquette in ninetyseven. Well he was quite a smart duck considering he didn‘t have any education. He had both feet on the ground like Kettering, ―Boss‖ Kettering, Charles Kettering. He was a great fellow; I used to go and visit him. He had both feet on the ground. They‘re so interested in developing new things that they never stop to make any money. That is a beautiful drawing isn‘t it? I don‘t know what I‘m going to do with that. Interviewer: It says, The Lion Forty Power Plant. Mr. Blomstrom: Well, that was the old SAE rating. England still uses that rating. What you do, you square the bore, if it‘s a five inch cylinder you square it, that‘s five times five is twenty-five, multiply by the number of cylinders four, that‘d be a hundred, divided by two and a half, that‘s where you get forty see. Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blomstrom: Get it? Interviewer: I get it. Mr. Blomstrom: Well they still use that in England, we don‘t, we use the brake horsepower. Test it on a brake dynamometer. Actual horsepower of course, they take off the water pump and the generator. Actually, the horsepower‘s not what they say it is because they take off some things that take horsepower, your water pump and your generator and that stuff. But it‘s brake horsepower, actually torque. Testing torque. That‘s what brake horsepower is, testing torque. Foot pounds. Well the horsepower is 33,000 foot pounds. Interviewer: I keep thinking of things about that car in the museum. I went to see it; I think it was yesterday afternoon, because it‘s locked up in a room there. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, they had it on display two years in a glass – in the entrance to that looking at the stars stuff. It was beautiful there. But they, they got this room, and it‘s all cluttered up. It‘s typical of nineteen hundred. It‘s an old blacksmith shop or something. Interviewer: How fast would that car go? �18 Mr. Blomstrom: Thirty-five miles an hour. Interviewer: Oh really? Mr. Blomstrom: That‘s about all it would do. Interviewer: Well that‘s pretty fast. Mr. Blomstrom: We had motor, we had bicycle police, traffic cops in Detroit, on Belle Isle. They couldn‘t catch me. They couldn‘t pedal. What they‘d do, they‘d cross the Island and catch me on the other side. That‘s the way they‘d put their bicycles; they‘d get another cop, and they‘d put their bicycles on the ground, and I‘d have to go out on the grass, which is not permitted. They‘d take me over to the station, there‘s a station on Belle Isle. Been there ever since I can remember. And get another policeman and they‘d cross the Island midway, and I‘d go way around the tip of the island. And they‘d catch me on the other side of the island. They had their bicycles on the road, the roads weren‘t very wide. And of course in order to go by them I‘d have to go out on the grass, and of course they stood about each side there. So then they‘d take me over to the police station on Belle Island, been one there ever since—still there as far as I know. Of course then I would tell Dad. He says forget it, which I did. He knew all the judges I guess. They used to come down and borrow the boats on Friday, go up to the flats. I knew every judge because they‘d come down there on a Friday afternoon after court and get one of those boats and go up to the flats. A whole bunch of judges. Interviewer: Where were the flats located? Mr. Blomstrom: That‘s the beginning of the St. Clair River. It‘s at the north end of Lake St. Clair. You went through St. Clair River. The flats is the first part. It‘s swampy and islands, so dozens of islands there. There‘s that big Indian island there, the Walpole. It‘s across from that park where the boat used to go up to ___ park. That‘s below Algonac, see. Algonac is where Gar [Garfield] Wood is. We built the propellers for Gar Wood‘s, all his speed boats. He had the world‘s record until now; we‘ve gone way beyond it. This fellow out in Lake Washington in Seattle has gone, what is it, over two hundred miles an hour I guess. Of course they‘re really not boats anymore, they‘re practically out of the water, they‘re hydroplanes! They have steps in them. But we built them for Gar Wood and well, he had the world‘s record, a hundred and twenty-six miles. We built all the propellers and most of the --- tugboats we built the propellers. We sold that to Michigan Wheel; I say we, it‘s Federal-Mogul. Michigan Wheel still makes a Federal equipoise propeller, which we had a patent on. Most of the --- tugboats used to buy them from us, I don‘t know if they‘re buying them from Michigan now. Michigan‘s right here in town. Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: Its part of a, I don‘t know if some corporation has bought them out. Interviewer: Yeah. It used to be that Mr. Evenson was president of it. Charles. �19 Mr. Blomstrom: I don‘t know. I met a lot of them when they were considering about, something about a machine they were building for to machine the propellers, the production. Course they use it for making patterns, I know. But they were going to make a machine to do the production, which according to me is not according to ―Hoyle‖. It‘s not necessary. You know the pitch, the pitch is the one turn is a pitch, like a thread. The ones we made for Gar Wood were only seventeen inches in diameter but was twenty inch pitch. They had two of them, one going this way and one going opposite so his boat wouldn‘t tip over, see. Like the English[man]… Kaye Don tipped over. I watched him, I saw his boat tip right over. He got in the wave of a Gar Wood boat that was leaving, and his propeller come out of the water, there was no resistance. And the torque of that just took his boat, which was very light, and tipped it right over and he went in the drink. I saw it. I was only five hundred feet away from it when it happened. Well Gar Wood was smart, he put two propellers on, going in the opposite direction, so you didn‘t get that chance of tipping over if the wheels went out of the water. He was smart, smart old duck. He died, didn‘t he, a little while ago? I think so. Interviewer: I don‘t know. Mr. Blomstrom: He was very old. I knew him, met him. Course they had the Gar Wood... they made that dump truck, hydraulic dump truck. We made a lot of parts for them. I knew all the brothers. There was a bunch of brothers! There were about pretty near as many of them as the Fisher brothers. They were seven I guess. I knew a couple of them, Ed the youngest. Interviewer: I think you ought to write that book. Mr. Blomstrom: Well, a lot of people have said that. I think Mr. Frankfurter said it too, and some of the other people. I did write a book on bearings for the company. Millions of those were sent out. It‘s a very small book. It‘s been in most of the libraries now around the country. Some people wanted a thousand. The Ordinance Department, where is that, Fort Benning in Georgia where they had the Ordinance? Well a major came up from there one day, I didn‘t know he was coming, and the office wanted to see Mr. Blomstrom. The girl says, there‘s a major from Fort Benning here. He wanted a thousand of those little books. They were just small, about Reader‘s Digest, you could just stick it in your pocket. It was run serially in an automobile magazine for eight months. So we give him a thousand, it didn‘t cost much. They‘re in most of the universities, they wrote, they sent. Course now they put out a hardcover, but this was just soft cover. But it was about probably the first small bearing book on servicing, you know taking care of bearings, automobile engine bearings, not ball or roller bearings. So that‘s the only writing. It‘s difficult for me to write, but I suppose I should. It‘s too late now, I guess. Interviewer: You could always dictate it. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, I bought a machine, I have a machine. I bought it for that purpose. I haven‘t used it but once I guess, twice, but not for that purpose. I bought a machine, nothing as �20 elaborate as your machine here. It‘s just a simple…has about the same kind of a microphone I guess. Micro—what do you call it? Interviewer: No, it‘s a microphone, yes. Mr. Blomstrom: Yes, I have that. Some of them have it built right into the case. I see some of the new ones advertised. Yeah, I have one. Interviewer: How do you keep busy these days? Mr. Blomstrom: Well I‘m rummaging see, getting stuff here. I‘m going to dispose of a lot of books and things. I don‘t know what I‘m going to do with all these pictures; of course Mr. Frankfurter would like them. I don‘t if he ever saw this; I don‘t think I had that at the museum. These others I had at the museum for a couple years, until they moved the Queen car where it is now. Interviewer: I see. You said your cousin restored that car? Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, I think a second or third cousin. Interviewer: Who‘s he? Mr. Blomstrom: His name is Bloomstrom, they put too many o‘s in it. He lives in Sparta, Michigan. He works here in Grand Rapids. He works in the furniture business - woodwork. He‘s a young fellow, compared to me of course, he‘s about half my age. But he‘s restored a lot of cars, for himself and for others. He does a beautiful job. Interviewer: But you were the one who actually found it? Mr. Blomstrom: Oh yes. Well, one of our people at the—we have a, Federal-Mogul had a plant at Lancaster, that‘s the Amish town you know. Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: He says there‘s a Queen car over here. And this fellow had an old car, one very rare car. Everybody down there has an old car. Every town has people who recondition old cars... a Lancaster and Valley Forge and around Pennsylvania. So he says there‘s a Queen car over here. Well, I says, can you find out when it‘s convenient to see it? Yeah. I‘d been looking for one; I‘d located seven you know, which is pretty good for being that old. They run from—there‘s this nineteen six four cylinder in Detroit, he won‘t sell it to me. He has the largest collection of old cars in the world. The magazines say he has six hundred, he told me he has a thousand. I believe it because they‘re in sheds. If you put up in a straight line or in a U they‘d be eight hundred feet long and he‘s got five deep standing on the ends. So he says bring down a suit, you know get a suit, a coverall suit. So I stopped at Sears Roebuck in Highland Park there and bought one. The only time I ever used it, I gave it to a customer. And he says I‘ve got one of your �21 father‘s cars. I says what is it? He says it‘s a four cylinder nineteen six Queen. Looked like a Packard you know. There‘s a four cylinder up there and to the left, at the top, see it looks like a Packard. Now maybe, I don‘t know who swiped who, but, they were swiping designs those days as they are today. And everybody you‘d show that car too would say that‘s a Packard, and it was a Queen, four cylinder. Well anyway. I got off the track. Interviewer: Well, you were going to go look at these cars. Mr. Blomstrom: Yeah, well, I bought that and on the way over there, he says, Mr.—we call him Barney Pullerd, P-U-L-L-E-R-D, I guess he‘s still living. He has the largest collection of old cars in the world. The last time he called me up here, two years ago, about seven, eight years ago he says when you gonna write that story about your father for me? Cause he wants it you know. Well, I says, I haven‘t got around to it. He says, I‘m gonna put up a building now, he says, and I‘m going to show all my cars in a museum and charge like all the others are doing, Florida and out west. I don‘t know if he‘s done it, I haven‘t talked to him for seven, eight years. He has, the oldest car is a German eighteen ninety-seven, and all his cars are real old, I mean none of this new stuff, twenty, thirty years, they‘re all old. From eighteen ninety-seven, I would say, to nineteen twenty probably. He has almost every car imaginable. He‘s still looking for a Lion car. I haven‘t told him I located one in this museum out by Rushmore. He‘s probably found out. He‘s advertised in every…he says, that was the finest car your father built, he says, that would outrun any car even a Stutz in those days. Interviewer: How many Lions were built? Mr. Blomstrom: Well I don‘t know exactly. I would say it‘s between a thousand and fifteen hundred. Interviewer: I see. Mr. Blomstrom: You see, the Queen cars there were only ten a week made. It was all hand work practically. He bought the bodies and a lot of the other axels. The axels were made by WestonMott in Flint, you know that‘s Mott, you heard-Interviewer: Yes, sure. Mr. Blomstrom: Mott. The General Motors had more stock than anybody else outside of the Dupont family. I met him; I saved the life of his financial secretary twice by giving him blood you know. I had a hemolytic strep and it took me three years to come back on that. I lost seventy pounds, I was in Harper Hospital. I gave blood side-by-side in bed to this fellow twice and saved him. They looked all the records of the hospitals over Michigan and I was the only one who could save this boy‘s life. You got to give him blood serum within twelve months when you fought it off. They found my name and they got me to give him some blood and in a week he was on his way to Arizona, and riding horseback in two weeks. The next year he got pneumonia �22 and I gave him some more blood cause the same thing happened. I met Charlie Mott there, he was tall as I was, six foot five. I thought he‘d give me a million bucks, but he never did. Well, the Queen car had Weston-Mott axels front and rear; they were made in Flint. They moved from Elmira, New York, I believe it is, somewheres in New York State, to Flint. That‘s how he got there. And of course, General Motors bought the plant and he got stock, and he never sold his share, he kept it, so now it‘s being sold. Well he was getting there at one time an awful lot, several million dollars in dividends every year when it used to be two dollars or something. Yeah, he had more stock I think than any individual, but the Dupont family probably had more as a family. Interviewer: Did you like Mott personally? Mr. Blomstrom: I only met him as his secretary, financial secretary. I seen him lots of times, but I never met him. I used to go up to Chevrolet and Buick, of course we made bearings, some of them, for them. Not so much Buick, but one time we made forty percent of the Chevrolet until they make their own now I guess down in Dayton Ohio, Moraine Products. I knew two of the Chevrolet brothers, you know there were three: Gaston, Arthur, and Louie. The last time I talked to Louie, he was assembling front drives on those twelve cars that Edsel ordered for Harry Miller for the Indianapolis track. He wanted me to design the bearings for him, I did, which I did, they were special. See they go up to seventy-two hundred rpm, those four cylinder Millers. Harry Miller came to my office and he had Preston Tucker with him. He introduced me to him. Of course the big thing, they say he designed the Tucker car. He didn‘t design that any more than I did. He was an expediter that‘s all he was, he was no engineer, Tucker. I knew him quite well. And I got to meet Harry Miller. We made bearings…There was five cars that were got down to the Indianapolis track, but they had other front end troubles, steering gear trouble, none of them finished the Ford cars. The old man didn‘t know about it I guess. They assembled them in a building down on, West Lafayette there, about a mile from town. I was down there quite often. Preston Tucker was a handsome fellow. He died quite young, in the forties wasn‘t it? Low forties? Interviewer: I think so. Mr. Blomstrom: I talked to him over there in Chicago. They showed the car there in that big building that Dodge ran during the war making engines. He was quite a talker. They raised a lot of money but a lot of people lost a lot of money too. They sold a lot of stock. Anybody who wanted to handle the car, dealer had to put down four thousand dollars I believe, something like that. Don‘t quote me too much on that. What are you going to do with this? Interviewer: This will go to the, well I‘m sure the museum wants a copy of it, and a copy will go to the Grand Valley State Colleges. Mr. Blomstrom: Are they interested in this? �23 Interviewer: They have an oral history department. Mr. Blomstrom: I see. Interviewer: So, you‘ll be talking for the next few hundred years. Mr. Blomstrom: The Swedes in Detroit, what they call the Detroit Council, Swedish Council Incorporated, I know fifty percent of them, of course I could have been a charter member if I‘d a stayed in Detroit. They just wrote a book last year as a project for the centennial, or was it bicentennial isn‘t it? I have a copy here. They have quite a write-up about my father in there, and they mention me too, and my father-in-law, he‘s right on the first page. He was one of the founders of the Mamrelund church up here. Interviewer: What‘s the name of the book? Mr. Blomstrom: They Made a Difference. Interviewer: They Made a Difference. Who published it, do you know? Mr. Blomstrom: Aaronson, but I buy it through the friend of mine who‘s the secretary of the Detroit Swedish Council, Signe Carlstrom I know her. Interviewer: I presume that the local library would have a copy. Mr. Blomstrom: I don‘t know. I bought several of the books to give to my nephews and nieces. Of course what I was going to tell you was that it was a special project because of the king‘s visit here. He was here last summer. Interviwer: Yeah. Mr. Blomstrom: Karl Gustof. Every Swedish king has got Karl Gustof in their name. That was my grandfather‘s name, Karl Gustof Blomstrom. So they gave him several books, so my name and my father‘s name and a lot of my relatives are in that palace in Stockholm. Well, they just happened to put my name in, they got my father‘s write-up. In fact, this fellow that retired just last year, the vice-chairman of General Motors Oscar Lundeen wrote it with – Jones, who was the head of the big advertising agency there in Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Center. Jones. I don‘t know him, of course I know Oscar Lundeen real well. I‘ve known him since he was that high; I knew his parents. I knew the three boys. One of them designed that Union Trust Building downtown, Earl Lundeen. Interviewer: Which building is that? Mr. Blomstrom: The Union Bank and Trust. Interviewer: Union Bank. The new building? �24 Mr. Blomstrom: Well yeah, it‘s quite new. I don‘t know about the little building alongside, that‘s named after the chairman isn‘t it? Frye Building. Interviewer: Yes. Mr. Blomstrom: But that‘s designed by Earl Lundeen. He and another fellow have a corporation in New York City. That‘s Oscar‘s brother. There was three boys; I knew them all. There was Edward, the youngest, Earl, and Oscar. Interviewer: They were all in Detroit I take it? Mr. Blomstrom: Oh yeah. Their father was the superintendent of the Detroit Screw Works and then he went later, when he retired he went into real estate. But the boys have all done good. Three boys. Well Oscar of course is a millionaire. He wrote this, and they start off with my father, see, way back when designing the Queen car and building it. Interviewer: Well we‘ve talked for about an hour I think, and I think maybe it‘s about time for me to go home. Mr. Blomstrom: Well if you want some more, just feel free to call up and come out. Interviewer: I‘ll tell you, I‘ll play it back and see if I can-Mr. Blomstrom: I think it‘s too much of myself and not my father. Interviewer: Maybe I can find that book and then read about your father and then come back and ask you some more questions. Mr. Blomstrom: Well it‘s just a page or two in there about him. It‘s on the first page. Of course, they asked me last year to write about my father, but I was very miserable, I‘d been in the hospital and I didn‘t write. They don‘t need to write to me about it anyway, all they got to do is go the library, which they must have done because they got stuff there that I sent to the library, word for word! Interviewer: Thank you very, very much. I appreciate this. It‘s been a very interesting hour. Mr. Blomstrom: Well I bore people to death talking automobiles. Interviewer: No, not at all. Mr. Blomstrom: I wish I was a good writer, I could write a book. I knew most of the early people. The only one I didn‘t know was R.E. Olds, Ransom E. Olds. I know the history of the company and all that. You see, he made the first car in Michigan, R.E. Olds, Ransom E. Olds. That‘s his initials, R.E. O. for the REO you know. Interviewer: Yes. �25 Mr. Blomstrom: He quit the business you know. He was going to have cattle up north here. He bought a ranch up here, or it‘s called a ranch. But his cronies in Lansing got him back to start the REO. Of course it sold out long ago; the family isn‘t in it anymore. General Motors, of course— no it‘s not, it was White, they were independent weren‘t they? There‘s White Motors and then Diamond T Motors, and then now I guess it‘s gone. It was a good car, a big heavy car like the old Pierce Arrow and the Locomobile. They were built like a locomobile, locomotive, heavy you know, big heavy cars. Interviewer: Ok. A G American Motors · 3 General Motors · 3, 12, 16, 22, 24, 26 Grumback, John · 8 B Belle Isle · 11, 19 Blomstrom Motor Company · 2 Blomstrom Thirty · 2 Blomstrom, Carl G. (Grandfather) · 6, 8, 9, 24 Blomstrom, Carl Herman (Father) · 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 22, 24, 25 Bloomer Hill · 7, 8 K Kaufman Family · 16 Kettering, Charles · 18 L Detroit Swedish Council · 24 Dupont Family · 22, 23 Leland, Henry M. · 14 Libbey-Owens-Ford Family · 17, 18 Lincoln Motor Car Company · 13, 14 Lion car · 4, 18, 22 Lundeen Family · 24, 25 E M Edison, Thomas · 10, 13, 17 Miller, Harry · 23 Mott, Charlie · 22, 23 D F Federal-Mogul Company · 12, 15, 19, 21 Ford Motor Company · 3, 5, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23 Ford, Edsel · 16, 17, 23 Ford, Henry · 10, 11 Frontmobile · 3 O Old Lion Fence Company · 4 P Paige Motor Car Company · 13 Pullerd, Barney · 22 �26 Q T Queen car · 2, 4, 5, 15, 21, 22, 23, 25 Tucker, Preston · 23 R W Rex (car) · 3 Weston-Mott · 22, 23 Wood, Garfield · 19, 20 Wyandotte Chemicals · 17 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5974db0100116cc68e025d1077512441.mp3 c8bc4c4fcba754dc9dc84b7d455f4032 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 Grand Rapids Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Local histories Memoirs Michigan--History Oral histories (document genre) Description An account of the resource Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Various Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf; audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text; Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-23 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1971 - 1977 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. 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-23_56Blomstrom Title A name given to the resource Blomstrom, Lowell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blomstrom, Lowell Description An account of the resource Lowell Blomstrom was born on March 22, 1893 in Grand Rapids. His father was an inventor and pioneer in the automobile industry. In 1904 Carl Blomstrom introduced the Queen Automobile produced in Detroit by the Blomstrom Motor Company. Lowell Blomstrom also worked in the automobile industry. He died in 1979. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan--History Local histories Memoirs Oral histories (document genre) Grand Rapids (Mich.) Personal narratives Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.) Grand Valley State University Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf audio/mp3 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 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/d85058408084d09c04fec51be7a52413.jpg b3b5d91d53f17638e4711e4edc71ffcc 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_M263-0005 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 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource Bloody Foreland, County Donegal, Ireland Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph featuring a bird's-eye view of the Bloody Foreland coastal area in the County Donegal, a largely Irish-speaking region in northwestern Ireland that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Coastlines--Ireland Donegal (Ireland : County) 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/dc5eb75988a1757a5d875f333c54beb5.jpg ced5ec118e24c245b5753dd06bc844b2 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_M263-0035 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 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource Bloody Foreland, County Donegal, Ireland Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph featuring an exterior view of a stone house located in the Bloody Foreland area of the County Donegal, a largely Irish-speaking region in northwestern Ireland that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Donegal (Ireland : County) 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/62232650cda570b2f9210ea06e5f8f92.mp4 6b1136d6e3f37c9b0790e12d8dca2a05 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9aab8187c6c1f0b66fcbef575089bf63.pdf f79108bf66f0dc3a75eeb966c94d7c9d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Korean War Lamar Bloss Length of Interview (0:53:43) (0:15) Background Born in Munster, Indiana (0:30) Mother had tuberculosis so he had to live with his uncle for 4 years (0:43) Went back to live at home when he was 5 years old (0:56) His parents had 4 children but two died during the Great Depression (1:40) Father worked on the railroad for a living (2:00) Went to school in a one-room school and then went to high school in Bristol, Indiana (2:35) Was really good at book keeping and ran track in school (3:00) When he graduated had no idea what he wanted to do; worked in paper mill with brother (5:05) Next he worked as a chemist making citric acid out of corn syrup (5:45) Next he worked for city of Elkhart, Indiana monitoring pollution of the river (7:35) Met his wife Betty at a restaurant at age 16 and they got married (9:15) Married for 3 years before he went into the service and had kids after he got out of service (9:36) (9:39) Training Sent to Fort Riley, Kansas for basic training after he was drafted (9:44) Didn’t have any trouble with training, he was probably one of the oldest guys there (10:27) Cross country and track running helped him through basic training (10:51) Not given a specific job, told to do what he could to help out (10:55) Got to spend Christmas with his family and then on New Year’s he was sent to Korea (11:01) (11:10) Active Duty On the fourth day of him being there he was told to take over an enemy position (11:15) Was able to bring 5 men with him so he picked the ones that he trusted most (11:26) Did this with only 4 days of training when he was supposed to have 2 weeks (12:28) Put in position of leadership as a private; didn’t order anything that he wouldn’t do (13:17) Was doing private first class work as a private (13:30) He and the group of 5 men were in charge of taking Pork-chop hill (14:30) While trying to take the hill he experienced hand to hand combat, but kept fighting (15:06) Believes that hunting as a child helped him in combat when firing weapons (15:45) During first year and half he was there they captured 3 hills: Baldi, Porkchop, & T-bone (17:04) While in the field they survived on K rations: potatoes, eggs, fresh vegetables (18:35) Did everything they could to keep men safe; still some were killed and injured (19:25) Mostly concerned with getting the job done and getting the hell out of there (19:55) Insisted on taking communion from military chaplain before going up the hill (20:29) During active duty he got 2 weeks of rest time and he stayed at British embassy in China (21:02) While Lamar was deployed his wife stayed with her mother and father (22:15) �(22:41) Graves Registration The next duty he was put on was Grave registration services (22:41) This involved retrieving the dead bodies of fallen soldiers and preparing them for burial (23:30) Drove truck and collected bodies with stretchers and brought them back to the morgue (24:33) He was the only soldier allowed to go into the morgue (25:30) Hardest thing he had to do was take all personal affects off the dead bodies (25:57) Next sent to the third division for a couple of months; didn’t know where to put him (26:51) Told to start a store where the troops could spend their money (27:30) Drove into town and bought anything that he could: cameras, watches, food (27:55) Did this job for the rest of his service in Korea 8 months (28:25) Became good friends with a man names Wiley Brookshire while running store (28:30) Wiley Brookshire now owns the stores all over the state of Texas (30:09) He was asked by Wiley to drive trucks for the his stores; but he declined (31:04) Thought that Korean people were more intelligent than other countries (31:53) What he did during service wasn’t what he wanted to do, but what he had to do (35:00) (35:01) Post Service After he was discharged he was sent back to the United States by ship (35:06) Went from Korea, to Washington State, then to hospital in Chicago (35:36) While swimming in Korea he got an ear infection and had to go to hospital in Chicago (35:51) Took train from Chicago to Indiana and went home to his wife (36:22) After he got out of the service he had a son and a daughter with his wife (37:28) While serving his wife had a boyfriend and 2 children; but they never got divorced (39:00) Received GI Bill for being in the military; used it to go to school as an X-Ray technician (45:05) While in service he injured the tendons in his hand and he got surgery in Washington (47:15) Currently seeing a Military Psychologist for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (48:06) Have lived in the Grand Rapids Veteran’s Home for 20 years (49:01) Didn’t join any veterans groups because he tried to forget everything that happened (50:10) Being in the military has greatly impacted his life and he wouldn’t change a thing (52:01) Received 3 bronze stars for his military service in Korea (52:46) The military wanted him to stay in service and become a 2nd lieutenant (53:25) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bloss, Lamar (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bloss, Lamar Description An account of the resource Lamar Bloss grew up in northern Indiana and was drafted into the Army in 1952. He trained as an infantryman and was sent to Korea. He participated in heaving fighting in early 1953, including the action at Pork Chop Hill. After the armistice, he served on graves registration duty until he was sent home. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Moore, Deb (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-09-09 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BlossL1250V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8bd6c2952f920b050591347c870fe3d9.mp4 31171101827b4eaa266255494abca80c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a932690c1963d2a2b1e53b69349c9103.pdf 0228a781795207ea08a61d6b35f230a6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Keith Blough (11:54) Pre-Enlistment • Born August 28, 1925 (0:20) • Born south of Freeport, MI (0:38) • Attended Freeport High School (0:45) Enlistment • Drafted in to the Navy in November of 1943 (1:15) • Had a lot of confusion during his first days in the service (1:50) • Went to Farragut, Idaho for boot camp (2:20) • Did not think that boot camp was all that difficult (2:35) • Picked up a new ship in Indiana and took it to New Orleans (3:20) • Was a Signalman in the Navy (3:30) • Took care of the US flag, ran the signal light and took care of other flags for other ships (3:40) • Saw action, but did not become a POW at any time (4:40) • Received medals for invasions, received 4 Bronze Stars as well (5:00) • Stayed in touch with family through mail, which was spotty (5:15) • Often spotty, because they could only get mail when they were in a harbor (5:30) • People entertained themselves by movies, which were traded with other ships (6:00) • Also played cards (6:15) • Initiated new members when they first crossed the equator (7:20) • Was discharged at Great Lakes, in Chicago, IL (7:45) Post Enlistment • Visited family when he got home, and had a job waiting for him (8:20) • Went to electronics school in Detroit, MI (8:40) • Belonged to VFW for several years, but does not currently (9:00) • Was an electrician after the war (9:20) • Found out many things about all branches of the service because they carried them on his ships (10:00) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Blough, Keith (Interview outline and video), 2004 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blough, Keith Description An account of the resource Keith Blough was born on August 28th, 1925 in Freeport, Michigan. He was drafted in to the US Navy in November of 1943. After attending boot camp in Farragut, Idaho, he became a signalman on a ship. After the war, he was discharged at Great Lakes in Chicago, Illinois. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Horner, Stephanie (Interviewer) Caledonia High School (Caledonia, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Video recordings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-12-17 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BloughK Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6450befc817119e60e22177698383695.m4v 2689e54ea0a5b265a795f3dde6b4ca5b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ebff4a0c876f19c2ccc4516a1f10fb9b.pdf e8e5e7cc907364fb32974799193be516 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview Interviewee’s Name: Lloyd Blough Name of War: World War II Length of Interview: (00:36:53) (00:05) Background Information     Lloyd was born on August 25, 1915 in Michigan He had 1 sister and 4 brothers and went to school through 8th grade Lloyd was drafted into the Army when he was 26 years old in 1941 He was already married and in the service by the time Pearl Harbor was attacked (2:00) Airplane Mechanic  Lloyd went through basic training at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan  He was transferred to Virginia 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor was attacked where he went through advanced training to become an airplane mechanic, working on P-39s  The men would work on about 24 different planes a day and then they would all be flown out at once (6:30) Africa  Lloyd was sent to Africa in August on 1942  While in Africa there was always sand getting into the plane engines, which they would have to constantly clean out and maintain  Lloyd invented a piece to cover the engine that would prevent sand from getting in the air intake  They were working with Spitfires and P-51 Mustangs  The Spitfires were British planes and hard to work on with American tools  Lloyd traveled to Algeria, Tunisia, France, Italy, and Ireland (13:55) Leaving Europe  Once Italy surrendered the Americans were taking many Italian POWs  They preferred to go with the Americans because the Germans would have killed them  Many of them were starving and they really liked the food the American men had  Lloyd spent 2 years overseas before he was sent out back to the US on a 2 week boat trip  He served in New Mexico later and spent a total of 4 years in the service (24:30) Average Days  Lloyd made many friends while in the Army and worked next to a few good friends the entire time he was in the service �  He worked with 24 different mechanics, each of whom was assigned to one particular plane and also had an assistant While overseas Lloyd sent many letters to his wife and family and the letters were always censored � 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_BloughL Title A name given to the resource Blough, Lloyd H. (Interview outline and outline), 2005 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-03-31 Description An account of the resource Lloyd Blough was born in Michigan on August 25, 1915 and drafted into the Army in 1941 when he was 26 years old. He went through training at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan and was transferred to Virginia two weeks after Pearl Harbor was attacked. In Virginia, Lloyd went through advanced training to become an airplane mechanic, working with P-39s. Once he was finished training, Lloyd was sent to Africa where he worked on different planes in Algeria and Tunisia. He spent a total of two years overseas and also worked in France, Italy, and Ireland before he was sent back to the United States to finish the other two years of his service. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blough, Lloyd H. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Steffen, Derek (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Air Corps 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