Date: 2007 / Genres: Oral histories and interview / Collection: Veterans of the Valley - TAMU

Date:: 2007-07-19
Main contributors:: Alexander, Philip
Summary:: Dr. Philip Alexander, Computer Artist (Interviewed July 19, 2007) College Station Physician Dr. Philip Alexander has a unique skill beyond health care. He’s an artist. Not with a palette and brush, but with a computer. And uses this unique talent to express his passion for the military and for veterans through his amazing art. This TV Show will exhibit many of his works.

Date:: 2007-05-09
Main contributors:: Barber, Gene
Summary:: Gene Barber, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed May 9, 2007) Gene Barber served the people of Williamson County as its sheriff for seven years, sold cars and lumber and delivered the mail in the years before that. But that all came after his 33 year months at sea, serving aboard the carrier USS Corregidor during four major battles of World War II’s Pacific Campaign. Plus, you will not find a bigger Bob Wills fan. They were both born in Kosse, Texas.

Date:: 2007-05-31
Main contributors:: Blasienz, John
Summary:: John Blasienz, U.S. Navy Seabees, WW II (A&M Class of ‘47) (Interviewed May 31, 2007) It's a simple fact that World War II could not have been fought, much less won, without Naval construction Battalion, better known as Seabees. Today you will meet John Blasienz of Bryan, but I dare say that many of you already know him. After all, he has lived all but 10 of his years in Bryan. He was born in Bryan, a proud member of the Stephen F Austin high school class of 1942 and Aggie class of 1947 and a proud sailor with the 105th Seabees serving the Pacific Campaign in Australia, New Guinea and the Leyte Gulf.

Date:: 2007-06-07
Main contributors:: Boykin, Calvin
Summary:: Cal Boykin, U.S. Army, World War II (A&M Class of ‘46) (Interviewed June 7, 2007) Cal Boykin was a proud member of the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II’s European Theater. He can best tell its story because he was an historian of his unit, as well as a gunner, aboard his M8 Armoured car, on recon duty mostly, patrolling the French roads behind Normandy, through Belgium and Holland and on to Germany. Cal Boykin’s story could not be told in just one Veterans of the Valley episode -- it took two.

Date:: 2007-06-07
Main contributors:: Boykin, Calvin
Summary:: Cal Boykin, U.S. Army, World War II (A&M Class of ‘46) (Interviewed June 7, 2007) Cal Boykin was a proud member of the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II’s European Theater. He can best tell its story because he was an historian of his unit, as well as a gunner, aboard his M8 Armoured car, on recon duty mostly, patrolling the French roads behind Normandy, through Belgium and Holland and on to Germany. Cal Boykin’s story could not be told in just one Veterans of the Valley episode -- it took two.

Date:: 2007-10-18
Main contributors:: Congleton, Jerry
Summary:: Jerry Congleton, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam (Interviewed Oct. 18, 2007) Jerry Congleton flew 213 combat missions in the Vietnam War. He was a forward air controller for 113 of those. He Graduated from Evansville University and was commissioned the day he graduated. He volunteered for the military.

Date:: 2007-07-12
Main contributors:: Cooper, Jim
Summary:: Dr. Jim Cooper, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed March 1, 2005) Dr. Jim Cooper practiced medicine in the Brazos Valley for nearly 60 years and was a Navy doctor who served from ship to ship during both World War II and Korea. He is quick to say that he did not serve in combat during either year but was instrumental in saving the lives of those who did.

Date:: 2007-06-21
Main contributors:: DeZavala, Lawrence
Summary:: Lawrence DeZavala, U.S. Air Force, WW II (Interviewed June 21, 2007) The path that Lawrence DeZavala took from his birthplace in Louisiana to his vineyards near New Baden, Tx included three years of service as a radio operator/gunner, flying some 21 combat missions with the Air Force’s 379th Bomber Group. Their mission aboard their B-24 was to take out rail yards and bridges in Austria and other positions near the war’s in. He counts himself lucky to have returned uninjured and counts himself even more fortunate to have lived the life he has. He and his wife Rachel own and operate DeZavala Vineyard where some of the tastiest blackberries, blueberries and raspberries can be picked.

Date:: 2007-08-02
Main contributors:: Holland, Fred
Summary:: Fred Holland, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed Aug.2, 2007) “You call, we haul” was the motto of boat pool 15, a Navy unit during World War II where Fred Holland of Bryan was first a Coxswain and then a motor mechanic. His job in the Pacific was to transport Marines onto the beaches on LCMs. LCM were best known as the landing craft that delivered troops to the beaches of France on D-Day, but they were also critical in the Pacific Campaign.

Date:: 2007-02-22
Main contributors:: Jacquin, Jules
Summary:: Jules Jacquin, U.S. Army, WW II (Interviewed Feb. 22, 2007) Jules Jacquin of College Station is one of many proud Aggies whose education was interrupted by World War II. But there was plenty to learn in the Army, as a member of Company K of the 102nd Infantry Division that swept through France, Belgium and Holland on its way to Germany near war’s end.

Browse By