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Dick Davison, U.S. Army, WW II (Interviewed June 21, 2006) Dick Davison does not dwell on the ribbons and medals that passed him by for his service in World War II. As you will discover PFC Davison was a soldier not looking for recognition; he was a fighter, simply looking to defeat the German enemy. A ground soldier – and as he admits, an independent thinker who didn't always go along with conventional ways. What he saw along the way is and incredible story that he was proud to tell.
Dick Deiterich, U.S. Army, WW II (Interviewed March 10, 2011) The path that Dick Deiterich took from Bloomsburg Pennsylvania to the Brazos Valley included an 18-month hitch in the Army that started soon after Japan surrendered but before President Truman officially declared the end of hostilities in December 1946. So he served stateside, sent from base to base and eventually to Fort Knox, Kentucky to help forward mail to returning servicemen and those heading back overseas for post-war duty. His is one of those stories of service that he might not call remarkable but we call essential as it was for anyone who gave up the important time of their youth to serve their country.
Don Nicholas, Air Force, Korea/Vietnam (A&M Class of '48) (Interviewed April 26, 2007) Don Nicholas was a Texas A&M quarterback from 1947 to 1949, not a star player, but he certainly made his mark in service for his country in Korea and Vietnam. During the Korean War he flew 20 B-29 missions from his base in Okinawa and later he served three tours in Vietnam where he flew 69 B-52 missions. After he retired he and an Air Force buddy spent 15 years as one of the top senior tennis doubles teams in Texas.
Dr. Douglass Starr, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed April 17, 2008) Dr. Douglass Starr’s World War II service all happened before he turned 20 years old. But he packed a lot into those 3 1/2 years. A navy sonarman who serve with honor aboard the proud destroyer USS Nicholas DD-449. He was a Texas A&M journalism professor until the age of 83. Douglass Starr has many stories to tell of not only his World War II service but in Korea aboard the Destroyer USS Walke -- And perhaps the most fascinating was his eyewitness to history. On 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, the signing of the surrender by the Empire of Japan aboard the USS Missouri. You see the Nicholas was moored right alongside Big Mo on that historic day.
Dr. Douglass Starr, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed April 17, 2008) Dr. Douglass Starr’s World War II service all happened before he turned 20 years old. But he packed a lot into those 3 1/2 years. A navy sonarman who serve with honor aboard the proud destroyer USS Nicholas DD-449. He was a Texas A&M journalism professor until the age of 83. Douglass Starr has many stories to tell of not only his World War II service but in Korea aboard the Destroyer USS Walke -- And perhaps the most fascinating was his eyewitness to history. On 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, the signing of the surrender by the Empire of Japan aboard the USS Missouri. You see the Nicholas was moored right alongside Big Mo on that historic day.
Duke Hobbs, Army/Air Force, World War II (A&M Class of '47) (Interviewed June 5, 2008) Duke Hobbs' career in service includes his service with the 79th Infantry in Europe during World War II and later in the Air Force working reconnaissance in Europe during the Cold War. Texas A&M class of 1947. He's a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge who recalls the unbearable cold of that winter of 1945. He was a member of a traveling variety show postwar the show was called "You've Had It Joe".
Durwood Lewis, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam (A&M Class of ‘60) (Interviewed Jan. 24, 2007) Maj. Durwood Lewis was a F-4 back-seater who saw a great deal in his 12-month assignment in Vietnam. It was one year out of more than 20 years of service in the U.S. Air Force.
Edward and Yolanda Kozlowski, U.S. Air Force/Army, WW II (Interviewed together Oct. 12, 2005) By the end of World War II Capt. Edward Kozlowski had flown 88 missions over the combat territory of the European Theater. His life's path took him from his boyhood farm in Wisconsin, through his military service as a pathfinder navigator, to Houston and NASA. That's where he designed and installed the heat shields used on the Apollo missions. But perhaps his most rewarding mission was that to win the heart of Yolanda Frisch, an Army nurse in World War II. That too was no easy challenge. Yolanda Frisch of the 100th Evacuation Hospital, always set up near the front lines; following Patton's Army through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. She was a triage and a surgical nurse. Both former Texas A&M employees both have passed away now but their story is indeed a testament to the bravery and determination of all those men and women who served for freedom.
Ed Eyre, U.S. Marines, WW II (Interviewed Nov. 9, 2005) December 19, 1941 and Ed Eyre was among the first to volunteer for service following the attack on Pearl Harbor. It took a while and a little maneuvering to get where he wanted to be -- as a Marine. He wanted to fight for his country in the Pacific and eventually he found himself in the middle of it as a member of the 5th Marine Division, 28th Regimental Weapons Company. Charging the sands on D-Day at Iwo Jima, February 19, 1945. He saw that US flag flying atop Mount Suribachi -- The flag etched in American pride by the famous photograph of the Marines who mounted it there. He fought day and night and he would fight for 10 days, until shrapnel from a mortar round eventually ended his combat service. Ed Eyre was a winner of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart -- live out his life in rural Brazos county.
Ed Higgins, U.S. Air Force, WW II (Interviewed Feb. 14, 2008) Meet Ed Higgins of College Station. As a World War II forward navigator on six B-17 missions over Europe, he experienced his share of uncertain moments -- like his very first mission to Brandenburg (the gateway to Berlin) a navigator of the number two plane in a 1000 plane group. There were 3 missions where the beaches at Royan, France was the target, then over Dresden and finally Ingolstadt. After his tour of Europe he be became a pilot and as a captain was the ranking student officer in-flight training at Bryan Air Force Base.
Eddie Thompson, US Navy, World War II (Interviewed April 6, 2005) At age 97, Eddie Thompson was the oldest veteran interviewed on KAMU's Veteran's of the Valley. His life spanned both World War I and World War II. He joined the Navy in 1942 at age 35. He served in the Pacific on the deck of the USS Birmingham. He was on the Birmingham at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He was also on board May 4, 1945, when a Japanese suicide plane hit next to Eddie Thompson's cabin. Eddie Thompson was the uncle of KAMU host, Sharon Colson.
Felix J. Alvarez was an early participant of the Chicano Movement and an early member of El Teatro Campesino. The purpose of this interview was to better understand mestizaje ideology and its popularity during the height of the Chicano Movement. Alvarez discusses his participation within the Chicano Movement and his understanding of the concept of mestizaje.
Frank Buell, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed Feb. 5, 2009) World War II, of course, was fought primarily in Europe and the Pacific, but there was never any guarantee that the enemy from either side would not find its way to United States shores. Frank Buell got permission from his mother to enter the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. That was 14 June 1944, just 14 months before Japan surrendered. While waiting for an opening to go to flight school, we was assigned as a bombardier, flying B-24s and later PB4Y2s. Out of 24 crews, his was one of four assigned to stay stateside and train, while at the same time guarding the east coast from deployments mainly in Florida.
Frank Litterst entered Texas A&M in the fall of 1939, a proud member of the Class of '43 (the Class that won the War.). He was a Ross Volunteer and the Commander of Battery “A” Coast Artillery. During World War II, Frank's class left A&M en masse prior to graduation, and Frank was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served in New Guinea as an artillery officer from 1943 to 1945.
Frank Litterst entered Texas A&M in the fall of 1939, a proud member of the Class of '43 (the Class that won the War.). He was a Ross Volunteer and the Commander of Battery “A” Coast Artillery. During World War II, Frank's class left A&M en masse prior to graduation, and Frank was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served in New Guinea as an artillery officer from 1943 to 1945.
Frank Dickey, U.S. Army, Vietnam (Interviewed June 28, 2006) Frank Dickey refuses to call himself a hero but most might disagree. He says that in Vietnam he fought alongside heroes but he, like many who went, who fought, who came home, prefers to reserve the label hero for those who did not come home. He was not an officer, nor a company commander nor a Phantom pilot. Frank Dickey’s role in Vietnam was as the guy who laid his rifle on the line with every patrol -- just infantry army soldier, search and destroy, chopping away at the jungle in search of the enemy. Yet by many standards a hero and it's our honor to have spoken with him on Veterans of the Valley.
Frank Kocman, U.S. Army, WW II (March 25, 2005) It was December 1944 and America's involvement in World War II was in its fourth winter. Rewind seven months and teenager Frank Kocman Jr. had just graduated from Stephen F Austin High School and Uncle Sam was already calling. In fact Frank needed a student deferment just to finish high school. By July, 18-year-old Frank Kocman was drafted and was on his way to Fort Sam Houston and on to what he thought training to fight the Japanese in the South Pacific but that changed.. It was a fast track from high school to the front lines of the war.
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.
Freddie Wolters, U.S. Army, World War II (A&M Class of 1944) (Interviewed April 10, 2008) Freddie Wolters served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima before his unit would have been deployed for a bloody ground fight, but still he has stories to tell, many of how he didn't always do things by the book. He was a freshman member of Homer Norton's 1940 A&M football team.
Garland Bayliss, U.S. Navy, WW II (Interviewed June 17, 2010) Join the Navy and see the World! And indeed Lt. Commander Garland Bayliss of College Station saw most of it in his two-year service aboard Auxiliary Personnel 149, a Troop Transport Ship during World War II. It was a vessel built only as a transport and ferried up to 3,000 from one town or island to another. It took some back home from war and some from home into war. He was on the water both in the Pacific and Atlantic for two years and traveled some 125,000 Nautical Miles. In all Garland Bayliss spent 30 years in the Navy and the reserves and then later spent 34 years as professor of history at Texas A&M.
