Veterans & Wartime
From the Polish-American veterans clubs that dot the neighborhoods to Veterans' Memorial Park on Joseph Campau, Hamtramck's enduring veteran presence is noticeable across the city. Below, Hamtramckans share their memories about military service, the effects of different drafts, the experience of war on the home front and reflections on wars from World War II through the Yemeni Civil War that continues to this day.
The Draft
Reverend Darla Swint explains how the Vietnam War draft disproportionately affected young black men and how the tragic effects of the war are still felt in the city to this day.
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Darla: And by that time, it was the early, early years of the Vietnam War. And if a young boy got into trouble of any type they were automatically forced to join the army. It wasn’t a matter of you having a diploma or anything of that nature, you were forced.
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Greg Kowalski describes how social life as a high school student was affected by the Vietnam War.
Solomon McCormick discusses the injustice of his being drafted twice into two different wars.
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Greg: Well first off I was pretty much a loner. I didn’t get involved in a lot of things, I wasn’t very interested in sports so I didn’t participate in that. But, you know, there were dances at the school, there were events at the school. When I was going to high school too there was also, it was a time of great turmoil and it was a time of great change even in the schools.
Interviewer: You said that you were drafted into the Korean war?
Solomon: Drafted into the service? Interviewer: Mhm. Solomon: Well that was my second draft. During WWII I was in, while I was in college in florida, I turned 18, three months later I was drafted into the Navy. I served honorably in some place in Georgia, can’t remember the name of it. |
In Hamtramck, I think almost every black male friend that I had that wasn’t athletic is now dead due to that war...It was a pretty sad time for my generation.
-Rev. Darla Swint
Ike Blessit reflects on the loss of a best friend who was drafted into the Vietnam War. "A lot of them that didn't make the team" refers to the people who were drafted who were unable to go to college through sports scholarships or, like Ike, play professional baseball.
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Ike: A lot of them that didn’t make the team. One guy, Melvin Guyton, left hand pitcher, he got us to the world series, little league world series and all this here, college— I mean, high school he did all around good. But I signed before him.
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The Service
George Cvetanobski looks over an old photograph of himself in his Macedonian army uniform.
George: All me over there on the wall.
Interviewer: You were in the service? George: Yes. Interviewer: What was that like? George: It’s— that time was Yugoslavia, you know, and I was I was in the— soon as you become 12 year— 20 years old, they take you, except if something wrong with you they wont take you. Health wise, you are good, you know, you have to go in the army. 1952. I was in radio station, you know, with, with punching, you know, it’s all that typing, you know. I never been in a war, you know, but you have to go in a, in a service, you know. |
Joan Barrios reflects on her time in the service, people's surprise at learning she was not pregnant when she was discharged, and her experience as the only female member of the P.L.A.V. club in Hamtramck.
Joan: I couldn’t find a job so I decided— I went downtown one day and I said, “I think I’m going to go join the service,” and I walked in, I ended up joining the Navy so I was in the Navy for three years. So like for seven years I was home in the summer but away for the rest of the year basically. I didn't know what I was going to do I just said I’m, I’m gonna go try— I, I must have read something in the paper about joining the service, you know, and you went to the Federal Building downtown and I just thought, “Well, let me go try this out.” Actually I, I just remember this so well, you know, I was walking in the hallway and the one sailor said to me, you know, “Can I help you out?” because I guess I looked a little bewildered, you know? And I says, “Well I just thought you know maybe I’d join the service,” and he says, “Well, come on in and join the Navy.” And so I talked to this, this female recruiter and took a test and before long I was in Maryland going to bootcamp. [Laughs] And then I went to Tennessee and I spent the rest— like two and a half years in Tennessee and I just worked at an office and ever then— ever since then, you know, I’ve been in Hamtramck. Made a lot of friends in the Navy. I still keep in touch with two of the people I was in Tennessee with. The work was interesting and when I first started I worked in the personnel office and I was taking finger prints and typing up personal histories of guys who were gonna be going to the technical schools because I was on the technical part of the base. And, and then I moved into the transfers section where I typed up orders. And then I moved into where they came and picked up their orders to get out and that was like during Vietnam so they were all going aboard ship for the most part. I remember one boy he was leaving and he came in on a Friday and he was going aboard one of the aircraft carriers and, and he had said to me he says, “What, what are you doing?” kind of, you know— “What are you doing tomorrow?” he says. And I says, “Well I was gonna go downtown to Memphis and shop,” and that was by bus and he said, “Well can I go along with you?” and I just, “Yeah, if you want to” you know? So we spent the day and we ate lunch down there. We went to go see a movie, Hatari!, John Wayne movie, I remember that. [Laughs] You’re bringing back all my memories. [Laughs] Oh my goodness.
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Wartime As Civilians
Below, Ted Palac and George Cvetanobski share childhood memories of WWII from two different countries. Ted remembers his family hiding Jews in their basement. Both recall German soldiers offering them chocolate in an attempt to build trust.
Veteran ActivitiesFrank Zacharias discusses veterans activities, annual traditions, and the community of veterans clubs
Frank: I was in the army from 1958 to 1960. I was in it for almost two years. I took my basic training at Fort Hood, Texas and then I spent about 17 months in Germany, in a little peace town, a little peaceful town. There was no—I was in between the wars, I was in peace time so I was lucky. But still a veteran, so that’s what counts. [Laughs] I was a tank commander, I was a tank commander and a tank gunner. When you’re in the tanks you gotta know how to do all three, shoot, fire and drive. But most of the time I was a gunner where you sit in a turret and you look out and shoot the big gun. So I spent about 17 months in Germany, When you’re away from home for 17 months and you come back home it’s hard to get readjusted. Because things have changed, you know. And they didn’t have all the veterans services like they have now where they try to get people back into the work force, you know. But I managed. It wasn’t that much that had changed because most of the people were still here. Most of the people I had grew up with were still here. And that weren’t, there were a couple of friends that weren’t here they went to college, they went to [?] they went to Western, up in Kalamazoo. I’d see them on the weekends so there was no problem.
I’m involved with the Post 10 here. We, well it used to be—like this weekend we’re gonna have a memorial day mass at Queen of Apostles and we’re gonna have a reception at Post 10. And then we would go to the different hospitals, my wife might. I go with her sometimes to the VA Hospital downtown. And they go volunteer three hours a month and help them. So we used to keep pretty busy. Frank: Veterans are fading because I don’t think there’s many WWII veterans left. Veterans today don’t seem to—I’m not trying to—join clubs like we used to. They do other things, that’s why I don’t care what people say, that the veterans—their main goal was, they don’t do like we used to years ago. Marge, Frank's wife: This is what our club used to look like when we’d have our meetings at the school in the gym. We had different things going. Frank: We used to, on Flag Day, June 14 we used to go to the Hamtramck Park behind the veteran monument and we used to burn flags. That’s how you dispose of the flags is you burn them. We’d have a big burial here and then we’d burn them. Frank: When I came out of the service, that was my goal not to work in a factory, that’s— that was it, I just— nothing personal, it’s just that I didn’t want the shop— I didn’t want to work in a shop, that’s all because you come after seeing my father come home from the factory, always have oily clothes and you know, he worked hard I mean but I just didn’t want to because when I was in the army I worked on tanks for two years and I, I had my fill of oil and grease. |
Below, Yemeni Americans Abdul Kaed, Omar Alkusari, and Muhammed Alagi reflect on the present day war in Yemen as told by their friends and family still living there. The major city of Ibb, where Abdul's family is from, is largely unaffected.
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