Mike Bacon sits with James Smither in the WKTV studio as he talks about his time as a Signal Corps Officer in the Army (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
By Deborah Reed
WKTV Managing Editor
deborah@wktv.org
Veteran Mike Bacon recently stepped into the recording studio with James Smither, Director of the GVSU Veterans History Project, to talk about his experience in the Vietnam war.
After receiving a notice from the draft board that he would soon be drafted into the war, Bacon chose to enlist in the United States Army so he could participate in Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Bacon began basic training in spring of 1966 at Fort Dix in New Jersey, then moving into Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort McClellan in Alabama before being assigned to Mannheim, Germany as a Signal Corps Officer with the 97th Signal Battalion of the 7th Army.
Founded by Major Albert J. Myer in 1860, the U.S. Signal Corps was a small organization with members scattered among the Army’s various posts. With the rise of telecommunications, signaling duties became increasingly complex and integral to military operations.
Today, the Signal Corps consists of approximately 68,000 men and women.
Assigned as a platoon leader of the 97th Signal Battalion, Bacon eventually became Headquarters Company Commander. After two years stationed in Germany, he was discharged at Fort Dix in 1969.
Life as a civilian consisted of various jobs that allowed the military veteran to travel throughout the U.S. Bacon’s travels eventually led him to Michigan where he served at East Kentwood High School as an English teacher until his retirement.
For Bacon, however, retirement does not require sitting still.
Owner of Loon Tracks since 1985, Bacon is still heavily involved in photography, videography, and writing.
In conjunction with WKTV Community Media, Bacon produces “Whittlin’ Time,” a show based around wood carving and related skills. He has also volunteered on countless WKTV productions as camera operator, audio technician, graphics engineer, technical director, director, and helped maintain computers and software in the editing bays.
Bacon said his time in the Signal Corps gave him confidence in himself and his abilities.
It is estimated that the United States loses about 600 World War II veterans and 300 Vietnam veterans per day. And as these veterans pass, lost are their stories of some of the most historic challenges the United States has faced. In 2006, the GVSU Veterans History Project began recording veterans’ personal stories. The program not only preserves those histories but serves as a reminder of what many veterans did for our country. Director James Smither visited WKTV to talk about some of the unforgettable stories in honor of Veteran’s Day.
Smither estimated he has completed more than 1,000 interviews since 2007. One that still stands out in his mind today is Francisco Vega, a WWII veteran from San Antonio, Texas. His military career almost didn’t happen because the government didn’t want to recruit him as he was Mexican. On D-Day, Vega was on Omaha Beach in the advanced headquarters for Eisenhower. Vega had many stories to share including dangling off the Eiffel Tower to get a picture.
Michael Woods, a New Orleans native, had an argument with his principal and left school to join the Marines. However, Woods lied about his age and got caught, but his mother later signed for him to join. Without a high school diploma or a college degree, he had a long-standing career in the military that allowed him to travel the world.
Smither believes capturing stores like the two above is just one small way of acknowledging the service that many men and women provided to their country. Additionally, many of these stories provide insights that the world may not have ever known about. It’s just one way to get in touch with our country’s history.
For those who have attended the Wednesday Sid Lenger film programs at Marge’s Donut Den, the story of a Japanese World War II plane headed straight toward the ship Lenger was standing on is probably a familiar one.
“I had the trigger pulled and Goldie just snapped in the box, and boom,” Lenger said. In his film “Sid in WWII on LST 651,” the 99-year-old still gives credit to Goldie for his quick action that saved the entire ship. “He’s the hero,” Lenger states in the film.
“We’ve heard so much about Goldie, but have never meet him,” said Tom Sibley, one of the people who helps Lenger organize his regular film series. Everyone finally got the chance to meet David “Goldie” Goldsboro when the two old friends, through the help of family, came together on Wednesday, July 11, for a screening of Lenger’s World War II film about his time on the LST 651.
“We had just comeback from Florida and he was telling us about the invitation to come to the screening,” said Goldsboro’s son Larry. “I could just tell he wanted to go. He had a tear in his eye when he was talking about it.”
Goldsboro now lives in Brownstown, Ill., almost a six-hour drive from Grand Rapids. It was a trip that the 91-year-old could not make on his own. So his son and wife offered to bring Goldsboro and his wife of 74 years, Geraldine, to Grand Rapids.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, 558,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2017. The Department estimates that the U.S. loses about 372 WW II veterans per day. Of the 139 who served on the LST 651, Lenger and Goldsboro are two of the remaining four who are still living. So it was a rare treat for those in attendance on Wednesday to meet the men with the event encouraging two other local World War II Navy veterans, Bert Ponstine and Donovan R. Joslin, to attend.
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An LST is a landing ship tank used during World War II to carry tanks, vehicles, cargo, and land troops directly onto the shore with no docks or piers. One of the few surviving ships, the LST 393, is located in Muskegon, and Lenger has been a longtime volunteer for the LST 393 Museum.
“We have kept in touch over the years through reunions,” Goldsboro said. Lenger added that about 15 years ago the reunions ended, but the two have remained in touch with others who have served on the LST 651, which at the end of the war was given to the Japanese according to Goldsboro.
It wasn’t hard to stay in touch since the two returned to their hometowns, Lenger to Wyoming where he graduated from Lee High School in 1937 and eventually would establish Lenger Travel, and Goldsboro to Brownstown, Ill, where he originally enlisted as a senior at the age of 17 with a friend.
“Actually, my friend and I went in together with plans to be buddies,” Goldsboro said. “When we got to the Great Lakes (a naval station in Illinois), we got separated. On the ship, we refueled a lot of other ships, one being a LCS 11 (a littoral combat ship). Sid gave me a picture of that.
James Smither of the GVSU Veterans History Project interviews David “Goldie” Goldsboro and Sid Lenger
“When I got back and was talking to my friend, he told me he was on the LCS 11 and I told him I had a picture of it. So at the time, he was on the LCS 11 and I didn’t know it and I was on the LST 651 and he didn’t know it.”
The LST 651 refueled and moved troops during the last major battle of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa. Lenger and Goldsboro were assigned to man one of the guns, Lenger was the gunman and Goldsboro was the loader.
“We worked as one, we had to,” Lenger said. “Goldie was a farmer so I just knew the (ammunition) would be there.”
The two would be in the Pacific near Japan when the United States dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but neither realized how quickly it would bring the war to an end with Imperial Japan surrendering on Aug. 15, 1945. In fact, the LST 651 would be docked near the USS Missouri and Goldsboro said he made his way over to the ship via the gang planks to watch the signing.
But the single event that still stands out for both men was that Japanese suicide plane heading toward the ship.
“Goldie said he could see the whites of his eyes,” Lenger said of the pilot.
“I could, too,” Goldsboro said. “How he missed us, well, the good Lord had something to do with it.”
In this edition of the WKTV Journal, we take a peek inside Wyoming’s Craig’s Cruisers to look at some of its newest attractions.
As WKTV prepares for its live coverage of the FIRST Robotics competition at East Kentwood High School, WKTV’s Allison Biss gives us a look at the high school’s robotics team and the work that goes into building a robot for the big event.
Then host Donna Kidner-Smith sits down with Grand Valley State University professor Jim Smither, the coordinator for the GVSU Veterans History Project, to discuss an April 2 event that features the special screening of the documentary “Unforgotten.” The film focuses on what happened to many Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon and life in the re-education camps. The film’s director and co-producer Diem Thuy also joins Kidner-Smith to talk about the film.
We also take a look at what is next for the Gezon Park master plan and discover what happened to all those banners that announced the Metro Health – University of Michigan Health merger.
Don’t forget, the City of Kentwood’s annual Easter Egg Hunt is on March 31 at 10 a.m. at the Kentwood City Hall, 4900 Breton Ave. SW.
