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Vietnam War
Digital Objects ➔ Letter, Dennis Lobbezoo to Joyce Washburn Skinner
Identifier:
2022.64.12Description:
This letter was written by PFC Dennis Lobbezoo of the United States Marine Corps to Joyce Washburn Skinner around September 22nd, 1967 during the Vietnam War. It was sent from Camp Pendleton, California. A PDF transcription of the letter can be viewed in the media.This digital scan is part of a collection of correspondence between Dennis Lobbezoo and his fiance Joyce Washburn Skinner of Grand Rapids, Michigan that was donated to the Grand Rapids Public Museum by Skinner. The couple wrote letters to each other during the Vietnam War between 1967-1968 when Lobbezoo was serving as a United States Marine and Skinner was in Grand Rapids enrolled in the Grand Rapids Community College. Although Lobbezoo discusses some of his wartime experiences in the letters, including boot camp in San Diego, California, according to an interview with Grand Valley State University, Skinner felt he left some of the more harsh realities of the war out of the letters so she would not be worried. The couple wrote a few times a week focusing on their hopes and dreams for the future after the war.
Date:
September 22 1967Materials:
Digital ObjectCurrent Location Status:
Digital ObjectCollection Tier:
Tier 3Source:
Gift of Joyce WashburnLinks:
http://www.virtualwall.org/dl/LobbezooDL01a.htmhttps://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludington_daily_news/news/local/high-school-sweetheart-remembered-at-traveling-vietnam-wall/article_358b3b0b-0d19-5426-ad4d-8cf7b035baaa.html
Related Entities:
Joyce Washburn Skinner (donor)Joyce Washburn was born in October 1949 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She graduated in 1967 from Creston High School and enlisted in the Navy Reserves in May 1968. Her basic training was held at U.S. Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Maryland in August 1968. She returned to college then went to Naval Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois where she learned how to be a corpsman. She stayed in the Navy Reserves for twenty six years working at the hospitals at Great Lakes Naval Station, San Diego, and Pensacola. She also got to work at Bethesda Naval Hospital and U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington D.C. During her time in the Navy Reserves she helped with domestic abuse programs, drug abuse programs, and psychological trauma programs. After her service she helped a fellow veteran, Dr. Edward Byrd, with the creation of a memorial for her fiancé. Dennis Lobbezoo, who was killed in Vietnam in June 1968.
(Courtesy of GVSU, Veteran's History Project) PFC Dennis Lee Lobbezoo (creator)
PFC Dennis Lee Lobbezoo of Grand Rapids, Michigan died in combat during the Vietnam War on June 6th, 1968. A patriot who loved his country, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in the spring of 1967 after graduating from Creston High School in Grand Rapids. Bootcamp started in July and he left for Vietnam in December of that year. He was wounded in Khe Sanh in February 1968 and was treated on the U.S.S. Repose before returning to his quad in March. On June 6th, 1968, his squad was ambushed in Con Thien during a security patrol, killing 13 of the 15 marines, including Lobbezoo. Lobbezoo's name along with others from that fateful day are listed on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington D.C. Joyce Washburn Skinner, his fiance at the time of his service, has traveled to the Memorial to read his name during the annual service. He is the subject of a sculpture in the Grand Valley State University Art Gallery Collections. The artist, Dr. Edward Byrd, met Dennis Lobbezoo while working as a medical officer in Vietnam. Lobbezoo had a lasting impression on Byrd. About 45 years later, upon his retirement as a neurosurgeon, Byrd studied art and created a sculpture of Lobbezoo.
Related Places:
Camp Pendleton Marine Corps BaseGrand Rapids