United States. Army Air Forces

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a transcript provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Benjamin Epstein was a Jewish American serviceman who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1946, and he trained at Fort Logan, Colorado. He was transported on the U.S.S. Dorchester, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in February 1943. He described escaping from the sinking ship and swimming to one of two lifeboats. He was picked up by the U.S.S. Escambia and taken to Greenland. He remained in Greenland until January 1945 where he was transferred to Fort Totten, New York and remained there until discharged in 1946.

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This collection relates to Harold G. Blunk served as Sergeant Major for the 5th Air Depot Group, 39th Station Composite Squadron, Administrative Division, 35th Depot Repair, in the 8th Air Force Command Station in England from 1943-1945. This collection contains photographs, a newspaper clipping, and documents relating to his personal life and military career.

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This collection is centered around a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot in the 35th Squadron of the 64th Troop Carrier Group. He was involved in the European- African- Middle Eastern campaign in Rome, Italy and Operation Dragoon in Southern France. This collection contains special orders, yearbooks, certifications of flight training, letters between the pilot and his family and friends, photos from Italy, France, and Puerto Rico, portraits in uniform, pamphlet for soldiers describing the famous monuments and history of Rome, Italian theatre programs, flight logs, checks, manuals, and charts, an original personnel file, various pins and medals, and maps of the Mediterranean theatre.

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This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of a U.S. Army Air Corps cook and baker, who served in England during World War II in the 2003rd Ordnance Unit at Melchbourne Park. This collection also contains a unit history.

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This collection contains an oral history transcript of Staff Sergeant Charles Diedling, a flight engineer on a B-24 with the 460th Bomb Group at Spinazola, Italy. Charles Diedling discusses his training as a flight engineer and waist gunner for the B-24 at Keesler AFB, Mississippi and Loredo AFB, Texas.  In June of 1944, he was assigned to the 460th Bomb Group of the 15th Air Force in Spinazola, Italy. Diedling was shot down over Germany becoming a prisoner of war.

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Charles Campbell was bombardier on a B-17 who was shot down over Linz, Austria and captured by the Germans. While in captivity, he was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp and managed to keep a journal of his experiences there. He served with the 483rd Bombardment Group. Just prior to the war's end, Campbell was transferred to an unidentified Stalag and credits this with saving his life. The collection includes reproductions of 483rd Bomb Group artwork, a statement and picture of the Mauthausen concentration camp from after the war, a World War II memoir with pictures and documents and a copy of his obituary.

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The collection of Clarke M. Brandt contains an oral history transcript and various publications about army life during World War II. In it are examples such as George (Bob) Caron who was a tail gunner on the "Enola Gay" B-29 Bomber. The oral history includes Caron's eyewitness account of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. Also included are pamphlets and newsletters including "War Buddies," which covers the relationship between a soldier and his canine companion through his years as a member of the US Marine Corps. "War Buddies" is written by Earle Welch and Dick Roberts.

Content Description

This collection relates to Allen H. Crawford who served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a bombardier and navigator in the 401st Bomb Group in the European Theater of Operation during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Crawford details his numerous bombing missions over Germany from late 1944 through the end of the war.

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Crispen Nissen served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps with the 12th and 18th Weather Squadrons during World War II in the United States, England, North Africa, and Italy. This collection includes an original diary Nissen kept from 1941-1942, describing his daily thoughts, experiences, and observations about the general war effort. The collection also includes Vmail and handwritten letters, written by Nissen to his fiancee and future wife, Etrulia Ellis, as well as the letters she sent to him.

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This collection consists of an oral history transcript of an interview with 2nd Lt. James J. Crooke, who served in World War II. Crooke served in the Army Air Corps with the 303rd Bomb Group in the European Theater (ETO).

Scope and Contents Deborah Gierach's collection of photographs were taken by her late father-in-law (no name given), a B-17 pilot in Europe during the Second World War. The collection consists of scanning from three photograph albums (in German) compiled and produced for the Nazi government as a means to show what the Third Reich was doing during the war. Subjects include Nazi rallies, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, soldiers, military vehicles, as well as Hitler playing with children and socializing with others. Captions are in German. Organized month to month for separate calendar years of 1939, 1940, 1942. Note: the majority of the photographs do not contain the...

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This collection contains Donald Preston Ward's letters, postcards, and miltary documents. Ward served with the 40th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, 20th Air Force during World War II.

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This collection pertains to First Lieutenant Elwood Harry Fredrickson who served as a bombardier in the 743rd Bomb Squadron, 455th Bomb Group. The collection contains flight records, textbooks and notes from flight school, assignments from flight school, various documents regarding Fredrickson’s postings, personnel lists, volumes one and two of the 455th Bomb Group Journal, booklets on aviation and cadet life, various receipts, certificates and photographs.

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This collection contains the oral history interview of Lieutenant Colonel Everett Walker conducted by the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience. Walker was forced to bail out very near the target on his eighteenth mission as a bombardier and gunner on a B-24. He discusses his rescue from the water, his interrogation experience and the conditions of his internment. He also talks about the many different escape attempts made by the American POWs at Stalag Luft III.

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This oral history interview transcript relates to George Logue,  an aerial gunner armament specialist on a B-24 assigned to the 15th Air Force.  Logue discusses his bombing missions over Europe, being shot down, life as a prisoner of war, and his brief service with the British 5th Army.

Scope and Contents This collection pertains to Herman C. Giles (Combat Infantry Rifleman with the 103rd Infantry Division), who served in the European Theater. He served as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division according to his typed "Background" statement. His discharge papers note that he was a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division, serving in the European Theater, 1943-1945. Giles was stationed at Camp Blanding in 1943, Columbus, GA, for Air Corps training in 1943, and then Texas for infantry training. This collection contains a number of letters on Camp Blanding stationery. He describes Camp Blanding as "a mile and a half in the middle of...

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This collection centers around Joe Gould (formerly Goldstein), a soldier in the intelligence section of the 25th Bomb Group and 325th Photographic Wing in England, and his wife, Shirley Gould, on the homefront in Chicago. It includes letters, photographs and some of their corresponding negatives, a photo album of letters and V-Mail, newspaper clippings, event brochures, various personnel records, and ephemera from the service and the homefront, including drawings, decorative dog tags, and ration cards.

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George D. Harris (Army Air Corps, 1942-1945) trained as a radioman and gunner on a B-17 and was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group in England in 1943. His collection contains a photocopy of three articles from the American Ex-Prisoners of War Bulletin from January 1996 and a copy of his oral history interview conducted on February 26, 2003.

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Oral history of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 Co-Pilot Colonel Jack H. Heinzel, an American prisoner of war who survived the Bataan death march and subsequent "Hell Ships" starting in April of 1942. The collection contains one folder with fifteen pages detailing this airman's experience of these atrocities.

Scope and Contents

The collection of First Lieutenant James Feerick contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Feerick served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as part of the 8th Bomber Command, 1st Bombardment Wing, 91st Bombardment Group in the European theater. He was based in London at Bassingbourne.

The collection also includes a copy of a magazine article from 2000 about a U.S. government agency that smuggled out contraband (radio parts, etc.), into German POW camps and letters along with other information. The agency also helped Allied POWs escape.

Scope and Contents This World War II collection relates to Sgt. James H. Vander Laan, who served in the United States Army Air Force and was assigned to the 511th bomber squadron in the 351st Bombardment Group. During his service, he trained as a ball-turret gunner and radio operator on a B-17 bomber. The collection consists of documents, letters, photographs, and memorabilia. The documents detail where James H. VanderLaan was stationed, inducted and discharged from service. The letters from James H. Vander Laan are addressed from Germany during his time as a Prisoner of War and are dated from November 7, 1943-November 5, 1944. The photographs are of James H. Vander Laan with his wife Marion Madeley and a...

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This collection relates to James W. George who served as a Chief Master Sergeant in the 9th U.S Army Air Force. Wilmot R. George was James George's brother and also served in the European Theater. He served as a Tech Sergeant and received a Silver Star. This collection contains a one-page handwritten summary of James George's military service and ten-page memoir of his brother Wilmont's service during the Second World War.

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This World War II collection relates to Covieau Rohlin and Rohlin's close wartime friendship with U.S. Army Air Corps Colonel Thomas Settle Voss. Voss served as base commander of MacDill Field, FL and 1st Advanced Air Depot Area in the European Theater.  The collection includes a captured framed lithograph of Le Mans-La Cathedrale St. Julien by Barday, 1933, MacDill Field Thunderbird magazines, Liberty magazine, unpublished memoirs of Colonel Voss, photographs of Voss, and military documents.

Scope and Contents This collection relates to John C. Henning who served in the Eighth Air Force, Second Air Division, 14th Combat Wing, 392nd Heavy Bombardment Group, 578th Squadron at Station #18 at Wendling, England during World War II. The collection contains privately published statistics for the 392nd Heavy Bombardment Group. The collection contains basic statistics for the 392nd Heavy Bombardment Group, diagrams of take-off patterns, a diagram of flight formations, a list of crew with their basic backgrounds and a description of their adjustment to each other, a list of missions followed by details of each into Germany from England [Ingolstadt, Pforzheim, Swinemunde, Gutersloh, Zossen...

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This collection relates to John Eugene Zemanek who served as a bombardier on a B-24 with the 455th Bombardment Group in Italy during World War II. The collection contains a typed account of the events of April 25, 1945, Zemanek's last bombing mission, and annotated photocopies of pages from Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue.

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Kenneth H. Larson served as a colonel in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He attended technical school at the Ford Airplane School and the Army Air Force Technical School in Amarillo, Texas. Exercises, study guides, and manuals from his time in technical training are included in this collection, showing the work that students had to complete during this training.

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This collection relates to Lloyd Donald Haynes who served as a Staff Sergeant stenographer with Headquarters, Third Air Force, and then a Chief Warrant Officer as administrative assistant to the Executive, The Air Inspector, U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Hicks also continued to serve on active duty during the postwar period until 1949. The collection includes military personnel documents, photographs, diplomas, certificates, and newspaper articles. Several photographs include U.S. Air Force Secretary W. Stuart Symington in 1949. Included are numerous photographs of London, England, and Germany in 1949.

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Alan May served as a gunner on a B-24 Bomber with the 451st Bomb Group during World War II in Italy and was shot down during a mission to Ploesti, Romania, and became a POW.  May was awarded the Purple Heart, Air Medals, 2 Presidential Unit Citations, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Included in this collection is a footnoted manuscript diary of missions.

Scope and Contents The materials in the Omer E. Englehart collection document activities of a U.S. Army Air Forces Corporal who served in the European theater during World War II. This collection consists of an extensive compilation of personal correspondence between Omer E. Englehart and his family, friends from home, and friends from abroad between the predominant dates of 1940 to 1947. The collection also includes, various copies of newspapers regarding military happenings, original wartime books, training pamphlets and booklets for the U.S. Army Air Corps, travel guides, original photographs and postcards depicting life on base as well as Omer E. Englehart's personal travels while deployed, three 78...

Scope and Contents The collection features items relating to clubs and organizations that Peggy Barker Teague was involved with during her years at Florida State College for Women, especially the Spirogira honor society, Tarpon Club, and the College Government Association. This includes newspaper clippings, ephemeral documents, and two scrapbooks containing similar documents and items. The largest item is a pillow with the Spirogira skull and cross bones. Online Copies Available Select materials from this collection have been digitized and are available through the ...