Robert L. Wilson transcript

Collection — Container: Single Folder Collections - 2006 Box 2 (06.0075-06.0150), Folder: 06.0130 - Folder 1

Identifier: 06.0130

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Sergeant Robert L. Wilson transcript describes his experiences as a truck driver in the 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany during World War II. Wilson describes his basic training, the poor leadership among his officers, the backgrounds of his comrades, German civilians, traveling from city to city, losing supplies, the Allied victory, seeing Dachau, the Nuremberg Trials, coming home, and resuming his education at Duke University.

Dates

Created: 1939-2005
Other: Majority of material found in 1939-1946
Other: Date acquired: 06/23/2006

Creator

Wilson, Robert L. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Robert L. Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1923 and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey. Wilson was attending Duke University when he was drafted in March 1943. He wanted to finish his education, but the draft board gave him no option to stay at Duke. He completed basic training as a supply truck driver at Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky, Camp Blanding in Florida, and Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi. Wilson went overseas on January 1, 1945, on USS Mount Vernon to Marseilles, France to aid the remaining forces at Battle of the Bulge. His unit then broke through the Siegfried Line and then crossed the Rhine River into Germany. Once in Germany Wilson was tasked with moving troops, prisoners of war, and supplies across the country. He was ordered to bring supplies to Dachau where he first saw individuals who had experienced and been impacted by concentration camps. Wilson's unit was broken up, and he was transferred to the 36th Infantry Division and then to the IV Corps Headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar near Stuttgart where he worked as an office clerk. Wilson got to view the Nuremberg War Crime Trials for a day and saw several of the perpetrators. He traveled home in March 1945 and was discharged shortly after as a sergeant. After the war, he resumed school at Duke University where he earned a Bachelor's degree in History. He met his wife while at school and married soon after. Wilson became an FBI agent and retired in 1978.