World War, 1939-1945--France

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to the 385th Bombardment Group, Heavy, that was stationed at Station 155, Great Ashfield, Suffolk, England during World War II.  The collection includes a publication which documents the group's history during the war.

Content Description

This collection relates to Charles Aiken who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the European Theater of Operation during World War Two. This collection contains a newspaper clipping and an oral history transcript.

Scope and Contents Private First Class Jack Appel's oral history transcript details his life before and during World War II where he served with the 17th Signal Operations Battalion in the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. His oral history elaborates on his early life, contracting Spinal Meningitis, completing basic training, trying to apply to Officer Candidate School, becoming a driver/messenger, arriving in Europe, landing at Normandy, traveling through France Belgium, and Germany, witnessing Battle of the Bulge, visiting the concentration camp Buchenwald, interacting with civilians, gambling on leave, the discharge point system, returning home, and his experiences with...

Content Description

This collection relates to Technical Sergeant James A. Armstrong who served 691st Ordnance Company in the European Theater of Operation. He participated beginning with the Normandy Campaign and each subsequent campaign with the company through to Germany. After the war, he was also commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant Ammunition Supply Officer and assigned to the 633rd Ordnance Company. The collection contains letters, military documents, and photographs.

Scope and Contents This collection includes letters written to Arnold Busch, a basketball coach for Calvary Methodist Church in Lakewood, Ohio, by the students he previously coached. Whether drafted or enlisted, many of the men kept up a correspondence with Busch throughout the war years. This collection also includes Calvary Church newsletters and pamphlets, pamphlets regarding persons registered for service, ration books and other rationing documents, and letters returned to Busch because their recipients were MIA, deceased, or relocated. Also included are photographs of Calvary Church activities on the Homefront, the basketball team, and the Calvary Church’s V-J Day service as well as a copy of an...

Scope and Contents

The William R. Auld papers include over 800 photographs taken by Major William R. Auld who served with the 31st Photo Reconnaissance Squadron of the Ninth Army Air Force following General George S. Patton throughout the United States, England, France, and Germany.  The William R. Auld papers also include various sketches done by one of his comrades, a promotion notice, and two poems.

Content Description

This collection contains Colonel Robert Berry's oral history transcript wherein he describes his involvement in the Normandy invasion and its aftermath as a graves registration officer in the 6th Engineers Special Brigade. The interview also includes accounts of American soldiers being executed for war crimes. This collection contains a transcript Robert Berry's interview from the Reichelt Program for Oral History.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains two oral histories; one with Dr. Philip Gilman, Jr. and one with James Izumizaki. It also includes the reprint of a letter by Pvt. Lavern Borg, Jr. written on April 2, 1945. The letter tells about his experiences with the 5th Marine Division of the U.S. Marine Corp in the battle of Iwo Jima. The next document includes a service record and medallist dated June 1967, January 1969, and August 1973. A pamphlet collected by the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, California entitled Nihen Bunka Japanese Culture: One hundred years in Pajaro Valley is also in the collection.

Content Description The collection includes 236 letters with some postcards and V-mails that "Cliff" wrote to his mother, Gladys Shirley, letters written to Gladys Shirley from some relatives of a soldier-friend of Cliff's who'd died in an accident, letters to Cliff from a woman he'd befriended in South Wales, and from his deceased friend's mother, to whom he'd written a note of condolence. News clippings, ephemera, and documents are also included. Cliff's letters express worries about post-war life and jobs, the desire for furlough, the point system, railroad strikes, Churchill, FDR, prices and wages, blackouts, housing problems in the US, draft dodgers, poor conditions in Germany (children begging GI's...

Scope and Contents

Eugene S. Brown served as a member of the 78th Infantry Division in the European Theater during World War II. He served from 1943-1946. His unit arrived in France in November of 1944. He performed duties as a runner and a jeep driver for his unit. This collection contains a transcript from an interview conducted June 7, 2000.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Technical Sergeant Milton Charles Brown who served in the U.S. Army with the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion as an Operations Noncommissioned Officer during World War II. Brown served in the European Theater of Operations.  The collection includes Brown's military personnel documents and photographs.

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This collection pertains to Edward J. Cavanary who served in the U.S. Army as an Adjutant in the 7^th Field Hospital during WWII. This collection contains a photographic copy of a scrapbook, as well as photographs, postcards, playbills, letters, ticket stubs, flyers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, drawings, maps and a book of  true experiences of members of the 7^th Field Hospital written by John Kidda and Fred Marston.

Scope and Contents

The Edward L. Herp papers document Captain Edward Herp's time spent as a radio operator for the 321st Fighter Control Squadron of the 9th Air Force for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. The collection contains an oral history, various photographs, the bulk of them taken at the Buchenwald concentration camp, a letter discussing the photographs, personal documents, postcards, and other items that illustrate his service in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Also in the oral history, Herp discusses his time spent working at Florida State University for WFSU-TV and as a professor of television production.

Scope and Contents

The Frank Facente transcript describes medic Frank Facente's service in the 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, as a part of the United States Army during World War II. Facente participated in the landing at Normandy, attacking the Siegfried Line, Battle of Huertgen Forest, Battle of the Bulge, and visiting the concentration camp at Dachau.

Content Description

This collection relates to Albert Fier who served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant technician with E Company of the 94th Infantry Division in the European Theater of Operation during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript, where Fier documents his time as a medic during the war.

Content Description

This collection relates to Ingrid Flager who served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in the European Theater during World War II. This collection contains an oral history where Flager recounts her experiences as a nurse in Ireland, France, and Germany.

Scope and Contents This collection relates to Master Sergeant Herman J. Daum who served with the 673rd Engineer Topographic Company and was attached to General George S. Patton's 3rd Army. The collection contains personal papers associated with Master Sergeant Daum's service in the United States Army during World War II including his promotion certificate, Bronze Star Citation, his wife's Certificate of Citizenship, and photographs of his time in training at Camp Campbell, KY. The collection also contains a wedding photograph and a portrait style photograph of his wife's brother in his Naval uniform. Additionally, this collection contains Master Sergeant Daum's rank insignia, his Bronze Star, and the...

Scope and Contents

The Edwin Ivy papers illustrate 2nd Lieutenant Ivy's service in the Army Air Corps in the 485th Heavy Bombardment Group, 831st Squadron, from 1942-1945 in Italy, France, and Austria where he was shot down and became a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III. Ivy's oral history encompasses the majority of his collection and provides detail of his military training, time spent in the Army Air Corps, as a prisoner of war, and being discharged. His papers also include the first chapter of Old Man in a Baseball Cap by Fred Rochlin. The chapter describes the significance of remembering the past and passing down experiences to others.

Content Description

This collection relates to Richard Lewis who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945 in the European Theatre. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Lewis details his missions on a B-24 Bomber and B-17 Bomber during World War II and briefly describes his service in the Korean War.

Scope and Contents

The Lloyd M. Hicks Jr. Collection includes personal artifacts such as medals, ribbons, and various pins. The collection also contains scrapbooks containing news clippings and photographs detailing the actions of the 2nd Armored Division and 41st Armored Infantry Regiment in their overseas campaigns, as well as Lloyd Hicks Jr.’s own personal photographs from his time overseas and those taken during periods of leave spent in Florida.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Charles F. Myers Sr. who served as a pilot with the Army Air Corps in the U.S., Panama, and Europe during World War II. The collection includes personal, medical, and financial records, appreciation letters, shipping tickets, a photograph of the 41-D graduating class of Gunter Field in Montgomery, Alabama, special orders and assignments, an original personnel file, an original flight records file, modern records and information, and a briefcase used for dead reckoning navigational records and equipment.

Scope and Contents

Mario Joseph Patruno's collection includes a manuscript/oral history that covers his service in the 101st Airborne through his wounding in Operation Market Garden. The collection also includes three photographs, two of Patruno and one photograph taken inside Patruno's C-47 Transport on the night of 5 June 1944.

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The Paul K. Dougherty Collection includes photographs, documents, and various artifacts Dougherty obtained while in Germany. His collection contains rare original German propaganda publications such as Deutschland Erwach and Adolf Hitler. Also included in the collection is a personal photograph album that belonged to Nazi official and founder of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, Julius Streicher. Other items included are Nazi Party flags/fabrics, Paul K. Dougherty’s camera, and camera accessories.

Scope and Contents

The James R. Pemberton oral history interview transcript includes his time as a sergeant in the 103rd Infantry Division, 410th Regiment, Company K, 3rd Platoon, 3rd Squadron. He served as an engineer in France, Germany, and Austria from 1943-1945 and participated at D-Day and Battle of the Bulge. He documents his experiences during the war in regards to his military training, losing friends, taking German prisoners, how he earned his Bronze Star Medal, specific events in which he participated, and his pre/post-war activities.

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The Peter R. Durland papers illustrate Captain Peter R. Durland's experiences during his time as a member of the 70th Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division of the United States Army from 1943-1946. From 1945-1946, Durland served as Major General Leroy Watson's aide, completing various tasks for the General and accompanying him to the Nuremberg Trials. The collection includes an oral history interview transcript, photographs, and papers related to the war crime trials.

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The Raymond Wayne Davis papers are largely centered around letters Davis wrote to his sister Mildred Kingston Renwick throughout World War II. During the war, Sergeant Davis served as a machinist in the Strategic 3rd Air Depot of the Army Air Force as well as serving in the infantry as a part of the Third Army, 90th Division, 358th Infantry, Company C. Davis served in England, France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. His papers also include postwar division newsletters, an oral history interview, a veteran's questionnaire, discharge certificate, and photographs.

Scope and Contents

Richard Webb was a storekeeper first class in the US Navy in the European Theater. He was a mail clerk and storekeeper and received three Bronze Stars This collection includes a 10-page typed memoir about a trip to England aboard the LST-293, an account of D-Day, and an account of actions taken at Mount St. Michel. Also included are his reflections on death and dying and the role of "ducks" in WWII as well as 28 photographs of the LST, its crew, the dead and wounded GIs on D-Day, German POWs, and other naval craft.

Scope and Contents Includes 2 photographs, a press clipping about Faucon's artwork, and an oral history narrated by Faucon.Rolande R. Faucon lived in Mareuil Sur Ay, Marne, France during World War II. Germany began occupying France after the English retreat in the Spring of 1940. She was a teenage citizen of France when the Germans invaded her town. According to Faucon, the village of Mareuil sur Ay was situated along the Marne River, making the village a prime target for German bombing and transport. Once the Germans occupied the village, Faucon and her family kept to a strict curfew of lights out and food rationing. Her older brother Eli Poulard was sent to a German labor camp for three years...

Scope and Contents

This album contains photographs, newspaper clippings, and poetry (all in German) from Schäfer's journal about the 25th Infantry Division during the 1940 Battle of France.  This album also contains a signed document and signed portrait photograph of 25th Division commander Erich-Heinrich Philipp Karl Albert Reinhard Clößner (17 September 1888 – 28 March 1976) who was a highly decorated General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht during World War II.  He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Scope and Contents

Technical Sergeant Seth A. McKinney served as a flight engineer and a gunner on a B-24 Liberator stationed at Cerignola, Italy. He completed over 40 missions as a part of the 767th Bombardment Squadron, 461st Bombardment Group of the 15th Air Force.  This collection includes photographs, documents, and artifacts.