United States. Army Air Forces. Medals, badges, decorations, etc

Content Description

This collection relates to Francis Edwards who served in the 20th U.S. Army Air Force, 58th Group, 25th Squadron in the Pacific theater. This collection contains an oral history transcript detailing his service during the war and his return to the U.S.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains Franklin Merle Peterson's personal correspondence, newspapers, ephemera, and photographs from Peterson’s lifetime. Peterson was a veteran of the First World War in France and the Second World War in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

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...

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.

Abstract Charlotte Mansfield enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (W.A.A.C.) in 1942 to pursue work in photograph processing for the military. She was part of the first all-women graduating class from Lowry Field Photo School in Colorado, where she was trained to be a photo technician that developed primarily aerial shots in photography labs. Mansfield was stationed at various locations throughout the United States before being transferred to lab work overseas in England and Germany. By this time, W.A.A.C. had transitioned to Women’s Army Corps (W.A.C.). Throughout her military service, Mansfield took numerous personal photographs that featured her friends and surroundings. They provide...

Scope and Contents

The Wyman Daniel Martin collection contains personal artifacts and ephemera from Martin's time as a middle school student before the outbreak of war and as a dorsal gunner on a B-17 bomber before being killed in action above Holland. These objects include photographs of Martin and the crew of his bomber the "Sky Queen", his various medals which include an engraved Purple Heart, a narrative written by a surviving crewman regarding his final mission, and official documents regarding his internment in Arlington National Cemetary.

Scope and Contents

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.

Content Description

This collection consists of photocopies of personnel records, official orders, and photographs related to the service of John E. Phillip Picket with the 13th Air Force, a tail gunner serving aboard a B-24 with the 307th Bomb Group of the 13th Army Air Force during World War II. There are official records documenting the number of missions Pickett and his crew undertook. Copies of a number of publications, including a history of the 13th Air Force in the Pacific, as well as summaries of each bombing mission that Pickett and his crew undertook in 1945, and several postwar reminiscences are included in the collection.

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.