Hiroshima-shi (Japan)--History--Bombardment, 1945

Content Description

This collection relates to Maydene Asbury who worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory separating Uranium-235 from Uranium-238 during World War II, which was part of the process for building the atomic bomb. This collection contains an oral history interview transcript.

Scope and Contents

This collection follows Joseph T. Bannan as he served aboard the U.S.S. Panamint (AGC13). He was under the command of Admiral Arthur D. Struble. On this ship were photograph developers that obtained the picture of renowned wartime journalist, Ernie Pyle, lying dead on the island of Le Shima. Only two copies were ever made and the original was destroyed shortly after its creation to prevent a decline in American morale. This collection contains a photocopy of one of the original copies owned by Bannan.

Content Description

This collection relates to Lawrence Burzynski, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939 and was discharged in 1946 with the rank of Chief Electricians Mate. This collection contains a compilation of entries from Burzynski's diary during his seven years in the Navy. The diary provides an account of nearly every facet of U.S. Navy life during WWII and provides testimony on key moments of the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Staff Sergeant George R. Caron who served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Caron was the tail gunner on the "Enola Gay" B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This collection contains an oral history interview transcript.

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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.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a transcript of an interview conducted with Stanley and Elsie Davis on June 12, 2000. Stanley Davis served in the U.S. Army in the Military Railway Service in the European Theater during World War II.  The collection also contains 6 photographs, a photocopy of Stanley and Elsie's marriage certificate, and a copy of Kaiserzeit: Journal of the Imperial German Military Collector’s Association vol. III, summer 1974.

Scope and Contents

Henry Loewenthal served in the U.S. Army with the 645th Battalion, 45th Division, II Army Corps, 7th Army, in the North African, Mediterranean, and European (ETO) Theaters. This collection consists of a 77-page manuscript written in 1995 entitled "World War II - A Soldier Remembers" by Loewenthal on his experiences during the war. The memoir begins with his memories as a Jewish American Serviceman at the beginning of the war in Europe and continues through V-J Day.

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...

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview transcript pertains to Melvin Magidson, who was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Force in February of 1943 and was discharged in October of 1945 with the rank of lieutenant. In the transcript, Magidson mostly recounts various Air Force bases that he trained at throughout Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the northeast. Magidson never served overseas due to the war in Europe and in the Pacific both ending shortly after the end of his training.

Content Description

This transcript pertains to Joseph E. Peel, a gunner's mate who served aboard the USS Antietam starting in 1944. While the transcribed interview includes Peel's testimony on the latter years of World War II, it mostly details his experiences attending college after the war under the benefits of the GI Bill.

Scope and Contents

1st Lieutenant John O. Pons' oral history transcript details his experience as a military policeman at the Nuremberg Trials as a part of the 793rd Military Police Battalion from 1945-1946. Pons also describes his return to Germany in 1951-1952 as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, of the 4th Infantry Division. Pons provided security during the Nuremberg Trials over 10 separate occasions and spent most of his time completing various tasks such as breaking up riots, controlling traffic, and participating in raids.

Content Description

This collection relates to James M. Ryan who served as a 2nd Lieutenant Bombardier on a B-24 Bomber with the 866th Squadron, 494th Bombardment Group, stationed in Okinawa. Ryan's plane was shot down over Kyoto on July 28, 1945, and he was then imprisoned by the Japanese (declared missing in action by the United States). Ryan subsequently perished 500 feet from the epicenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. This collection contains photographs, letters, documents, and artifacts relating to the life, service, and death of James M. Ryan. His cased engraved purple heart medal is included in this collection.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an oral history and the three brief memoirs of Rolf Slen who served as a navigator with the 494th Bomb Squadron, 7th Air Force, in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Scope and Contents This collection relates to Staff Sergeant Philip Sperling who served with Headquarters Detachment, 325th Medical Battalion, which was assigned to the 100th Infantry Division during World War II. The collections primarily contain letters. Also included in the collection is currency, postcards, newspaper clippings, photographs, artifacts, and souvenirs. The collection also includes his government correspondence before and after his discharge from the Army. This collection focuses on the events which occurred in the middle to later years of the war. A few select letters contain references to Operation Overlord and one includes an official Army announcement of the bombing of Hiroshima and...

Content Description

This collection relates to Peter T. Suzuki, a Japanese American scholar who spent two years in internment camps during World War II. This collection contains a series of publications, newspapers, and articles relating to Suzuki and information on the effects of Japanese relocation and prejudice during World War II. The collection also includes information on Japanese Americans' post-war experience.

Scope and Contents The Theodore Harrington Collection contains items gathered by Theodore Harrington's mother and pertain to his time as an airman on the home front during World War II. The majority of the collection centers around his years of service in the Army Air Corps, from 1944-1945. Contained in the collection are folders with material created by Harrington or those around him, including letters, journal and memoir entries, and photographs. The letters are primarily from Harrington to either friends or his parents. The photographs feature servicemen posing with women or are of Harrington's family. The remainder of the collection includes newspaper clippings, church bulletins, postcards,...

Scope and Contents

Thomas C. Cartwright served as the pilot of the B-24 bomber, Lonesome Lady, in the 494th Bombardment Group, 7th Air Force. His plane was shot down over Japan at the end of July 1945. Cartwright and one other member of the bomber crew were transported elsewhere, while the majority of the crew was interred in prison in Hiroshima, Japan. All those crewmen were killed when the US dropped the atomic bomb on that city.

The collection contains correspondence, articles, and testimonies related to the bombing of Hiroshima and discovering the fate of Cartwright's bomber crew.

Content Description

This collection consists of six letters from Richard Bruce Worley, a U.S. Navy fireman who entered the service in 1944 and spent most of his time in northern and central California. The letters, dating from November of 1944 to June of 1945, are written to his parents in Ohio and describe a variety of his experiences living on army bases.