World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons

Scope and Contents

The Anson E. Voorhees collection contains one folder with a 14-page typed transcript of an oral history interview.

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...

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a transcript of an interview with Raymond F. Bricker conducted by David Gregory on April 17, 1999.  It details his time in the U.S. Army from 1941 through 1945. Raymond F. Bricker served with the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.

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This collection contains the memoir of Richard Dern who served in the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front during World War II.

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.

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Ernest Hubacker served in the U.S. Army in the United States and in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. The collection includes a manuscript entitled One Veteran's Remembrance of WWII. It also includes photocopies of documents relating to induction and discharge as well as a photograph of Hubacker on an Army horse dated 1943.

The manuscript gives his account of his experiences in Myitina, his time as he kept watch in foxholes, the sneak attacks on soldiers, and the sanitation and ration situations. He discusses his involvement in battles in India and China as well.

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The Francis Montague Wells collection, consisting of seventy-one letters, offers the insight and perspective of an enlisted Private First Class with the 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, in the European campaign during World War II.  The collection also contains two photographs of Francis Wells and a letter from his daughter Peggy Wells Hughes.

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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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This collection includes photographs and documents pertaining to aerial operations over Europe during World War II. Lt. Herman Simler flew over 30 bombing missions over Europe during his service. The squadrons specified in this collection are the 8th Army Air Force, the 15th Army Air Force, and the 716th-719th bomber squadrons.

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The collection contains letters, photos, POW manuscripts, Morgan's Diary, newspaper articles, telegraphs, and prison camp postcards. Also contained are correspondence letters written between members of the 17th Pursuit Squadron throughout the decades following the end of the Second World War.  It covers the years 1939-2001.

Scope and Contents The Hurtis "Jack" Lowell Enlow papers consist of a diary and various documents relating to his service as an ambulance driver for the 482nd Medical Collection Company. Sergeant Enlow's diary illustrates what life was like as an ambulance driver during the war. He describes in detail the casualties he witnessed, fighting during the Battle of the Bulge, traveling through Europe, basic training, prisoners of war, and the Buchenwald concentration camp. While some descriptions are graphic, they depict the true nature of the war. His documents include photographs taken at Buchenwald, basic training notice, a German train ticket, German advertisement, one Victory Mail letter, post-war customs...

Scope and Contents This collection relates to Harry Johnston who served as a U.S. Marine Corps Photographer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The collection includes a "Gossip" newsletter for the Charleston, South Carolina branch of Kroger grocery. The newsletter discusses good sales, jokes, and friends and romantic interests coming in on leave, etc., and contains a few illustrations. Also included are over 20 postcards from Hawaii, none sent or written on, and one mailed postcard that was sent to Johnston when he was in the US Naval Hospital in April 1945 in Portsmouth, Virginia. A series of photographs are also included that were taken at Hawaii, Samoa, Guadalcanal, Bougainville,...

Scope and Contents This collection relates to Joseph L. Cittadini who served as a Navigator with the 384th Bombardment Group.  The collection includes photographs, letters, and official documents from his time as a navigator with the US Army Air Corp and his time as a prisoner of war during World War II. Photographs include several of Cittadini with his crew of the "Goin' Dawg" and "Nutalls Nut House" B-17 bombers. Cittadini was a prisoner of war for a year after being shot down on a mission over Berlin and was held in several POW camps, but primarily in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. His account of this is told in detail in both a manuscript and an oral history...

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The Sylwester B. Knap papers contain an oral history transcript and a political prisoner certificate. Knap's oral history focuses on his childhood during the time World War II began in Europe which includes attempting to find refuge in Czestochowa, his experiences in the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, forced labor, mistreatment, camp selections, contracting Typhus, liberation, becoming wounded, finding his family after the war, his uncles involvement in the resistance movement, and his feelings toward talking about the war.

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Emanuel Lamb served with the Heavy Weapons Company of the 89th Infantry Division. Collection includes letters from Emanuel and his brother Mandy during their time serving overseas, mainly discussing their daily lives, censorship, and treatment of prisoners of war, as well as a complete oral history transcript between Emanuel Lamb and an interviewer discussing his time in combat and his memories of the Battle of the Bulge. There are also newspaper clippings, photocopies of identification cards and ephemera included in the collection.

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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.

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Natalia Grauer Rosenbald's oral history outlines her life growing up in Krakow, Poland and her experiences in the Krakow ghetto, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück. She speaks about hiding, dog attacks, working in the crematorium sorting clothes, stealing food, the Death March, how the SS tried disguising themselves with the advance of the Allies, liberation, reprisal shootings, finding her family after the war, living in Cyprus, Israel, Australia, and Germany before settling in the United States. She concludes her oral history with her experiences talking at schools about the Holocaust, visiting Auschwitz, and her message to the world about the Holocaust.

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Private Ralph Chester Lapham served with the 116th Evacuation Hospital during World War II in the European Theater of Operations. Chester assisted with providing care for former prisoners of Dachau concentration camp after the camp's liberation. The collection contains photographs of the camp and letters describing the unit's work setting up a hospital at Dachau and a Typhus epidemic.

Content Description

This collection relates to the Reserve Officers Association and the experience of its members during World War Two.

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The collection is from PFC (T/Sgt) Richard Frake's military records and ephemera, including training certificates for Pre-RADAR VIII, Bomb Reconnaissance School, and Radio/Radar Repairman. The collection also has unofficial certificates proving that Frakes "officially" passed the equator and became a "shellback" on board the USAT Pemant. There are also documents and ephemera about Japanese POWs surrendering.

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The collection of Robert Hoffmann contains an oral history transcript provided by the Reichelt Oral History Program. Hoffmann served with the United State Marine Corps during World War II on the island of Guam.

Scope and Contents Roland Cadoret served as a B-17 pilot in the 351st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, in the European Theater.  His collection contains a manuscript, "The Battle of Grounded Eagles," in which he details his entire POW experience from mission briefing to liberation, an excerpt from his diary, and his photocopied version of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's letter to Invasion Forces. The Polebrook Post 351st Bomb Group Association 8th Airforce Vol. XXVII-No. 2, and the English version of the Moorsburger Beitung, a newspaper, which had special stories all about the POWs which were kept at...

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This collection relates to Sergeant Tillman Joe Rutledge, who served in the 31st Infantry Regiment of the United States Army in the Far East's Philippine Division. After the fall of Bataan in April 1942, he was captured as a prisoner of war until 1945. This collection consists of one box of personal papers, including the original diary he kept during his internment and photocopies. It also contains an original draft and signed copy of his book My Japanese POW Diary Story; a 36-page oral history transcript; letters to and from his family; newspaper clippings; various government documents; and photographs.

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This collection contains architectural drawings with narrative explanations prepared by Werner Ulrich about the United States Family Internment Camp, Crystal City, TX. Also provided are lists of internees by country of origin as well as copies of the death certificates of internees who died in the camp.

Scope and Contents The Werner Wisian manuscript includes detailed descriptions of Private Wisian's time as a member of the 5th Army, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry. He served in the Mediterranean Theater in Italy, and spent over a year as a prisoner of war in various prisoner of war camps such as Stalag IIIB. His 24 page manuscript includes correspondence with a Russian prisoner of war and information on the Texas National Guard. His 1995 manuscript covers topics such as life during basic training, specific actions in combat, life as a prisoner of war, and personal reflections on the war. Also included are facts taken from the Official 36th Infantry...

Abstract Dorothy "Dot" Douglas Whittle was ten years old when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941. The Japanese Army interned the Douglas family in civilian prisoner of war camps for the duration of World War II, including Camp John Hay, Camp Holmes, and Bilibid Prison. During this period, Whittle kept a diary to document everyday life in camp, including her schoolwork, schedule, games, and church activities. The US Army liberated the civilian prisoners at Bilibid Prison in February 1945 and the Douglas family subsequently repatriated to the United States. They settled in Florida, and Whittle continued high school and went on to graduate from Florida State University. She later...

Scope and Contents Wilson Dean Brooks participated in significant events during and after World War II. He was a part of the liberation of Dachau, Battle of the Bulge, and worked as an investigator for the War Crimes Board. His collection contains photographs capturing the liberation of Dachau, a journal describing military life in Europe, which includes details about Battle of the Bulge, and a vast amount of documents that pertain to war crime trials he oversaw as a judge advocate. His case reports on war crimes make up the bulk of his collection and contain victim testimonies, arrest reports, instances of maltreatment and murder, and other notable information. The files include testimonies from victims...