United States--Army Air Forces--Aerial operations

Scope and Contents Deborah Gierach's collection of photographs were taken by her late father-in-law (no name given), a B-17 pilot in Europe during the Second World War. The collection consists of scanning from three photograph albums (in German) compiled and produced for the Nazi government as a means to show what the Third Reich was doing during the war. Subjects include Nazi rallies, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, soldiers, military vehicles, as well as Hitler playing with children and socializing with others. Captions are in German. Organized month to month for separate calendar years of 1939, 1940, 1942. Note: the majority of the photographs do not contain the...

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the oral history interview of Lieutenant Colonel Everett Walker conducted by the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience. Walker was forced to bail out very near the target on his eighteenth mission as a bombardier and gunner on a B-24. He discusses his rescue from the water, his interrogation experience and the conditions of his internment. He also talks about the many different escape attempts made by the American POWs at Stalag Luft III.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Walter A. Holle, Second Lieutenant who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a spotter pilot and served in the European Theater with 5th Army Headquarters. Holle participated in the Battles of Salerno and Anzio. This collection contains a manuscript memoir, document, and Compact Disk containing scans of the materials.

Scope and Contents

The collection of First Lieutenant James Feerick contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Feerick served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as part of the 8th Bomber Command, 1st Bombardment Wing, 91st Bombardment Group in the European theater. He was based in London at Bassingbourne.

The collection also includes a copy of a magazine article from 2000 about a U.S. government agency that smuggled out contraband (radio parts, etc.), into German POW camps and letters along with other information. The agency also helped Allied POWs escape.

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.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a copy of the oral history interview of Joe Rendelman who served with the 15th Air Force in Italy. He was shot down over Romania after twenty-five missions. He spent six months in a POW camp and was liberated by the Russians in 1944.

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...

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Marvin S. Waits who served with the 14th Air Force in China. He was enlisted from 1942-1945. This collection contains an interview with Waits with information about his experiences in China during the war, the censorship in the US Army, the terrors in the mission, and the relationship between soldiers and local people.