V-mail

This collection includes miscellaneous materials collected from numerous sources by Michael Amdahl, a Refuse Transfer Center worker who collected and donated found materials over the course of many years. Included in this collection are a variety of graphic materials, letters, documents, magazines, and a book on the 13th Air Force. Also included are photographs depicting war-torn cities, soldier life, sea and air vessels, and scenery from around Europe.

This collection pertains to Technician Fifth Grade Zeddie P. Barron, Jr., who was stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Ireland, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany between 1943 and 1945. As a clerk in the 552nd Railhead Company, Barron was attached to the First Engineer Special Brigade. The collection contains personal letters sent from Barron to his wife throughout his period of service, military documents including a ration book, Barron's military record and entrance physical, as well as newspaper clippings, envelopes, and an unpublished poem by Eugene S. Masters reacting to the use of the atomic bomb.

This collection relates to Hazel Louis Bowman who worked for the Signal Corps and lived in India with the American Red Cross for two years. Bowman's collection contains six full boxes, one oversize box, a phono records box, and two photograph boxes. Four of the boxes include letters written to and from Hazel to her parents, family, neighbors, and friends. The collection also contains an oral history transcript, newsletters and bulletins, American Red Cross publications, her diary, a book written by Bowman, photograph albums, and ephemera.

This collection relates to Allen H. Crawford who served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a bombardier and navigator in the 401st Bomb Group in the European Theater of Operation during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Crawford details his numerous bombing missions over Germany from late 1944 through the end of the war.

This collection relates to Louis Dodaro who served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945 in the Pacific Theatre. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Dodaro describes his military service and life after the war.

This collection centers around Joe Gould (formerly Goldstein), a soldier in the intelligence section of the 25th Bomb Group and 325th Photographic Wing in England, and his wife, Shirley Gould, on the homefront in Chicago. It includes letters, photographs and some of their corresponding negatives, a photo album of letters and V-Mail, newspaper clippings, event brochures, various personnel records, and ephemera from the service and the homefront, including drawings, decorative dog tags, and ration cards.

This collection relates to Staff Sergeant Ray Liberti who served in the U.S. Marine Corps with the Third Marine Division on Iwo Jima during World War II. This collection contains an oral history where Liberti recounts his experiences in the war.

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.

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.

This collection relates to Lawrence E. Vaughan who served with the 2811 Engineers Pipeline District Company of the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II in the Pacific Theater. This collection includes letters, journal entries, and a manuscript memoir, and documents.