World War, 1939-1945--Great Britain

Scope and Contents The collection of the 460th Heavy Bombardment Group Society contains a unit history of this B-24 U.S. Army Air Corps Group, 55th Wing, 760th, 761st, 762nd, 763rd Squadrons and Group Headquarters, which served in the Italian Campaign. This collection primarily focuses on the memory of the war and those who served in the 460th. Included is a listing of the airmen who were held as prisoners of war, including their squadrons, positions on the plane (e.g. pilot, gunner), the date, mission, and what country or stalag in which they were held. Also included is a booklet, "Remembering the 460th Bomb Group (H)," which contains photographs, personnel lists, and maps, and was prepared as a...

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Private First Class Clarence H. Anderson who served with the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, in the European theater during World War II. The collection contains letters from Anderson to his fiance Eleanor Schumaker. The letters encompass ten months from March 1944-January 1945 in which he writes from England, France, Belgium, and Germany. Clarence was wounded in Germany and sent to a hospital in England to recover. Julius Sleszak was stationed in California in the Transportation Section at Camp Beale. He sent seven letters to his wife during November 1945.

Content Description

This collection relates to Technical Sergeant James A. Armstrong who served 691st Ordnance Company in the European Theater of Operation. He participated beginning with the Normandy Campaign and each subsequent campaign with the company through to Germany. After the war, he was also commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant Ammunition Supply Officer and assigned to the 633rd Ordnance Company. The collection contains letters, military documents, and photographs.

Scope and Contents This collection includes letters written to Arnold Busch, a basketball coach for Calvary Methodist Church in Lakewood, Ohio, by the students he previously coached. Whether drafted or enlisted, many of the men kept up a correspondence with Busch throughout the war years. This collection also includes Calvary Church newsletters and pamphlets, pamphlets regarding persons registered for service, ration books and other rationing documents, and letters returned to Busch because their recipients were MIA, deceased, or relocated. Also included are photographs of Calvary Church activities on the Homefront, the basketball team, and the Calvary Church’s V-J Day service as well as a copy of an...

Scope and Contents

The William R. Auld papers include over 800 photographs taken by Major William R. Auld who served with the 31st Photo Reconnaissance Squadron of the Ninth Army Air Force following General George S. Patton throughout the United States, England, France, and Germany.  The William R. Auld papers also include various sketches done by one of his comrades, a promotion notice, and two poems.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Harold G. Blunk served as Sergeant Major for the 5th Air Depot Group, 39th Station Composite Squadron, Administrative Division, 35th Depot Repair, in the 8th Air Force Command Station in England from 1943-1945. This collection contains photographs, a newspaper clipping, and documents relating to his personal life and military career.

Content Description

This collection relates to Alvin H. Brown who served as a B-17 pilot assigned to the 8th Air Force, 95th Bomber Group flying missions over France and Germany from England ending in the summer of 1945. The collection includes an audio tape recording interview and accompanying transcript.

Scope and Contents

Crispen Nissen served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps with the 12th and 18th Weather Squadrons during World War II in the United States, England, North Africa, and Italy. This collection includes an original diary Nissen kept from 1941-1942, describing his daily thoughts, experiences, and observations about the general war effort. The collection also includes Vmail and handwritten letters, written by Nissen to his fiancee and future wife, Etrulia Ellis, as well as the letters she sent to him.

Scope and Contents

Technician Fourth Grade Donald N. Duvick's oral history transcript describes his experiences as a company clerk with the 1265th Engineer Combat Battalion, Company B, of the United States Army. His experiences in Germany as a non-combatant illustrate other roles soldiers were assigned during World War II.

Scope and Contents

The Edward L. Herp papers document Captain Edward Herp's time spent as a radio operator for the 321st Fighter Control Squadron of the 9th Air Force for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. The collection contains an oral history, various photographs, the bulk of them taken at the Buchenwald concentration camp, a letter discussing the photographs, personal documents, postcards, and other items that illustrate his service in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Also in the oral history, Herp discusses his time spent working at Florida State University for WFSU-TV and as a professor of television production.

Abstract

Betty Stoddard was an Englishwoman from London who worked in the Women's Land Army farming, and in an aircraft factory in London during World War II. She met her husband, an American army combat medic, in 1943 and married later that year. She then went through the process of receiving clearance to move to the United States. She traveled to the United States on the ship Mauretania with other British wives and hundreds of injured American soldiers, arriving in January 1945. She lived in Missouri with her in-laws until her husband returned and discharged in May 1945. They settled in Iowa.

Scope and Contents

The Frank Facente transcript describes medic Frank Facente's service in the 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, as a part of the United States Army during World War II. Facente participated in the landing at Normandy, attacking the Siegfried Line, Battle of Huertgen Forest, Battle of the Bulge, and visiting the concentration camp at Dachau.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes newspaper clippings of articles written by Nunnally. Articles include topics related to her departure from Vienna (and return after the war) as well as her family’s experience during Kristallnacht. She also wrote of her memory of D-Day and V-E Day. A few photographs are included with the articles of her and her family.

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview transcript relates to George Logue,  an aerial gunner armament specialist on a B-24 assigned to the 15th Air Force.  Logue discusses his bombing missions over Europe, being shot down, life as a prisoner of war, and his brief service with the British 5th Army.

Scope and Contents This collection pertains to Herman C. Giles (Combat Infantry Rifleman with the 103rd Infantry Division), who served in the European Theater. He served as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division according to his typed "Background" statement. His discharge papers note that he was a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division, serving in the European Theater, 1943-1945. Giles was stationed at Camp Blanding in 1943, Columbus, GA, for Air Corps training in 1943, and then Texas for infantry training. This collection contains a number of letters on Camp Blanding stationery. He describes Camp Blanding as "a mile and a half in the middle of...

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview transcript of Sergeant James H. Hinson, Jr. details his experiences during World War II with the 132nd Ordnance Maintenance Company, 11th Tank Battalion in the United States Army, in the European Theater of Operations. His oral history focuses on his childhood, basic training, D-Day, capturing German soldiers, being awarded the Bronze Star, home front support, visiting Buchenwald Concentration Camp, playing baseball overseas, returning to college, and his outlook on the military.

Content Description

This collection relates to John J. Ingersoll who served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was assigned to England until shortly after D-Day. He provided non-combat support to the invading allied forces into Paris. This collection contains books, handbooks, pamphlets, and maps from the U.S. Army, British Information Services, and the German Wehrmacht in German and English.

Scope and Contents

This World War II collection relates to Covieau Rohlin and Rohlin's close wartime friendship with U.S. Army Air Corps Colonel Thomas Settle Voss. Voss served as base commander of MacDill Field, FL and 1st Advanced Air Depot Area in the European Theater.  The collection includes a captured framed lithograph of Le Mans-La Cathedrale St. Julien by Barday, 1933, MacDill Field Thunderbird magazines, Liberty magazine, unpublished memoirs of Colonel Voss, photographs of Voss, and military documents.

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 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...

Scope and Contents

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.

Scope and Contents The collection of Leo and Marie Warren Jennings contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Leo Jennings served in the British Navy during World War II. His wife, Marie Warren Jennings, served as a British nurse. The collection includes postcards, a program, and two pamphlets (Guides to Services in Alexandria and Cairo). A British newspaper, The Egyptian Mail, and documents regarding Britain and "Operation Dragoon" are included. The collection also includes Leo Jennings' diary, "Leo's account of service in the Mediterranean Sea," which covers an array of locations, including...

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 Paul K. Dougherty Collection includes photographs, documents, and various artifacts Dougherty obtained while in Germany. His collection contains rare original German propaganda publications such as Deutschland Erwach and Adolf Hitler. Also included in the collection is a personal photograph album that belonged to Nazi official and founder of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, Julius Streicher. Other items included are Nazi Party flags/fabrics, Paul K. Dougherty’s camera, and camera accessories.

Scope and Contents

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.

Content Description

This collection relates to Corporal William T. Rolfe who served in the Royal Air Force as a gunnery instructor in the United Kingdom during World War II. This collection contains the memoir titled "My Memoirs" which documents the life of Rolfe.

Scope and Contents

The bulk of this collection consists of log transcriptions of the missions in which Francis P. Rondinone participated. Rondinone was a staff sergeant in the 8th Air Force where he worked as a B-24 Flight Engineer. The log entries cover information such as date, mission purpose, flying time and place. The file also includes a picture of Rondinone in uniform, a scan of his Certificate of Valor, photocopies of documents regarding his Honorable Discharge certificate, his obituary and two poems of unknown authorship related to his squadron.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters written by Reuben Schreiber and his wife Sylvia during World War II.  Reuben served with the 136th Ordnance Company (Medium Maintenance) in the U.S. and European Campaign. The letters discuss training, deployment to the European Theater, through to the time of discharge.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters, photograph albums, postcards, documents, and ephemera which record the military service and family homefront life during World War II of Eddie Houston Thomason who served as a physician in U.S. Army Air Corps Medical Service.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Sergeant Edward A. Treacy who served with the 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion in England, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy during World War II. The collection includes memoirs, oral history interview, documents, photographs, artifacts, and an M-44 U.S. Army uniform jacket.