United States. Navy--History

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a transcript provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Benjamin Epstein was a Jewish American serviceman who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1946, and he trained at Fort Logan, Colorado. He was transported on the U.S.S. Dorchester, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in February 1943. He described escaping from the sinking ship and swimming to one of two lifeboats. He was picked up by the U.S.S. Escambia and taken to Greenland. He remained in Greenland until January 1945 where he was transferred to Fort Totten, New York and remained there until discharged in 1946.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains two oral histories; one with Dr. Philip Gilman, Jr. and one with James Izumizaki. It also includes the reprint of a letter by Pvt. Lavern Borg, Jr. written on April 2, 1945. The letter tells about his experiences with the 5th Marine Division of the U.S. Marine Corp in the battle of Iwo Jima. The next document includes a service record and medallist dated June 1967, January 1969, and August 1973. A pamphlet collected by the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, California entitled Nihen Bunka Japanese Culture: One hundred years in Pajaro Valley is also in the collection.

Abstract

The Calista Louise Bliler collection consists of official military papers and personal photographs, letters, and notes of the first woman to become an officer from the U.S. Naval Air Station in Dallas, TX.

Scope and Contents

This collection includes seven newspaper issues, dated from June 9, 1950 to July 21, 1950. The Great Lakes Bulletin was a weekly publication exclusive to the U.S. Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to U.S. Navy Electrician's Mate First Class William I. Criste who served during World War II with GROPAC 11, Section E-9. The materials relate to the battle, work, and life on Iwo Jima, including more than 100 photographs, military documents, and Japanese military artifacts.

Scope and Contents This collection pertains to Commander Leonard D. Ellingwood who had served as an Acting Pay Clerk with the U.S. Navy during World War II. Ellingwood was stationed on the USS Shaw during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Shortly after surviving the attack, Ellingwood was transferred to the Naval Supply Corps, where he had remained until his honorable discharge in 1966. This collection includes Ellingwood’s official Naval personnel documents from 1936 to 1966, newspapers in which Ellingwood recounts his experiences during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and various photographs of Ellingwood in Naval uniforms. In addition, the collection...

Scope and Contents

Elmer Hubbard served as Radioman Second Class in the US Navy's 1st Naval Beach Battalion in the Mediterranean and European Theaters, as well as the Pacific Theater aboard the U.S.S. Buckingham attack ship during World War II. Hubbard participated in the amphibious landings at Anzio, Salerno, and Southern France. The collection consists of original wartime transcribed, typed, and mimeographed letters from original handwritten letters Hubbard wrote to his parents.

Content Description

This collection relates to Edna Garboski, a woman who stayed on the homefront in Stockholm, New Jersey during World War II. The collection primarily contains a series of letters from servicemen in the Army, Army Air Force, and Navy from 1941 to 1944. It also includes photographs of her brother-in-law, Stephen Garboski, while he was in service, as well as miscellaneous materials such as newspaper clippings, drawings, and photographs she received during this time.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains six Aviator's Flight Log Books from Captain Hilliard C. Smathers' time as a pilot with the U.S. Navy, from 1930-1951. Also included is the flag that flew in Smathers' honor over the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. and two certificates confirming this occasion. The US Naval Aviator certificate contains a picture of Smathers, as well as the date on which he was officially certified as a Naval Aviator - March 21, 1942 - and three instrument rating cards.

Content Description

This collection relates to William Connor King, a Radio Operator in the Merchant Marines during World War II from 1945 through early 1948. The majority of the collection consists of correspondence from King's friends and family detailing news from the home front. Often included in these correspondences are newspaper cutouts and clippings from various newspapers in and around Granville, OH. Also included in the collection are assorted military and religious documents owned by King.

Scope and Contents The collection of Seaman First Class Giles Odell Lofton, III contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Lofton served in the Navy aboard the USS Wisconsin in the Third Fleet, under Admiral Halsey in the Pacific Theater (PTO) during World War II. The collection also contains documents, U.S.S. Wisconsin papers, photographs of the USS Wisconsin and the Third Fleet during the invasion of Iwo Jima and the surrender of Japan. The photographs show the ships in combat, bombing the shoreline defenses of Iwo Jima, as well as Kamikaze attacks against the fleet. Also, there are photographs of the amphibious landings at Iwo Jima on invasion...

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a transcript of an oral history interview with Lyle Salisbury who served with the 537th Engineer Light Pontoon Company during World War II in the European Theater from 1944 to January 1946.

He describes seeing the small Regen and Cham concentration camps. He also discusses the camaraderie with German civilians after the war was better than it was with the French.

Scope and Contents

The collection of Wayne Mixson contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Mixson, who would later serve as the 39th Governor of Florida, served in the United States Navy from 1942-1946 and participated in the Lighter-Than-Air Project; he worked with a crew in EP Squadron 14, a blimp squadron.

Scope and Contents This World War II collection covers the overseas experience of a sailor in the U.S. Navy aboard the escort aircraft carrier U.S.S. Natoma Bay (CVE 62), Composite Squadron 63 (VC-63). The collection includes sets of uniforms, a bomber jacket, personal papers, medals, awards, and a plaque. His personal papers include personnel documents, two journals, captured Japanese papers, the Bluejacket Manual, Natoma Bay records, and various publications from and about the Natoma Bay Association. The papers primarily document his time spent in the Pacific Campaign, although his records also date his trainings in Rhode Island and Jacksonville, Florida. This sailor also...

Scope and Contents This collection contains personal papers including letters, notes, sketches, newspaper articles, and a radio interview of Mildred Shearer about her work with the United Service Organization (USO) sketching servicemen. Almost 600 photostatic copies and a few original portraits are included as well. The letters are mainly thank you notes in which servicemen and family members of servicemen commend her for her sketches. However, there are a few personal letters from friends and in one case, an entire collection of correspondence with one man in the Marines named Lieutenant Ralph Hunter Bennett. Her letters from Bennett are romantic in nature, unfortunately, they are abruptly cut...

Scope and Contents

The Theodore A. Vanos collection consists mostly of photographs from his career as an engineer. Some of the photographs are labeled NASA. During World War II, he served with the Office of Scientific Research and Development while at Calfornia Institute on Technology. Included in his collection are military letters from the Navy department, two certificates, and a medallion.

Scope and Contents

This World War II collection relates to Robert C. Watson, an African American soldier who served in the Navy during World War II. It contains a page of the roll call from the 316th Port Company with Robert C. Watson's name. There are also news articles and comics from the base. There are photographs of Robert C. Watson's unit and his Veteran's questionnaire. There is also an article he wrote about his experience as a black man who appeared white in the Navy.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the personal papers, journals, documents, ephemera, and correspondence of the Weiner-Hartzog families in the years before during, and just after World War II. Correspondents include both imediate and extended family members, friends, and coworkers of both families.