Radio--History

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of Joseph Jennings, who was enlisted in the U.S. Navy and worked as an aircraft radio operator during World War II and served in the South Atlantic guarding the Brazilian coastline near Rio do Janeiro. The interview covers his duties and anecdotes, like his training in Norfolk, VA, his emergency appendectomy, and his time in Dutch Guyana. The interview also describes his early years during the Great Depression in Oklahoma.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to James Reed who served with the U.S. Army Air Corps 1st Fighter Control Squadron during World War II in the Pacific Theater. The collection includes an oral history interview transcript of Reed and comrade Chester Driest where they discussed their experiences in the Pacific Theater. Both served as radio operators that directed Army Air Force planes with ground based radar. The men also recount a few experiences before deployment and experiences in local indigenous populations they encounterd on the islands.

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...