Prisoners of war

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...

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This collection contains a manuscript memoir of Anthony Catalino's WWII service in the U.S. Army Field Artillery and staff work at Army hospitals and supply depots in North Africa and Italy.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of letters and memorabilia sent by U.S. Army soldier Earl L. Bailey to friends and family during World War II, as well as the transcript of an oral interview with the soldier. These documents detail the soldier's basic training at Camp Maxey, TX, participation in the Army Specialized Training Program at Ohio State University, and service in the 405th Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division. This service included stops at Camp Swift, TX, Fort Dix, NJ, and participation in the suppression of the Philadelphia Transit Strike of 1944 before departing for Europe. The letters discuss the campaign in Europe, battles in France and Germany, the Siegfrieg Line, and the occupation...

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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.

Content Description

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.

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The collection of Arthur W. Card contains an oral history transcript of an interview conducted by or for the Institute on World War II. He discusses bringing US troops to and from Europe, as well as returning German POWs to Germany at the end of the war. He also discusses his work in the engine room (where he felt proud to be "more important" to the soldiers on the ship because they relied on his work to keep them safe) and his time ashore in Naples, Italy.

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This collection consists of photographs, personal papers and personal memorabilia belonging to Carl Fessel, a member of the United States Army Air Force who served in the 570th Squadron of the 390th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force in Europe from February of 1944 to April of 1945. Papers include a certificate of honorable discharge issued by the U.S. Army, while photographs include a picture of Fessel in uniform for a bombing mission and a contemporary map of Europe highlighting the prison camp at which Fessel was held as a prisoner of war. Personal memorabilia include membership cards titled "Life Membership: American Ex-Prisoners of War."

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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.

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This collection consists of an oral history transcript of an interview with 2nd Lt. James J. Crooke, who served in World War II. Crooke served in the Army Air Corps with the 303rd Bomb Group in the European Theater (ETO).

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This collection includes letters, photocopies of 2 personal scrapbooks, and photographs related to Dell Dinneen who served as a U.S. Army nurse during World War II in the European and Mediterranean Theaters with the 61st Field Hospital.

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Ernest Hubacker served in the U.S. Army in the United States and in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. The collection includes a manuscript entitled One Veteran's Remembrance of WWII. It also includes photocopies of documents relating to induction and discharge as well as a photograph of Hubacker on an Army horse dated 1943.

The manuscript gives his account of his experiences in Myitina, his time as he kept watch in foxholes, the sneak attacks on soldiers, and the sanitation and ration situations. He discusses his involvement in battles in India and China as well.

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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.

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The collection of Francis I.G. Coleman contains an oral history transcript of an interview conducted by or for the Institute on World War II. Coleman served in the European Theater (ETO). He briefly discusses his childhood and the Depression. Coleman frequently discusses politics in his interview. During his service, and discussed in his interview, he was witness to the treatment of Axis POWs, and French treatment of Arabs/subject peoples, Halifax bombing runs, French police, traitors, executions, ambushing German convoys along the Rhone River, and the liberation of France.

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This collection contains the oral history interview of Frank Turosik conducted by Jack Sigler on January 2, 2004. Turosik served as a combat engineer in the Pacific theater of war.

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This collection relates to Fred H. Taeger who entered active service in the US Army on March 10, 1943. Taeger was stationed at Camp Forrest, TN where he worked as a German interpreter with the intelligence section of the prisoner of war (POW) area and directed interrogations of the German POWs. During this time, Taeger collected 65 drawings and paintings completed by German POWs. In addition to the artwork, the collection includes personal photographs and Taeger's discharge papers.

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This manuscript memoir relates to Joseph Freilick who served with the 102nd Infanty Division during World War II in the European Theater.

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The collection of Harold Cooler contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Cooler served in the U.S. Army in the 165th Engineer Combat Battalion in the European Theater during World War II.

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This World War II collection relates to Harold Truman Speck, a copilot Flight Officer of nine B-17 bombing raids over Europe. He served with the 545th Bombardment Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. This collection consists of photocopies of photographs, military personnel records, books, medals, pins, and Speck's personal POW journal provided by the Harold Truman Speck family.

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George D. Harris (Army Air Corps, 1942-1945) trained as a radioman and gunner on a B-17 and was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group in England in 1943. His collection contains a photocopy of three articles from the American Ex-Prisoners of War Bulletin from January 1996 and a copy of his oral history interview conducted on February 26, 2003.

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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 Fannie Hutchison, a Wainwright shipyard employee during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript of an interview with Hutchison. She tells her experience as an electric welder on the night shift from 1942-1945. Hutchison shares that she had six sons in service, including one step-son that was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. She describes her typical workday, as well as an incident where a man was injured on the job. Hutchison also comments on the diversity of workers at the shipyard and recounts preaching the Bible to shipyard workers. She discusses the pay difference between welders and tackers.

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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 James William Lockett served in the U.S. Army 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, 1st Army, in the European (ETO), North African, and Mediterranean Theaters. Colonel Lockett was a 1928 West Point graduate. The collection includes a ten-page manuscript entitled "The March," which is about Lockett's serving with the Army in the European Theater and being a POW. Lockett was made to march by German guards with approaching Russians in January 1945. He discusses his encounters with the guards and the people along "the March." In March 1945, US artillery takes the Serbian compound where they were and freed them. Also, he describes the subsequent days to get out of danger, and he is...

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This collection contains an unpublished biography of Joseph Peters entitled "An Ordinary Hero." Peters served as a medical doctor in the Philippines during World War II and retired a Colonel. The collection also includes a letter about his 1952 retirement and a letter to his daughter about an injury stating that the initial injury was sustained upon capture by the Japanese in 1942.

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The Loren E. Jackson manuscript "Epilogue to a War Story" documents Lieutenant Colonel Loren E. Jackson's experience as a prisoner of war when he was shot down during D-Day from his B-17 that he piloted with the 385th Bomb Group during World War II. His manuscript details his encounter with the German Gerhard Graf von Schwerin who he met in the 1960s after not seeing him since he was interrogated by him. Jackson recounts the conversation he had with General and touches on multiple subjects, such as German memory of war, behaviors of the Germans, morale, and the surrendering of Germany.

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Lt. Louis Goldbrum (U.S. Army, 1941-1947) was assigned to the 1st Aircraft Warning Company as the company photographer. This collection contains an oral history transcript where he discusses the evacuation of Bague, Philippines, where he was stationed, following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He was captured by the Japanese and remained a POW until January 1945.

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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.

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Natalia Grauer Rosenbald's oral history outlines her life growing up in Krakow, Poland and her experiences in the Krakow ghetto, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück. She speaks about hiding, dog attacks, working in the crematorium sorting clothes, stealing food, the Death March, how the SS tried disguising themselves with the advance of the Allies, liberation, reprisal shootings, finding her family after the war, living in Cyprus, Israel, Australia, and Germany before settling in the United States. She concludes her oral history with her experiences talking at schools about the Holocaust, visiting Auschwitz, and her message to the world about the Holocaust.

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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.

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The collection is from PFC (T/Sgt) Richard Frake's military records and ephemera, including training certificates for Pre-RADAR VIII, Bomb Reconnaissance School, and Radio/Radar Repairman. The collection also has unofficial certificates proving that Frakes "officially" passed the equator and became a "shellback" on board the USAT Pemant. There are also documents and ephemera about Japanese POWs surrendering.