Archival Collections

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.

The collection of Alvin Dinsmore White consists of three letters and a V-mail written by Army officer Jim White of the 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division during World War II.  Also, in the collection is a news article and email describing his two other family members' actions during the war. Fort Benning, Georgia, and Rotenberg, Austria are the two discernible locations where Jim wrote his letters.

The collection of Carlton K. Smith, who served with the 185th Field Artillery during World War II, contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History.  This collection also contains a World War II history magazine, correspondence with French General Pierre Denis, summaries of unit actions, personal letters to family, newspaper clippings, unit newsletters, a binder with photocopies of newspaper articles, and one copy of Liberty's Victorious Conflict: A Photographic History of the World War I.

The collection of Clarke M. Brandt contains an oral history transcript and various publications about army life during World War II. In it are examples such as George (Bob) Caron who was a tail gunner on the "Enola Gay" B-29 Bomber. The oral history includes Caron's eyewitness account of the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. Also included are pamphlets and newsletters including "War Buddies," which covers the relationship between a soldier and his canine companion through his years as a member of the US Marine Corps. "War Buddies" is written by Earle Welch and Dick Roberts.

Donald Nelson served in the 59th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division and the 36th Field Artillery in the European (ETO), North African, and Mediterranean Theaters. Nelson was a technician, 5th grade (medic). The collection includes a memoir of his experience covering the period January 27,1942 to October 30, 1945.

This collection relates to Private First Class Edward Carrow who served with the 665th Engineer Topographical Company, 4th Regiment, in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.  The collection contains numerous letters dating from July 1943 to October 1945. The collection also contains a scrapbook containing telegrams, playbills, several photographs, two maps of Europe and the Pacific, and several currency notes from France, Germany, and Austria.

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.

Essie Nirider served in the Army in the 2nd Infantry in the Atlantic and European (ETO) Theaters during World War II. The collection contains a diary titled "2nd Infantry in Iceland: A Diary," which covers the time period for the year 1942 when Nirider served in Iceland with the 2nd Infantry, in which he rose from private to corporal. The collection also includes a 66-page manuscript entitled "World War II Reflections" about time with the Army in the Atlantic and European Theaters. Also included is a summary of the 5th Infantry's activities in the pages of "Diamond Dust."

This collection contains the oral history transcript of Lieutenant Colonel Eugene A. Dance pertaining to his World War II service as a First Lieutenant serving in Europe. Oral history transcript states that Eugene Dance (served 1941-46) discusses his experiences in the 38th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne in World War II.

The Francis Montague Wells collection, consisting of seventy-one letters, offers the insight and perspective of an enlisted Private First Class with the 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, in the European campaign during World War II.  The collection also contains two photographs of Francis Wells and a letter from his daughter Peggy Wells Hughes.