Archival Collections

This collection relates to Audrey Kempfert Gordon who served as a U.S. Government homefront worker in Florida during World War II. The collection contains one letter written by Gordon to her former employer that provides details of her experiences in Jacksonville, FL during the war and two letters written by the former employee's wife to Gordon.

Frederick W. Ritter served in the Marine Corps as an engineer officer during World War II. He specifically served as a Vought F4U Corsair engineer. He trained at Parris Island, Jacksonville Naval Base, and attended Officer training at Quantico. He met his wife when he joined a church choir in Jacksonville, corresponding with her throughout the war. During the battle of Okinawa, he oversaw the maintenance of the Corvairs that protected the Navy from Kamikaze attacks. The collection includes Ritter's military documents, official paperwork, various letters, photographs, pins and badges, as well as magazines, articles, programs, and photographs from reunions and other postwar events related to his wartime experiences.

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.

This collection relates to Todd Silverman who served in the U.S. Navy as a radio and radar operator on PBY and PBM flying boats in the Pacific Theater Operation during World War II. The collection contains an oral history transcript and photographs.

William David Crawford served as a U.S. Navy pilot who flew PB4Y-1's in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. This collection consists of his memoir.