Archival Collections

This collection relates to Staff Sergeant Bascom Walden Sparkman who served with Service Company, 753rd Tank Battalion, in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Southern France, and Germany during World War II. The 753rd served as a detached unit assigned as armored support for both the 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions.  The collection includes letters sent from Sparkman to his wife Eleanor and his family.  Letters from his family to Sparkman are also included.  Furthermore, the collection includes documents, unit newspapers, diaries, postcards, personal items carried by Sparkman, and artifacts.

Helen E. Walsh served in the Women's Army Corps from September 1942 to October 1945. She served as an artificer in Oran, Algeria, North Africa; Caserta, Italy; and Dijon, France. She earned three major battle stars for her service close to the front lines in three major battle areas of the European Theater, including Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and Rhineland. She was a Sergeant Major when she received an honorable medical discharge. Walsh remained active in the National Association of Women's Veterans, and kept extensive scrapbooks about her own service in the WAC, and of World War II in general. The collection contains 1 box of documents and clippings about Walsh during and after her Army service, 1/2 box of photographs Walsh took while serving overseas, 2 artifact boxes containing Walsh's Army equipment and items she collected overseas, and 4 Women's Army Corps uniform pieces.

This collection pertains to Herman C. Giles (Combat Infantry Rifleman with the 103rd Infantry Division), who served in the European Theater. He served as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division according to his typed "Background" statement. His discharge papers note that he was a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division, serving in the European Theater, 1943-1945. Giles was stationed at Camp Blanding in 1943, Columbus, GA, for Air Corps training in 1943, and then Texas for infantry training. This collection contains a number of letters on Camp Blanding stationery. He describes Camp Blanding as "a mile and a half in the middle of hell" in a letter dated 3/5/1943. A letter dated 4/11/43 includes a diagram and floor plan of Camp Blanding itself. He then transferred with his unit to France and saw combat in the Vosges Mountains with the 103rd Infantry Division. This collection contains 208 letters, 15 V-mails, 11 telegrams, and one postcard to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Giles of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Herman Giles was born in Nashville, Tennessee). There are also eight photographs in the collection (one in color and seven in black and white) of his family, the 103rd Infantry Division, the U.S. Mainland and the European Theater, and photographs of him in London, England, Dallas, Texas, Stark, Florida, Nashville, Tennessee, and Dillingen, Germany. It also contains letters from Giles to his parents and scrapbook items. The collection also contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. The collection also includes a 14-page manuscript entitled "History, Background, and Synopsis of Military Career."

This collection relates to James W. George who served as a Chief Master Sergeant in the 9th U.S Army Air Force. Wilmot R. George was James George's brother and also served in the European Theater. He served as a Tech Sergeant and received a Silver Star. This collection contains a one-page handwritten summary of James George's military service and ten-page memoir of his brother Wilmont's service during the Second World War.

This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript of Leroy Reece who served as a Private First Class in the United States Army during World War II in the all-black unit, Company B, 317th Engineer Battalion which served in the European Theater.

This collection contains the oral history interview transcript of Mark Donald Tompkins. Tompkins served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a medic assigned to the 471st Quartermaster Trucking Regiment under General Omar Bradley.

The Northeast region of Florida has an extensive and rich military history, from its discovery and settlement by the Spanish and French, its occupation by Union troops four different times during the U.S. Civil War, and its important military role during both World Wars. In particular, the development of Camp Joseph E. Johnston (now Naval Air Station Jacksonville) from 1917 to 1918 signaled the beginning of a significant military presence in the region. Current military installations include: Camp Blanding, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, and Naval Station Mayport. Another important United States military base, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, is located in adjacent southeastern Georgia.

The Paul Curtis Koerner Collection was donated by his daughter Judy Davis. The collection contains a variety of items, papers, and correspondence from Koerner's career as an Army Engineer in WWII. The collection contains his copy of the New Testament that he recieved while training at Camp Blanding, to his death certificate. Overall, the documents and letters provide a rough outline of the experience of army service, during and after the war.  This collection also contains a group photo, stop watch, and medals including Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Armed Forces Service and United Nations Medal, Korean Service Meadal, National Defense Medal, a screw driver, slide ruller, and German back pack.

The collection of Philip Stockton May contains a nine-page memoir. His memoir is about his experience from when he volunteered for the service in 1943 from Jacksonville, Florida to 1965 when he married a U.S. Navy widow.

The Sergeant Robert L. Wilson transcript describes his experiences as a truck driver in the 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany during World War II.