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World War II Veterans: Resources in the Veterans History Project

With over 64,000 personal narratives documenting the personal experiences of veterans of World War II available for research, VHP collections are a rich resource for understanding the diverse experiences of servicemembers during this war.

Introduction

Clifton Davis sitting on a bunk, writing. Title on photo: Me - November 1944.
Clifton Davis sitting on a bunk, writing. Title on photo: "Me - Nov. 1944." Clifton Davis Collection (AFC/2001/001/1203). Library of Congress Veterans History Project.

Comprised of oral histories, photographs, correspondence, journals, military documents, memoirs, and more, Veterans History Project (VHP) collections document the personal stories of individual veterans. With more than 64,000 collections from World War II veterans in the VHP archives, there is a broad diversity of experiences and personal backgrounds represented. This guide provides tips and strategies for effective searching of VHP's collections website, along with an introduction to other VHP resources available on our website.

“Why did I join the Army Nurse Corps? Because I believed in what this country stands for and could not sit idly by when I had something to offer.”

Edna Nina Statman, Memoir

The Second World War mobilized American society like no other event before or since. More than 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during the war, and millions more worked in war-related industry. Every household was touched by the war in some way - by family members, friends, and neighbors who were called away to service, as well as by rationing and war-related material shortages at home.

Veterans History Project collections from the World War II era present a complex, multifaceted story of immense diversity. Many servicemembers served in traditional combatant roles in the Army, Army Air Forces, Marine Corps, and Navy. However, due to the war's global nature, the massive logistical challenges this posed, and the variety of threats confronted, other branches of the uniformed services such as the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine, and the Public Health Service played critical roles in the war effort. In addition, American women pushed for increased access to professional opportunities both within the military and the civilian workforce. They continued to serve in critical medical capacities in the Army Nurse Corps, the Navy Nurse Corps, and the Cadet Nurse Corps, while also performing duties in newly-formed women's branches such as the WAC (Women's Army Corps), WAVES (Navy Women's Reserve), the Women Marines, the SPAR (Women's Coast Guard Reserve), and the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots).

Americans from all backgrounds performed with courage and determination, from the front lines to the factories. Many fought for their right to serve within a society that did not yet grant equal opportunity to all. African Americans frequently faced barriers to enter the armed forces, and once in the military they were segregated into separate units and frequently given the least desirable job assignments. Despite this treatment, units such as the 761st Tank Battalion, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, and the famed Tuskegee Airmen proved themselves in the most demanding environments. Japanese Americans as a community faced mass incarceration without due process yet served in the military in a variety of capacities, including as linguists in the Pacific Theater, and in the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe. Native Americans also served in large numbers, and their Native languages—that government boarding schools had discouraged—proved invaluable through the employment of Code Talkers. Hispanic Americans were not typically segregated at the time, though the all-Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment distinguished itself in the European Theater. For Jewish servicemembers, the war against global fascism took on increased significance, as many of them lost family members in the Holocaust.

Overcoming the initial shock of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military displayed stunning logistical and operational capabilities to win bloody battles spanning the Pacific Ocean, from Midway Island to far-flung locales such as Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. On the other side of the world, American servicemembers overcame similar obstacles in terms of distance and a determined foe to achieve successes starting with Operation Torch in Morocco and Algeria, at battles in Italy at places like Anzio and Monte Cassino, through to the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and fighting their way into the heart of Germany. Thousands of airmen took part in the costly air offensives in Europe and over Japan.

While the strategic and policy decisions of generals, admirals, and presidents have been thoroughly analyzed and debated in the years since World War II, VHP collections offer the chance to see this epoch-defining war through the eyes of the everyday people who lived it.