The Weston Marshack collection (0.75 linear feet) contains correspondence and other items pertaining to the military service of Herbert Weston Marshack ("Weston") and Robert C. Marshack ("Bob") during World War II.
The Correspondence series (216 items) contains letters that Weston Marshack wrote to his family from February 1942-July 1944, as well as letters that family members and acquaintances wrote to Marshack during the war. Weston Marshack reported his experiences at Camp Croft, South Carolina, and in North Africa and Italy. He discussed his training and adaptation to military life, noted serving at Anzio, Italy, commented on the progress of the war, and described the scenery overseas, particularly in Sicily. His last letters concern medical issues and hospitalization. His correspondence includes picture postcards of buildings in Syracuse, New York; Richmond, Virginia; and Daytona Beach, Florida; as well as telegrams and V-mail letters. He sometimes included enclosures such as a newspaper clipping regarding the battle for Java (March 29, 1942) and a certificate attesting to the completion of his training at Camp Croft (July 6, 1942).
Marshack received letters about life on the home front, and occasionally received letters from his brother Robert ("Bob"), who was also in the U.S. military. A letter of support from a man at St. George's Rectory contains an enclosed booklet entitled Forward Day by Day (September 24, 1942). Among the collection's final items are letters from Bob Marshack to his sister Marion about life in France and Germany following the war.
The Printed Items series (6 items) contains 3 articles about World War II and soldiers (January 1943; April 3, 1945; and May 28, 1945) and Army Talk 146, a publication about the Red Cross and its relationship with the United States Army (October 26, 1946). The series also includes a stamped identification card concerning Weston Marshack's unemployment benefits around December 1941, and a postcard ordering Marshack to report to a doctor for a physical examination (December 10, 1941).
The Photographs series contains 19 black-and-white photographs pertaining to Robert C. Marshack's service in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. The pictures show groups of soldiers in uniform and military observation aircraft. Robert C. Marshack appears in at least 2 of the images, including one in which he and other lieutenants received awards for their work piloting observation planes. One labeled photograph was taken at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, in 1949.
Herbert Weston Marshack was born in New York on December 22, 1914, the son of Max and Gertrude Marshack of Queens, New York. He had two younger siblings, Robert C. and Marion. In February 1942, he was inducted into the United States Army at Camp Upton, New York. He trained as an infantry rifleman with the 40th Training Battalion, Company B, at Camp Croft, South Carolina, until around June 1942, when he joined the 179th Infantry Regiment, Company B. He was stationed in Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia until June 1943, when his regiment was deployed to Europe. Marshack served in North Africa and Italy, where he was hospitalized; he returned to the United States in July 1944 and received medical tests at hospitals in Charleston, South Carolina, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Herbert Weston Marshack died on August 27, 1978.
Robert C. Marshack was born on July 11, 1916, and joined the United States Army Air Corps in the early 1940s. During World War II, he flew observation planes, and he later attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Robert C. Marshack died on December 1, 2002.