Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains 118 letters that Private Charles W. Lund of Edgerton, Wisconsin, wrote to his family while serving in the United States Army during World War II. Lund trained at bases in Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and later served in the European Theater.

This collection (122 items) contains 118 letters that Private Charles W. Lund of Edgerton, Wisconsin, wrote to his family while serving in the United States Army during World War II. Lund trained at bases in Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and later served in the European Theater.

The Correspondence series (119 items) comprises the bulk of the collection. Lund, who addressed the majority of his letters to his mother, frequently inquired about his siblings and other relatives in his correspondence from November 26, 1942-August 1, 1945. At Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and Fort McClellan, Alabama, he commented on basic training and other aspects of camp life. Two of his letters from December 1942 concern members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, a regiment comprised of Japanese soldiers, and Lund reported one lethal fight in which a Texan killed a Japanese man (December 14, 1942). At the Mississippi Ordnance Plant and at Camp Forest, Tennessee, Lund wrote about the weather, family news, and his health.

After his arrival in England in February 1944, he discussed his finances, as well as ongoing health problems and hospitalization. During the summer of 1944, his regiment was stationed on an island where they encountered Italian prisoners of war. Lund was hospitalized again for back problems in September 1944. After rejoining his unit in 1945, he described his experiences in Germany. In the summer of 1945, he oversaw prisoners of war at a submarine factory in Mönchengladbach, and he anticipated a furlough and possible transfer to the Pacific Theater. Lund sent 2 greeting cards home in December 1944, and the series also includes a V-mail letter and a postcard regarding address changes. The final item is an undated letter that a soldier named Robert wrote to his mother from the United States Naval Air Station at Norfolk, Virginia.

The Visual Material series (3 items) contains a color photograph of a soldier with a dog and 2 pages of Sad Sack comic strips.

This collection contains letters related to the family of Sarah Guy of Negley, Ohio. Guy received around 50 letters from her sons, Fidelis and Gerald McCoy, who served in paratrooper regiments during World War II. Other friends and family members wrote to the McCoy brothers and to the Guy family, particularly after January 1945.

This collection (0.25 linear feet) contains letters related to the family of Sarah Guy of Negley, Ohio. Guy received around 50 letters from her sons, Fidelis and Gerald McCoy, who served in paratrooper regiments during World War II. Other friends and family members wrote to the McCoy brothers and the Guy family, particularly after January 1945.

Fidelis and Gerald McCoy's letters to their mother, which comprise the bulk of the collection, are mainly dated April 1942-January 1945. The McCoys wrote while training at military camps in the United States, and while serving in Europe during the war; they commented on military life and training activities, such as hiking and parachute training, and inquired about their stepsisters. Fidelis McCoy mentioned a girlfriend, Aileen, who later became his fiancée, and encouraged his mother to correspond with her. He later served in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and provided some details about his activities, such as building bridges. Gerald McCoy ("Jerry") served in Italy and France, and spent some time in a hospital in England.

Other correspondence includes a letter from Sarah Guy to Gerald McCoy, letters to the McCoy brothers from female friends, and 2 letters to Wayne Guy from Ernest Hughes, a soldier stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama, in 1945. Postwar correspondence consists of letters Roy Guy wrote to his family during his military training and letters Wayne Guy wrote to his family from Japan, where he was stationed in 1948 and 1949. The collection contains a newspaper article about Fidelis McCoy's death.