Collections

This collection consists of over 300 letters that Private Albert Starke Drischell wrote to his family in Baldwin, New York, while serving in the United States Army during World War II. The collection also contains letters and postcards that Drischell received during his military service. Drischell wrote about his experiences while training in various camps, participating in an educational program, working with army theatrical groups in the United States and England, and serving in Germany during the last months of the war and the first months of the occupation.

The bulk of this collection (1 linear foot) consists of over 300 letters that Private Albert Starke Drischell wrote to his family in Baldwin, New York, about his experiences in the United States Army from January 21, 1943-December 6, 1945. The collection also contains letters and postcards that Drischell received during his military service and a few ephemera items.

Drischell addressed the majority of his letters to his parents, and occasionally wrote to his younger siblings, Ralph and Ruth. He composed his first letters while at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York, soon after entering the service, and provided his impressions of the camp, his companions, military life, and training exercises. At Camp Swift, Texas, he wrote about his experiences at Texas A&M University, where he was among a group tested for entrance into a selective educational program. After being accepted, he moved to New Mexico and began taking college-level engineering courses at New Mexico College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts. He and many others found the coursework difficult, and by November he had failed a course and was removed from the program. While in New Mexico, he shared his determination to succeed and gave his opinions of other men in the army, particularly his negative opinions of those who drank to excess (July 8, 1943). He also mentioned his moral objection to the war.

Drischell left New Mexico for Fort Custer, Michigan, where he attended courses in military government and occasionally guarded German prisoners. In one letter, he expressed his fear that soldiers would have difficulty readjusting to civilian life after being schooled in "mass murder" (January 23, 1944). In early 1945, Drischell moved to Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania, where his unit awaited overseas deployment. He continued to describe his experiences, offered his opinions on the army, and mentioned trips taken to the surrounding towns while on temporary leave. In mid-May 1944, Drischell arrived in Scotland, though he was transferred to England soon after. As part of a replacement battalion, he occupied much of his free time by accompanying women to dances and befriending local families. He also acted in a play put on by the army, and briefly toured with an army theatrical group in the fall of 1944, an experience he enjoyed and hoped to continue in his post-army life. Many of his letters from this time focused on the economic and physical hardships of the war, and other letters mention a visit to London (February 15, 1945), his support for Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 presidential election (August 6, 1944), George Bernard Shaw's views on capitalism, communism, and democracy (August 8, 1944), and his efforts to obtain conscientious objector status.

After being deployed on the Continent in March 1945, Drischell shared his impressions of the devastated French and German countryside, through which he advanced as part of the 318th Infantry Regiment. After the war, he described the small Austrian town where he was stationed, in which German children born out of wedlock were being "raised for use in foreign lands" (May 16, 1945). Drischell also accounted for the gap in his letters between April and May, when he advanced deep into Germany and Austria and participated in active combat (May 31, 1945, et al.). Freed from the constraints of censorship after V-E day, he reported on some of his combat experiences, and he believed that he never directly killed an enemy soldier. Throughout his European service, Drischell continually voiced his appreciation for the United States and compared it to Europe, occasionally calling his native country a relative "utopia."

Drischell sometimes enclosed souvenirs from his European travels in his letters, including a French 50-franc note (March 25, 1945), German stamps (June 20, 1945), and clippings from the Stars and Stripes and other papers. By late August 1945, he was in Paris as a member of a traveling dramatic troupe, and he wrote less frequently. His final letter, dated December 6, 1945, reveals that he went on tour in Germany.

Additional items include 2 printed church programs from 1944, a newspaper clipping featuring an English unit's canine mascot, and a list of men from St. Peter's Church who served in the war, including Albert S. Drischell. One undated letter fragment from "Iggie" discusses his experiences as a soldier in India, and another by an anonymous writer concerns Drischell's acting and a mutual acquaintance named "Fip."

This collection contains 5 letters that Private Jeremiah G. Dubois wrote to his father while serving with the United States Army in Michigan between 1818 and 1823, as well as 1 letter that Dubois wrote from Lebanon, Ohio, after his discharge. Dubois discussed his misgivings following his enlistment, military life, and life on the western frontier.

This collection contains 5 letters that Private Jeremiah G. Dubois wrote to his father while serving with the United States Army in Michigan between 1818 and 1823, as well as 1 letter that Dubois wrote from Lebanon, Ohio, after his discharge.

In his letter of August 7, 1818, Dubois described his journey from Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to the Michigan Territory; he mentioned his encounters with family members and acquaintances during his travels and commented on his army-issued clothing. Though he had willingly enlisted in the Army and had encouraged his brother William to consider joining, he immediately expressed his misgivings. While stationed at Fort Shelby, he shared his anxiety about a possible transfer to an area with a prominent Native American population, a proposition that made his "very blood run cold" (March 4, 1819). He discussed the possibility of hiring a substitute, despite his relative poverty.

In mid-June, Dubois transferred temporarily to Fort Gratiot, an isolated outpost where his main duty was tending the garrison's vegetable garden (June 21, 1819); while stationed there, he complained about the difficulty of sending letters. On February 21, 1823, after his return to Detroit, Dubois wrote of his anticipated discharge and his desire to return home. His final letter, written in Lebanon, Ohio, discusses his ambition to return east, possibly by driving a herd of cattle to Philadelphia or marrying into a rich family, and provides news of acquaintances who had moved to the Midwest.

This collection is made up of letters and postcards that Second Lieutenant Lewis Douglas Lacy, a master engineer, wrote to his family while serving in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Lacy was deployed to France around July 1917. He wrote regular letters about his experiences overseas, which included service at the front lines and at the army's general headquarters.

This collection contains about 100 letters and postcards that Second Lieutenant Lewis Douglas Lacy, a master engineer, wrote to his family while serving in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Lacy was deployed to France around July 1917. He wrote regular letters about his experiences overseas, which included service on the front line and at the army's general headquarters.

The Correspondence series is comprised of Lewis Lacy's letters to his mother and sister, who lived in Webster Groves, Missouri. His first letters describe his experiences traveling through Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., and traveling overseas to England in the summer of 1917. While stationed in England in early August, Lacy participated in a large parade in London (August 15, 1917). After his arrival in France, he described the country, complained about censorship restrictions, and discussed his experiences, including service on the front line in November and December 1917. While at the front, he mentioned a recent successful push by the Allied military forces, and shared his pleasure at having helped capture German positions. In early 1918, Lacy was transferred to general headquarters, and he was promoted to second lieutenant in July 1918; his mother received a formal notice of the promotion (July 10, 1918). After the armistice in November 1918, Lacy wrote about life in Neufchâteau, France, where he was stationed until around April 1919. He then traveled to Brest, where he wrote his last letter on March 23, 1919. The final item is a letter that a soldier named "Bob" wrote to Lewis Lacy from Walter Reed Hospital on June 9, 1919, providing news of mutual military acquaintances.

The collection's Printed Items include a card encouraging French victory loans, German and French currency (2 bills), and a copy of the Windy City Echo, the 13th Engineers Regiment's newspaper (December 13, 1918).