I have a lot of my father’s stuff from the war: his Eisenhower jacket (with his stripes and medals on it); his papers (including “tips for soldiers overseas”), snapshots he took while on duty in Japan and the Philippines; and a Japanese flag he captured (OK, probably bought) and had all the guys in his company sign.
This stuff belongs in a museum—my friend David in New Orleans says the museum there is really only interested in D-Day related items. Does anyone know of a museum or historical society that might want my father’s cache?
Florida State University established such a museum a few years ago after receiving a generous financial contribution. A lot of the material Peter Jennings collected for his book are there. Try this link: http://www.fsu.edu/~ww2/collects.htm
You might also consider looking into the possibility that his unit may have an official museum somewhere. Do you know what Division (I assume he was Army) he was in?
The Ike jacket probably has a colourful patch on the upper sleeve which would identify his unit (although it’s probably spelled out on his papers, now that I think about it).
I’m going to go through all his papers when I have them UPS’d to myself in a week or two, maybe I’ll find something. If not, that Florida State University collection sounds just the ticket!
If Eve does donate the items to a museum, does that preclude their use in an online exhibit run by Eve? I’d be particularly interested in reading the letter of advice, either typed or scanned, and I’m sure others, who have no means of going to a museum half a country away, would enjoy viewing other bits of the collection.
On one hand, the museum could get miffed that their works, which they charge people to see, are being shown elsewhere for no cost. On the other hand, they do not belong to the museum in any sense beyond the basest legal notion.
Well, certainly, if anyone wants, I could start a thread with some of the more interesting items. He also brought back some gorgeous artwork, which I sincerely hope he did not loot. My mother has in her apartment some framed Gekko and Hiroshigi (sp?) lithographs on silk, in the most vibrant colors.
I seem to remember the “tips for GIs” booklet is interesting, I can type some of that here when I get it. It’s kind of a shame he didn’t die in the war, because that was the high point of his life—it was all downhill from there. Of course, I wouldn’t be here . . .
Well, that depends upon how you define looting. Several of my uncles served in the Pacific theater (one of them was an aide to MacArthur), all of them arrived in Japan shortly after the surrender and said that the Japanese people had simply thrown all their possessions out into the street for the Americans to pick up. So if your father got those things that way, then, I wouldn’t consider it “looting.”
Your local historical society might be interested in it. In the one in which I work, we have a nice collection of uniforms, letters, and other misc. items which belonged to local WWII vets.
It often means more to school kids when they see items that belonged to someone right here from town who was in the war. (Wars which happened “a long time ago” don’t seem real to them sometimes, but seeing items belonging to someone who lived right down the street can change that perception.)