“On the eleventh day of Archives an archivist brought to me: Eleven Marine Corps football players, ten messengers playing poker Eight Navy officers seven of Mrs. Hicks’s eight children, six tiny thorn carvings, five sisters from Alaska, four boys hanging out at the Fletcher aircraft school, three happy girls at a West Virginian celebration, two San Francisco children painting, and one astronaut in space.” Image: Eleven football players who have gained national recognition on the gridiron are now undergoing Marine Corps training at Parris Island, SC. They are left to right, Tommy Davis, Duke; Mike Micka, Colgate; Bert Gianelli, Coll. of Pacific; Elmer Jones, Franklin and Marshall; Alex Agase, Purdue; Pat Preston, Duke; Ralph Heywood, USC; (Backfield) Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame; John Podesto, Coll. of Pacific; Tony Butkovich, Purdue; Mickey McCardle, USC., 05/1942?
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“On the eleventh day of Archives an archivist brought to me:

Eleven Marine Corps football players,

ten messengers playing poker

Eight Navy officers

seven of Mrs. Hicks’s eight children,

six tiny thorn carvings,

five sisters from Alaska,

four boys hanging out at the Fletcher aircraft school,

three happy girls at a West Virginian celebration,

two San Francisco children painting,

and one astronaut in space.”

Image: Eleven football players who have gained national recognition on the gridiron are now undergoing Marine Corps training at Parris Island, SC. They are left to right, Tommy Davis, Duke; Mike Micka, Colgate; Bert Gianelli, Coll. of Pacific; Elmer Jones, Franklin and Marshall; Alex Agase, Purdue; Pat Preston, Duke; Ralph Heywood, USC; (Backfield) Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame; John Podesto, Coll. of Pacific; Tony Butkovich, Purdue; Mickey McCardle, USC., 05/1942?

In 1914, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt watched the laying of keel No. 39 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This ship would later be commissioned as the USS Arizona, struck down during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 when Roosevelt was President of the United States.

In 1914, Roosevelt had not yet been struck down by polio. National Archives staff took a closer look at the glass plate:

Striding confidently in the front of the group was a smiling figure wearing a stylish derby hat with his head cocked staring straight at the camera. Behind him was a gaggle of VIPs in great coats, hand warmers, and top hats. We weren’t sure if the person in the image was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but P.T. as a military history buff was quick to point out that everyone knew…that “Battleship No. 39” was the Battleship Arizona sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

You can read the full story on our NARAtions blog.

Source: blogs.archives.gov

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there was some doubt that the White House Christmas Tree lighting ceremony would take place at all. The Roosevelts had planned for a “more homey” lighting of the National Christmas tree on December 24 in 1941, and so FDR had directed that the tree be moved from the Ellipse to the White House grounds, just next to the South Lawn Fountain. But with firm backing from the President, the tree-lighting went forward, and thousands came to the White House to share a bright moment of hope during dark and uncertain times. President Roosevelt reminded the audience, “Our strongest weapon against this war is the conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies—more than any other day or any other symbol.” He continued, “Against enemies who preach the principles of hate and practise them, we set our faith in human love and in God’s care for us and all men everywhere.” Read the whole story here: http://go.usa.gov/gX8B Image: President Roosevelt, with Churchill to his right, addresses the crowd at the 1941  lighting of the White House Christmas tree. From the FDR Presidential Library.
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After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there was some doubt that the White House Christmas Tree lighting ceremony would take place at all.

The Roosevelts had planned for a “more homey” lighting of the National Christmas tree on December 24 in 1941, and so FDR had directed that the tree be moved from the Ellipse to the White House grounds, just next to the South Lawn Fountain.

But with firm backing from the President, the tree-lighting went forward, and thousands came to the White House to share a bright moment of hope during dark and uncertain times.

President Roosevelt reminded the audience, “Our strongest weapon against this war is the conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies—more than any other day or any other symbol.” He continued, “Against enemies who preach the principles of hate and practise them, we set our faith in human love and in God’s care for us and all men everywhere.”

Read the whole story here: http://go.usa.gov/gX8B

Image: President Roosevelt, with Churchill to his right, addresses the crowd at the 1941  lighting of the White House Christmas tree. From the FDR Presidential Library.

Veterans Day originally began as Armistice Day, which celebrated the end of World War I. After World War II, the day was expanded “Veterans Day” to honor all veterans, not just the service members who died during the First World War. At the National Archives, we are proud to serve veterans through our work at the National Personnel Records Center. Veterans who need their service records for benefits can find help here. Families of veterans who have died may also ask for copies of service records for family history, military burial, and medal replacement. Image: Disabled veteran, ca. 1943, ARC 195917, FDR Library
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Veterans Day originally began as Armistice Day, which celebrated the end of World War I. After World War II, the day was expanded “Veterans Day” to honor all veterans, not just the service members who died during the First World War.

At the National Archives, we are proud to serve veterans through our work at the National Personnel Records Center. Veterans who need their service records for benefits can find help here.

Families of veterans who have died may also ask for copies of service records for family history, military burial, and medal replacement.

Image: Disabled veteran, ca. 1943, ARC 195917, FDR Library

As we prepare for Veterans Day, we were saddened to hear of the passing of Lt. Col. Herbert Carter, one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. Here are some of the Tuskegee Airmen in 1944. If any one can identify more of the men in the picture, please let us know in the comments below. “Members of the 99th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Forces, famous all-Negro outfit, who are rapidly making themselves feared by enemy pilots, pose for a picture at the Anzio beachhead. In the foreground, head bared, is 1st Lt. Andrew Lane.”, ca. 02/1944 (Thank you to the Foundation for the National Archives for finding this photograph in our records.)
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As we prepare for Veterans Day, we were saddened to hear of the passing of Lt. Col. Herbert Carter, one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

Here are some of the Tuskegee Airmen in 1944. If any one can identify more of the men in the picture, please let us know in the comments below.

“Members of the 99th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Forces, famous all-Negro outfit, who are rapidly making themselves feared by enemy pilots, pose for a picture at the Anzio beachhead. In the foreground, head bared, is 1st Lt. Andrew Lane.”, ca. 02/1944

(Thank you to the Foundation for the National Archives for finding this photograph in our records.)

Join us in person or online tomorrow at noon! “Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath” Join us at noon on Thursday at the National Archives in Washington, DC. A book signing will follow the program. You can also watch live online: http://www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives The Hoover Institution Press and historian George H. Nash have edited Hoover’s manuscript Freedom Betrayed, the culmination of a literary project launched by Hoover during World War II that evolved into a critique of U.S. foreign policy during the war and the early years of the Cold War. Hoover argues that FDR’s prewar and wartime diplomacy had made the world safe for Stalinist Russia and triggered the Cold War.
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Join us in person or online tomorrow at noon! “Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath”

Join us at noon on Thursday at the National Archives in Washington, DC. A book signing will follow the program.

You can also watch live online: http://www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives

The Hoover Institution Press and historian George H. Nash have edited Hoover’s manuscript Freedom Betrayed, the culmination of a literary project launched by Hoover during World War II that evolved into a critique of U.S. foreign policy during the war and the early years of the Cold War. Hoover argues that FDR’s prewar and wartime diplomacy had made the world safe for Stalinist Russia and triggered the Cold War.

Reporters race through the White House to be the first to break the news of the Japanese surrender after President Truman’s announcement of the unconditional surrender of Japan, which ended World War II.

Images: Photographs taken by Abbie Rowe. From the holdings of the Truman Presidential Library. (August 14, 1945).

Source: research.archives.gov

For these dogs of the Marine Corps during World War II, every day was Take Your Dog to Work Day. Read the story of these dogs in “Let the Records Bark.” Then, in addition to providing various basic personal details, each applicant was required to provide answers to a number of personality-focused questions, including: “Are you nervous?” “Gun Shy?” “Storm Shy?” “Do you run away?” “Have you lived in house, or kennel?” “What is your attitude toward strangers?” The only thing lacking is a short essay explaining the applicant’s reasons for wanting to join up. Once accepted for service, the dogs went to the Dog Detachment Training Center at Camp Lejeune, where they were qualified in obedience and at least one other specialty. The record book lists the following possibilities: Guard Duty, Tracking, Attack, Messenger, First Aid, or Draft. In fact, however, most Marine dogs were used for messenger or scouting work. Image: Butch poses with his handler. Records of the United States Marine Corps, RG 127
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For these dogs of the Marine Corps during World War II, every day was Take Your Dog to Work Day. Read the story of these dogs in “Let the Records Bark.”

Then, in addition to providing various basic personal details, each applicant was required to provide answers to a number of personality-focused questions, including: “Are you nervous?” “Gun Shy?” “Storm Shy?” “Do you run away?” “Have you lived in house, or kennel?” “What is your attitude toward strangers?” The only thing lacking is a short essay explaining the applicant’s reasons for wanting to join up.

Once accepted for service, the dogs went to the Dog Detachment Training Center at Camp Lejeune, where they were qualified in obedience and at least one other specialty. The record book lists the following possibilities: Guard Duty, Tracking, Attack, Messenger, First Aid, or Draft. In fact, however, most Marine dogs were used for messenger or scouting work.

Image: Butch poses with his handler. Records of the United States Marine Corps, RG 127

National Doughnut Day started in 1938 when it was created by the Salvation Army to honor the women who served doughnuts to the soldiers during World War I. Doughnuts were back on the front lines in World War II. Elizabeth A. Richardson, the woman on the left in this photograph, is standing in front of her Clubmobile, a single-decker bus fitted with coffee and doughnut-making equipment that drove around the England, bringing cheer to the soldiers stationed there. “I consider myself fortunate to be in Clubmobile—can’t conceive of anything else,” she wrote to her parents in World War II. But like many of the young men she served doughnuts to, Elizabeth did not return home. She was killed in plane crash in July 25, 1945, and is buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy. You can read more about her story in this Prologue magazine article: http://go.usa.gov/d4k [Image: Liz Richardson (left) and Mary Haynsworth with smiling GIs in front of their Clubmobile in Normandy. Liz sent the snapshot to her parents on June 4, 1945, noting that the “blur” in her left hand “is a doughnut. And it’s just as well that it wasn’t photogenic.” (Courtesy of James H. Madison)]
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National Doughnut Day started in 1938 when it was created by the Salvation Army to honor the women who served doughnuts to the soldiers during World War I. Doughnuts were back on the front lines in World War II.

Elizabeth A. Richardson, the woman on the left in this photograph, is standing in front of her Clubmobile, a single-decker bus fitted with coffee and doughnut-making equipment that drove around the England, bringing cheer to the soldiers stationed there. “I consider myself fortunate to be in Clubmobile—can’t conceive of anything else,” she wrote to her parents in World War II.

But like many of the young men she served doughnuts to, Elizabeth did not return home. She was killed in plane crash in July 25, 1945, and is buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy. You can read more about her story in this Prologue magazine article: http://go.usa.gov/d4k

[Image: Liz Richardson (left) and Mary Haynsworth with smiling GIs in front of their Clubmobile in Normandy. Liz sent the snapshot to her parents on June 4, 1945, noting that the “blur” in her left hand “is a doughnut. And it’s just as well that it wasn’t photogenic.” (Courtesy of James H. Madison)]