| Title |
Robert B. Clay, Bountiful, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, April 27, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 390, 391 and 392 |
| Alternative Title |
Robert B. Clay, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Clay, Robert B., 1918-2007 |
| Contributor |
Bahlmann, Benjamin; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2001-04-27 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Germany; Denmark; Box Elder County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Clay, Robert B., 1918-2007--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American; Prisoners of war--United States; Prisoners of war--Germany |
| Keywords |
351st Bomb Group; POW; Civil Air Authority; Army Air Corps; B-17; B-24 |
| Description |
Transcript (122 pages) of an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann with Robert B. Clay on April 27, 2001. This is from tape numbers 390, 391, and 392 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Clay (b. 1918) was born in Willard, Utah. He grew up in Utah during the Depression and, after graduating from high school, he learned to fly a Piper Cub through a program sponsored by the Civil Air Authority (CAA). He recounts how he saw an Army Air Corps advertisement which said "You can take this $25,000 course in flying, and get your wings, and get to be a 2nd lieutenant." He joined in 1940 and was trained in California, New Mexico, Colorado and Montana. He was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group, and went to Europe in 1943. Shot down on his seventeenth mission, he was a prisoner of war in Denmark and Germany. After the war he received a PhD in Physics, eventually specializing in explosives research. He was part of the group of men who formed Ireco Chemical Company. 122 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
122 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6hx3bwd |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Aerial--American; Prisoners of war |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1020291 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hx3bwd |
| Title |
Page 102 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1020268 |
| OCR Text |
Show ROBERT B. CLAY PRI 27T[J 2001 We had a lot of things that were interesting. There was one guard we call d th m fl rr t and they had these long rods that they would stick into the ground to see if there wer any tunnels. And there was one guy who was obnoxious. They didn't carry a gun thank goodness, but I know that they were afraid that people would rush a ferret that was all by himself and take his gun away from him. But this one was particularly obnoxious, and so everyone in our room got together, and the buildings were kind of prefabs, and the floors were in slabs about like a pallet, and they were just laid into place, and so there were cracks between the inserts, plus cracks between the boards. They were just like a pallet, raised about 2 ~ feet above the ground. And so the ferrets would go back and forth underneath the barracks, poking with their stick, and we decided to get this one guy that everybody hated. And the way we would wash our floors was to just dump buckets of water on the floor and just sweep it, and the muddy water would drop down between the cracks. So we waited until this one ferret was right underneath the middle of the building. They gave the signal and everybody started washing their floors, and he came sneaking out of there with muddy water dripping all over him. Oh, he was so mad. They would get even with us, though. BEN: How so? ROB: They would line us up twice a day to count us, to see if anyone was missing, and one time they couldn't get the right count. I don't know what happened, but they kept us outside in the rain all one day. They made a count and they weren't happy, and they made another count and they weren't happy, and then they kept us out there while they went 101 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hx3bwd/1020268 |
