| 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 110 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1020276 |
| OCR Text |
Show ROBERT B. CLAy PRI 27 u 20 1 ROB: Yes, we must have shaved, although a lot of peopl didn t. I gr w a mu tach nd I let it grow until it was about six inches long. They used to call me th walru becau it stuck out so far on each side. One time, when the Red Cross parcels came and ev ryon was so happy, it turned out to be shoe polish. Everyone got about ten cans of shoe polish. I used mine to grease and twist my mustache into two long strands. BEN: How long did they march you, then? ROB: We had been up all day and they marched us out about midnight. We marched all night until the next morning and we came to a little town, probably about ten or fifteen miles. They wanted to march during the night and not during the day, for some reason. They said just do the best you can, so my bombardier and I found a little shed in a back yard and we laid there during the day and talked and got ready for the next night. Then we marched all that night and the next morning we had gone about fifty miles, and we came a great big drying building for clay pots, and the clay pots were like tanks, some of them. They would dry them in this big warm building that was about a block square, and when we got there, there were most of the ten thousand kriegies from the different compounds were already in there, and everybody was just dead from marching and the cold and everything. So, everyone stayed there for a couple of days and recuperated. This Arragonajoker that wouldn't march every day (and I would try to roust him out, but he wouldn't march with the rest of us; he would just lay there in his bed and laugh at us and say, "I'll see you along the side of the road when I go marching past," just that kind of an attitude). Well, when we got to this building he didn't having anything left. He had 109 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hx3bwd/1020276 |