| Title |
Col. William F. Roos, Springfield, Virginia: an interview by Professor Daniel McCool: Saving the legacy oral history |
| Alternative Title |
William F. Roos, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Roos, William F., 1919-2008 |
| Contributor |
McCool, Daniel, 1950- ; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2004-11-11 |
| 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 |
Guam, Mariana Islands; Germany; Korea; Vietnam; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Roos, William F., 1919-2008--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Area--Personal narratives, American; Military engineers--Biography |
| Keywords |
ROTC; West Point; Engineers; Army Air Corps |
| Description |
Transcript (75 pages) of an interview by Daniel McCool with Col. William F. Roos on November 11, 2004. This is from the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Roos (b. 1919) reminisces about his childhood and education in Utah, including his ROTC experience. He was attending West Point when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and he speaks at length about his experiences there. He was assigned to an engineering unit with the responsibility for turning the island of Guam into a military base. After the war he transferred to the Army Air Corps and earned a masters degree in civil engineering from the University of Iowa. He later served in Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and the Central Pacific. 75 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
75 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/s6vx2ftg |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military engineers |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1025465 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6vx2ftg |
| Title |
Page 25 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1025412 |
| OCR Text |
Show COL. WILLIAM F. ROOS November 11 2004 DAN: Was the New Year's Ball at West Point? BILL: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we couldn't leave at all. The plebes couldn't. But they had- gee they had plenty of these big dance halls where they'd have balls and stuff like that. So, it was- it's something that anybody-the rest of his life he'll always remember how he spent that plebe year. And plebe Christmas is something that's really special. We dated the rest of the time I was a cadet. Miriam came up often for special occasions. Once I got beyond the first year and could get leave I visited her home in Philadelphia, and her summer home at the beach in Ventnor, N. J., just south of Atlantic City. It turned out that her father was the District Attorney in Philadelphia who had a reputation as a straight arrow. He was very popular with the voters, and the Republican party was always happy to have him on the ticket because he brought in so many others in the party with him. He was credited with putting several bad guys up the river for long stretches. There was never any hint of corruption, or scandal, in his office. We never talked very much about marriage. I didn't know what condition I would come home in, or even if I would come home. So we said goodbye, and I departed for the wars. So, anyway, when I graduated I selected the Corps of Engineers and headed for Fort Belvoir, Virginia. That was my first assignment. All those who went into the Corps of Engineers went through a crash course of six weeks of how to be a combat engineer platoon commander. And then, after that, I went over on the other side of the main road where they had a huge replacement training center; engineer replacement training center, and we were all farmed out as platoon commanders. And, for another six weeks, we trained these new recruits that they 23 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6vx2ftg/1025412 |
