| Title |
Frederick T. Baird, Provo, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, August 30, 2002: Saving the Legacy tape nos. 528 & 527 |
| Alternative Title |
Frederick T. Baird, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Baird, Frederick T., 1924- |
| Contributor |
University of Utah. American West Center; Bahlmann, Benjamin J. |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2002-08-30 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| 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 |
| Subject |
Baird, Frederick T., 1924- --Interviews; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Army Air Corps; Marines |
| Description |
Transcript (81 pages) of an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann with Frederick T. Baird on August 30, 2002. From tape numbers 322 and 333 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Baird (b. 1924) describes his childhood and life on a Utah farm. After enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and receiving basic training in Texas, he was assigned to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, as a records clerk, then to Columbus, Mississippi. During December 1944, he was reassigned to the infantry for European duty and shipped eventually near Aachen, Germany, for combat with the 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division, operating from a half-track. He discusses his combat experiences. At the end of the war, was assigned occupation duty in Munich, where he returned to records management with the 39th Machine Records Unit. He was discharged in 1946. Mr. Baird worked thirty-four years for Geneva Steel before retiring in 1984. Interviewed by Benjamin Bahlmann. 81 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
81 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/s64q9x2g |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030066 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64q9x2g |
| Title |
Page 63 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030047 |
| OCR Text |
Show FRED RI K T. BAIRD 20 2 FTE: It wa , like I aid. We knew we were there, then. B cau n th wall and n the ceiling on the buildings in the citie , they had everything labeled, what th building were and what was what. I thought, "Look at all that funny language. Look at all of that cribbling on there." They were German word . We knew we were in Germany. I aid, "Before I leave this country, I'm going to learn thi language." By the time I left, I could confer with them pretty good. BB: Were you getting field promotions then, as time went by? FTE: Yes, I finally got to T-5 and I thought, "That's enough." BB: The war ended. How long were you there in occupation? FTE: What they did after the war was over and things had calmed down, they sent us south toward Munich and Selb in Germany. They said, "You are now transferred to the 39th Machine Records Unit. You'll be living and taking over the Rathause, the city hall (in Munich)." It was a great big beautiful city hall, the whole building. "That will be your headquarters. You worked in clerical duties and things before you were transferred into the infantry. Now we don't need you to fight anymore per se. We still need to have you guard some prisoners." We did sometimes and cleaning up debris and stuff around and hunting some special ones out. But they said, "You're going to be into training civilian and interviewing them to get the right people to establish a new government. We've got to get some people here that can start getting the cities into operation again. We've got to have somebody who knows the language that lives here to be the mayors, to be people that get the cities going again." [Editor's note: The Allies' De-Nazification Program had removed all former Nazis from national, provincial and local government jobs. Since, in Nazi Germany, all civil servants had to be members of the Nazi party, there was nobody left that could run public utilities, fix roads, collect taxes, maintain 63 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64q9x2g/1030047 |
