| 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 67 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1030051 |
| OCR Text |
Show ground wa frozen, they get a little poon or omething and dig a little hoi and try t bury them and couldn't and they'd ju t have to leave them there and go on. War i j u t hell. It i ju t terrible. BB: How wa your corre pondence to home during tho e everal month of actual combat up until May? Was correspondence from your wife catching up with you? FTE: Occasionally, whenever we stayed some place, it would finally come. We might get four or five letters at a time after a month or two or something. [Editor's note: At least some of the soldiers' letters were carried via Victory Mail. In order to reduce the volume of mail that needed to be carried, servicemen, who were overseas, would write letters on Victory Letter forms. The letters were then censored and then microfilmed. Only the microfilm was actually sent to the States. When the microfilm arrived the letters were transcribed by typists from the microfilm and sent on to the addressee.] BB: How often did you write? Were you pretty good about it? FTE: Well, it depended on the circumstances. Sometimes we couldn't write for weeks, maybe. Sometimes it was maybe a month. Then sometimes, if we got in a house we took over, we could write a letter every day. Finally some mail would catch up to us. BB: Was she getting the things you were sending to her? FTE: Yes. Well, everything didn't get through. A lot of stuff didn't get through. But we had two or three sets of china, there in our home. We still have some of that china here and guns and swords and all kinds of stuff. I couldn't keep carrying it all. [Editor's note: Looting was against the law. However, it was impossible to prevent soldiers from collecting "souvenirs", so enforcement was spotty. Generally, Gls were allowed to keep Nazi knives and swords, belts, helmets, flags, hand guns, alcohol and sporting weapons confiscated from civilians. This material was destined for destruction anyway. Gf' s 67 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64q9x2g/1030051 |
