Herman Stramm was born 8 June 1927, in Charleston, South Carolina. In this interview, Stramm discusses his experiences in the Navy during WWII. He attended signalman school in Bainbridge, Maryland before being assigned to the USS Dale, DD353, at Pearl Harbor. On board, the sailor had limited access to information, according to Stramm. “We didn't have an up-to-date news service like they got now--no television. I read Tokyo Rose a time or two, but all of a sudden, we heard, you know, Japanese surrendered.” He expresses deep pride in having been part of the flotilla that escorted the USS Missouri into Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender. Stramm’s last station was at Fort Pierce, Florida, where he helped the underwater demolition team before he was discharged to the Charleston Navy Yard. He returned home and attended The Citadel for a brief period. After his military service, he worked at the United States Post Office and at an airport in Atlanta, Georgia for fifteen years before retiring in 1990, a few months after Hurricane Hugo.
"Mementoes of Days in Service" details Lawrence Layden's service in World War II from his induction in June 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor, until his formal discharge in December, 1945. Part of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, Layden's squadron provided aerial reconnaissance for Operation Overlord and the assault on Nazi Germany. Through photos and text, Layden's scrapbook follows him from his initial assignment in Louisville, Kentucky to bases in England and continental Europe. The album contains reconnaissance photos used in the assault on Europe, photographs of Layden at various bases throughout the war and several photographs of Buchenwald concentration camp, visited by Layden six days after its liberation.
A black and white photograph taken shortly after the liberation of the Concentration Camp Buchenwald in Germany in April 1945. The photograph is of an SS general being returned to the scene of the Holocaust crimes at Buchenwald. The general is seen walking second from left,the contributor, Charles C. Cross, is seen to the far right in a helmut with his hands on his hips.
A black and white photograph taken shortly after the liberation of the Concentration Camp Buchenwald in Germany in May 1945. The photograph is of a memorial dedicated to those who died at Buchenwald.
A black and white photograph taken at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany shortly after its liberation in April 1945. The photo is of a boy between two liberated inmates of Buchenwald.
A black and white photograph taken shortly after the liberation of the Concentration Camp Buchenwald in Germany in April 1945. The photograph is of a gallows and, in the background, a pile of human ashes.
A black and white photograph taken shortly after the liberation of the Concentration Camp Buchenwald in Germany in April 1945. The photograph is of dead prisoners stacked like cordwood awaiting cremation.
