Mar 28, 2019 - Sale 2503

Sale 2503 - Lot 335

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
"WE STAY IN BARRACKS WITH THE WHITE SOLDIERS. I SLEEP OVER ONE." (MILITARY--WORLD WAR TWO.) Papers of Robert A. Washington, an Air Force staff sergeant. 28 items, various sizes, condition generally strong, in one folder. Vp, 1941-45
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Additional Details

Robert A. Washington (1914-1974) was raised in Brentwood, MD, near Washington. He worked as a chauffeur before enlisting on 15 September 1941, shortly before Pearl Harbor. He was promoted to corporal in 1942, made sergeant by the end of the war, and spent most of the war in the quartermaster's department at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, UT.
The collection includes 3 letters and 3 postcards from Washington's hometown buddies who were also in the service, stationed stateside. Edward "Kid" Ennells wrote from the Stockton Motor Base in California: "We stay in barracks with the white soldiers. I sleep over one. They seams to be OK so far. If three more colored soldiers beside us, we will start to school Monday. . . . We cannot go to the colored section up town, only the up to date part . . . but any other place we can go" (11 July 1942). Sergeant Winston Marshall wrote from Camp Livingston in Louisiana: "I'm carrying a pack every day that's damn near heavey as you, and the first day I put on my steel helmet, I thought every minute it would push me into the ground" (15 January 1945). Also included are 9 letters and notes from friends and family, such as one sweet letter from his future wife Grace dated 10 December 1941 (she does not mention Pearl Harbor), one from an aunt stating in 1942 that "your mother has become reconciled to your marriage now," and letters from the pastors of two of his local churches (one Baptist, the other A.M.E. Zion). A group of 7 photographs of soldiers mostly bear captions but not identifications. They may show Washington or his buddies. Finally, the collection includes 3 military passes, Washington's monogrammed wallet, and his discharge order dated 28 November 1945.