Archive Record
Images
Additional Images [5]
Metadata
Object Identification Number |
2015.059.016 |
Object Name |
Album, Photograph |
Donor |
Rasmussen, Merle |
Scope / Description |
Pink and black album containing 285 original photos, postcards, and prints, plus additional reproduction photos. Album has a black leather spine and back cover. Front cover is largely pink suede with three small suede square cut outs at the viewer's bottom left corner, stacked one on top of the other. Pink stitching around the edges of the black leather. Black plastic pages with clear covers to view the photos. On the inside of the front cover is impressed "Scotch". Contains black and white photos, many with IDs on back and others with handwritten notes with them. Photos are mostly rectangular with white borders. Images vary from soldiers individually and with planes, tanks, jeeps, monuments, Hitler's yacht, and more. Some are more intimate poses like sitting on a bunk reading a letter, others posing with guns. Some slots are filled not by photos, but by notes the donor provided. Interspersed between the pages and not tucked into slots are copies of some photos with further IDs and notes written on them. At the back is a single clear plastic sleeve with no photo divisions like the rest of the pages. Inside this are 13 photos and prints. 10 1/2" W x 9 1/4" L x 3" D Size is of album - photos vary in sizes See "Search Terms" for a comprehensive list of the topics and people and place names referenced by the photos in this album. These photos were owned by Junior Marion Rasmussen. They were assembled into albums by the donor. The photos were taken by Junior Rasmussen and his fellow serviceman Merle Merritt. Rasmussen and Merritt met in the Army and became life-long friends. Rasmussen named his son, the donor, after Merritt. Both men were farm boys back home and some of the photos feature German farms. Some photos illustrate their personal bunking spaces, reading letters from home, tours of a zoo, and military vehicles and bombing rubble. Most of the captions were written by the donor. RASMUSSEN: All of the materials in this donation belonged to the donor's father Junior Marion Rasmussen who served in the U.S. Army immediately following WWII, in the 78th Division, 16th Cavalry, Berlin Constabulary, in a Reconnaissance Unit. He served as a Private First Class in Berlin, patrolled the American Sector, befriended German civilians, and collected souvenirs which he brought home to the U.S. Rasmussen (May 22, 1924-May 17, 2015) was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa and was the son of Danish American parents Marion (1885-1969) and Maren Kristine (Steffensen) Rasmussen (b. ?) who were married on January 5, 1921. Maren died on May 31, 1924, just days after giving birth. In 1925, Marion remarried to another Danish immigrant woman, Marie E. Jensen, to help raise his son. Junior Rasmussen married Mary Elizabeth on May 19, 1956, and they had one son, the donor. Marion's parents were Lars Christian Rasmussen and Karen Marie Andersen Rasmussen. Lars was born in 1851 in Hjørring, Denmark, and died in 1934 in Neola, Iowa. Karen was born in 1843 in Voer, Hjørring, Denmark, and died in 1928 in Neola. The couple immigrated in 1882. Their son Marion was born in Weston, Iowa, south of Neola about 10 miles. 78TH DIVISION: The 78th Infantry Division was activated on August 23, 1917 at Camp Dix, New Jersey. In World War II, the 78th Division was reactivated at Camp Butner, North Carolina on August 15, 1942. After two years as a Training Division, the 78th embarked for the European Theatre. There, in combat in Belgium, France and Germany our men brought even more honor to an already proud name. The Siegfried Line, the Roer and Rhine rivers, the Cologne plain, the Remagen bridgehead, the Ruhr pocket - all lay along the road to Berlin, where after six months of occupation duty, the Division was officially deactivated in May of 1946. The 78th Division again responded to the nation's call in 1990 and 1991 during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. In 1992, the Division transformed into an Exercise Division under the Army's "Bold Shift" initiative. The new mission is to conduct small unit collective training (Lanes) and computerized battle simulation exercises for client units in the First Army East area. |
Date |
mid-late 1940s |
Associated People |
Rasmussen, Junior Marion Merritt, Merle Meyer, Vic Pepalowski, George Payne, Elwood Preston, Warner Lee Wiemerskirk, Ed Oliveras, Joe Hitler, Adolf Wiegand, Gerald Drake, Charles R. Vaughan, Clyde Thompson, Haskel Jensen, Marie (Mia) Goodman, Lt. Colonel |
Search Terms |
Photograph Album WWII World War II military 78th Division airplane tank Berlin, Germany machine gun Spencer, Iowa bombing rubble train station children Zehlendorf Wannsea Titania Palast Speyer Dom Cathedral 16th Cavalry headquarters yacht grain binder Templehoff swastika Olympic stadium Chancellery Hemelburg S-Bahn motorcycle Lake Krumalake Bremen Kaiser Wilhelm Tower Buffalo Center, Iowa Berlin Zoo Denmark Copenhagen National Scala Danish Royal Guard Fort Riley, Kansas Brandenberg Gate Berlin University State Theatre Technical Highschool Royal Palace Charlottenburg Germany House of Parliament Emperor William Memorial Cathedral Berlin Cathedral Alexander Square Rasmussen, Junior Marion Merritt, Merle Meyer, Vic Pepalowski, George Payne, Elwood Preston, Warner Lee Wiemerskirk, Ed Oliveras, Joe Hitler, Adolf Wiegand, Gerald Drake, Charles R. Vaughan, Clyde Thompson, Haskel Jensen, Marie (Mia) Goodman, Lt. Colonel |
Given In Memory Of |
In Memory of Junior Marion Rasmussen |
Date Received by Museum |
11/28/2015 |
Images |
290\2015059016.JPG |
Accession number |
2015.059 |