VETERAN STORIES

VETERANS STORIES

VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

Since our Legacy Membership formation, families have come forward to share the scrapbooks, stories and memorabilia representing the story of 65th Infantry Veterans.

We've gathered these "Family Stories" into a digital library collection that you'll find alphabetized below.

VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

Video interviews of American veterans submitted to the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

We've collected links to each of the interviews that have been submitted.

HELP WANTED! We would like volunteers to listen to the interviews and give us a typed synopsis of topics, details, etc. Email the web team for more information.

View The Collection

VIDEO LINKS

VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

VIDEO LINKS

This page highlights the videos posted on various websites of interviews with 65th Infantry Division Veterans.

Includes link to Veterans History Project and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

VIDEO LINKS

PERMISSIONS

WRITE A STORY - SHARE A PICTURE

VIDEO LINKS

Photos and stories on this site have been shared by veterans and their families. If you wish to utilize ANY of them, you must request permission from the owner. Contact our SOCIAL MEDIA team to facilitate that request.

Contact Social Media Team

WRITE A STORY - SHARE A PICTURE

Share stories of your 65th Infantry Veteran and your photo albums and scrapbooks.

Already shared?

No worries, send us those updates!

And...have the rest of the family add theirs.

WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?

WRITE A STORY - SHARE A PICTURE

We're volunteers and sometimes things get busy after you share your disc of photos or we scan your album at reunions.

Here's our process so that you know why it isn't always a quick process...

First, we either scan or receive digital collections. Items must be organized and often renamed in a way that is best for our website and web platform. Then, they must be downloaded into the website, labeled and captioned. Every single picture must have a tag word and captions. Finally, we update the index of veterans named with any names/units listed so that others can review and all are cross-referenced.

All of that said...WE LOVE WHAT WE DO! The Social Media Team is passionate about our jobs with the Association and are thrilled that we've had such good reception for the website and sharing of digital materials, stories and photos.

Veteran Stories Collections

Single Image Veteran Gallery

Formal Unit Photos

Rescued Photos

Conroy Adams, 365B

John F Amm, 260C

Louis S Amonson, 259th Cannon

Cedric S Baldwin, 259E

Emil F Beck, 259HQ3

William I Blanchfield, 259K

Herman Bowers, 261L3bn

Veteran Galleries 1

Luther B Breeden, 261st

Bernard Brill, 261L

John P Brooks, 65th Recon

William Burke, 261Med

Raymond G Cammaroto, 259K

Damiano Caponi, 261L

Raymond E Culp, 261E

Beningno N Diaz, 261E

John A Dorso, 259L

Charlie M Dunnam, 261st

Veteran Galleries 2

Irvin Dvorak, 261Med

Gus Frederich- pending

Otto Gemeinhardt, 260HQ

Herbert P Giorgio, 261HQ2 A&P Platoon

John P Gronski, 868B

Maynard Hanson, 565th Signal

James M Harrigan, 261A

Ronald W Hinkle, 261D

John H Hohenstein, 260K

Veteran Galleries 3

Stanley W Hojnacki, 260C

Fred Kohl, 259K

Elmer Krou Jr, 260L

Karl Kruppenbacher, 260AT

John B Law, 259E

Edmund F Lewis, 259L

Ronald E Locke, 265A

Tom Mahovlich, 867A

Charles Manausa, 259H

Veteran Galleries 4

Norvin D McClure, 265HQ

Lionel L McNeill, 261st

Fred "Bill" P Miller, 259K

Chester C Monti Jr, 261 Med

Ralph Nelson, 259K3

E Richard Neuhart, 260HQ1

Arthur M Newell, 260B

Richard W Patterson, 261Med

Veteran Galleries 5

A Felder Phillips Jr, 261HQ

Seymour A Pratt, 261HQ I&R

Gerald Clifford Ratcliff, 260HQ

Hugo J Renzetti, 259L

William J Roberts Jr, 261HQ

Edward Schroeder, 259F

Veteran Galleries 6

William B Sharp, 259F

Charles K Shively, Unit Unknown

Morton Snow, 259L

Daniel C Stamer, MP Platoon

Jesse G Taylor, 259C

Edward J Vitale, 259th

Edwin D Waite, 260L

Carl F Walker, 259A

Veteran Galleries 7

Milton L Wind, 261F

Hobert Yazell, 260F

Veteran Galleries 8

Your 65th Infantry Division Family History and Heritage

Share Your Items

Have items you'd like to share with us?

Please contact your web team to coordinate. We'll coach you through digital preservation.

Once shared with the web team, we'll copy them to our Association Historian for further preservation.

Not sure where to start? Here are some tips to sharing photos with us.

Digitize your photos out of the album. At minimum, please scan them at 600dpi.
Name each photo in this manner: PHILLIPS_Felder_Pic1 (if you are submitting a scan of the back of the photo name it A,B,C...Example: PHILLIPS_Felder_Pic1a)
If there is writing on the back of the photos please capture that in either another scanned picture or make a WORD document with the picture notes. Example: Pic 1 - This is us arriving in Linz
Submit to us by mailing a CD or thumb-drive or sharing via a photo sharing or cloud storage site.

PLEASE NOTE: The process of getting photos onto the website takes a little while. We have to sort them, rename each photo for appropriate searching within the web platform, copy any picture notes you've shared and then import each photo one by one with all the correct information. On average once we start the album it takes a week or longer, depending on the time we can devote and size of the album. There may be several albums pending or other Association items that are pending prior to your submission.

As always, we THANK YOU for your sharing of albums, photos, digital memorabilia and stories. It all contributes to the preservation and education of the legacy of the 65th Infantry Division.

Write a Story

Every veteran had a unique story. Share the history and stories of your 65th Infantry Veteran for our print publication "THE HALBERT". Send your submission to our Halbert Editors.

Contact the Editor

Connect on Social Media

Our Facebook page was introduced in 2014 and the social media team keeps things active and interesting. You'll find historical articles, highlights and facts about the 65th Infantry Division heritage. You'll also be able to engage with other 65th families.

Join us on Facebook

Infantry Division versus Regiment

There is sometimes confusion about the 65th Infantry Division versus the 65th Infantry Regiment.

It's pretty easy...the 65th Infantry Regiment has a very long history of serving through several wars. During WWII, they served in the Pacific Theater rather than the European Theater, where the 65th Infantry Division served.

Finding Your 65th Infantry Division Veteran History

Patience, diligence and research...

We all start at a different spot. Some of us were lucky enough to grow up with our 65th Infantry Division veteran sharing stories, photos and memories. Others lost their veteran when they were very young. Either way, there are usually questions that there are not answers for and stories we want to unfold.

The 65th Infantry Division website is packed full of history, stories and photo albums. You can pore through it and learn a lot. Want more? When the book store comes back online, you can order any of the many books written and collected by veterans themselves.

Our first recommendations include utilizing online resources...

Useful links regarding the preservation of your family history:

Sites from the National Archives have some great tips for preservation. Click here

and, for WWII archives. Click here

NOTE: You may be told (or have been told) that your family records burned in the infamous St. Louis records fire at the St. Louis National Archives. While that is certainly true, there have been thousands of records that were saved, but still burnt. Over the last several years, as preservation techniques have advanced, those records are being restored, though some only partially. Our recommendation is to request every few years. You might just be surprised!

A free site, FamilySearch, to compile your family history, do research and great resources for digitizing and protecting your family history. As with Ancestry, once you begin to populate your family history FamilySearch will send you hints about records in their files and they are digitizing records at a rapid pace. Click here

Useful links to begin your research:

www.Ancestry.com and their military division (partners with the National Archives. www.Fold3.com

Step 1: Ask your family members for memories, photos and any personal letters or mementos of your 65th Infantry Division soldier.

Step 2: After recreating as much family history as possible, contact the National Archives and Records Administration at www.archives.gov

Understand that this process may take multiple requests. If, at all possible, go in person to make the request. Otherwise, it may take a while for a response. Records "pulls" take a while and come sometimes come back with "no records" or "records were destroyed" as there was a fire some years ago at the facility where personnel files were stored. HOWEVER, some family members have reported that after multiple requests they finally received records.

Step 3: If the Archives record search and online record search becomes unsuccessful, you may need to get creative. Search local newspaper files for the hometown of your veteran. Request different types of records. For instance, request General Orders, citations or activity reports that you know your veteran was involved in.

You can also hire a professional Genealogist. One company, Golden Arrow, has a reputation for military history research and is featured on the National Archives website, but there are others.

Lastly...

COME TO A REUNION!!

Read all the materials that you can find from the bookstore of the association. Take time to look at other family members photos. You may find your veteran's face in them and can share their stories.

Do you have tips or helpful hints for researching military history for a 65th veteran? Please share what worked, what didn't and what you found.