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Joseph L. Cittadini collection, 1943-2005, Date acquired: 10/22/2004, bulk 1944

 

Summary

Creator:
Cittadini, Joseph L.
Extent:
1.00 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Joseph L. Cittadini collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_01_0359.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection relates to Joseph L. Cittadini who served as a Navigator with the 384th Bombardment Group.  The collection includes photographs, letters, and official documents from his time as a navigator with the US Army Air Corp and his time as a prisoner of war during World War II. Photographs include several of Cittadini with his crew of the "Goin' Dawg" and "Nutalls Nut House" B-17 bombers. Cittadini was a prisoner of war for a year after being shot down on a mission over Berlin and was held in several POW camps, but primarily in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. His account of this is told in detail in both a manuscript and an oral history transcript.


Biographical / historical:

Joseph L. Cittadini was born September 15, 1916, in Montreal, Canada. At age 11, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he lived for most of his adult life with wife Florence.On August 14, 1943, he joined active service at age 25, making him one of the older men during his Navigator Pre-Flight and Advanced training at Selman Field, Lousiana. As part of the 384th Bomb Group out of Grafton-Underwood in England, he completed 19 missions before his plane went down on the 20th. Cittadini was then captured and held as a prisoner of war for almost a year, primarily at Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany, then in Stalag XIIID in Nurnberg, then finally in Stalag Luft VIIA in Moosberg, moving each time allied forces drew near. The camp in Moosberg was liberated by General Patton's 3rd Army on April 29, 1945.


Acquisition information:

Joseph L. Cittadini

Donation

Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Joseph L. Cittadini collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_01_0359.

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA