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Robert L. Wilson transcript, 1939-2005, Date acquired: 06/23/2006, bulk 1939-1946

 

Summary

Creator:
Wilson, Robert L.
Extent:
1.00 folders
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Robert L. Wilson transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_06_0130.

Background

Scope and content:

The Sergeant Robert L. Wilson transcript describes his experiences as a truck driver in the 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany during World War II.

Wilson describes his basic training, the poor leadership among his officers, the backgrounds of his comrades, German civilians, traveling from city to city, losing supplies, the Allied victory, seeing Dachau, the Nuremberg Trials, coming home, and resuming his education at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Robert L. Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1923 and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey. Wilson was attending Duke University when he was drafted in March 1943. He wanted to finish his education, but the draft board gave him no option to stay at Duke. He completed basic training as a supply truck driver at Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky, Camp Blanding in Florida, and Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi. Wilson went overseas on January 1, 1945, on USS Mount Vernon to Marseilles, France to aid the remaining forces at Battle of the Bulge. His unit then broke through the Siegfried Line and then crossed the Rhine River into Germany. Once in Germany Wilson was tasked with moving troops, prisoners of war, and supplies across the country. He was ordered to bring supplies to Dachau where he first saw individuals who had experienced and been impacted by concentration camps. Wilson's unit was broken up, and he was transferred to the 36th Infantry Division and then to the IV Corps Headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar near Stuttgart where he worked as an office clerk. Wilson got to view the Nuremberg War Crime Trials for a day and saw several of the perpetrators. He traveled home in March 1945 and was discharged shortly after as a sergeant. After the war,  he resumed school at Duke University where he earned a Bachelor's degree in History. He met his wife while at school and married soon after. Wilson became an FBI agent and retired in 1978.

Acquisition information:

Donated

Reichert Program for Oral History

Conducted by Julia Brock on January 10, 2005

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], Robert L. Wilson transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_06_0130.

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