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Herman C. Giles papers, 1943-1946, Date acquired: 02/23/2000

 

Summary

Creator:
Giles, Herman C.
Giles, Herman C.
Extent:
.5 Linear Feet This collection is formed of 1 half box, containing 9 folders. Four folders contain 280 letters. One folder contains photographs. One folder contains an oral history. Three folders contain scrapbook items.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Herman C. Giles papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_00_0236.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection pertains to Herman C. Giles (Combat Infantry Rifleman with the 103rd Infantry Division), who served in the European Theater. He served as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division according to his typed "Background" statement. His discharge papers note that he was a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division, serving in the European Theater, 1943-1945. Giles was stationed at Camp Blanding in 1943, Columbus, GA, for Air Corps training in 1943, and then Texas for infantry training. This collection contains a number of letters on Camp Blanding stationery. He describes Camp Blanding as "a mile and a half in the middle of hell" in a letter dated 3/5/1943. A letter dated 4/11/43 includes a diagram and floor plan of Camp Blanding itself. He then transferred with his unit to France and saw combat in the Vosges Mountains with the 103rd Infantry Division. This collection contains 208 letters, 15 V-mails, 11 telegrams, and one postcard to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Giles of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Herman Giles was born in Nashville, Tennessee). There are also eight photographs in the collection (one in color and seven in black and white) of his family, the 103rd Infantry Division, the U.S. Mainland and the European Theater, and photographs of him in London, England, Dallas, Texas, Stark, Florida, Nashville, Tennessee, and Dillingen, Germany. It also contains letters from Giles to his parents and scrapbook items. The collection also contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. The collection also includes a 14-page manuscript entitled "History, Background, and Synopsis of Military Career."

Biographical / historical:

Herman C. Giles was born on January 5, 1925 in Nashville, TN. Six months later, 'Ozzie' as his friends and family called him moved to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where he spent the majority of his life.

Giles entered active duty on March 31, 1943 at Fort Hayes, Columbus, OH. Giles served as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division and as a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division on the US Mainland and in the European Theater (ETO). Giles served in Camp Blanding, Florida--"in the middle of nowhere" (4). He trained at Camp Blanding. He tells a story of being separated from his friends at Blanding and then being reunited (4-5). He discusses basic training at Camp Blanding and the weather there (5-7). "My 1st impression of military life in Florida was heat, extreme heat (95)." Giles went to Orlando for physicals (7). He was assigned as a corpsman with a medical detachment to the 66th Infantry Division and as a rifleman in Company G, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division on the US Mainland and in the European Theater (ETO). He was shipped overseas to Marseilles, France, in September 1944. He first saw combat at the Vosges Mountains in France. Giles outlines in his letters his hopes for being in the Air Corps, and then his subsequent disappointment with the position he ends up with in the infantry. He also dealt with a number of medical conditions that often meant he was in hospital. His papers provide insight into what each of his jobs was like, as well as to his opinions of the places he visited. He was born and raised in Cuyahoga Ohio, and his descriptions of Florida, Mississippi, as well as France and Germany may have value to social historians. He also describes life in Europe after the war while awaiting transfer back to the States.

He used the G.I. Bill to complete a B.S. in Business from Ohio State University. He entered work in the insurance claims field, retiring as a Litigation Supervisor in 1987 from the Underwriters Ad justing Co. He was also elected President of The Akron Claims Association in 1972 and was a lifetime member. He was also a member of the Cuyahoga Falls Masonic Lodge 735, The American Legion Post 281, The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1062, and the 103rd Infantry Division of World War II Association. Giles was married for 50 years to his wife, Alice Corkie, and the couple had two daughters, Ginger Salter and Tracey Lynn. He passed away on January 18, 2003, at his home in Cuyahoga Falls.

Source:

"Herman C. "Ozzie" Giles." Legacy.com. Accessed June 25, 2018. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ohio/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=732464.

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], Herman C. Giles papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_00_0236.

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