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This collection consists of 21 letters written by Staff Sergeant James J. Sherman, U.S. Army Air Force. Sherman was the son of  Joseph and Florence Sherman of Newburgh, New York.  The letters were written to his parents from May to October, 1943 while he was stationed at bases in Colorado, Florida, and Utah.  After completing his training as an aerial gunner, he was sent to Italy and served with the 745th Bomber Squadron, 456th Bomber Group, Heavy.  He was reported missing in action on Thursday, May 4, 1944, and is memorialized at Florence American Cemetery in Via Cassia, Italy.

James William Lockett served in the U.S. Army 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, 1st Army, in the European (ETO), North African, and Mediterranean Theaters. Colonel Lockett was a 1928 West Point graduate. The collection includes a ten-page manuscript entitled "The March," which is about Lockett's serving with the Army in the European Theater and being a POW. Lockett was made to march by German guards with approaching Russians in January 1945. He discusses his encounters with the guards and the people along "the March." In March 1945, US artillery takes the Serbian compound where they were and freed them. Also, he describes the subsequent days to get out of danger, and he is eventually sent to Paris to speak with the press. In the manuscript, there are references to General Patton's son-in-law whose presence in the camp was a motivator for forming escape plans.

This collection relates to James M. Ryan who served as a 2nd Lieutenant Bombardier on a B-24 Bomber with the 866th Squadron, 494th Bombardment Group, stationed in Okinawa. Ryan's plane was shot down over Kyoto on July 28, 1945, and he was then imprisoned by the Japanese (declared missing in action by the United States). Ryan subsequently perished 500 feet from the epicenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. This collection contains photographs, letters, documents, and artifacts relating to the life, service, and death of James M. Ryan. His cased engraved purple heart medal is included in this collection.