{"id":7564,"date":"2018-05-08T09:57:24","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T13:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7564"},"modified":"2018-06-11T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T20:28:34","slug":"v-e-day-the-jerome-epstein-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7564","title":{"rendered":"V-E Day – The Jerome Epstein Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Ben Brands, L. Claire Kincannon Graduate Intern. Ben has a Bachelors of History from the College of William and Mary, a Masters of History from George Mason University, and is currently a PhD candidate in History at George Mason University.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the inaugural L. Claire Kincannon\u00a0Graduate Intern\u00a0at the George Mason University Special Collections\u00a0Research Center, I have spent the last few months exploring the Jerome Epstein\u00a0Collection<\/a><\/span>, and specifically working to transcribe and digitize the letters he wrote while serving in the United States Army during\u00a0World War II. Epstein was 16 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II, and enlisted in the Army shortly before his 18th<\/span>\u00a0birthday. Following training in Georgia and Louisiana, Epstein served as a radio operator in Italy, which is where he was located on\u00a0May 8<\/b>th<\/span><\/b>, 1945<\/b>\u00a0when Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, a day subsequently recognized and celebrated as \u201cVictory in Europe Day\u201d, or more commonly, \u201cV-E Day.\u201d\u00b9<\/p>\n

\"\"

Newsclipping:\u00a0Daytonians\u00a0Observe VE-Day\u00a0<\/span>
Citation:\u00a0Scrapbook of World War II Items, circa 1940,\u00a0Jerome Epstein Papers, C0262, Box 16, Folder 1, Special Collection Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Today,\u00a0on the\u00a073rd<\/span>\u00a0anniversary of V-E Day, I would like to highlight some items from the Epstein collection that, I think, speak to the importance and impact of the day. Epstein wrote home regularly\u00a0while serving during World War II, and his preserved letters provide a unique and valuable view of the war. These letters are reinforced\u00a0by a scrapbook Epstein\u2019s mother, Rosella Epstein, collected and preserved while Jerome was overseas. In the image to the left you can see the clippings Rosella preserved of the celebration of V-E Day in the Epstein\u2019s hometown of Dayton, Ohio. V-E Day was marked across the United States with massive celebrations, both riotous like those in the first two photos and somber such as that at Patterson Field in the final photo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet in a letter written home from Italy five\u00a0days later, Jerome Epstein\u00a0noted that in his unit, the famed 10th<\/span>\u00a0Mountain Division, there \u201cwas not wild celebration here like there was in the States.\u201d In a revealing passage Epstein continued, saying, \u201cwe all say that we will do our celebrating when we are home and have our discharge papers in our hands.\u201d While obviously excited about the German surrender (later in the letter he expresses his relief at\u00a0no longer having to fear artillery shelling at night), home, and with it an exit from\u00a0the strictures of Army life, was to Epstein (and\u00a0presumably many of his comrades)\u00a0a more powerful call than victory\u00a0over Nazi Germany.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lack of celebration among Epstein and his fellow soldiers\u00a0also reflects\u00a0a historical context that is hard to recapture today. While we all know now that Japan was destined to surrender a mere three months later following the first use of nuclear weapons in history, at the time this was obviously unknown to 19 year old private soldiers in Italy, and it was\u00a0believed that it might\u00a0be years before Japan was fully defeated (indeed, the spectacle of bloody combat on\u00a0Okinawa<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that was entering its 6th<\/span>\u00a0week as Germany surrendered could not have been encouraging for a quick end to war in the Pacific). In fact, shortly after the German surrender\u00a0 the U.S. War Department produced and distributed a newsreel,\u00a0Two Down, One to Go<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 to soldiers serving in Europe in order to begin mentally preparing them for continued war in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Krauts are out\u00a0<\/span>
Caption\/Citation:\u00a0\u00a0Pamphlet\u00a0produced by the U.S. Army after V-E Day, using text and cartoons to remind soldiers that while the \u201cKrauts were out\u201d there was still Japan to worry about. Some of the caricatures included here have not aged well.\u00a0\u00a0Scrapbook of World War II Items, circa 1940, Jerome Epstein Papers, C0262, Box 16, Folder 1, Special Collection Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

This\u00a0feeling\u00a0is\u00a0also\u00a0reflected in Epstein\u2019s letter of May 13th<\/span>, where\u00a0immediately\u00a0following his discussion of the muted response to\u00a0V-E Day he details his \u201cpoints\u201d under the\u00a0Advanced Service Rating Score<\/a><\/span>\u00a0system. This system assigned points for total time in service, time overseas, awards, and dependent children to each individual soldier to determine who would stay in Europe, who would be discharged, and who would be sent to the Pacific. With his 30 points, Epstein could expect to be sent\u00a0to the Pacific, either with his current unit or as an individual replacement. \u201cI have an amazing total of 30!\u201d Epstein wrote, \u201cI can see myself in the Army years and years from now\u2026it\u2019s too horrible and gruesome to think about. Maybe in 50 years I\u2019ll get another stripe. But then I\u2019d be tripping all over my beard.\u201d Indeed, even with the dropping of the Atomic bomb and the surrender of Japan it would be April of\u00a01946, eleven months after V-E\u00a0Day, before\u00a0Jerome was finally able to return home with\u00a0his discharge papers in his hands for a proper celebration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of this historical context illustrates both the value of archival sources as well as one of their\u00a0paradoxes. While these primary sources are invaluable in providing the evidence needed for historians to understand and interpret the past, the researcher will often find himself knowing more about\u00a0the background, context, and results of events than the contemporaries whose writings make up the archival files.\u00a0This can especially be true when dealing with war, with its\u00a0inherent chaos and uncertainty\u00a0and,\u00a0in the case of World War II, its efficient system of censorship. When writing from overseas,\u00a0World War II\u00a0soldiers\u2019 mail was censored by officers to ensure that no operation details were leaked that could get back to the enemy.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Letters from soldiers overseas had to be read and censored by an officer before they were mailed home. On this envelope you can see the stamp and signature verifying that it has been censored. Jerome Epstein Papers, C0262, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collection Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Thus, in his letter of April 17th<\/span>, 1945, Epstein wrote\u00a0cryptically\u00a0to his parents that \u201cI imagine you have read in the papers about events going on over here lately. The fireworks have started,\u00a0and the \u2018Krauts\u2019\u00a0will pay plenty for their evil.\u201d What he couldn\u2019t write was that three days earlier his division had launched a major offensive against the German lines in Northern Italy; what he couldn\u2019t yet know was that on the very day he was writing this letter his division was breaking through the German lines in a victory that would lead to the surrender of all German forces in\u00a0Italy less than two weeks later.\u00a0Placing these obscure archival comments into their proper historical context is perhaps the most rewarding part of archival research and this internship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another great part of this internship\u00a0has been getting to work in such detail with a single collection. Transcribing every letter written over the course of Epstein\u2019s two plus years of service has allowed me to notice things that aren\u2019t apparent on reading a single letter. For example, on every letter before V-E Day, Epstein starts his header on each page with \u201cSomewhere in Italy.\u201d In his letter following the German surrender\u00a0he, for the first time, is able to tell his family where he is, writing from \u201cRiva, Italy.\u201d A small change, but one you can imagine had a big impact on a mother who had spent the last four months not knowing where her\u00a0son was or what he was doing\u2026a\u00a0perhaps especially poignant detail for a letter sent on Mother\u2019s Day, 1945.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Side by side of Pre\/post VE Day letter headings\u00a0<\/span>
Citation: Jerome Epstein Papers, C0262, Box 1, Folder 4, Special Collection Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

I will let Jerome Epstein close this blog entry, since he put it much more eloquently\u00a0than I\u00a0could ever\u00a0hope to: \u201cThen came the surrender, and with it that grand feeling of relief and thankfulness. And our thoughts turned to those who did so much to make this victory possible\u2014those who will never come back.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9The actual surrender was signed in France on May 7th, but was then resigned with Soviet participation in Berlin on May 8th. Since by then it was May 9<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in Moscow, the Soviet Union recognizes May 9<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span>\u00a0as \u201cVictory Day\u201d rather than May 8<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span>. Source<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Follow Special Collections Research Center on Social Media at our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/span>, and\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/span>\u00a0accounts. To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0website<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to\u00a0schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions. Appointments are not necessary to request and view collections.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Ben Brands, L. Claire Kincannon Graduate Intern. Ben has a Bachelors of History from the College of William and Mary, a Masters of History from George Mason University, and is currently a PhD candidate in History at George Mason University. As the inaugural L. Claire Kincannon\u00a0Graduate Intern\u00a0at the George Mason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101014,"featured_media":7568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557,558,516,3,5,121],"tags":[421,621,624,625,613,623,79],"class_list":["post-7564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-collections","category-digitization","category-internships","category-news","category-scrc-interest","category-scrc-picks","tag-history","tag-italy","tag-jerome-epstein","tag-l-claire-kincannon-internship","tag-letters","tag-v-e-day","tag-world-war-ii"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=2483%2C3886&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-1Y0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7809,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7809","url_meta":{"origin":7564,"position":0},"title":"The Jerome Epstein Papers – Part One","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"August 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The post was written by Ben Brands, the 2018 L. 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