Finding Aid for the the Norbert G. Schmitz Second World War correspondence 2019.091.w.r
Emily Olague
Center for American War Letters Archives
9/22/2019
Leatherby Libraries
Chapman University
Orange, CA 92866
speccoll@chapman.edu
Contributing Institution:
Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: Norbert G. Schmitz Second World War correspondence
source:
Schmitz, Norbert
Creator:
Hager, Louis, Private, 1894-1972
Creator:
Starr, Wayne, Private
Creator:
Ruffing, Mark, Sergeant
Creator:
Smith, Claude, Private First Class
Creator:
Zich, Walter, Private First Class
Creator:
Laub, Thomas, Electrician's Mate Third Class
Identifier/Call Number: 2019.091.w.r
Physical Description:
.1 Linear feet
(1 folder)
Date (inclusive): 1917 July 12 - 1946 Sept 8
Abstract: This collection contains the correspondence of Cpl. Norbert G. Schmitz, USA written to his parents and brother. The collection
also includes postcards.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: WWII 111
Container: 13
Container: 1
This collection is open for research
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Norbert Schmitz
This collection is arranged in chronological order.
Corporal Norbert Gene Schmitz, United States Army (11/18/1923 - 9/26/1996) was born in Clyde, Sandusky, Ohio. He was one of
seven children, eldest of two boys. His younger brother, LaMar was too young to serve. His parents were Frank and Edith Schmitz.
He was married to Helen Ryan after the war and had one child, Mary. Postwar Norbert built houses.
[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], Norbert G. Schmitz Second World War correspondence (2019.091.w.r), Center
for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA. For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite
any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions,
and box/folder locations.
This collection contains five correspondence of Cpl. Norbert G. Schmitz, USA during the Second World War. Also included are
three postcards from Cpl. Schmitz dated between 1917-1946. All letters are written by Cpl. Schmitz with the exception of one
written to Cpl. Schmitz from his uncle, Frank. Three letters are to his parents and one is to his younger brother. Two postcards
were sent to his mother and the other was sent to Mr. Frank Hager.
The postcards are the earliest dated in the collection. In 1917, Cpl. Schmitz writes to Frank Hager about a picture of the
6th regiment he had sent earlier to Hager. On Oct. 25, 1943 Cpl. Schmitz writes to his mother about leaving Illinois and was
heading to California. The last postcard written Oct. 26, 1943 was to his mother written in Arizona, a stop on the way to
California.
He writes a letter to his younger brother, Lamar, on Oct. 13, 1944 asking about his football team and writing about gifts
he had sent his brother. He was on his way to New York, "anxious as the devil to get overseas". He writes how there is not
much to do in Paris, TX except spend money. He ends the letter with saying he would write his mother soon.
On May 5th 1945, Cpl. Schmitz writes his parents about the German surrender. "The other day we passed through a town where
21,000 allied troops had been freed shortly before," he writes while in Germany. He expresses how he cannot wait to come home
where he will marry his fiancé, Helen.
September 20, 1945, Cpl. Schmitz visited one of the concentration camps with some of his fellow troops. His friend Sully was
transferred, and he has new living arrangements with three new roommates. He asks about other friends and family, especially
his brother LaMar, who Cpl. Schmitz has reservations about joining the army.
January 18, 1946 Cpl. Schmitz writes to his parents again after not writing for several weeks. He has not been cleared to
go home yet, but some of his friends have. He had given an oil painting of himself as a Christmas gift to his family. He is
the manager for a new club for his battery, and he met a photographer for the Third Army Headquarters who is covering the
executions of war criminals. The photographer also covered prisoners of the camp that his battalion is guarding that holds
"some of the biggest Nazies in all Germany… There is about 5000 people interned in the camp." He is expecting to head home
around the end of March.
September 8, 1946 Cpl. Schmitz recieved a letter from his Uncle Frank where he sent him well wishes. This was sent after Cpl.
Schmitz was sent home from the war (where the correspondence was sent to his hometown in Ohio).
There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence -- World War, 1939-1945
World War (1939-1945) -- Germany
Postcards.
United States. -- Army.
World War (1939-1945) -- Concentration camps -- Germany
Baby boom generation
Schmitz, Norbert
Hager, Edna, 1898-1981
Hager, Frank, 1897-1981