Kemp Battle Nye (1916-1994) was a member of the Horse Marine Guards in the 1930s, a personal courier to Nelson Johnson, and an author. The Kemp Battle Nye papers (1930-1990) includes photographs and manuscripts related to Kemp Battle Nye's service in the Marine Corps during WWII, primarily during his tours in China.

Kemp Battle Nye (1916-1994) was born in Winterville, North Carolina. During his tenure in the US Marines, he was a member of the Horse Marine Guards in the 1930s, which protected the US Embassy in Beijing, China, when the Japanese invaded China in 1937-38. During his stay in China, he was assigned as a personal courier to Nelson Johnson, then US ambassador to China. He returned to the United States in 1940, and a few years later was called back into the Marine Corps and returned to the Pacific Theatre where he participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands. He returned to Chapel Hill in 1946 and worked for the Intimate Bookshop. He spent most of his remaining years writing books about his experiences in 1930s China and his youth in the mountains of North Carolina. He also assembled a book made up of some of the 15,000 photographs he took during his years in China.

14 manuscript boxes, 5 oversize boxes (10.3 Linear Feet)

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