Description
This collection contains ten letters from SF1/C Walter B. Mensch, USN to his parents during the Second World War. Also included
are one photograph, one clipping, and four letters from other service members during the Second World War and one letter from
a Marine serving overseas in Thailand in 1961.
Background
Shipfitter First Class Walter Bryan "Bud" Mensch, United States Navy (b. 7/3/1908) was born in Stroud, Oklahoma to William
and Lula Mensch and married Dorothy Woodward on May 31, 1941. He enlisted in the Seabees on March 22, 1942 and trained in
a Naval Construction Battalion with Unit C, Company B, Battalion 14, Platoon 7, in Barracks 43 at United States Navy Construction
Training Center Naval Operating Base (USN-CTC-NOB) Camp Allen, Norfolk, Virginia. He served in the South Pacific two years
and was discharged May 22, 1946 after contracting a tropical fever. In an undated letter while in training, he prophetically
told his parents that "I think that when I have the Malaria a few more times I'll try to get a discharge, it would be easy
enough..." during a malaria outbreak amongst his fellow servicemen.