Finding Aid for the Albert W. Dillon Second World War papers, photographs, and correspondence 2019.068.w.r
Andrew Harman
Center for American War Letters Archives
7/25/2019
Leatherby Libraries
Chapman University
Orange, CA 92866
speccoll@chapman.edu
Contributing Institution:
Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: Albert W. Dillon Second World War papers, photographs and correspondence
source:
Stewart, Patricia Dillon
Creator:
Dillon, Albert Wesley, Lieutenant Colonel, 1905-1980
Identifier/Call Number: 2019.068.w.r
Physical Description:
0.15 Linear Feet
(4 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1943-1963
Date (bulk): 1943-1946
Abstract: This collection contains photographs, papers and correspondence relating to the service of LtCol. Albert Wesley Dillon, USAAF
during the Second World War. The papers include military records, promotions and citations, and retirement papers, and more.
Also included is some ephemera collected while overseas in Iran and Guam, as well as biographical information provided by
the donor.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: WWII 151
Container: 8-11
Container: 1-4
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Albert Wesley Dillon Family, via Patricia Dillon Stewart.
This collection is arranged according to its original order.
- Series 1, Military records
- Series 2, Photographs
- Series 3, Deployment to Iran
- Series 4, Deployment to Guam
Lieutenant Colonel Albert "Al" Wesley "Pat" Dillon, United States Army Air Force (12/15/1905 - 05/21/1980) was born in Bison,
Oklahoma and was educated in a one-room school before living with another family in Enid, Oklahoma to attend four years of
high school from 1918-1922. Dillon then went on to attend Oklahoma A and M, where he began going by "Pat" and participated
in the ROTC program, and soon after became a teacher. He later attended the University of Oklahoma and married Anna May McPhail
of Walsenburg, Colorado where he taught for a short time. They had four children.
Dillon joined the Army Air Force in 1942 and was stationed at Big Spring, Texas where he qualified as a bombardier. He was
later grounded and became an instructor at Big Spring where he and his wife bought a home. In early 1945 he was asked to deploy
to Iran to train bombardiers overseas, and in October was asked again to deploy to train new bombardiers, this time in Guam.
He returned home in February 1946 and was almost immediately discharged with the rank of Captain, soon after earning the rank
of Major. He worked with the Veterans Administration and held several other jobs in Texas and was reactivated for a short
time in 1958, during which time he suffered a heart attack. From 1946 until 1966, he served as a liaison officer for the US
Air Force Academy and finally retired from the reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel. He retired from civilian jobs in 1969 and
died in Irving, Texas in 1980 at the age of 74. More complete information, including family information pertaining to his
sons and daughter were provided by the donor and arranged with the military records.
[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], Albert W. Dillon Second World War papers, photographs and correspondence
(2019.068.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 photographs, papers and correspondence relating to the service of LtCol. Albert Wesley Dillon, USAAF
during the Second World War. The papers include military records, promotions and citations, retirement papers, and more. Also
included is some ephemera collected while overseas in Iran and Guam, as well as biographical information provided by the donor.
Three photographs were kept loose from the rest of the collection, and are contained with Folder 1, military records. These
include one black and white portrait of LtCol. Dillon in uniform in 1963, one black and white of Dillon smiling as the liaison
officer of the US Air Force Academy with a cadet, and one black and white of Dillon with his family. The family photo was
shot in 1944 and is contained in a decorative sleeve, with names and small biographies of each family member inserted, including
Dillon, his wife Anna May, his sons Bill, Larry and Bob, and his daughter Patricia.
Also included in that folder, not part of any series, is biographical information provided by the donor.
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
United States -- Army -- Air Forces -- Bombardier
United States -- Army -- Air Forces
World War (1939-1945)
World War (1939-1945) -- Christmas
World War (1939-1945) -- Marine Corps
World War (1939-1945) -- Pacific campaign -- Guam
Correspondence -- World War, 1939-1945
Photographs
World War (1939-1945) -- Photography
Airplanes, Military -- Maintenance and repair
Military education
Military aircraft.
Military training camps
Stewart, Patricia Dillon
box WWII 151, folder 8, folder 1
Series 1, Military records 1942 August 10 - 1965 October 5
Physical Description: 0.02 Linear feet(1 folder)
Language of Material: English.
This collection was original contained in an official records envelope and has been removed for safe access to the documents.
The some of the documents have been reorganized to impose a logical, chronological order where one did not exist.
This series contains the military records of LtCol. Albert W. Dillon, USAAF pertaining to his service during the Second World
War. The records were kept in an official records jacket and contain the following: promotions and citations, general orders
and deployment orders, qualification card, separation certificate, retirement approval and retirement pay orders, as well
as notes on the travels and promotions of Dillon compiled by either Dillon or the donor.
Also included is one panoramic black and white unit photograph of Section 7, Squadron G, Class 42K, Officers Training Scool,
Army Air Forces, Miami Beach. Dillon is in the middle row, sixth from the left.
The records jacket also contained one photograph, described in Series 2, Photographs.
box WWII 151, folder 9, folder 2
Series 2, Big Springs Army Air Forces Bombardier School 1943-1963
Physical Description: 0.03 Linear Feet(2 folders)
Language of Material: English.
The photographs have been kept in their original order. Many photographs were kept in an envelope, three photographs loose
from rest of the collection, and one panoramic unit photo was kept with the military records.
This series contains photographs of and relating to LtCol. Albert W. Dillon, USAAF during his work at the Big Springs Army
Air Forces Bombardier School during the Second World War.
The photographs were contained inside of a pictorial souvenir envelope for Big Spring Army Air Field, Texas, and includes
a yearbook and large postcard for the Army Air Forces Bombardier School there. The photos include four unit/class photos,
one photo of Dillon showing cadets how to operate a machine, and one of Dillon looking inside a training cockpit with another
officer.
The first unit photo, from July 1943, has names typed across the soldiers and written on the back, and includes:
Donald C. Rhoades, Marvin Johnson, Thomas W. Stallworth, Ira Lauderdale, Ernest Coverdill [Cavendill?], Albert W. Dillon,
Homer Fields, Edward A. Fredrickson, Kindred, Lowell Bowen, Jorgenson, Ernie Johnson, France [?], Roscoe Booth, Max E. Turner,
Kenchital.
The second unit photo, from summer 1944, also has names typed with written words on an afixed piece of white paper, and include:
Hopkins, Kenchital, Dickerson, Fredrickson, Bowen, Booth, Stallworth, Johnson, Scholtzhau, Brody, Johnson, Endicott, Schubert,
Lannery, Krobs, Coverdill, Fields, Snodgrass, Rhoads, Wade, Stadlewort, Williams, Dillon, Bryant.
Also included is one ticket for Dillon granting entry to the Officer's Mess at the training school in Big Spring, signed by
the officer in charge, Charles E. Sparks.
box WWII 151, folder 10, folder 3
Series 3, Deployment to Iran 1945 May 2 - June 29
Physical Description: 0.02 Linear feet(1 folder)
Language of Material: English.
This series has been arranged in its original order, with correspondence in chronological order and separate from the ephemeral
materials.
This series contains sixteen photocopied correspondence, three original correspondence including two V-Mail, and ephemera
from the deployment of LtCol. Albert W. Dillon, USAAF to Iran from April to July 1945. Dillon was requested to deploy as an
education officer for aeronautics and bombardiers for the Persian Gulf Command (PGC) and was stationed with the 1265th AAF
Base Unit, North Africa Division, Air Transport Command, Amirabad post in Tehran. Included in the ephemera he brought home
is a PGC pictorial book of sights, a memo on "Suggestions to Make Your Stay in Teheran [sic] More Pleasant," and a fold from
Yank magazine. The magazine includes articles on a Burmese cameraman, other short editorials, and a spread called "Paris.....of
the Middle East" about Tehran. The magazine and memo were folded inside the PGC pictorial book. Another item includes an envelope
containing a blank arrival bulletin and two logos for the Hotels de Ramsar, Iran.
The correspondence was written to his family, some to specific children, and discusses daily activities and the mundanity
of a non-combat area. This includes the local people, seeing movies, laundry, preparing lessons, sports, etc. He also mentions
enjoying himself, except for a little homesickness, and the restriction of travel, though he and some men have gotten around,
including a trip to the Caspian Sea.
In his first letter, dated May 2, 1945 he mentions the surrender of the Germans in Northern Italy and how he hopes this will
bring the war closer to a close.
The letter dated June 12, 1945 has a note in the top left corner that says, "The Iranian announcement asking for withdrawal
of troops is only a diplomatic move - no military action contemplated or even likely."
One letter, with no clear date, was sent to Dillon from Mrs. Tom W. ----worth [inferred], first name Ione. She mentions her
husband being away in the military and receiving a letter from a Corporal Eliz.[abeth] Stout who was formerly at Big Spring.
The last letter was written on June 29, 1945, a couple weeks before returning home.
box WWII 151, folder 11, folder 4
Series 4, Deployment to Guam 1945 August 10 - 1946 February
Physical Description: 0.03 Linear Feet(1 folder)
Language of Material: English.
This series has been arranged in its original order, with correspondence in chronological order and separate from the ephemeral
materials.
The USAHS Acadia was the first Army Hospital Ship of the Second World War and was converted to a troop transport at the end
of the war to obide by Geneva conventions while transporting unwounded soldiers home from the Pacific. More information can
be found in Troopships of World War II, by Roland W. Charles, Naval Architect, published by the Army Transportation Association,
1947. https://history.army.mil/documents/WWII/wwii_Troopships.pdf
This series contains four correspondence and ephemera from the deployment of LtCol. Albert W. Dillon, USAAF to Guam just after
the Second World War, from October 1945 to February 1946. Included are four photocopied correspondence from August 24 to September
13, 1945, written while on short assignment to Sacramento prior to deployment that were kept with the materials pertaining
to the deployment. Also included are photographs and ephemera collected while in Guam.
The photographs include two of at the time Captain Dillon outside of huts in Guam, standing in uniform for the photo, as well
as seven photo collages of soldiers learning in classrooms in Guam and one drawing, all apparently glued to a backing with
cuts to make them seemingly fit together or to something else (like a bulletin board). Also included are three photographs
and one photo postcard of the USAT (formerly US Hospital Ship) Acadia, upon which Dillon returned from the Philippines after
a flight there from Guam in February 1946. Two of the photos show Dillon standing in the foreground on the docks, unclear
if taken in Guam or upon return to San Francisco. One other picture of the Acadia, on a large magazine paper print while it
was painted with red crosses during service as a hospital ship, is also included.
The ephemera includes one welcome pamphlet with instructions for conduct and processing at Camp Stoneman, Pittsburg, California,
the San Francisco Port of Embarkation when returning from overseas duty. Also included are two Christmas cards from Guam,
one "Education While You Wait" pamphlet describing a program to educate soldiers waiting to return home, four history booklets
on the major Pacific battles, including Guam, Iwo Jima, Tinian and Saipan, as well as an unbound (previously glued to a backing)
Army Education Program with three pages of pictures and a table of contents (it appears some pages may be missing).