Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Churda, James H. (Second World War correspondence)
2020.025.w.r
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: James H. Churda Second World War correspondence
source:
Brown née Pavlik, Mary Lou
Creator:
Churda, James H., Corporal, 1900-1981
Identifier/Call Number: 2020.025.w.r
Physical Description:
0.01 Linear Feet
(1 folder)
Date (inclusive): 1943 February 28 - July 19
Abstract: This collection contains three letters from and one photograph of Cpl. James H. Churda, USAAF to his niece Mary Lou Pavlik
during the Second World War.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: WWII 154
Container: 8
Container: 1
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mary Lou Brown neé Pavlik.
This collection is arranged by material type and chronology.
Corporal James H. "Jimmie" Churda, United States Army Air Force (1/26/1901 - 8/23/1981) was born in Ames, Nebraska to Charles
and Mary Churda and had one sister, Helen. Helen had two daughters named Mary Lou (b. 1937 or 1938) and Joan to whom "Uncle
Jimmie" wrote during the Second World War. According to the donor, James served during the First World War. He was not old
enough so his mother signed for him when he enlisted on June 10, 1918 and served with the American Expeditionary Forces in
France for nine months, serving with Battery E 67th Artillery C.A.C.; discharged March 20, 1919 at Camp Dodge, Iowa.
Churda married Mary Dorothy Tangney in Casper, Wyoming on October 16, 1926. They divorced February 19, 1932 in Casper and
did not have any children.
He later worked at Blue Line Taxi Co. in Nebraska and was inducted back into the Army in Casper on August 24, 1942. He served
at Olmstead Field in Middleton, Pennsylvania with the 22nd Communications Squadron as a radio operator, later detached from
the 135th Army Airways Communications System Squadron at Granier Field, New Hampshire, and was released from service on November
18, 1944 as a sergeant. According to the donor he served in Quebec, and possibly Alaska or Greenland.
Churda worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and as a night driver for the Owl Taxi Company in Casper. He lived in a veteran's
home in Hot Springs, South Dakota where he was a member of American Legion Post 71 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1977,
he moved to a veterans home in Grand Island, NE where he passed away in 1981. He is interred at Ft. Logan National Cemetery
in Denver, Colorado.
[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], James H. Churda Second World War correspondence (2020.025.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 three letters from and one photograph of Cpl. James H. Churda, USAAF to his niece Mary Lou Pavlik
during the Second World War. The photograph is a copy and shows "Uncle Jimmie" in uniform holding his nieces Mary Lou and
Joan on November 11, 1943.
Churda's correspondence mentions B-17 Flying Fortresses and P-51 Mustangs. He told Mary Lou that he would like to show her
these planes someday, saying, "I"d show you what the Air Force has in store for Hitler and his pals."
Added October 27, 2021: one biography page of James Churda, one copy of Churda's enlisted record, one copy of Churda's honorable
discharge certificate, and one copy of a clipping about Churda as a night taxi driver in September 1952.
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
World War (1939-1945)
Correspondence -- World War, 1939-1945
United States -- Army -- Air Forces -- Radio operator
United States -- Army -- Air Forces
Airplanes, Military -- Maintenance and repair
Brown née Pavlik, Mary Lou