Hull, T. Clark parts 1- 2 (tape #6 sides a/b)
Tape stock length: 90 min
Running Time: 51 min
Summary: Mr. Hull talks about boyhood memories of growing up in Danbury and explains how the Danbury normal school was viewed by residents at the time. He goes on to talk about how he and several others including Bill Ratchford and Francis Collins acted as advocates for WCSU on the state level
Label Contents: 09/27/1976
1976
Friel, Jack
Hull, T. Clark
Running Time: 51 min
0-10 Min: judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut; the importance of community; was always aware of WCSU as the Danbury normal school, and how it always confused the local children as to what went on inside its small campus; Ed Dawling one of the first men to attend WCSU; remembers his first impressions of Dr. Haas and how she worked to evolve WCSU;
10-20 Min: development of WCSU continued; realization among community leaders that WCSU was a very valuable asset to Danbury; the part that he played in getting funding to expand the midtown campus; states that he had the initial idea to rename the Danbury State Teachers College to that of Western Connecticut State College;
20-30 Min: the overall positive attitude of the student body at WCSU; west Side campus, need for it; reflections on Dr. Haas' personality; felt it was reasonable to impose a reasonable tuition as long as it cause any person to go wanting for an education; states that head had to hire a security guard to accompany him to meetings during the tuition debate; the familial regard with which most Danbury residents had for WCSU;
30-40 Min: community ties as they relate to the expansion of WCSU; another benefit for WCSU is its location in the center of a city;
40-50 Min: expansion and West Side campus talks continue; political talk about Mr. Hull's various positions in state government and what he accomplished while in office; praise of Dr. Haas' ability to charm the politicians
Esposito, Dr. Bill part 1 (tape #4 side b)
Tape stock length: 90 min
Running Time: 45min
Dr. Esposito relates stories about his personal relationship with students, and conveys the great sense of pride he felt and still feels for graduates of WCSU. reminiscences about students focuses on those students that have left WCSU and become noteworthy in one way or another
Label Contents: 12/1/1976
1976
Friel, Jack
Esposito, Dr. Bill
Running Time: 45min
0-10 Min: he was a class adviser; retired in June of 1975; 1968's political climate and how the WCSU student body reacted to it; his relationship with the student body; students desire to protest the Vietnam war, with minimal impact on WCSU; affects of changing the name from Danbury state teachers college to western Connecticut state college; changes in nursing program, one of the first programs to have Saturday classes;
10-20 Min: personal relationship between Mr. Friel and Dr. Esposito, met on a golf course in 1968; specific projects completed under the do-day era; Dr. Esposito's story of how he came to be at WCSU; was offered a job in the science department by Dr. Haas or Dr. Cook, Science was still a general department when he started in the fall of 1948; faculty, when he started, would meet in entirety once every two weeks;
20-30 Min: foundations of summer programs; Higgins opened for classes in the summer session of 1950; tunnels under WCSU and their use by students vs their intended purpose of housing heating pipes; what Old Main was used for in 1948 and what it was referred to then; the student building, Curly Hall, which was a quonset hut, and its many uses;
30-40 Min: the various changes of WCSU and how it happened, does not elaborate on the change itself; first WCSU graduates to get accepted to other graduate programs and the pride he felt; Dr. Haas and athletic programs; other notable students;
40-50 Min: quality of music program and its students; spring weekend, with a float parade, skit night, king and queen, singing competition
Students with bicycle, letter sweater, 1940s
8 x 10"; b & w
1940s
Female Students Posed, 1940s
8 x 10" b&w print
Women students in posed portrait. Used for promotional brochure.
1940s
WCSU Photographs and Miscellanea, RG 008
Danbury State Teachers College - Brochure
Trifold brochure; 3.5 x 8.5"; b & w
Brochure for prospective students.
1940s
WCSU Photographs and Miscellanea Collection, RG 8
Dr. Truman Warner Interview: World War II Reminiscences
90 minute cassette
Dr. Truman Warner was an Anthropology Professor at Western at the time of the interview. Warner attended and graduated from the High School in what is now White Hall, He attended and graduated Danbury State Teachers College. When the war began, Warner was teaching at his first assignment, having just graduated from DTC in June of '41. The interview was recorded in the EI Gross library
in the basement of White Hall. The interview was a class assignment (Introduction to Historical Research).
1989-05
Marker, Christopher W.
Warner, Truman
Side A
0-10min: His graduation and subsequent employment at Center Elementary School in Brookfield
Center.11 December 7 , 1941 II Rebuked at school by administration for allowing students to listen to the radio about news of the war; Civilian Defence duty - appointed as an Air Raid Warden in Danbury; discusses
the silly rules and regulations of the CD - "people having a sense of duty";
11-20min: Drafted into the Army (given notice) in early 1942; the feeling that "not whether but when" the U.S. would win the war; Travels to Fort Devens, Massachusetts along with a number of local men in Nov. '42; Processes into the Army, then travels by train to Boot camp; Recalls his train derailing in Indiana ;
21-30min: Arrives at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma (Grapes of Wrath country); Begins training, eventually ending up as a Medic; Division unique in that all men will stay together during and after training, as opposed to being sent as replacements to already existing units - his unit known as the 88th - the Blue Devils; Unit moves to Louisiana for further training in the summer of '43. Transfer and promotion to corporal in 3rd Battalion, 350th Regiment Aid station; Describes the function of the station(triage center, primary care); Describes typical Army Ineptness of command : troops not given adequate water supply, many experience heat exhaustion on long, hot marches; Tells story about commanders looking for their missing troops.
31-40min: Transferred to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas; Sightseeing in San Antonio further training: Takes his first and only leave; 3 days by train through New Orleans ending up in New York; only a week at home and then back to San Antonio; Receives word to prepare for debarkation in Fall of '43; unit transfers to
Norfolk, Virginia (staging area); Screens troops for final processing to ship out at Dispensary; reprimanded by
officer for giving out immunizations, but is exonerated by realistic officer who understands the difficulties; Travels in a giant flotilla known as a convoy in Nov. '43 across Atlantic. recalls that the journey was long and crowded, not breaking any records for crossing the Ocean - over 3 weeks.
41-46: Arrives at Casablanca, Morocco. II story about curious medics who drink strange brew that has "fallen off the back of a donkey cart." - turns out to contain some hallucinogenic compound which causes medics to experience horrible visual illusions; Troops board trains heading north, then east across North Africa. "Lister bags and K-rations" - crowded as usual.; Recalls being fascinated by journey: Turns south towards the Atlas mountains arriving at Magenta, Algeria?; Cold
desert nights - only officers have sleeping bags - little food, as the majority of supply trains are attacked by nomadic Arabs, cargoes pillaged.
Side B
0-10min: Officers get guns and Jeeps and hunt gazelles - which become "gazelleburgers"; Wanders around local country during free time exploring; credits these times as
crucial to developing his interest in Anthropology.
Goes to city of Bellabes - the headquarters of the French Foreign Legion; vivid memories: bazaars, unique architecture and a real meal at a French restaurant
11-20min: Given orders to prepare, once again, for journey to points unknown; Arrives in Italy after many harrowing accounts crossing the Mediterranean; Describes the Screaming Mimi shells that the Germans used in the war.; Recalls his duties as medic during the fighting that his unit was involved with;
21-30min: retrieving the dead and wounded in the middle of the night; Use of sulfa drugs and the importance of such drugs in fighting infection. Discusses the May push - U.S. troops drive north in May '44 - unit reaches: the Arno river in late May; Transfers to Anti-aircraft batteries unit II All-Black troops, highly decorated but commanded by white officers, causing a degree of tension;
31-40min: Told by Warrant Officer that he is accepted by the troops; Recalls watching hordes of aircraft flying overhead on their way to France, during early June '44; Given a commission as Medical Administration Officer; Transferred to France in middle of Summer of '44; in charge of a medical supply unit preparing items for the South Pacific; Gets appendicitis; Takes a recuperative leave on the French Riviera, at Cannes;
41-46min: Finds unit gone after he returns from leave; Relocates to Lyon, where he stays until the end of the war and when he finally returns to the States and separates from the military.
Summary version 2:
00 MIN | Graduation from Danbury State Teachers College| First Teaching Position, Center School –
Brookfield, CT| Pearl Harbor – Tony Palermo (DSTC classmate) field trip with archeological students |
Palermo died in the War| Warner told students about the war and let them listen to Roosevelt’s speech|
Criticized for playing speech |
10 MIN | School became involved with sugar rationing| Civil Defense| Air Raid Warden| training in first aid|
questioning the practicality of home front preparations| drafted in 1942, not “gun-ho”| Not whether U.S.
would win, but when”| called into the army with other Danburians | sent to fort Devens, MA| Derailment of
train taking them west in Indiana – no one hurt | Ended up in Fort Bragg, not Bragg, Camp Gruber| trained as
a division 88th Division |
20 MIN| was assigned to medics | First “All Draft” unit sent overseas | Moved to Louisiana and Texas for
maneuvers | made corporal of sergeant | soldiers sent out in heat with one canteen for training | a large number
dehydrated and suffering heat exhaustion | example of unwise training | sent to Fort Sam Houston in Texas |
annoyed with policies which excluded enlisted men | Pleasant city – Alamo | Got leave home for week|
30 MIN | 3 days to get home | in the fall, prepared to deploy | went east to Norfolk, VA | put in charge of
dispensary at Norfolk | check for diabetes, etc. | went in a convoy across the Atlantic in November 1943 |
crept across | 2 weeks to cross, didn’t know destination | disembarked in Casablanca |
40 MIN | a barrel spilled off the ship and some soldiers partook of the contents which was wine likely
containing hashish – soldiers out of their heads | got on a train across Morocco in 40 or 8 boxcars | got to
Algeria, went south | arrived Magenta(?) | short of food | END OF SIDE A
00 MIN | Africa | wandering during free time | eating at French Restaurant | Got aboard ship with nothing in
dispensary | obtained supplies from a warehouse| someone had an appendicitis | went in a harbor Azerte? to operate | crossed the Mediterranean by themselves | Sicily to Naples | Casino was still in contention |
Sometimes medics went into combat, sometimes way up front |
10 MIN | Went in with British helmets to deceive Germans | Germans used screaming mimis | stretcher
bearers would bring the wounded out of combat back to a village where the medics could take care of the
wounded at an aid station established by the British | were stationary for a period | hung burlap over one
intersection so that the German machine gunners couldn't hit them |
20 MIN | Big push northward | Germans weren't expecting the amount of firepower Americans amassed |
Pushing, attacking, unpacking, packing | May 1944 | Connected up with Anzio troops | by August had pushed
through Rome, Florence, Pisa | transferred to anti-aircraft battalion | All the troops were African American,
officers were white | all lieutenants were black – higher officers were white | there may have been shots fired
between whites and blacks | Became assistant battalion surgeon | accepted by the African American soldiers |
30 MIN | the anti-aircraft battalion broke up because there was little need | invasion of southern France |
turned into a transportation unit | attached to medical base depot company – preparing for Asian theater | only
officer | ordered to establish the medical base depot and didn't know what to do – took command of an outfit
for 2 or 3 days | moved to Marseilles | had German prisoners working for them | supposed to be in charge of
the prophylactic distribution | had an appendicitis | requested leave for the Riviera | spent several days and had a great time | went to Nice | dated nurses |
40 MIN | Men from the front lines were streaming in | got back to Marseilles and the entire outfit was gone |
went up to Leon | Involved with rearming the French army | 1945 | All the gold for fillings was stolen from
the dental truck | END
Unidentified Negatives from Library Director's Office
2.5 x 4" and 1.5 x 3" negatives
Found in the Library Director's Office in 2013. Likely are DSTC students and were items donated to the University for its centennial celebration.
Danbury State Teachers College Brochure
18 x 5.5" x 8.5"
Images of students and activities
1940
Archery class behind Fairfield Hall
5" x 8", photo print
Men and women posed with bows and arrows at the ready. Women are in gym suits.
1944