Dodd Sellers Papers and Militaria

Collection

Identifier: MSS-4159

Scope and Contents

The collection consists primarily of the militaria of Dodd Sellers who was a Master Sergeant in the Marine Corps during World War II. Included are two spiral bound books written by Sellers; one is a narrative history of the Third Battalion, Tenth Marines, and the other is an autobiographical account of his tour of duty as a Marine in the Pacific Theater. There are also a small body of correspondence, a shadow box displaying his medals and insignia, and a silk covered pocket New Testament. In it Sellers listed the ships he was in, where they landed, the places he saw action, and the number of times he crossed the equator and international date line.

Dates

1942-2010

Creator

Sellers, Dodd (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Dodd Sellers, son of Oscar and Altie Walker Sellers was born on June 5, 1921. He attended high school in Tuscaloosa. After school hours and on weekends he worked in neighborhood grocery stores. He studied radio technology at the University of Alabama. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps where, due to his interest and training in radio communications and Morse Code, he was eventually assigned to the Third Battalion, Tenth Marines, based in the Pacific Theater. Sellers participated in the campaigns at Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. He was also part of the occupying forces in Japan at the end of the war.

Sellers married Mary Jean Lewis. He worked for, and retired from, the University of Alabama Educational Television Services. He wrote a book on the history of the Third Battalion, Tenth Marines, as well as one on his "journey" as a Marine during World War II. He died on March 4, 2015.

Extent

2.2 Linear Feet (2 booklets, correspondence, pocket New Testament, and a shadow box of medals)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The militaria of this Alabama native who was a Master Sergeant in the Marine Corps during World War II.

Provenance

gift of Mary Jean Sellers, 2015

General

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