Redden-Lancaster Families World War II Letters

The collection contains letters from Private Lloyd D. (Don) and Sergeant Glen C. Redden, and Robert Lancaster to the Redden's sister and brother-in-law and Lancaster's brother and sister-in-law, Barbara and James Lancaster in Peekskill, New York. The letters illustrate the similar and differing experiences the men had during the war and depict a soldier's life from basic training to deployment.

Glen Redden began writing his sister Barbara Lancaster while he was serving in the Army Air Corps. Originally stationed at the Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, he qualified as a weather observer and was sent to Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama, to attend "Air Education and Training Command" classes. By 1943, he was stationed in Cambridge, England, with the Eighteenth Weather Squadron of the Air Corps.

The bulk of the letters, some 279, are from Lloyd D. Redden to his sister Barbara. Redden, who went by his middle name Don, enlisted in 1943, and was stationed at Jefferson Barracks for his basic training. He then attended classes with the Air Force in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for officer placement. However, Redden flunked the course and was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska. In early 1944, he attended the Army Air Forces Technical School at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. He was sent to Oahu, Hawaii, in 1944 and then spent most of 1945 in the Pacific Theater before being sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, to receive his discharge.

The smallest group of letters are from Lieutenant Robert C. Lancaster to his brother and sister-in-law, James and Barbara R. Lancaster. Lancaster joined the army in 1942 and received his basic training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He eventually entered officer training classes, becoming a 2nd Lieutenant by the end of the year. He was eventually sent to the Pacific with the Army Corps of Engineers.