Blizzard Family Papers 1930-1949 1942-1945

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440

Summary

Extent:
211.00
Creator:
Blizzard, Arlie Raymond, 1909-1966 Blizzard, Arthur Roy, 1918-1992 Blizzard, William Russell, 1912-2000
Abstract:
Correspondence, papers, and a photograph concerning three Franklin, West Virginia brothers who served in the United States military during the Second World War. Collection consists of nearly 200 letters of outgoing correspondence penned by three brothers, Arlie, Arthur, and W. Russell Blizzard to their mother and sisters in Franklin, West Virginia. Most correspondence concerns training, work, and soldier life on military bases in the United States during World War II. Also included is Arlie Blizzard's visit to Japan and Korea in late 1945. Collection also contains a few pre and post-war letters and school papers.
Language:
The papers are in: English

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, papers, and a photograph concerning three Franklin, West Virginia brothers who served in the United States military during the Second World War. Collection consists of nearly 200 letters of outgoing correspondence penned by three brothers, Arlie, Arthur, and W. Russell Blizzard to their mother and sisters in Franklin, West Virginia. Most correspondence concerns training, work, and soldier life on military bases in the United States during World War II. Also included is Arlie Blizzard's visit to Japan and Korea in late 1945. Collection also contains a few pre and post-war letters and school papers.

Biographical / historical:

Arlie Raymond Blizzard (17 Sept. 1909 - 20 Oct. 1966) of Franklin, West Virginia and son of Granville Harris (1874-1934) and Sarah Jane Dahmer Blizzard, enlisted in the United States Army in 1940. In mid 1942, as First Sergeant, he was assigned to Camp Forrest, Tennessee. In the fall of 1942 he moved to army bases in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. In 1943 he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant and was assigned to various bases in the western United States; including bases in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Throughout 1944 and early 1945 he was stationed in Hawaii. He spent July and August 1945 in the Pacific, part of it at Okinawa, Japan, and later at a base in Korea. As a Captain, in late December 1945 Blizzard was honorably discharged and returned home to West Virginia. Blizzard died at Rockingham, Virginia in 1966.

Acquisition information:
The materials were acquired by Special Collections Research Center from eBay on 04/01/2007.