Citizen Soldier

Journals provide insights to the everyday lives of servicemembers.

Walter R. Jager kept a journal from January 1917 to April 1918 that details his enlistment in the U.S. Army and service in World War I

Samuel Gervitz kept detailed journals of his experiences in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late-1940s.

These log books document the day to day of an Army unit deployed to Iraq.

The U.S. Army is the oldest and the largest branch of the U.S. military. From the beginning, the mission of the Army has been to protect and defend the United States using land forces. With that mission in mind, the Army has evolved over time from the various state militias which made up the first Continental Army, to the highly organized branch it is today. 

Sollie Kaplan was born July 28, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois and enlisted in the Army Air Corps on January 7, 1942.

A House of Commons ticket sub used by Sollie Kaplan when stationed in London in 1945.

This photo of Parisians surrounded by Allied tanks was taken shortly after the liberation of Paris in August, 1944.

The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army established in July 1942.

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (left) and the Army Good Conduct Medal (right) received by Lt. Sollie Kaplan.

Sollie Kaplan purchased this pair of Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives from the Wilkinson Sword Company while stationed in London during World War II.

The U.S. Navy marks October 13, 1775, as its official birthday and has taken part in every war in which the United States has been involved.

John D. Bayer enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman in 1965 and trained at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

This Surgical Instrument Kit, Minor Surgery was used by Navy Hospital Corpsman and contains surgical tools that can be used in the field to perform minor surgical procedures.

The Propper Plus Instrument Kit includes an otoscope for ear examinations and an ophthalmoscope for eye examinations. 

The M6 bayonet was created in 1957 for the newly introduced M14 battle rifle.

Approximately 40,000 recruits pass through the facility annually, with an estimated 7,000 recruits at the installation at any time. Jon D. Bayer served as the Director of Community Health at the Naval Hospital at the Naval Station Great Lakes from 1993-1999. 

This handout contains 74 translations, from English to Vietnamese, of phrases that would help a hospital corpsman provide care for an injured Vietnamese person.

The U.S. Marine Corps recognizes November 10 as its official birthday; on that day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to raise two battalions of Continental Marines.

Robert Luchs at the 1st Marine Division Command Post in Korea in April, 1954.

Robert Luchs received his medal for his service as a Marine in Korea through 1954. 

Photo taken by Robert Luchs while on liberty in Seoul, Korea.

This pin was worn by Robert Luchs as he served with the 1st Marine Division in Korea until 1954.

Robert Luchs satirized saltwater shower on transport ships in this comic.

Robert received these military payment certificates used as a form of currency used to pay U.S. military personnel in certain foreign countries from 1946 to 1973.

With origins in the Revenue Cutter Service and Life-Saving Service, the U.S. Coast Guard’s history dates back to the birth of the nation in the late 18th century.

Edward Paul Drenka was born August 5, 1925. In October, 1942, at the age of 17, Drenka enlisted in the Coast Guard as an Apprentice Seaman.

Photograph of Edward Drenka from his time in ROTC. He enlisted in the Coast Guard as an Apprentice Seaman.

Edward Drenka was awarded his Coast Gaurd Good Conduct medal for service with the Coast Guard from 1942-1946.

Edward Drenka’s Service Dress Blue Coast Guard uniform.

Edward Drenka was honorably discharged in April, 1946 after four years of service in the Coast Guard.

World War Two Victory Medal awarded to Edward Drenka.

After the end of World War II, the Army's aviation component, the Army Air Corps, became the U.S. Air Force, an independent branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. The Air Force considers September 18, 1947, as its official birthday.

This periscopic sextant belonged to Robert O. Harder, a navigator-bombardier on a B-52 Stratofortress during the Vietnam War.

This is a page from Robert O. Harder’s Air Navigation Manual (AF Manual 51-40).

Robert O. Harder was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal for his service as part of Operation Arc Light during which he flew 145 combat missions.

Robert O. Harder was awarded an Air Medal on May 28, 1970 for showing, “outstanding airmanship and courage…in successful accomplishment of important missions under extremely hazardous conditions.”

In 2009, Robert O. Harder published Flying from the Black Hole: The B-52 Navigator-bombardiers of Vietnam.