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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 3053rd Quartermaster Salvage Collection Company
  • Location of Service: Camp Carson, Colorado; Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming; Le Harve, France; Luxembourg; Belgium; Germany; European Theater
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant

View full service history

“We found, in Europe, that people treated us just like any other unit of soldiers.” (Video interview 19:37)

Coming of age in segregated, small town Missouri at the beginning of World War II, Odra Bradley was desperate to escape the limited educational and professional opportunities available to African Americans. In his oral history interview, he describes how his military service yielded tangible benefits--such as the GI Bill--but also broadened his view of the world and taught him to coexist with a wide range of people, including the German civilians he interacted with during his time with 3053rd Quartermaster Salvage Collection Company in the European Theater. The respect extended to him by Europeans demonstrated that poor treatment on the basis of skin color was not an immutable fact of life, even for an African American soldier serving in the segregated Army

More Resources

View 14 images in sequence.
[ Photo Album ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ Motor Transport Club ID Card ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ U.S. Army Projection Operator's Permit, Signal Corps Training Film Library ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ Identification Discharge Certificate ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ Enlisted Record and Report of Separation with Honorable Discharge ]
View 2 images in sequence.
[ Separation Qualification Record ]

Show more resources (6)

View Enlarged Image
[ Application for Servicemen's Readjustment Allowance ]
View Enlarged Image
[ Discharge certificate [11/11/1945] ]
View 4 images in sequence.
[ Memoir, "Additional Biographical Information -- Odra "Brad" Bradley, PhD" ]
View 3 images in sequence.
[ Letter to Father [08/02/1942] ]
View 5 images in sequence.
[ Letter to "Pop" [?] [05/16/1943] ]
View Enlarged Image
[ Letter requesting a copy of his discharge paperwork ]

About this Item

Title

  • Odra W. Bradley Collection

Names

  • Maish, Elissa
  • Bradley, Odra W.
  • Bradley, Teresina

State of Birth

  • MO

Home State

  • AZ

Headings

  • -  Bradley, Odra W.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Black or African American

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 3053rd Quartermaster Salvage Collection Company
    • Location of Service: Camp Carson, Colorado; Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming; Le Harve, France; Luxembourg; Belgium; Germany; European Theater
    • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1942-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 02/13/2015)
  • Video: Flash Drive [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 02/13/2015)
  • Manuscript: Correspondence [3 items] -- Mixed (handwritten and typewritten documents) (collected 1942 - 1953)
  • Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [7 items] -- Mixed (handwritten and typewritten documents) (collected 1943 - 1953)
  • Manuscript: Memoirs [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 2015)
  • Photograph: Original photographic print [12 items] -- Photograph (collected 1943 - 2008)
  • Photograph: Copy photographic print [2 items] -- Portrait (collected 1935)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)
  • Photograph: Original photographic print [1 item] -- Portrait (collected 2019)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/99995

Cite as

  • Odra W. Bradley Collection (AFC/2001/001/99995), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Maish, Elissa, Odra W Bradley, and Teresina Bradley. Odra W. Bradley Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.99995/.

APA citation style:

Maish, E., Bradley, O. W. & Bradley, T. (1942) Odra W. Bradley Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.99995/.

MLA citation style:

Maish, Elissa, Odra W Bradley, and Teresina Bradley. Odra W. Bradley Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.99995/>.