Top of page

Collection Veterans History Project Collection

« Back to World War I: Correspondence and Photographs page

Portrait of Bert Kleinecke in uniform [1918]

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1914-1918
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Service Unit/Ship: 4th Battalion, 29th Engineers
  • Location of Service: Fort McDowell, California; Camp Devens, Massachusetts; Langres, France
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant First Class
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/11256

View full service history

"War is mostly work, partly like a 4th of July celebration; partly like a circus, and to anyone with ambition and life in him, extremely fascinating.... I would very much like to get into the artillery...as an observer, or a range finder, and hope to see real action before the fighting is over." (Letter to his mother, June 12, 1918)

Bert Kleinecke, born in Chicago and raised in California by his widowed mother Ella, was a 28-year-old surveyor when he enlisted to serve in the Great War. Between April 1918 and June 1919, he wrote regularly to his mother and to his sister Grace Jones (with loving asides to his niece Charlotte and nephew Albert), and occasionally to his brother-in-law Chas, who was serving stateside. Though he yearned to be closer to the action, Kleinecke had to be content with producing military maps from photographs and existing maps. His correspondence, about a third of it written during the Occupation, is filled with sharp observations of the French people (whom he found grateful), the Germans (to whom he was not allowed to speak), and the often haunting evidence of war in the aftermath of battles and skirmishes.

View 3 images in sequence.
[ Photo Album ]

More Resources

View 75 images in sequence.
[ Letters written from France during World War I ]

About this Item

Title

  • Albert Lester Kleinecke Collection

Names

  • Kent, Julia M.
  • Kleinecke, Albert Lester

Headings

  • -  Kleinecke, Albert Lester
  • -  World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • White

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1914-1918

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Service Unit/Ship: 4th Battalion, 29th Engineers
    • Location of Service: Fort McDowell, California; Camp Devens, Massachusetts; Langres, France
    • Highest Rank: Sergeant First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1917-1919
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran 's served in the American Expeditionary Forces in the Fall of 1917 and ended in the Summer of 1919.

Materials

  • Manuscript: Correspondence [ item] -- (collected 1918-1919)
  • Photograph: Original photographic print [1 item] -- Photographs (collected 1918)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/11256

Online Format

  • image

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/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

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

Recording:

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

Photograph:

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

Computer file:

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

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), 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:

Kent, Julia M, and Albert Lester Kleinecke. Albert Lester Kleinecke Collection. 1917. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.11256/.

APA citation style:

Kent, J. M. & Kleinecke, A. L. (1917) Albert Lester Kleinecke Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.11256/.

MLA citation style:

Kent, Julia M, and Albert Lester Kleinecke. Albert Lester Kleinecke Collection. 1917. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.11256/>.