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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • Service History Note: The veteran received a battlefield Commission of second lieutenant. He also served as Infantry Squad Leader and Platoon Leader.
  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Company B, 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbow), 7th Army
  • Location of Service: Camp Hahn, California; Amarillo Air Base, Texas; Camp Gruber, Oklahoma; European Theater
  • Highest Rank: Captain

View full service history

"I'll never forget the sight… they were loading up [trucks] with the guys who hadn’t made it through the minefields…" (Video interview, 42:03)

Captain Robert Tweed’s unit, the 42nd Infantry "Rainbow" Division, achieved post-war fame for their liberation of Dachau. Focusing only on this part of the unit’s story, though, obscures their earlier experiences. As he relates, the horrific sights that the Rainbow Division witnessed at the concentration camp came at the end of a grueling winter and spring spent in combat along the Rhine River. In his oral history interview, he relates participating in a continuous three-day tank battle, as well as mounting an offensive through the Siegfried Line, an area riddled with landmines. As he relates, the costs of war were high for all involved--the liberated prisoners of Dachau, the American soldiers who died clearing the minefields, the German soldiers who were no more than children, and the starving civilians who picked through the Americans’ garbage looking for food during the post-war occupation.

About this Item

Title

  • Robert James Tweed Collection

Names

  • Gerlach, Jeff
  • U.S. House of Representatives/John Boehner
  • Tweed, Robert James
  • Boehner, John

State of Birth

  • OH

Home State

  • OH

Headings

  • -  Tweed, Robert James
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Form

  • DVD

Extent

  • 1 item

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • White

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Service History Note: The veteran received a battlefield Commission of second lieutenant. He also served as Infantry Squad Leader and Platoon Leader.
    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Company B, 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbow), 7th Army
    • Location of Service: Camp Hahn, California; Amarillo Air Base, Texas; Camp Gruber, Oklahoma; European Theater
    • Highest Rank: Captain
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1946
    • Entrance into Service: Commissioned
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 06/21/2012)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/87799

Cite as

  • Robert James Tweed Collection (AFC/2001/001/87799), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

Gerlach, Jeff, U.S. House Of Representatives/John Boehner, Robert James Tweed, and John Boehner. Robert James Tweed Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.87799/.

APA citation style:

Gerlach, J., U.S. House Of Representatives/John Boehner, Tweed, R. J. & Boehner, J. (1943) Robert James Tweed Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.87799/.

MLA citation style:

Gerlach, Jeff, et al. Robert James Tweed Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.87799/>.