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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Battery A, 411th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, 3rd Army; Training Cadre, Camp Croft
  • Location of Service: European Theater
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant

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"Truman was giving his speech about the war being over and suddenly the German planes came over, and we shot one of them down." (Video Interview, Part 2, 2:21)

The day World War II came to an official end, Edward Hopkins and his antiaircraft crew were taking no chances, picking off a German plane whose intentions weren't clear. Hopkins was in Austria at the time, attached to Patton's Third Army, which had been famously diverted from driving straight on into Berlin for the end of the war. His postwar experiences included supervising German civilians as they cleaned up the Dachau death camp and visiting the grave of his brother in France, who had been killed in action there.

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About this Item

Title

  • Edward Wallace Hopkins Collection

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • Hopkins, Edward Wallace
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Michelle G. Spence
  • Hopkins, Martha

State of Birth

  • NY

Home State

  • VA

Headings

  • -  Hopkins, Edward Wallace
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Battery A, 411th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, 3rd Army; Training Cadre, Camp Croft
    • Location of Service: European Theater
    • Highest Rank: Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1946
    • Entrance into Service: Drafted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Photocopy of Photographic Print [2 items] -- Photograph (collected 1943 - 2000)
  • Video: VHS [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 07/21/2001)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of video recording (collected 07/21/2001)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 07/21/2001)
  • Video: Digital Betacam [1 item] -- Digitized Copy (collected 07/21/2001)
  • Computer File: DVD [ item] -- (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/1

Cite as

  • Edward Wallace Hopkins Collection (AFC/2001/001/1), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • 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:

Library Of Congress, Edward Wallace Hopkins, National Court Reporters Association, Michelle G. Spence, and Martha Hopkins. Edward Wallace Hopkins Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00001/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress, Hopkins, E. W., National Court Reporters Association, Michelle G. Spence & Hopkins, M. (1943) Edward Wallace Hopkins Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00001/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, et al. Edward Wallace Hopkins Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00001/>.