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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army Air Forces/Corps
  • Unit of Service: 793rd Squadron, 468th Group, 58th Wing, 20th Air Force
  • Location of Service: Northern Mariana Islands; Calcutta, India
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant

View full service history

"It would get so humid, your shoes would rot overnight." (Video Interview, 58.23)

As an engineering student at Calvin College when the war started, Henry James Ryskamp thought he might end up building bridges in the Army. Instead, he took intensive training at Waldover Briggs Manufacturing in Detroit, where he learned to maintain the Army Air Force's first computerized gunnery system. He spent most of his time in India overseeing a squadron of eighteen men who took care of the new B-29s and their sophisticated systems.

More Resources

View 10 images in sequence.
[ Student paper: "Honoring You: The World War II Story of Jim Ryskamp" ]
View 7 images in sequence.
[ Student paper: "A Man in a War: Henry James Ryskamp" ]

About this Item

Title

  • Henry James Ryskamp Collection

Names

  • Ryskamp, Henry James
  • Bol, Adam
  • Holberg, Jennifer
  • Calvin College

State of Birth

  • MI

Home State

  • MI

Headings

  • -  Ryskamp, Henry James
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Air Forces/Corps.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army Air Forces/Corps
    • Unit of Service: 793rd Squadron, 468th Group, 58th Wing, 20th Air Force
    • Location of Service: Northern Mariana Islands; Calcutta, India
    • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1942-1945
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: VHS [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 10/25/2002, 12/6/2002)
  • Manuscript: Biography [2 items] -- (collected 12/2002)
  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 01/19/2007)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/8066

Cite as

  • Henry James Ryskamp Collection (AFC/2001/001/8066), 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:

Ryskamp, Henry James, Adam Bol, Jennifer Holberg, and Calvin College. Henry James Ryskamp Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08066/.

APA citation style:

Ryskamp, H. J., Bol, A., Holberg, J. & Calvin College. (1942) Henry James Ryskamp Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08066/.

MLA citation style:

Ryskamp, Henry James, et al. Henry James Ryskamp Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08066/>.