Top of page

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army Air Forces/Corps
  • Unit of Service: 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
  • Location of Service: European Theater
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant

View full service history

"Christmas 1943 was one of joy and sadness. The joy of being alive and celebrating Christmas under adverse conditions. Sadness thinking how my parents must feel." (Memoir, page 87)

Though he grew up in land-locked Kansas, Dean Sommers determined to enlist in the Navy soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His color-deficient vision excused him from that branch of service, and when he was drafted in 1942, he wound up in the Army Air Force. He volunteered for aerial gunnery school and by July 1943, he was flying missions as the ball turret gunner in a B-17 over Europe. His memoir details each mission up to Number 18 in November 1943, when he and the crew had to bail out over Norway with their plane running low on fuel. The locals hid him for a time, but German soldiers captured him, and he spent the rest of the war in an Austrian POW camp. His memoir includes letters he wrote home, as well as letters, poems, and art work by his fellow prisoners.

View 182 images in sequence.
[ The Sentimental Journey of Dean M. Sommers World War II. ]

About this Item

Title

  • Dean M. Sommers Collection

Names

  • Sommers, Dean M.
  • Carrica, Denise
  • Daughters of the American Revolution, LaVenta Chapter

State of Birth

  • KS

Home State

  • CO

Headings

  • -  Sommers, Dean M.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army Air Forces/Corps.
  • -  Prisoner of War -- United States

Form

  • Memoirs

Extent

  • 1 item

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: 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
    • Location of Service: European Theater
    • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1942-1945
    • Prisoner of War: Yes
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Memoirs [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/8216

Cite as

  • Dean M. Sommers Collection (AFC/2001/001/8216), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

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/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:

Sommers, Dean M, Denise Carrica, and Laventa Chapter Daughters Of The American Revolution. Dean M. Sommers Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08216/.

APA citation style:

Sommers, D. M., Carrica, D. & Daughters Of The American Revolution, L. C. (1942) Dean M. Sommers Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08216/.

MLA citation style:

Sommers, Dean M, Denise Carrica, and Laventa Chapter Daughters Of The American Revolution. Dean M. Sommers Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08216/>.