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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Korean War, 1950-1953
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 176th Armored Field Artillery (AFA) Battalion
  • Location of Service: Korea
  • Highest Rank: Corporal

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"We got our first smell of cordite; the perfume of the military. With that first salvo, I had seen enough of war already." (Video Interview, 2:54)

William Didycz did not arrive in Korea until the final months of the war. Reading from a memoir he wrote in 1996, he describes the holding pattern the conflict settled into for many soldiers. He had trained to repair tanks, but when he arrived at his duty post, an artillery battery, he was offered a job as a forward observer. He turned that down in favor of his safer specialty. His life wasn't without danger, thanks to North Korean artillery shells, which soon had his unit on the run. Didycz stayed in country for a year after the armistice was signed. He participated in a massive victory parade that fell a little short of what the victorious soldiers of World War II marched in.

Transcript: XML

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[ General orders, number 690 - Award of the Distinguished Unit Citation ]

About this Item

Title

  • William Joseph Didycz Collection

Names

  • Didycz, William Joseph
  • Didycz, William
  • Didycz, Robert

State of Birth

  • PA

Home State

  • PA

Headings

  • -  Didycz, William Joseph
  • -  Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

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

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Korean War, 1950-1953

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 176th Armored Field Artillery (AFA) Battalion
    • Location of Service: Korea
    • Highest Rank: Corporal
    • Dates of Service: 1952-1954
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 08/18/2004)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of video recording (collected 08/18/2004)
  • Manuscript: Military papers (orders, personnel/201 files, etc) [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 07/25/1953)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/20801

Cite as

  • William Joseph Didycz Collection (AFC/2001/001/20801), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Wars & Conflicts

Service Branch

Location of Service

Service Unit

Gender

Highest Rank

Discharge Status

Interviewee

Interviewer

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:

Didycz, William Joseph, William Didycz, and Robert Didycz. William Joseph Didycz Collection. 1952. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.20801/.

APA citation style:

Didycz, W. J., Didycz, W. & Didycz, R. (1952) William Joseph Didycz Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.20801/.

MLA citation style:

Didycz, William Joseph, William Didycz, and Robert Didycz. William Joseph Didycz Collection. 1952. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.20801/>.