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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: 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Location of Service: Garbutt Field, Australia; New Guinea; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Sikeston, Missouri; Randolph Field, and Brooks Field, Texas; March Field, California; Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia; Pacific Theater
  • Highest Rank: Major

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"I was the luckiest 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force." (Audio interview, 10:32)

A pilot with the 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, Fred Hargesheimer was on his 49th mission taking pictures in the South Pacific when he encountered enemy fire. Forced to bail out, he landed in a eucalyptus grove with all of his limbs and his survival kit intact. After a month of eating snails to stay alive, a group of villagers found and cared for him for nearly five months before he was rescued. After leaving the military at the end of the war, he raised funds to build a school in the New Britain community where he had landed, in order to say thank you to the people who had saved his life.

Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection
Interview / Recording

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About this Item

Title

  • Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection

Names

  • Donohue, Jerri
  • Hargesheimer, Fred Grant
  • World War II - Korean War Roundtable

State of Birth

  • MN

Home State

  • CA

Headings

  • -  Hargesheimer, Fred Grant
  • -  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: 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron
    • Location of Service: Garbutt Field, Australia; New Guinea; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Sikeston, Missouri; Randolph Field, and Brooks Field, Texas; March Field, California; Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia; Pacific Theater
    • Highest Rank: Major
    • Dates of Service: 1941-1946
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Photograph: Photographic print [1 item] -- Photograph (collected 01/22/2008)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 01/22/2008)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/56930

Cite as

  • Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection (AFC/2001/001/56930), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • 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:

Donohue, Jerri, Fred Grant Hargesheimer, and World War Ii - Korean War Roundtable. Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.56930/.

APA citation style:

Donohue, J., Hargesheimer, F. G. & World War Ii - Korean War Roundtable. (1941) Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.56930/.

MLA citation style:

Donohue, Jerri, Fred Grant Hargesheimer, and World War Ii - Korean War Roundtable. Fred Grant Hargesheimer Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.56930/>.