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The summer brought the MacArthur Memorial Archives a brand new air conditioning and humidity control system, courtesy of the City of Norfolk. The atmosphere in the vault is exactly as it was, will, and always shall be. We are prepared to receive all donations and preserve them well through the next ice age, major earthquake, or terrorist attack.
Visitors from around the world kept us very busy at the MacArthur Memorial Archives this summer. Dr. David Snead from Texas Tech University was here researching the Rainbow Division in WWI. For some reason World War I is a hot topic again among researchers. Dr. Snead is one of many.
Captain Peter G. Knight of Ohio State University spent a week looking into the topic of the entrance of the Chinese into the Korean War. Once again the Chinese came in and the marines "attacked in a different direction." Captain Knight is working with Ohio State’s Dr. Allan Millett to finish his dissertation and then move on to a job at West Point.
Dr. Hiroshi Masuda from Toyo Eiwa University in Japan visited to survey the number of sources we have concerning the Bataan Death March. It was my pleasure to acquaint Dr. Masuda with the many incontrovertible testimonies and sources we have documenting the truth of the Death March. We look forward to the return trip planned by Dr. Masuda.
As well as visitors, donations were many this summer. A few of the donations were the manuscript of Jordan Hamner, the papers of Frank Kunz, and the films of Christopher Spruill. Rick Hamner of Paradise, CA, donated his father’s manuscript. Jordan Hamner was a mining engineer in the Philippines who evaded capture after the Japanese conquest of the Philippines. In December 1942, he and two other Americans outfitted a sailboat and sailed from the Philippines to Australia. He later returned to the Sulu Archipelago to run a guerrilla outfit. Frank Kunz of Columbus, OH, was on the headquarters staff in MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Area during World War II. His donation included many important documents from the era. Finally, one day this September Chris Spruill of Portsmouth, VA, walked in with fifty 16mm films. Many are WWII era Army and Navy films. They are in need of a great deal of care, but we hope to transfer them to DVD in the coming year.
One of the highlights this summer was the featuring of the Archives in FOX News’ Oliver North War Stories. Filming and interviews conducted at the Archives last spring for the hour-long special on MacArthur were aired the first week in August. We were all very happy with the finished product that told the story of MacArthur’s life. It proved once again, admired or desliked, MacArthur lived an action packed life from day one.
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The MacArthur Report |
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MacArthur Memorial Home Page |
