{"id":1148,"date":"2017-01-23T13:37:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T18:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalhumanities\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2017-01-23T13:37:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T18:37:04","slug":"words-take-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalhumanities\/2017\/01\/23\/words-take-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Words Take Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

DICKINSONIANS DIGITIZE LETTERS FROM THE FRONT AND HOMEFRONT TO OFFER A 360-DEGREE VIEW OF WORLD WAR II.<\/p>\n

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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When hundreds of Japanese fighter pilots attacked a Hawaiian naval base on Dec. 7, 1941, they steered a two-year conflict, distant to many Americans, onto U.S. soil. Ralph Leland Minker \u201947, a first-year history major at Dickinson, had just finished a roast beef dinner and was on his way to Conway Hall when he heard the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first there was a period of intense excitement and anxiety: What was going to happen?\u201d Ralph\u2014known as \u201cLee\u201d to his family\u2014later wrote. \u201cAfter the New Year, a nervous calm prevailed but war became more real.\u201d<\/p>\n

This snippet is from just one of hundreds of letters Ralph penned to his family from 1942-45, chronicling his journey from undergrad to World War II commander and bomber pilot. Together with hundreds more mailings from his parents and sisters, the letters provide a vivid account of the war, viewed from battleground and homefront alike.<\/p>\n

Two generations of Dickinsonians<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Minker family\u2019s story begins at Dickinson, where Ralph Minker Sr., a senior in the class of 1920, met Edna Jones, class of \u201924. They married three years after Ralph Sr.\u2019s graduation, and Ralph Jr. was born in 1924. Shirley followed in 1926; Bernice, in 1928.<\/p>\n

The Minkers settled in Wilmington, Del., where Ralph Sr., a Methodist pastor, also worked as a reform school superintendent, and for a decade, the family lived on school grounds. Ralph Jr. was a high school class president and, despite his small frame, played second-string quarterback. He arrived at Dickinson at age 17 in the fall of 1941.<\/p>\n

Too young to enlist when America entered the war, Ralph volunteered for a military preparation program on campus that included accelerated classwork and rigorous phys-ed courses. Fourteen months later, he\u2019d completed three semesters of credits and was ready to ship off to Florida for basic training.<\/p>\n

Getting his wings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That train ride south was an adventure for the 18-year-old, who\u2019d always wanted to travel, but had only ventured about 125 miles from home. And within just a few months, Ralph saw another boyhood dream come true when he climbed into a cockpit and learned to fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be nothing at all around you\u2014you\u2019re floating in midair, but with the awful roar of the Franklin 65 H.P. engine in your ears,\u201d Ralph wrote home from flight camp in Nebraska. \u201cThe ground looks just as if it were a picture by Stephen Curry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ralph went on to pass his flight tests with flying colors, \u201cfeeling rather cocky,\u201d he wrote from the classification base in California where he was stationed along with Joe DiMaggio. By the time he was assigned his B-17 crew, however, the weight of responsibility was beginning to sink in. \u201cI hope I\u2019ll make a good leader,\u201d he wrote to his father. \u201cNow is when it counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dispatches from the homefront<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ralph Sr. sent his son encouragement, advice, Dickinson updates, baseball scores and news of his anxious congregation and dwindling school staff. He also discussed his role as civilian defense warden, organizing government bond fundraisers, purchasing air-raid sirens and addressing jammed phone lines when too many soldiers called home.<\/p>\n

When Ralph Sr.\u2019s secretary joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) reserve, Edna filled in. In June 1943 she wrote to her son, \u201cMaybe you will be surprised to learn that your mother is a \u2018working lady\u2019 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing twice-weekly letters on the school typewriter, she provided church and family news and work gossip; she also sent packages of cookies and hard-to-find items, like film.<\/p>\n

As Shirley finished high school and began college, she saw many friends leave for war. She wrote to her brother of military leaves and school goings-on, including an informal and female-dominated prom.<\/p>\n

In between jokes and news, Bernice discussed a program to keep soldiers\u2019 farms afloat, a teacher who joined the Red Cross, the scarcity of Hershey bars and a school air-raid evacuation in December 1943: \u201cI had to get all of the \u2018Ag\u2019 boys in from outside. They were in the chicken house, and if you know what bedlam is, you can well imagine me trying to holler, \u2018Air Raid, follow Plan B,\u2019 over the chickens\u2019 protesting clucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A close shave<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ralph received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant on March 12, 1944. After co-piloting two missions, the youngest member of the 447th Bomb Group was ready to take command of his own crew.<\/p>\n

Ralph went on to aid battles in Rhineland, the Ardennes region and central Germany flying 15 missions in support of ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge. His most nail-biting moment arrived when he nearly ran out of gas after bombing a Berlin train station and landed the B-17 on little more than gas fumes. Ralph was promptly inducted into the \u201cLucky Bastards Club,\u201d reserved for those who flew 35 successful missions. He also earned the distinction of being the youngest 447th pilot to complete a 35-mission tour.<\/p>\n

When V-E Day arrived, Ralph sent news of \u201cthe joy and thanks deep in the hearts of those of us in the service,\u201d while his father wrote about \u201chow the Nazi ideology could so completely grip people \u2026 the \u2018spanking\u2019 we have given them is just the beginning of the work necessary to a changed point of view.\u201d The Minker women\u2019s letters were less introspective. Edna focused on her son\u2019s safety, his sacrifices and work yet to do, while Bernice was outright unimpressed: \u201cI rather expected shouting and parades, but it\u2019s just another day when we sit with ears glued to the radio, hoping for news.\u201dAlthough his job was officially over, Ralph volunteered to stay on and fight, much to Edna\u2019s dismay. By war\u2019s end, he was a captain with an Air Medal and five oak leaf clusters, and he\u2019d flown 37 missions\u2014all before age 21.  <\/p>\n

Memorializing a life of service<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ralph set sail for home on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, playing cards with fellow pilot Jimmy Stewart during the voyage. He returned to Dickinson and graduated with his history degree in 1947, followed his father\u2019s footsteps to Boston University of Theology and was ordained in 1951.<\/p>\n

Two decades later, after serving 11 churches and raising two children with first wife Peggy Ann, Ralph launched a career-counseling business. He married Sandra O\u2019Connell in 1980, and they lived in Reston, Va. After Ralph\u2019s 1995 Alzheimer\u2019s diagnosis, he and Sandra decided to donate the family\u2019s 656 WWII letters, recognizing their value to history.<\/p>\n

The originals are housed at the Delaware Historical Society (DHS), with copies in the Dickinson archives; Ralph and Sandra also co-published a 2005 book about the collection with historian Harry Butowsky. In 1999-2000, Patrick Stevenson \u201901 conducted an oral history of Ralph, published on the Dickinson website; they remained friends until Ralph\u2019s death in 2008.<\/p>\n

Last year, Sandra spearheaded a project to digitize the letters, with additional support from her sister, Sharron E. Juliano, and the Ralph Minker Peace Fund for Student-Faculty Research at Dickinson College. Patrick Kennaly \u201917, a double major in history and Russian, helped prepare letter abstracts through a Dana Research Grant-funded project led by Associate Professor of History Jeremy Ball. The Minker family collection was made available on the DHS website last spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cReading the letters was quite a privilege for me, especially as a history major, as I was able to work with such a large collection of primary sources that were very personal to the family,\u201d said Kennaly, who was struck by the letter-writers\u2019 distinctive tones.  <\/p>\n

As Sandra notes, the online collection invites people worldwide to discover \u201cnot only the history of World War II, but also the values of doing your duty, love of country and family and shared sacrifice,\u201d and she\u2019s already tapped the online resource to help teach students about history and the value of letter-writing. Sandra is working with the DHS to develop online resources for further educational use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a legacy that is continuing to share the values of the generation that won our freedom,\u201d she adds. \u201cSeventy years later, young people are learning about the war and the people who lived through those days through these letters.\u201d \u0007<\/p>\n

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Learn more<\/p>\n<\/div>\n