Scope and Content Note
The papers of Eugene Edwin Johnston (1915-2006) span the years 1912-2008, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1940-1963. Correspondence, military papers, writings, photographs, awards, certificates, maps, printed matter, digital files, and other papers document Johnston's military career and focus on his service with the 92nd Infantry Division. The papers are in English. The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material and therein chronologically.
Johnston served with the 92nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers Division, during World War II, and the division saw heavy combat in northern Italy from 1944 to 1945. Included in the papers are Johnston's Buffalo Soldier patch, a publication about the division, and documentation regarding his award of a Bronze Star Medal in 1945. As a white, commanding officer in a primarily African-American unit of the segregated United States Army, Johnston wrote to his wife about his dealings with the troops. He was proud of their accomplishments and recommended some for decorations. There are glimpses of the racial dynamics and tensions in the division in Johnston's early correspondence. The full extent of Johnston's experience with the division is discussed in the oral history interviews conducted by Carolyn Johnston, daughter of Eugene Edwin Johnston, from 2001 to 2005. In 2012, Carolyn Johnston used the oral history interviews in her publication My Father's War: Fighting with the Buffalo Soldiers in World War II. The oral history interviews are located in the digital files. In addition, Johnston's military papers and personnel 201 file chronicle his service in Austria with the 350th Infantry Regiment from 1950 to 1953 and his role as a military advisor in Taiwan from 1956 to 1957 and in Thailand from 1961 to 1962.
Correspondents include Johnston's wife, Alta Ross Johnston, and his daughters, Carolyn Ross Johnston and Nancy Jean Johnston Smith. Many letters from the World War II era are in V-mail format.
The digital files mainly consist of images of Johnston's correspondence. The images were created in 2014 and are in PDF format. Not all correspondence is digitized. Also included are WAV files containing audio recordings of Johnston's oral history interviews from 2001 to 2005.