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George Washington Pearcy collection, 1915-1949

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Series I: Recordings
Subseries I: Moving Image Recordings
Home movie footage, 1941
1 reel
ID: AFC2001/001/101245 MV01
One fifty foot reel of home movie footage recorded by the veteran while he served in the Philippines.
Series II: Manuscripts
BOX-FOLDER MSS2707/1 Biographical Information, undated
1 folder
Digital content available
MS01: Two page family history written by the veteran's nephew, George B. Pearcy; family tree; list of family members with birth and death dates.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2707/2 Civilian Papers, 1915-1940
1 folder
Digital content available
MS02: Birth announcement, piano recital and commencement programs, clippings relating to Pearcy's education and legal career.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ321/1 Civilian Papers, 1940
1 folder
Digital content available
MS02: Washington University Commencement Announcement.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2707/3 Clippings, 1942-1945
1 folder
MS03: Clippings collected by Pearcy's family, primarily from the St. Louis Dispatch, relating to Pearcy's service, status as a prisoner of war (POW), death, and reports of other prisoners' deaths.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2707/4-8 Correspondence, 1936-1944
5 folders
Digital content available
MS04: Correspondence from Pearcy to his family, primarily his parents, Frances Johnston Pearcy and Claude Otis Pearcy, who lived in St. Louis, Missouri. Also includes letters to his brother Johnston (Jack) L. Pearcy, who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Philadelphia, and his sister, Alice S. Pearcy, who lived in St. Louis. Topics covered include: ROTC training at Fort Sheridan, Illinois; training on machine guns, anti-aircraft guns and search lights; recreation during summer training; education and plans to go to law school; food; kitchen police (KP) duty; weather; finances; administering intelligence tests to recruits; work in reception center classifying new inductees; descriptions of camps and military facilities; studying law and the possibility of transferring to the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps; living conditions; travel to the Philippines; description of Corregidor and units stationed there; living conditions upon arrival in the Philippines and description of environs; daily life and duties while stationed at Corregidor; detailed description of war condition training; Filipino domestic workers; religious services; thoughts on the war in Europe and the situation in the Pacific; night drills; duties as finance officer; overseeing construction projects; duties as officer of the guard; purchasing souvenirs and clothing to send back to the States, and the low cost of local goods; Easter in Manila; haggling with Chinese merchants; food imported from the United States; descriptions of fellow officers and enlisted men; watching jai-alai in Manila; receiving new recruits at Corregidor; transfer to Clark Field and training as an air observer; recruits with criminal records and mental illness; duties as a defense lawyer in court martial cases; calling home via amateur radio stations; going on a date, rules and customs regarding dating local women; prisoner of war (POW) postcards including reports on health and brief notes to family.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2708/1-7 Correspondence, 1936-1944
7 folders
MS04 (continued)
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/1 Correspondence, 1936-1944
1 folder
MS04 (continued)
BOX-FOLDER OVZ321/2 Correspondence, 1939
1 folder
MS04
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/2-3 Correspondence, 1941-1945
2 folders
Digital content available
MS05: Correspondence to Pearcy from his family, and between members of the Pearcy family. Consists of letters that were undeliverable and returned to sender, and one telegram sent between family members concerning Pearcy's status. Letters were limited to 25 words, and include brief notes about the family and news of friends, along with family photographs. Five additional letters to Pearcy from his mother and sister are included with diary (MS09).
BOX-FOLDER OVZ321/3 Correspondence, 1945
1 folder
MS05
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/4-5 Correspondence, 1942-1945
2 folders
Digital content available
MS06: Official correspondence to the Pearcy family from the War Department and the State of Missouri concerning his status as a Prisoner of War (POW), and news of his death, details of survivor benefits and posthumous award of the Purple Heart. Also included is a condolence letter from Douglas MacArthur, which appears to have been hand-signed.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/6-8 Correspondence, 1942-1949
2 folders
Digital content available
MS07: Correspondence to the Pearcy family from friends, acquaintances, and veterans, expressing condolences or sharing news or memories of Pearcy, and notes on possible contacts and phone calls with veterans who knew Pearcy. Includes responses to letters written to individuals thought to have been serving with or near Pearcy as the war began and with Robert F. Augur, the veteran who returned Pearcy's papers to the family. Carbon copies of a few of the Pearcy family's outgoing letters are also included.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ321/4 Correspondence, 1944-1946
1 folder
MS07
BOX-FOLDER MSS2804/1 Diaries and journals, 1942-1943
1 item
Digital content available
MS08: Unbound diary created from scrap paper and can labels. Dated diary entries cover October 1942; additional entries include a glossary, people the veteran served with and employed in the Philippines, a to-do list, things of note at Cabanatuan Prison, things he remembered on Bataan, rosters, food and other supplies issued by the Japanese, brought in from outside the prison and made by prisoners, things he remembered at Nichols Field. Topics covered in dated entries include health; rations; Japanese retribution after a guard was killed by a Filipino; work details.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ329/1 Diaries and journals, 1942-1943
1 item
Digital content available
MS09: Bound journal, created from scrap paper and bound with a leather cover and a metal fastener. Contents include a detailed list of property lost as a result of enemy action; health record, compiled September 22, 1943; list of persons to write for information about experiences in the Philippines; outline of activities, 10/28/1940-12/08/1942. An envelope containing five letters from Pearcy's mother and sister, written from February to June 1943, was bound with the diary. Letters include hand-drawn maps of Cabanatuan and Davao Penal Colony, and diagrams of the S.S. Erie Maru and Cabanatuan barracks on the verso.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/9 Diaries and journals, 1942-1943
1 folder
Digital content available
MS10: Unbound diary created from scrap paper, dated entries cover 10/1942-11/1942. Also includes a list of the principle dates of the war, and a list of words that appear to be a combination of slang and translations. Topics covered include: housing conditions at Bilibid; food; transport on ship #584; guards; health; living conditions aboard ship; stop at Iloilo to unload cargo; arrival at Davao Penal Colony; description of barracks and environment at Davao; work details.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2709/10 Diaries and journals, 1942-1943
1 folder
Digital content available
MS11: Unbound diary created from scrap paper, titled "Capt Starr's Notes + Diary (Very Limited) with remarks by me." It appears that the veteran copied by hand the diary of Captain Warren A. Starr. According to a roster in MS08, Capt. Starr lived with Pearcy in Bahay 29 (old 25). Diary covers 07/04/1942-09/28/1942. Topics covered include: guards; barracks; sanitation; work details; health of men; recreation; inspection by Japanese general; treatment of prisoners who attempted to escape.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ288/1 Maps, 1940
1 folder
Digital content available
MS12: Map of the Philippine Islands, issued by the Manila Branch of the YMCA. YMCA locations and military installations are marked. Verso contains a map of the city of Manila with YMCA locations, principal points of interest and roads leading out of Manila marked.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ287/1 Maps, 1941
1 folder
Digital content available
MS13: Hand drawn map showing the opening of Manila Bay, with Fort Hughes, Fort Drum, Fort Frank, and north and south channels marked.
Military Papers, 1945
1 folder
Digital content available
MS14: Certificate issued in memory of Pearcy, signed by President Roosevelt. Purple Heart certificate and description of the award.
BOX-FOLDER OVZ321/5 Military Papers, 1940-1941
1 folder
Digital content available
MS15: Military papers included with letters home (MS04). Includes orders, quartermaster corps sales store price list; information on hiring and employing Filipino domestic workers; information pamphlet on venereal disease; Army songbook.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/1-2 Mixed (Multiple types of manuscripts), 1945
2 folders
Digital content available
MS16: Miscellaneous material, primarily relating to Pearcy's death and memorial service, including programs, a eulogy, and notices of gifts made in Pearcy's memory. Also includes notes made by Pearcy's parents, and what appears to be an inventory of items sent to Pearcy in a care package.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/3 Mixed (Multiple types of manuscripts), undated
1 folder
MS17: Compilation of news articles and research materials concerning the sinking of the Arisan Maru, compiled by the donor.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/4 Periodicals, 1945-1947
1 folder
MS18: The Washington University Alumni Bulletin, July 1945, September 1945, January 1946; The Washington University School of Law Newsletter, February 1946; Prisoners of War Bulletin, June 1945; Bataan Relief Organization National Bulletin, February 28, 1945, June 4, 1945; Bataan Veterans Organization National Bulletin, August-December 1946, January-April 1947.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/5 Transcript, undated
1 folder
Digital content available
MS19: Transcription of diaries (MS09-MS11). Also includes an index to correspondence (MS04).
Series III: Photographs
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/6 Original photographic prints, 1941-1942
1 folder
Digital content available
PH01-PH13: Images of Pearcy in uniform and in civilian attire, in the Philippines (1941). PH33: Undated photo postcard of a man, a woman, and three children (possibly the Pearcy family), with an ostrich pulling a cart, Los Angeles Ostrich Farm, California. PH34: Life Magazine photo of wounded men at Corregidor. Man in the center, wearing pajamas, holding a cigarette is thought to be Pearcy, per 04/22/1942 letter (MS05) from Johnston L. Pearcy.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/7 Copy photographic prints, 1915-1940
1 folder
Digital content available
PH14-PH16: Pearcy family photographs.
BOX-FOLDER MSS2710/8 Negatives, 1941
1 folder
Digital content available
PH17-PH32: Images of Pearcy in uniform and in civilian attire, in the Philippines (1941).
Series IV: Artifacts
BOX OVZ323 Artifacts, 1941
6 items
AR01-AR06: 16mm film mailing boxes, sent by Pearcy from Clark Field to the Eastman Kodak Company, in Rochester New York. The inside flap of each box contains handwritten notes on the content, but the film was not included in the boxes.

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