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Special Collections Research Center
William & Mary Special Collections Research CenterAnia Leska, Special Collections Volunteer.
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Gertha Sykes Collins Papers, Special Collections Resarch Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
Accessioned and minimally processed by Benjamin Bromley in July 2011. Further processed and described by Ania Leska in 2012/2013.
Primarily this is a collection of love letters written between 1942-1944 to Gertha Barbara Jean Sykes residing in St. Louis, Missouri and James NMI Dansby, an African-American soldier in the United States Army. There are also letters from two other Army soldiers, Jack Smith, stationed in the Pacific and Benjamin D. Collins, an aircompany soldier, whom Sykes married in 1949.
The letters begin when Dansby joined the Army and started basic training in Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Initially he was a member of Company C, 262nd Quartermaster Battalion (Service), one of the many all-black units activated during the Second World War. In April of 1944, he became a member of 4060th Quartermaster Battalion. Towards the end of 1944, he was stationed to the South West Pacific Theatre and most likely spent the war in the Philippines. He was there until after World War II in Asia had ended and then spent approximately three and a half months in Japan. After his arrival to the United States in January 1946, Dansby travelled to St. Louis and then moved to Detroit, Michigan. He never met Sykes again after he had left St. Louis for basic training and their relationship ended in January of 1947.
There are no letters written during Dansby's time in the Philippines and those mailed from Japan do not contain information about the war. Nevertheless, the collection provides a good insight into a soldier's life, contains numerous examples of military censorship of correspondence, and some reactions to the Jim Crow laws in place at the time.
In addition to letters to Sykes and few letters addressed to Collins, the collection contains a certificate of marriage between Sykes and Collins, postcards issued by the War Department notifying Sykes of Dansby's assignments to new installations, and stamped envelopes accompanying almost every letter.
Arranged chronologically.
A Guide to World War II Resources in the Special Collections Research Center
Information about related materials is available at http://guides.swem.wm.edu/WorldWarII
Scope and Contents This folder contains numerous love letters from Pvt. Dansby to Gertha Sykes, written from basic training in Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dansby was assigned to one of the many all-black units activated during WWII, Company C, 262nd Quartermaster Battalion (Service) established in March 1942. The letters begin when Dansby joined the Army in October 1942 and indicate that Dansby and Sykes's romantic relationship predated Dansby's joining the Army to when both of them lived in St. Louis, Missouri. The letters contain much description of everyday Army life during basic training (pay, entertainment, training routines, etc.), including Dansby's expressions of dissatisfaction with it. They do not contain many political and social reactions. There are few comments regarding segregation in general, or more specifically, in the military, and they tend to be very matter-of-fact. One of them was on the poor organization of African-American soldiers in the camp, whom Dansby viewed as "neglected to a certain extent" (6 November 1942).
Scope and Contents Just like folder 1, this folder also contains love letters from Dansby to Sykes. Dansby was still undergoing basic training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi and continued complaining about it, viewing it as too extensive and strenuous. Within a month's time, he advanced from the rank of Pvt. to Pfc., and later Cpl. and his unit moved out on maneuvers and on 1 April 1943 to the port of embarkation. Just like the letters from 1942, these also contain much description of everyday Army life during basic training: pay, rank advancement, entertainment, diet, training routines, furloughs, etc. They do not contain many political and social reactions, especially towards segregation. One comment specifically mentioning Jim Crow is in a letter written on 22 February 1943, at the bottom of page three. Dansby described Judy Canova's USO show, "Hit the Deck", and how touched he was by Canova's treatment of black soldiers. "Judy Canova was fine, she talked with us, rather, to us and honey it made us feel so good to have a white person talk to us the way she did, after experincing [sic] the Jim Crow that persist down here, I've really taken some insults too."
This folder contains love letters written to Sykes by Dansby, now a Private again, from new Army installations. It also contains two cards issued by the War Department notifying Sykes of Dansby's arrivals at the new destinations. Letters written between April and the end of May seem to have been sent from Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California and the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, California. On the other hand, letters written thereafter seem to have been sent from a classified location in the South Pacific since a September letter from the next folder reveals that and since the second War Department card was mailed on 29 May and the new APO number listed on it was the same number as the one listed on the envelope accompanying Dansby's letter dated 7 June. Unlike envelopes in folders #1 and #2, all envelopes in folder #3 show evidence of cencorship. They are stamped as Passed by Army Examiner. Dansby wrote about censorship quite often and complained to Sykes that it made it difficult for him to be as personable as he had been prior to its institution. On 14 April, he mentioned that his first letter from Camp Stoneman did not pass cencorship and was returned to him, and on 7 and 14 June, he mentioned the same regarding his first letters from the port of embarkation. While the letters in this folder mention Dansby's letters being rejected by the censors, they do not mention any letters from Sykes to Dansby as being rejected. Many letters also shed light on the way censorship was conducted. For example, in letters dated 14 and 20 April, respectively, Dansby mentioned that he was forbidden to send personal correspondence while being moved from Missouri to California and that he was not allowed to scratch words out. Further, in a letter dated 12 August, he explained to Sykes that the small cut out in his letter from 14 June was due to his having used two question marks, while censorship only allowed one. One can find more examples of such cut-outs in the letter of 14 July. Despite censorship, Dansby continued writing about his everyday life. He was satisfied with Camp Stoneman, as well as the California climate and landscape, all of which he much preferred to Camp Shelby and Mississippi. However, after moving to the South Pacific location, his morale sank more and more until he hit his low point on Christmas Day, 1943. Sykes, on the other hand, moved to another address in St. Louis and was in the process of a divorce and a lawsuit (both had not been mentioned before), which she ultimately lost. It appears she had a son nicknamed "Snookie."
Scope and Contents Just like letters in folders #2 and 3, these letters are an extension of those in the previous folder. Dansby continues to write love letters to Sykes from the South Pacific island. During the time span of the letters, Sykes moved within St. Louis, for the second time since October 1942, changed her job, from which she was laid off soon thereafter (letter of 30 October), and had her divorce finalized (letter of 21 November). Dansby, on the other hand, became progressively more depressed and homesick. In comparison to the ports of embarkation in California, the conditions on the classified island were austere and, as it has been the case since Dansby joined the Army, he wished the war were over and he could see Sykes and St. Louis. His morale hit rock bottom at the end of December when he wrote, "I am putting up a fight against the shattering of my morale and darling [sic] I am telling you [sic] it's not easy at all. Whatever happens though [sic] you can bet I'll be here thinking of you and fighting to my last breath" (25 December 1943). While Dansby did not get shipped off to the Pacific front between September and December, his letters suggest that others from his basic training cohort were starting to get shipped off to both, the European and the Pacific, fronts. For example, in his letter from 1 December 1943, he wrote that his fellow soldier and friend, Nelson, had been sent to England. The letters contain much evidence of censorship in the form of cutouts. The most interesting are from 9 and 14 September and 21 November. For example, the 9 September letter has cutouts with cut out penciled in above them.
Scope and Contents The initial letters from 1944 were written from the same classified location in the South Pacific as the letters in the previous folder. Starting in late January, however, they were written from a new location. Dansby wrote, "I feel better too, now that we're all back together again" (27 January 1944) and mentioned he had been very busy since moving (29 February 1944). In addition to having been relocated, Dansby's military unit changed in April, from Co. C 262nd to 4060th. Then, in June, Dansby was awarded a "good conduct" medal and his letter from 26 July seems to suggest that there was a write-up about it in The Argus sometime before 15 July. The Argus (http://www.stlargus.com/) is the oldest continuous black business in the state of Missouri and one of the oldest black newspapers in America. While Dansby's letters had always been regular, period between 8 August and 12 October represents an unusually long gap. This gap was not elaborated on in the last letter of this folder from 12 October, but one learns from it that Sykes moved to Los Angeles, California; that Dansby was moved to yet another, new location; and that he was promoted to Private First Class. After 12 October, there is yet another gap in correspondence (see folder 6). In addition to letters from Dansby, the folder contains the first letter of this collection written to Sykes from a different correspondent. The correspondent's name is Jack Smith, who, like Dansby, was also a soldier in the US Army stationed in the Pacific. Smith was in an antiaircraft artillery gun battalion, Battery B 77th AAA Gun Bn (Sm). His letter is dated 30 May 1944.
This folder contains the largest variety of letters of this collection. Some letters are to Sykes and some are to Collins. There are love letters from Dansby to Sykes and from Collins to Sykes, letters from Smith and various friends from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Sykes, as well as letters from Collins's mother and aunt to Collins. The latter, although addressed to Collins only, were actually written to Collins and Sykes as a married couple. In addition to letters, the folder contains Sykes's and Collins's marriage certificate. The first letter of this folder was written by Dansby on 8 November 1945, a little over a year after the last letter of the previous folder, also by Dansby. Dansby explained the last couple of months of this gap in correspondence by his leaving Sykes's address in Manila when he was moved to Japan. He also wrote that he had not been receiving any letters during those couple of months. By the time this letter was written, the war in Asia had ended on 15 August 1945. Dansby's letters reveal he was stationed in Manila, Philippines until September 17, then in Japan, and that he was expecting to go home before Christmas. Regrettably, neither this nor the previous folders from which we find out that Dansby was stationed on the Pacific front, contain any letters describing Dansby's service in the Philippines or Japan. The second letter of this folder was also from Dansby. Dansby wrote it two months later from the Service Men's Telephone Center in Camp Anza, California, after he had failed to reach Sykes via telephone. He informed Sykes that he had left Japan the day after Christmas and that his course was set for Seattle, but was changed to Hawaii due to weather conditions. Dansby docked in San Pedro on 9 January, arrived at the Camp on 10 January, and left for St. Louis, Missouri on 11 January. The third letter was written three months later, on 10 April 1946, from Detroit, Michigan, also by Dansby. One learns from it that he was in St. Louis until 7 April and left for Michigan instead of Los Angeles, where he could have met Sykes. He wrote to Sykes, "I am wondering if I have been wrong in my decision to come here. I counteract this thought with your decision in going to L.A. If you had cared enough that wouldn't have happened. Someday you and I shall be so sorry for mistakes that will have gone too far to be corrected." The above letter is followed by a group of Dansby's letters written between August 1946 and January 1947. During that time Dansby was still living and working in Detroit. In the second part of September, he wanted to travel to Los Angeles to meet with Sykes, but since he did not receive a response from her soon enough, he did not go. In October Dansby lost his job, which put him in a very difficult financial situation. Finally, in January the relationship between Sykes and Dansby seems to have formally ended. In the letter dated 13 January 1947, Dansby wrote, "Since you have made yourself so explicit. [sic] I guess I may feel relieved of any bond and focus interest in Detroit (...) I am really glad we have this understanding [sic] I can breathe easier. Hope that we may remain friends. (it's more human) [sic]." This is the last letter of this collection from Dansby. The next letter of this collection was written over two years after Dansby's last letter to Sykes. The letter is from Collins, an Aircompany Veteran (R.V.T.). It is dated 22 May 1949 and was mailed from Fort Lawton, a United States Army post located in Seattle, Washington. The letter is the first of this collection from Collins to Sykes and it is a love note. The next item of the folder is Sykes and Collins's certificate of marriage officiated by a U.S. Army Chaplain, Ernest W. Armstrong Sr. in Ft. Lawton, Washington on 26 June 1949. The marriage seems to have been Collin's and Sykes's second. The way the letters are adressed also points to Sykes having moved from Los Angeles to Seattle, probably in June, before the marriage took place on 26 June. However, sometime between December 1949 and March 1951, Sykes moved back to Los Angeles, California. The following letters are to Sykes from her church friend and another friend from Los Angeles. In the latter, one can learn a little about operations jobs in Hollywood as Collins was looking for a steady job there. There are also letters addressed to Collins from his mother and a letter written to Collins from his aunt, also from Los Angeles. She wrote that on 17 July 1949, Collins's father, other relatives, and she, together with 35,000 others, went to hear Dr. Ralph Bunche speak at the Hollywood Bowl. Bunche was an American political scientist, academic, diplomat, a civil rights movement activist, and the first African American and a person of color to be awarded the Nobel Prize (1950). This collection is closed off by two letters from Collins to Sykes. At tha time, Collins and Sykes were seperated as Collins was stationed in San Francisco and Sykes lived in Los Angeles. The letters were written in March and August of 1951. They indicate that Collins was promoted from the rank of Private he held as of his marriage to Sykes to the rank of Corporal. They show that Collins was very much in love with his wife and give an impression of a happy marriage.