Conditions Governing Use

The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for use.

Preferred Citation

Captain Clark McRay Valentine's Photograph Scrapbook (WLU Coll. 0136), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased in September 2024

Biographical Note

Clark McRay Valentine was born in Michigan on November 22, 1904. He served as a Captain and Medical Officer during World War II. He served in the 92nd Infantry Division, which was an African American infantry division of the U. S. Army that served in both World Wars and Korea. Valentine died on February 12, 1988.

Content Description

Photograph scrapbook created by Captain Clark McRay Valentine while serving as a medical officer in the 92nd Infantry Division during World War II. He was stationed in both Italy and Germany in the tail end of the war and post-war period. There are photographs from his time in Italy, specifically Naples, and include fellow African American troops. At some point, Valentine's wife Frances and son Clark, Jr. visited him in Italy and are in some photographs. The post-war Germany photographs feature the ruins and militarized zones of Berlin. A set of photos are identified by Valentine as being captured from German POWs and depict Nazi ceremonies, Hitler Youth, military operations, Russia, equipment and leading German military figures like General Guderian. Researchers are advised that there is one photograph of a mass hanging (men and a woman) and photographs taken inside concentration camps and depict deceased individuals and a crematorium. Under one such photograph, Valentine captioned, "Can we ever trust the Germans?" Additionally, there are photographs of Hitler's Eagle's Nest and the surrounding town of Bechtesgaden and the nearby salt mines.

There are a few loose photographs: one is of hospital building in Massa, Italy, one is of camp leaders a Annawan, Illinois, one is of a group of men and Clark, Jr. at Camp Wolf Lake, and one of an older couple who are presumed to be Frances and Clark Valentine. The men in the Wolf Lake photograph are either wearing civilian clothes, baseball uniforms, or what is likely a Civilian Conservation Corps uniform.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African American soldiers
• World War (1939-1945)