Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

William Henry Laird Papers, Accession #999-a, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the library by Mrs. Philip Gould of Charlottesville, Virginia on 26 October 1987.

Scope and Content Information

The papers of Reverend William H. Laird (1901- ?), pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Charlottesville, Virginia, prior to World War II, consist of ca. 1,400 items (6 Hollinger boxes; 2 linear feet), 1940- 1947, chiefly the correspondence of Laird and his family while serving as Chaplain of the 8th Evacuation Hospital Unit which was composed of University of Virginia medical personnel.

Other material in the collection include: diaries recording the ministerial activities of Chaplain Laird, Italian road maps, two notebooks explaining references to people in the Laird family correspondence, photographs, postcards, and printed material. The whole collection is a fairly complete unit of material pertaining to the wartime activities of not only Laird but the whole 8th Evacuation Hospital Unit from the time of its formation in January to June, 1942, through its service in Casablanca, Morocco, and various locations in Italy. Laird's papers provide a good inside view of the 8th Evacuation Hospital Unit but Army censorship regulations forced him to leave out information of a military nature. For a complete history of the unit, consult The 8th Evac. A History of the University of Virginia Hospital Unit in World War II by Byrd Stuart Leavell. Letters from home furnish insight into the effects of the second World War upon family members left behind.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between Laird and his wife Constance Kennon (1906- ?), married on October 10, 1929, and their children, Helen (1931- ), Molly (1934- ), and Billy (1938- ), with an occasional letter from other family and friends. Topics mentioned in the letters will be listed in chronological order under each individual year. Individuals discussed in the correspondence are identified in two notebooks within the collection according to the date of the letter in which they are mentioned. Most of Mrs. Laird's early letters to her husband were lost en route to Italy.

CORRESPONDENCE FOR 1942 The correspondence begins with Laird in Pageland, South Carolina, during maneuvers (July 2 & 3); and includes: a discussion of officer's pay, rental allowance, and subsistence money (July 7); the arrangement of the camp hospital (July 12); a description of Ft. Benning, Georgia (August 23, 25, & 31, and September 2); the conditions at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey (September 23, 25, & 30); a description of Casablanca, Morocco (November 26); and its improvement after occupation by the Americans (December 10).

CORRESPONDENCE FOR 1943 These letters include: complaints concerning the long amount of time it took mail to reach the United States (January 3); complaints about College Topics and its trivial regular columns (January 11); the victory tax (January 31); the Free French or anti-Vichy French (February 23); his respect for a Negro chaplain (February 23); photographs of their New Year's show in Casablanca, and Chaplain Laird at work (March 1); a photograph of his French friends Mr. and Mrs. de Lara, and their sons, Marcel and Andre (March 6); the moving of the hospital unit to the edge of town (March 7 & 10); begging children (March 10); censorship and its frustrations (April 12); the celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson (April 14); scorpions, chameleons, and a grasshopper plague (April 18); German prisoners (Easter); victory in Tunisia (May 9); interruptions of his church services (May 9); the Coca-Cola stir (May 16); a black platoon (May 16); French food (May 16); and Arab women (May 23). Other topics of the same year include: officer's pay (June 8); the argument over the necessity of nurses in the unit (June 8); French politics (June 26); a trip to Rabat (July 2); Charles De Gaulle and the French army (July 11); leaving Casablanca for Algiers (July 27); the promotion of nurses (August 15); the John Hopkins Evacuation Unit (August 22); comments concerning Oran (September 7); the surrender of Italy (September 8); German prisoners of war in a train wreck at Shadwell, Virginia (September 26); difficulty of buying anything in Italy (October 16); Laird's unfavorable opinion of Italian villages (November 2); Chaplain Laird's work in the hospital wards (November 7); erroneous newscasts (November 8); and Red Cross activities at Charlottesville, Virginia (November 9).

CORRESPONDENCE FOR 1944 Laird is still in Italy this year and his correspondence includes the following topics: the German respect for hospital installations when bombing (January 16); the efficiency of the Army when in the field (January 18); Byrd Leavell's watercolors (January 18); an illiterate soldier (January 28); shortages in Italy (ca. January 31); church services in the field (February 6); opera visits for the soldiers (February 6 & 13); the destruction of Italian towns (February 6); blood donations in Charlottesville, Virginia (February 20 & March 1); "fox hole religion" (February 22); photograph of William and [Ted] Laird (February 28); the scarcity of chaplains on the front (March 15); comments concerning Ernie Pyle and his news coverage (March 17); and fear of the possible election of Thomas E. Dewey and its effect on the war effort (March 26). Other topics include: an enclosure of several clippings of Bill Mauldin (June 13); news stories concerning the 8th Evac Unit (June 18 & 20); farms in Italy (July 6 & August 27); a trip to Rome (July 15); the censorship of officer's mail (July 17); social classes in Italy (July 17); a visit to an Italian castle of a countess for a meal (July 22); a visit to two towns dating from the medieval period (July 25); description of another dinner in a different castle (August 24); a description of the landing in Italy and setting up of the camp that occurred a year ago (September 21); social status of Italian farm workers (September 6); the popularity of "Snow White" (October 22); the re-election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (December 2); and the issue of blood donations to the Red Cross Blood Bank and whether it was kept separate according to the race of the donor (December 10).

CORRESPONDENCE FOR 1945 This includes: the issue of "segregated blood" (January 5); a visit to Rome (January 15); the re-election of Roosevelt (January 31); wartime "power politics" among the Allies (February 2); a description of Laird's tent and its furnishings (February 4); the history of the 8th Evac Unit (March 6); Don Watson's impressions of the "home front" while on leave (March 12); the shortage of chaplains in the Army (March 15); a description of the Italians' primitive manufacture of quicklime (March 29); Staige Blackford's departure from the Unit (April 3); the death of Roosevelt (April 13); the fall of Bologna (April 21); the complete defeat of Italy (May 3); and S.S. troops (May 23). Other topics include: a discussion of peace terms for Germany (May 30); glass working at Venice (June 6); Bill Mauldin (July 1); photographs of Dick Bell's wedding and Chaplain Laird (July 5); the atomic bomb (July 9); Blackford's letter to Chaplain Virdin on behalf of Laird (July 27) and its reply (August 7); Laird's trip to Palestine (August 10-16); the move to the port of embarkation at Leghorn (Livorno), Italy (September 20); the wait to leave for home (September 21- October 15); and the telegram announcing Laird's arrival in the U.S. (November 1). The photographs of the collection are of the 8th Evacuation Hospital Unit, its activities, and its personnel, Chaplain Laird, various scenes in Italy, especially the Lake Garda area, USO performances, Colonel McKoan's farewell party, Jefferson Day, 1944, and an [interior view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Charlottesville, Virginia]. Postcards are of scenes in Italy at Florence, Assisi, Siena, Verona, Caserta, Amalfi, Volterra, Lake Garda, and other miscellaneous places. Printed materials include a printed program for the musical show, "This Is The Army," travel literature for vacation spots in Italy and Switzerland, a Life article on the invasion of Italy and the Battle of Salerno (September 27, 1943), several citations for the whole 8th Evacuation Hospital Unit, a University of Virginia Alumni News article, "Virginia Hospital Unit Comes Home" (December 1945), a guide to Casablanca, and a book entitled, Chaplains of the Fifth Army.