Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

World War II Letters of Joseph J. Jania, Accession #13832, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The letters were purchased by the University of Virginia Library from Charles Apfelbaum, 2007 Feb.27.

Biographical/Historical Information

This collection consists of seventy letters, July 23-October 12, 1944, of Joseph J. Jania to his wife [Florence?] in Chicago, Illinois, while he was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Jania describes his life and daily activities at Fort Belvoir while he was a member of Student Company H, S.S.R. Jania was enrolled in the Map Reproduction Course, Engineer School. He had previously been stationed at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, before his transfer.

According to their website about historic Belvoir, "In March 1941, the Engineer Replacement Training Center facility began to provide basic military engineer training to draftees. Originally, the ERTC program was designed as a 12 week course, but its duration was shortened to eight weeks early in 1942, when the demand for troops escalated dramatically after Pearl Harbor. A similar curriculum was offered at the ERTCs at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and later at Camp Abbot in Oregon. Recruits were schooled in reconnaissance, unit coordination, road and obstacle construction, and demolition. After mid-1942, Belvoir began training engineer specialists in operating construction machinery, carpentry, drafting, and surveying. Instruction also was offered for such non-engineering specialties as truck driving, cooking, and baking. As the war progressed and new weapons were developed, specialized courses in weapons operation were added to the curriculum. Engineers learned about tanks and their uses, flamethrowers, and anti-aircraft guns. By the end of the war in 1945, the ERTC at Fort Belvoir had trained roughly 147,000 engineer troops (http://www.belvoir.army.mil/default.asp).

Activities mentioned in the first folder of Jania's letters include: learning to read maps (July 26); plans to sneak out and see Mt. Vernon (July 30 and 31); taking photographs both speed action and stills (August 1, 3); difficulties with arranging wife visitations (August 5); lists his fellow students, most experts in lithography, plate making or photography (August 6); and his progress in learning photography (August 8).

Topics in the second folder of letters include: work on the copy camera (August 14, 16); receipt of rifles (August 16); wife has a job now (August 19); worries about tuberculosis (August 20); believes that most of the units have moved out of Camp McCoy, where he had been previously (August 21); after four weeks of study, he finds out that Map Reproduction 65 [his group] has the best marks (August 22); and he misses the Polka dances with her (August 23).

Third folder subjects include his plans on going to see Washington, D.C. on the weekend and a comment about Eleanor Roosevelt that she should stay home and send all the money she spends traveling around to soldiers' wives so they could visit their husbands (August 26); discusses his trip to Washington, D.C. which did not impress him (August 27); learning to do lay-out jobs and hints for a chocolate cake (August 29); studying plate [graining] (August 30-31); rumors that his company will move out the first week of October and go to either Texas or Indiana (September 5); he is impressed with her knowledge of the presses (September 6); and he has received pointers from a professional photographer on how to take the best nude pictures (September 9).

The topics in folder four include: gratitude for the nice dictionary sent by her parents; being in charge of one of the press groups; and news of the organization moving to Fort Riley, Kansas, soon after September15, 1944, reporting to his company upon completion of his course (September 11); did really well on his process plate making test (September 12); interest in the Harris Press school (September 15); feels like he is becoming a very good pressman (September 16); prices for beer, milk, and other items (September 17); and the news that Jania was chosen as one of the top five honor students to attend a special dance in Washington, D.C. (September 23).

The subjects in the fifth folder include: his visit to Master Sergeant King's home for extra information on lithography (September 24, 1st letter); his recollection of meeting her in September 1937 (September 24, 2nd letter); working out in the field today, wearing leggings and gas mask at all times (September 25); working on a special letterhead for himself and wife (September 26); preparations for and attendance at the special Wave dance in Washington, D.C. (September 27-28); receipt of a twelve day delay-en-route permission when they travel from Fort Belvoir to Fort Riley, although he will have to pay to travel from St. Louis to Chicago (October 2); Sergeant King going overseas and he had asked Jania and Diedrich to join his new outfit (October 3); will live outdoors for three days under battle conditions and eating K rations and describes his appetite for food (October 7); all of the map reproduction guys marched to church on their last Sunday at Fort Belvoir and then played ping pong with the chaplain (October [8?]); and describes his final test (October 11).