Dick Hedges was drafted into the United States Army in December of 1942. He was sent first to Dodd Field (Fort Sam Houston) in San Antonio and from there joined the 654th Engineer Topographic Battalion at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. He was put in Company B (Art, Drafting & Printing).
In December, 1943 the 654th was sent to Camp Shanks on the outskirts of New York City for a short while, and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the HMS Aquitania to Gourock, the port for Glasgow, Scotland. After a week in Glasgow, Dick Hedges was sent to Tetbury, England in the Cotswold Hills.
With the First U. S. Army headquarters in Bristol, England requested that its G-2 (air) form a new unit to be known as APID (Army or Aerial Photo Interpretation Detachment), Dick Hedges was assigned to it. He was put on P.I. team #15 and put in charge of APID's small drafting section. He was given a Top Secret BIGOT card and was sent to London to do special detailed work on beach maps for the invasion of Normandy. APID was living in tents in the woods at Middle Wallop near the Stonehenge in Southern England when the invasion of Normandy occurred on June 6, 1944.
Landing on Omaha beach at D+24, APID was at Airstrip #9 at Le Molay when Generals Eisenhower, Bradley and Montgomery visited in July at the time of the St. Lo breakthru.
APID moved from Normandy to Gif-sur-Yvette, a village south of Versailles, where the soldiers again lived in tents, but did their work in a huge chateau nearby.
In September APID then moved from France north to Gosselies, a suburb of the city of Charleroi, in southern Belgium.
For recreation, the 67th's three squadrons plus the attached groups such as APID, formed a basketball league and Dick Hedges coached and played on APID's team.
In March, 1945 APID left Belgium and moved east into Germany. The first stop was Ordensberg Vogelsang (Orderly Mountain Bird Chant) a former school for Hitler Jugend (Youth). From there they crossed the Rhine River at Remagen, and proceeded to Limburg, Germany.
When the war in Europe ended in May of 1945, APID was at Eschwege, Germany. After APID was disbanded, Dick Hedges was sent to Weisbaden, Germany where 12th Army Group Headquarters was located. Its code name was "Eagle." Dick Hedges applied for a job and was assigned to G-2. He was billeted with MFIU- 4 (Mobile Field Interrogation Unit #4) which operated the Weisbaden jail housing several high ranking Nazis.
In July 1945 Dick was sent to (Military Intelligence Service Center) at Oberursel 12 miles from Frankfurt. He was promoted to Master Sergeant and put in charge of the library. While serving with MISC, Dick Hedges and Major Bill Silliman escorted five high ranking Nazis to Nurnberg to stand trial as war criminals. They were Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, commander of the Wermacht in North Africa, Italy and the Western Front; General of the Artillery Walter Warlimont; Reich Finance Minister Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht; Dr. William (Wilhelm) Stuckart, Secretary of the Minister of the Interior and Frans Xavier Schwarz, the Treasurer of the NAZI party.
Several other excursions were taken out of "Dulag Luft" at Oberursel by groups of GIs who were stationed there. One was to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp near Weimar, Germany. Another was to Bavaria and Salzburg, Austria. While visiting in Austria, the group visited Hitler's former mountain top headquarters, "Adlerhorst" (Eagle's nest).
Dick Hedges spent three years in the United States Army earning the ranks of Private, T-5 (Corporal) for one year, T-4 (Sergeant), and T-3 (Staff Sergeant) for one year, Technical Sergeant and finally, Master Sergeant.
Among the many awards that he won were the Legion of Merit-Legionaire, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal and Victory Medal, American Theater of Operations medal, and the European Theater of Operations medal with five battle stars.
He received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Army at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in March of 1946. After a shortvisit with his family in Iowa, he returned to Houston and his job in the Land Drafting Division of the Land Department of Shell Oil Company.
The Dick Hedges World War II Collection consisting of approximately 3.75 linear ft. of books, magazines, newspapers, clippings, photographs, photograph albums, maps, town plans, reports, writings and memorabilia, were collected by Dick Hedges while he was serving with the U. S. Army in Europe in World War II.
The various intelligence reports that are part of the collection were all extra copies and were declassified at the end of World War II.
The photograph albums containing pictures of Lt. Col. Otto Skorzeny and his friends were used by U. S. interrogators at the end of World War II.
Some of the German books in the collection, such as
The collection is divided into seven series, with subseries as necessary.
Gift of Dixon D. Hughes, 1987.
Dick Hedges World War II Memorabilia Collection, MS 422, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
The papers were a gift from Dick Hedges to Rice University.
This material is open for research.
Permission to publish from the Dick Hedges World War II Memorabilia Collection must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
One of the most interesting parts of the Personal series are the writings by Dick Hedges, of his many trips through Europe at the end of World War II, both personal and as a member of Military Intelligence Service Center. Of particular interest is
This series also contains correspondence sent to and received by Dick Hedges while he was serving his tour of duty with the U.S. Army. Memorabilia from his army days can also be found in this series.
The material covers a period from approximately 1944 - 1946.
Although many titles appear in German on the books, they have been written in English on the guide for clarification.
This series consists of some very interesting interrogation reports about some of Germany's most notorious war criminals.
The publication series has an excellent collections of newspaper clippings,
books and magazines. The newspaper clippings includes copies of
Another interesting document in this series is titled "The German Women at War," which gives an account of what was expected from the German women during the war effort.
The material in this series consists of military and nonmilitary photographs. Some of the most interesting photos were taken while Dick Hedges visited Paris and other parts of Europe at the end of the war. Most of the photos of the Cherbourg, Omaha, and Utah beaches were taken just before the Normandy invasion in 1944.
The Topography series contains Maps, Town Plans, Guidebooks, and a War Department Technical Manual.
Of special interest are the maps and townplans of Germany and England.
The material in this series is comprised of a mixture of Books, Photograph Albums, Newspapers, Magazines and a Map of Utah Beach for the Normandy invasion.
One of the most exciting books in the collection is
Information on the battle of Iwo Jima, the Normandy Invasion and the death of
Adolf Hitler can be found in the
Of particular interest is the photograph album containing pictures of Colonel Otto Skorzeny training with the S.S. at an Summer Training Camp in Loas, Tyrol.