Born in Stewart County, Tennessee, Henry Louis Durrwachter, Jr., (1921-1984), was the son of Henry Louis Durrwachter and Marianne Marianda Keel. Serving as a Platoon Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, Durrwachter was taken prisoner on Wake Island and incarcerated in Kawasaki, Japan, from December 1941 through September 1945.
Comprising correspondence, military documents, newspaper and magazine clippings, a diary, a sound recording, and a photograph, the Henry Louis Durrwachter, Jr., Papers, 1939-1945, document Durrwachter’s experiences as a Platoon Sergeant and a prisoner of war during World War II. Correspondence consists primarily of letters exchanged between Durrwachter and his parents, both before and during his imprisonment, while Durrwachter’s diary describes conditions in the prison. The collection also contains military papers pertaining to Durrwachter’s honorable discharge from the U.S. Marines in 1946; newspaper and magazine clippings concerning Wake Island and prisoners of war; a sound recording made while he was a prisoner of war; and a photograph of a relative.
This collection is open for research use.
Use of audio materials by appointment only; please contact sound archivist for more information.
Henry Louis Durrwachter, Jr., Papers, 1939-1945, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s