Norman B. Moerbe World War II Collection

The Norman B. Moerbe World War II Collection documents Moerbe's military service as a bombardier through military records, correspondence, photographs, and other ephemera, primarily dating from 1943-1945.

Series I. Military records consists of documentation of Moerbe's time in the U.S. Army Air Forces, from his time as a student through active service with the Twelfth Air Force, 340th Bomb Group, to his time in reserve status. The documentation consists of personnel records, health records, flight and bombing records, and military orders.

Series II. Correspondence makes up the bulk of the collection. It primarily consists of letters that Moerbe wrote home to his girlfriend and later wife, Margie Hall. He seemingly wrote letters nearly every day, though there are some conspicuous gaps in the collection (January-April 1944 and correspondence from 1945); those letters are apparently lost. The letters describe life as a soldier, explain what training camps were like, and allude to missions completed over Italy. Due to censorship, he could not go into great detail about his missions, so the letters reflect more the day-to-day life and difficulties of soldiers rather than giving specific accounts of military actions. These letters are organized chronologically; dates given for folders are for postmarks, as the letters themselves were not consistently dated. A folder dated July 1-14, 1944, for example, may actually include a letter written in June 1944.

Additionally, there is a small amount of correspondence between Moerbe and other family members and some letters to Margie from other friends, including some from a previous sweetheart.

Series III. Photographs is comprised of 70 black-and-white prints and 117 black-and-white negatives. The majority of images depict scenes from Moerbe's military service, including aerial views, aircraft in flight and on the ground (mostly B-25s), aircraft nose art, camp scenes, and informal portraits of other soldiers. Aircraft in flight during the August 15, 1944 invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon) are depicted in several images. Some photos also depict tourist sites, primarily sites in Rome, that Moerbe visited while stationed abroad. There is a small amount of personal images primarily depicting Margie and family and friends. Additionally, there are three panoramic group portraits. One depicts Moerbe's training squadron from Victorville Army Air School. There are two copies of a group portrait of cadets with banners reading "Cadets 36" and Axis Busters;" one has the signatures of all the men on the verso. Prints range in size, but all except the panoramas are smaller than 4x5"; negatives are 120 format. Some photographs have handwritten identifications on their versos. Note that not all negatives have corresponding prints.

The final series, Personal, includes small souvenirs such as photographs, postcards, and printed ephemera such as tour booklets for Rome, that Moerbe collected at the various locations where he was stationed during his military training and service. Seven audio recordings apparently contain telephone conversations and audio correspondence with friends. It is unknown if they relate to his military service. The certificates relate to his education, including, for example, his diploma from Port Arthur High School.

Digitized Materials: Series I (Military records), Series II (Correspondence), and selections from Series III (Photographic prints and negatives) and Series IV (Personal) have been digitized from this collection.

Please note that materials on TMOF: Digital Collections are presented as historical objects and are unaltered and uncensored. See our Disclaimers and Policies page for more information.