#PC90
July 1943 - September 1944
24 gelatin silver photos from ca. 11.5 x 8.5 cm (4 ½ x 3 ¼ in) to ca. 12 x 9.5 cm (4 ¾ x 4 ¾ in). Period ink captions on verso. A couple of photos very mildly faded or with minor creases, but overall a very good collection.
A collection of gelatin silver photographs documenting the Bougainville campaign from November 1943 to September 1944. The photographs follow a company from the 117th Engineer Combat Battalion, assigned to the 37th Infantry Division of the US Army. Nine photos depict the members of the company, including two formal photos of the whole company. Others document construction of roads, bridges, and water points on Bougainville; recreation time; and a “Saturday morning inspection”. Three photos are of Melanesian women working in a garden. One photo is from the New Georgia campaign in July 1943, showing soldiers posing with salvaged Japanese engineering tools.
A list of ink captions (spelling original):
Sign on Marine Drive – Bougainville Beachead [sic]. This couldnt [sic] be sarcasm, oh no!; Supply section with captured Japanese engr. tools taken by this salvage detail from Jap dump in the Lambeti Plantation bottom lands 500 yds from Munda Airfield, New Georgia Is.; Peters’ Bridge – “C” Co.; At entrance to Bn. C.P. Hal Norwood, Bill Beach and I; W.D.P. #1 Best water point on Island of Bougainville!; Road building in the 37th sector; Building a road straight up; Native women working the […?] garden; Native woman who works in the Army garden; Native woman who worked in the […?] garden; H+S Co Recreation Room; H + S Co 117 Engr Bn; Paul’s last Saturday morning inspection of the company in Bougainville before leaving for [… rotation?]; Turning over H + S Co to Joe McGinn.
