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Recently Received in the Archives: In spring 2004 the Class of 1923 Memorial Archives received 500+ letters written by James G. “Pop” Hollandsworth to his wife, Willie Lee, and their son, Jimmy, who was born in January 1944. These personal letters, all hand-written in ink on paper, date from September 1943, when Pop entered basic training for the U. S. Army, to 8 February 1946, just days before he arrived back in the U.S. after a 19-month tour of duty in the European theatre of World War II. He served with an intelligence/reconnaissance unit in the 178th Engineer Combat Battalion; after his promotion to Lieutenant in July 1945, he finished out his tour with the 245th Engineering Battalion. He landed first in England in August 1944, then traveled to France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. His unit came ashore two days after D-Day at Utah Beach. From there, the engineers followed behind the invading troops rebuilding essential infrastructure for occupation personnel. On V-E Day he was on the German-French border. After hostilities ceased, his unit was assigned to southern Germany, where they rebuilt a large bridge over the Danube River. He shipped home in February 1946. The Class of 1923 Memorial Archives is privileged to be the repository for this collection of letters and other memorabilia from an American G. I. and, later, a beloved and respected Asheville School faculty member. Pop joined the AS faculty in 1949 as a physics teacher and ran the outdoor program, the precursor to today’s mountaineering program.
Sgt. James Hollandsworth Enter the Hollandsworth Papers Collection
For information about donating personal papers to the
Class of 1923 Memorial Archives, |
© 2005 Asheville School
Created by Diana R. Sanderson
15 April 2005
