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Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Mar Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Apr-May Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 June-July Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Aug-Sept Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Oct Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Nov 3-19 Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Nov 22-29 Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Dec Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Jan-Feb Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Mar Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Apr Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 May Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 June-July Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Aug Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Nov Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Dec Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Sept-Oct Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Jan Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Feb Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Mar Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Apr Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 May Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 June Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 July Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Aug Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Sept Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Oct-Nov Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Dec Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1946 Jan Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1946 Feb Identification Cards 1942-1946 Immunization Register 1943-1970 Ticket: Railway from Howrah to Baidyabati 1945 |
Robert E. Dillon PapersFinding AidFinding aid prepared by Sarah Goldstein.October 2009Administrative InformationGift of Edward O'Day, Sept. 2009 (2009-188). Processed by Sarah Goldstein, Oct. 2009. Cite as: Robert E. Dillon Papers (MS 635). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. The collection is open for research. Return to the Table of Contents Robert E. Dillon, ca.1944 The youngest of seven children born to Henry (1877-1935) and Mary E. Dillon (1877-1968), born on August 25, 1922, Robert Edward Dillon was raised in in the mill town of Ware, Massachusetts. Ambitious and capable as a student, he attended Massachusetts State College for two years before to being inducted into the military in 1943. Following basic training at Camp Lee, Virginia, Dillon was accepted into Officers Training School and sent across country to Pittsburg, California, to prepare for the Quartermaster Corps. Once arriving there, however, he discovered that all the OTS was overenrolled and after being required to re-interview for a berth, he was rejected and ordered to train to become a mechanic. Frustrated with his changing fate, Dillon was never enthusiastic about spending time around cars and trucks, and despite all his training, he never considered himself a very good mechanic. Perhaps not coincidentally, he never advanced beyond the rank of corporal in the military. Dillon was shipped overseas in January 1944, and after a brief period in North Africa, was ordered to the Punjab Region of what was then British India. Stationed for at least some of his time in service at Service Company #6 in Khanspur, now in Pakistan, he worked to repair and service trucks transporting supplies over the Himalayas to support operations by Nationalist forces in China. With the war's end, Dillon left behind his mechanical training and used some of his savings and the GI Bill to complete his undergraduate education at the University of Massachusetts. He went on to earn a doctorate in marketing from the School of Business at Ohio State University, later serving on faculty at the University of Cincinnati until 1985, when he succumbed to lung cancer. Return to the Table of Contents The Dillon collection contains 178 letters (12 in V-mail format), 4 postcards, 4 telegrams, 4 photographs, and many miscellaneous souvenirs from Dillon's time in India during the Second World War. The letters can be grouped into three periods documenting Dillon's experience in the war: March to December 1943, when Dillon was in training in the United Stateslate December 1943 to May 1945, while Dillon was in India. These letters are heavily censored and consist mainly of reassurances that he is doing wellMay 1945 to February 1946. These letters are less heavily censored and describe some of Dillon's experiences in India as well as his anticipation of returning home.Almost all of the letters are written by Dillon and addressed to his family and friends, although a few are from his older brother, Henry, who was also in the army serving in the European theater. Dillon kept a number of small souvenirs from his time in the service, offering a sometimes colorful sense of his experience, including a V-E Day menu from a meal served in the Punjab, a train ticket from India, ration cards, newspaper clippings, and military orders. Most of the correspondence from Dillon to his family consists of small talk, inquiries about life at home, requests for money or supplies, and apologies for not writing more often -- even though he writes several times a week. Perhaps out of self-censorship, there is very little information regarding Dillon's specific duties while at camp, although he mentions how army life is a lot of sitting around and can get monotonous. Dillon's more enthusiastic letters are those describing new places he visits and the touring around he does with occasional freedom. It is clear that he had not strayed far from Ware as a child, because even the west coast of California is fascinating to him. In letters to his mother, Min, he sends home pressed flowers and sand glued to paper as evidence that he has been across the country. Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 MarDillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Apr-MayDillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 June-JulyDillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Aug-SeptDillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 OctDillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Nov 3-19Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 Nov 22-29Dillon, Robert E. Letters 1943 DecDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Jan-FebDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 MarDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 AprDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 MayDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 June-JulyDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 AugDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 NovDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 DecDillon, Robert E. Letters 1944 Sept-OctDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 JanDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 FebDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 MarDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 AprDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 MayDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 JuneDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 JulyDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 AugDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 SeptDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 Oct-NovDillon, Robert E. Letters 1945 DecDillon, Robert E. Letters 1946 JanDillon, Robert E. Letters 1946 FebIdentification Cards 1942-1946Immunization Register 1943-1970Label: Cigar 1943-1946Label: Tax Free 1943-1946Newspaper Clippings 1943-1945Photographs 1940-1985Ration Cards 1944-1945Ticket: Railway from Howrah to Baidyabati 1945Ticket: Weight machine 1945 Jan 24U.S. Army Headquarters Military Orders 1943-1946 |