Officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion Photograph
This undated photograph depicts the officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War II. Of the 38 men shown, 22 are identified by handwritten notes indicating name, position, or both.
Dates
- circa 1944-1945
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
0.1 Linear Feet
Abstract
This undated photograph depicts the officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War II. Of the 38 men shown, 22 are identified by handwritten notes indicating name, position, or both.
Biographical/Historical Note
The 905th Field Artillery Battalion was part of the 80th Infantry Division, or Blue Ridge Division, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge under Major General Horace L. McBride. The division began its service in Normandy in August of 1944, encountered hard fighting crossing the Moselle River in September, and participated in the drive to the Saar River in November.
Edgar Clinton Wilson was born in Knox County, Tennessee on October 29, 1914. He earned a teaching certificate from Milligan College in 1935 and a BS in Education from the University of Tennessee on June 3, 1940. Wilson began his career as a teacher and taught English to 5th through 8th grade students from 1935 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He was drafted into the Army on June 7, 1941 and completed basic training and Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma before being stationed at Camp Robertson, California. He was assigned to the 80th Division in 1943 and trained with that unit until March of 1944, when they were moved to Fort Dix and dispatched to England on the Queen Mary.
The 80th Division was moved to France within a week of its arrival in England. Wilson was assigned to the 2nd battalion of the 319th Infantry (nicknamed the Wreckin' Second), which fought in in Northern France, the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and central Europe. He was released from service in late 1945 and returned to Tennessee. Here, he took several extension courses at the University of Tennessee and went on to work on the Board of the Farm Bureau and on the Board of the Knox County Farmers' Cooperative. He married Beatrice Jerry Jarrell (1912-1991), an anesthesia nurse from Morristown, on September 2, 1948. Although Wilson is now retired, he is still active in organizing reunions of the 80th Division.
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single oversized single folder.
Acquisition Note
Edgar C. Wilson donated this photograph to the University of Tennessee's Special Collections Library.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository