Who knew?

That is the question I sometimes ask myself at work and this blog is my attempt to share what I learned.

My name is Chris McDougal and I am a professional archivist. During the past ten years I worked at two museums that focus on military history. My interest in that topic began when I was ten years old. I picked up a book about the attack on Pearl Harbor at that age and I was hooked. Looking back, I probably had no idea where Hawaii is located and what the world was like at that time. What I did grasp was that something immense and life-changing happened and that inspired me to learn more about World War II. That was about 1979 and more than anything else I wanted to hear about it from those who had memories of that time. The first feeble inquiries I made were aimed at relatives. Most of the people I asked seemed to regard that period as lost in the fog of time, so I did not learn much. One great-uncle served in the Army with an anti-aircraft battalion at Okinawa. He didn't want to talk much about it. Another great-uncle served in the Merchant Marine. He, too, didn't have much to say.

I was determined to connect with people who could remember that time and were willing to tell me more. I found a magazine published by a well known nationwide veteran's organization and inside of it was a list of reunion associations. I randomly picked several of them that were linked to World War II and wrote a letter to each. I gave them my age and explained that I was interested in learning about the war. Eventually, that led to an honorary membership (at age 15) in the 'B-24 Liberator Club'. As I would learn, the B-24 was manufactured in greater number than any other U.S. aircraft during the war. The veteran that was in charge of the organization made me an honorary member and the letter I wrote to him was published in the club newsletter. Soon after, I became obsessed with B-24s and everything associated with them. Over the next few years, through the club, I was able to connect with dozens of veterans. I either spoke to them over the phone or corresponded with them through mail. While my classmates were playing arcade games, watching MTV, obsessing over Dungeons & Dragons or hanging out at the local shopping mall this is what I focused on during the early to mid-1980s.

It took a while for me to find a direction in life after high school. For the longest time it felt like that early interest in World War II would never lead to anything productive. At some point in my mid-30s I decided that it wasn't too late to get a higher education and start a professional career. I completed an undergraduate degree in history at age 41 and followed that up with a graduate degree in library science. Why library science? The degree in history might seem obvious but at some point I decided that what fit best for me was becoming an archivist and library science is the usual path to get those jobs. My aim was to help people connect with the books, papers and photos that most archives contain and within a few years of completing that degree my life sort of turned full circle. I was fortunate to get a job at a museum whose focus is on the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of World War II. Eventually, after more than eight years at that job, I moved on to another museum whose focus is, partially, on telling the stories of World War II veterans.

Now that you know some of my personal backstory I will move on to the reason I began this blog. Each of the posts that follows is my effort to share what I discovered after telling myself "who knew?" while working in one of those two museums. I would never claim to know all there is to know about World War II and it constantly amazed me how much there is to discover that may have been forgotten. All of the subjects of my posts will primarily be about the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of World War II and my hope is that they will benefit you in some way.

Now, sit back and read what I discovered. Please feel free to give feedback on the posts and if there is anything you would like to share with me about the war I would be honored to learn about it so please reach out.

#worldwarhistory #pacificwar #archivist #backstory