Between the Covers

Hardcover. Folio measuring 12" x 14". String-tied green leatherette album with "scrapbook" stamped in gilt on the front board. Album is near fine with some rubbing and edgewear with near fine contents.

A scrapbook kept by Mays Landing, New Jersey native, John Wagner while serving with the Signal Corps during World War II. The album collects ephemera from Wagner’s time with the 915th Signal Corps in the 1940s which included 31 months overseas between 1942 and 1945. The album begins with a drawing of Wagner by a fellow soldier followed by a cartoon of Disney’s Goofy as a Signal Corps soldier. He incudes programs from USO performances and broadsides collected along the way including a poem entitled “On Board the Santa Elena.” The book holds Wagner’s work orders, leave forms, tickets to shows, and drink tickets from commissaries, among other items. Also featured are guidebooks for soldiers including one for Italy and another for North Africa. A newspaper clipping featured here reads, “Cpl. Wagner entered the service in April 1942, and six months later went overseas, where he participated in the invasion of Africa, Sicily and Italy. Among the decorations he holds ate the EAME Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, the Naples-Foggia and Rome-Arno battle stars and a Rifle Marksmanship Badge.” Wagner also kept ephemera pertaining to his brother who was also stationed overseas but with the Army Engineers.

A modest but interesting collection of ephemera from a soldier’s tour of duty during World War II.

Item #424006