Bissette World War II Collection

This group of World War II documents consists of five U.S. military duplicates: a U.S. military inspection report of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, liberated on 11 April 1945 by members of the Third Army under General George S. Patton; Special Communique No. 8 of the Supreme Headquarters, A.E.F. - an official notice of German Surrender 8 May 1945; a commendation letter from Dwight David Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, A.E.F. to Colonel Martin A. Bateman, Commander, 302nd Transport Wing, Army Air Corps, and to the men under his command; two messages on the verso of D.D.E.'s letter: the first from Col. Bateman to his crews, and the second from Lt. Col. K.A. Reecher, Commander, 27th Air Transport Group, 302nd Transport Wing to the squadrons in his group, relaying Eisenhower's commendation of their repatriation flights.

Samuel D. Bissette, who was assigned, during World War II, to S-2, Headquarters, 20th Air Transport Group stationed near Versailles, France, gave these documents as a gift to William Madison Randall Library, on 10 January 1995. Mr. Bissette gained possession of these documents from the plane crews (and others) of the 20th who were responsible for flying Buchenwald survivors to France. Eisenhower's commendation of the 302nd was for their repatriation of Buchenwald survivors.