MS-170
PAUL E. PURK WORLD WAR II PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
INTRODUCTION
The Paul E. Purk World War II Photograph Collection was accessioned into the Flesh Public Library Archives and Special Collections on 1 November 2007 as a donation from Piqua Assistant Fire Chief Mike Rindler. Chief Rindler acquired the collection from Mrs. Dorothy Purk, wife of Paul E. Purk.
The collection contains photographs taken on Luzon Island in and near Manila, Philippine Islands. The photographs were taken in late 1945 and early 1946. From the photographs and other information it appears that Paul Purk was in Army Basic Training in March, April, May 1945 at Camp Blanding, Florida. He appears to have been sent to the Philippines in late summer 1945 and assigned to garrison duty serving in the 1st platoon Company A, 706th Tank Battalion. Apparently the 706th was involved in guarding a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp in the vicinity of Manila. The 706th was also involved in moving supplies by truck in the area of Manila and from the Port of Manila.
The photographs were housed in one Hollinger box containing 38 files. The collection contains 239 original photographs. Approximately 30 photographs copied from the internet have been added to the collection for purposes of clarification. There are no known restrictions on the use of these materials, however, because of its content, access to File 30 is limited to serious research only.
Paul Purk returned from the Philippines and became a brick mason in Miami and Shelby Counties. In 1948 he married Dorothy Body and they made their home on Van de Mark Road in southern Shelby County. Mr. Purk died in January 1981 at the age of 57 years.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Paul E. Purk World War II Photograph Collection is divided into the following seven series:
SERIES I: Military personnel, 1945-46 – Philippine Islands
Files 1 – 7
SERIES II: Military Facilities and Equipment
Files 8 – 15
SERIES III: Filipino people and others
Files 16 – 22
SERIES IV: Structures and buildings in the Philippines
Files 23 – 28
SERIES V: The effects of the war on Manila and Luzon, Philippine Islands – Files 29 – 31
NOTICE: DUE TO ITS CONTENT, ACCESS TO FILE 30 IS RESTRICTED TO SERIOUS RESEARCH ONLY.
SERIES VI: U.S. Navy ships of early World War II
Files 32 – 36
SERIES VII: Paul E. Purk, personal information
Files 37 and 38
BOX INVENTORY
BOX 1
SERIES I: Military personnel – 1945-46 – Philippine Islands
File
1 Paul Purk in T-shirt and other individuals not identified next to
a sign reading “1st Platoon APO 75 Co. A 706th Tank
BN” (4 photos)
2 Japanese prisoners of war washing pots and pans beside the
kitchen (3 photos)
3 Soldiers photographs
3.01 – Paul Purk driving an Army 6x6, a 2½ ton truck
3.02 – Paul Purk and other individuals not identified outside a
barracks building.
3.03 – Paul, a soldier from South Carolina and two Filipino
shoe shine boys
3.04 – Paul and three other individuals not identified outside a
mess hall getting ready to dip their mess gear into
cans of boiling water.
3.05 – Charles Rahmeyer of Mexico, MO standing next to a
row of trucks (2 photos)
3.06 – Paul E. Purk – left along with three other individuals not
identified standing in front of tents
3.07 – Ellis Purcell [from Illinois], Charles Rahmeyer
[Missouri], Elza Rakes [West Virginia] and Morris
Yaris [Michigan] along with Paul [back center of
photo]
4 Unidentified photographs of individual soldiers (14 photos) –
all photos are taken on the Army post.
5 Unidentified photographs of two soldiers (11 photos) – all
photos are taken on the Army post
6 Unidentified photographs of three soldiers (5 photos) – all
photos are taken on the Army post. In photo 6.05 the
picture is of one soldier and two Filipino shoe shine boys.
7 Unidentified photographs of four or more soldiers (9 photos) –
photo 7.09 is of a military parade.
SERIES II: Military Facilities and Equipment
File
8 Military Police Company Stockade photo and photographs of
tents. It is possible that this facility was to house
Japanese prisoners of war in mid to late 1945 and 1946 (6
photos).
9 Fort Drum, Manila Bay, P.I. – called the “unsinkable battleship
of Manila Bay”. Included in this file for information
purposes is an online article about the fort from the
Philippine Daily Inquirer.
10 Photographs of Jeeps and trucks used by the Army in the
Philippines (12 photos)
11 Road building equipment – “Mississippi Wagon” scrapers (4
photos)
12 Crane photos unloading a bulldozer (6 photos)
13 Unloading and loading ships at the Port of Manila (9 photos)
14 Photos involving ships and boats
14.01 – Men on a ship watching a U.S. Navy PBY Catalina
aircraft which has landed near the ship
14.02 – Ships anchored off of a shore line
14.03 – U.S. Navy landing craft sailing under Jones Bridge near
the Manila Post Office
15 U.S. Military Cemetery, Philippine Islands (4 photos)
SERIES III: Filipino people and others
File
16 Baseball game photographs (6 photos) – The game may involve
Filipino teams, American servicemen, and/or Japanese
prisoners of war.
17 Photos of Filipino people
17.01 – Four shoe shine boys on the military post
17.02 – Mess hall servers and attendants
17.03 – Three ladies bathing in a river
17.04 – Ladies washing clothes in a river
17.05 – Man carrying two large baskets of clay pots suspended
from a pole over his shoulder
17.06 – Ladies carrying bundles on their heads (2 photos)
17.07 – Two Filipino young ladies seated in a rice field just
after harvest. The ladies are nicely dressed.
17.08 – Two Filipino ladies pounding out fish fillets with a
wooden club and washing the fillets.
17.09 – Two Filipino ladies standing in the rocky area of a
river, probably washing clothes
18 Photographs of rice farming in the Philippines. Note the use of
water buffalo in the process and hand planting rice plants
in a flooded paddy. Notes on the back of the last two
photos tell how at harvest the rice is cut and stacked.
Then, when the harvest is complete, the rice is taken
from the stack and the grain is separated from the straw
by beating it with wooden clubs. (9 photos)
19 Photographs of general agriculture and rural life in the
Philippines c. 1945-46.
19.01 – Carabao (water buffalo) in an old gun emplacement,
Manila – the old emplacement has filled with
water.
19.02 – A coconut plantation
19.03 – Plowing with water buffalo (2 photos)
19.04 – A two wheeled cart pulled by two water buffalo
19.05 – Native ox carts, Luzon, P.I.
20 Shopping at an open air market for fish and vegetables (2
photos)
21 Fishing in the Philippines (2 photos)
22 Street scene photographs – Manila, P.I. c. 1945-46 (20 photos)
SERIES IV: Structures and buildings in the Philippines
File
23 Christian cemetery in Manila (3 photos)
24 Chinese cemetery in Manila (3 photos)
25 Two churches in Manila (3 photos) – For purposes of
information, accompanying each church photo is an
internet print-out stating the significance of the church.
25.01 – San Sebastian Church – made of a steel frame and steel
panels – it is the only neo-gothic steel church in
Asia – located in the Quiapo district of Manila.
25.02 – Quiapo Church, Manila – also known as the Minor
Basilica of the Black Nazarene, and the site of the
annual January Black Nazarene procession.
25.03 – Large church pipe organ – Manila [the specific church
is not identified]
26 Houses in Manila area – houses are raised on poles with
thatched roofs (2 photos)
27 “Welcome to the Philippines” arch – probably at or near the
Port of Manila – c. 1945-46 (6 photos)
28 Public buildings in Manila c. 1945-46 (7 photos)
28.01 – Rizal Stadium
28.02 – Malacanan Presidential Palace
28.03 – City Hall
28.04 – U.S. High Commissioner’s Residence
28.05 – Roosevelt Club (former Jai Alai Club)
28.06 – Two buildings which are not identified (2 photos)
SERIES V: The effects of World War II on Manila and Luzon, P.I.
File
29 Buildings showing evidence of war damage (24 photos)
29.01 – War-damaged Business District, Manila, P.I.
29.02 – Legislative Building, Government Center, Manila (3
photos)
29.03 – Agriculture and Commerce Building
29.04 – Post Office
29.05 – San Luis Terrace – apartment building
29.06 – Coun. Eng. Building – title on picture is difficult to
read
29.07 – _____ Bank – name of bank is not readable on the
photo
29.08 – Wreck of a Japanese ship in Manila Bay
29.09 – Topside Barracks from Corregidor Hospital
29.10 – Malinta Tunnel, Corregidor
29.11 – Wrecked Mortar Battery, Corregidor
29.12 – Corregidor Barracks looking toward Bataan
29.13 – Workers cleaning up rubble
29.14 – War damaged buildings which are not identified (8
photos)
NOTICE: ACCESS TO FILE 30 IS LIMITED TO SERIOUS
RESEARCH ONLY. RESTRICTED DUE TO THE
CONTENT OF THE FILE.
File
30 Human remains – dead Japanese soldiers (9 photos)
30.01 – Gen. MacArthur looks down on the remains of dead
Japanese soldiers after the re-conquest of Bataan.
30.02 – The severed heads of Japanese soldiers displayed by
smiling Filipinos (3 photos)
30.03 – Skeletal remains of Japanese soldiers (5 photos)
31 Philippine monkey sitting on top of a damaged wood tower.
SERIES VI: U.S. Navy Ships of early World War II
[The photographs
in this series were taken before the outbreak of the war in
the Pacific. Attached to each photo is an internet print-
out giving the specifications and other details of each
ship along with another photo of the ship and the final
fate of the ship. These print-outs are for informational
purposes only and are not part of the collection.]
File
32 Carriers (CV)
32.01 – USS Lexington (CV-2) – sunk at Battle of the Coral
Sea.
32.02 – USS Ranger (CV-4) – scrapped 1947
32.03 – USS Yorktown (CV-5) – sunk at Battle of Midway
32.04 – USS Wasp (CV-7) – torpedoed and sunk off
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
33 Battleships (BB)
33.01 – USS Wyoming (BB-32) – scrapped 1947
33.02 – USS Arkansas (BB-33) – sunk during atomic bomb test
“Baker” at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands 1946
33.03 – USS New York (BB-34) – sunk by naval gunfire and
aircraft off the coast of Oahu, HA 1948 – was a
target during atomic bomb test “Baker” in 1946
and survived but was unusable afterwards.
33.04 – USS Texas (BB-35) – preserved as a memorial, San
Jacinto Battlefield, LaPorte, TX
33.05 – USS Idaho (BB-42) – scrapped 1947
33.06 – USS California (BB-44) – sunk at Pearl Harbor, raised
and served from 1943-1945 in the war – scrapped
1959
33.07 – Photo of battleships firing broadside – also an internet
photo, which is not part of the collection, of five
battleships steaming in line.
34 Cruisers (CL/CA)
34.01 – USS Omaha (CL-4) – scrapped 1946
34.02 – USS Houston (CL/CA-30) – sunk at Battle of Sunda
Strait – 1942
34.03 – USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) – scrapped 1959
34.04 – USS Quincy (CA-39) – sunk at Battle of Savo Island –
1942
34.05 – USS Brooklyn (CL-40) – transferred to Chilean Navy –
1951
34.06 – USS Saint Louis (CL-49) – transferred to Brazilian
Navy – 1951
35 Destroyers (DD)
35.01 – USS Manley (DD-74/AG-28/APD-1) – scrapped 1946
35.02 – USS Long (DD-209/DMS-12) – sunk by Japanese
Kamikaze Aircraft in Lingayen Gulf – 1945
35.03 – USS Wasmuth (DD-338/DMS-15) – foundered in a
storm and was destroyed by its own depth charges
exploding off the Aleutians – 1942
35.04 – USS Farragut (DD-348) – scrapped 1947
35.05 – USS Balch (DD-363) – scrapped 1946
35.06 – USS McCall (DD-400) – scrapped 1947
35.07 – USS Eaton (DD-510/DDE-510) – sunk as a target off
Florida – 1970
36 Auxiliary Ships (3 photos)
36.01 – USS Whitney (AD-4) – Dobbin Class Destroyer Tender
– scrapped 1948
36.02 – USS Henderson (Transport #1/AP-1) – in 1944 was
decommissioned, refitted and re-commissioned as
the USS Bountiful (AH-9) a hospital ship –
scrapped 1948
SERIES VII – Paul E. Purk
File
37 Obituary and Ohio Death Record for Paul E. Purk
38 Copy of a card sent to the Home Town Bugle dated 5 April
1945 – he was in basic training at Camp Blanding,
Florida. The original of this card is in MS-19, Box 5,
File 45, #50.