[World War II] United States Army Field Medic's Photo Album and Assorted Service Ephemera, Including Images of Liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, ca. 1940s

France, Germany, etc., ca. 1940s. Album of 102 original photographs; sizes vary (from 2 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. to 5 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. Depicting the service of field medic Charles Fenimore Bowers (73 of the war, the balance depicting Bowers's family members in the United States); several with Bowers's manuscript captions on verso. Oblong 8vo. Original cloth-covered boards, stamped in gilt; several photos loose or starting.

United States Army PFC field medic Charles Fenimore Bowers's personal photo album chronicling his service in World War II. Attached to the 7th Field Hospital, Bowers's images capture his units advance across Europe, starting in Normandy, France and ending in Nuremberg, Germany, showing downed and bullet ridden Nazi aircraft, the aftermath of the battle of Saint-Lô, France, various allied aircraft, Bowers's fellow servicemen, scenes in Nuremberg, and notably, images from liberated Buchenwald concentration camp (of which Bowers's unit was an advance party), including images of liberated prisoners, corpses, barracks, and gallows (seven total photos). Other images appear to antedate the war, showing Bowers's various family members.

Lot includes an additional six pieces of ephemera related to Bowers's service, including his New York Port of Embarkation certificate, a Commendation Letter, War Department Report of Change of Status and Address document, one typed slip related to a field hospital, Soldier's Individual Pay Record booklet, and one mimeographed newsletter ("Tootin on the Newton").

Original photos showing liberated concentration camps, especially from soldiers who helped do so, are uncommon.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[World War II] United States Army Field Medic's Photo Album and Assorted Service Ephemera, Including Images of Liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, ca. 1940s