Showing 138 results

The portrait was drawn by German POW Walter Kohnlein and is signed and dated by the artist.

The watercolor was drawn and painted by German POW Walter Kohnlein and is signed and dated by the artist.

A 'fata morgana' or mirage, envisioned by a prisoner in the German POW section of the 21st General Hospital in Bou Hanifia, Algeria. The watercolor shows the Nissen hut buildings used to house the POWs; the Grand Hotel is in the background. The watercolor was drawn by German POW Walter Kohnlein and is signed, dated, and titled by the artist.

Mess line in the German POW section of the 21st General Hospital in Bou Hanifia, Algeria, as seen by prisoner Walter Kohnlein. The German prisoners were housed in Nissen hut buildings within a guarded stockade. The Grand Hotel, in the background, housed the main medical facilities and administrative offices of the 21st General Hospital while the unit was stationed in North Africa. The watercolor was drawn by German POW Walter Kohnlein and is signed and dated by the artist.

Maj. Benjamin H. Charles examines patients in the POW section of the 21st General Hospital, Bou Hanifia, Algeria. The German POW section admitted over 2,000 patients from the time it opened in late April 1943 until the unit left North Africa seven months later. That represented over 13% of the total number of patients treated by the 21st General Hospital during that period. The artist, Walter Kohnlein, was a German POW being held at the 21st General Hospital. Picture is signed and dated by the artist.

A handwritten note on the back of the large print indicates the Chateau was used as a rest center by General Hospital 21 personnel. On June 1, 1945 the house and grounds of this French villa in Strasbourg were requisitioned for use by the 21st General Hospital as a rest camp for the unit's personnel. Major Benjamin H. Charles oversaw the necessary repairs and rehabilitation of the villa. The villa was known within the unit as 'Chateau Charles' in recognition of his efforts. The grounds included a greenhouse, garage, flower and vegetable gardens, and statuary. The chateau could accommodate about 30 members (officers, nurses and enlisted men) of the unit at a time.

The Administration Building of the 21st General Hospital in Mirecourt, France. The unit used the buildings and grounds of a nearly completed psychiatric hospital while stationed in France from October 1944 to September 1945. Photograph taken in March 1945.

Personnel from the 21st General Hospital view the destruction caused by Allied bombing in Freiburg, Germany. From left to right: George E. Roulhac, Howard E. Whittemore, and Russell J. Crider. Photograph taken in May 1945.

The Cathedral tower remains standing among the bombed ruins of Cathedral Square, Freiburg, Germany. Photograph taken in May 1945.

View of Strasbourg, France in June 1945. The canal leads to the Petit France quarter of the town, which used to be inhabited by tanners, fishermen, and millers, and was known for its half-timbered houses. In the distance is the spire of the Cathedrale of Notre Dame. The 21st General Hospital was stationed in Mirecourt, France, about 75 miles southwest of Strasbourg. The unit requisitioned a villa in Strasbourg for use as a rest camp for personnel of the unit during its last few months in France.

Maj. Lester H. Jasper and Maj. Benjamin H. Charles in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral in May 1945.

View from the Pont de la Tournelle near the La Rive Gauche [The Left Bank] of the River Seine looking west toward Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Île de la Cité, May 1945.