Correspondence, 1943-1945

John D. Beringer was born on April 12, 1921, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He lived in several places in Wisconsin before settling in Sheboygan. Beringer graduated from Sheboygan High School in 1938 and attended a year of college at the University of Wisconsin. He worked as a salesman at a car dealership until he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1941. He attended basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. After graduating from basic, he attended aircraft mechanics school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a part of several different squadrons while serving in Washington, Arizona, South Dakota, and Florida. His stateside duties included kitchen patrol duty, guard duty, and working on aircraft. In August 1942, Beringer transferred from mechanic duty to clerk duty for the Group Headquarters, Intelligence section doing mechanical drawing work. He continued this line of work until 1944, when his squadron, the 340th Bomb Squadron, 97th Bomb Group, transferred overseas to the air base complex in Foggia, Italy. The air base provided extensive aerial operations for the 15th Air Force, but was not a zone of active combat while Beringer was there. He returned home in August 1945 after the defeat of Germany, and was on a troopship home when the war ended. He returned to Milwaukee after the war. In 1950 he moved to Texas, but returned to Milwaukee in 1964 and died in October, 1975. The materials consist of photocopied documents including Beringer's enlistment form, recommendation letters, pictures, correspondence and telegrams, dated 1941 to 1945. The correspondence was from Beringer to his parents, as well as his brothers, William and Richard. In his letters, John Beringer discussed many things, including basic training and aircraft mechanic school, postings with the squadrons he was assigned to, and the nature of life on the home front. The documents also include a summary of the collection written by Richard Beringer. The material was donated by William Beringer of Atlanta, Georgia and Richard Beringer of Grand Forks, North Dakota, on April 29, 2006. (Acc. # 2006-2819)