- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of Hugh Thomas Keenan
- Creator:
- Palmer, Janet
Keenan, Hugh Thomas, 1936- - Date of Original:
- 2004-06-02
- Subject:
- World War, 1939-1945--Military personnel--United States
Depressions--1929--Tennessee
World War, 1939-1945--Tennessee
Keenan, Clifford Edward, 1920-1945
Easton, Edward
United States. Army. Airborne Division, 82nd
United States. Army. Parachute Infantry Regiment, 505th
Georgia State University
Memphis State College
Victory Gardens - Location:
- Italy, Sicily, 37.587794, 14.155048
Morocco, 31.791702, -7.09262
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning, 32.35237, -84.96882
United States, Tennessee, Gibson County, Humboldt, 35.81979, -88.9159
United States, Texas, Fort Wolters, 32.8524756, -98.0309755 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, Hugh Keenan discusses his brother, Clifford Keenan's service in World War II. He describes his childhood, the loss of the family farm during the Great Depression and what life was like in the early days of the war. His brother enlisted and volunteered for the paratroopers. Mr. Keenan never saw his brother again; his body was buried in France but was re-interred in Humboldt's Rose Hill Cemetery. His mother wrote to several members of his unit to inquire about the circumstances of his death and she received a lengthy response from one of them. He relates that after training, his brother went to Europe and participated in the D-Day invasion. He remembers that his mother was able to track her son's travels through means of coded letters. He describes his mother's grief at learning of her son's death and how traumatic it was to his entire family. He remembers his brother's picture always hanging in the living room and his father being more indulgent. He recalls that his brother had "mothers" in both Ireland and England, and that his mother corresponded with them all her life. After his mother moved into a nursing home, Hugh cleaned out the house and found all the correspondence between his mother and brother. After his retirement, he put them all in a book; he also visited Normandy.
Hugh Keenan's brother Clifford was in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/232
- Additional Rights Information:
- This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Extent:
- 29:29
- Original Collection:
- Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center - Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
