Edward A. Ferguson WWII Correspondence
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This digital collection contains the World War II correspondence of Edward A. Ferguson spanning the period of 1943 to 1946. This correspondence consists of approximately 300 letters of outgoing correspondence and six letters of incoming correspondence. Ferguson’s outgoing correspondence has been separated into letters written to his family and to his fiancé (and later wife) Jean Hiatt and then organized chronologically. Ferguson’s incoming correspondence is from Latha Akers and spans the period of 1945 to 1946. Latha Akers was the wife of George “Red” Akers, a shipmate and close personal friend of Ferguson’s who was killed when USS LST-749 sank in the Sulu Sea on December 21, 1944. This incoming correspondence was written in response to the letters Ferguson wrote to Latha Akers explaining the death of her husband. Overall, Ferguson’s letters are descriptive and discuss numerous topics including his perception of the war in the Pacific; food and housing conditions in the Philippine Islands and New Guinea; his duties as an engineer, surveyor, MP, and tower guard; and his impressions of occupied Japan.