At the moment I'm busily transcribing the some four hundred pages of the original "History of Center Compound" that I literally found in the Air Force Academy's "Special Collections" section of their expansive library. I've spent two different winter breaks there in that amazingly rich resource - a collection of POW artifacts and original writings, etc. collected and then donated by the academy's Senior Officer, General Albert P. Clarke, who was the first American flyer taken prisoner of war in World War II and an internee at Stalag Luft III along with, among over 2,000 others, my dad! After my first visit, I was warmly greeted by the personnel there and pretty much allowed free rein of the facility, which meant I was allowed to peruse the electronically movable stacks, rather than having to consult the "finder binders"
and then bug a staff member to go retrieve materials for me! It was while I was exploring said stacks that I happened upon a rather thick, vintage notebook - page upon riveting page of hand-typed notes, copies of letters, inventories, etc...all on thin rice paper...the original "History of Center Compound, Stalag Luft III, Sagan Germany" that dated back to the 1940s! I immediately set about digitally photographing each and every page of this precious original document, and it's these pages that I'm now transcribing! I say that I literally "found" the history because at one point, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Ruwell, head of the Special Collections, happened by and noticed what I was doing. "Oh my goodness...you found it!" Apparently, this priceless bit of POW history (priceless at least to me and my project) had been misplaced and thus virtually lost in the vast expanse of resources in the collection! I feel especially lucky to have full access to it now and am learning a lot as I transcribe each and every page exactly as it was written "back in the day." And now...back to work...
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