A Soldier's Story: Intimate Artifacts of World War II

Throughout this exhibit, World War II veterans and family are invited to sign the Honor Roll by clicking on this button.

Introduction

Sidney Gelles was drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of twenty-four in 1940. This was one year before America entered World War II. On December 7, 1941, just before Sidney was about to be discharged, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and America went to war. Sidney remained in the Army until the war ended in 1945. He began his service at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, was transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and was then posted to Washington, D.C. In Washington Sidney served in the 36th Coast Artillery Brigade, Anti Aircraft, a unit designated to defend the nation's capital in case of attack. Sidney worked in the Gun Operations Building at Bolling Field, where he maintained an inventory of all vehicles, guns, searchlights, and anti-aircraft equipment.

In 1945 Sidney was shipped to San Francisco, destined for Japan. The United States expected to invade and occupy the Japanese home islands. Instead, on August 6, a single atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, demolishing the city. Three days later a second bomb razed Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan surrendered. World War II was over.

Sidney was discharged from the Army in November. He went back to Boston to live with his wife, Clara. On July 7, 1946, their first son, Richard, was born. He married Judy Gelles in 1971. Judy, who was very close to her father-in-law until his death in 1986, recently discovered his World War II artifacts and hundreds of his and Clara's letters and decided to photograph them for this exhibition. In portraying them larger than life, Judy presents these personal artifacts as repositories of shared meaning, emblems of our nation's effort to defeat Hitler and Japan.

More than half a million Jewish soldiers served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II at home and abroad. This exhibition is Judy's tribute to one of them, but it is dedicated to them all.

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