C1:002
1942–1946
64 albums, approx. 3,500 photographs
C1:002 Miss Ruth Hooker of 623 Oak Lane, Newport News, Va., is here pictured wrapping starter and generator of a 1942 Chevrolet at station 5 of the final processing line in Warehouse 29. Miss Hooker has been employed in the processing of vehicles for overseas shipment since July 6, 1943. She is one of 50 women employed in this type of work. January 8, 1944 (LVA sc_11_img33)
On June 15, 1942, the army officially activated the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, under the command of the army’s Transportation Corps, with its headquarters in Newport News. By the end of World War II, more than 772,000 men and women had gone to war via the port. Hampton Roads saw even more arrivals than departures: 915,116 people, including U.S. wounded and European POWs. The Transportation Corps maintained a port historian’s office and regularly assigned Signal Corps photographers to document as much port-related activity as possible. In almost all cases, the individuals in the photographs are identified by name and rank.
Our U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection includes more than 3,500 individual 8 x 10″ black-and-white photographs from the Hampton Roads Embarkation Series, 1942–1946. These photos show, often in intimate and unexpected detail, the preparation and loading of war materials, daily activities of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps, U.S. military personnel arriving and departing through the ports of Hampton Roads, the work of civilian employees, WACs, Japanese-American servicemen, and the Red Cross, group portraits, wounded personnel, entertainers, animals, German and Italian prisoners of war, military funerals and religious observances, training and drills, equipment, vehicles and warships, aerial views of the port, and servicemen going to the barber or dentist, receiving communion, and relaxing in racially segregated dining facilities. The collection is significant for its account of all aspects of life at port, not just the strictly military, demonstrating that war is, above all, a deeply human undertaking.
C1:002 Fastening of wire cables to wheel of LeTourneau carry-all on aft deck of HR-96. February 10, 1943. (LVA sc_02_img91) 
C1:002 Twin soldiers, tank destroyer casuals, Pier 5. Left to right: Lt. Fred A. Hurdman, 0-1823004; Lt. Ernest D. Hurdman, 0-1823003; home Chittenaugo, New York; 29 years of age; had served for 7 years together, first in the National Guard, living in the same tent, and since January 2, 1941, in the Army of the United States. They are identical twins and were born October 6, 1913. Their mother is Mrs. Ed Hurdman. They sailed May 9, 1943, on HR-190, SS NEO HELAS, from Pier 5, Newport News, for BLOT. May 8, 1943 (LVA sc_05_img10) 
C1:002 Miss Ruth Hooker of 623 Oak Lane, Newport News, Va., is here pictured wrapping starter and generator of a 1942 Chevrolet at station 5 of the final processing line in Warehouse 29. Miss Hooker has been employed in the processing of vehicles for overseas shipment since July 6, 1943. She is one of 50 women employed in this type of work. January 8, 1944 (LVA sc_11_img33) 
C1:002 Overall view of Pier 8, HRPE, showing progress of reconstruction to date. The Pier was totally destroyed by fire on the night of 17 December 1944. The fire was caused by spilling of gasoline from a fork-lift truck. February 20, 1945 (LVA sc_17_img104) 
C1:002 Prvt. Nickolas M. Weber, AC, 39706311, Chicago, Illinois, shown at Camp Patrick Henry Railhead holding match while Pvt. Claudie M. Cleja, member of French Women’s Army Corps (Shipment IJ-204-YI), lights her cigarette. Octiober 13, 1944 (LVA sc_21_img16) 
C1:002 During actual ceremony on main deck of USAT GENERAL WALTER H. GORDON (AP-117), Captain R. E. Wood, Alexandria, Virginia, United States Coast Guard, speaks to ship’s personnel over amplifying system as he thanks Mrs. Frank A. Allen, Jr., Alington, Virginia, for the picture of her father. Mrs. Allen stands at extreme right. On left are representatives of armed forces: Commander R. C. Foutter, Washington, D. C., United States Coast Guard; Lt. T. L. Perrin, USPHS, Custer, South Dakota; Major Frank M. Green, 0-386164, ATC, St. Regis Fall, New York; and Lt. R. E. Crain, USN. In background are, left to right: Lt. Colonel Ernest H. Hawkwood, 0-218920, New York, New York, Chief of Staff, HRPE; Mrs. Bessie Christian, Washington, D. C.; Major Sidney Towle, 0-1168111, Newburyport, Massachusetts, Director, Control Division, HRPE; and Captain Elizabeth R. Williams, L-220202, Maplewood, New Jersey, WAC Staff Director, HRPE. November 11, 1944. (LVA sc_22_img61)
Volume 35 of the collection comprises a special group of photos titled “The Odyssey of an American Soldier,” which traces the journey of one Private First Class Woodrow Arnold Powers, from the troop train arriving in Virginia from Texas, through his stay at Hampton Roads, to his voyage on a transport ship and eventual debarkation at an overseas port close to the combat zone.
Arrangement and access:
Photos are bound in modern albums. The Transportation Corps’ original organization has been maintained. This organization is chiefly chronological, often thematically sub-grouped (ex: “ships,” “infiltration course,” “WACs”).
All images from the collection can be accessed through the Library’s online digital collections.
Provenance:
Unknown
References:
William R. Wheeler (editor), The Road to Victory (2 volumes, 1946)
“Port of Embarkation: Signal Corps Photographs of Hampton Roads, 1942–1945,” Virginia Cavalcade 37, no. 2 (1987): 74
Related resources and collections:
The Mariners’ Museum Library in Newport News holds the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation Index of Photographs, which corresponds to the photograph collection housed at the museum. This collection contains photos, all taken during WWII, of U.S. Army personnel and equipment, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ construction of the port, the American Red Cross (particularly women), the American Legion, civilians (including many African Americans), merchant marines, and Italian prisoners of war.
my grandfather, Charles Oscar Frazer, was a civilian worker at the Port of Embarkation. How might I find a photo and/or personnel record of him?
I have my father’s bracelet Fred A. Hurdman 0-1823004 and was able to see his picture with his twin brother. Thank you