T/4 Walter E. Cummings 166th Signal Photo Corps

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Reverse of the above photo.

 

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This is one of my favorites. On page 71 of "Patton's GI photographers" Sgt. William Tomko describes three fourteen year olds in a photo. Possibly this photo.

 

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Reverse of the above photo.

 

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Reverse of the above.

 

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Reverse of the above photo.

 

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Reverse of the photo above. This one has "Radio" stamped on it. All of the stills went throught the censors and were used for various publication.

 

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Bill Cummings is in the foreground at right. This photo is an 8 x 10.

 

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Reverse writing on the back.

 

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Looting.

 

Another of my favorites. 8 x 10 with great detail.

 

Bill had a big dagger and pistol collection after the war. He had sold it off bit by bit and had nothing left in the 1990s. He told me that at the end of the war in Czechoslovakia they had filled a Kubelwagen full of pistols and drove to an empty house, got drunk, and unloaded all of them into the walls of the house.

 

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In early April 1944 the 89th Division and 4th Armored came upon the Orhdruf camp. The following eight photographs were the first ones taken by detachment #5 of the 166th Signal Photo Corps. On April 12th Patton, Eisenhower, and Bradley toured the camp and it was highly publicised. About a week later Buchenwald was found and Ohrdruf was mostly forgotten. Bill Cummings was there both times.

 

I have a friend who is going to help me get these to the Holocaust museum and I want to have these seen as a reminder of what happened. It is part of Bill's story and it greatly affected him and his buddies long after the war was over.

 

This is a photograph of the Ohrdruf camp guard tower.

 

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Reverse of above photo.

 

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Reverse of above photo.

 

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Reverse of above photo. Bill was 26 when these photos were taken.

 

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