General description of the collection: The Throckmorton family papers include report cards for Gordon Throckmorton as well as his Farming Program Records and Plans Book. Also included are 115 letters, postcards, and greeting cards from PFC Throckmorton and/or his wife, Nannie Mae, to his mother, Hazel Throckmorton and his brother, Kenneth Throckmorton, the bulk of which detail his service in the Army during the Korean War era. PFC Throckmorton gives detailed descriptions of basic training procedures and the dental work done to get him ready for duty. In Europe, he describes the still devastated German economy and farming methods, especially tobacco farming in and around Schweinfurt where he was stationed and Heidelberg, where he visited, and the extensive training in the field at Grafenwehr and Wildflecken. He notes with disgust the African-American soldiers and their German girlfriends and comments on having an American Indian bunking with him. In Europe, he trained as a radio man. He also talks about going to an Army public speaking school at Dachau where he toured and commented on the World War II concentration camp. He also talks about finishing high school while he was in Europe. His letters, postcards, and greeting cards written after 1955 are from his post-Army life and comment on vacations. Kenneth Throckmorton's papers consist of eleven letters written in the late 1960's to his mother, Hazel, from Germany where he was stationed with the 78th Transportation company as a truck driver. He brought his wife to Europe and describes the various apartments they rented and life on the German economy for an enlisted man.
