The papers of Bernard E. Weigel are divided into three series: Military, Personal, and Photographs.
Military (1940-1994) documents both Weigel's stateside training and his military service in Europe. The subseries of Orders contains general and special orders issued by the various military groups of which Weigel was part; they document his transfer from the artillery of the 32nd Division to the Army Air Force, stateside promotions, shipment overseas, and promotions received while fighting in Europe. The individual flight records show the time that Weigel spent in the air during his stateside training and document the thirty-four missions that he flew while in Europe. The personal history statement and separation records provide a wealth of information about Weigel's service. His time in the Air Force Reserve is reflected in the orders of the 2465th A.F.R. Training Center, as well as Weigel's application for reserve service and other documents. Maps, small booklets, and a menu from the Christmas dinner at Camp Livingston (1940) are included in the military ephemera. Also of interest are Weigel's medical records, which document all of the vaccinations and other medical precautions taken with World War II soldiers going to the European Theater.
Personal (1941-2001) includes letters that Weigel wrote to his parents while training and overseas. The letters generally describe the camp life that Weigel experienced, including the food and accoutrements in camp. Some letters discuss trips into local English pubs and hint at missions that he flew. It also has documentation of Weigel's application of National Life Insurance through the Department of Veterans Affairs and a Weigel family tree. Finally, this series contains materials from a defunct scrapbook that Weigel kept, such as newspaper and magazine clippings about B-24 bombers, the H.M.T. Queen Elizabeth (the ship on which Weigel returned to the U.S.), and World War II in general. Many of these clippings contain short written description by Weigel which reveal how the information relates to his wartime experiences. There are some wartime clippings from the local La Crosse paper that extol Weigel's accomplishments, as well. The collected souvenirs are objects that Weigel collected during the war, such as business cards from pubs in England and a napkin from a French restaurant.
Photographs (1928-2000) consist of many wartime and post-war shots of Weigel, his wartime crew, and B-24 bombers. This series contains portrait photographs of Weigel in 3rd grade, high school, and throughout World War II. Over forty photographs document his training at Camps Livingston and Beauregard in Louisiana (while he was with the 32nd Division) and his training with the Air Force in Mississippi, Idaho, and Kansas. The overseas wartime photographs are very impressive; there are several shots of the crew that Weigel flew with in Europe, many shots of Weigel at the base in England, and five photos from Weigel's mission to deliver fuel to General George S. Patton's army at St. Dizier, France. The post-war photographs document Weigel's continued interest in his wartime experiences and in the B-24 bomber. The shots from his trips to England and Mississippi show him at his old bases, and the photos from the air show in La Crosse, at which a fully-functioning B-24 made an appearance, include many interior shots on which Weigel identified various parts of the plane's innards.
