Title: Carl Birk Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1948-2000

Creator:

• Birk, Carl

Call Number: WVM Mss 1012

Quantity: 0.8 linear ft. (2 archives boxes) of papers, 1.0 linear ft. (3 archives boxes) of photographs, 7 videocassettes.

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

Papers and photographs of Carl Birk, a sergeant in Company C, 2nd Battle Group, 128th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Division during the Berlin Crisis. Papers consist largely of scrapbooks compiled by Birk following his service. These scrapbooks provide a good overview of the history of the Wisconsin National Guard in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin with a focus on the 1950s and 1960s generally and the years of the Berlin Crisis (1961-1962) in particular. The Berlin Crisis was a period of escalating tension between the Soviets and the Allies (United States, Great Britain, and France) during the Cold War that included the construction of the Berlin Wall. Roughly 150,000 U.S. National Guardsmen and Reservists were called into active duty to prepare for possible military action in Germany during this time. Other papers include materials from the Aggressor Maneuvers, a field exercise during the Berlin Crisis meant to prepare troops for guerilla-style warfare; scattered personal military records of Birk, including certificates for completing educational courses; and some papers regarding Birk's membership in three veterans organizations: Co. C, 128th Infantry, Old Timers, and the Red Arrow Club of Southern Wisconsin. An atomic bomb attack advice card reflects the fears that permeated America during the Cold War. The photographs focus on the role of Birk's unit and the 32nd Division during the Berlin Crisis, showing field training during Operation Mesa Drive, barracks, inspections, scenery, and “welcome back” billboards. There are also pictures of annual National Guard training at Camps McCoy and Ripley, a red arrow made out of raw hamburger, National Guard recruitment, softball and rifle range teams, and shots from reunions of Birk's veterans groups. Video includes footage of veterans' reunions in the late 1980s, early 1990s as well as documentaries about the 105th Cavalry in the years leading up to World War II and the 32nd Division in general.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss01012

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Carl Birk was born on March 1, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. He later moved to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin where he joined the local Wisconsin National Guard unit in May 1947. He served continuously in the Guard through August 1966. During that time, Birk and his unit were called into federal service in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis. The 32nd Division was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington to train for possible use in Europe against Soviet forces. During this time, the Fort Atkinson unit was known as Company C., 2nd Battle Group, 128th Infantry Regiment. Following his service, Birk worked as an electrical and plumbing designer in the Fort Atkinson area.

The papers of the Carl Birk are divided into three series, Papers, Photographs, and Videos.

Papers (1948-2000) consists mostly of scrapbooks complied by Birk relating to his service in the Wisconsin National Guard unit from Ft. Atkinson. The original scrapbooks contained a mixture of original photographs, photographs Birk borrowed from others to scan and print out on paper, newspaper clippings, and some manuscript material. The scrapbooks were photocopied for preservation purposes and then dismantled, with the copied books remaining in the collection along with the original photographs and manuscript materials. The scrapbooks contain an immense amount of information and documentation about the history of the Wisconsin National Guard in Fort Atkinson with a particular focus on its role in the Berlin Crisis, when the entire 32nd Division was called into federal service and sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. Newspaper articles describe the surprise and worry felt by the Guardsmen and their families upon call-up as Company C, 2nd Battle Group, 128th Infantry Regiment, their travel to the Pacific Northwest, and the living conditions and activities they engaged in while there. In addition to the scrapbooks, the collection includes materials relating to the Aggressor Maneuvers in which Birk took part at Fort Lewis. Designed to prepare the troops for guerrilla-style warfare, documentation establishing “the enemy” (to be portrayed by a different group of U.S. troops) and its military structure and various forms to be used during the maneuvers are located in the collection. Materials relating specifically to Birk's service include scattered personnel documents, many certificates that show the educational courses he took through the military, and a squad leader's handbook he used while at Fort Lewis. An atomic bomb attack advice card provides some insight into the pervasive fear of nuclear attack during the Cold War and how the public was told to react to it. There are also scattered papers related to Birk's membership in three veterans organizations: Co. C, 128 Infantry (for veterans of the Fort Atkinson National Guard), Old Timers (veterans of the 32nd Division), and the Red Arrow Club of Southern Wisconsin. Included are newspaper articles from the Janesville Gazette from October of 1990, covering celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 32nd's activation, and a poster with the signatures of surviving veterans from a 1992 Old Timers reunion.

Photographs (1948-1990) include both loose photographs, photographs removed from the scrapbooks, and some pictures that were scanned by Birk but printed out on paper. This series contains numerous photographs from Birk's time at Fort Lewis during the Berlin Crisis (1961-1962). Many of the shots give a sort of “behind-the-scenes” look at the conditions experienced by the soldiers, showing barracks, inspections, and the cooks who prepared their food. There are many scenery shots of the Pacific Northwest, some pictures from Operation Mesa Drive, a field training exercise, and billboards welcoming the troops back to Wisconsin in 1962. Other photographs come from annual training done by the Wisconsin National Guard at Camp McCoy and Camp Ripley and show the men in formal training and informal recreational situations. There are pictures from a company party that include a Red Arrow made of raw hamburger. Other pictures in the series document the Wisconsin National Guard recruitment process, parades, and rifle range training as well as recreational activities like the company rifle and softball teams. There are several photographs from reunions of three veterans organizations to which Birk belonged: the 32nd Division Veterans Association, Co. C, 128th Infantry, and the Old Timers.

Videos (1986-1992) consists of seven VHS cassettes. Five of them contain footage of various reunions of the 32nd Division from the late 1980s through the early 1990s. In general, they show veterans and their spouses socializing over dinner, speeches by officers and dignitaries, parades, and other typical reunion activities. A sixth tape contains black and white footage of the 105th Cavalry Regiment training in the years leading up to World War II (1937-1939) while the seventh tape is a general documentary history of the 32nd Division from its Civil War origins through World War II.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Carl Birk, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, 2003 and 2005. Accession Number: 2003.191 and Mss 2005.203.

Processing Information

Processed by Russell Horton in 2007.

	Series: Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Ephemeral items, 1961-1962
Box   1 Folder   2	Atomic bomb attack advice cards, circa 1961
Box   1 Folder   3	Unit histories, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Fort Lewis, Aggressor Maneuver materials, circa 1962
Box   1 Folder   5	Military records, 1949-1963
Box   1 Folder   6	Military education certificates, 1949-1965
Box   1 Folder   7	Personal service records, 1949-1966
Box   1 Folder   8	Squad leader's handbook, circa 1962
Box   1 Folder   9-10	Newspaper clippings, [1948-2000]
	Subseries: Scrapbooks	⇧
Box   1 Folder   11	Fort Lewis, 1961-1962
Box   2 Folder   1-2	History of Ft. Atkinson National Guard, 1947-1966
Box   2 Folder   3-4	Mobilization for Berlin Crisis, 1961-1962
	Subseries: Veteran organizations	⇧
Box   2 Folder   5	Co. C, 2/128 B.G. (Ft. Atkinson National Guard), 1967-1982
Box   2 Folder   6	Old Timers (32nd Division), 1989-1999
Ov   38 Folder   3	45th Anniversary Reunion Poster, 1992
Box   2 Folder   7	Red Arrow Club of Southern Wisconsin, 1976-1995
Ov   39 Folder   5	50th anniversary of activation newspaper articles, 1990
	Series: Photographs	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1-3	Fort Lewis, 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   4-7	Barracks [20] , 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   8	Billboards [4] , 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   9	Cooks [3] , 1961
Box   3 Folder   10-11	Drills [13] , 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   12-14	Federal inspections [12] , 1950s-1962
Box   3 Folder   15-23	Field exercises [46] , 1961
Box   3 Folder   24	Operation Mesa Drive [5] , 1961
Box   3 Folder   25	Scenery [15] , 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   26	Sleeping outside [3] , 1961
Box   3 Folder   27-31	Soldier candids [24] , 1961-1962
Box   3 Folder   32	Top 5 Club [4] , 1961-1962
	Subseries: National Guard camp	⇧
Box   3 Folder   33-37	[25] , 1949
Box   4 Folder   1-4	[22] , 1950
Box   4 Folder   5-6	[11] , 1951
Box   4 Folder   7-14	[41] , 1952
Box   4 Folder   15-18	[22] , 1953
Box   4 Folder   19	[3] , 1955
Box   4 Folder   20	Camp McCoy [3] , 1949
Box   4 Folder   21-22	Camp Ripley [11] , 1951
Box   4 Folder   23	Classes [6] , 1950s/1960s
Box   4 Folder   24-26	Company party [9] , 1950s
Box   4 Folder   27	Exhibit [3] , 1952
Box   4 Folder   28	Flag presentation [2] , 1960s
Box   4 Folder   29	Group shot, Co. I, 426th Infantry [4] 1948, 1955
Box   4 Folder   30	Mess hall [5] , circa 1950-1960
Box   4 Folder   31-32	Parades [7] , circa 1950
Box   4 Folder   33-34	Recruitment [9] , circa 1950-1960
Box   4 Folder   35	Reviews [6] , circa 1950-1960
Box   4 Folder   36-37	Rifle team [12] , circa 1950-1960
Box   4 Folder   38	Softball team [1] , circa 1950
Box   4 Folder   39-44	Training [21] , circa 1950-1960
Box   5 Folder   1-3	In the field [15] , circa 1950
Box   5 Folder   4	Rifle range [3] , circa 1950
Box   5 Folder   5	Weekend drill, Horicon Marsh [6] 1953-1954
	Subseries: Veterans organizations	⇧
Box   5 Folder   6	32nd Division Veterans Association [4] , 1986
Box   5 Folder   7-9	Co. C, 128th Infantry [14] 1971, 1981
Box   5 Folder   10-14	Old Timers [21] , 1989-1990
	Series: Videos	⇧
	Subseries: 32nd Division reunions
Video   2 Folder   10	1986
Video   2 Folder   11	1990
Video   2 Folder   12-13	1991
Video   3 Folder   1	1992
Video   3 Folder   2	105th Cavalry documentary
Video   3 Folder   3	History of the 32nd Division