Title: John D. Winner Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1943-2007

Creator:

• Winner, John D.

Call Number: WVM Mss 1222

Quantity: 0.8 linear ft. (2 archives boxes and 3 oversized folders) of papers, 0.9 linear ft. (2 archives boxes and 1 flat box) of photographs.

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 pertaining to John D. Winner, a Madison, Wisconsin resident who served with the 3rd Infantry Regiment during World War II, and also served in the Wisconsin National Guard and saw active duty with the 32nd Division in 1961. After graduating college, Winner enlisted in the Army and attended the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Winner served in Germany during and after World War II as an organizer of prisoner of war camps at Dietershiem, Darmstadt, and Kornwestheim. He was awarded the Bronze Star for successfully supplying provisions to German prisoners and was also stationed with the occupation force stationed in Berlin. After the war, Winner served with the Wisconsin National Guard until his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in 1962. His papers consist of service records, military papers, correspondence, newspaper articles, certificates, and drawings pertaining to his service with the regular army and the reserves. The letters, written by Winner to his family, describe his basic training, completion of officer school, celebration of the end of the war in Europe and the Pacific, duties performed with the occupation force, and descriptions of European cities. While in basic training, Winner describes some of his training and his concern about being sent overseas into combat. He also mentions his dislike of drill sergeants and Southern weather and culture. The letters from Europe include descriptions of Winner's supply duties, leisure activities, travel through various cities, and his enjoyment of the spoils of war. Some of the letters also discuss his views on the peace process, with one elaborating how the United States should deal with Soviet Russia (July 4, 1945). Winner also shows concern for the welfare of his mother and sister after his father died in 1945. He asks about his mother's financial situation and instructs her how to invest his own money to help pay for his sister's college education. The military papers elaborate on Winner being awarded the Bronze Star and document Winner's investigation of a jeep accident that occurred after the war. There is also an interesting certificate for completion of the gas obstacle course that includes cartoon soldiers comically completing the tasks involved in the course. Particularly interesting, is the series of drawings that were done by a Hungarian officer serving on Winner's staff at the Dietershiem prisoner of war camp. The artworks are mainly caricatures and portraits of Winner, showing him sitting in a jeep, riding a motorcycle, smoking cigars, and posing in uniform. Also included is a drawing of a stereotypical German soldier in a prison camp and two showing Hitler; one with him hanging onto a rocket and the other of him hanging onto a sign for Berlin as American tanks enter the city. The papers pertaining to his service with the National Guard include certificates, identification cards, and service records. Also included are materials pertaining to the 32nd Division's activation during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. Included are memos, articles, and a roster from 1961 of officers serving in the Division at the time of activation. Of particular interest are several songs pertaining to the Wisconsin National Guard, including one that protests activation. The photographs consist of a scrapbook compiled by Winner, along with several loose images pertaining to his service in Europe. Most of the images in the scrapbook are labeled, dated, and include a brief description. Included are images of the extensive damage to German cities, depictions of the prison camps where Winner was stationed, and tourist photographs taken while on leave. There are also images of Winner and other soldiers celebrating the end of the war, enjoying spoils, relaxing, and attending regimental football games. The scrapbook also includes additional drawings that were given to Winner depicting Hungarian and German prisoners, as well as programs for plays and football games. The loose images document Winner's assignment to Berlin and his return trip to the United States. The destruction and rebuilding of Berlin is well documented and include German citizens scrounging for food, as well as former Nazi women cleaning up rubble. The loose images also include additional photographs pertaining to subjects identified in the scrapbook, along with other labeled and unlabeled photographs of soldiers. There are also a few images from his service with the National Guard documenting presentations and inspections.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss01222

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John D. Winner was born on September 10, 1921 in Port Washington, Wisconsin. In 1935, his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating high school, Winner enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he became active in the ROTC program. He enlisted in the Army in 1943, after graduating with a B.A., and was selected to attend the United States Army Infantry Training School at Fort Benning, Georgia. While in training, Winner was attached to the Third Infantry Regiment and placed in command of an anti-tank battalion with the rank of 1st lieutenant.

In March of 1945, the Third Infantry was sent to Europe, and Winner was assigned the task of organizing prisoner camps towards the end of the war. His first assignment was to the prisoner of war camp at Dietersheim, Germany, where he was given the task of organizing the feeding of thousands of German POWs that were surrendering due to the rapid advancement of the American forces. Winner's successful actions in feeding the prisoners would earn him the Bronze Star Medal. He was transferred in June, 1945 to another prison in Darmstadt, Germany, serving in a similar capacity. In January, 1946, he was transferred to another prison camp at Kornwestheim, Germany and served there for about four months before being assigned with the Third Infantry Regiment to the U.S. occupied zone in Berlin.

Winner returned to the United States in 1946 and received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1949. He served as District Attorney for Dane County and as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin before founding his own law practice in 1959. During this time, Winner also served with the Wisconsin National Guard and eventually was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served as a judge advocate general with the 32nd Division when it was reactivated and stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. Winner retired from military life after the division returned to Wisconsin in 1962. He continued to practice law until his retirement in 1996.

Winner married Marcelaine Hobson in 1949 and had three sons, John, Gary, and Scott. In 1995, he did an oral history interview for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (OH 219). His father, Paul Winner, served as a pilot during World War I. Paul's materials are also part of the holdings at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center.

The John D. Winner collection is organized into four series: Papers, Drawings, Scrapbooks, and Photographs.

Papers (1941-2007) are organized into manuscripts from Winner's service in the regular army during World War II and those from his time spent serving in the Wisconsin National Guard. The majority of his papers focus on his wartime service and are primarily made up of the letters Winner wrote home to his family between 1943 and 1946. The letters written by Winner while in basic training express his genuine dislike of southern culture, and also express his disdain for the demeaning nature of drill sergeants and the controlling atmosphere of military life. This dislike is stated in the oral history interview he gave in 1995. The negative views eventually give way to Winner describing his training, and also him hinting to concern about being sent into combat. There is a gap in letters from 1944 until Winner arrives in Europe in March 1945. None of the letters describe or mention seeing combat, and it is unlikely he witnessed any while serving in the 3rd Infantry Regiment. The letters from Europe describe his prison camp duties to some degree, but generally they reassure his mother that he is safe and eating enough food. This communication trend picks up significantly after his father, Paul, dies. Winner assumed some control of the family finances despite being overseas, with multiple letters instructing his mother to invest money in certain stocks. The letters also provide some detail to the drawings and photographs in the collection. Winner makes reference in several letters asking if his mother received drawings or photographs he sent home. He also describes the relations of American and Soviet troops. In a letter dated July 4, 1945, he states that Soviet troops were finally paid for the past several years of service and would buy American items, such as watches, cigarettes, and other goods. He also gives his ideas of the future of world politics and Soviet/American relations. He takes a sympathetic view of Soviet struggles on the world stage, and mentions that both the U.S. and Soviet Union should cooperate to rebuild Germany. His National Guard papers include several interesting documents pertaining to the activation of the 32nd Division in 1961. Several protest songs are included, along with a letter written by Winner expressing contempt for having to remain activated without knowing if the unit will be sent to combat. This activation eventually led to his retirement from the reserves. In his oral history interview, Winner mentions the activation was the reason for his retirement and also blames Kennedy for instigating the Russians.

Drawings (1945-1946) were primarily done by a Hungarian lieutenant that was associated with Winner during his time at Dietersheim prison. Winner first mentions the drawings in a letter dated May 28, 1945, saying that he has a Hungarian lieutenant working for him who was a professor at the Budapest Academy of Art. Winner mentions the drawings in letters until June 14, 1945, when he says that the artist was transferred. It is unclear if the artist was working as a guard with American forces, or if he was a prisoner at the camp. The drawings consist of portraits of Winner, usually smoking a cigar, and also include caricatures of Hungarian and German prisoners. Most of the prisoner sketches are included in the scrapbook. There are also two humorous sketches of Hitler, along with a sketch of a stereotypical Japanese man hanging onto a sign for Tokyo in intense wind. Two signs for Rome and Berlin lay broken around him. The Japanese sketch is included in the scrapbook.

Scrapbooks (1945-1946) include one book organized by Winner documenting his time serving in Europe after the end of World War II. The scrapbook mainly consists of photographs, but also contains several drawings obtained from a Hungarian lieutenant, programs for three regimental football games, and two programs of plays Winner attended. The images captioned and most are grouped together by location. The photographs are generally arranged chronologically and include images taken from the various prison camps where Winner was stationed. He also documented his tourist trips to London, Paris, and other European cities, and took numerous images of famous monuments and buildings. Winner took extensive images of the destruction in German towns such as Darmstadt, Stuttgart, and Berlin. He also took photographs of Berlin residents digging through trash for food, organizing black market trades, and former Nazi women forced to clean up the destruction in order to be fed. The scrapbook also documents soldiers celebrating the end of the war, and includes images of Winner and fellow officers enjoying the spoils of victory. There is also a series of humorous images of Winner and a fellow officer posing with statues around Darmstadt.

Photographs (1943-1962) are primarily additional loose images that compliment those in the scrapbook. Some are duplicates of images within the scrapbook, but they were retained because of additional information written by Winner about the image. The photographs also document aspects not recorded in the scrapbook, such as time spent stationed in Berlin and his return voyage to the United States in 1946, along with a few photographs taken during his service in the reserves. They are organized into those pertaining to his European service and his time with the Wisconsin National Guard. Most of the loose images are identified, either by a name, date, or description of the scenery. The majority of the photographs from his time in Europe are tourist images from cities such as London, Paris, and Berlin. Winner also documented the extensive destruction to German cities, however some of the images lack a description of the city where they were taken. There are some interesting images of Winner and soldiers relaxing and celebrating after the end of the war with wine, beer, and food. The images from his time in the reserves include shots taken in a military office and some taken during training demonstrations.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Marcelaine Winner, Middleton, WI, 2008. Accession Number: Mss 2008.203.

Processing Information

Processed by Andrew J. Baraniak in 2009

	Series: Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical Information, 1966, 2001
	Subseries: Regular Army	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2	Bronze Star, 1945
Box   1 Folder   3	Certificates, 1941-1946
Ov   30 Folder   3	Oversized, 1944
Box   1 Folder   4	Gas Obstacle Course, 1944
	Correspondence
	To John
Box   1 Folder   5	Cards, 1945-1946
	To Family
Box   1 Folder   6-31	Letters, 1943-1946
Box   2 Folder   1-3	Letters, 1946
Box   2 Folder   4	Postcards, 1945
Box   2 Folder   5	V-Mail, 1945
	Ephemeral
Box   2 Folder   6	ID Cards, circa 1945
Box   2 Folder   7	Programs, 1946
Box   2 Folder   8-11	Military Papers, 1943-1946
Box   2 Folder   12	Veteran Insurance, 1943
Box   2 Folder   13	Newspaper Articles, circa 1945
Ov   30 Folder   4	Oversized Berlin Article, 1946
	Subseries: Reserves (Berlin Crisis)	⇧
Box   2 Folder   14	32nd Division Activation, 1961
Box   2 Folder   15	Letter to Melvin Laird, 1961
Box   2 Folder   16	Roster of Officers, 1961
Box   2 Folder   17	Songs, 1961
Box   2 Folder   18	Training Notes, 1961
Box   2 Folder   19	Certificates, 1948-1962
Ov   30 Folder   3	Oversized, 1958
	Ephemeral
Box   2 Folder   20	ID Cards, circa 1953
Box   2 Folder   21	Officer Handbook, circa 1953
Box   2 Folder   22	Service Records, 1950-1981
	Series: Drawings	⇧
Box   2 Folder   23	German Soldiers/Hitler, 1945
Box   2 Folder   24	John Winner, 1945-1946
Ov   29 Folder   7	Oversized, 1945
	Series: Scrapbooks	⇧
Box   5	European Theater Service, 1945-1946
Box   3 Folder   1	John Winner [9] , 1945-1946
Box   3 Folder   2	Darmstadt [6] , 1945
Box   3 Folder   3	Portrait [2] , circa 1946
Box   3 Folder   4	Relaxing [6] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   5	With other Soldiers [7] , 1945-1946
	Subseries: Basic Training	⇧
Box   3 Folder   6	Fort Benning Postcard [1] , 1943
	Subseries: European Theater	⇧
	Destruction
Box   3 Folder   7	Berlin [10] , 1945-1946
Box   3 Folder   8	Reconstruction [6] , 1946
Box   3 Folder   9	Unidentified [13] , circa 1945
	Military Compounds
	Berlin
Box   3 Folder   10	Army Headquarters [5] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   11	Occupation Zones, signs [5] 1945-1946
	Prison Camps
Box   3 Folder   12	Darmstadt [2] , 1945
Box   3 Folder   13	Kornwestheim [7] , 1946
Box   3 Folder   14-15	Soldiers [19] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   16	Convoys [7] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   17	Paris [4] , 1945
	Recreation
Box   3 Folder   18	Baseball Game [5] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   19	Football Game [5] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   20	Unidentified [16] , circa 1945
	Tourism
	Belgium
Box   3 Folder   21	Spa [11] , circa 1945
	England
Box   3 Folder   22	London [5] , circa 1945
	France
Box   3 Folder   23	Canes [1] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   24	Le Havre [3] , circa 1945
	Paris
Box   3 Folder   25	City Scenes [3] , 1945
Box   3 Folder   26	Sent to Family [7] , 1945
	Germany
	Berlin
Box   3 Folder   27	Berliner Dom [2] , 1946
Box   3 Folder   28	Brandenburg Gate [6] , 1945
Box   3 Folder   29-30	Monuments [15] , 1945-1946
Box   3 Folder   31	World War II [10] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   32	Nazi Government Buildings [9] , circa 1945
Box   3 Folder   33	Olympic Stadium [2] , 1945
Box   3 Folder   34	Postcards [6] , circa 1940
Box   4 Folder   1	Reichstag [3] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   2	Darmstadt [4] , 1945
Box   4 Folder   3	Frankfurt, Maulbronn, Stuttgart [5] 1945-1946
Box   4 Folder   4	Kornwestheim [2] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   5	Unidentified [10] , circa 1945
Box   4 Folder   6	Rural towns [4] , circa 1945
	Voyage Home
Box   4 Folder   7	New York City [6] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   8	Dock [3] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   9	Statue of Liberty [5] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   10	Ocean View [5] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   11	Soldiers [8] , 1946
Box   4 Folder   12	Reserves [10] , 1948, 1954, 1962
Box   4 Folder   13	Postcard, Fort Lewis [1] circa 1961