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BYU HistoryGeneva Steel Photographs and Negatives
September 21, 2009
The L. Tom Perry Special Collections is pleased to announce that all Geneva Steel photographs and negatives in the Geneva Steel Holdings Corporation records (MSS 3122) will soon be available for public use and access. The collection includes over 16,000 gelatin silver, black-and-white, and color photographs, as well as 33,000 negatives, slides, and transparencies. These photographs and negatives, found in Series I of the collection, span a sixty year period, from approximately 1940 – 2002.
The Geneva Steel photographs are organized into eight archival sub-series, and document all aspects of the development and history of the plant, as well as several Utah mines that produced coal for Geneva. All photographs and negatives have been housed in acid free sleeves and folders, and have been described in the archival finding aid which will be available online.
Built in 1942, Geneva Steel was one of the largest World War II construction projects. During the Second World War, steel from the Geneva plant was used in the production of more than 2,000 Liberty Ships. Geneva’s steel was also used in the production of armaments, bombs, and tanks.
The Geneva Steel plant transformed the culture, environment, and society of Utah County as well as our state and region. What was once a regional society and economy rooted in the daily rhythms of the small town and farm was forever changed by the construction of one of the largest steel plants in the United States.
By the time Geneva Steel closed its gates for the last time in 2002, the plant had generated millions of dollars in income, had employed over 70,000 individuals, and had radically altered and changed the environment and landscape of Utah County.
The historical value of these materials is great. These photographs constitute a literal treasure trove of unique primary source materials that will, for years and decades to come, further inform our understanding of our state and region.
John Murphy, Curator
L. Tom Perry Special Collections
Harold B. Lee Library
Bombing in Posen
September 16, 2009
Our 15th flight was April 9, Easter Sunday, to Posen, Poland. When we went into briefing we were told this was a must hit the target raid! We were going into Poland to bomb the first jet aircraft factory in the world! The Intelligence Officer informed us that the first operational jet airplane was on the runway and the factory was full of them being processed. We flew up over the North Sea between 25,000 and 30,000 feet, dropping down to 15,000 feet for the bomb run. On the way in we had a lot of anti-aircraft fire and as we came in over the bomb run, several miles before the drop point a 66 mm anti-aircraft shell made a direct hit on our No. 2 engine, scooping it right out of the wing. This is the engine that runs all the instruments! We immediately dropped out of formation but continued behind and dropped our bombe on the target. Darcy yelled, “Get the hell out of here–we’re sitting ducks.” So we flew over the North Sea, because fighter planes didn’t like to stay too long over open water. About the next five hours we spent trying to keep enemy aircraft away from us. The fog came in: we flew through it. During one opening in the fog we looked down and there was the ocean right under us! We immediately threw out everything that was loose, including our parachutes. We were too low for them to be of any use to us anyway. The white cliffs of Dover looked really close that day as we just barely skimmed them and flew just above the ground to our base. We did not circle the base as is required. We landed straight on…happy to be back on the ground! (Grant Douglas Johnson, MSS 2350 no. 277.)
Victory–A Remarkable Coincidence
July 30, 2009
Some people have all the luck. Jennie Gwilliam Austin told the following story about her husband, Ray Gwilliam:
Ray “had finished his training and was just waiting for assignment overseas. He came home one night and said ‘I have orders to go to [the] Europe[an] theater tomorrow.’”So we packed up and got me a train ticket to go back to Utah. He went on base the next morning and had said goodbye and thought that he was leaving. He called and said ‘Have you heard the news? Today the war ended in Europe.’ And [it] looked like he didn’t have to go. So that was Victory Day in Europe–VE Day. I can’t remember the length of time between that and the next time he was assigned.
“We were transferred from Sioux City, Iowa to Monroe, Louisiana. He called and said ‘I’ve for orders to go to the Pacific. I’ll come home and we’ll pack and serve.’ We packed and bought a train ticket for me to go home and we said our prayers before we went to bed. I cried most of the night. He reported the next morning and said, ‘You’re not going to believe this. The war ended in the Pacific today.’ So that was VJ day–Victory in Japan.” MSS 2350, No. 1404
V-J day was August 14, 1945.
A Soldier in New Guinea
June 26, 2009
Sgt. Charles W. Eastwood was in the army during World War II. His following experiences are part of the Veterans History Project at L. Tom Perry Special Collections:
“I had the privilege of attending Church services in a tent set up on the beach. We were few in number, coming from different units around the tent chapel, but we enjoyed having the wonderful privilege to partake 
of the Sacrament, and to sing the hymns of Zion. Assigning bretheren, or sisters (a couple of WACS from the army infirmary) to speak was difficult because we never knew when a unit would be deployed to another place of action. Testimonies were strong.”
Eastwood later in his account says, “The biggest scare I had happened while I was walking guard duty at the Signal Corps School in Oro Bay, New Guinea. I had just passed the makeshift morgue and was walking along a narrow path leading through deep jungle foilage when I heard the rustling of the bushes ahead of me. I lowered my rifle for quick use when a Wallaby jumped out of the shubbery and ran along the path ahead of me. Whew! What a relief! ” (MSS 2350, No. 1358).
Nun’s Flag
May 26, 2009
Army Chaplain Charles “Harry” Washburn wanted a United States flag to display over a cemetery in Hamlein, Germany on the first Memorial Day following the surrender in Europe in 1945. However, there were no regimental sized flags readily available. So, Washburn commissioned a group of nuns to create an American flag. The flag was constructed from habits for the field of blue, muslin sheets for the stars and (against the nuns’ wishes) red fabric from a Nazi banner. In exchange for their services, Chaplain Washburn paid the nuns 20 pounds of sugar and 50 pounds of white flour for their efforts
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