Photo: Herman at Camp Roberts, CA 1942
Herman interrupted his college years at SDSU to enlist in the Army as the US was involved in WWII. He enlisted in August of 1942 at the age of 21. He rarely talked about the war so we have very little information of his involvement. In our files we do have a couple letters he sent home to his mom, Myrtle shown here and there are a few letters in the SDSU archives further down the page.
Letter to his Mom Dec 9, 1944
Letter to his Mom May 24, 1945
SDSU Archives
Recently, I found these letters in the SDSU archives in the World War II Servicemen’s Correspondence Collection. What a surprise this was. It seems that Dr. Post helped keep the service members in touch.
The first is from Herman Branin to Dr. Post written in January 1943 from Camp Roberts, California. https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A60674
This letter from Herman addressed Dear Doc that is most likely to the same Dr. Post written in Jan 1944 from Fort Lewis in Washington state. https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A62223
This one sent May 7, 1944 from somewhere in England noting his change of address. https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A62222
And another one from 1944 from somewhere in England https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A62220
