Air Force Museum
A Liberator's Jacket
Sgt. Delbert Cooper wore this jacket while serving with the 71st Infantry Division, whose soldiers were among the first Americans to enter Gunskirchen Lager in 1945. The jacket connects one service member's wartime experience to the liberation of a concentration camp. Preserving it beside Cooper's account makes the history tangible while keeping the people imprisoned at Gunskirchen at the center of the story.
In depth
History & service
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Sgt. Delbert Cooper served as a soldier with the U.S. Army's 14th Regiment, 71st Infantry Division in 1945. Cooper was among the first Americans to enter and liberate Gunskirchen Lager, which was part of the notorious Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. His most vivid memory of that harrowing experience was "the sickening smell of dead bodies -- the odor of evil."
Details that tell the story
Associated with Sgt. Delbert Cooper · Connected to the 1945 liberation of Gunskirchen Lager · Part of the museum's Prejudice & Memory exhibition
The second front was the factory and the flight line
Air power required far more than aircraft leaving a factory. Engines, radios, weapons, fuel, spare parts, tools, trained personnel, and suitable airfields had to arrive together. A machine grounded by a missing component could contribute little, however impressive its specifications. Maintenance and supply determined how much of a force was actually available on a given day.
The Second World War made this relationship visible on an extraordinary scale. Production expanded while aircraft designs continued to change. Training organizations had to turn large numbers of recruits into competent aircrew and specialists. Units then operated in climates and conditions very different from those in which the machines had been designed. Improvisation on the flight line worked alongside formal technical orders and a vast replacement system.
The smaller artifacts deserve attention within that story. A tractor moved aircraft and loads around an airfield. A jacket or oxygen mask helped a crew member function in an exposed environment. A trainer allowed procedures to be practiced without consuming a combat aircraft's life. These objects connect the spectacular mission to repeated daily work. Their history broadens the meaning of service: victory depended on people who built, supplied, repaired, taught, recorded, and cared for others, as well as those whose actions became famous in combat.
