ROYAL AND DORIS BRUCHMAN:

On December 7, 1941 Royal Bruchman was a 19-year-old freshman at LaCrosse State Teachers College in Wisconsin. A native of Stockholm, Wisconsin, Bruchman met Doris Solie, a native of LaCrosse, during that fall of 1941. In September 1942 Roy and a friend joined the United States Marine Corps V-12 program in Minneapolis. Men in the V-12 program could continue their college education, as Roy did at the University of Minnesota, but could be called up at a moment's notice, particularly if they failed classes or dropped out of school. Otherwise V-12 men carried the rank of private, U.S.M.C. Reserves, were not subject to the draft, and continued their civilian and student lives. In July 1943 Roy received his call to active duty and was ordered to report to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for courses in engineering. In March 1944 he transferred to Notre Dame University, where he took courses in aeronautical engineering. In July 1944, Bruchman reported to Parris Island, South Carolina for three months of Marine Corps boot camp. Next came a couple of months at Camp LeJuene, North Carolina for pre-OCS (Officer Candidate School) training. In October 1944 Bruchman entered officer candidate school for the United States Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia. Upon graduation in March 1945, a real achievement since around 50 percent of candidates wash out, Bruchman ranked 14th in his class and received his commission as a second lieutenant, U.S.M.C.R. A cross country road trip to Camp Pendleton, California ensued, with a brief stop to see Doris in Des Moines.

Doris, meanwhile, had entered Drake University in Des Moines to study for a career in the radio industry. She graduated in the spring of 1944 and began work at radio station KSO in Des Moines shortly thereafter. While at Camp Pendleton from late March through July 1945, Roy was part of the 74th replacement draft and could be shipped out at any time. Much time was spent training for an invasion of Japan. Roy and Doris had become engaged on St. Patrick's Day 1945, and for a time agreed that it was sensible to postpone their marriage until after the war was over and until things got back to normal. But as time stretched on while Roy awaited his deployment, Roy wrote Doris that "for two cents he would chuck all the ideas of being logical and sensible and plan for their marriage right now." Several days later Roy received his shortest letter ever, two cents in an envelope, and within hours Doris quit her job at KSO radio in Des Moines and took the train out to California. Three days before their wedding in late July, however, Roy received orders for his deployment within ten days. A marriage on the base, with no relatives, was followed by a short honeymoon and Roy's deployment.

His ship took a zig-zag course to Hawaii and while enroute they learned of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the surrender of Japan. While much relieved that an invasion of Japan would not be necessary, Roy knew he would not be going home any time soon. The U.S. Marines were needed in China and from August to December 1945, Roy was an operations officer, First Marine Division, Engineering Battalion stationed in Tientsen, in northwest China. In December 1945, he became a first lieutenant and a military police officer for the First Marine Division and spent the next ten months in Tientsen before receiving his orders for home.

Back home in late 1946, Roy and Doris started their married life together. For a time they lived in LaCrosse and then Chicago. Between 1946 and 1951 Roy worked some odd jobs, delivered mail, and then completed his college studies at Northwestern University. Son Steve was born and Roy took a job with the Colgate Palmolive Company, which transferred the Bruchmans to Marshall, Wisconsin, a suburb of Madison. By May 1951 a second son, Bruce, was on the way when Roy received a shocking letter that he was being recalled to active duty by the Marine Corps and was to report to Quantico, Virginia on July 11th. While Roy's job was secure by law, the Bruchmans decided to move Doris and the boys (Bruce arrived June 9th) back to LaCrosse to be closer to family while Roy was in the service. By March 1952, Roy had become a captain and found himself in Korea as a battery commander. He was back in civilian life by December 1952, but had to decide whether to accept an offer to become a permanent officer in the Marine Corps. He decided to become a civilian and his military career ended officially on June 23, 1954 (he was still in reserves for two more years) when he was promoted to major, resigned, and was discharged. The Bruchmans then had a daughter, Laurie, and after ten years at Colgate Palmolive, Roy joined the 3M Corporation and moved to White Bear Lake, Minnesota in 1959. After 35 years at 3M Roy retired and the Bruchmans now have seven grandchildren.

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This collection consists of letters received by Doris Solie Bruchman during 1941-1946 and 1951-1952; several folders of letters written by Doris to her parents, 1942-1943; some of her letters to Royal from 1945; and Royal's memoirs of his military career written in 1996. While the great majority of letters are from Royal to Doris (25 folders from the World War II years and 11 folders from Korea), there are thirteen folders of letters to Doris from eight other boyfriends and admirers. These letters give researchers a rare glimpse at the social and love life of a college coed during the 1940s. One year of letters from Doris to her parents and brother while in college at Drake University survive, as do a number of her letters to Royal in 1945. But most of the collection chronicles Royal's life in college and the military during World War II and Korea. His memoirs give an overview of his military career and might be worth reading before delving deeply into the letters.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Royal and Doris Bruchman Letters and Memoirs. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,750

Processing Information:

Processed by: Richard W. Arpi, August 2005

Catalog ID number: 990037057020104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.

Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal narratives, American.

Women college students -- Iowa -- Des Moines.

Persons:

Blunt, Gordon.

Dwelley, Gordon.

Hahn, Charles L. V.

Hicks, S.E.

Hould, Rene.

Malnight, Robert.

Papenfuss, Carl.

Rolich, George.

Types of Documents:

Love letters.

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