This is your armor

As promised, the rest of "The Foxhole".

How to dig a foxhole

I came across this little pamphlet, “The Foxhole: this is your armor”, some time ago but I hadn't identified its origin until recently. There is no date inside and no publishing information, but it does have the look of a WWII document. A few days ago I took a closer look at the tiny logo on the back.

It’s really tiny – not quite half an inch wide – but once magnified I could see plainly that it says “1^st. A/B EAUTC – Reproduction Section”. 1^st A/B indicates that it is a unit of the 1^st Air Force, one of the first four numbered US Air Forces. They have a long history, operating from just before the U.S. entered WWII through today, so just going by that I couldn’t narrow the date down. After a little more digging I found that EAUTC stands for Engineer Aviation Unit Training Center. EAUTCs were relatively short lived due to various reorganizations. The 1^st Airborne EAUTC was at Westover Field, Mass., and (briefly) Richmond, Va. For just one year, from April 1, 1943 to April 10, 1944. This pamphlet was likely printed before the move, when more units were assigned there, so it likely dates to 1943.

Can you tell I love research? I was going to make some pun about digging, but I resisted. Sort of.

More information about the EAUTCs is here.

I'll post more pages from this pamphlet soon.