The 398th's Preservation Project in England

By Wally Blackwell
President - 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association
September 2003

The 398th Association membership has had long-term friendships with many of the villagers in and about our old 8th AF Station 131 area. These Brits have become a core group of 398th history buffs called the Friends of the 398th. Through the years there has been a great deal of 398th hardcopy historical data exchanging with these good folks. Some time ago the Friends became aware of the need for them to archive and preserve their 398th written records and memorabilia. The Friends found a very willing ally for that effort in the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) facility in Hertfordshire (HERTS), England. HALS is located twenty miles or so south of Nuthampstead toward London. HALS is the Hertfordshire County repository for the County’s hundreds of years of local history. Their facility conducts its archiving activity much like that operated by the U.S. National Archives located in Washington, DC.

HALS was very pleased to begin receiving 398th records from the Friends. All WWII 8th AF events and happenings in the County of Hertfordshire have historical significance to them. The fact that Station 131 was the only 8th AF airbase in Hertfordshire also makes the history of the 398th most interesting to HALS. Thus, the opportunity to have 8th AF WWII historical records as part of the HALS archives for researchers is very desirable. A few years ago the 398th also began delivering copies of our accumulated 398th data for archiving at HALS. Most of this material has been from Allen Ostrom’s files that he accumulated during his many years of publishing Flak News. The tour members of the June 2002 398th return tour to Nuthampstead were invited to visit the HALS facility. The HALS staff showed them examples of what 398th data is already there and described how it is possible for local and foreign researchers to use their archives to view 398th history.

The accumulation of 398th historical data at HALS was significantly increased last year. At that time, Wilfrid Dimsdale deposited a large cache of 398th data given to him by Yvonne Jenkins, the widow of Vic Jenkins. Over the years Vic had collected many priceless photographs and associated documents through his knowledge of the old base area and his relationships with many 398th members. At this time it was evident that HALS needed assistance to catalogue and begin a preservation project for the 398th records in their possession. HALS agreed that with some funding for equipment operator costs, they would begin a scanning of 398th information to CD-ROM activity. This was a great opportunity for the 398th to expand its stateside efforts to preserve 398th history in computer readable formats.

The 398th Official Board discussed the unique opportunity we had to support the HALS venture at our September 2002 reunion at Portland, OR. At that time the Board recognized the value of funding HALS efforts to begin scanning its 398th records and preparation of a CD-ROM. An initial amount of $1000 was transferring to HALS during 2003 and this unique cooperative project begun. The success of the project was reviewed at the 2003 Annual reunion at Covington, KY. The enthusiasm for continuing this activity resulted in Board approval for additional funds as may be appropriate in the future. The 398th is fortunate that we can provide computer accessible 398th history data in such a permanent and economical manner. Very few other 8th AF WWII Bomb Groups have such an easily available research facility for their history in England.

The first CD-ROM prepared by HALS was available for evaluation by the computer oriented 398th members at the 2003 reunion. There was a consensus that the scanning work at HALS should continue and these 398th members would work with their HALS counterparts to determine further technical details for the work. The HALS CD-ROM information will have many uses. One of these possibilities is to immediately post some the Vic Jenkins photos from the first HALS CR-ROM on the 398th web site for viewing.

The beginning of these HALS/398th cooperative efforts in 398th history preservation is being made available on these web pages for the benefit of all our members.