1907-2013
Colonel, U.S. Army, 1950-1959
The papers of Paul L. Webb contain correspondence, military personnel records, printed materials, and other documents mostly pertaining to Webb’s career as an officer in the U.S. Army, his service in Germany after World War II, and his service in Korea after the Korean War.
Size: 7 linear feet, 10 linear inches (about 14,400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. government their copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. The copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2019).
| 1905 (October 21) | Born Paul Lafayette Webb, Ashland, Kentucky | |
| 1924 | Graduated from Huntington (West Virginia) High School and enlisted in the National Guard | |
| 1926 | Appointed Second Lieutenant, National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve | |
| 1928 | Appointed First Lieutenant, National Guard | |
| 1933 (April 20) | Married Amanda Cunningham | |
| 1938 | Appointed Captain, National Guard | |
| 1941-1944 | Served in the Panama Canal Zone | |
| 1942 | Appointed Major, U.S. Army | |
| 1943 | Appointed Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army | |
| 1945 | Graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School | |
| 1946-1949 | Stationed in occupied Germany as an officer in the U.S. Constabulary | |
| 1950-1959 | Colonel, U.S. Army | |
| 1954-1955 | Stationed in South Korea as an officer in the Korea Civil Assistance Command | |
| 1959 | Retired from the U.S. Army | |
| 1988 (March 12) | Died |
The papers of Paul L. Webb contain correspondence, military personnel records, printed materials, and other documents mostly pertaining to Webb’s career as an officer in the U.S. Army, his service in Germany after World War II, and his service in Korea after the Korean War. The collection is arranged in two series, a Subject File and a Printed Materials File.
The Subject File contains Webb’s military personnel records from his career in the Army, as well as official and personal correspondence he compiled during his years of military service. The correspondence includes military orders and directives as well as letters, memorandums, and telegrams. Handwritten notes, financial records, and reports relating to Webb’s military activities are interfiled with the official correspondence. The personal correspondence consists for the most part of letters written by Webb, his wife Amanda, their two sons, other family members, and various friends and colleagues while Webb was stationed in occupied Germany after World War II, in South Korea after the Korean War, and at other military posts. Also included are German-language postcards dating from 1907 to 1944, which Webb apparently collected while he was stationed in Germany. Some of the postcards contain wartime Nazi propaganda and postage stamps featuring the likeness of Adolf Hitler. The Subject File also contains an account book, journals, notebooks, passports, and an historical study (dating from 2013) of the U.S. Constabulary in occupied Germany after World War II. Another document in the series is a charred envelope from the S.S. Santa Elisa, a U.S. cargo ship that was sunk off the coast of Tunisia in August 1942.
The Printed Materials File contains books, newspaper articles, magazines, certificates, programs, travel brochures, maps, charts, and other items. Webb collected most of these materials during his years in Germany. Included in the series are periodicals for U.S. servicemen and official publications concerning such topics as U.S. military dependents in Germany and the identification of ex-Nazis among the German population.
Webb’s papers include extensive information about the life of a U.S. Army officer and his family during the 1940s and 1950s, with particular reference to such subjects as problems with morale, discipline, and venereal disease among U.S. servicemen in occupied Germany; the lives of U.S. military dependents overseas (including Webb’s wife and sons, who lived with him during part of the time he was stationed in Germany); relations between occupation forces and German civilians; the Korea Civil Assistance Command (KCAC) and its efforts to help the people of war-ravaged South Korea in 1954-55; and conditions at Army posts in the U.S. during peacetime. The collection also contains some information about Webb’s service in South Vietnam as a military adviser in 1957-58.
More information about the U.S. occupation of Germany after World War II can be found at the Truman Library in the Student Research File, “United States Policy in Occupied Germany After World War II: Denazification, Decartelization, Demilitarization, and Democratization.”
| Container Nos. | Series | |
| 1-13 | SUBJECT FILE, 1907-2013 Correspondence, military personnel records, journals, notebooks, and other documents. Arranged alphabetically by folder title. |
|
| 14-17 | PRINTED MATERIALS FILE, 1924-1975 Books, newspaper articles, magazines, certificates, programs, travel brochures, maps, charts, and other published or printed items. Arranged alphabetically by folder title. |
|
Box 1
- Account Book, 1946-1948
- Allen, Scott T.: “The U.S. Zone Constabulary, 1946-1952.”
- Journals and Notebooks, 1924-1925
- Journals and Notebooks, 1941-1945
- Journals and Notebooks, 1945-1946
- Journals and Notebooks, 1946-1947
- Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1948
- Journals and Notebooks, 1948-1949
Box 2
- Military Personnel Records, 1924-1939 [1 of 2]
- Military Personnel Records, 1924-1939 [2 of 2]
- Military Personnel Records, 1940
- Military Personnel Records, 1941
- Military Personnel Records, 1942
- Military Personnel Records, 1943
- Military Personnel Records, 1944
- Military Personnel Records, 1945
- Military Personnel Records, 1946
Box 3
- Military Personnel Records, 1947
- Military Personnel Records, 1948
- Military Personnel Records, 1949
- Military Personnel Records, 1950
- Military Personnel Records, 1951
- Military Personnel Records, 1952
- Military Personnel Records, 1953
- Military Personnel Records, 1954
Box 4
- Military Personnel Records, 1955
- Military Personnel Records, 1956
- Military Personnel Records, 1957
- Military Personnel Records, 1958
- Military Personnel Records, 1959
- Official Correspondence, 1930-1940
- Official Correspondence, 1941
- Official Correspondence, 1942
- Official Correspondence, 1943
- Official Correspondence, 1944
- Official Correspondence, 1945 [1 of 2]
- Official Correspondence, 1945 [2 of 2]
Box 5
- Official Correspondence, 1946 [1 of 2]
- Official Correspondence, 1946 [2 of 2]
- Official Correspondence, 1947 [1 of 2]
- Official Correspondence, 1947 [2 of 2]
- Official Correspondence, 1948
- Official Correspondence, 1949
Box 6
- Official Correspondence, 1950
- Official Correspondence, 1951
- Official Correspondence, 1952
- Official Correspondence, 1953
- Official Correspondence, 1954 [1 of 3]
- Official Correspondence, 1954 [2 of 3]
Box 7
- Official Correspondence, 1954 [3 of 3]
- Official Correspondence, 1955
- Official Correspondence, 1956
- Official Correspondence, 1957
- Official Correspondence, 1958-1972
- Official Correspondence, Undated
Box 8
- Passports
- Personal Correspondence, 1907-1916
- Personal Correspondence, 1932-1939
- Personal Correspondence, 1940
- Personal Correspondence, 1941
- Personal Correspondence, 1942
- Personal Correspondence, 1943
- Personal Correspondence, 1944
- Personal Correspondence, 1945
- Personal Correspondence, 1946 [1 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1946 [2 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1946 [3 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1946 [4 of 4]
Box 9
- Personal Correspondence, 1947 [1 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1947 [2 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1947 [3 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1947 [4 of 4]
- Personal Correspondence, 1948
- Personal Correspondence, 1949
- Personal Correspondence, 1950
- Personal Correspondence, 1951
- Personal Correspondence, 1952
- Personal Correspondence, 1953
Box 10
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (January)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (February)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (March)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (April)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (May)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (June)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (July)
Box 11
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (August)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (September)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (October)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (November)
- Personal Correspondence, 1954 (December)
Box 12
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (January)
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (February)
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (March)
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (April)
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (May)
- Personal Correspondence, 1955 (August through December)
Box 13
- Personal Correspondence, 1956
- Personal Correspondence, 1957
- Personal Correspondence, 1958-1972
- Personal Correspondence, Undated
- Photographs and Motion Pictures [transferred to the audiovisual collection]
- SS Santa Elisa
PRINTED MATERIALS FILE, 1924-1975
Box 14
- American Legion Magazine, November 1947
- An Introduction to Germany for Occupation Families
- Army Publications
- Burma
- Certificates
- Constabulary Lightning Bolt [1 of 4]
- Constabulary Lightning Bolt [2 of 4]
Box 15
- Constabulary Lightning Bolt [3 of 4]
- Constabulary Lightning Bolt [4 of 4]
- Currency
- German-Language Publications
- Germany: The American Zone
- Information Bulletin: Magazine of U.S. Military Government in Germany. 1948-1949
- Korea
- Maps and Charts
- Memorabilia
Box 16
- New Testament
- Newspaper Articles
- Orientation Program for Dependents
- "Pop’s Annual," 1928
- Programs
- Scrapbook
- Troop I & E Bulletin, 1947 [1 of 3]
- Troop I & E Bulletin, 1947 [2 of 3]
- Troop I & E Bulletin, 1947 [3 of 3]
- Troop I & E Bulletin, 1948-49 [1 of 2]
- Troop I & E Bulletin, 1948-49 [2 of 2]
Box 17
- Tourist Publications [1 of 2]
- Tourist Publications [2 of 2]
- United States Constabulary: Heidelberg, Germany, 1947
- Weekly Information Bulletin, 1947 [1 of 3]
- Weekly Information Bulletin, 1947 [2 of 3]
- Weekly Information Bulletin, 1947 [3 of 3]
- Who Was a Nazi?: Facts About the Membership Procedure of the Nazi Party