Folio (16 x 11 in.) World War II-period and family photo album of US Army Soldier Ernest Butler, who served during World War II. Contains more than 250 photographs taken at home and abroad, most approx. 2 1/2 x 3 1/ in. (Album pages are flaking and torn at the ties. Leather cover cracking and flaking along the edges with torn corners, back cover fully separated from album, front cover nearly fully separated.) Album features handwritten notes recording the names of subjects including family members and brothers in arms. Included are images taken in Germany; destroyed enemy equipment; a group of German POWs aboard a truck unceremoniously entitled "a pack of krauts;" a series of images collectively titled "going home" depicting Butler's long journey back to the United States; post-war family portraits including a large format family photo; a collection of post-war photos of friends, family, and children; an image of a man, likely Ernest, back in the US holding a captured K98 Mauser Rifle; and three WWII-era uniform patches including US 1st Army, 7th Army, and a patch featuring 4 Overseas Service bars indicating 2 years of service overseas.

A touching collage of photographs depicting the life of one of the 125,000 African Americans who served overseas during World War II.

Consignor relates the album was acquired from a Cleveland, OH estate.