10 June 2025, Spring Lake RV Resort, Halstead, Kansas (Key West, Florida Trip)

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Today I'm visiting the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, which has been on my list of places to conduct research for a few years. The library has records for the 102nd Infantry Battalion during World War II. My Grandfather, R. D. Griffin, served in L Company, 406th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division. 


       


Our RV park was only an hour from Abilene, Kansas, so I had to go. Yesterday, while we were traveling, I arranged to meet the archivist today. She will pull the boxes I need to review, and I will be there most of the day. Barry will hang around the town. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? 

Once we arrived, I checked in with security and went upstairs to meet the archivist, Kristyn Crossley. She led me to my table and showed me how to fill out the pull forms. Once I filled out the forms and my boxes pulled, I got to work. I had 15 boxes to go through. All these files were from General Frank Keating, commander of the 102nd Infantry Division. I found one of the files I was interested in: a collection of pencil sketches by one of the soldiers. I saw this listed on the finding aid and would like to see these. They were incredible. I took photos of all of them and shared a few below. 

The next thing I found was a small booklet on the 106th. I have only seen the cover of it in online images, but I couldn't find one to buy. I took photos of all the pages. The last two boxes I looked at contained the 406th daily journals. These had day-by-day and hour-by-hour listings of what the 406th was doing. There were five folders, each about three to four inches thick. There was no way I was going to photograph all of these. I will review the unit reports I have and, if I need more detail, revisit the archive. It was good to know what was there. I sat there and perused through them, getting a good idea of what was in them. So much detail. All the pages were initially marked as confidential and/or secret and then, in recent years, stamped as unclassified. 

The archives closed at 4:00 PM, and I was ready to leave. I met Barry over at the visitor center. I texted him earlier and asked him to take a look at the ornaments at the Visitor Center. He texted me photos of them so I could pick the one I wanted and make a quick purchase since they closed at 4:30 PM.

I felt my day was productive, and I'm so glad I went. 


All the photos below are from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Collection







The book I need to read. I took photos of all the pages.



This is a map from the above
book showing the 106th position.










Copyright © 2026 by Jacqueline Threet Henderson, Jacqueline's Jaunts. All rights reserved.

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