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299
“I WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AMERICANS IN BERLIN . . .
OLDFIELDS BEING PERSISTENT”
298
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(WORLD WAR II.) OLDFIELD, ARTHUR DALE (“BARNEY”). Typed
Letter Signed, “Barney,” to himself or to his relative[?] racer Barney Oldfield. Written by
U.S. Army publicist Lt. Col. Arthur Barney Oldfield soon after the Battle of Berlin, possi-
bly to the racing pioneer Berna Eli (“Barney”) Oldfield, sending a note on Adolf Hitler’s
stationery as a souvenir of his visit to the Reich Chancellery. 1 page, oblong small 4to,
“Kanzlei des Führers” stationery. With the original envelope.
Berlin, 8 July 1945
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“
Thought you might like to have a souvenir right from the old boy’s desk . . . . I went into the
Reich’s Chancellery, where Adolf held forth . . . and on the wall . . . I wrote my name in the
dust on the marble.
“
Besides that, for you, I took out little Orvie and placed a mean stream right on top of the
marble desk just for all the trouble he caused me getting here. . . .”
After the war, Arthur “Barney” Oldfield (1909-2003) worked in publicity, beginning with a
period as a press agent for Warner Brothers. His relationship to the racing pioneer Barney
Oldfield is uncertain.
WITH
—
Barney Oldfield. Photograph Signed and Inscribed, “Hello Carl / You know me,”
full-length standing portrait, showing the racing pioneer shaking hands with an unknown man.
Inscribed in the upper margin. 9x7 inches (image), 13x10
1
/
2
inches overall; marked fading to
signature and inscription.
SIGNED SHORTLY AFTER HIS 1942 SECRET MISSION
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(WORLD WAR II.) RICKENBACKER, EDWARD VERNON (“EDDIE”).
Signature by him and by 4 other survivors of the 1942 crash of their Boeing B-17 Flying
Fortress on a souvenir line-crossing ceremony document, a Shellback Certificate issued in
1942 to Robert N. Herron, Hospitalman Apprentice 1st Class, U.S. Navy. 15x20 inches;
folds.
Np, [circa 30 November 1942]
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Captain Eddie Rickenbacker * Colonel Hans C. Adamson * Captain William Cherry, Jr. *
Lieutenant James C. Whittaker * Lieutenant John J. De Angelis.
On October 21, 1942, Rickenbacker and six others boarded a Boeing B-17 and embarked on
a mission to deliver important mail including documents containing secret military communica-
tions. They became lost, ran out of fuel, and crash landed in the Pacific Ocean. After three
weeks adrift, starving and suffering from exposure, the men on one of three rafts were spotted by
a Navy plane, those on another raft found an island, and soon all were rescued. In the end,
Rickenbacker was able to deliver at least some of the secret communications that were entrusted
to him.