Pandemic Projects: The William J. Huebner, Jr. Papers
Every once in a while, an entire collection comes our way, lovingly organized and preserved, complete in its story and ready to be shared with the world.
This is the case with the William J. Huebner, Jr. papers. Holly Huebner Ryan, William’s daughter, visited the Avon Library to see if we were interested in adding his letters, photos, and columns (from his years as a war correspondent) to our local history collection. We have a commitment to our Avon veterans and their history, so the answer was an easy “Yes”.
Holly shared her three ring binder full of letters, envelopes, stories, and photos from her dad’s career. Organizing and preserving them was one of her Pandemic Projects, and led to the creation of a short biography on her father, which we’ve published on CTDA. While confirming this collection’s permanent home at the National Archives, we scanned the contents of binders, using Holly’s labels and notes as descriptors. This is the first, entirely digital collection we’ve accepted into our archives. We’ve collected images here and there, but nothing as complete as this story.
We learned that William (Bill) J. Huebner, Jr. was a proud veteran of World War II (WWII) and the Korean War (Conflict). In WWII he was member of the 595th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion in the South Pacific. During the Korean War he was in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division as the Training, Information & Education (TI&E), Public Information Officer. He soon became the US Army Correspondent reporting on the operations of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. His articles were published in the Stars and Stripes, the Army Frontline newspaper, The Providence Journal (Rhode Island), The Publishers’ Auxiliary, and other local newspapers.
After the war Bill worked for the Hartford Times (a Connecticut newspaper) as a reporter and editor for 24 years. As a reporter he covered the development of the Apollo Project and rocket development in California and other states. He covered the advent of commercial and military jet aviation in the U.S. and Europe. He received several writing awards as a reporter. He then took a position as the Director of Public Affairs for the Connecticut Construction Industries Association for 18 years before retiring.
Bill’s love of writing continued after retirement as a Ghost Writer for several organizations. Bill left more typed fascinating stories of his experiences in WWII and Korea but due to the secrecy of some of his missions and his work with Psyops and Intelligence they cannot be fully verified by his family as all names were in code. Bill and “His Honey”, Janice, had two daughters and two grandchildren. They divorced after 25 years of marriage. Bill remarried several years later. Bill passed away on January 18, 2010 in Avon, CT.
In 2022, Holly Huebner Ryan walked in with her dad’s words, carefully preserved, and offered to share them with the world. She’s contributed to this story, her father’s legacy, and U.S. veteran history collections. She transcribed all the letters and put them into a “book” with pictures, a forward, epilogue, and index of the soldiers and units mentioned in his articles. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) interviewed Bill as part of the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center/Veterans History Project. The interview and transcript can be viewed here. His letters are also on the Korean War Educator website. Best of all, they’re also safely preserved in his hometown.
Connecticut Digital Archive Connect is the publication of the Connecticut Digital Archive, a program of the UConn Library. Visit https://ctdigitalarchive.org to learn more.
