The Avon Free Public Library is pleased to announce a new donation to its digital archives: the letters, articles, and photos of veteran William (Bill) J. Huebner, Jr., as curated by his daughter, Holly Huebner Ryan. The Avon Library will retain the digital scans of this collection, as Bill’s original typed onion skin and handwritten letters from Korea along with pictures will become part of the Library of Congress collections. This Huebner digital collection, including a full biography, joins over 20,000 items of Avon’s history that are available on the CT Digital Archive. The Huebner collection can be viewed at https://ctdigitalarchive.org/islandora/object/150002%3A23288
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 at https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.18710. His letters are also on the Korean War Educator website, http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/memoirs/huebner_william/index.htm In addition to his letters home, some stories were taken from this oral interview and others were documented in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3372, Avon, CT Military Service History, which is available at the Avon Free Public Library.
William (Bill) J. Huebner, Jr. was proud a 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.
Questions about this collection can be directed to Tina Panik, c/o Avon Free Public Library, 860-673-9712 ext 7235, tpanik@avonctlibrary.info or Holly Ryan, 860-205-9855, h.ryan@comcast.net.
