── The Memory Vault ──

Gallery

Historical photographs and artifacts from the Melchi family archives. Each image is a window into the world that shaped Elmer's extraordinary journey.

Elmer Melchi — early portrait in uniform

1943

Elmer Melchi — Elmer' best friend before the war changed everything.

── Full Archive ──

Elmer Melchi — early portrait in uniform

Elmer in Miami, Florida during training

Elmer and June Melchi on their wedding day

Champaign newspaper — Melchi greets British bride June on her arrival

Elmer in uniform seated outside

82nd Airborne artifacts — photo, vase, manuscript, patches, Western Union

Research archive — documents, photographs, and wartime artifacts

Framed Western Union telegram

Enhanced Western Union telegram — Missing in Action notice

82nd Airborne Division patches

Request to marry — Declaration of Intention and Application for permission to marry

Grandma's gas mask — WWII artifact

Stalag XII-A POW camp entrance

Newspaper article about Elmer Melchi

Elmer and June Melchi in later years

ELMER book cover

Paratroopers landing at Arnhem — Operation Market Garden

The News-Gazette — The Bond of War reunion article

Elmer Glenn Melchi's grave marker — 82nd Airborne, Purple Heart, Ex-POW

Greenhorn Valley View newspaper — Elmer Melchi Day proclamation

Letter from President Harry S. Truman thanking Elmer G. Melchi for his service

Elmer G. Melchi's Honorable Discharge from the Armed Services

Roman vase artifact under glass dome

Elmer and June Melchi at Christmas 2010

Elmer's memorial bench by the lake

Elmer and June — one last time together in hospice

Elmer and June standing in front of a house

Handwritten note on the back of the photo Elmer carried

War Department letter — Elmer reported missing in action, October 14 1944

Headquarters Army Service Forces letter — Elmer confirmed POW, November 29 1944

Champaign IL newspaper clipping — Pvt. Melchi believed Nazi prisoner

── Priority Dispatch ──

More History Is Coming

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Release Updates

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Archive Notes

Exclusive historical documents

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Rare Photos

Images not seen on this site

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