The letters were arranged chronologically and placed in two folders. An asterisk (*) following the entry in the following list indicates a typed letter.
Private Aaron Roy Gould was born on December 12, 1919 to Julia Hoty Gould and Owen J. Gould in Lapwai, Idaho. He married Audrey Pauline Pinkham; together they had a son named Lyle.
Gould enlisted in the United States Army in September of 1940. In August 1944, Gould and the rest of his fellow service members were sent to fight in the European Theater. He served in Company M, 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army from his joining to 1944. It was during his time at Fort Carson in Colorado that he and other members of the 4th Division were absorbed into the 414th Anti-Tank Company, an attachment of the 104th Infantry Division known as the Timberwolves. This specialized unit earned its fame in the Armed Forces due to its well-defined training of hand-to-hand combat and a particular specialization: night fighting.
Private Aaron R. Gould was killed in action on December 9, 1944, in Germany. He was buried at Ahsahka, Idaho, with full military honors.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection, including images, language, or other content, may be offensive or disturbing to some viewers. Care has been taken to clearly document the sources of these records, so that viewers may consider the historical context in which they were produced. To maintain historical accuracy, the materials appear as they were originally created. They do not reflect the current views of the University of Idaho. For more information about how we treat materials with offensive or disturbing content, please see the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Offensive Content Policy.
Each letter and envelope (items in folders 1 and 2) scanned to provide a high resolution digital copy. Located on the archive drive; please contact Special Collections and Archives for access.
The letters of Private Aaron R. Gould were purchased from rare book dealer Charles Apfelbaum of Valley Stream, New York, in January 1993.
[Description of Item], Aaron R. Gould papers, MG 332, Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library, Moscow, Idaho.
This record group consists of 23 letters, some typed, others handwritten, which Private Gould sent to his father, Owen J. Gould, in which he mentions family and friends, military camp activities, and his own feelings about the war. It is evident that some letters are missing.
There are two other items in this collection: a letter from the Army Effects Bureau accompanying Aaron's property to his father, and a printed broadside Nez Perce County Honor Roll, World War II, which lists Gould along with other county residents who died in the war.