Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Sam McColloch, Compiler, Three Manuscripts Regarding Family History, Artists, and Fighter Pilot, A&M 4019, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Three manuscripts compiled by Sam McColloch, including: the letters of Archie and Mahala McColloch, a West Virginia couple who moved to the Arizona Territory; the artwork of West Virginia painters Leona Hatcher and Lyle Bennet; and the mission logs and letters of Korean Conflict pilot John Walker Hatcher. All material compiled in these manuscripts is transcribed or photocopied. There are also three compact discs with digital copies of these manuscripts.

Contents List :

Box 1; unfoldered; "Archie and Mahala McColloch"; 1999

Box 1; folder 1; "West Virginia Mother-Daughter Artists, Their Lives and Art"; 2004

Box 1; unfoldered; "Mission Logs and Letters from Korea"; 2001

Box 1; folder 2; Afterword to "Mission Logs and Letters from Korea"; 2014

Box 1; folder 3; Compacts discs containing digital copies of compilations; 2014

The following information was adapted from descriptions provided by the donor of this collection.

1. "Archie and Mahala McColloch, 1904-1906, Arizona", compiled by Sam McColloch, 1999.

A compilation of letters, postcards, and photographs exchanged by Archie (1876-1906) and Mahala (Jacob) McColloch (1880-1967) with their families in Ohio County, West Virginia. After Archie was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1904, the couple moved with their 10-month-old son Wilbur (1903-1966) to Prescott, Arizona Territory. Their weekly letters chronicle their railroad trip across the country and their lives in Arizona. During their time in the territory, they lived in the gold mining town of Crown King and Phoenix. The family eventually moved back to Ohio County due to homesickness. Archie died nine months after their return home. Letters in the compilation are typed transcripts. Also includes photocopies of photographs, letters, documents, and other material, was well as a genealogical chart of the McColloch family.

2. "West Virginia Mother-Daughter Artists, Their Lives and Art, Leona Lyle Bowman Hatcher (1874-1929) and Lyle Hatcher Bennet (1903-1988)", compiled by Carolyn Hatcher McColloch, 2004.

A compilation of color reproductions of the known artistic works of Leona Hatcher and Lyle Bennet. Also contains biographical information regarding the artists, transcriptions of articles regarding the artists and their artwork, transcriptions of essays by Hatcher, and other material.

Leona Hatcher was the wife of West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice John Henry Hatcher, Sr. (1875-1950). Lyle Bennet was their daughter.

3. "Mission Logs and Letters from Korea, 1952" compiled by Col. John Walker Hatcher USMCR (Ret.), 2001.

A compilation of mission logs and letters written by Lt. John Hatcher while he was serving during the Korean War. Contains typed transcriptions of the logs and letters, as well as photocopies of photographs, Hatcher's mission log booklet, and other material. Also contains reminiscences written by Hatcher in 2001 regarding his mission logs.

Hatcher kept a detailed log of his 85 combat missions flying Corsair fighter planes from the USS Bataan, USS Sicily , USS Badoeng Straight aircraft carriers, and land-based airfields. A series of letters he wrote home to his parents and sister are inserted in their chronological position among the mission logs.

Two particularly significant events occurred when Hatcher was rooming with Capt. Jesse Folmar aboard the USS Sicily. On September 10, 1952, Hatcher's plane suffered an anti-aircraft hit that cut his fuel line. Running out of fuel, Hatcher had to choose whether to attempt a landing on a curving island beach or to parachute into the ocean. He successfully landed on the beach and found a detachment of British mechanics there working on another plane. They fed him and fixed his plane. He returned to the carrier the next day. That same day, Folmar became the only pilot of a propeller plane to shoot down a MiG jet during the Korean War. Folmar observed that the pilot was Russian, rather than North Korean, a fact which the Marine Corps would never admit despite the recovery of the pilot's body.

Fifty years after their short time as roommates, Hatcher contacted Folmar and an exchange of letters resulted. These letters, as well as a magazine story about Folmar's MiG jet encounter and copies of obituaries for both men, are included as an "afterword" to this compilation.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Arizona
• Art and artists
• Bennet, Lyle Hatcher.
• Folmar, Jesse.
• Hatcher, John Walker.
• Hatcher, Leona Lyle Bowman.
• Korea
• Korean Conflict.
• McColloch, Archie.
• McColloch, Carolyn Hatcher.
• McColloch, Mahala Jacob.
• McColloch, Wilbur.
• McCullough family