Choctaw’s Lorraine Caddy recently donated a number of historical artifacts to Northern Oklahoma College in memory of her companion and 1939 NOC graduate Charlotte Dee Mansfield, SMSgt (Ret) USAF.
Mansfield, originally from Garber, Oklahoma, was a journalism student at NOC and editor of The Maverick, NOC’s student newspaper, in 1939.
Caddy’s donation on Mansfield’s behalf included a bound book which includes copies of The Maverick from 1935-1939. The bound book will be housed at the A.D. Buck Museum on the NOC Tonkawa campus.
Mansfield passed away in 2007 at the age of 92 but her memory lives on in Caddy, who now lives in Choctaw.
Mansfield was born in California and moved to Garber at age 8. She graduated from Garber High School in 1934. She studied journalism at NOC before joining the military and beginning a career as a photojournalist.
According to Caddy, Mansfield’s father was very supportive of her military and photojournalism career. In fact, she was 4-years old when introduced to “black strips” and photography by her Uncle Joe.
She wrote for the Garber Sentinel newspaper purchasing her first camera, a 127 Kodak.
After joining the United States Air Force, Mansfield was sent to aerial photography school in Colorado and then served in WWII arriving in England shortly before D-Day (June 6, 1944) where she was assigned to the 325th Photo Wing.
She continued serving after WWII winning many awards for her photography. She photographed a number of presidents over her career including Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman.
Florida State University recently produced a documentary in 2020 on Mansfield’s life and career. Her war memorabilia are housed at the Florida State University WWII Institute in Tallahassee, Florida.
The documentary was entitled “Charlotte Mansfield: A Woman Photographer Goes to War” using unpublished military photographs and personal correspondence from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience at Florida State, as well as expert and family interviews, to tell the story of Mansfield’s experiences during the war.
After attending NOC, Mansfield attended UCO, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1941, she returned there in 1981 to complete a BS in Photo Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism in 1983.
Caddy always referred to Mansfield as her Aunt Charlotte, though they were not related. The two met at the Amelia Earhart hotel in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1970.
Caddy said Mansfield lived by the creed, “Step out and do more than is expected of you.”
Caddy added that Mansfield and ...
