WARSAW, Va. — Sometimes, history lies hidden in the most unexpected places. For Richard and Susan Gouldin of Warsaw, Virginia, this proved true when they discovered a pair of extraordinary scrapbooks in the attic of Richard’s boyhood home.
“We did not know what it was,” said Richard Gouldin, who found the scrapbooks while sorting through his late mother's belongings.
The albums were buried at the bottom of a corner in the attic.
“It is a very unique scrapbook. You can tell,” Richard said of the find. “It is amazing that these even exist."
The scrapbook relics contained mainly Polaroid photographs, offering a glimpse into the life and times of Major Robert Alfred Gouldin, Richard’s uncle.
In 1945, Major Gouldin drowned while building a critical railroad bridge in Wesel, Germany, during World War II.
“My uncle’s passing is just something that my father didn’t discuss with us,” Richard said. “Because it hit him too hard. He was very close to his brother."
The forgotten albums also documented the 388th Engineering Regiment, an all-African American unit that built the 1,300-mile Alcan Highway through Alaska and Canada in 1942.
“Pretty rugged conditions that they were going through,” Richard noted.
The Alcan Highway was vital for moving supplies during the war.
“Anyone who served in the Army made a sacrifice,” Richard acknowledged.
Major Gouldin served as an officer in the segregated 388th before transferring to Europe.
Recognizing the historical significance of their discovery, the Gouldins turned to Sylvia Marshall, an archivist at the Virginia War Memorial.
“I said, gracious goodness, we need to preserve this,” said Susan Gouldin.
Marshall spent nearly a year scanning and cataloging each photo and page.
“Just to be able to hold the history... was quite amazing in honoring for me," said Marshall. “With it being digitized, you can really get in here and see the detail... the soldiers who are part of the process, but the construction of the bridge…”
Marshall was also impressed by rare glimpses into the lives of Indigenous people in the upper northwest, captured in the photos.
“This information isn’t just limited to the Gouldin family. It’s not just limited to me or the Memorial. It is now statewide, it is now nationwide,” said Marshall.
Richard and Susan are grateful to have the legacy of Uncle Fred and the 388th preserved.
“Sylvia was a godsend. She really was,” said Susan. “She did what needed to be done. And she showed the respect and reverence that needed to be shown."
Recently, the Gouldins took a trip to retrace Major Gouldin's final steps from where he died to the bridge named in his honor.
“It was a very humbling experience,” Richard commented.
They also visited his resting place at the Netherlands American Cemetery, which Susan described as, “absolutely beautiful. It is breathtaking.”
“There is a lot of history there. If we don’t preserve the legacy, the story is going to die,” said Richard.
His discovery underscores that sometimes the most precious treasures are hiding in plain sight, just waiting to tell their stories.
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