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Gilmer Meriwether, WWII Military Records

 Collection
Identifier: MS-0024

Scope and Contents

The Meriwether letters cover Captain Gilmer Meriwether’s voyage overseas to Australia and India. The 340th Bomb Group had arrived in North Africa by April, 1943, and apparently remained there during the whole period of the correspondence. Meriwether describes the voyage, the reactions of the Australians to U.S. troops, sandstorms and the end of the campaign in North Africa. Several letters reflect his opinion that the Germans would soon surrender. An April 9, 1943 letter from a relative in Clarkesville, Tennessee, describes relations between African American women working as domestics and their white employers and 'Eleanor Roosevelt Clubs.' A May 8, 1943 letter from Kansas City refers to the Women’s Army Corps. Meriwether's letters to his wife and family in Kansas City, Missouri, cover his service from February to October, 1943. His wife saved all of these letters along with photographs and other memorabilia in scrapbooks, one of which is housed in the UNL library special collections. The whereabouts of the other scrapbooks is unknown.

Dates

  • 1943, Feb.-Oct.

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The records are open for research.

Biographical / Historical

Gilmer Meriwether served as a captain in the 340th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force, during World War II.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries Repository

Contact:
Archives & Special Collections
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
P.O. Box 884100
Lincoln NE 68588-4100 United States
402-472-2531