Guide to the F.W. Gleason, Jr. Papers MSS.2022
- Author:
Finding aid prepared by April Burnett
- Publication:
W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
Mary Harmon Bryant Hall
September 2009
500 Hackberry Lane
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487-0266
205.348.0500
archives@ua.edu
- Creation:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2009-11-02T15:07-0600
- Language Usage:
English
- Description Rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
F.W. Gleason, Jr. Letters
- Unit ID:
MSS.2022
- Repository:
W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
- Quantity:
0.1 linear foot 11 Letters; 11 envelopes
- Dates:
1944
- Abstract:
This is a collection of eleven letters from Lt. F. W. (Wesley) Gleason, Jr., U.S.C.G.R. (United States Coast Guard Reserve), aboard the U.S.S. Arthur Middleton, to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Gleason, in New Orleans, Louisiana, during World War II.
- creator
Gleason , F. Wesley, Jr.
Scope and Contents note
This collection consists of eleven letters, one being a Christmas card, and one being a Mother’s Day card from Lt. F. W. (Wesley) Gleason, Jr., U.S.C.G.R. (United States Coast Guard Reserve), aboard the U.S.S. Arthur Middleton, out of San Francisco, California, to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Gleason, New Orleans, Louisiana. These letters are dated from December 1943 to February 1945. In the June 9, 1944 letter, he states, “Yesterday made nine months since I reported aboard.” He mentions Mother’s day and Father’s day, his parents’ birthdays, Marion and Aunt Leonie briefly, some of his fellow shipmates, and a girl named Adelaide who sounds as though she may be his sister. He is not able to mention where he is. He mentioned in one letter that he has “heard some talk about the gov’t allowing the distilleries to make whiskey again… next to hearing the war is over, that’s the best news the people could get.” He mentions that they will “start carrying beer. Not to drink aboard but so often we have gotten into …ports where drink are impossible to get.” He asks his parents if they are going to the Sugar Bowl; he had heard “over the radio that it is a sellout.” He is also interested in the stock market and banking.
Biographical/Historical note
Lieutenant F. Wesley Gleason, Jr. was a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve during World War II. He was aboard the U.S.S. Middleton out of San Francisco as part of the Special Operations Division (S.O.D.).
- Preferred Citation:
Preferred Citation
The F. Wesley Gleason, Jr. Letters, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama.
- Acquisition Information:
Provenance
Gift of Wade Hall, 2007
- Processing Information:
Processed by
April Burnett, 2008
F.W. Gleason, Jr. Letters Box SC0005 Folder 2022.1