Esther Gilbert Scrapbook

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: This collection has been digitized in its entirety.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/575
What's in the full collection?: This extensive scrapbook depicts Gilbert's service in the Pacific Theater of World War II through photographs with detailed captions as well as maps; tourism guides; news clippings; and other mementos from the various places in which Gilbert served. Photographs depict Gilbert and her colleagues; scenery and animal life on various islands; airplanes; ships and naval officers preparing for battle; Red Cross headquarters; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester visiting Australia; the devastation of buildings in Manila; an aerial shot of paratroopers landing on Corregidor Island; and scenes in Japan after the surrender. The first page contains a detailed map of the Pacific Ocean with Gilbert's course from 1944 to 1946 charted out with numbered dates in the caption. Other; more specific maps are provided for the various islands on which she served. The scrapbook also contains such things as Gilbert's immunization record; a program from a performance of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; a Christmas services program for troops stationed in Australia; menus from Japanese restaurants made for United States forces; Japanese ski brochures in English; a rail ticket authorizing United States troops to ride Japanese trains; and telegrams to Gilbert's family announcing her impending return to the United States.
Full biography: Esther Gilbert of Norwich, Connecticut, served as a staff assistant with the American Red Cross in the Pacific Theater of World War II from July 1944 to March 1946. Esther Gilbert of Norwich, Connecticut, attended Norwich Free Academy and then Lasell Junior College in Aubundale, Massachusetts before finding work at New England Telephone and Telegraph. However, with the outbreak of war, she joined the Red Cross, serving as a field representative for eastern Connecticut and also as a member of the Boston, Massachusetts, chapter of the Red Cross. Gilbert was sent overseas in the summer of 1944, arriving as an American Red Cross staff assistant in Australia on 10 July 1944. She was successively stationed in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne from July 1944 to April 1945. She was then sent to the Phillipines after a short stop in New Guinea, where she was stationed successively in Tacloban and Manila until November 1945. Gilbert arrived in Tokyo on 28 November 1945, and remained in Japan through March of 1946.
Topics: Women's History
Military
Branch of service: Red Cross
Conflict: World War II era (1940-1946)
Subject headings: World War, 1939-1945
American Red Cross
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

Pages

: Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in Australian parade; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Governor-General of Australia, rides in the back of a convertible with his wife, Princess Alice, during a procession in Brisbane, Australia, in late 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert Scrapbook; This extensive scrapbook depicts Gilbert's service in the Pacific Theater of World War II through photos with detailed captions as well as maps, tourism guides, news clippings, and other mementos from the various places in which Gilbert served. Photos depict Gilbert and her colleagues; scenery and animal life on various islands; airplanes, ships and naval officers preparing for battle; Red Cross headquarters; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester visiting Australia; the devastation of buildings in Manila; an aerial shot of paratroopers landing on Corregidor Island; and scenes in Japan after the surrender. The first page contains a detailed map of the Pacific Ocean with Gilbert's course from 1944 to 1946 charted out with numbered dates in the caption. Other, more specific maps are provided for the various islands on which she served. The scrapbook also contains such things as Gilbert's immunization record; a program from a performance of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; a Christmas services program for troops stationed in Australia; menus from Japanese restaurants made for US forces; Japanese ski brochures in English; a rail ticket authorizing US troops to ride Japanese trains; and telegrams to Gilbert's family announcing her impending return to the United States.

: Esther Gilbert aboard ship in Subic Bay, Philippines; Esther Gilbert stands aboard a ship with two servicemen at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, Philippines, in October 1945. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert and Japanese child in the snow; Red Cross worker Esther Gilbert and a Japanese child stand in the snow in front of the Kanko Hotel in Akakura, Japan, in February 1946. Gilbert's skis and poles are stuck in the snow in front of them. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert and Jean Ferguson in Sydney, Australia; Esther Gilbert (left) and fellow Red Cross worker Jean Ferguson stand in front of a chain link fence overlooking the ocean at Sublime Point in Sydney, Australia, in late July 1944. Both women wear the Red Cross military welfare winter uniform with military welfare overseas cap, and Gilbert also wears the Red Cross black leather overseas handbag. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert and Red Cross officials, Adelaide, Australia; Esther Gilbert (left) poses in front of the Red Cross Service Club office in Adelaide, Australia, with Colonel Martin, Peg Graveur, and Area Director Hinson Trites in 1944. Gilbert and Graveur wear the Red Cross military welfare winter uniform. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert and friends drink whiskey, 1944; Esther Gilbert (center), Monty, and Peg Graveur drink Milne's Whiskey in Room 138 of the South Australia Hotel in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944.

: Esther Gilbert and friends in Adelaide, Australia; Esther Gilbert (right) poses with friends Peg Graveur and "Monty" beside a vehicle and in front of the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944. Gilbert and Graveur wear the military welfare winter uniform. "Monty" is in civilian dress. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert at Fujiya Hotel; Esther Gilbert, in ARC military welfare winter uniform and garrison cap, stands in front the Fujiya Hotel, which served as an officers leave club in Miyanoshita, Japan, on 15 March 1946. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert at Mt. Fuji; Esther Gilbert, wearing her Red Cross uniform and handbag, stands in a parking lot overlooking Mount Fuji while visiting the officers leave club at Miyanoshita, Japan, on 15 March 1946. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert at desk; Esther Gilbert sits at her desk in the office where she worked as the assistant director of the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia, in July 1944. On the left, a secretary stands at the front desk. A poster hanging on the right side of Gilbert's desk identifies the "American Red Cross in Australia." (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in Bay Bay, Philippines; Esther Gilbert sits in the grass in Bay Bay, Leyte, Philippines, in 1945, while local children behind her look on. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in a jeep, Manila, Philippines; Esther Gilbert poses in a jeep outside the Red Cross billet in Manila, Philippines, while on leave in October 1945. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in cockpit of a B-24 bomber; Esther Gilbert looks out the cockpit window of a B-24 bomber at Tachikawa Army Air Base, Japan, circa 1946. Sergeant Claude Thompson poses in the nose of the plane. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in front of B-24; Esther Gilbert, looking down and wearing an overcoat, poses beside a B-24 at Tachikawa Army Air Base, Japan, circa 1946. The logo on the plane identifies it as belonging to the "Red Raiders," the nickname for the 22nd Bomb Group which became a B-24 Liberator Heavy Bombardment Unit in 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in front of Kanko Hotel; Red Cross worker Esther Gilbert, in Red Cross coat walks in the snow in front of the Kanko Hotel in Akakura, Japan, in February 1946. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in front of jeep, Bay Bay, Philippines; Red Cross member Esther Gilbert poses beside a jeep parked in a grove of tropical trees in Bay Bay, Leyte, Philippines, in 1945. A note in the scrapbook reads, "Tacloban finery." (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert in front of plane; Esther Gilbert stands in front of a plane at Tachikawa Army Air Base, Japan, circa 1946. Gilbert may be wearing the WAC (Women's Army Corps) field overcoat. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert on skis; Esther Gilbert poses on skis while on leave at Kanko Hotel in Akakura, Japan, in February 1946. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert overlooking Subic Bay, Philippines; Esther Gilbert, in the foreground and looking to her right, sits on a hill overlooking Subic Bay, Philippines, in November 1945. Clearly visible are the Red Cross insignia on Gilbert's lapel and several military vessels sailing in the bay behind her. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

Pages

In collections

Women Veterans Historical Project