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

: Red Cross workers at Stuartholme school; A group of Red Cross workers pose on the steps of Stuartholme, a Catholic school for girls in Brisbane, Australia, that served as home of the 42nd General Hospital in July 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert with gas mask in Brisbane, Australia; Esther Gilbert, in the Red Cross military welfare winter uniform, poses with ETO (European Theater of Operations) combat gear including a helmet and gas mask in July 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Esther Gilbert with koalas, 1944; Esther Gilbert poses with two koalas in Brisbane, Australia, while waiting for assignment in July 1944.

: 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).

: Servicemen in the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia; Members of the 380th Bombardment Group stationed in Darwin, Australia, eat and play ping-pong in the Red Cross service club in Adelaide in 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Servicemen in the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia; Members of the 380th Bombardment Group stationed in Darwin, Australia, read and relax in the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Servicemen in the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, Australia; Members of the 380th Bombardment Group stationed in Darwin, Australia, dine in the cafeteria of the Red Cross service club in Adelaide in 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Chuck and Ruth Hutchinson with kangaroo; Chuck and Ruth Hutchinson, the American Consuls in Adelaide, Australia, pose holding a kangaroo in 1944. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Peg Graveur and Ruth Hutchinson; Red Cross worker Peg Graveur poses with American Consul Ruth Hutchinson in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944. Graveur wears the Red Cross military welfare winter uniform with military welfare overseas cap. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: U.S. Consulate in Adelaide, South Australia, 1944; The U.S. Consulate in Adelaide, South Australia, 1944.

: Family of the Seppelts Winery, 1944; The family of the Seppelts Winery in Seppeltsfield, South Australia, in 1944.

: Red Cross Headquarters MP, Adelaide, Australia, 1944; Red Cross Headquarters MP (military police) officers, Phil and Blitz, in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1944.

: Red Cross Headquarters MP on motorcycles, Adelaide, Australia, 1944; Red Cross Headquarters MP (military police) officers, Phil and Johnnie Pascucci, pose on MP motorcycles in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944.

: Red Cross Headquarters workers with koala, Adelaide, Australia, circa 1944; Red Cross Headquarters workers Johnnie Pascucci, Al Parsons, and Mike Angell pose with a koala in Adelaide, Australia, circa 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).

: Peg Graveur and Colonel Martin in Adelaide, Australia; Red Cross member Peg Graveur and Colonel Martin stand outside the ARC service club in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944. Graveur wears the Red Cross military welfare winter uniform. (Photo taken from Esther Gilbert Scrapbook).

: Captain Bob Turnbow in Adelaide, Australia, 1944; Captain Bob Turnbow poses outside the Red Cross service club in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1944.

: Captain Bob Turnbow at desk in Adelaide, Australia, circa 1944; Captain Bob Turnbow sits at his desk in Adelaide, Australia, in 1944.

: 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).

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Esther Gilbert Scrapbook

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