]> pc_burton_annie_laurie Finding Aid of the Annie Laurie Burton Letters, 1942 - 1945 Processed by: George Stevenson; machine-readable finding aid created by: Fran Tracy-Walls &hdrNcDncsa; 2004 Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program. Date of source: January, 2003 Description is in English September, 2004 Converted from Version 1.0 to Version 2002, and re-encoded by Ashley Yandle. Finding Aid of the Annie Laurie Burton Letters, 1942 - 1945, 1948 - 1949 North Carolina State Archives &tpNcDncsa; Descriptive Summary North Carolina State Archives. Burton, Annie Laurie. Annie Laurie Burton Letters, 1942 - 1945, 1948 - 1949 PC.1771 Materials in English 114 Including approximately 100 letters, and 14 photographs. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Public Services Branch, North Carolina State Archives. Annie Laurie Burton, a native of Prospect Hill, Caswell County, began her career as an elementary school teacher. When the United States entered World War II, Burton trained as a field officer in the American Red Cross military welfare service and served in several arenas until the war's end. From 1948-1950, Burton worked with U.S. Army Special Services in occupied Germany. The collection includes primarily letters Burton wrote home from her overseas posts. However, the collection contains nine letters Burton wrote during 1942 from various sites in the United States during her training and preparation for work overseas. The collection includes approximately fourteen photographs, taken primarily overseas. Dates of the collection range from 1942 to 1949. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Available for research.

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], PC.1771, Annie Laurie Burton Letters, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Nancy Burton McCorkle (Mrs. D. H.), Burlington, N.C. 27512, July 20, 1989.

Processing Information

Processed by George Stevenson, July, 1989

Encoded by Fran Tracy-Walls, January, 2003

Biographical Note

Annie Laurie Burton (d. Feb. 14, 1980) of Prospect Hill, Caswell County, educated at Lees-McRae College and Appalachian State University, commenced her career as an elementary school teacher in Caswell County public schools. When the United States entered World War II, she trained as a field officer in the American Red Cross military welfare service and subsequently served until the war's end in the Pacific Theatre of Operations. Following the war, 1948-1950, she worked with U.S. Army Special Services in occupied Germany. After that tour of duty was completed, Miss Burton began work in the Alamance County Welfare Department and moved her career toward social work. After postgraduate studies in social work at Tulane University, she was named director of Social Services for Alamance County, an office she held until her retirement in September 1979.

Collection Overview

The letters in this collection are those written home by Annie Laurie Burton while training in the United States as a Red Cross field officer in 1942, from her overseas postings during the years from 1943 through 1945 in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippine Islands, and during 1948 and 1949 while with Special Services in postwar Germany.

Collection Arrangement

This collection, primarily of letters, is arranged chronologically, with dates corresponding to Miss Burton's movement through the following geographic areas: 1)United States; 2)Australia; 3)New Guinea; 4)Philippine Islands; 5) Germany. Photographs in the collection were taken primarily in Australia.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Subject Terms Air pilots. Burton, Annie Laurie, d. 1980. Curtin, John, Mrs. (Elsie) Knapp, Nicholas van der. Memorial Day. O'Connor, Basil, 1892-1972. Recreation. Red Cross and Red Crescent. Soldiers. World War, 1939-1945--War work--Red Cross. World War, 1939-1945--Women's work. Geographic Terms Australia. Frankfurt am Main (Germany) Germany. Melbourne (Vic.) New Guinea. Philippines. Related Collections

Additional information on topics found in this collection may be found in the Manuscript and Archives Reference System (MARS) http://www.ncarchives.dcr.state.nc.us.

Container List Letters PC.1771.1 United States, 19429 letters

Letters, all undated, 2 written from Washington, D.C., 4 from Bowling Green, Va., 2 from San Francisco, Calif., and 1 from aboard the transport ship en route to Brisbane, Australia. The writer comments on her Red Cross training, her social life, and preparations for work overseas, and observes that she will have rank equivalent to an army captain. The last letter in this group contains a detailed description of the embarkation of 2000 enlisted men and 110 officers in San Francisco harbor for transport to the Pacific theatre of operations; a companion letter among the Australian correspondence is dated September 1943, written by Nicholas van der Knaap.

Australia, Jan. 1943 - Aug. 12, 1944.44 letters

Forty-four letters, etc. written from Australia describing work in American Red Cross clubs and canteens, chiefly in Sydney. Her letter dated Mar. 14, 1943, describes a visit to Melbourne ("their hospitality is unexcelled & I'm afraid it might even beat good ole Southern"). Letters dated Sept. 1, Sept. 8, and Sept., 15, 1943, refer to Eleanor Roosevelt's Australian visit ("she rushed up and shook my hand first of all"), but the letter describing the visit has not survived.

New Guinea, Aug. 1944 - Jan. 1945.18 letters

Eighteen letters, etc., describing work assignments and working conditions, her social life, and some contrasts between her life in Australia and in New Guinea.

Philippine Islands, Feb. - Jul. 1945.10 letters

The letter of Feb. 4, 1945, recounts her hair-raising flight, at the hands of "baby pilots," from Ora Bay in New Guinea to the Philippines. Her descriptions of the native sanitary, social, and economic conditions in the Philippines report them as much inferior to those in New Guinea, and characterizes the "filth, poverty & stench" as "inevitable". Her letter of June 2, 1945, details the effects of the U.S. military order mandating all road traffic to move in right, rather than left, lanes, and her letter of June 4, 1945, refers to the 10:00 p.m. curfew and describes a not very successful Memorial Day service attended chiefly by gaping Filopino children. This segment of correspondence is marked by growing disillusionment with working conditions and job assignments. Her final letter from the Philippines declares that she is "surrendering" and returning home.

Germany, 1948-1949.10 letters

Letters written from Frankfurt describing her day-to-day life and excursions to Geissen, Luxembourg, and Berchtesgaden. Her letter of Sept. 16, 1948, gives a brief description of post-war Frankfurt, and her letter of Oct. 6, 1948, reports feeling defensive about the newness and smartness of her wardrobe in contrast to the "well-worn and old clothes" of her German fellow travellers to Geissen.

Photographs.13 items

Ten Australian photographs: one of Miss Burton and Mrs. John Curtin, wife of the Australian prime minister; nine of Miss Burton on outings with servicemen. One Philippines photograph of Miss Burton and Basil O'Connor, American Red Cross National Chairman. Two studio portraits and a "gag" portrait of Miss Burton.