This archive covers the early life and long United States Army career of Brigadier General George T. Bowman (b. 1869 and d. 1951). His career included service (stateside) during the Spanish-American War with the New York 65th Volunteer Infantry, with various New York volunteer and regular Army units in the Philippines (1899-1904), in Cuba (1906-1909), with Gen. John Pershing on the Mexican border (1915-1916), during World War I (1918-1919), and in Germany after World War I ended. Included are correspondence, orders and other military documents, photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, maps, narratives and commentary by Bowman, and a diary.
Collection (1942-1969) of photographic prints and photocopied documents relating to World War II service of Tarboro, NC natives Hugh E. Best Jr. who served in the U.S. Army Air Force in Europe, Hugh E. Best, Sr., who served in the U.S. Navy; Glanor Gay Best, who served in the Women' s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC); Gaston Gay, who died while serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine in 1942; also relating to Vietnam War service of Hugh E. Best, III who was killed in action in 1969.
This collection contains items that document community college administrator Jerome Worsley's life as a student at East Carolina Teachers College (now ECU) in the mid-1940s and as a member of the U.S. Army (1951-1953). Included are photographs, clippings and a certificate related to Mr. Worsley's participation in the Chi Pi Players at East Carolina Teachers College; photographs, documents, passport, dog tag, patches, and insignia concerning his service as office manager in Paris, France, for SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. SHAPE is the military unit of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
The majority of the collection relates to Captain Leslie Avery Shaw's military service in the U.S. Army, especially during World War II when he served in the 11th AAA, 49th AAA Brigade, VII Corps, U.S. First Army in Europe. Included are maps and overlays concerning operations at Utah Beach at Normandy, orders, citations, reports, photographs, letters, postcards, military ribbons and insignia, and items from his personal military file. Additional items including many photographs document his personal life after the war. Photographs, printed material and memorabilia from the 1950s and early 1960s relate to the early years of his son Robert Avery Shaw's life in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.