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George and Hazel Barbour papers, 1942-2003, Date acquired: 02/04/2002, bulk 1941-1946

 

Summary

Creator:
Barbour, George, 1921-2017
Barbour, Hazel, 1923-2016
Extent:
1 folders
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], George and Hazel Barbour papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_01_0026.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection of George and Hazel Barbour relates to George Barbour who served in the 14th Air Force "Flying Tigers" in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, and his wife Hazel Barbour who remained on the home front during World War II. The collection contains an oral history transcript interview of George Barbour.  It also contains Barbour's unofficial flight journal. Also included are memoirs by his wife, Hazel Barbour, of life on the home front in South Portland, Maine. The collection also consists of brief recollections of her mother (who worked at a shipyard in South Portland, Oregon) on the life of the Pueblo Air Base.  Moreover, the collection contains log notes of George Barbour's bombing missions in China, plus a photograph he took during the war.

Biographical / historical:

George Barbour was born in Yarmouth, Maine on August 14, 1921, the son of Myron Lovell Barbour and Mary Strout Barbour. Hazel Barbour was born in Portland on August 27, 1923, the daughter of George P. Jackson and Mabel Anderson Jackson. George and Hazel were married in Portland on August 28, 1943. George graduated from North Yarmouth Academy and Hazel from Deering High School.

During the war, Hazel worked as a secretary in the South Portland Shipyard, and later at the Pueblo (CO) Air Base. George served with the "Flying Tigers" in China and was a life member of the Fourteenth Air Force Association and the China, Burma, India Veterans Association. He received two Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals for flying seventy-seven combat missions as a flight engineer and top turret gunner. During the Korean War, he served in the U. S. Air Force training flight engineers.

After the war, Hazel was a member of the Twice Fifteen Club, helped the Lions Club with their shows, and volunteered for the group that became the United Way. George was a captain in the Yarmouth Volunteer Fire Department, King Lion in the Yarmouth Lions Club, a member of Anderson-Mayberry post of the American Legion, and trustee for Riverside Cemetery. He was elected to the first Town Council Yarmouth ever had. Much of George's service to Yarmouth was combined with his employment. For 27 years he owned and operated the general store M. L. Barbour & Son, the predecessor of Goff's Hardware. He was a Cumberland County deputy sheriff for ten years, and for 50 years he worked part-time for Lindquist Funeral Home, from driving an ambulance to assisting at funerals. George was also a member of several Masonic organizations, some for 70 years. These included Casco Lodge in Yarmouth, Arundel Lodge in Kennebunkport, the Shriners of Kora Temple, and the Scottish Rite. Hazel worked as a legal secretary before the children came, and when they got older, she went back to work at Guy Gannet Publishing Co. (Portland newspapers) as a confidential secretary to the top executives. Hazel died on Dec. 4, 2016, and George on June 20, 2017.

Acquisition information:

​George Hazel Barbour

Donated

Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], George and Hazel Barbour papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_01_0026.

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA