Title:

Letter from Wilbur A. Sawyer to Margaret Sawyer

Creator:

Sawyer, Wilbur A.

Recipient:

Sawyer, Margaret

Date:

[14 July 1918]

Description:

After the U.S. entered World War I, Dr. Sawyer accepted a commission as a major in the Medical Reserve Corps in December 1917. In January 1918, he moved to Washington DC to take up his duties in the Venereal Disease Section of the Surgeon General's Office, leaving his family behind in California. In June, after returning from a few days of vacation with his family in Michigan, he received orders to go to Newport News, Virginia, to serve as Supervisor of Non-Military Activities. In this post he was the military liaison with local authorities concerned with keeping order in a town full of new army recruits. Sawyer's military service was his first extended separation from his wife and children (though not his last); his affectionate letters show that he missed them greatly, but also provide extensive commentary on life in the Washington area during the war, and on various activities of military and civilian public health organizations.. NOTE: The paper of the original document is thin, and some of the ink has bled through the pages, which shows on some of the scanned pages.

Location:

Box: 1. Folder: 18

Rights:

Public Domain

Genre:

Letters (correspondence)

Subject:

Military Medicine and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Format:

Text

Extent:

9 pages

Language:

English

Legacy ID:

LWBBJR

NLM ID:

101584931X140

Profiles Collection:

The Wilbur A. Sawyer Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584931X140

Story Section:

Early Career in California and World War I, 1908-1919