|
Title |
[Red Cross clubmobile, 1945] |
|
Date |
1945 |
|
Subject headings |
World War, 1939-1945
American Red Cross |
|
Era |
World War II era (1940-1946) |
|
Service branch |
Red Cross |
|
Item description |
Mary Haynsworth Mathews leans out the passenger side window of a Red Cross Clubmobile while taking coffee and donuts to servicemen in Germany in the summer of 1945. The markings on the vehicle include the "Super 6th" Armored DivisionCheyenne" and the 595th Ambulance Company - slogan "Bring 'Em' Back Alive." |
|
Veteran's name |
Mathews, Mary Haynsworth |
|
Veteran's biography |
Mary Haynsworth Mathews (b. 1916) of Greenville, South Carolina, served in the American Red Cross from 1943 to March 1946 and had a career in theater .
Mary Haynsworth Mathews was born in 1916 and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. After graduating from Greenville High School, she attended Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, for three years and then graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1937. After participating in the first production of "The Lost Colony", she went to England to study with Russian director Michael Chekov, but returned to the U.S. in late 1938 when the school was moved to Connecticut. She remained with the group, performing around the country, until they broke up in 1942. She returned home to Greenville and joined the American Red Cross in 1943 .
After two weeks of training in Washington, DC, Mathews sailed to England on the RMS Queen Mary. She was assigned to a Red Cross club in Essex, England, and then promoted to a club in Norwich, England, but then transferred back to a base in Essex in the summer of 1944. Mathews later went to Paris with the 386th Bomb Group, and then was moved to Le Havre, France, in April 1945. She was next stationed in Fulda, Germany, with a clubmobile, until she left the Red Cross in March 1946 .
When she returned home, she continued to work in theater. Mathews participated in a touring Broadway show where she met fellow actor George Mathews, whom she married in 1951. Following a brief stint organizing recreation on United Fruit Company cruises, Mathews moved to New York and returned to the stage working in summer theater productions and TV bit roles. In 1974 the couple moved to Greenville County, SC. |
|
Place |
Germany |
|
Type |
image |
|
Original format |
photographs |
|
Original publisher |
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] |
|
Contributing institution |
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries |
|
Source collection |
WV0119 Mary Haynsworth Mathews Collection, 1944 - 1945 |
|
Collection summary |
Photographs and an oral history interview document Mathews's service with the American Red Cross during World War II and her work in the theater both before and after the war. Subjects of the photographs include Mathews in Germany, serving troops from the Clubmobile, dancing with a G.I., and participating in a VE Day parade. Subjects of the 1999 oral history interview include Mathews's studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in the mid-1930s, her work with service clubs and Clubmobiles in Europe, and her interest in theater. |
|
Box |
1 |
|
Folder |
3: Photographs |
|
Finding aid link |
http://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=263 |
|
Rights statement |
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
|
Additional rights information |
IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the rights holder noted above for permission to reuse. |
|
Object ID |
WV0119.6.004 |
|
Digital publisher |
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/ |
|
OCLC number |
900810995 |
