Lieutenant J. W. Whitaker

Creator

Preview

Identifier

20037382

Description

Lieutenant J. W. Whitaker back in Fort Worth to see his family, holds a grudge against the Nazis particularly because the shrapnel wound which put him out of action. He has the Silver Star and the Purple Heart and his officer say his coolness and gallantry probably saved the whole American beachhead at Salerno from being cut to pieces. Whitaker is promoted from the rank of shave tail to first lieutenant on the spot, after the eight surviving German tanks had fled, give others were left as blazing wrecks and Whitaker's men had marched 12 Nazi prisoners to Major General Fred L. Walker's headquarters. Whitaker left Polytechnic High in November 1940 when the National Guard was mobilized and reported with the old 144th Infantry. The school sent his diploma to him later. He hopes to be sent to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth. In this picture, he is wearing his military uniform and standing against the wall. Published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram morning edition, June 11, 1944.

Archival Date

1944-06-10

Collection Name

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

Collection Number

AR406-6-602

Original Format

Negatives, Black & White

File Format

JPG

Rights

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License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Subjects

Military uniforms; Silver Star; Purple Heart; Polytechnic High schools; Whitaker, Thomas P.; Military decorations; Whitaker, J. W. (Lt.); Polytechnic High