An Unexpected Visitor

One of my fellow genealogy bloggers, Liz Gauffreau, recently posted an article about a visit from the Prince of Wales to Toronto, Canada, where her grandmother was working in 1919. This reminded me of a photograph that I have, and I promised Liz that I would write about it soon.

Here is the photo.

Here’s a close-up.

You probably recognize the man on the right. He is the Duke of Windsor, who was once the Prince of Wales and then King Edward VIII, until his abdication in 1936. The man on the left, seated second from the Duke’s right, is my grandfather, Leslie “Les” Christy Casbon (1894–1990). The photograph has a handwritten date of December 1942 on the back.

Les was just shy of forty-eight years old when the photo was taken. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in January 1918, then attended pilot training, and was discharged in November 1918 as a Second Lieutenant in reserve status.^[1] He remained on active reserve status between the world wars and was recalled to active duty in July 1942.^[2] He then received orders to the U.S. Army Air Corps Officer Training School, located in Miami Beach, where the photo was taken.

A Wikipedia article says that the Miami Beach Training Center opened in February 1942 and “was one of the largest enlisted basic training centers (BTC) and officer candidate schools (OCS) of the Army Air Forces during World War II.”^[3] The Officer Training School (OTS) began operations in July 1942.

Most OTS students were 30 years old or more, with the bulk of them in their 30s or 40s. They came from all walks of life, but most were teachers, businessmen, or professionals such as attorneys and accountants. … The majority were slated for administrative or instructional duties in the Army Air Forces.^[4]

That description fits my grandfather very well. He was a businessman and active in civic organizations. His wartime duties were administrative.

The story of King Edward VIII’s romance with American divorcée Wallis Simpson and his subsequent abdication from the throne is well known. His sympathies with Hitler and Nazi Germany were probably not well known to the public until many years after the war. After his abdication, he was named Duke of Windsor and eventually appointed the Governor of the Bahamas.^[5]

On 10 December 1942, the Duke and Duchess arrived in Miami for an unannounced visit, primarily for some rest and Christmas shopping.^[6] After spending several days relaxing at Palm Beach, they returned to Miami. During that part of their visit, the Duke met with several military leaders.

This article mentions the Duke’s meeting with the commandant of the Army Air Forces Training Command. It was probably during that visit that Les’s OTS class was assembled for an impromptu photo opportunity.

Shopping and other tasks completed, the Duke and Duchesss returned to Nassau, Bahamas on December 20^th.^[8]

I’ll have more to say about Les’s military experiences in future posts, but for now will conclude with his official photo, taken when he was a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

[1] Leslie Casbon, “Some facts in my life,” undated manuscript; personal collection of Jon Casbon.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Miami Beach Training Center,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Beach_Training_Center : accessed 29 January 2019), rev. 13 Jan 2017, 19:31.
[4]“Army Air Forces Training Command,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Air_Forces_Training_Command#Officer_Candidate/Training_School : accessed 29 January 2019), rev. 7 Dec 2019, 03:41.
[5] “Edward VIII,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII#cite_ref-112 : accessed 29 January 2019), rev. 24 Jan 19, 21:47.
[6] “Two Unexpected Visitors Arrive at Miami,” The New York Times, 11 Dec 1942, p. col. 3.
[7] “Windsors Visit Red Cross,” The New York Times, 19 Dec 1942, p. 29, col. 2.
[8] “Windsors Return to Nassau,” The New York Times, 21 Dec 1942, p. 18, col. 7.