Title: Juanita Goold and Gerald F. Wilke Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1943-1995

Creator:

• Juanita Goold and Gerald F. Wilke

Call Number: WVM Mss 716

Quantity: 1.4 linear ft. (2 archives boxes and 2 flat boxes) of papers and 0.2 linear ft. (1 archives box) of photographs.

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

Papers and photographs of Juanita Goold and Gerald F. Wilke, who both served in overseas in World War II and married shortly after the war. Juanita Goold Wilke was an officer in the Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.) who worked as a cryptographer in the European Theater. Gerald F. Wilke was a technician with the 5th Army in the North African and Mediterranean theaters. The collections consists mostly of materials relating to Juantia's service including a large number of letters she wrote home to a female friend in Madison. These letters describe W.A.C. training and her observations of the war, the people, and the places that she encountered in Europe. A scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, postcards, and pictures that compliment the events described in the letters. A diary and journal contain small entries that often repeat information from the letters or scrapbooks. Military papers include some reports dealing with the disposition of cryptographic documents, though they do not go into great detail. Also included in the collection is a scrapbook detailing Gerald's service. Photographs and paper ephemera compliment the written narrative within the book to give a brief summary of Gerald's World War II service. Photographs include many shots of Juanita in W.A.C. uniform as well as shots from W.A.C. training camps.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss00716

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Juanita Sophia Goold was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin on August 20, 1908. She attended local schools and graduated from Baraboo High School. Shortly thereafter her family moved to Madison where she attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated in 1930. She taught in Bloomington, Wisconsin for several years before returning to Madison where she worked for the state's Unemployment Compensation Department. In March 1943, she enlisted into the Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.) and received basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and officer's training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa where she was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. In December 1943, she sailed over to England where she received training in cryptography. She was assigned to the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) and served in France and Germany, achieving the rank of captain. She returned to the United States in October 1945 and was discharged in January 1946.

Gerald Francis Wilke was born in Madison, Wisconsin on March 12, 1916. He earned a bachelor degree at the University of Wisconsin and enrolled in the law school, but he left before earning a degree. He worked as a machine operator for Gisholt Machine Company in Madison from 1940 through 1942. In September of that year, he enlisted into the Army. After stateside training, he was sent to North Africa where he served as a technician with the 529th Heavy Maintenance Truck Company of the 5th Army. He later transferred to the headquarters of the 53rd Ordnance Group and served in North Africa and Italy. He returned to the United States in October 1945 and was discharged in November.

Juanita and Gerald, who both returned to Madison to work for the Unemployment Compensation Department, met at work and were married in December 1946. Juanita passed away on July 16, 1995 and Gerald died January 11, 2001.

The papers of Juanita and Gerald Wilke are divided into three series: Juanita Goold Wilke, Gerald F. Wilke, and Photographs.

Juanita Goold Wilke (1943-1995) consists largely of the letters that Juanita wrote home to friend and co-worker Ruth Blood during her service with the Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.). These letters describe her basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and officer's training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In the letters, she describes the military-style experience given to the W.A.C.s and asks about events in Madison and at work. After shipping over to Europe, Wilke showed an awareness of censorship in her letters. She focused on describing her daily activities, the local people and scenery. There is little detail given in these letters about the specifics of her job as a cryptographer but there is much information about the experiences of a woman in the W.A.C. and in the European Theater. A scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, postcards, paper ephemera, and photographs from her military service that expand upon the events described in the letters. Also included in the series are a diary and journal from her stateside training. The diary is a published tome in which Juanita wrote short entries describing which local women were rejected from W.A.C. service and dates when she moved from one training camp to another. The journal contains lengthier descriptions of the details of the W.A.C. training regime, such as marching with gas masks and barracks inspections. Military papers from her service include pay records, a last will and testament that she made upon entering the service, and several reports relating to her service in cryptography overseas. The latter detail the destruction, receipt, and transfer of documents. Newspaper clippings include two that announce Juanita's entry into service and several more interest pieces about her written around the time of the 50th anniversary of the war.

Gerald F. Wilke (1943-1948) contains a scrapbook documenting his service in the Army in North Africa and Italy. The scrapbook consists of a written narrative that is punctuated with photographs and paper ephemera. It provides a good brief summary of Gerald's World War II service. Also in this series are several military documents relating to his service, including a discharge form. The series also contains Gerald and Juanita's marriage certificate.

Photographs (1943-1944) consists entirely of pictures from Juanita's service. There are many shots of her in W.A.C. uniform, both stateside and overseas. In addition, there are photographs of unidentified W.A.C. personnel both training and relaxing at a stateside camp.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Richard Goold, Oswego, IL, 2001. Accession Number: TR1215. This collection was organized as a result of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission project grant (2003-075).

Processing Information

Processed by Russell Horton in 2004.

	Series: Juanita Goold Wilke
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical data, undated
	Subseries: Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2-9	From Juanita Goold Wilke to Ruth Blood, 1943-1945
Box   1 Folder   10	Diary, 1943
Box   2 Folder   1	Ephemera, circa 1944
Box   2 Folder   2	Journal, 1943
Box   2 Folder   3	Military papers, 1943-1945
Box   2 Folder   4	Address book, circa 1944
Box   2 Folder   5	Equipment receipts, 1943-1945
Box   2 Folder   6	Last will and testament, 1943
Box   2 Folder   7	Pay records, 1943-1944
	Reports
Box   2 Folder   8	Destruction of registered cryptographic publications, 1945
Box   2 Folder   9	Receipt for registered documents (or devices), 1945
Box   2 Folder   10	Transfer of registered documents (or devices), 1945
Box   2 Folder   11	W.A.C. graduation program, 1943
Box   2 Folder   12	Newspaper clippings, 1945, 1994-1995
Box   3 Folder   1	Scrapbook, 1943-1945
Box   2 Folder   13	Veteran activities, 1985-1995
	Series: Gerald F. Wilke	⇧
Box   2 Folder   14	Military papers, 1945-1948
Box   4 Folder   1	Scrapbook, 1943-1945
	Series: Photographs	⇧
Box   5 Folder   1-5	Juanita Goold Wilke [26] , circa 1944
	Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.)
Box   5 Folder   6-7	Candids [10] , circa 1943
Box   5 Folder   8-9	Personnel [12] , circa 1943
Box   5 Folder   10-11	Scenery [9] , circa 1943