Physical description:

.1 l.f. including 1 photograph

Date:

1945.

Provenance:

Purchased from Cather and Brown, Birmingham Alabama in 1993.

Biographical sketch:

G[eorge] Platt Waller (1889-1962) was born in Montgomery AL in 1889, received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1912 and in 1913 entered the service of the U.S. Department of State. From 1915 to 1919 he served as vice-consul in Greece and was knighted by King Alexander for his wartime service to the country.

Following World War I Waller served in various Asian and European consular posts, including Germany, until 1931 when he became second secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Brussels Belgium and also chargé of the legation in Luxembourg where he remained until 1941. During the invasion and occupation of Luxembourg by Germany he represented not only American but also Belgian, French and British interests. He served in the department's Visa Division and in Mexico from 1942 to 1944 when he was reappointed to his post in Luxembourg. From 1944 to 1945 he was chargé d'affairs and consul in Luxembourg and in 1945 became the first living person to be named an honorary citizen of Luxembourg.

Thereafter he served in Florence Italy and in San Marino, then returned to serve in Washington DC until his retirement in 1950 when he received the Department of State Meritorious Service Award. Throughout his career he received numerous other American and foreign honors including the American Medal of Freedom.

-- National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1968), v. 50, p. 88.

Scope and content:

This group of papers documents the musical tribute which was paid to G. Platt Waller on 13 June 1945 when he was awarded honorary citizenship of Luxembourg. Included are a presentation folio signed by Fernand Mertens, band master of the court of Luxembourg, which contains a manuscript and a decoratively printed copy of the America-Luxembourg Marche which Mertens composed for the occasion and a holograph copy in French of a tribute to Waller by Mertens which may have been delivered as a speech on that occasion.

Also included are a photograph of Mertens, autographed to Waller, taken atop an American tank on the day American armed forces liberated Luxembourg; a copy of "Aus engem Jeep/Stars Over Luxembourg" autographed by the lyricist Pierre Faber; and a copy of the "Colonel Fraser Marche" autographed by Fraser and by the composer Norbert Hoffmann.

Location:

This group of papers, including a copy of the photograph described above, is filed by accession number with other manuscript groups. The original photograph is filed in the Subject Iconographic File under Waller, G. Platt. Copies of the printed sheet music are filed with the Center for Popular Music--Small sheet music collection.