Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Glaeser, Willmund, 1897-1966
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Willmund Reaux Glaeser (7 June 1897-Aug. 1966), of Houston, Tex., was a wireless operator working out of the office of Kilbourne and Clark, on freighter ships and tramp steamers plying routes up the coast of South America, through the Panama canal (22 Jan. 1920), and up the Gulf and east coasts of the United States as far as New York. Several times during his sailing career, Glaeser also took ship for New Orleans and Galveston, Tex., then traveled by train to visit family and friends in Houston, Tex., and the surrounding area.
As a soldier in World War I, Glaeser was first based in a training camp, Camp Logan, Tex., now Memorial Park in Houston, Tex., but probably received the majority of his wireless training when he served with Company C of the 221st Field Signal Battalion, based at Camp Alfred Vail, N. J., from which he was demobilized sometime around Feb. 1919.
The first half of Glaeser'sdiary records life aboard the freighter S.S. Sag Harbor, on which he signed 21 Oct. 1919. As of 8 May 1920, having been relieved by another radioman on the S. S. Sag Harbor, Glaeser transferred to the S.S. Chester W. Chapin, a tourist excursion ship with the New England Steamship Co., based in New York City, sailing to New Haven and New London, Conn.Glaeser transferred again 6 June 1920 to the S.S. Richard Peck, a Long Island passenger steamer which sailed down the Connecticut River to New York City and back.
Having bought stock in the Century Adding Machine Co., Glaeser eventually was offered a job to set up an exclusive "Texas Sales Agency for Century Adding Machine Co.," but it seems Glaeser thought better of accepting the offer.
Along the way, Glaeser also completed a La Salle Extension University CPA [Certified Public Accountant] course, receiving a "2A rating." By 18 Nov. 1920 Glaeser had secured a position with the New York based A. H. Bull Steamship Company in its Accounting Dept.