Greer, Dewitt Papers

Commanding Officer, White House Signal Detachment, 1943-1946

The papers of Dewitt Greer include correspondence, printed materials, and memorabilia relating to his service as a U.S. Army officer assigned to the White House Signal Detachment during and after World War II.

Size: 2.5 linear inches (about 70 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. Government all of its copyright interest in these materials and in any other materials received by the U.S. Government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Documents created by employees of the U.S. Government in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents in the collection presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2019).

Dewitt Greer served as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. He was a member of the White House Signal Detachment, which was established at the beginning of the war to provide facilities for the transmission and reception of Presidential communications and to safeguard their security, primarily when the President was away from the White House. Greer rose from the rank of Lieutenant in 1942 to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by 1945, and served as Commanding Officer of the White House Signal Detachment from 1943 to 1946. In August 1946, he accepted a civilian position with the Latin American Division of Pan American Airways.

The Dewitt Greer Papers include correspondence, printed materials, and memorabilia relating to his service as a U.S. Army officer assigned to the White House Signal Detachment during and after World War II. The papers are organized in a single series.

The correspondence in the collection includes letters and memorandums praising Greer and the White House Signal Detachment for their work in connection with such events as the 1945 Inaugural and the conferences at Yalta and Potsdam. Also included is an August 1945 memorandum by Greer outlining a plan for the consolidation of White House communications agencies; a November 1945 memorandum summarizing special communications services provided to the White House by the Army; letters to Greer from his friend Richard Yordy, an engineer at radio station KFAB in Nebraska; and correspondence relating to Greer’s departure from the Army and his employment by Pan American Airways.

Other documents in the collection include a memorandum concerning the teletypewriter in the White House Map Room, an invitation to the 1945 Inaugural, a certificate honoring Greer for his military service during World War II, and a newspaper article describing new electronic equipment aboard the Presidential airplane and train that allowed the President to make radio broadcasts and communicate with his staff while traveling.

More information about the White House Signal Detachment can be found at the Truman Library in the Official File (OF 50-Q) and Permanent File of the Harry S. Truman Papers.