Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Grayson B. Boyer Papers, 1937-1945. Accession 50238. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Judy Hudson, Richmond, Virginia, 22 November 2011.

Biographical Information

Grayson Bryan Boyer was born on 1 July 1915 to parents Archie N. Boyer and Lillie V. Boyer of Grayson County, Virginia. Boyer served with the United States Navy, both before and during World War II. At least part of his pre-war service was on board the U.S.S. Arkansas , where he had risen to the rank of Painter Third Class by December 1938. He had two daughters with wife Nell Elizabeth Boyer (1919-2010), and was a lifelong resident of Grayson County. Grayson Boyer died on 20 February 1970.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1937-1945 and undated, of Grayson B. Boyer (1915-1970) of Grayson County, Virginia, include an undated group photo of sailors (including Boyer) and officers posed on the deck of the U.S.S. Arkansas ; a meteorological plotting chart labeled "U.S.S. Arkansas Cruises of 1937," with Boyer's handwritten notations of the ship's position as it sailed across the Atlantic and back from 4 June to 12 August 1937 (departing from Annapolis, Maryland, traveling as far north as Denmark and as far south as Funchal, Portugal); an album of photos from Boyer's naval travels, including shots of Torquay, Torbay, United Kingdom (likely taken during the 1937 cruise marked in the plotting chart); and a decorative "Certificate of Survival," 2 May 1945, marking Boyer's 19 months of involvement in the Battle of the South Atlantic. Also included are a handful of unidentified photographs showing rural villages and foreign military soldiers, and several photographs of King George VI of England inspecting an American naval vessel.