Lester Boutte Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains correspondence, photographs and photocopies of printed material related to Captain Lester Boutte's rescue of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in 1942. It also includes information from the 1985 Ames, Iowa reunion of Boutte and some of the men that he rescued.
Dates
- 1942
- 1985
Conditions Governing Access
Open.
Biographical / Historical
Lester Boutte served in the United States Navy as an aviation radioman and rear gunner on a floating seaplane in the South Pacific during the second World War. At dusk on November 12, 1942, Boutte and Lieutenant W. F. Eadie rescued Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and two other soldiers floating in a raft near the island of Nukufetau in the Funafuti Atoll, after their plane crashed three weeks earlier. Following the war, Boutte took part in the sea recovery of the first American Astronauts to be launched into space. He was the first man to have contact with Friendship 7.
Extent
0.25 Cubic Feet (One 1/2 Letter Doc Box; 6 file folders)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Chronological
- Title
- Guide to the Lester Boutte Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by: Catherine Conner, Javan Frazier Digitized by: Noah Biblis
- Date
- Processed: 10/07/99 May 2002; Digitized: 2020-07-22
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Auburn University Special Collections and Archives Repository
Auburn University
Ralph Brown Draughon Library
231 Mell Street
Auburn Alabama 36849
334-844-1732
archives@auburn.edu
