George Platt Waller

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Honorable
George Platt Waller Jr.
Democratic
AwardsOrder of the Redeemer (Knight)
Luxembourg War Cross

George Platt Waller Jr. (September 7, 1889 – February 26, 1962) was an American diplomat and the United States chargé d'affaires in Luxembourg during World War II.

Biography

Early life

George Platt Waller Jr. was born to George Platt and Susan Theresa Jones in Montgomery, Alabama on September 7, 1889.[1] He was home schooled and attended public school until he enrolled in Marion Military Institute in 1905 until 1907. Afterwards he attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 1912. He worked as a principal of a high school in Chilhowie, Virginia from 1912 to 1913.[2]

Diplomatic career

Waller was appointed American vice-consul in

Anglo Saxons and in a time like the present I am quite sure that I should be of vastly greater service among such a people." The State Department considered the request for several months, until the transfer was finally approved by Secretary of State Robert Lansing. The decision was urged by Consul Wallace J. Young and Ambassador Frederic Courtland Penfield, the latter considering Waller's attitude "seriously embarrassing."[3] Waller was subsequently moved and served as senior vice-consul in Athens, Greece
from 1915 to 1919.

Waller acted as vice-consul in-charge in Athens from October 1916 to May 1917 while Greece was embroiled in conflict. On 4 December 1919, he was made Knight of the Order of the Redeemer by Alexander of Greece and the Greek government.[2] He later served as consul in Dresden, Germany.[4]

Waller became the American chargé d'affaires in Luxembourg in 1931.[5] He was awarded the Luxembourg War Cross on 24 June 1946.[6] On 24 June 1948, Waller finalized the purchase of the estate that eventually became the American Embassy in Luxembourg. He shortly thereafter left the country permanently.[7]

Works

  • Platt Waller, George (2012). Fletcher, Willard Allen; Fletcher, Jean Tucker (eds.). Defiant Diplomat: George Platt Waller, American Consul in Nazi-Occupied Luxembourg, 1939-1941. Newark: University of Delaware Press. .

References

  1. ^ "WALLER, GEORGE PLATT, 1889-1962". Alabama Authors. University of Alabama. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b Owen, Thomas McAdory; Owen, Marie Bankhead (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Vol. 4. S. J. Clarke publishing Company. p. 1722.
  3. .
  4. ^ "Certificate issued by "Big Chief White Horse Eagle" of the Osage Indian tribe, conferring the "honorary title of Chief BOR-NA-RA" on George P. Waller, American consul at Dresden, Germany". Alabama Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  5. ^ Belgium. Vol. 1. Belgian Press Association, Incorporated. 1941. p. 357.
  6. ^ "Bulletin D'Information" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État. 30 June 1946. p. 11. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  7. ^ "History: The Residence of the US Embassy". Embassy of the United States Luxembourg. United States Department of State. Retrieved 29 September 2016.