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The collection is open for research.
This collection is processed at the Basic Level (or collection level). There is no detailed inventory for this collection as it is not fully processed. To request that this collection be added to our priority list of collections to be fully processed as staffing and funding allow, please contact the Library and Archives staff.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Eldon Earle Davidson was born in Dennis, Massachusetts on 2 May 1920. He attended public schools in Dennis and graduated from Yarmouth High School in 1938. He then entered Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, and graduated in 1942 with a B.S. in biology. After college, Davidson refused a commission in the U.S. Army and instead became a naval aviation cadet. He graduated from the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida on 1 April 1943 and was selected for a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served as a pilot from 1943 until he retired in 1963.
While serving in the Marines, Davidson attended and graduated from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School with a M.S. in meteorology in 1949 and graduated from the U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School in 1954. He also served in two combat tours during World War II (1939-1945) beginning in the South Pacific and ending in North China and later served in the Korean War (1950-1953). Prior to his retirement from the Marines, Davidson served a tour with the aviation support group for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's trips to Europe and South America.
After his retirement from military service, Davidson became the Assistant Manager at the Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina from 1963 to 1964. He was later hired as the Executive Director of the Savannah International Airport in Georgia in December 1964 and worked there until December 1991. While in Savannah, he was a member of various boards and organizations including the following: Airport Operator's Council International, American Association of Airport Executives, Southeastern Airport Manager's Association, Savannah Chamber of Commerce, Savannah Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Salvation Army, Atlantic Bank and Trust Company, Bank South, Leadership Savannah, Kiwanis Club, the Rotary Club of Savannah, and the Navy League of Savannah.
Davidson was married to Mary Jeannette Cocreham of Corpus Christi, Texas and the couple had three children. Eldon Earle Davidson died on 14 May 2007 at the age of eighty seven in Savannah, Georgia.
This collection contains copies of newspaper clippings, reports, correspondence, photographs, financial records, and other miscellaneous records that Eldon Earle Davidson collected throughout his career as Executive Director of the Savannah International Airport from 1958 to 1995. Also included within this collection is information that Davidson gathered on the history of aviation and airports in Savannah, Georgia as well as a short biography on his career with the Savannah International Airport.
This collection is arranged into 6 boxes: