Praetorian,
Thank you for sharing this. I was unaware that this diary existed. How much have you transcribed? Do you need help? Looking forward to the rest of the story.
He was 23 years old when he wrote this portion.
Take a look at what he wrote exactly 58 years ago today:
Quote:
21 Sep 1951 Fri
Well yesterday was a day I will never forget. We got the hell shelled out of us. 5 of our men injured and 2 men from service battery. One shell got six of them at one time. This same shell hit about 10 yards from where I was laying. The only thing that saved my life and Hathaway’s was a small barricade we built about 2 hrs before to sit behind while we were on fire missions. It was all big stuff. This morning we got some more. They hit our ammo dump and gas dump also.
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If things were to have happened just slightly differently in just a blink of an eye 58 years ago yesterday, he would not have written this, we would not be reading this, I would not be writing this.
I still think about Dad every day. This has given me a new perspective on his life as well as mine.