Lt. Reichard’s WWII Diary Project and Recap: On January 1, 2009, WorthPoint began a three year project following the life of a WWII soldier through the daily pages of his diary. To read about the inception of this project, or to add your own comments, click here.

Recap: We first met Lt. Reichard in January, stationed at McClellan Air Base in Sacramento, where he was in charge of a motor pool unit.  Expecting to be sent overseas, their orders were changed and they became restless to see action.  Lt. Reichard’s sweetheart, Ginny, would write frequently, and he would go to dinner and movies with local girls – Dorothy, in Sacramento, and Marie, when the unit moved to Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho.  The men have spent their days in lectures, and physical demonstrations to try to keep sharp mentally and physically.    But they are getting increasingly restless.

February 9, 1943 Diary Page

Transcript of diary entry   February 9, 1943

Tuesday, February 9, 1943

Gowen Fieid, Boise, Idaho

Pardon me while I wipe the perspiration off. No it’s not hot, in fact it’s extremely cold. That Inspector from I.G’s office came over this morning and afternoon and looked us over. Yesterday Lt. Davis told me that this colonel just didn’t know what it was all about. Today I discovered Lt. Davis either didn’t know what he was talking about or was trying to get me in trouble. That’s the trouble with this damned army. Jealousy sure messes up a lot of things. That Colonel didn’t miss one little item and was rougher than a cob. When you pass an inspection from him you’ve done a damn good job. He finishes up tomorrow and that ain’t none too soon. He’s a good egg though and should help us a lot. He left about four so we will just hold our breath until tomorrow is over. This evening I went in town after the boxing match was over. It was a pretty decent match and consisted of five bouts. They had a state golden gloves champion in of 125 lb class who fought against one of our men who had fought in the national final. Both were damn good and fought to a tie. All bouts were three rounds per team. I just killed time until about twelve thirty came out and went to bed.

Good Night

On this day in 1943, President Roosevelt ordered a minimal 48-hour workweek for those in war industries, which included these welders at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, Calif. (U.S. National Archives)

To view previous diary entries, click here.

The Day That Was: February 9, 1943

• President Roosevelt ordered a minimal 48-hour workweek in war industries. The extra hours put lots of money into defense workers pockets, but there were few places to spend it and little to spend it on as food, housing and other essentials and luxuries were either rationed or unavailable. (http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1943.HTML)

• The Russians took back Kursk 15 months after it fell to the Nazis. (http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1943.HTML)

Production Credits:
Diary transcription: Kathleen Long

Diary photos: Claudia Forbes

Video production: Alison Harder

Narration: Mountain VIsta H.S. Theater Department

Jeremy Goldson, Department Chair; Sean McGill – voice of Lt. Reichard