Lt. Reichard’s WWII Diary – March 16, 1943 by Lt.Reichard (03/16/09).
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.
January 1943 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, Ginnie, 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 1943 Recap: The unit continues to be restless as they still haven’t any orders for overseas. The days are kept busy with lectures, physical demonstrations, and frequent hikes in the mountains above Boise. Lt. Reichard receives a promotion to Lieutenant First Class and continues to write to Ginnie back home, though her letters are becoming more infrequent. February 1943 comes to an end with the unit still feeling bored and discouraged.
Tuesday, March 16, 1943
March 16, 1943 Diary Page
Gowen Fieid, Boise, Idaho
Tomorrow we are going out on an overnight “Bivoac” so most of today was taken up in preparation of that. We had several short lectures on sanitation and the processes of making camping to prepare the men for it. Their equipment had to be checked, the arrangements made for rations, trucks, and kitchen equipment ___ ____ is all packed. Every thing was ship shape by two o’clock so we all went over to the gym for our “Judo” class. The men are getting to be quite proficient at it and just pray that they don’t take it into their head to use those tactics in case they get tight and get in a fight some night in town because I’ll have a man or so with a murder charge against him. This stuff is plain deadly and every movement is capable of breaking an arm or leg or killing a man instantly. Some times I wonder what this world is going to be like after the war when seven million trained killers will be turned loose in the United States alone. It may not be quite as bad as it sounds but when a man has been trained to kill in a fight and has done it what will change him back to a human being?
· U-Boat Wolfpack “Raubgraf” and attacks convoys HX-229 (37 ships) in the North Atlantic and over the next four days sinks 12 ships for 86,326 gross tons, damaging another four. Another wolfpack, named “Stürmer,” attacks SC122 and over a period of four days and nights, sinking 11 ships (54,740 tons) with the loss of just one U-boat; U-384 (Oblt. von Rosenberg-Gruszinski). (http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-at-sea/atlantic/battle-of-the-atlantic-index-1943.htm)
· The first reports of the Katyn massacre in Poland seep to the West; reports say that more than 180,000 prisoners of war were killed by the Soviet NKVD, who eventually blame the massacre on the Germans. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_World_War_II_(1943))
· Josef Stalin, for the nth time, demands a “Second Front,” accusing his allies of treachery. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_World_War_II_(1943))
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; Bryan Smith – voice of Lt. Reichard
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