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.

Sunday, March 28, 1943

March 28, 1943 Diary Page

Gowen Fieid,    Boise, Idaho

Today is even lovelier then yesterday. It’s one of those days that makes a kid want to play hooky from school and take a swim although I dare say the water would be a trifle uncomfortable. It’s the kind of day that makes you want to sleep but it’s too pretty to sleep. If I were home I would be bobbing up and down in a skiff in the bay with a line over board and the smell of fish and crab meat and the salty tang lifting from the bay in the warm rays of the bay. When I sit back now and close my eyes I can feel the tug of the line held taut by the ebb tide just before the change. _____ the water will lye still and quiet and the fish, hungry from bucking the swift tides will start feeding. This is the time of the year for “Rock” and the big “____ _____ . ” I sure would like to get ahold of a couple now. This war can’t be over too soon to suit me. For all the beauty of the mountains and forests of the West, I’ll still take my Eastern shore. It’s a place you learn to love with time and one that once is loved is never forgotten.
This afternoon our team played the colored boys at baseball. It sure was a tight game. Final score was 10-8 and of course we won. It was good to be out today. This evening there was a ________ dance at the club. We have an excellent orchestra here on the field which is the only reason I go to the dance.

Good Night

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The Day That Was: March 28, 1943

• The British First Army went on the offensive in northern Tunisia. (http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-the-desert/war-in-the-desert-index-1943.htm)

British First Army commander, Gen. Kenneth A. N. Anderson, and U.S. Army Gen. Omar Bradley. Anderson’s troops went on the offensive in northern Tunisia on this day in 1943 Photo: Department of Defense Archives

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