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.

Monday, March 8, 1943

Gowen Fieid, Boise, Idaho

March 8, 1943 Diary Page

It looks like this rain is going to stay by us for a while. It started yesterday afternoon and rained all last night and all of today and I don’t mean a drizzle either. This morning I was very rudely awakened by the telephone. My new room has the barracks telephone attached to the outside wall so I can’t help but hear the damn thing. It was five o’clock in the morning and I sure gave that S.O.B. a hunk of my mind. I went on back to bed. I slept until seven thirty. This morning we had lectures as usual. The afternoon was taken up with Phys. Ed. Its the same old story and I’m getting damn sick and tired of it. I’m doing quite an extensive study in Army Administration and it’s surprising what I don’t know about it. This evening I decided to stay in but still went to a show on the Post. “The Remarkable Mrs. Holliday” [sic "The Amazing Mrs. Holliday"] played with Deanna Durbin and it was darn good. She has one of the loveliest voices I’ve ever heard and I thoroughly enjoy just listening to her sing. The mountains are beginning to take on a new coat of snow as glimpsed through the breaks in the haze that hangs low. Here it just rains. Between the thaw and the rain this place is a sea of mud.

Good Night

To view previous diary entries, click here.

The Day That Was: March 8, 1943

• In the Atlantic, a change in Enigma, the standard encoding machine used by the German U-boat fleet, created problems for Allied antisubmarine warfare. A fourth rotor was added to the Enigma to ensure secure communications. Allied cryptographers were able to decipher the German communication, after a brief delay. (http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/mar1943/f08mar43.htm)

• On the Eastern Front, the Soviets took Sychevka between Rzhev and Vyazma from the forces of the German Army Group Center. (http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/mar1943/f08mar43.htm)

• The German submarine U-156 was sunk by naval land-based aircraft (VP-53) in the West Indies. (http://www.blountweb.com/blountcountymilitary/wars/ww2/timelines/1943_ww2.htm)

• All three squadrons of the First Fighter Group escorted B-17s on an antishipping mission east of Bizerte. After dogfighting Me 109s and FW 190s, the group destroyed five 109s and two Focke Wulfs. There were probable kills on five additional Me 109s and damage was done to two 190s with no losses by the group. (http://www.1stfighter.org/history/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

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