Hello Everyone, My grandfather served in WWII as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne. I have some questions that I am hoping to find answers to and look to the expertise of all of you. I am looking forward to speaking with you and really hope that you might be able to help me find some answers. Thank You, Lezleigh
Welcome Lezleigh. There are many knowledgeable folks on this forum that can point you in the right direction. Greg C.
Thank you for the welcome Greg. I really hope that I can find the help that I am looking for here. I have a diary in my possession and I am not sure what to do with it. Should I post a thread on here asking for advice on this diary? thank you.
Well, if the diary belonged to your grandfather, my advice would be to never part with it. For the most part, though, of course there are exceptions, during WWII, diaries were forbidden in a combat zone. The reason being if the diary fell into the hands of the enemy, it could devulge information. This diary could be a treasure trove of insight into your grandfather's experiences. If you have questions about its content, and would be willing to share excerpts from it, we would love to read them and help in any way to answer your questions. Greg C.
That is the problem. My grandfather picked this up in a cave after he went up Purple Heart Hill (please forgive me if my terminology is wrong). The diary is written in Japanese. Do you think that the right thing to do would be to (somehow) try to find that family of the soldier that this belonged to? I do not know of any bilingual people that might be able to even help me translate this. It has diagrams and numbers and a lot of writing in it. It is still in perfect condition, as my mother has informed me that my father and grandfather kept it protected all these years. Any ideas as to what I should do with this? My father just passed away four months ago so I am not sure who to turn to with these questions. Thank You for your responses. Lezleigh
If you're interested in learning more about the diary, scan some of the pages if you can and post the pictures online here. I can read Japanese so perhaps I can take a crack at it. Whether you wish to return the diary to the family of its owner is up to you, although if you do decide to return it and the diary finds its way to any surviving relatives, they will most certainly be happy for its return. Welcome to the forums by the way Lezleigh, looking forward to your contributions.
Lezleigh, Thanks for contacting us for assistance. Karma offered sound advice. Scan and post some pages and let him see what it holds. You can make you decisions after that. I'll change your new account to allow you post photos.
Thank you so much everyone for your help with this. I have scanned a few pages in this diary(datebook). Any information you might be able to provide will be greatly appreciated. I have also scanned a few pictures of my grandfather, James Berkel. If you have questions or need more information please let me know. And thank you in advance Karma. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. Lezleigh
My first guess is that it is not a diary and more of a "Memoranda" book or Note book. In either case I would assume the owner's name would be on the first page or the inside of either the front or back cover. Cool Stuff
My thoughts exactly, jarhead, seen the flags, and it reminded of signal flags aboard war ships. makes you think its more of a notebook, maybe from a training school or something?!
Oh yes, I had never thought of that. I bet you are right. It looks more like a notebook or datebook than a diary. Although the back half of the book is blank pages without the sectioning with writings. But, those could be notes. Some of the diagrams look like possible buildings. Thank you for your insight on this. I hope that we can get some translations on the book. Thank you.
