1943 ORIGINAL WORLD WAR II MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY AN OBSERVANT MEDICAL OFFICER STATIONED IN ORAN WITHIN WEEKS OF THE CITY'S FALL TO THE ALLIES AND AMID THE EXCITEMENT OF THE BUILD UP TO THE INVASION OF ITALY

On offer is a super, exciting World War II manuscript diary handwritten by Major Sidney G. Page from the 151st Station Hospital when he was stationed in Oran soon after the city's capture by the Allies in late 1942, during Operation Torch. Hugely busy amid the hubbub of the Allies building up for the invasion of Italy this diary also offers a rarely seen intimacy in the personal observations and comments littered among the medical details of admissions, emergencies, procedures and death. Here is a wonderful example: "Busy with 35 admissions at 5 PM. Many of whom are British and most of whom are wounded from Tunis. Intestinal fortitude of the British is wonderful! Some who have lost arms or legs or one of each say 'Am feeling fine, nothing wrong with me!' - and all so cheerfully. Everyone pitched in wholeheartedly to help, convalescents helping to feed helpless ones." Writing daily, sometimes a line and more often longer entries he is a devoted husband and family man writing his wife 'Boo', sending her presents and for the kids too. Major Page is a seems a super fellow. Here are some more snippets: "A Capt. Richard Polk of Army Air Force, a patient with laryngitis - learned he played football for West Point and played in the Army-Harvard game at Boston which Boo & I saw. Finally have panes of glass in our room's windows and now it is almost livable with heat turned on. Am working on Primary A Typical Pneumonia cases - hope to correlate about a 100 or more of them and see what we can learn." "Rained all day. Moved 100 pts. [patients] to crowded, ill spaced tents in muddy slit trenched field behind the hospital. Med. Rounds quite a job…" About to travel: "Chaplain Hook and I first sat in Lt. King's plane….Capt. Polk showed up and we changed to Capt. Polk's plane. Lt. King crashed an hour later and two nurse killed…. while up Capt. Polk let me run the plane for 20 minutes." He is very busy doctoring and administrating and traveling to clinics for service personnel and civilians. He documents important war news, letters he's written, people he sees, medical procedures, movies he sees, places he visits, gifts he receives and gifts he buys for family and friends, his own personal observances, etc. It's really an amazing account from a well written, erudite observer. Here is a final snippet near the end when he returns to America: "The U.S. looks good. I wonder what it holds for me? What will the future be like and where will I fit into the picture? How will it feel to be back at home with wife and children? Won't they be surprised to see me? Could hardly sleep tonight." Covers are detached but present otherwise G. ; Manuscript; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; OPERATION TORCH, ALGERIA, MEDICAL, MEDICINE, SURGEON, ORAN, AMERICANA, WWII, WORLD WAR II, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, DIARY, JOURNAL, LOG, KEEPSAKE, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, DIARIES, JOURNALS, LOGS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, PERSONAL HISTORY,