1945 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT WORLD WAR II DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY USAF LIEUTENANT PASSING THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF THE WAR ON EMERGENCY LEAVE BUT STILL ACTIVE IN THE WAR THROUGH HIS WRITINGS

On offer is a very interesting end of World War II service manuscript diary handwritten by Lt. Claudius E. Belk, 1st Lt., USAF. [Unnamed in the book his ownership was confirmed from ephemeral items once associated with the diary.] The largish 9 x 6 inch page a day book does not have any entries until July 15th 1945 but after that the book is well filled save for another handful of days. Lt. Belk lives in the Camden part of Louisville Kentucky fills nearly every page he writes on with the details of his life after his service. His first entry on a Sunday seems to confirm when he says upon arriving at church 'Everyone was very friendly to me'. Belk is on an extended emergency leave from the service but very dedicated to the war effort and he writes what is on the one hand a super home front diary and but also a very detailed history of international events. He writes daily reports on the international war situation which seem to be a coalescing of what he reads in the papers but also scuttlebutt from his friends in the Service. He writes of the progress of America and her allies, the War in Japan and the rest of the Pacific and the international political situation. Entries make note of or meeting with: a boat trip to 6 Mile Island on the gasoline cruiser 'Miss Jakes', Bowman Field, riding in a B-13, flying a B-47, Truman and Stalin entries, seeing the launch of the USS Corry, chilling entries regarding the final months of the war in Japan and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meeting Col. Monroe Johnson and then the curious entries such as: 'the whiskey situation is critical here in Camden' with a few more alcohol related entries showing a fascination or importance to the man. The book includes a few ephemeral items including a photo. Overall G+.; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, USAF, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, CAMDEN, HOME FRONT, HOMEFRONT, CLAUDIUS E. BELK, USS CORRY, WORLD WAR II, WW2, WWII, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, AMERICANA, 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, antiquité, contrat, vélin, document, manuscrit, papier Antike, Brief, Pergament, Dokument, Manuskript, Papier oggetto d'antiquariato, atto, velina, documento, manoscritto, carta antigüedad, hecho, vitela, documento, manuscrito,