1943 DIARY OF DEAN YOUNG, A YOUNG ENLISTED MORMON MAN SUFFERING DEPRESSION FROM HIS BAD MARRIAGE

Fascinating diary kept by a young Mormon enlisted man from Utah or Idaho named Dean Young, who spent the year Stateside in training to be an airplane mechanic. He also attempted to become an aerial gunner but failed the physical. Mr. Young made an entry every day from January 1, 1943 to July 30, 1943, in blue fountain pen, at which point the diary abruptly stops. I think, from reading it, that it is the result of his depression over the precarious state of his marriage, which he agonizes over on many a page. This young man had a child as well, and most of his entries deal with his training, KP, leave, movies seen, music listened to, mechanics classes taken, attempts to get into aerial gunnery, an injury to his leg that put him in the hospital for over a month and put him behind all his friends, and most of all, his need to get mail, especially from his wife. His exasperation with his wife is apparent throughout. She doesn't write enough, he misses her and his child, and he is bored much of the time with training. The diary is in a five by seven inch faux-leather, possibly leather covered hardback book entitled 'Dailyaide: The Silent Secretary 1943". Each page tells what he did on that day. It is an intimate look into the daily life of a young U.S. Army Air Corps recruit in the mid-war year of 1943. Sometimes sad, sometimes pedestrian but very human given the backdrop of World War II. G+.; Manuscript; 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall; 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, AMERICANA, DEPRESSION, PSYCHOLOGY, WORD WAR II, WWII, WORLD WAR TWO, AIRPLANES, MECHANICS, Travel, Trip, Vacation