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JOSEPH J. FEDELE : 1944 HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT WORLD WAR II DIARY OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL AMERICAN G.I. JOE SERVING IN CHINA

32mo - over 4" - 5" tall. On offer is an excellent 1944 handwritten manuscript diary of a real American 'G.I. Joe' - Joseph J. Fedele of Madison Wisconsin. Tightly written in pencil, there are detailed entries for every day of the year. It charts his journey from his family home in Wisconsin all the way to China via India and crossing the infamous 'Hump' just "15 minutes from Jap territory". What is particularly of interest is that Joe is an emotive writer and offers a 'no-holds-barred' look at the Army, the war, Commanding Officers, his buddies and his duties. And there are details aplenty from movies seen to the real life first hand experiences of life and death, hope and desperation. Here are snippets: Left Calcutta 8:30 a.m. Fine trip … Good chow … Destination Kunming is 3 hour hop from here & is over what is called 'THE HUMP', really dangerous as we are 15 min from Jap territory. Many planes lost going over 'HUMP'….ready to go over the 'HUMP'. Saw highest mountains in the world … flew very high, had to use oxygen. Am being shipped to Ling Ling, sure hate to leave here (Kweilin). Am learning how to play bridge. Heard Finland & Russia are dickering for peace. JINGBALL ALERT. Nothing happened, sure glad. Another alert. Planes bombed 25 miles from us. Getting close. Movie projector in - all we need is film now. …Lt. & I had a good spat. He can kiss a-if he thinks he's going to push me around. Shot few rounds with twin 50's, sure are powerful. News broadcast claims we bombed island 400 miles from Phillipines. Something up as the Chinese moved 1200 troops in … can expect anything now. Read some good news about Russians reaching Czech border. Asked Adine to marry me. Bad accident, Major of the 8th Sqd doing a buzz over hostel & hit a tree. There's no question in my mind that we're in for a lot of action soon. Hot fighting up north 28th & 8th are leaving for there, hope they stop them. Also expect a bomber outfit in very soon. That spells trouble. Claim is that B-29's are in China. Can't figure out why the Japs aren't bombing us. We've 4 beautiful days & nites. Japs knocked the hell out of some of our airfields. Nothing here thank God. Had some bad news, Capt. Smiley got it. Too bad as he was a good "Joe". Good news over radio, quote "We have just about captured Mitiahl". If so, that gives us supply route over Ledo Road. B-24 stayed over yesterday. Nice bunch. Crashed. All killed. Goddam those Japs, they'll pay for it someday. 76 fighter in with 18 planes, all P51's. We finally got hit. Hit runway twice. Dropped a lot of small bombs. Found a lot of anti-personnel bombs. Klika picked one up and threw it, it went off & did we ever hit the dirt. Got caught with our pants down. About 1 a.m. dam Japs came in & bombed the hell out of us. They really had a field day. 11th bomb moving out. Things are too hot. Japs still moving. Our pursuit planes are really working, going on about 5 missions a day. 4th July 1944 - Quietest 4 I've ever spent. Two war correspondents are here U.P. & March of Time. March of Time is taking movies of everything. Bad accident. Plane hit my best coolie "Big Joe" with prop while he was digging out a bomb. Plane went over him. Head almost cut off. Felt so sorry for him that I cried. Left wife & 5 kids under 10. Dam Japs are coming from Canton now. Our outfit to Luichow. We are absolutely cut off. Heard that Klika done a good job at Ling Ling he was awarded the Purple Heart. Good news on radio. Boys have landed on Phillipines. Japs in and gave us a nice Xmas Eve reception. The bastards. Closed the new year ok. Hope the next one is a lot better. So long 1944. The diary measures about 3 x 4.5 inches. VG.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+. Binding: Hard Cover

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