Nice weather. No enemy resistence so far. Tomorrow is D-Day on Minduro.
September 1942 — June 1945
The diary
389 entries in the order Elmer lived them. The first eleven are dated months apart and cover nearly two years of training and island duty; from the day he came aboard The Sullivans he wrote every day. Chapter headings, eleven in all, mark the way, and a map alongside keeps track of where he was as you read or listen. Search for a person, place, ship, or phrase, or simply begin at the beginning.
Every entry can also be listened to. The readings are computer-generated, about 69 minutes in all. The voice is not Elmer’s.
December 1944
Nice weather. Landed troops on Minduro. No word on how they are making out.
Historical context
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Mindoro landings
The Battle of Mindoro (Filipino: Labanan sa Mindoro) took place during World War II between the forces of the United States and Japan, in Mindoro Island in the central Philippines, from 13 to 16 December 1944, during the Philippines campaign. Troops of the United States Army, supported by the United States Navy and US Army Air Forces (USAAF), made an amphibious landing on Mindoro and defeated Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) forces there. There was no significant opposition from the Imperial Japanese Navy, nor from the Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces, except for kamikaze (suicide) attacks on American ships.
From Wikipedia, “Battle of Mindoro”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article ↗
* Dates read as Elmer wrote them. An asterisk marks a date that is approximate, or that the diary records differently from the day it actually was; hover or focus it for the correction. Underlined terms link to the glossary. Chapter headings, notes marked “From the records”, and the map’s account of where he was are editorial.
After the last entry
What the papers say next
The diary ends on June 18, 1945, with the ship under orders home. The Navy’s paperwork and the family’s papers carry the story from there.
The Sullivans reached San Francisco on July 9, 1945. On July 15 he was advanced to signalman first class, and on July 23 he married Dorothy, the girl he wrote to, in Olympia. He left the ship on October 10, and on October 26, back in Shelton, he registered with the local draft board, “unemployed – just discharged,” and signed the card. The records →
