"My experiences with the first fighter group as a mechanic on the line. In this diary I have mentioned some of the little experiences I myself and some close buddies have had at the fields and in towns from the time we left Fort Dix N.J. up to the present. It isn't by any means a full diary. Just some of the high points and crazy rumors that all squadrons have. Also are some of the trivial little things that got us highly "browned off" as the English say. If any thing should happen to me, I'd like this diary above everything else to reach my folks - Dave Gray"

WWII Journal of Sgt. David S. Gray

Forward by David S. Gray, Jr.

It was about five months after my Dad had passed away on June 3, 2000 that I found a small green book amongst a stash of personal military antiquities that belonged both to him and my grandfather. The small book turned out to be Sgt. David S. Gray's diary kept from about June of 1942 until he returned to the States in August of 1944. Dave Gray Sr. was a ground crewman and then crew chief on P-38's with the 71st Squadron of the First Fighter Group in these years. He returned to the States after these entries were made to be assigned to the B-29 development program. The diary and other old mementos were stashed in a very dubious old bureau in the attic of his long time home in Winchester, Massachusetts.

It is a simple diary. Written by a young man living in very primitive and rough circumstances during the invasion of North Africa, the campaigns through Algeria, Tunisia, the occupation of Sardinia, and finally based at Foggia, Italy, it nevertheless is packed with quite a wealth of information and commentary on the conditions and people engaged in the worst and the best of human circumstances. In his own words he saw firsthand these worst and best traits of humanity.

He apparently picked up this little "Year by Year" diary in Great Britain after arriving in Gurroch, Scotland on June 10 of 1942. The little diary is published by John Walker & Co. Ltd. of London, Farringdon House, Warwick Lane, E.C. 4. It is possible that he picked it up in New York, as the more detailed entries begin with boarding the Queen Elizabeth and setting across the Atlantic for England. In either circumstance, it appears the scant entries back in May of 1942 regarding the train ride across the country from Glendale and arriving at Ft Dix were backdated after picking up the book. 

This little diary stayed with him for the next 26 months. That it is evident that these folks did not know when they may be able to go home is not only a repeated concern of speculation, but is exemplified by the fact that after a year had passed, Dad was then obliged to begin writing the next years entries for that calendar day in the margins and other left over space on each subsequent dated page. There is an entry on June 4, 1943 of hoping to be home by Christmas. However, by June 4, 1944, he is penciling the entry in the margin of the page for that date--sees his comment of the year before--and just has to write "what a laugh". There are numerous subtle and not-so-subtle commentaries like this that bring these personal experiences to life.

The diary being what it is, having been lugged around in a duffle bag, and often written in under rather harsh conditions, renders the handwriting sometimes difficult to discern. I have attempted to simulate the pen color and the general size of the handwriting by formatting the font to be similar in character. In many places this helped, along with narrative context, to differentiate 1942, 1943, or 1944 entries from each other when they were not clearly designated as such on each page. Where a word is difficult to decipher I have contained it in the following type of bracket: {  }.  This can be true on strange town names. Because the entries often continue on to the next dated page I have indicated this with normal font text in this type of bracket:  [ ].   Other similarly notated interjections of mine are derived from cross checking individuals names from the roster of officers in "An Escort of P-38's",  The First Fighter Group in World War II by John D. Mullins (1995). In the instances where I interject the name of the officer I have mentioned them only at the first reference to the individual. After that, it then is as it is. If there was only a last name and there is more than one officer with that name then I left it be. I have kept my interjections to this minimum in the hopes to be helpful and not to distract from the essence of the entries.

Many apparent misspellings are actually entered as they were in the diary. These were double checked for transcription errors on my part. In the back pages of the diary are a series of pages merely entitled "Memoranda". Some of the December 31st entries of 1942 and 1943 run on into these pages. There are also quite a few interesting general observations entered onto these pages as well. These I kept intact in the section entitled Memoranda. 

The entries get a bit sparse during the summer of 1944. The last entries concerning the transfer back to the States are actually kept on a separate piece of paper that was folded up and inserted between the pages of the diary. For continuity sake I entered the daily entries in those early days of August. There is also one interesting poem on this separate piece of paper and I have preserved it in the section entitled Attached Paper Sheet.

Many of the events contained in the diary are corroborated by John Mullins' fine history of the First Fighter Group. There may be some possible discrepancies on dates or names herein. A possible example may be with the entry on August 28, 1943 that an individual referred to as Visal in the diary entry cart-wheeled in water and blew up. Could this be Lt. Robert Viall that is reported as killed in action on August 25 in "An Escort of P-38's"? Could this merely be when my Dad first heard about it 3 days later? This was shortly followed by the loss of Lt. John Willey over Naples on August 30, 1943. Willey had been my father's pilot at that time. 

Theories, comments, and contributions from others with additional information on these aspects of history are welcome. It is our family's sincere hope that other surviving members of these tremendous events as well as historians and interested parties derive value from this transcribed effort.

David S. Gray Jr., August 17, 2005