Letters From the Front: A World War II Diary

My father, Robert H. Arnold, served in the US Army in the 995th Field Artillery Battalion.  He served from February 23, 1943 to November 2, 1945, traveling from Washington State to Pennsylvania, then on to North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.  He remained in Germany after the war, helping the Germans begin the rebuilding process.

This blog contains excerpts from the diary that Robert kept throughout his time in the war.  These blog entries are augmented by personal letters written by my father to his family in Seattle, Washington.  The intertwined entries of war at the front and the loving letters home to his family creates a very personal record of the war, and how Robert gathered strength from all of the people back home.

My grandmother Alma typed each letter from her son, creating a diary for the family to keep forever as a reminder of the forces of war, and the human triumph over these forces.

Alma, Elsie (back row), Robert, and Ernest Arnold