About the author: Madsen Cobb Kokjer (1919 — 1945). 1st Lieutenant in U.S. Army Air Corps, 17th Bomb Squadron, 27th Bomb Group (Light).
Survived on Oryoku Maru taskerd to transport P.O.W.s to Japan; survived transport on Enoura Maru to Formosa and Brazil Maru to Japan, reaching there on January 29, 1945. He died in Kobe in Japan; Note that Jody Beck, a cousin, added that, “He was taken ashore in Moji then taken to a hospital that was not really a hospital.”. Find A Grave adds that “‘The Madsen Hotel’ circa 1940-1960’s in Holdrege, Nebraska was named for Madsen Kokjer by his parents Hans and Charlotte ‘Char’ Kokjer. Madsen was the only child of The Kokjers.”
About the diary: While there is a Madsen Cobb Kokjer Collection of the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress, the diaries used here came from the Records from Other Sections of the Philippine Archives Collection, as 1st Lt Kokjer Diary Book 1 and 1st Lt Kokjer Diary Book 2.