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About Dale Detrick

About the author: Dale E. Detrick, corpsman.

About the diary: Typescript titled Diary of Dale Detrick: His experiences as a Medical Corpsman in the South Pacific During World War II, in the Dale E. Detrick Collection, Veteran’s History Project, Library of Congress. The front cover says,

The Diary of Dale Detrick

His Experiences as a Medical Corpsman

in the South Pacific

During World War II

Transcribed by his son and daughter-in-law,

Christopher and Karla Detrick

2001

The Introduction to the typescript details that,

The World War II diary of Dale Detrick was originally written in two small volumes. Enlarged copies were used in order to transcribr the original ones which were faded and difficult to read. The transcription process took approximately two years.In addition to the diary entries, pictures taken at the time by Dale and his friends were included. Entries from letters, stories and conversations
with Dale over the years were included to give more information, Some original pages have been put in for readers to see what they looked like.

Other family members included in the diary areGalen, Dale’s brother, who also served in the medial corp, and Beulah, his sister, who was a nurse in New York.

Every effort was was made to keep the diary transcription as close to the original as possible. The only changes made were to correct the occasional misspelling of foreign names and places. Some other minor changes such as punctuation were made. In some entries, a few words or a sentence were taken out because it was
impossible to read the original diary.

Due to  the large number of names mentioned in the entries, some last names may be misspelled but others were verified in the unit history which is also part of this publication.

Our hope is that this diary and included information will be a valuable source of family history as well as an education resource for teachers and others interested in personal experiences of World War II….

The Philippine Diary Project only includes that portion of the author’s diary dealing with his arrival, visit to, and departure from, the Philippines, September 22 to November 29, 1945.