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Enhanced wartime journal makes it home

WW II vet kept diary of overseas service

Sue Taylor of New Carlisle recently received a typed and bound copy of her father's wartime journal from a stranger in England who tracked her down through the internet. Her father, then-Capt. Robert A. Uhrig. had kept the journal for his wife while he served overseas during World War II. The Englishman found the diary in his mother-in-law's effects after she died. She apparently kept a copy of the journal that she typed for the U.S. Army Air Forces officer while he was stationed in England after serving in North Africa and Sicily.

Jan Underwood/Staff photographer Sue Taylor of New Carlisle recently received a typed and bound copy of her father's wartime journal from a stranger in England who tracked her down through the internet. Her father, then-Capt. Robert A. Uhrig. had kept the journal for his wife while he served overseas during World War II. The Englishman found the diary in his mother-in-law's effects after she died. She apparently kept a copy of the journal that she typed for the U.S. Army Air Forces officer while he was stationed in England after serving in North Africa and Sicily.

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 2:03 PM Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A copy of the diary, a riveting account of a local military officer’s experiences during World War II, was found in the bottom of a drawer in England last year.

Retired office manager Alan Turner came across the 109-page typed carbon copy tucked inside a tattered envelope addressed to Robert A. Uhrig, New Carlisle, Ohio R.D. #3 U.S.A.

“I thought it was so interesting, so well told and such an unusual account it really made you feel like you were there,” said Turner, 70, of Bedford, England.

U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. Robert “Bobby” Uhrig, an engineering officer with the 36th Troop Carrier Squadron, had detailed his wartime experiences in North Africa, Sicily and England over 21/2 years. He had been stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base before and after the war.

Turner said he wanted to make the most of the uniquely personal firsthand account of the war so he “typed it out anew, supplementing the text with maps and appendices of all the places and personnel mentioned.”

When he set out to find Uhrig or his relatives by checking Air Force archives on the Internet, the effort stalled and he nearly gave up the search.

Pushing him to find the family was his 87-year-old cousin, former Sgt. Gunner Lionel Kitchingman, who had survived the allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, and the aborted operation to capture a bridge in the battle of Arnhem three months later.

Uhrig had described how American soldiers came to the aid of exhausted British survivors like Kitchingman, who swam in the Lower River Rhine under enemy fire.

With the help of another relative more skilled in genealogy, Turner finally found Uhrig’s daughter, Sue Taylor, in New Carlisle, a few weeks ago. He sent her a letter, followed by a bound copy of the diary.

“I think it’s amazing what he’s done,” she said.

Keep reading: Journal connects Englishman, WWII vet

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How truly wonderful! It would be interesting to make this available for others, as well. And Squeak, I'll bet it WOULD be a riveting movie. Hope you weren't being sarcastic.
What a wonderful gift to have given someone. Especially given that this is Veterans Day.

American Made
1:15 PM, 11/11/2009

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This is amazing. Will the book be published?

kristi
11:29 AM, 11/11/2009

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What a wonderful story. The movie should be riviting.

squeak
7:28 AM, 11/11/2009

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