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Journal connects Englishman, WWII vet

After finding a copy of Bobby Uhrig’s war-time journal, Alan Turner added maps and a timeline.

Alan Turner (right) of Bedford, England, stands beside his cousin, Lionel Kitchingman, a World War II veteran who prodded Turner to keep searching for Robert Uhrig's family in the United States after he found a copy of the American's war-time diary.

Contributed photo Alan Turner (right) of Bedford, England, stands beside his cousin, Lionel Kitchingman, a World War II veteran who prodded Turner to keep searching for Robert Uhrig's family in the United States after he found a copy of the American's war-time diary.

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Enhanced wartime journal makes it home

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 6:32 AM Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The two men never met.

But Alan Turner, the 70-year-old Englishman who found a typed copy of the late Robert “Bobby” Uhrig’s World War II journal, felt he got to know the man pretty well by reading the words he had written over a 21/2-year span.

Reading about his experiences from Nov. 16, 1942, through April 12, 1945, gave Turner insight into “how horrific war is for those given the task of fighting it at close quarters.”

Turner and his wife, Carole, both read the journal and “were so impressed with the clarity and detail with which Bobby described the events going on around him, his formidable work-rate and the drive with which he made the most of every experience to come his way,” Turner wrote Uhrig’s daughter Sue Taylor, of New Carlisle, in a Sept. 29 letter. “Apparent throughout his narrative is his love and devotion for ‘Toots,’ his wife, which clearly helped him through some very testing times.”

Uhrig missed his wife, Iveanelle (a name she hated), whom he married in 1939. He was growing weary of the war and their time apart when he celebrated his 30th birthday overseas on Nov. 15, 1944.

“Last night I took some of my grandad’s popcorn over to the enlisted men’s Barracks and we popped it in butter. ... Tomorrow morning at 02.30 we will have completed 2 years overseas. It is about the longest 2 years that I have ever spent in my whole life. I miss Toots so terribly that sometimes I think I cannot stand it any longer.”

Turner, himself a military veteran, had made a project out of completing the diary by adding maps and a timeline of the war — and then trying to track down Uhrig’s family.

Uhrig’s daughter Jan Wiseley, 60, of Castile, N.Y., said her father was 88 when he died March 11, 2003. He had retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force after 30 years of service and later worked for the Northrop Corp. as F-5 program manager for Southeast Asia.

Sisters Wiseley and Taylor were impressed by the efforts of Turner, a stranger who cared enough to do what he did.

Wiseley only wishes her father were still alive, “to have known someone did this for him.”

Added Taylor, a retired teacher in Springfield, “It really is unbelievable to be that fortunate, that someone took that time to complete it and do such a thorough job.”

Taylor said the family still hasn’t found her father’s original diary, but they already had an earlier copy, which he requested his daughter Jan read to him after he went legally blind in his later years.

Turner said the body of the document is taken more or less verbatim from the one he found, but he added a timeline of principal World War II events preceding, during and after Uhrig’s record of events; maps to help trace his wartime movements; and a list of 36th Squadron aircraft “on which he and his engineering team laboured so heroically.”

Turner, a national serviceman in the British Royal Air Force from 1958-60, became absorbed in Uhrig’s experiences, including some tense moments as he and his crew flew Gibralter to an undisclosed airfield in England on Feb. 22, 1944. The right engine suddenly shot flame out about three feet.

“At 02.30 in the morning, over the ocean, at night, with a bad engine and an overloaded airplane is just no good. We were almost halfway to England so it would be just as bad to turn back as it would be to go on.”

At Uhrig’s suggestion, the pilot restarted the engine and they flew on, successfully landing.

Later, on Sept. 17, 1944, he wrote about preparing to drop American paratroopers 100 miles inside German territory for a now famous military engagement in and around Dutch towns, including Arnhem.

“This is to be the largest Air Army ever dropped. ... Our Group will drop their troops in between 2 canals and their objective is to keep the Germans from blowing up 2 bridges.”

Uhrig, a crew chief, listed detailed accounts about which of the planes were lost and which would need repairs. He also listed the names of 13 men who were missing from those shot-down planes.

Turner included an introductory note to Uhrig’s journal explaining how he came across it.

When his mother-in-law, Kathleen Wright, died in July 2008, he and his wife had the job of clearing the apartment and preparing it for sale.

Wright and her mother had run a pub in Nottingham and among their regulars were members of the U.S. forces who were stationed in England. Wright’s younger sister, Sheila, who is still living, recalls a Bobby Uhrig visiting the pub.

The Turners believe Wright, who also worked as a secretary, undertook the task of typing it up from his original handwritten diaries, provided him with the original and retained a copy for herself.

Uhrig’s diary ends abruptly on April 12, 1945: “President Roosevelt died today. May America always have a leader as capable as he.”

Turner and Wiseley have been in contact by phone and letter several times, and Turner has expressed interest in continuing the effort by including a postscript about Uhrig’s life after the war.

And possibly more, telling the story of Uhrig’s life leading up to that first plane ride overseas. Turner mailed a letter to Wiseley last week with a long list of questions, and is waiting on the response.

“It just needs writing up,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDaily News.com.

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What a wonderful story!

American Made
1:22 PM, 11/11/2009

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Remember the veterans today and every day for the sacrifices they make. My father was also in WWII but never really talked about what he saw or did. I felt like I'd missed a huge part of his life. The places he went and things he did are all lost to history now. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. God Bless the Vets

bill
7:57 AM, 11/11/2009

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Wow, what a neat story. I hope the book is published, I'd love to read it.

E-8
6:18 AM, 11/11/2009

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