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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC09120.416 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of WWII letters of Sidney Diamond to Estelle Spero |
| Title | Sidney Diamond to Estelle Spero |
| Date | 23 May 1944 |
| Author | Diamond, Sidney (1922-1945) |
| Recipient | Spero, Estelle |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Diamond informs Estelle that he was meant to go to the general hospital to have his surgery, but instead he had managed to persuade the doctor to operate on him in the line hospital. Had he been moved, he "would have left on a certain morning on a particular plane…everyone back at camp…thought [he] was finished…" He proceeds to promise Estelle that he will be "coming home in one piece". He then discusses what he plans to do upon seeing Estelle when he returns. |
| Subjects | World War II Asia Soldier's Letter Love Letters Health and Medical |
| People | Diamond, Sidney (1922-1945) Spero, Estelle (b. 1924) |
| Place written | Bougainville, Papua New Guinea |
| Theme | World War II; Health & Medicine |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945 |
| Additional Information | Sidney Diamond (1922-1945) enlisted in mid-April 1942, interrupting the chemical engineering degree that he was undertaking at City College. Diamond was sent to the South Pacific in June 1943, where he served as First Lieutenant to the Eighty-Second Chemical Battalion. On January 29th 1945, Diamond was killed by a Japanese knee mortar while acting as a forward observer during an assault on Fort Stotsenburg, north of Manila. Throughout his time in service, Sidney maintained an epistolary correspondence with Estelle Spero, his sweetheart and subsequently fiancée, the letters from which she preserved. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |