George B. DuBois Diary
Object NameDiary
Historic Owner
George B. DuBois
Association
USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11)
DateJanuary 15, 1944–September 11, 1944
PeriodWorld War II
Mediumpaper, ink
ClassificationsCommunication Artifacts
Credit LineCollection of the Intrepid Museum. Gift of the loving family of George B. DuBois in memory of Holly C. DuBois-Knowles. A2018.83
Object numberA2018.83
DescriptionDiary; Prompted diary with brown covers and "My Life in the Service" embossed in gold letters on the front cover. Diary has prompted sections throughout, though not all are filled in. The sections that do have handwritten content include "Identification," "Service Record, Transfers and Change in Rank," "My Buddies in the Service," "Civilians I Have Met," "Diary of My Life in the Service" and "Places I Have Been."On the cover page, the inscription reads "Presented by // Miss Juanita Gossett // University of Alabama // December 25, 1943 // as a token of appreciation // for your service to our country." The following page reads "The Diary Of // George B. DuBois // U.S. Navy."
The first section, "Service Record," gives a short summary of his service from September 11, 1942–November 1, 1945.
In the section "My Buddies in the Service," there is a drawing of USS Intrepid on blue paper taped onto the page.
The section "Civilians I Have Met" describes three women DuBois met between December 14, 1942 and April 28, 1944. He notes where he met each woman and briefly describes their encounters.
The most complete section is "Diary of My Life in the Service." DuBois begins writing on January 15, 1944, but retroactively describes the events starting at the commissioning of USS Intrepid on August 16, 1943. The rest of the diary goes on to describe major events in Intrepid's activities in the Pacific Theater and ports visited along the way. DuBois describes the shakedown cruise on board Intrepid, visiting Trinidad and a beach party in the Port of Spain. He writes about the damage Intrepid received in the Panama Canal and the resulting time Intrepid spent in dry dock afterwards. He recalls Mickey Rooney on board Intrepid for Christmas dinner in 1943. As Intrepid leaves the United States and heads toward the Pacific Theater, he describes various operations Intrepid was involved in during the war, such as the raids on Kwajalein Atoll, the Roi-Namur landing, and detailed account on the strikes against Truk in February 1944 and the ensuing torpedo attack. He describes the Crossing the Line ceremony as Intrepid approaches Pearl Harbor for repairs.
DuBois briefly mentioned Intrepid's time in San Francisco for repairs, and while there, he becomes engaged to the dedicator of the diary (Juanita Gossett) on June 8, 1944. He notes this as the most important thing that happened during Intrepid's repairs.
Once Intrepid is repaired, DuBois writes of traveling to Pearl Harbor and from there, the Marshall Islands to transport planes. On the return trip, he writes of picking up wounded sailors to travel back to Pearl Harbor. He describes seeing Bob Hope on board Intrepid on July 13, 1944. While in Pearl Harbor, DuBois describes receiving mail from Juanita, dressing in whites and manning the rails while President Franklin Roosevelt visited, and various repairs. After repairs, DuBois mentions a five-day shakedown cruise before heading back to Eniwetok to rejoin the fleet and celebrating Intrepid's first commissioning anniversary while underway with a "huge caked formed as a carrier and cold soft drinks."
He mentions crossing the International Date Line as they head back to the fleet. Before joining the raid on the Palaus, DuBois writes that he is frightened of the coming battle, but know it will be successful "no matter what does happen." He describes losing a sailor over the side of the ship, who had slept next to DuBois. He was depressed about this, and talked to sailors about the incident.
DuBois describes working in the machine room, the attacks on Mindanao and the lack of Japanese resistance. He writes he is grateful for not being attacked. The last entry is on September 15, 1944 and describes Intrepid returning to aid support of the landings at Palau.
In this section, DuBois continually refers to "installing" items throughout the diary, such as newspaper clippings, reports, maps and other paper materials, but none of these items were donated with the diary.
The last section filled in the diary is "Places I Have Been." In it, DuBois lists all the places he has been in his Navy service from October 22, 1942 to December 18, 1943. He lists each place and briefly describes what he did there and his observations of each place.
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