Mysterious diaries

[bombs away]

Hello,

I'm facing a real mystery I'd like to share with you guys.
I've recently bought a complete grouping of the adjutant of the 514th FS, 406th FG.
In this grouping were 2 diaries. They belonged to 2 KIA pilots from this unit.

First one belonged to Lt Edward R. Gaudet, MIA on june 29th 1944 over Normandy

Second one belonged to Lt Arnold M. Benson, MIA on june 17th 1944 over Normandy too.

Both men were then from the same unit and had been shot down over Normandy in june 1944, they were lately declared KIA.

Finding these diaries in the adjutant grouping is not a mystery as I guess he was the one who had to send personal items to the families.

Here is now the mystery...

Both diaries are exactly constituted the same way : after around 30 blank pages the narrative starts, one written with a pencil (Lt Benson), the other one with an ink pen. The text is strictly the same, any point or comma is at the same place !
Here is the first page, the easiest to compare :

Lt Benson :

Lt Gaudet :

I'm not graphologist, but comparing both writings of the names on covers to the text in itself, I think each pilot has really written the text in his diary. Your opinion ?

The text starts on june 5th 1944, at the briefing made for the D-Day.
It stops a few days later (14 pages for Lt Gaudet, 33 for Lt Benson). They talk about D-Day's missions and the disappointment of not meeting any luftwaffe's fighter. Then it talks about combat time with a wingman named Eddie.
Lt Benson's diary goes further than Gaudet's one (near to double). Unfortunately it's not possible to clearly date the inputs. It's just "monday", "thursday"... with blanks when nothing important seemed to happen.

In the last part of Lt Benson's diary (later than the end of Lt Gaudet's one) I've finally found a date ! There is a pencil drawing made after the meeting of the first V-1 rocket Lt Benson has seen. The drawing is dated september 15th 1944 ! (Lt Benson is KIA on june 17th)

Now you got all the facts.

Here are my questions :
- are the writings of the text in themselves in each diary the writings of the official owners ? I guess yes, but can hear the contrary.
- why are the texts strictly identical ?
- why near 30 blank pages before the begining of the narrative, in both diaries ?
- what could explain that Lt Benson's diary goes further than Lt Gaudet's one while he has been killed in action first ?
- What could explain the september's drawing in Lt Benson's diary why he has been KIA in june ?

As you can see, this situation is a complete mystery to me...

I hope I've been clear enough but feel free to ask if not
Any opinion is welcomed !

Cheers,
Tim

 

[jnlight75]

Interesting mystery Tim, but I've got a theory for at least part of it. Both pilots are in the same unit (squadron), so they clearly know each other. If you look at the top of the d-day speech page in Lt. Gaudet's diary notice it says "Benny", which is probably the nickname for Lt. Benson (the other pilot MIA). So most likely Gaudet did not attend the briefing, or did not take note of it, and later asked Benson (Benny) if he could copy down the entry from his diary so he could have a record of what was said too. How's that for an explanation?

The 30-day gap at the start of the diaries is a little harder to explain. I guess one possibility is that they both left a gap at the start to transfer the contents of a different diary/notebook later, and calculated they needed about 30 pages? Strange that they would both do this, but maybe they were close friends.

Jeremy.

 

[Phantomfixer]

The 30 page thing could be for security..if anyone was "thumbing through"and saw an empty diary.....I remember reading, right or wrong, combat flyers and combat troops were not supposed to keeo diaries for security reasons....urban legend?

good mystery, and maybe one with no solution....good hunting

 

[TankBuster]

The 30 page thing could be for security..if anyone was "thumbing through"and saw an empty diary.....I remember reading, right or wrong, combat flyers and combat troops were not supposed to keeo diaries for security reasons....urban legend?

good mystery, and maybe one with no solution....good hunting

I think the practice of keeping a diary was much more widely done in the AAF. It's not real uncommon to run across them. I have a few with groups myself. The fact that they were mainly left at the airbase during missions did not make them much of a threat of being found by the enemy.

Tim,

You have quite a mystery on your hands. Wish I had some easy explanation for you. I would love to see the rest of the group though!

 

[bombs away]

Hello,

Thank you for the inputs guys.
I've been a bit further thanks to a guy from the armyairforces.com forum:
http://forum.armyairforces.com/Mysterio ... 25315.aspx

I would love to see the rest of the group though!

You're right Jeff, I should have shared before, but there is no flight jacket in this grouping, so not much interest on the VLJ forum ! :mrgreen:

Capt Alfred L. Rideout was the adjutant of the 514th FS from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe.
Some nice items included in the grouping such as a Flighter (bad condition), the 514th FS booklet published in Belgium, rare type D-2 gloves, An-6531 sunglasses, french binoculars, a nice photo album and many many pictures...

A few examples of what can be found in the photo album :

Cheers,
Tim

 

[bebel]

Tim,

Outstanding group, full of history. It's always full of interest to get a such group.

Franck

 

[TankBuster]

Excellent group! The 514th was a pretty famous P-47 squadron. I love groups that are heavy with photos like that!! They tell such a great story. Thanks for giving us a peek at it!!

 

[Peter Graham]

Great grouping Tim, and a real mystery. Hope you get to the bottom of it. Thanks for posting.

 

[Stony]

That is a great group. I especially like the photo album.

 

[Phantomfixer]

I think the practice of keeping a diary was much more widely done in the AAF. It's not real uncommon to run across them. I have a few with groups myself. The fact that they were mainly left at the airbase during missions did not make them much of a threat of being found by the enemy.

Very good point...great photo album....