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9 February 1944
Diamond, Sidney, 1922-1945
to Estelle Spero
Diamond writes that their "apartment will have a double apron barbed wire fence about it covered by a slew of machine guns to keep all relatives away…"
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10 February 1944
Diamond describes the process of selecting new observation posts.
GLC09120.348
1861-1877
Sketch of Stanley Diamond as a boy
Diamond writes that the mouth is "too feminine".
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11 February 1944
Diamond again describes the process of selecting observational posts in trees.
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13 February 1944
Diamond asks Estelle to send him a book once a month to entertain him.
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14 February 1944
Diamond apologizes for having neglected Estelle on St. Valentines day.
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16 February 1944
Diamond describes using the typewriter in terms of a battle offensive.
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Diamond informs Estelle that he intends to attend his battalion motion picture show that evening.
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18 February 1944
Diamond writes that he imagines embracing Estelle.
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19 February 1944
Diamond reports that that evening they had gone to the cinema to see the film, "The Affairs of Martha
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21 February 1944
Diamond discusses the "present conflict" between labor and industry.
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Diamond talks of the constant rain, his desire for good cuisine and a recent nightmare about an air raid.
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23 February 1944
Diamond writes that his outfit boasts "a washing machine, ice box, and recently a generator & electric lights
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24 February 1944
Diamond describes his day as "quiet, dull, routine rot!"
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25 February 1944
Diamond tells Estelle that he no longer has "that burning hatred of the jungle and its mysteries", commenting on how peculiar it is that "a man can adapt himself to this way of living".
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Diamond describes writing to the wife of one of his men about his death, an experience that made him realize the "ridiculous emptiness of words".
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26 February 1944
Diamond describes the interior of his tent. He writes that it is "grand to be alive and well".
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28 February 1944
Diamond tells Estelle that her "guy is getting along satisfactorily - nothing to write about of any consequence
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29 February 1944
Diamond informs Estelle that his vocabulary is too limited to express how grateful he is for everything that she has done for him.
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1 March 1944
Diamond discusses his "bleak & uncertain" future.
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2 March 1944
Diamond writes that the day had been spent climbing steep hills to O.P.s (observation posts), and describes the view from them. Sidney gives Estelle some instructions pertaining to the "money order" enclosed and requests some garden seeds...
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3 March 1944
Diamond informs Estelle that she has become an integral part of his daily routine.
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5 March 1944
Diamond implies that since it was a leap year, Estelle should have proposed to him.
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6 March 1944
Diamond writes that they are working on maps and overlap. He comments that he doesn't feel "poetic, romantic, jocular".
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7 March 1944
Diamond mentions that "nearly everyone around has discovered someone they knew from back home
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9 March 1944
Diamond thanks Estelle for the New Yorker that she had subscribed to for him, and then proceeds to "rampage through the 'mag'
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11 March 1944
Diamond complains that they have termites in the camp.
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14 March 1944
Diamond writes that he is recovering from a 96 hour stretch without sleep: "I needed your shoulder badly".
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17 March 1944
Diamond wonders "how these Nips can keep getting literally slaughtered." He comments that this is one period that he doesn't want to share with anyone: "I'm spending the rest of my life forgetting it."
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18 March 1944
Diamond apologizes for the brevity of his notes, explaining that he doesn't have the time, place or imagination to write more. He promises to "come out of this mess."
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19 March 1944
Diamond describes a reconnaissance trip that all of the officers had gone on that afternoon.
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21 March 1944
Diamond comments on how sad it is "that man must come to destroy, scar, and burn."
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22 March 1944
Diamond compares his current situation to attempting to descend an upwards-bound escalator: "One steps down only to be brought back to the starting point."
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23 March 1944
Diamond states that he seldom writes when in the field, primarily "because there is nothing of consequence to relate."
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