Box 1

Scope and Contents: Thomas Kindre's diary opens with a descriptive observation of the African theater (Tunis, Oran, Morris, Constantine). Apparently, he was in Oran at the time. He describes the physical layout of the cities, buildings, landscape, the winery, school camps, prisoners, and the Mediterranean area. He also lists such things as the monetary conversions of dollars in Italy, Africa, U.S., Britain, and France. He also lists the books that were available to patients at the...

Scope and Contents: Hand-written sheet music by William L. Russel and Paul Reif (the handwriting matches Kindre's, but no mention is made of who indeed copied the music). The song is entitled "Dirty Gertie from Bizerte," apparently an Army bunker-type tune sung by the men. Another sheet (page 2) is a list of 33 movies assumed to have been seen by Kindre during his tour of duty. Some of these films are referred to throughout his diary. Since his entries are limited to...

Scope and Contents: This part of the diary begins July 19, 1943. Kindre's first entry is a description of the cemetery in Gafsa, and the death of 800 Arabs who were buried there. He also repeats a conversation he had with French Master Sergeant Robert Donat Hilary Jr, whose father-in-law was in a Nazi work camp, and who personally served 8 months in a Nazi prison camp in Austria. On December 24, 1943, Kindre describes the planning of the...

Scope and Contents: January 29, 1944 was the first entry in this folder, which began with the Patterson Court Marshall case. Among the many notations of observations Kindre makes, the more interesting ones begin on February 1st. On that day, he found a few dead "Jerries," who apparently had just received care packages from home in Germany, but who were blown apart before they could open them. Kindre also spoke with a 15 year old boy who had quite a trying life. The boy...

Scope and Contents: Kindre's entries in this folder begin with a ride to Naples in a new Ford given to the Company. "What memories that ride brought back--a smooth-riding car, complete with radio--a large city, well-dressed civilians on the streets." On the beachhead, the shelling hit, and disturbed the cemetery plots there. On March 31th, Kindre was asked to escort an officer prisoner to Casablanca, which he did in April. The day before, however, he was making plans for a...