Robert W. Conner, 93^rd Seabees

Diary and Letters

 

 

Among the apprehensive arrivals at Camp Peary was Robert W. Conner, an aspiring engineer. Nearly 30, recently married, and rejected by the Army for "flat feet," he was nevertheless welcomed by the Seabees who kept him for two and a half years. At the time, the daily diary he kept could have gotten him court-martialed and his encoded letters to his wife, Lib, could have baffled a scrupulous censor. But today we are grateful for his record of the grinding day-to-day story lived by thousands of "old men" in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who left families and skilled jobs to put their strength and talents to the task of creating the infrastructure of the war in the Pacific.

FULL DIARY AND  INTRODUCTION IN HTML Download Diary Introduction  (Introduction.pdf)      Download Diary Volume 1 (DiaryVolume1.pdf) March - Nov. 16, 1943: Camps Peary, Endicott, Parks, Hueneme; Perida; arrival on Banika. Download Diary Volume 2 (DiaryVolume2.pdf) Nov. 17, 1943 - Dec. 12, 1944: Banika, Nissan,  Cape Johnson, arrival at San Antonio. Download Diary Volume 3 (DiaryVolume3.pdf) Dec. 13, 1944 - Oct. 31, 1945: San Antonio, Guiuan, Arthur Middleton, Portland, Discharge from Camp Shelton. LETTERS IN HTML Download Letters (Letters.pdf) March 1943-October 1945 APPENDIX IN HTML Download Appendix  (Appendix.pdf) Explanatory footnotes and annotations for Diary and Letters

Photos and Illustrations    Keyed to Diary and Letters  Oral History: Nimitz Museum, Fredericksburg, TX More Photos: Seabees-Documents-Cards-Scenery-Natives CODE Letters and MAP   Lib Conner  on Pearl Harbor and 9/11 Greensboro Daily News and Record Dec. 2, 2001

(This site is currently a work in progress. It has been developed privately and has no official connection to the U.S. Navy or any Seabees related organization or group)