Robert W. Conner 93rd Seabees Diary and Letters

The Hat still fits

 

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.
 

Bob Conner's Written History DIARY AND INTRODUCTION IN HTML LETTERS IN HTML:(more complete than PDF) APPENDIX - FOOTNOTES IN HTML Oral History: Nimitz Museum, Fredericksburg, TX Bob's Code Map and Letters Lib Conner on Pearl Harbor and 9/11 Greensboro Daily News and Record, Dec. 2, 2001 Bob's Photos, documents, mementos Photos and Illustrations Keyed to Diary and Letters      Battle of Leyte Gulf Camp Endicott intro NCB Rating Book  Camp Scenes  Bob and friends  Memorabilia Bob's Navy Documents Green Island scenes and natives  Samar scenes and natives Bob's Fall 1943 War Map Pidjin 4 Seabees
Diary and Letters in PDF Format 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. Download Letters (Letters.pdf) March 1943-October 1945 Download Appendix  (Appendix.pdf) Explanatory footnotes and annotations for Diary and Letters

(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)