Found:  WWII Journals

by Pamela J. Johnson

William Gaillard always knew that his father, Lt. Col. Ernest Gaillard Jr. had kept a meticulous daily journal during his U.S. Army Air Forces deployment in England throughout World War II. But the USC College alumnus didn’t see the journals until his mother’s death in 2001.

Then, he discovered his father’s diary, hidden for more than 60 years. The younger Gaillard compiled and edited the war diary into a book, Flight Surgeon: Complete and Unabridged Combat Medical Diary, 1943-1944 (Author House, 2005), which is also available as an e-book, or downloadable electronic book.

The day-to-day entries include pivotal moments: “6 June 1944: Today was D-Day! The day we have all been waiting for …. The station defense was out in force and most of us were more afraid of trigger-happy defense boys than we were of enemy action.”

William Gaillard earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics in 1974. After spending some 20 years doing Middle Eastern petrochemical engineering and construction contract work, he is now a freelance writer and military historian living in Redondo Beach.