The Diaries of Howard Leopold Morry, 1939-1965, Vol. 06 (Jan 8, 1945 - Jan 5, 1946)

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Newfoundland studies
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/howardmorry/id/785

This sixth book is a different kind of diary than the first four volumes in the series but similar in some ways to volume 5. In the first four diaries, Howard Leopold Morry told us his life history for the first time. The fifth diary was more of a traditional daily diary, with day by day observations on current events, the weather, the fishery, births, marriages and deaths, and normal and unusual occurrences. But it also included some reminiscences of his earlier life. And in view of the timing of this fifth diary, which nominally was the diary for 1940, but in reality contained some entries from late 1939 until early 1945, needless to say much of the information conveyed pertained to the progress of the war from the perspective of a Newfoundlander with two sons overseas, one in the Royal Navy and the other in the Royal Artillery. It goes without saying, therefore, that these accounts were not given from an unbiased perspective. Now in the sixth book we see Howard following the same methodology, but in a manner that is less confusing than in the fifth diary. Each entry now follows in strict chronological order from the one previous, and it is not necessary to attempt to discern in which year the events of those entries unfolded. With one exception. Because Volume 5 actually concluded with a day by day summary of events in January 1945, it was not necessary to repeat this information here. So Howard decided to fill the empty pages for January at the start of this book with a summary of the events in that month in 1946. As in previous volumes, in order to provide readers not familiar with the “cast of characters” or the local and international historical events mentioned in the pages of the diary a clue to their identity, an extensive set of endnotes has been provided as an assistance in reading and fully understanding the context. This is particular important in this instance because 1945 saw some of the most pivotal military events in history, leading to the end of the war in Europe and in the far east. Certain ...