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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC09120.055 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of WWII letters of Sidney Diamond to Estelle Spero |
| Title | Sidney Diamond to Estelle Spero |
| Date | 30 June 1942 |
| Author | Diamond, Sidney (1922-1945) |
| Recipient | Spero, Estelle |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Letter written while on guard duty. Diamond describes a formal dance to mark the opening of the camp's new recreation hall that he had attended the night before. He also runs through the couple's financial situation, having been paid that morning. Discusses the training in communications that he has been receiving. Sidney mentions that Carter, his friend, is a member of the Ku Klux auxiliary in Nashville, Tennessee, and states that he is disgusted by "man's inhumanity to man." Diamond expresses his belief that once the war is over the Civil War should be refought, in order to "really free the slaves of the South." |
| Subjects | World War II Asia Soldier's Letter Love Letters African American History African American Troops |
| People | Diamond, Sidney (1922-1945) Spero, Estelle (b. 1924) |
| Place written | Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland |
| Theme | World War II; African Americans |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945 |
| Additional Information | Folder information: Sidney Diamond (1922-1945) enlisted in mid-April 1942, interrupting the chemical engineering degree that he was undertaking at City College. Diamond was sent to the South Pacific in June 1943, where he served as First Lieutenant to the Eighty-Second Chemical Battalion. On January 29th 1945, Diamond was killed by a Japanese knee mortar while acting as a forward observer during an assault on Fort Stotsenburg, north of Manila. Throughout his time in service, Sidney maintained an epistolary correspondence with Estelle Spero, his sweetheart and subsequently fiancée, the letters from which she preserved. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |