From My Diary September 30, 1943

[Ray Merrell]

On New Caledonia: "I drew ammunition for my BAR,
packed my seabag, and loaded ammo at the Navy
ammunition depot for our battalion onto the ship. I
was through at 5:30 and went to bed early. We can
not write letters now."

[sparkie]

Sometimes a few words say alot. Thanks, Ray.

[micarr57]

thanks for doing your job ray it gave some of us kids something to look up too

[Ray Merrell]

From My Diary October 4, 1943 I go up at 5 a.m. and worked
all day loading ship, etc. At 4:30 p.m. we boarded the ship,
the U.S.S. President Hayes. I got letters from Helen, Lora Lee,
Pop and Mildred. On the 5th we lay around in the Harbor of
New Caledonia all day and went to bed early. On the 6th we
were still in the harbor. I rested and cleaned my BAR, then
went to a show on the ship. It was "The Immortal Sergeant."

[sparkie]

Believe it or not, Ray,,,,,, I want to hear it .

[Kegler300]

It's amazing you had time to keep a diary...thank you for sharing.

[Flyfish99]

Interesting . Thanks for sharing your diary .

[Tennessee Top]

Please keep sharing.

Don't take this the wrong way as it's not meant as criticism in any way. I'm just curious, didn't the WWII Marines use naval terminolgy like rack (bed) and military time?

[Ray Merrell]

Tennessee Top, We did not use the term "rack", except when we were aboard ships, we had Army Cots and that is what we called them. We pressed our pants and shirts under the mattress on the cot after washing them in a stream and hanging them in the sun to dry. We did use military time, however...this was from my personal diary in the South Pacific, so.......

Thanks for asking Top.

Gung Ho,

Ray