My Life in the Service: The World War II Diary of Staff Sergeant Jack E. Bates, 2nd Squadron 22nd Bombardment Group Fifth Air Force

This book is a day-to-day account of the life of Jack E. Bates, a resident of Horseheads, New York, while serving his country in World War II. He was inducted in the infantry in 1944, but transferred to the Army Air Corp sometime while in training. After training as an armor gunner, he was assigned to a crew and sent to Australia where he served with the 2nd Bombardment Squadron, 22nd Bombardment Group, Fifth Air Force. He spent his entire military career, up to the end of the war, in the Pacific theater. The diary follows him as he moves from base to base and throughout his forty-one missions. Jack Bates kept an amazingly accurate account of the things that went on around him including the bombing missions, etc. His diary follows him right through to the end of the war and his arrival back in the United States. The diary is augmented by three maps; a missions chart with detailed information concerning each of his missions; 189 photos of people, places and things; and a list of over two hundred servicemen who came in contact with Jack Bates while he was the postmaster of the unit at the end of the war. A bibliography and an index to full-names, places and subjects add to the value of this work.