W. Dale Reishus and Donna Mae Larson were high school sweethearts from Cottonwood. When they graduated high school in 1942, war was going on in Europe and in the Pacific. Dale knew he would be drafted, so he chose to enlist in the Navy. Before he left for training, Donna Mae gave him a diary to take with him while they were apart.

During his time on the U.S.S. Dale, Dale describes air attacks and invasions all across the Pacific in his diary, which he hid among the pipes below deck on the destroyer. When Dale was given leave, he went home and asked Donna Mae to marry him on a Saturday night, Dec. 11, 1943. They sent letters back and forth throughout the rest of the war. Donna Mae remembers how closely the letters were screened. Any mention of towns she visited around home in Cottonwood were cut out of the letters Dale received.

The screeners would have censored much of the diary, had they known about it. The sailors were given strict instructions that diaries were forbidden, because of concerns about what would happen if the ship were overtaken by the Japanese and the information was used against them. Nevertheless, Dale wrote about the islands they visited for rations and refueling, the task forces they supported. He described the terrible typhoon in the China Sea that sunk two destroyers accompanying the U.S.S. Dale.

After the war ended, Dale flew home and married Donna Mae on Oct. 27, 1945. When Dale was discharged, he agonized over what to do with the diary. While he wanted to keep his record of the war, he was afraid his bag would be searched and he would be reprimanded. In the end, he decided to take it out of its hiding place among the pipes, but as he was walking down the gangplank, he realized he had forgotten it. Instead of causing a scene, Dale resigned himself to never seeing it again. Two years later, a package arrived in the mail with no return address. Inside, was the diary with a note: “This may be something you’d care to keep so I’ve taken if from its hiding place above the control board. I hope you receive it soon, and good luck”.

Dale and Donna Mae were married for 57 years until Dale passed away on Dec. 30, 2002. After he passed away, Donna Mae decided that their story should be shared. She was connected to the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, and she presented the diary in a ceremony on Oct. 1, 2009. The original diary is located at the Library of Congress, and reproductions were later made. The museum has a reproduction diary and Dale’s uniform in the collection.

The Lyon County Historical Society is a non-profit, member-supported organization. For more information on membership, research, volunteering, or the museum’s collection, please contact us at 537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org. Like our page and follow us on Facebook.