Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Mayo (Lee W.) Collection
SC.LWM
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Lee W. Mayo Collection
Creator:
Mayo, Lee W., 1915-2006
Identifier/Call Number: SC.LWM
Extent:
0.21 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1941-1945
Abstract: Lee Mayo enlisted in the US Army in
October of 1941, just before Pearl Harbor Day. He kept a diary, titled "My Life in the
Service" between July 23, 1944 and December 18, 1945, while moving around the South Pacific.
He spent most of that time in the Philippines, fighting in the Battle of Manila in 1945, but
also visited and wrote about other locations on Luzon and Leyte. He writes about such things
as Japanese suicide bombers attacking his ship, Japanese soldiers committing suicide to
avoid being captured, civilian populations on some of the islands they stop on, bartering
and attending boxing matches with Australian soldiers, and personal illnesses including
"jungle rot" and "yellow jaundice."
Language of Material: English
Lee W. Mayo was born in 1915, and lived in Baxter, Pennsylvania with his wife, Dorothy. He
enlisted in the US Army in October of 1941, and served until 1945.
The
Lee W. Mayo Collection includes information of Lee while
being enlisted in the US Army in October of 1941, just before Pearl Harbor Day. He kept a
diary, titled "My Life in the Service" between July 23, 1944 and December 18, 1945, while
moving around the South Pacific. He spent most of that time in the Philippines, fighting in
the Battle of Manila in 1945, but also visited and wrote about other locations on Luzon and
Leyte.
Mayo starts by listing several of his "Buddies in the Service," and goes on to write about
such things as Japanese suicide bombers attacking his ship, Japanese soldiers committing
suicide to avoid being captured, civilian populations on some of the islands they stop on,
bartering and attending boxing matches with Australian soldiers, personal illnesses
including "jungle rot" and "yellow jaundice," his fellow soldiers, K-rations, and the
weather. The diary also includes loose and pasted-in ephemera, his "Soldier's Individual Pay
Record," and immunization records, with the ending pages filled with pasted-in photographs
of a woman and children, many posed in front of a house.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, 03/12/2013.
Other Information:
This collection was purchased with funds generously donated by Gus and Erika Manders.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Photographs