Nagasaki visitor's post-Atomic bomb diary appears in US militaria auction

This book written by a soldier in Nagasaki after the Atomic bomb could make a great Spielberg film

The auctioneer is billing it as something that could be turned into a great Steven Spielberg movie: historic diary manuscripts describing a visit by servicemen to Nagasaki, situated on Japan's island of Kyushu... just after the US had dropped a nuclear bomb on the city.

This rare book is truly one-of-a-kind, the diary of a US serviceman on a tour of duty in the Pacific Ocean between May 1945 and July 1946. The written manuscripts will appear for sale in an auction of Military, Transportation, Historical, Posters and Advertising in Oceanside, New York.

J Ferris Brogan's diary begins in Pearl Harbor in May 1945 and ends in Guam in July 1946. The serviceman, from Ridgewood, New Jersey, wrote 76 single-sided pages while on board the ship USS LSM 465 in the Sea of Japan.

J Ferris Brogan's World War Two diary from May 1945 to July 1946

Beginning on May 13, 1945, the ship made stops in Okinawa and later entered post-bombed Nagasaki on September 24, 1945. Brogan writes of shanties, poor people, and a Christian Church which stood among the bomb's destruction.

Brogan and his fellow servicemen were part of the US's "initial occupation" of the city. His account is detailed, accurately written and very descriptive. The cloth-bound book is described as being in "good condition" and will auction on March 2.

As with all of history's darker episodes, the onus falls on collectors, museums and related institutions to preserve their memory. Similar examples that we've handled here at Paul Fraser Collectibles include an Enola Gay crew-signed photograph.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The autographed photograph has since sold from our stock - but you can read more about it here.

Recent and related articles

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Images: Philip Weiss