The grandson of a soldier who fought in World War II is offering $1,000 for the return of a diary from that conflict.
Duane Elliott of Eugene says his grandfather, Dorris Dean Draper, was a decorated soldier known as “Damn Devil Draper” to other members of the 45th Infantry Division.
The division was formed in 1923 as the National Guard for the Southwest, for Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. It was called up for federal service in 1940, roughly a year before the U.S. became militarily embroiled in the war.
The unit saw heavy action in Sicily, France and Germany. This included the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in the final weeks of the conflict, an event that Draper documented in his now-lost diary.
“You can't forget it, the pictures in it are just…them coming up into the concentration camps and bodies and Hitler's flags and all kinds of crazy stuff that, that's something that you just can't forget,” Elliott told KLCC. “And I'm really hoping that somebody can just shed some light on where it might be at this point.”
Elliot says the diary may have been stolen from a Springfield residence in August 2020.
The journal has a brown cover, and is roughly three inches thick with yellowed pages and photos of the 45th Infantry Division, including its Thunderbirds logo.
Elliott says the cash reward will be granted to whoever finds it, no questions asked. He’s considering a GoFundMe page to help boost the reward money.
Elliot says once found, he’d like to give the diary to the 45th Infantry Division museum in Oklahoma City. The facility has many relics from the division’s exploits, including what it says is the largest number of Adolf Hitler’s personal possessions.
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