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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
"ONE GRAND PLACE" (MILITARY--WORLD WAR II.) ARNOLD, ELMER WARD. Diary of an African-American seaman in the Pacific Theater. 27 pages of diary entries and 34 pages of other memoranda. 8vo, original canvas covers stamped "Arnold E.W. x239," slightly soiled; first few leaves cut out, otherwise nice internally. Vp, 26 June 1944 to 21 December 1945
Elmer Ward Arnold (1925-1990) was a recent graduate of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis when he was inducted into the Navy as a Steward's Mate in 1944. After basic training in Maryland, he was stationed briefly in New London, CT, noting that "there is no discrimination practised what so ever. If there is any, it isn't noticable. It is really one grand place" (page 3). By November, he began his service in a variety of Pacific Theater locations, mostly working in officer mess halls. He took a memorable train ride across Australia in late 1944 on his way to one posting, and eventually settled aboard the U.S.S. Anthedon, a submarine tender. Arnold was clearly fascinated by the Pacific Islanders he met during his service--New Guineans, Australian aborigines, and Filipinos--and described their appearance and cultures at length, as well as the complex race relations he encountered: "In Brisbane, the abo's are treated the same as the average or below average negro is treated in some parts of the states. In Brisbane the colored persons of the Navy are permitted to go out openly with the abo's but in Perth and Fremantle they aren't" (15). On a later trip to Fremantle, he spent his free time with a "very lovely woman" who "comes under the white law of Australia (West). That is, she has the same privileges as a white woman. She is the color of our light skinned colored women" (20-21). Arnold was less impressed by his fellow servicemen. "I often wonder how civilization remains in existence with so many obscene characters over running the seemingly small number of sober minded people" (10). In Hawaii, he was pleased to see that "a large number of color individuals are over in Pearl Harbor and Honolulu doing government and civil service work as well as the white men" (25) but a riot soon disheartened him: "it seems that once again the white man has thrown forth his doctrine of white supremacy and arrogancy just a little to far and the people of Honolulu made them back down" (26). The diary ends with Arnold discharged back in Bayonne, New Jersey. Also written in the front of this volume are Arnold's detailed training notes on the proper way to serve officers each meal, sample menus, and a few recipes. In the rear of the volume are more personal notes--a detailed itinerary of his service, a few crudely rendered pencil drawings, a paragraph on war titled "Just meditating thoughts," and the haunting lyrics of "Strange Fruit": "Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood on the root / Black body swinging in the southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."
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