RSU Professor Analyzes Skiatook Woman's WWII Document

A Skiatook woman is getting answers about a WWII journal she has, with an unknown author. A Rogers State University professor is helping the woman with research.

MINDY: “Do we think we might be able to get close to finding who wrote this? Possibly?”

DAVID: "That's a really good question, and I don't think we can."

The words were written more than 80 years ago, but who wrote them may always be a mystery.

Three years of WWII in storied detail, not as a personal diary, but for an official record.

Rogers State University Professor and Author Dr. David Bath said in every infantry, it was someone's job to document what happened each day. Bath said he has seen similar documents for other wars, without the writer's name listed.

"It was what's being written, not who's writing it,” he said.

The records are usually preserved at the National Archives.

Bath tells Mindy Hearn, that the first clue this journal is an official Army document, is on the first page.

"The Company K 26th Infantry History. That tells me that it is the official history of the organization. And then the fact that it was mimeographed and the style of the paper that it's on, are all key clues,” Bath said.

While he works to confirm if the National Archives already has a copy in its records, he said it is likely there are several copies in people's homes across the country.

"There could be 50 copies, there could be 100 copies. But it's really cool to know that, ya, you could have documents like this at your house if your parents were involved, grandparents were involved,” Bath said.

"Go through your attics, go through your closets, go through and find all that stuff. Because it's very important. It's our history. And we want to keep our history intact,” Hearn said.

Hearn is the caretaker of this copy. Her late dad, John Burroughs, had it in his belongings. She's been curious for years about who wrote this first draft of history.

"Well, I was hoping to know who it was, but now that I understand, talking with him, I'm understanding more and the author -- it's not so much about him. So I'm not as concerned about who the author is now. It's about the story,” Hearn said.

Writer unknown, but the words, never forgotten.

RSU said if the document is not already preserved through the National Archives, it might end up putting it online for students to have as a resource.

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