UK: Wakefield soldier’s World War II diary reveals 27,000-mile journey across three continents

From wakefieldexpress.co.uk

A wartime diary kept by a Wakefield soldier has been rediscovered decades after the Second World War revealing an extraordinary 27,000-mile journey through 13 countries and three continents.

The writings of Corporal Alwyn Day, found among family papers, form the basis of a new book, Empire’s Witness: A Soldier’s Secret War Diary 1942-45, reconstructed by his grandson, documentary filmmaker Philip James Day.

At its heart is an account of movement through one of the Second World War’s least understood supply routes, later known as the Persian Corridor, which carried vital Allied supplies from the Persian Gulf through Iran to the Soviet Union.

                                                Alwyn (r) and Harry on camel, Egypt 1943

The author said the diary’s tone stood out for its restraint and quiet observation.

He said: “A couple of years ago, my grandfather’s wartime diary turned up in old family papers.

"He was Corporal Alwyn Day of Wakefield and the pages he wrote trace his journey through thirteen countries and three continents during the Second World War, over something like 27,000 miles.

"What struck me most was how little it tried to make a hero of him.”

Written between 1942 and 1945, the diary is filled with photographs, sketches, maps and personal items, capturing a mix of everyday detail, curiosity and hardship as Corporal Day moved through the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.

Entries include visits to the pyramids in Egypt, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Dead Sea, alongside difficult episodes like a breakdown in the Sinai desert without water and long convoy journeys through hazardous conditions.

In Cairo, he recorded seeing entertainer Josephine Baker perform at the Royal Opera House.

                                                                           Alwyn, officer, local, Egypt ,1944

Elsewhere he described an invitation to the home of a millionaire racehorse owner in Tel Aviv and sailing on one of King Farouk’s yachts in Alexandria.

Despite these moments, much of the diary is shaped by wartime censorship rules that discouraged soldiers from recording sensitive operational detail.

To understand the full picture, the author cross-referenced the diary with military and convoy records, placing the journey within the wider Allied logistics system operating across the region.

New material has continued to emerge from the family archive following the recent death of a relative, adding further depth to the picture of his wartime experience.

A personal detail appears in an entry from February 14, 1943, when Corporal Day was in Qom, Iran, and recorded receiving a copy of his local newspaper, the Wakefield Express, a reminder of home reaching him deep inside the Middle East.

Mr Day said: “Incredibly we keep finding stuff as one of his daughters – my auntie – recently died and so a lot of archive papers have emerged that he had stored from Alwyn’s archive.”

He said the project was “a truly local story on an epic landscape”, tracing a man through a global conflict before he returned home, resumed ordinary life and left much of his experience unspoken.

An exhibition-style launch event will be held at The Hepworth on May 9.

The book will open for pre-order on May 8 (VE Day) and be published on June 6 (D-Day).

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