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Diaries of WWII sailor found, given to son

AKRON, Ohio — At his father’s grave in Ohio, a Florida man has been given diaries providing insight into his dad’s life during World War II.

Seven diaries written by Bert Raymer while he served in the Navy were discovered more than two years ago by a man overhauling the Akron area home where Raymer lived until his 1998 death.

Mike Short met at the grave Thursday with Raymer’s son, 63-year-old Dick Raymer of Clearwater, Fla.

Short has already read the diaries and says the elder Raymer served on ships in the Atlantic and Pacific and wanted future generations to know what life was like as a sailor during the war.

Dick Raymer says it feels like God wanted someone to find the accounts before they were destroyed. He plans to look into having his father’s diaries published.