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William Estes, Jr. was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Moravian Parochial School, Lehigh University (1905), Johns Hopkins Medical School (1909), and was a resident in surgery at the Mayo Clinic (1909-1912). Estes served as an Army surgeon in France (1918-1919); was a respected surgeon in Bethlehem, and was the chief surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital from 1929-1950. He was also President of the State Medical Society, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Association of the Surgery of Trauma. Estes was a leader in community activities. He was President of the Bach Choir from 1942-1961, an active Episcopal churchman, and an avid fisherman. This six-volume diary traces Estes’ time in Europe as an Army surgeon during WWI. The first volume of the diary begins on July 3, 1918, when Estes reports for duty in Allentown, Pennsylvania and ends on August 4, 1918 in France. Although the diary contains printed dates, Estes did not generally follow them. In addition, in much of first volume, Estes has written his entries on sheets of paper and pasted them directly over the original diary pages.
