RAHWAY, NJ — Lt. John Roland Baumann Jr. died while serving his country.
“John Roland Baumann Jr: A perspective from his diary of a 1939 trip through Europe,” was put together by Tom Corujo and Scott Baumann, who is the nephew of John Roland Baumann Jr. The diary, which was found by Scott Baumann’s sister, takes the reader on a journey through Germany and Europe, capturing the unsettling atmosphere of the time.
Tom Corujo and his husband, Scott Baumann, are currently living in Florida. When Baumann’s sister sent the diary to them, they found it fascinating. “This is historical,” said Corujo. “That’s how we came up with the idea of the book.”
The book is available on Amazon and has received great feedback from close family members and the Rahway Historical Society. Corujo said, “They found it very fascinating. I found it especially fascinating. A lot of similarities of what he was seeing and the politics today – authoritarian and conflicts. History can be repeated.”
John Roland Baumann Jr. studied agriculture at Cornell in New York. He enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps on Aug. 4, 1941, Trenton, and received his wings on Oct. 9, 1942, in Columbus, Mississippi. He and his crew were lost while returning from Nagoya, Japan, on Jan. 14, 1945. They were flying a B-29 Superfortress, which was shot down over Japan on Dec. 27, 1944, with three survivors from a crew of 11. John was killed at the age of 29.
In his journal that was left, covering a trip through Europe in 1939 on the edge of war, he talked about visiting several cities in Austria, Hungary, Vienna, Germany and France. He was young and alive with adventure. He wrote about the beer halls, the girls and the jubilant atmosphere, almost everywhere he went. But he also described the soldiers marching in the streets, the discipline and the later, darker days, when war was imminent. There, as a first-hand witness, he wrote extensively about Hitler’s expanding power and political movement, the fervent popular adoration and the actions taken in the months leading up to war.
Scott Baumann never met his uncle, who was his father’s only sibling. “They were very close,” said Baumann. “When his plane went down in World War II, it was devastating to the family. I never met him. My eldest sister did. She was just a baby. We have a picture of John holding her as a baby. She was born in ’43. He died in ’45.”
When Baumann’s sister sent the diary, reading about what his uncle saw in Germany in 1939, it was kind of a shocker. Baumann said, “He was impressed in what he saw, what Hitler was putting together. He was trying to manipulate the country to his needs and his wants.”
At first, John Baumann was impressed with the cleanliness of the city and did not see any derogatory aspects of it at that point. But as the trip went further, he started to understand what Hitler was doing.
Scott Baumann said, “At the time he wrote the diary, there were times he liked what he saw about Hitler; however, it was very clear you can see his mind changed to the point of what we know happened. He came back to the country. He joined the service. He was in the Air Force. He became a pilot and flew in the Pacific fleet. His plane was shot down. It was a shame. The plane was never recovered. The plane went too deep. It was all very sad.”
Continuing, he said, “It’s very interesting, as Tom mentioned, it (the diary) has a lot of correlation to politics today. As we were taught here in America, there were certain things he (Hitler) did not want us to know – concentration camps, poverty, racism. We have learned that. My uncle didn’t see that. Hitler didn’t want to show that.”
In conclusion, Corujo said, “The way the book was written, he’s in his early 20s. He’s having the time of his life, meeting girls, traveling. He goes all over. You see how his life turns sour. At first, he’s impressed with the cleanliness of the city. It’s admirable. Then he sees things are going on. How so many people get charmed into voting for a man (Hitler) who’s the worst thing that’s happened to this country. People actually liked Nazis. You have to see the book, how he goes from being really excited and leaving to join the service to fight against what he was looking at.”
“John Roland Baumann Jr: A perspective from his diary of a 1939 trip through Europe” is available on Amazon.
Photos Courtesy of Tom Corujo and Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta
