THE WORLD WAR II DIARY OF SGT. NELSON From December 15, 1941, to January 5, 1945, Sgt. Cleveland Moot Nelson recorded his daily life through his diary while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II in the North African and Italian campaigns. He titled the diary, My Life in the U.S. Army, and it is a personal memoire of the brief, yet important moments of his military days from the moment he enlisted in the army at Fort Francis, East Wallen, Cheyenne, Wyoming, to the end of the war.