Skip to main content

April 23rd 1944 Sunday 'Dearest mom'





Dearest Mom,
Just got back from camp Butner last night and received your letters-one dated the 10th and two the 18th with dad's letters in one of them. Gee it's good to get mail again after a week away, there were 9 here too from Leona.

No mom, you don't have to put on my serial No. (36826849) That's just army post regulation for my return address so that I can use "free" mail.

Mom I do wish Tec 5 meant Tec sergeant but I'll just show you how the ratings furn: (see image of page 1)

Tec. stands for technician and the No. for the grade.

Camp Butner was good experience for me because all we did was survey and didn't have to take time out for any details.

The artillery range at Butner is an old worn out Plantation land. Most of the old Tobacco plantations have been bought up and the buildings and log cabins left empty. It was very interesting to wander through those old cabins that slaves probably once lived in. It's hard to tell which cabins were used by slaves and which by 20th century white (and black) trash. I'm certainly glad for the upbringing I've had when I see how some of those poor southerners live.

Those photos of you really turned out nice mom. The only trouble is I get homesick looking at them. They are getting pretty strict on what we can keep to take overseas with us so I may have to send all pictures larger than a snap shot home to Leona for safe keeping. I don't want to but maybe it's the best policy.

Poor Mip is getting the tough breaks now isn't she. Well maybe if she's in North Carolina long we can get together again. She should be able to get home as soon as she's assigned a definite unit though.

The garden ideas sound very appealing mom & I wish I could get my hands into something like that for awhile. I don't know about rabbits though. They may be good eating but I'd hate to be the one to kill them. I don't mind hunting wild cotton tails with a gun, but tame rabbits are too much like pets.

I'll close this letter to the family now and just add a note to Ken on the last sheet. I love you all very dearly. Write me soon.
All the love in the world,
Lu

Ken,
What's this I hear about you getting into the hands of the law? Hmm, sounds bad!

Well but I don't blame you for wanting to learn to drive. I learned a lot younger than you, but right now there are a lot of disadvantages to driving. First, it costs much more to keep up a car than to ride the bus. 2nd there's plenty of chance for accidents and 3rd, it's pretty tough to get gas and unessential driving isn't patriotic right now. I'll tell you what-you work hard these summers and save what you can and by the time this war is over Dad and I will see that you get a car of your own-what do you think of that?  I don't get to drive these days either so we're both in the same boat.

Keep the old show going and write me once in a while
Your Old brother
Lu

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 28th 1944 Journal Entry-Rain and Rations

Aug 28th RAIN RAIN and mud Lu from his memoirs: We settled into a routine of extending and improving our control surveys and existing on "K" and "C" rations and sleeping in soggy pup tents. There was lots of rain and mud and finding ways to improve living conditions was a constant challenge. As Cliff pointed out in his book, we had some talented buddies with inventive minds. Tom Fourshes, of Cadiz, Kentucky built a compact, wood fired cooking stove on which we could heat our rations, spread hot cheese on crackers, and boil eggs obtained from farmers. We found straw and dry grass to put under our bed rolls, but we never found a way to keep the water our of our fox holes. We didn't have too much incoming artillery, but I noted on August 26 'Priebe hits fox hole as I leave it going for mine as shells land in river' We also began a close relationship with our Field Artillery gun battalions. The 561st next to us were equipped with "155 Long T...
4 comments
Read more

September 29th Journal entry continued-Last day of travel to Ardennes

Sept. 29- Convoy 0830 Cloudy windy day-Saw Tiger tank-Montigny, Guise, La Cappelle, ?, Trelon (Belgium Border) Chimay, Petigny, Givet (Back in France) ( Briefly-mc ) Dinant, Chigny, ? and Bastogne.  Bivouac area about 3 km out in edge of beautiful spruce forest. Hope, Bliesmer & Peltz- got kissed in Petigny.  Marilu: I traced this route in google maps to confirm spellings of the sequential towns. I wasn't able to find all of them, but I could see that when they went through Givet they went through a little outcropping of the French border and out again. Fun to see him referring to the kiss Cliff Hope describes in more detail in his book, quoted in the other entry for this day. From  www.warhistoryonline.com The Tiger Tank was without a doubt the tank which was most feared by the Allied forces during the Second World War. The thing that made this tank so feared and respected was the 88 mm gun, which could destroy a Sherman tank at ranges up ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oct 25th, Wednesday-Journal Entry-Bombs and Guns

Oct 25-Lellig to Matternach- Tied in with Party 1 on R.R.- Lt Jones & G. S. scared out of house by civilian in sports roadster0 In at noon- Transferring notes to correct notebook all afternoon- O1:20 Big Buzz Bomb barely 200 ft. overhead-going south Thundering 400 M.P.H. Machine guns fire but miss. Buzz Bombs going into 1st Army positions Lu from Rae Hight's book : For quite a while, we surveyed the areas back and forth between and through Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg. Though the distances were not great, the continued movement required a certain amount of reorganizing each time. By the end of October we were in the Mompach-Berbourg area of eastern Luxemboug, near the front. It was not long before German shells landed not too far away. Our main reminders that the army was just a few kilometers away were the nightly visits by "Bed Check Charlie," buzz bombs that whizzed overhead each night about midnight. The V-1 flying bomb...
Post a Comment
Read more