August 24th 1944 Letter to Beatrice Winsor-Mom Dearest.

Somewhere in France Aug 24th

Mom Dearest,

Sorry I've neglected you so long, but things get to piling up over here and it's dark before I even get started with what I want to get done. Besides that, mail service is just something that "isn't" so getting mail out or in for that matter isn't a speedy process.

I don't know what I can say about France other than generalities but I hope too much isn't clipped out. At least I can say the army is trying to make soldiers of us cause there's no way of living but to try to exist under field conditions as best as possible. Pup tents camouflaged and pitched as close as possible to a nice deep foxhole and a prayer that the rain won't wash you out and that the foxhole is deep enough when the krauts decide to lob over some fire works is generally the order of the day. Chow is very good if dehydrated foods, canned cheese and meats, crackers and candy sit well. The only thing I really rebel at is not being able to keep clean. Sponge baths and scraping help but clothes don't dry even if there's a place to wash them. The French have been wonderful to us, helping in any way they can-with eggs, vegetables in the eating line, and cider and cognac (when there is any) just as much as they can.

Tell Leona I'll write tomorrow. It's too dark to see now. Gee mom, do I wish I could be home right now. None of you can appreciate the meaning of that word "home" a thousandth as much as Jim and I and the other dough boys fighting here and elsewhere in this old world. I love & miss you all terribly.

Won't worry-just wait for me, I'll be home soon-Lu

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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

Welcome

Welcome to Winsor War Notes, the experiences of Luther Snow Winsor in World War Two. Subscribe to experience the day by day journal entries published on the matching day of the year for the time of his deployment to Europe and the Battle of the Bulge. Entries will include scans of the pages of his handwritten notes made at the time with a transcription and pertinent sections of the history he wrote later using these notes to jog his memories. The idea of this project is to publish and read the entries on the days of the year that they were originally written so we can get a feel for the weather setting and of the passage of time as it passed for him as he had these experiences. I will include relevant photos where possible. I suggest viewing Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan if you want a more graphic sense of what he was experiencing. He said that Saving Private Ryan was very realistic to his memories and Band of Brothers depicts many of the same kinds of things

January 12th Battalion History

Battalion History: We'll remember of the overall picture, the general German withdrawal toward Houffalize to escape an allied trap, the enemy counterattack which regained Noville and Foy, the American attack which retook Noville, the original objective of the corps in this area. Houffalize was taken by First Army troops and Corps' new objective became Limerle. The Germans began to withdraw toward the Siegried Line. Limerle and Echo were taken. The First Army retook St. Vith. VIII Corps troops pushed on through Trois Vierges, Luxembourg, went on to take Burg Rowland, and reached the Our River on a braod front. Bridgeheads over the Our were established and enlarged. Winterscheid and Sehonberg fell to corps troops. Poor weather made sound and flash ranging results almost negligible. And the buck privates who didn't want to go to war in the first place wondered if spring would ever come. The folks back home complained about meat shortages and said, "They say all the m

Winsor War Notes-Luther Snow Winsor's WW II experiences

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