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

Comments

November 4th 1945 Embarkation! Headed Home on the USS Westerly Victory ship

Watch for Lu's binoculars in many of his photos. They might be his best used acquisition from the war. This mimeographed newsletter is an interesting view into the voyage home.

July 20 1945 Letter to Mom

Bensheim Germany July 20th 1945 Dearest Mom, I started to get a letter off to you last night about midnight. I was corporal of the guard on duty in the orderly room. But an electrical storm was commencing and I no sooner got paper and pen out than a crash of lightning hit the power relay station nearby and all the lights went out. That storm was a beaut. Great jagged forks of lightning playing everywhere and the thunder sounded like all the artillery in the E.T.O. (European theater of operations) was sounding off in unison. In between flashes it was pitch black but most of the time (for about a half hour) you could read street signs a block away it was so bright. One triple forked bolt lit up the castle up on the hill and really made an eerie scene. You (You) know this is the first place I've seen actual balls of lightning. They looked like balls of fire. Mail came in at last yesterday. A big batch of it and it was really swell to hear what's going on at hom...

August 29th Journal Entry-Hedgerow Fighting, Plougastel taken

29th SAME- Still eating K's & C's Germans blow 1 span of bridge-Plau. taken Lu from his memoirs: The infantry fighting, as the circle around Brest was tightened, was brutal. This was "hedgerow" country, which provided great defensive cover and a huge obstacle to attack forces. The countryside was covered with a patchwork of small fields, each surrounded by "hedgerows". Over centuries of cultivation dirt collected in the hedges that surrounded each field. The hedges gradually became raised on high walls of soil, some of them eight to ten feet thick. The brush and small trees that formed the hedges were cut, dried and used for fuel to heat and cook with. Since the stumps and roots were not disturbed, they grew back rapidly, and were an excellent source of energy. There was an entry way to each field, and cart roads back to the farm buildings but it was extremely dangerous for American Infantry to try to attack along these roads and through ...

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

Search This Blog