August 30th Journal Entry - Into Plougastel

30th Through Plougastel-HORRIBLE DAMAGE-
G. (German) equipment everywhere
Boys have guns, bayonets, helmets M. (machine) guns etc.
Many dead around-two G.I.'s 1 free french, F. Sailor, 7 Bosch
Been all over world.

This is Dresden, but evokes the feeling of the observations in this journal entry.

Cliff Hope, from his book: Most of us went a little crazy collecting Breton and German army souvenir. We sent some items home, but most of the stuff was ultimately discarded. In Brittany there was a little stealing from the friendly population. War's proverbial looting did not begin until we entered Germany the following winter.
By this time, I was beginning to look like a super-duper superman, outfitted with two German helmets and a Mauser rifle complete with bayonet.

From History of the 16th Field Artillery Observation Battalion: 30 August: Resistance ceases on Daoulas peninsula. The 16th has completed first combat mission. the 174th group now given task of giving general support to VIII Corps at Brest.

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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...

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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 ...

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.

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

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