Skip to main content

Letter January 18th 1945 "My Dearest Son Luther"

Marilu- I am posting this a little late, on January 21st 2020 which as it happens is Grandpa Luther Murkins Winsor's birthday. He would be 136 today...He was still in Iran at this time working on water and irrigation. 



January 18 1944 (The context of this letter makes me sure that Lu's dad automatically wrote 1944 when it was actually 1945. Who of us hasn't done that?-Marilu)

My Dearest Son Luther,

 I am away from headquarters and therefore have no means of knowing whether or not there is any further word from you. The last I had was written Dec. 6, post marked Dec. 9, so you may know how anxious I am about your welfare. You have been in a "hot spot" these last few weeks. Of course I don't know just where you are, but ----------

God grant that you are safe, and that you and your companions will soon be relieved from the terrible ordeals of war on the fighting front. You will never in this life be entirely relieved from the effects of war, even tho you escape without bodily injury, for the after effects will continue for many many years. However, there are many things to which you can look forward with pleasure and you and your children can make your way somehow-and find your places


in what is left after the war gods have been satisfied. It is all too horrible, this thing you are going thru. I shuddered when I read of the treatment given some of the troops in the recent actions near you who were cut off from their comrades and were slaughtered by the enemy instead of being taken as prisoners of war. (Marilu-this sounds like a reference to the Malmedy Massacre, covered in previous posts)

I was glad to have you tell me that you have learned how to take care of yourself in bad weather and on wet ground, etc. when you have to sleep out in your pup tent or without shelter. I fear that you may have been forced to do it again during these last few weeks and the weather has been very bad. So, these are the reasons why I'm so anxious to know how it is with you.

I am still struggling along with the work here in an effort to accomplish some of the many tasks I have undertaken. It now looks as if we may be able to procure a little equipment to use in our construction program. To date we have had to work with hand labor only, except for

limited help from the U.S. Army. We are just finishing an irrigation project with a 5 1/2 kilometer tunnel, and 30 kilometers of canal and laterals. Quite a job to tackle with shovels. We are also completing a 27 kilometer pipe line, with 5 kilometers of underground channels where fresh water was developed for one of the largest sea ports that was without water to drink on dry years like two since I have been here. We hauled water in tankers for domestic use last summer. They had depended upon rain, and it did not rain, so many people actually suffered for water to drink. Now, after more than 2,000 years, they will have a permanent supply, delivered to all parts of the city.

I am down here now with a special commission to plan a big development program in the S.W. near the ancient city of Shiloh-where the prophet Daniel was buried and where Queen Esther had her castle. There is the ruins of an ancient dam about 1,000 meters long across the largest river in this country, that we are planning to repair and put water out for an area 52 kilometers long & 15 kilometers wide.

This will revive the ancient capitol of Media, and a series of settlements that have dwindled to villages for lack of water. We are here at the personal request of the Prime Minister who called me 3 days in succession just before I left and spent 2 hours with me each day discussing all the problems with which I have been struggling, and giving me assurance of support in those important undertakings that mean so much to the future of this country.

This is why I just have to stay on a little longer. But I promise that I shall go home with you or at the same time, if not before. So my boy, we must keep our chins up, and not let down, even for a minute, and look forward to the wonderful time when we can be at home together and with those we love more than life itself.

God bless you and keep you safe is my constant prayer-
Your loving father,
L. M. Winsor

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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. 
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more