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

Oct 10- Sump Hole by survey-Voted this morning. Hope claims that such digging of holes in the ground defies all human progress and the march of Civilization. From Lu's personal photos Cliff Hope from his book:     For two days in a row, I had to dig sump holes for garbage.....On a drizzly day when our survey party didn't go out, we dug a sumphole for the kitchen. "Privates did two-thirds of the work, " I groused in a diary notation. "We must write 'Ode to a Sumphole" sometime." I attended Protestant services and then had Grathwol and Winsor over for an evening bull session.  Those who hadn't already voted by state ballot and could vote by federal ballot did so on 10 October. 

Oct. 9- Went out till noon- Wendell Willkies' death announced- Discovered cocoa pot we used last night had big chunk of steel wool in bottom- On guard- Black as coal- Kimdel in medic tent with cold- Well started on log cabin with Schlueing wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Willkie Cliff Hope from his book: Meanwhile, back in the real world of Gotterdammerung, we discovered a large hunk of steel wool in the bottom of the coffee pot we used to heat water for our delicious cocoa!

October 8th Hoch took pictures of cabin- Orders to pack and move to houses- After supper-order rescinded- Hope read Dewy's San Fran. speech to Mac, Okie, Grathwol and I Had usual Feed. Cliff Hope from his book: I replied to several more letters from my parents. They had sent copies of a number of speeches, including some given by Roosevelt. I shared these with Winsor, Gross, Kahner, and whoever else expressed an interest. There seemed to be a general apathy in the camp about the election back in the States. Most who cared at all favored Dewey, but only a few talked about it. Thomas_E._Dewey 1944 In the general election campaign, Dewey crusaded against the alleged inefficiencies, corruption and Communist influences in incumbent President Roosevelt's New Deal programs, but mostly avoided military and foreign policy debates. Dewey had considered including the conspiracy theory that Roosevelt knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor beforehand and allowed it to happe...

Somewhere in Belgium October 7th 1944 Dearest Mom,  Sorry to be so long in writing but I haven't had the opportunity. It's just as well though I guess 'cause until yesterday censorship was so tight that they'd scarcely let us sign our names let alone write an interesting letter.  I'm enclosing a post card of the little town of Lesneven on the Brittany Peninsula. That's the town where I got your "coiffe" mom, and where we saw the movies, etc. in the Auditorium of the College of St. Francoise.  So I can't lay any claims to have made a complete tour of France, but I enjoyed what I caught a glimpse of. Only the parts of France that have been torn to shreds by war are depressing and even the people in those areas were a lot more cheerful than their circumstances warranted.  I met Bill Richards near the little town of Plougastel not far from Brest and after we held services for an infantry outfit one Sat. evening I left the chaplain...

Oct 7th Didn't go out. Made stove out of oil can. Visited Hope, Mack and Henderson in their "Chateau of the Ardennes" drank cocoa. K ration meat on cracker and talked over school days Violent artillery during night. Echos slapping hard against tent. Cliff Hope from his book: We worked for two days to refine and improve our hut home. Mac and Henderson made a small stove out of a cocoa can. It was all right except that it required constant feeding. After I drew a sketch of the hut, we christened the place "Chateau of the Ardennes." The nearby sump hole was labeled :mass grave." We managed to heat water for tepid if not hot, cocoa and warmed k-ration meat which we ate on crackers. With water heated on our stove, I took my first bath in the cabin-chateau. A line from my diary documented that "my bottom half was inside but the top half was outside." Our humble hut became an evening gathering place.

Oct. 6- Went out at 11:00 Just in time to miss hot chow (Porkchops). Did a Traverse triangulation job. Then on returning set a Declination station in field of young spruce. Visited Hope, Okie & Mac with Ed Katiner who quoted a captured pamphlet telling German officers to save themselves for third world war.- Radar unit of AAA outfit-bivouacked with us. -- Constant heavy roar of planes over head thought they were Jerries at first- Picked up Phosphorescent roots & bark. Battalion History: Flash sections flash ranged, sound sections sound ranged---and the most interesting topic of conversation was football. A Texas Democrat in the battalion voted for Dewey. Radar men from an AAA outfit joined the battalion to help the met section. The first buzz bombs were sighted and described as sounding like "the noise you make when you blow through a straw into a chocolate ice cream soda."

Oct. 5 Didn't go out. Finished logging up a base for shelter halves and lined the bed with Spruce twigs. Cliff Hope from his book: Spurred by our acquisitions, we went to work to improve our camp accommodations. When survey didn't go out the next day, Okie, Bruno and I started to build a log cabin. We took the weapons carrier to gather logs and stakes. The cabin was four log thicknesses high, topped with two shelter (pup) tents. We put a stove in the center of one side of it.Buried in the ground, it succeeded only in filling the tent with smoke.