Christmas 1944

Mom is typing letters from Dad he wrote during the War, before she met him, and long before I was born. He wrote letters home from the day he volunteered and was taken into the army. I have cried buckets over these letters and you will too. When she finishes typing all of them, I will print them up in size 14 font and send a copy to Aunt Nonie. Here are two samples. Any of them are amazing.





V-MAIL (no paragraphs and typed in all caps)
Co. G 126 Inf, APO 32
%PM, San Francisco, Cal.
Dear Schulzs and Coburns
Just a short note to let you know I am still well and happy as possible under the circumstances. We have been pretty busy to spend time any time writing letters so my correspondence has suffered. In fact, I have written only three letters including this one since I arrived here. You can see by your newspapers how we spending most of our time. The rainy season is on here so our lives are made a little more miserable than it could be under different conditions. This is the first time I have had a dry stitch on since I got here. We are in a rest area now so it isn’t quite so bad. We still sleep on the ground but we have a shelter over our heads to keep us partially dry. The mail is very slow getting to us so the news is very scarce. My old pal Bishop now is in Germany. The letter I received from him said they were in a rest camp there so they must be deeper in Germany than I had any idea. He says at least it is nice and quiet there. They must have shoved him right back into combat from the hospital as the last time I heard from he was in the hospital with a couple of bullet holes in his left leg. Stringer is now in the replacement depot in New Guinea where I was. He was released from the hospital in New Caledonia and was sent to the replacement depot. I received a letter from Lillie telling about the seven day furlough she spent in Rome. Boy, I would certainly have given a lot to see the sights she saw. I guess all those Roman ruins are not in as bad of shape as I thought they would be after a war had been fought there. She was also in a group that the pope appeared before. When she goes back to teaching school, she certainly will be able to give a lot of information first hand. Those rings you can keep there but have a good jeweler weld both the class ring and the cameo. Take the damage out of the last money order I sent. I am also going to send a watch home the first opportunity I have. I broke the crystal on it so I have packed it in powder to keep it dry until I get it sent. You can also have it fixed up. Have you heard any more about my good Gruen? We did get turkey with ____ in with rations and glad to get them. Thanks for the pictures and the watch bands. I sold the bands as I had no use for them when my watch went on the blink. I at last got near Art Erickson’s unit to find that he had started home on rotation. He should soon be there if he isn’t there already. I wish I could have seen him before he left. So far I have seen two fellows from the old L Company but was unable to talk to them. Leo Smith is here on the island but I don’t know must where. I may get to talk to most of them before we get too split up again. Received a couple of pictures from Marlys Schulz that were taken when Henry and Thelma were there. It took a lot of studying before I recognized Bob and Evelyn. They certainly have grown up since I last saw them. Must go now. Write often. Love, Bud








(Written on the inside of an envelope received by Ed
and very difficult to read)
Happy day! You are on your way. I just received this letter telling me of your start so I thought I would add a note.
Aunt Evelyn knows almost exactly where I am at as she was telling of a news article she read about our little place.
We are to get turkey tomorrow (Christmas Day) if reports are right—I hope so. Our battalion was decorated for taking a certain objective here by the corps. Of course, that won’t bring back our buddies that we left there but at least it shows as they do know we are over here in the middle of it. Services tomorrow are combined Jewish, Catholic and Protestant. That is one service I shan’t miss. I’m sending these pictures back again as I have no place to keep them and we can’t very easily carry them with us where we are at. Give my regards to every one. I think of them often even though I am unable to write for long periods.
How is Gaylord? I haven’t heard from him for nearly two months. I imagine he is getting in on a little of the excitement also. Let me know when you hear from him. Must go now. Love, Bud

(Written on the inside of an envelope received by Ed
and very difficult to read)
December 23, 1944
Dear Coburns and Schulzs,
I imagine by now you are wondering what has happened to me. I’m still in good health—a little skinnier and I’ve lost most of my tan. We have been kept pretty busy where action is the heaviest but so as yet I’m doing okay.
We are up here pretty deep in the hills and this is the first mail we have had and our first opportunity to write. We have no paper but managed to get hold of a few envelopes. We may get some of our Christmas packages up here, but I hope not as we couldn’t carry anything with us but _______ and equipment.
Doris, I received your letter about war bond drives and war relief funds etc. It was a letter even if not news—anything to read is appreciated. Now I’ll grade that paper as I will have to write on it too.
I hope by now Dad has recovered and you are on your way south. This wasn’t very encouraging or enlightening to me up here in all this mud, rain, hills, Nips, jungles, and war. I hope the future is brighter for you than the past few weeks. My best friend and I think the best friend of every man in the company was killed—our supply sergeant. That’s war but it is rather hard to take. What have you heard from Gaylord? I haven’t heard from him in about six weeks so I don’t know where he is or what he is doing. I hope he is still in good health. While scouring these hills I ran into the fellows from old L Company. It sure seemed good to see some of the old gang again. If you have our company picture there I’ll name a few who have been wounded or killed. Westerman, Butcher, and McDaniel were killed. Bishop, Estes, Bowles and one more wounded—I can’t think of his name right now. There are still a few of the fellows left at Van Dorn but very few. I hear from Snyder once in a while with the names from there.