May 24, 1945
Reims, France
May 24, 1945
Dear Dad:
Received a couple v-mails from you yesterday. So you want to know where I’ve been. Well they don’t censor our mail here anymore but it is spot checked by the base censor. I guess what I write will get through. If I don’t I guess you’ll have to wait till I get home to find out where I’ve been.
When we left the desert we went to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. We left California on Easter Sunday April 7, 1944. Arrived at Kilmer about the 13th. Loaded on the British Luxury liner Queen Elizabeth the largest ship in the world, on the night of the 18th. Landed at Gourock, Scotland the morning of the 25th. We were officially overseas April 19. Gourock is a few miles from Glasgow on the Firth of the Clyde. We traveled by train south through London and got off at Tidworth England 17 miles from Salisbury. We stayed there till July 13 when we moved to a marshalling area near Southhampton. We had 2 ½ ton six wheel drive cargo trucks. On the fifteenth we loaded our trucks on a U.S. Coast Guard L.S.T. boat. That night we crossed the channel. Before we were out very far we rammed another L.S.T. broadside. We all thought we had struck a mine or a torpedo had got us sure. We were plenty relieved when we learned we had bumped another boat in the fog. The next morning we landed at Utah beach about five miles from Valognes, France. We stayed in the bay all that day right next to a hospital ship. They brought wounded by all day on barges. The bay was full of sunken ships. In one place they had all the wrecked boats together and this ship graveyard was a couple blocks square. That night when the tide went out our ship was beached. They let down the big doors and we started to unload. It was about 2 A.M. I believe that was the darkest night I ever saw and all operations were blackout. We drove off the boat on to the sandy beach to hit French soil for the first time. We drove about five miles blackout to a transient camp. In the dark we could see demolished giant pillboxes and long wrecked gun barrels that had lined the coast. The little villages we went through were in ruins. The next day we moved to Valognes and started hauling from a dump at Utah beach to an advanced depot of the first Army near Bricquebec. A few days later we moved to Cherbourg. After a couple days we moved to Isigny. We had our headquarters there for a while plus Jerry planes every night. I was driving one of our truck that was hauling signal supplies for the third army that had just moved in. Later we moved to Cherbourg where we hauled from ships to depots and ran convoys on the famous “Red Ball Highway” to Paris, and on up. In November we moved to Antwerp, and worked port clearance there. We also did some hauling from Antwerp to Paris, and Antwerp to Liege. After the Roer river crossing we hauled mail to the Ninth Army from Antwerp to Rheydt, Germany. I guess you’ve read about the Buzz Bombs and V-2 rockets that blitzed Antwerp from November to March. Well we were there all through that time. We were lucky we only lost one man there, one of our Sergeants. He was blown beyond recognition while driving a truck through Antwerp. That Buzz Bomb made that big Semi truck look like a heap of scrap iron. Some outfits really lost heavy in Antwerp. Over 200 were killed in a theatre and another outfit lost over a hundred & fifty that were living in a school building. The English lost quite a few men there also but the Belgian civilians really took a shellacing. The Jerries would send most of them buzzers at night while people were asleep. If a buzz bomb would hit your house on Rhodes it would flatten everything to the corner of Macklind and in every direction. They had a ton of T.N.T. and traveled about 415 miles per hour. We all had plenty close shaves with buzz bombs in Antwerp. The anti-aircraft artillery would sure knock them down on clear days and nights but when it was cloudy we caught plenty hell then as they couldn’t see them and had to shoot using a radar detector. We were sure lucky in Normandy too. The night we landed is the only night during the battle of Normandy that no Jerry planes showed up. We lived near the beach for quite a while and every night we used to watch the tracer bullets and flak shell bursting. It seemed like they always came over our area, but always laid their eggs somewhere else. We had our fox holes plenty deep. Yes Pop we were plenty lucky.
In March we moved to Adendorf, Germany. While we were there we hauled rations, airplane gas, engineer equipment, and hell knows what. On almost every load up, we’d bring a load of prisoners back to the big stockade at Sinzig, Germany. We all called it Sing Sing for short. We stayed there till the war ended and the next day we were moved to Reims, France and are doing all kinds of hauling from here. Our outfit has a good record over here and we never failed to do any job that was assigned us. So far I know we have three battle participation stars and we may get another. We are the third oldest semi truck company over here. We’ve had our ups and downs and plenty of luck, but the guys who really deserve the credit are the Infantry and armored outfits. They really see some tough times. Some of our guys are going home, but if we go to the Pacific I hope the remainder of the guys all go in a unit. There are some swell eggs in this outfit. That’s our history. At the time of the surrender I was at a little town out three miles from the Russian American linkup. We were hauling captured enemy equipment. I’m sure glad the first game of the Double Header is over.
Got a letter from Kenny. He was hit twice in the face, once on the finger and one through the helmet. Was a prisoner for two days but is back with his outfit and ok. He says to tell you howdy. I guess that’s about all I know for the present. I don’t have any idea where or when we will be moved. All I can say is that we didn’t do nothing sensational, no one got any medals, we just did the best we could, and I’m thankful old Joe Jesus took such good care of us. I am in the best of health at present and hope this finds you all the same. So long and “it pays to be a good civilian.” “Hey now you got me doing it.”
So long
Your pard
Mel
P.S. Last July we got Semi tractors and 15 ton flatbed trailers like on that one picture. In November we turned them in and got 10 ton box type like on the other pictures. A.P.O. is now 513. So far I have seen Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Germany. I just got a package from aunt Lill from October 1944. A Xmas package
May 24, 1945
When we left the desert we went to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. We left California on Easter Sunday April 7, 1944. Arrived at Kilmer about the 13th. Loaded on the British Luxury liner Queen Elizabeth the largest ship in the world, on the night of the 18th. Landed at Gourock, Scotland the morning of the 25th. We were officially overseas April 19. Gourock is a few miles from Glasgow on the Firth of the Clyde. We traveled by train south through London and got off at Tidworth England 17 miles from Salisbury. We stayed there till July 13 when we moved to a marshalling area near Southhampton. We had 2 ½ ton six wheel drive cargo trucks. On the fifteenth we loaded our trucks on a U.S. Coast Guard L.S.T. boat. That night we crossed the channel. Before we were out very far we rammed another L.S.T. broadside. We all thought we had struck a mine or a torpedo had got us sure. We were plenty relieved when we learned we had bumped another boat in the fog. The next morning we landed at Utah beach about five miles from Valognes, France. We stayed in the bay all that day right next to a hospital ship. They brought wounded by all day on barges. The bay was full of sunken ships. In one place they had all the wrecked boats together and this ship graveyard was a couple blocks square. That night when the tide went out our ship was beached. They let down the big doors and we started to unload. It was about 2 A.M. I believe that was the darkest night I ever saw and all operations were blackout. We drove off the boat on to the sandy beach to hit French soil for the first time. We drove about five miles blackout to a transient camp. In the dark we could see demolished giant pillboxes and long wrecked gun barrels that had lined the coast. The little villages we went through were in ruins. The next day we moved to Valognes and started hauling from a dump at Utah beach to an advanced depot of the first Army near Bricquebec. A few days later we moved to Cherbourg. After a couple days we moved to Isigny. We had our headquarters there for a while plus Jerry planes every night. I was driving one of our truck that was hauling signal supplies for the third army that had just moved in. Later we moved to Cherbourg where we hauled from ships to depots and ran convoys on the famous “Red Ball Highway” to Paris, and on up. In November we moved to Antwerp, and worked port clearance there. We also did some hauling from Antwerp to Paris, and Antwerp to Liege. After the Roer river crossing we hauled mail to the Ninth Army from Antwerp to Rheydt, Germany. I guess you’ve read about the Buzz Bombs and V-2 rockets that blitzed Antwerp from November to March. Well we were there all through that time. We were lucky we only lost one man there, one of our Sergeants. He was blown beyond recognition while driving a truck through Antwerp. That Buzz Bomb made that big Semi truck look like a heap of scrap iron. Some outfits really lost heavy in Antwerp. Over 200 were killed in a theatre and another outfit lost over a hundred & fifty that were living in a school building. The English lost quite a few men there also but the Belgian civilians really took a shellacing. The Jerries would send most of them buzzers at night while people were asleep. If a buzz bomb would hit your house on Rhodes it would flatten everything to the corner of Macklind and in every direction. They had a ton of T.N.T. and traveled about 415 miles per hour. We all had plenty close shaves with buzz bombs in Antwerp. The anti-aircraft artillery would sure knock them down on clear days and nights but when it was cloudy we caught plenty hell then as they couldn’t see them and had to shoot using a radar detector. We were sure lucky in Normandy too. The night we landed is the only night during the battle of Normandy that no Jerry planes showed up. We lived near the beach for quite a while and every night we used to watch the tracer bullets and flak shell bursting. It seemed like they always came over our area, but always laid their eggs somewhere else. We had our fox holes plenty deep. Yes Pop we were plenty lucky.
In March we moved to Adendorf, Germany. While we were there we hauled rations, airplane gas, engineer equipment, and hell knows what. On almost every load up, we’d bring a load of prisoners back to the big stockade at Sinzig, Germany. We all called it Sing Sing for short. We stayed there till the war ended and the next day we were moved to Reims, France and are doing all kinds of hauling from here. Our outfit has a good record over here and we never failed to do any job that was assigned us. So far I know we have three battle participation stars and we may get another. We are the third oldest semi truck company over here. We’ve had our ups and downs and plenty of luck, but the guys who really deserve the credit are the Infantry and armored outfits. They really see some tough times. Some of our guys are going home, but if we go to the Pacific I hope the remainder of the guys all go in a unit. There are some swell eggs in this outfit. That’s our history. At the time of the surrender I was at a little town out three miles from the Russian American linkup. We were hauling captured enemy equipment. I’m sure glad the first game of the Double Header is over.
Got a letter from Kenny. He was hit twice in the face, once on the finger and one through the helmet. Was a prisoner for two days but is back with his outfit and ok. He says to tell you howdy. I guess that’s about all I know for the present. I don’t have any idea where or when we will be moved. All I can say is that we didn’t do nothing sensational, no one got any medals, we just did the best we could, and I’m thankful old Joe Jesus took such good care of us. I am in the best of health at present and hope this finds you all the same. So long and “it pays to be a good civilian.” “Hey now you got me doing it.”
Your pard
Mel
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