No further letters were received from Donald until the one dated December 17, 1944. Here are some background details of his service during that period.
From 346th Infantry:
On December 4th, the trucks were loaded in preparation for the movement, and on the following day at 0400, the organizational vehicles departed for Metz, France; the personnel of the Regiment entrained at Critot, France. December 7th found the troops billeted in Metz where the signs of war were still freshly in evidence. Metz had taken a beating from General Patton’s Third Army not too many days before, but there were still snipers and at night the boom of American artillery pieces shelling the forts still occupied by the enemy near the city gave the men and inkling of what was to come four days later. The 9th of December found the Regiment at the town of Kalhausen and a night of sleeping in the snow. On 10 December the Regimental CP was set up at Achen and orders were received to relieve the 104th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Division at dawn, 11 December, 1944.
FIRST COMBAT IN SAAR BASIN
At 0930 hours it was over the top and a few minutes later the men of the Regiment were combat veterans. The Second Battalion was on the right, the Third Battalion [Donald’s] on the left and the First in reserve as the attack plowed through the mud and heavy fire from tanks and pill-boxes. The Second Battalion was hardest hit as the initial assault fell slightly short of its target. A lot of mistakes were made as was to be expected, but the experience and valuable combat information gained from this first day of battle far outweighed the errors. The next day found the attack shifting in the direction of Rimling, France. Two days of bitter fighting carried the troops slowly toward the town objective. Not only were the front line troops catching it, but the enemy had located the Regimental CP set-up in the town of Gros-Rederching and were giving it a heavy artillery shelling. Morale was low, casualties high and the weather was proving almost as formidable as the enemy. Finally on the evening of the 13th, the attack had moved up far enough to allow patrols to be sent into Rimling itself.
Dawn found the Second and Third Battalions jumping off on the final assault of the town and the complete capture of Rimling took place around noon. Resistance stiffened and in the early morning hours of the following day the First Battalion was called upon to repulse a surprise counter-attack in their sector. Air support in the form of twelve P-47’s flew over on a strafing mission, and at 1425 hours of December 15th, the Regiment led by Charley Company crossed the German Border. The troops were located in the vicinity of Erching, France and Guiderkirch, France. Col. Travis, commander of the Third Battalion, was wounded in the assault and his command was taken over by Major Reilly. At the end of the day the Regiment was relieved by the 345th for a well-earned breathing spell and the men had a chance to think things over and take stock of themselves. They had weathered four days of combat and although they had suffered many casualties, their combat efficiency was rated officially as “very satisfactory.”
For next few days the Regiment was given the mission of defending its own Regimental Area which meant a rest and a chance to clean both men and weapons. On December 16, Col. Costello was relieved of command of the Regiment and Col. Richard B. Wheeler from the 35th Division assumed command of the 346th.
Dec 17, 1944
Dear Mother and all,
I sure hope everything is OK back there. I know that by the time this gets there you’ll be very anxious to have heard from me but this is the best I could do. We got mail today for the first time since we left England and we sure had a celebration reading it. I got seven letters from you and three others. They were dated from Nov. 17 to Dec. 4 and it sure was worth several months' pay to get them. We may get more mail this evening or tomorrow and I’ll try to get at least one more letter written while I have the opportunity. Your sweater and knot helmet that you sent will be very useful now if they get here. I hope (and we may) that we’ll get mail every few days now. You’ll just have to spread the news around that you heard from me because I sure doubt if I’ll get to write anyone else. I guess about all you can tell them is that I’m very busy and am OK.
It’ll be after Christmas when you receive this but it’ll be my only opportunity or at least my nearest one to wish you the best of holiday wishes. And even more than that I want to wish God’s blessings upon you. In a situation like this I am wholly dependent upon Him so I ask interest in your prayers.
Your loving son & brother, Donald
